ABU DHABI \u2014 Boeing and Saab\u2019s T-X trainer jet, fresh off of winning the U.S. Air Force\u2019s next-generation trainer competition, could be bought by nations in the Middle East for a variety of different missions, according to a Boeing executive at the International Defense Exhibition in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are seeing quite a bit of interest in the T-X,\u201d said Mark Ballew, director of sales and marketing for International Government Services at Boeing Global Services. \u201cWe are getting quite a few inquiries about T-X and when would it be available.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ballew declined to comment about which countries were interested in the aircraft–or what type of missions those countries were looking at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The T-X is a clean-sheet, two-seat trainer aircraft that will replace the U.S. Air Force’s aging T-38 Talons. It’s a joint program between Boeing and Saab, and beat out competing bids from Lockheed Martin and Leonardo DRS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while it\u2019s widely assumed that foreign militaries, particularly those that operate the F-35, could potentially buy the T-X, its been assumed that it would likely be in the trainer role. But in Boeing\u2019s media briefing at IDEX, Ballew indicated that the company sees a much wider market for the jet, in things like aggressor training and even as a lightweight fighter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPart of that is talking to customers about what they really need us to go through and do. What do they need the platform to do?\u201d Ballew said in the briefing. \u201cAs we\u2019re out flying it, we\u2019ll add more capabilities to it, and we\u2019ll see what those world needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the T-X can hit the international market, it has to finish development and enter production, which its set for the early 2020s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of a wait and see, how\u2019s it going to work,” Ballew added. \u201cBut we\u2019re convinced that this is going to be a very popular solution and much desired throughout the world, including this region.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boeing and Saab’s T-X trainer could be sold to nations in the Middle East for a variety of roles beyond just pilot training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":60040,"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":89,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,160,29,162,11,89,47,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3217],"class_list":["post-53650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-digital-show-daily","category-global","category-idex","category-mideast-africa","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CCBTD7PN25DKPN2AIAEZYEWZ5U","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/idex\/2019\/02\/19\/boeings-t-x-could-be-coming-to-the-middle-east-and-not-just-as-a-trainer\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n