Raytheon and Finmeccanica officials, talking up their new partnership offering the T-100 trainer for USAF’s T-X competition, said the aircraft is already plumbed for aerial refueling. However, it is equipped for Navy-style probe-and-drogue re?fueling, and USAF wants a boom-type refueling receptacle. A company officials said, “We know where [the receptacle] will go, but for competitive reasons” he wouldn’t discuss it. Lockheed Martin resorted to a pronounced hump on its T-50A development of the Korean Aerospace Industries T-50 to meet the refueling requirement. Raytheon officials said they are reviewing “several” locations in the US where they would assemble the T-100 if it wins the T-X contract, asserting that its US content would be similar to that of the F-35 fighter. The T-100 would be powered by two Honeywell F124 engines and will have a large single-piece cockpit display, though not necessarily the same one used in the F-35. A Finmeccanica official said the jet is capable of supersonic flight “in a dive” but is not equipped with afterburners. Along with Honeywell and Finmeccanica, CAE USA, Inc., which does modeling and simulation work, is partnered on Raytheon’s T-100 team.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent direction that the military services return to a more old-school approach to basic training—with instructors "tossing bunks" and "putting their hands on recruits”—will likely require the Air Force to rewrite policies for military training instructors it has modified over time to cut down on such…
