USAF T-X Designation

[tigercat2]

I just read in Aviation Week that the USAF is gearing up for the T-X competition in FY 16. This is to replace the T-38.


Any speculation on whether the designation assigned to it will be in the "old pre 1962" series (along with T-44-T-45, etc), or in the new series after the T-6?


Training aircraft for both the Navy and the USAF seem to be all over the map: T-1, T-2 T-45, T-46, etc.






Wes W.

 

[Jos Heyman]

The way that designations go these days it will depend on what the manufacturer wants. So if this competition would be won by a which-ever company's model 398 (just to take a totally random number) do not be surprised if we end up with a T-398 .

 

[tigercat2]

I believe that one of the competitors may be a T-50, IIRC that is a company designation for a Korean aircraft.




Wes W.

 

[Jos Heyman]

In fact the T-50 designation has not been assigned in order to avoid confusion. Currently we have a Boeing T-49, a Cessna T-51, a Diamond T-53 and a Cirrus T-53 so, if the T-50 designation is eventually used, it will be out of a time-line order. But that's nothing new either, just look at the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 and the Lockheed Martin F-35.

 

[Andreas Parsch]

Any speculation on whether the designation assigned to it will be in the "old pre 1962" series (along with T-44-T-45, etc), or in the new series after the T-6?

The latest allocations were T-51, T-52 and T-53. So the next-in-line would obviously be T-54, and not T-7. However, as Jos has said, if the manufacturer wants to use their own favorite number, that one is equally likely .

 

[jsport]

The Light Fighter Is the Air Force’s Manned-Unmanned Team Solution - War on the Rocks

For an Air Force that wants to be ready to wage an effective air campaign against Russia or China without losing lots of expensive aircraft and pilots,

warontherocks.com

 

[TomS]

The Light Fighter Is the Air Force’s Manned-Unmanned Team Solution - War on the Rocks

For an Air Force that wants to be ready to wage an effective air campaign against Russia or China without losing lots of expensive aircraft and pilots,

warontherocks.com

So, this article isn't really about the T-X designation at all. It would be more relevant to the general T-7 discussion thread, here:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/t-x-trainer-boeing-t-7a-red-hawk.13751/