The Air Force has named Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, as the preferred location for the first T-X Advanced Pilot Trainer, which will replace the T-38C Talon beginning in 2022, the service announced Wednesday.
The service’s other undergraduate pilot training bases are also in line to receive the T-X, including Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Laughlin and Sheppard Air Force bases in Texas and Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, according to an Air Force news release.
The T-X trainer will provide student pilots with skills required to transition to fourth- and fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
“We need the T-X program to properly train our pilots to fly our growing fleet of fifth-generation aircraft,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein said in the release. “This new training capability will enable pilots to receive realistic training in a system similar to our fielded fighters.”
Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph is home to Air Force instructor pilot training, and it will help establish a T-X instructor pilot pipeline, the release said. Basing the new jets there first will also set the conditions to transition to T-X training at the other bases.
Air Force undergraduate pilot training bases use a unique runway structure and airspace that can support a high volume of pilot training, which makes them ideal for the T-X aircraft.
The Air Force will start the required environmental analyses at all undergraduate pilot locations, and final decisions will be based off that.
Three prime contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Leonardo DRS — are competing for the T-X contract, which calls for the production of 350 trainer aircraft.
In October, Air Force Undersecretary Matt Donovan said he expects the contract to be awarded around the end of March.
