{"id":21190,"date":"2016-06-02T15:27:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-02T15:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2016\/06\/02\/lockheed-s-t-50a-lifts-off-for-first-time-ahead-of-t-x-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:54:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:54:30","slug":"lockheed-s-t-50a-lifts-off-for-first-time-ahead-of-t-x-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2016\/06\/02\/lockheed-s-t-50a-lifts-off-for-first-time-ahead-of-t-x-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed&#8217;s T-50A Lifts Off for First Time Ahead of T-X Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Lockheed Martin&#8217;s upgraded T-50A jet trainer successfully completed its first flight test, a key milestone for the aircraft Lockheed is offering for the Air Force&#8217;s next-generation trainer fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The flight took place in Sacheon, South Korea, as\u00a0the T-50A is currently manufactured there jointly by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The aircraft in its new configuration with the 5th\u00a0Gen cockpit and other upgrades performed flawlessly,&#8221; Mark Ward, Lockheed Martin T-50A lead test pilot, said\u00a0after his flight. &#8220;I have no doubt this aircraft will close the gap which currently exists between the trainer fleet and 5th\u00a0Generation fighters.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The T-X is a crucial piece of the Air Force&#8217;s plan to eventually replace all of its fighter jets with the fifth-generation F-35s and F-22s, as the service needs an upgraded trainer fleet to properly train its rising pilots to fly fifth-generation aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lockheed earlier this year announced it\u00a0would offer the T-50A\u00a0for the Air Force&#8217;s T-X program to replace its aging T-38 trainers,\u00a0nixing a plan to offer clean-sheet design.\u00a0The key advantage of offering the T-50A instead of a clean-sheet design is that the Korean aircraft\u00a0is ready for production now, Lockheed officials have said. More than 100 T-50s and more than 1,000 pilots are flying in South Korea, Indonesia, Iraq, the Philippines\u00a0and Thailand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the T-X offering, Lockheed\u00a0added capabilities to the existing T-50 in a block upgrade that\u00a0includes embedded training, open system architecture, inflight refueling\u00a0and a fifth-generation cockpit to better train pilots to fly modern aircraft.\u00a0The jets will be built in South Korea and in Greenville, South Carolina, where Lockheed is currently\u00a0standing up its T-50A Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO)\u00a0site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force is planning to release a request for proposals (RFP)\u00a0for T-X in December, with a contract award expected sometime next year or early 2018, according to Lockheed spokesman Rob Fuller.\u00a0Full operational capability of the T-X fleet has been pushed two years from when it was originally planned, from fiscal 2032 to 2034. Initial operational capability remains as planned in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the service prepares to release the official RFP, a field of at least four industry teams is shaping up to compete for the contract. In addition to the Lockheed and KAI team, Raytheon, Finmeccanica and CAE will offer the T-100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile a pair of clean-sheet designs is being put forth by a Boeing\/Saab team and a Northrop Grumman-led coalition that includes BAE Systems and L-3. Northrop expects to fly its prototype this year as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Textron AirLand had hoped to offer its Scorpion design, or a modified version of the plane, for the T-X competition. But earlier this year, president Bill Anderson said the company had ruled out offering Scorpion\u00a0and also determined that developing a clean-sheet design for the T-X requirements as they currently exist would be cost-prohibitive for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Email:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:lseligman@defensenews.com\">lseligman@defensenews.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twitter:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/laraseligman\">@laraseligman<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lockheed Martin&#8217;s upgraded T-50A jet trainer successfully completed its first flight test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1820],"class_list":["post-21190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SECSY4WA55EQDFLFQKZSYMHO44","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2016\/06\/02\/lockheed-s-t-50a-lifts-off-for-first-time-ahead-of-t-x-competition\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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