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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0536.PDF
is against USAF T-4 Potential for common trainer aircraft Primary T„ USAF I TT/NFO i !>.„.•. T-34 »M IT-47 > .1 BF/Strike attack USAF T-2/TA-4 i i Procurer J ..... si nent phase i -..i i T-38 T-45 1 1 USAF PATS i TTTS NFOTS i 1. . .. Operational phase 1 I BFTS J STS I 1 -1 1 Pentagon by Julian Moxon in Washington D.C. The US Department of Defense has come out against the US Air Force buying the Navy's T-45A jet trainer to replace its T-38s in the late 1990s. The Pentagon's recently released Trainer Aircraft Master Plan looks at ways of combining procurement of primary and advanced trainers for the two services to save money. However, it does not favour a Congressional scheme which would have meant the USAF taking advantage of cost savings associated with con tinuing T-45A production. The master plan talks primarily about USAF trainer procurement, because the Navy has yet to outline its own long- term trainer goals. This will detail its strategy for trainer procurement up to the year 2020, parallelling the USAF's own master plan, which was presented last year. Under the USAF's special ised undergraduate pilot train ing (SUPT) programme there are three separate schemes, each using different aircraft. All pilots will pass through the primary aircraft training system (PATS), and will then follow either the bomber/fighter training system (BFTS) or the tanker/transporter training system (TTTS). The first aircraft to be purchased is for TTTS. This will be a "missioned" commer cially available business jet, to be chosen later this year. "TTTS procurement essentially kicks off the SUPT pro gramme," says the DoD. The other two training roles are currently carried out by the Cessna T-37 (PATS) and the T-38 (BFTS). The master plan envisages extending the airframe life of both aircraft, so that both aircraft can remain in service until the end of the century. The Navy is buying 300 McDonnell Douglas T-45s (derived from the British Aero space Hawk trainer) to replace both the T-2B and TA-4J for advanced flying training. Initial operational capability is sched uled for 1990/91, with all aircraft in service by 1997/98. The service has not yet decided how it wants to replace the 340 T-34Cs, 56 T-44A King Airs, and 20 T-47 Citations, which perform primary and multi- engine training. 89 00 Key PATS • Primary aircraft training system TTTS • Tanker transport training systems BFTS • Bomber/Fighter training system In its 1989 National Defense Authorisation Act, Congress directed the Pentagon to "address the cost savings of joint procurement and development, with particular attention given to the option of reversing the order of the Air Force's T-37 and T-38 replacement pro grammes to take advantage of the cost savings associated with .a warm T-45 production line". The Pentagon says it "thoroughly reviewed" the reversal idea, finding that it 10 20 25 NFOTS • Naval flight officer training system STS • Strike training system would indeed achieve common ality by replacing the 870 T-38s with the T-45A. This would, however, "delay the replace ment of the primary training system beyond the point of supportability," the Pentagon says. The 680 T-37s, it notes, are the oldest trainers in the DoD inventory "and will exhi bit increasingly marginal per formance, dated environmental provisions, and questionable supportability as the system approaches 50 years of age". o option In addition, says the report, the scheme does not take account of the fact that a new replacement aircraft for the T-38 might be cheaper than an Air Force version of the T-45A, because of "emerging tech nologies and concepts". It also notes that the T-45A is essen tially similar in class to the T-38 and TA-4J, and is therefore unlikely to fulfil the demands of an aircraft meant to train pilots who will fly the new generation of fighters. The report recommends that the two services continue with T-38 improvements and T-45 procurement respectively, and study a joint advanced trainer aircraft that would replace them both in 2015-2020. In the meantime, the T-37 will be completely replaced by the year 2006 by a new PATS aircraft, providing a chance to integrate the Navy requirement to replace the T-34C primary trainer beginning in 2003. The USAF and Navy have estab lished a joint PATS committee. The Navy may also find the Air Force's TTTS aircraft suit able for replacing its T-47s, which are currently leased by the service from Cessna for radar navigation and air-to-air intercept training. The end of the century will also see a need to replace the Navy's T-44A, used for E-2 and C-2 training. The report sees no common ality with Air Force require ments, however. The US Air Force will have to rely on reconditioned T-3'/ i8s until the end of the century Longer life for T-37 and T-38 The average fleet age of the T-38 advanced fighter/ bomber trainer is 23 years. Half of the T-38 workload will be relieved through intro duction of the TTTS aircraft, which enables the USAF to expand the aircraft's life far beyond original plans. Life extension centres on the $400 million "Classic Pacer" pro gramme, which replaces the dorsal longerons in all aircraft by the end of 1991. Introduced in 1956, the Cessna T-37 primary jet trainer was to have been replaced with the Fairchild T-46, which was cancelled in 1987. A structural life extension programme has been developed which will keep the 600 or so aircraft flying until 2005. This calls for replacement of certain fatigue-critical components, such as the forward wing-spar caps, and on-condition inspec tion or replacement of others. Total cost is estimated at $113-8 million. The layout of training options for the US Air Force and US Navy 14 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 March 1989
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