Posted on 12/18/2015 5:22:02 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has revealed the prototype that will form the basis of Lockheed Martin’s bid for the US Air Force’s T-X next generation trainer competition.
Based on the T-50 family of trainer/light fighter aircraft, the company’s “T-X demonstrator aircraft†will conduct ground and flight tests in 2016, says KAI in an email to Flightglobal. In 2017, KAI plans flight tests in the USA.
The aircraft features several new features, including a large area display (LAD), embedded training systems, and an aerial refuelling capability.
Korea Aerospace Industries
Aesthetically, the most striking change from the original T-50 is the addition of a large dorsal hump.
The original T-50, along with its variants, was developed via technology transfer from Lockheed Martin with offsets related to South Korea’s large F-16 fleet.
The lucrative T-X competition has always been a major objective of the T-50 programme, which is a source of great national pride in South Korea. The country's president Park Geun-hye was in attendance at the rollout ceremony.
The winner of the T-X competition will eventually replace the 55-year old Northrop T-38 Talon, which has served as the USAF’s advanced jet trainer since the 1960s. The procurement could reach up to 350 units.
Korea Aerospace Industries
The appearance of the Lockheed/KAI T-X technology demonstrator is notable in that it makes the Lockheed/KAI team the first competitor to show its hand. Over the years KAI and Lockheed have displayed models at air shows of a baseline T-50 with T-X markings.
The other T-X competitors are Northrop Grumman, Boeing (which is teaming with Saab) and Alenia Aermacchi.
On 12 December, Northrop Grumman grudgingly allowed journalists to a view of a model of its planned offering for the requirement, but allowed no photographs. Days later in an interview with Flightglobal, Boeing Phantom Works president Darryl Davis refused to provide any more details about the US firm’s planned clean-sheet offering with Saab.
Does it look a bit like an A4 Skyhawk?
Looks like an A4 to me.
That was my first reaction too.
Not really. The Skyhawk’s intakes were above a deltaform wing. The T-X looks more like a hybrid Lavochkin-BAE Hawk.
Manned flight for fighter and bomber operations are rapidly becoming obsolete.
I read that the new TX version being offered by Lockheed looks just like a T-38.
We are wasting money on an airframe that is no different from a 1960 version. Just keep the dang T-38 a few more years.
Looks like a BAE Hawk to me too, with F-16 landing gear.
The colored smoke is gay for a military product. They didn’t do this in the 50s and 60s.
I can see lots of current thought and tech being used here and there, but the overall aircraft is unique and appears to be very functional.
Is it going to be carrier capable, too, someday? It kinda has that look about it.
The Skyhawk look comes from giving a nice looking little plane the hump
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