Boeing on Monday invited journalists to a Sept. 13 unveiling of its T-X trainer candidate for the Air Force, offering a short, dim, black-and-white video showing the jet from the front. If the aircraft shown is indeed Boeing’s “clean sheet” T-X, it is a high-wing airplane with a slight anhedral in its tail surfaces and two squared-off side inlets. The video did not reveal if the aircraft has one or two vertical tails, but suggests a GPS antenna ahead of the windscreen, implying that the required aerial refueling receptacle is behind the two-seat cockpit. Boeing is partnered with Saab of Sweden on the T-X, and has previously refuted suggestions that its airplane is based on Saab’s Gripen fighter. The aircraft shown is reminiscent of BAE’s Hawk trainer; ironically, the aircraft on which Northrop Grumman was to base its T-X offer, but which it abandoned after initial requirements documents suggested it wouldn’t be competitive. Coincidentally, over the weekend, footage of Northrop Grumman’s clean-sheet T-X undergoing taxi tests at Scaled Composite’s Mojave, Calif., facility surfaced on the internet. Scaled, owned by Northrop, built the prototype. The jet was described as resembling the company’s T-38—the aircraft the T-X will replace—but with a beefier vertical tail, a single engine and shallow chines along the front of the airplane. Northrop officials have allowed that the jet is powered by the General Electric F404. A company spokeswoman told Air Force Magazine that Northrop knew the aircraft would eventually be seen at Mojave, but isn’t making any formal disclosures about the jet yet. “We’ll have more … in the months to come,” she said. Northrop and Boeing are the only competitors offering “clean sheet” aircraft for T-X. Lockheed Martin has already unveiled a modified version of the Korean Aerospace T-50 Golden Eagle as its T-X offering, while Raytheon is pitching the T-100, a tailored version of the Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica) M346 Master
The Air Force is spending heavily on F-22 improvements through the end of the decade, suggesting it may not retire the jet in 2030 as it previously planned. New sensors, fuel tanks, communications, and electronic warfare systems are among the upgrades that comprise the package.