On 27 September 2018, the US Air Force awarded Boeing US$ 9.2 billion for the development of a new advanced pilot training system for future generations of fighter and bomber pilots. Boeing is the designated prime contractor for the Advanced Pilot Training Programme (T-X) with Saab as a risk-sharing partner in development of the aircraft. The initial US$ 813 million contract to Boeing covers the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) of the first five aircraft and seven simulators.
“This selection allows our two companies to deliver on a commitment we jointly made nearly five years ago,” stated Håkan Buskhe, President and CEO of Saab. “It is a major accomplishment for our partnership with Boeing and our joint team, and I look forward to delivering the first trainer aircraft to the US Air Force.”
Leanne Caret, President and CEO, Boeing Defence, Space & Security, said, “This announcement is the culmination of years of unwavering focus by the Boeing and Saab team…It is a direct result of our joint investment in developing a system centered on the unique requirements of the US Air Force. We expect T-X to be a franchise programme for much of this century.”
The United States Air Force T-X programme was established in 2003 to select a successor for lead-in fighter training (LIFT) to the Northrop T-38 Talon, which was completing a half century of fighter service. Some 350 aircraft were to be ordered, but further purchases could push the overall purchase to over 1,000 numbers. The original in-service date for the T-X was slated as 2017, one of the driving requirements for the new trainer (T-X) being to prepare pilots for increased complexity in some areas, particularly information management, that are a part of fifth generation jet fighters like the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II.
The USAF's Air Education and Training Command (AETC) had developed requirements for the T-38 replacement, the replacement trainer was originally expected to enter service around 2020. However, constraints on budgets and the need to fund higher priority modernisation projects pushed IOC of the T-X to "fiscal year 2023 or 2024”, the T-X being pushed back to support “higher Air Force priorities”.
The new aircraft (and its simulation system) was required to fulfill several training roles: basic aircraft control, airmanship, formation, instrument and navigation, advanced air-to-air, advanced air-to-ground, and advanced crew/cockpit resource management. Initially, the T-X was expected to fulfill five advanced training roles: sustained high-G operations at 6.5–7.5g aerial refueling, night vision imaging systems operations, air-to-air intercepts, and data-link operations. The 2009 Request for Information (RFI) had included that some tasks, such as aerial refueling, would be performed in the simulator and not on the aircraft itself. Aircraft availability was to be 80%, but not higher, as that would drive costs much higher, and the programme focussed on life-cycle costs rather than just initial purchase price.
Several competitors submitted existing aircraft while others proposed all new designs including Leonardo S.p.A. with the M-346-based T-100, Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin with the T-50 Golden Eagle, Sierra Nevada Corporation/ Turkish Aerospace Industries with a new design, apart from Boeing and Saab’s clean sheet T-X. On 6 December 2013, Boeing and Saab Group had announced they would team up to offer a new aircraft (Boeing T-X) for the T-X programme. On 22 August 2016, first pictures of the T-X concept were revealed as a single-engine, twin-tail aircraft and maiden flight of the prototype took place on 20 December 2016.