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Saab has delivered its third aft airframe section to Boeing for use in the T-7A Red Hawk flight test program for the U.S. Air Force.
The aft airframe section was shipped from Saab’s Linköping site in Sweden to Boeing in St Louis, Missouri, U.S.
The production and shipment of this aft airframe section is the latest milestone in Saab’s contribution to the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the T-7A Red Hawk trainer.
Upon completion of the EMD phase, Saab’s new facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S. will undertake production of the aft airframe sections for the T-7A program.
“This delivery shows we are committed to our plan and the solid progress achieved towards completing our EMD schedule,” said Jonas Hjelm, Senior Vice President and head of Saab business area Aeronautics.
“This airframe will be part of the first T-7A to fly and is another step towards the start of production in our brand new state of the art facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.”
Boeing spliced together Saab’s aft section with the front section, which was followed by assembly of the wings, fins and tail to become a complete test aircraft for use in the EMD’s flight test program. The aft section with installed subsystems – hydraulics, fuel and secondary power system – extends from behind the cockpit to the end of the aircraft.
T-7A Red Hawk is an all-new, advanced pilot training system designed for the U.S. Air Force to train the next generation of combat pilots. The aircraft has benefited from Saab and Boeing’s ‘breaking the norm’ approach to military aircraft design, engineering and production, which saw the preceding T-X aircraft go from concept to first flight in just 36 months.
