ST. LOUIS - Less than 300 miles will now separate Boeing from its T-7A teammate Saab with the opening of Saab’s new 100,000-square-foot production facility in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Boeing-Saab team is producing the new advanced trainer for the U.S. Air Force, with Saab providing the aft section to Boeing’s forward fuselage. Currently the aft section is built at Saab’s factory in Linköping, Sweden, then shipped to the United States.
The T-7A Red Hawk went from concept to first flight in just 36 months using advanced model-based engineering and digital design techniques. The digital thread, the connection of digital information through product design, manufacturing and inspection, used throughout the program has accounted for a 75% improvement in engineering quality.
In September 2018, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract to supply 351 advanced trainer aircraft and 46 associated ground based training simulators.
