AETC Boss Maps Path for New T-7 to Reach Initial Operational Capability

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Air Force is targeting August 2027 for its new T-7A Red Hawk trainer jet to reach its initial operational capability. To get there, the head of Air and Education Training has three milestones he needs to see the program hit.

The 99th Flying Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, recently received its third T-7, a next-generation trainer designed to be representative of the fourth- and fifth-generation fighters that pilots will fly in the Combat Air Force. To reach IOC, the command must have a total of 14 T-7s, said Maj. Gen. Clark Quinn.

“We are expecting at least two, and most likely three more this year at Randolph,” Quinn told reporters Sept. 15 at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference. “And if I fast forward to January 2027, we’ll really start getting about one a month.”

At the same time, the command must have at least 14 of its initial training instructors certified on the new aircraft, Quinn added. AETC announced its first two qualified instructor pilots in June.

There’s precious little wiggle room in the schedule, the AETC commander acknowledged.

“Production has to be on time because I have to spin up all those instructor pilots to be ready,” Quinn said. “The 14 aircraft can’t show up in July; I need them to show up on the schedule that they’re on.”

In addition to the 14 aircraft and 14 instructor pilots, Quinn also said the T-7’s “capabilities need to be opened up through developmental tests to allow me to fly the profiles that I need to train pilots.”

The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center and the 412th Test Wing are flying a combined developmental and operational testing campaign; developmental testing ensures the aircraft meets its capability requirements.

“As of right now, we are on track for August to make all of those goals, assuming those three things happen,” Quinn said.

Replacing the T-6?

The Red Hawk was originally developed to replace the aging T-38 Talon which have been in service since the 1960s. But at last year’s Air, Space & Cyber conference, AETC officials said they had also begun exploring whether they can shift some training duties to the T-7 from the T-6 Texan II, used for undergraduate pilot training. 

At this year’s conference, Quinn was noncommittal.

“There has been no decision made on if we would go to a single aircraft pipeline,” Quinn said, adding that there are both “pros and cons” to that path.

“The pro being, if you have to have an entire additional weapon system that you are maintaining with logistics, supply, it’s very expensive,” Quinn said. “It requires more instructor pilots, requires more maintainers. … There is a con to a single aircraft pipeline, which is if something ever happens to that aircraft that would prevent it from flying for an extended period of time, I really don’t have a backup plan to that.”

For now, Quinn said he needs to “get the aircraft routinely flying in the hands of my instructor pilots to determine if we are confident that somebody that has never flown a military aircraft can get in that thing on day one and not only be safe but actually learn.”

“We just have not flown it enough at Randolph with my instructor pilots yet,” he added. “So, until I get the confidence that my instructors think that we can do this, that opens the door to then make that decision.”

The Air Force announced in May that it has approved T-7 to move into low-rate production and awarded Boeing a $219 million contract to start building the first 14 production jets. The program has seen its share of challenges. The service awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract in 2018 for the T-7, and the company and service touted the use of digital design techniques as a groundbreaking step that would streamline the Red Hawk’s development, production, and sustainment.

But design, testing, and production problems emerged that caused repeated delays to the T-7’s schedule. The Air Force’s original plan called for buying the first operational T-7s in 2023, before ejection seat and flight control software problems caused that deadline to slide, first to 2024, then 2025.