Lockheed Martin’s second production-ready T-50A aircraft completed its inaugural flight Monday, according to a company press release. It flew together with the first T-50A near the Greenville, S.C., final assembly and checkout facility Lockheed built for its entry in the T-X competition. The company said the flight shows “the T-50A is ready on day one of contract award.” The first T-50A has been flying since December. Lockheed developed the fifth-generation training aircraft in a partnership with Korean Aerospace Industries. Leonardo and Boeing/Saab are also in the competition to produce the next Air Force trainer. The latter conducted its first flight in December. Northrop Grumman and Raytheon recently dropped out of the completion. Responses to the T-X RFP are expected in March.
President Donald Trump on July 4 signed into law $150 billion in defense funds as part of the tax-and-spending package known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after congressional Republicans approved the legislation in narrow, drawn-out votes earlier this week.
