AIR International – June 2018

MILITARY LOCKHEED MARTIN T-50A

54 | http://www.airinternational.com

R

ight now, the US Department

of Defense is in the process of

selecting a new jet trainer aircraft

for the US Air Force, after which

it will sign a multi-billion-dollar

contract for 350 aircraft. Three contenders are

in: Boeing’s BTX-1, Lockheed Martin’s T-50A

and Leonardo DRS’ T-100.

Requirements for the new jet trainer family

of systems is extensive and includes six

essential aspects: an all-aspect pilot, instructor

and maintainer training capability; sustainment

in terms of operational and materiel availability

for aircraft; sustained g parameters of the

aircraft; an ability to enter and be managed

on networks and to e ectively exchange

information; the ability to conduct the most

fuel-demanding advanced pilot training

syllabus directed sorties with su cient fuel

payload and fuel-burn rate; and a ground-

based training system. This issue also contains

a feature about the Boeing BTX-1 titled

‘Stadium Seating’ found on pages 80-83.

Requirements

Breaking some of the aspects down into a

little more detail, the sustainment requirement

is specifi ed as operational aircraft availability

greater than 80%, and materiel aircraft

availability greater than 76%, both measured

over 20,000 fl eet hours.

In terms performance, the US Air Force

criteria for sustaining g throughout the

manoeuvre (deemed steady state fl ight) when

the aircraft is in its standard confi guration,

carrying 80% of its fuel maximum internal fuel

payload on a standard day with a pressure

altitude of 15,000ft at an airspeed no greater

than Mach 0.9 and specifi c excess power no

greater than 200ft/sec, is 7.5G or more.

A big component of the T-X family of

systems is the ground-based training system

(GBTS). The o cial US Air Force requirement

is straight forward: the ability to display

objects accurately and to replicate aircraft

performance accurately to enable positive

transference of skill sets from the GBTS to

the aircraft. This specifi cation is split between

visual acuity and performance fi delity. Visual

acuity must include accurate and relative

aircraft sizing, shape, features, angle o ,

aspect angle and closure rates of 9,000ft

(2,750m) for the weapon system trainer and

6,000ft (1,825m) for the operational fl ight

trainer. Performance fi delity for the weapon

system trainer and the operational fl ight

trainer must adequately replicate the aircraft’s

performance, cockpit controls, switches and

avionics systems to allow accurate instruction

in the GBTS and refl ect training in the aircraft.

The requirement for a training capability

is defi ned such that core personnel – pilots,

GBTS operators and maintainers – will be

trained with the T-X family of systems to

profi ciency levels relevant to the Air Education

and Training Command (AETC) syllabuses for

its Specialised Undergraduate Pilot Training,

Pilot Instructor Training and Introduction to

Fighter Fundamentals programmes, as well as

associated maintenance directives.

Mark Ayton spoke with members of Lockheed

Martin’s T-50A team from Greenville, South Carolina,

about its supersonic T-50A trainer aircraft and its

applicability to the US Air Force T-X programme

If you study the T-50A for long enough it’s fairly straightforward to pick-

out some of design aspects inherited from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, and

yet many of the T-50A’s aspects are considerably di erent to the F-16.

All images Lockheed Martin

Born in the east,

made in the south