Page 17 - ADT JULY - AUGUST 2022 Online Magazine

T-7 aft fuselages to its new and smart produc-
tion facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.

According to Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, AETC
Commander, “The T-7A aircraft and accom-
panying ground systems will help us meet the
Air Force’s mission and prepare aircrew to fight [ AIR SYSTEMS ]
future threats. Getting the T-7A into the hands
of our instructors, students and maintainers
is important to our initiatives in transforming
pilot training to ensure the highest caliber of
pilots are ready for future conflict.” The T-7A
is the first military jet trainer designed from the
outset to prepare fighter pilots for fifth gen-
eration combat aircraft such as the F-35 and
F-22. It is expected to outperform much of its
competition in key areas, such as operating in
a high-G environment, information and sensor
management, high angle of attack flight char-
acteristics, night operations and transferable
air-to-air and air-to-ground skills. It will be able
to train fighter crew from the outset on data
links, simulated radar, smart weapons, defen-
sive management systems, as well as offering
extensive synthetic training capabilities

The T-7A is also the USAF’s first ‘e-Plane’,
being digitally designed and built in just 36
months. “Digital engineering has really been
a game changer to this programme,” said Paul
Niewald, vice president and programme man- The T-7A makes extensive use of model-based engineering and
ager, Boeing T-7 Programmes. “We’re flying 3D design tools which cut software development and verification
actually at the same time we’re building the time in half, reduced assembly hours by 80 per cent and improved
jets.” According to Boeing, the “digital DNA” first-time engineering quality by 75 per cent. “Developed with an
of the T-7A led to an anomaly at higher angles engineering approach based on digital models, the T-7A represents
of attack called “wing rock” being discovered a revolutionary approach to developing aircraft,” said Jonas Hjelm,
early in the programme, due to two produc- head of Saab’s Business Aeronautics.
tion-ready prototypes already flying. As of
December 2020, both production-relevant jet The United States Air Force (USAF is following the same approach
trainers had completed over 300 successful of its sixth generation 'Next Generation Air Dominance' (NGAD)
flights at Edwards Air Force Base and are now programme. Former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acqui-
undertaking the second phase of flight perfor- sition, technology and logistics, Dr. William Roper, while announcing
mance and envelope expansion, including high a digital engineering guidebook in January 2021 said, “Strategically,
angle of attack testing you are looking to flip the current acquisition paradigm — exchange
real-world activities with digital — for speed and agility,” Roper
“THE T-7 WAS DESIGNED wrote. “Speed and agility are greater weapons — and more to be
THROUGH MODEL-BASED SYSTEMS feared in future militaries — than any individual system we could

ENGINEERING AND 3D TOOLS,” build.”
said USAC Col. Kirt Cassell, T-7 programme
manager. The AETC’s aging fleet of T-38C Talon aircraft (now in service
“THIS ENABLED QUICKER for 60 years) will be replaced by the new T-7As which will also
usher in a new generation of simulators and associated ground
ASSEMBLY AND IMPROVED equipment. According to the former USAF Chief General David
QUALITY TO DELIVER A SAFE AND L. Goldfein, there is a night and day distance between the T-38
EFFECTIVE TRAINING SYSTEM FOR and F-35. “But with the T-7A, the distance is much, much smaller,
AIR EDUCATION AND TRAINING and that’s important because it means the pilots trained on it will
be that much better, that much faster at a time when we must be
COMMAND.” able to train to the speed of the threat.” Joint Base San Antonio-
Randolph, Texas will be first recipient of the USAF’s newest trainer

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