U.S. Navy Trainer Faces Uncertain Schedule As Air Force Accelerates

The U.S. Navy, despite increasing pressure from its aviation enterprise to bring on a new training aircraft, is pushing back the timeline for fielding a replacement for its T-45. At the same time, the Air Force has reconfigured early acquisition plans for its new trainer to try to keep the schedule from slipping further.

The aging jet trainer fleets of both services face readiness issues. The Navy grounded its T-45 Goshawk fleet again in March—the fourth time in three years—because of engine issues.

The service is planning another round of studies for the T-45 replacement, known as the Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) or T-XX. Originally slated for December 2024, the studies have been delayed by budget deliberations. Through a continuing resolution passed in March, Congress is providing $26 million for the program, which the service says will go toward preacquisition studies as well as setting an acquisition strategy, funding profile and source-selection plan.

• The Navy plans to continue the T-45 service life extension
• Air Force training command expects its first T-7 this year

“The UJTS program aims to replace the aging T-45C Goshawk with a new jet trainer that features advanced avionics and simulation capabilities, providing a more realistic, effective and efficient training environment for the next generation of jet pilots,” Naval Air Forces Commander Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever wrote in his Naval Aviation Vision 2025 strategy.

In late 2024, the schedule for the UJTS changed again, pushing it even further out. Last summer, the Navy said it expected a solicitation in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 and an award in fiscal 2028. However, a Naval Air Systems Command acquisition plan released in December removed the expected award date without providing a new estimate. At the same time, the plan calls for awards to Boeing and BAE by the end of fiscal 2025 to continue the T-45’s service life extension program, lengthening the trainer’s service life to 19,800 flight hours from 14,400. The service needs the Goshawk as its main trainer until the mid-2030s.

A main issue for the UJTS is determining whether the aircraft would need to land on an aircraft carrier or in a carrier-like environment on land. The latest solicitation, from June 2024, said the decision was still up in the air but indicated the aircraft needs to be capable of up to 10 unflared landings per training flight as well as flared landings for its entire service life. None of the aircraft announced as competing for the program have landing gear capable of meeting these requirements, which would likely increase the cost and extend the fielding timeline if the Navy keeps the unflared landings as a requirement.

These competitors are the Boeing T-7A, Lockheed Martin T-50N and Textron-Leonardo M-346N. The service has said it wants 145 jets delivered over a seven-year period.

In the coming months, the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command (AETC) expects the first T-7As to arrive at their bases as part of a new plan to adjust how the service brings on the aircraft. “The first one we expect to have by the end of this calendar year in possession,” AETC Commander Lt. Gen Brian Robinson tells Aviation Week. “That’s the goal, and that’s what all efforts, all players are focused on.”

The service announced in January that it would buy four production-representative test vehicles from Boeing using fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funding to increase the overall test capacity beyond the five aircraft already delivered. These jets would also be used for curriculum development to achieve initial operational capability by 2027.

At the same time, the Air Force and Boeing have announced design changes for the T-7 beyond initial requirements. One is increased fuel capacity. Brig Gen. Matthew Leard, the AETC’s director of plans, programs and requirements, says this is to keep the jet aloft on longer training sorties.

“The jet had the capacity, but based on some other performance requirements, they kind of lowered it,” Leard says. “But in this agreement, we were able to get that back.”

Beyond the range change, the Air Force has outlined other desired modifications, such as high-Mach and terrain-avoidance systems, a net arrestor system, upgrades to the pilot-vehicle interface and G-limit modes.

As the service waits for the T-7 to become operational, it is working to improve the readiness of its current jet trainer: the Northrop T-38C Talon II. Like the T-45, the T-38C has been plagued by engine issues, and last year the Air Force began a new approach to depot maintenance to address the problem. Robinson says depot output has been above requirements for 11 straight months, leading to increased T-38 operations, starting with the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program at Sheppard AFB, Texas. Other AETC bases are expected to follow.

“So, we’re not quite at the level that we need . . . but the healthy engines are coming back,” he says.