T-45C Goshawk
McDonnell Douglas was selected
as the winner of the VTXTS
program in November 1981.
The winning T-45A design was
developed from the British
Aerospace Hawk trainer aircraft
but featured a signi cant
redesign of the Hawk’s structure
that made the T-45A capable of
withstanding carrier landings
and take-o s. The rst prototype
carried out its initial ight in April
1988 and production deliveries
began in October 1990. A totalof 83 operational T-45As were
produced before a switch to the
more advanced T-45C occurred
in 1997. It featured a digital ‘glass’
cockpit that was rst evaluated
in a modi ed T-45A in March- The T-45C carried out its
maiden ight during October
1997 and production deliveries
began that November. The last
of 221 Goshawks was delivered
by Boeing’s McDonnell Douglas
subsidiary at its St Louis, Missouri,
facility in October 2009.
Surviving T-45As were
upgraded to T-45C con guration
under the required avionics
modernization program (RAMP)
e ort that began in 2001. It
incorporated the T-45C’s ‘glass’
cockpit and brought the earlier
aircraft up to the same airframe
con guration as late-model
T-45Cs. Modi cation of the last of
63 T-45As was completed in 2015.
The eet of 197 T-45Cs includes
four aircraft that support test and
evaluation duties with VX-23 at
NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.
The incorporation of automatic
dependent surveillance-
broadcast (ADS-B) and required
navigation performance/area
navigation (RNP/RNAV) systems
will allow the Goshawk to meet
the FAA’s NextGen airspace
requirements.
A virtual mission training
system (VMTS) has been installed
in 15 T-45Cs operated by TAW-6
at NAS Pensacola, Florida. This
entered service with TAW-6 in
December 2013, and allows the
Goshawk to conduct realistic
tactical radar training using a
synthetic radar capability.
Boeing recently began work on
Phase 2 of a service life extension
plan (SLEP) for the T-45C that
will increase the trainer’s service
life to 19,800 ight hours. Work
to identify a replacement for
the Goshawk is scheduled to
begin in 2020.Squadron Location Aircraft Command Tail code
VT-7 ‘Eagles’ NAS Meridian, Mississippi T-45C TAW- 1 A
VT-9 ‘Tigers’ NAS Meridian, Mississippi T-45C TAW- 1 A
VT-21 ‘Redhawks’ NAS Kingsville, Texas T-45C TAW- 2 B
VT-22 ‘Golden Eagles’ NAS Kingsville, Texas T-45C TAW- 2 B
VT-86 ‘Sabrehawks’ NAS Pensacola, FloridaT-45C TAW- 6 F
VX-23 ‘Strike’ NAS Patuxent River, Maryland T-45C NACAD SDCMV-22B Osprey
The US Navy will replace its C-2A
Greyhound carrier on-board
delivery (COD) aircraft with a variant
of the Bell-Boeing MV-22B tilt-rotor.
In US Navy service the Osprey,
which is assigned the designation
CMV-22B, will primarily be tasked
with the COD mission. It will be
tasked to ful ll several secondary
duties that include vertical on-
board delivery (VOD), vertical
replenishment (VERTREP), medical
evacuation (medevac), naval special
warfare support, missions of state,
humanitarian assistance/disaster
relief, and SAR.Retaining the baseline MV-22B
airframe, the COD variant will be
equipped with an extended-range
fuel system that includes external
conformal tanks, a secure beyond-
line-of-sight high-frequency
communications capability and
a public address system. The
high-frequency radio is required
to support over-the-horizon
communications and the extended-
range fuel system will allow the
Osprey to y for up to 1,150nm
(2,130km) without aerial refueling.
It will provide the ability to carry 80
additional gallons of fuel on larger
landing gear sponsons.The initial batch of six CMV-22Bs
was ordered from Bell-Boeing in
December 2017. Deliveries will
begin in FY 2020 and planned
procurement includes 44
CMV-22Bs by 2024. Development
and operational testing will be
completed in FY 2021 and the
new COD aircraft will achieve IOC
in September 2020 when three
aircraft are ready to deploy. Full
operational capability will follow
in 2023. Transition plans extend
from 2020 to 2026 with the nal
deliveries coming in 2028. Full
operational capability (FOC) will
be attained in FY 2024.The operational eet of 38
CMV-22Bs will be own by eet
logistics support multi-mission
(VRM) squadrons VRM-30 at
NAS North Island, California, and
VRM-40 at NS Norfolk, Virginia.
Training will eventually fall under a
newly established FRS, which will
be designated VRM-50, although
initial training will be carried out
by the US Marine Corps. Although
the eet will be split between
NAS North Island, California and
Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia’s
Chambers Field, the navy has
not yet decided where it will
locate the FRS.A T-45C Goshawk assigned to Training Air Wing (TW) 2 is
refueled aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush
(CVN 77). US Navy/MCS3C Mario CotoUS NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018
US NAVY AIR POWER 2018^8366-85 US Navy Review C.indd 83 01/06/2018 10:12