Colorado Springs, Colo.—The Air Force’s light attack aircraft experiment scheduled for this summer at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will be about clarifying capabilities, not selecting sources, Air Force Materiel Command boss Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski said at a press briefing at the 33rd Space Symposium here Thursday. “It’s not specific, it’s not a down select, it’s not a lead into a program of record. It’s purely to collect the right data to help us make that decision,” she said. The Air Force is particularly interested in how a light attack aircraft can interact with the fifth-generation capabilities of the F-22 and F-35. The experiment is aimed at helping the Air Force understand the “feasibility” of “a high/low mix, you know, of a combination of aircraft,” Pawlikowski said. “We’re trying to get good data to make sure we understand what a light attack type of capability will provide to our abilities in air superiority and supporting ground operations.”
The Air Force is targeting August 2027 for its new T-7A Red Hawk trainer jet to reach its initial operational capability. To get there, the head of Air and Education Training has three milestones he needs to see the program hit.
