Programma T-X

[Flaggy]

Così passiamo da beautiful a nightmare...

Intanto si continuano a commentare le ultime puntate della soap...

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/opinion-the-dwindling-pool-of-t-x-bidders-433778/

Modificato 6 Febbraio 2017 da Flaggy

[ROSSETTI BRUNO]

 

Mica male ... come idea ...

E magari ... Flaggy fa il progetto ...

 

Sicuramente quello che salterà fuori, sarà meglio dello Scorpion

[TT-1 Pinto]

Così passiamo da beautiful a nightmare ...

Intanto si continuano a commentare le ultime puntate della soap ...

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/opinion-the-dwindling-pool-of-t-x-bidders-433778/

 

Trovo strano che ai commentatori di FlightGlobal sia sfuggita la 'temeraria' entrata in scena di Stavatti Aerospace ...

A meno che non la considerino degna della benché minima menzione ...

[Flaggy]

 

Più che altro la cosa triste è che l'articolo sembra non dare credito manco al T-100 e sembra infatti riunire in un'unica rinuncia Raytheon e Leonardo anche se al momento ad essersi tirata indietro dovrebbe essere solo Raytheon.

 

Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries still intend to offer a slightly modified T-50A. Boeing and Saab will bid their clean-sheet T-X design. But gone suddenly is a Northrop Grumman/BAE Systems team with the clean-sheet Model 400 and Raytheon and Leonardo with the T-100 – a modified Aermacchi M-346.

 

Tornando a Stavatti...

 

Other potential players, including a suggested Sierra Nevada team with Turkish Aerospace Industries and Textron AirLand’s Scorpion, remain publicly mute with the bidding deadline only weeks away.

 

I tentennamenti di Textron e i rendering di Sierra Nevada e TAI finiscono tra gli "Other potential players".

Stavatti forse non merita molto più che essere sottointesa in quell'other, almeno finchè non farà qualcosa in più che scrivere un comunicato non molto diverso da quello di Sierra Nevada.

 

That strategy only works if industry plays along. Despite investing millions in prototypes and industrial preparation, Northrop and Raytheon determined T-X was not worth the effort. It is now up to Boeing and Lockheed to answer the USAF’s call. In a fight between an off-the-shelf T-50A and a clean-sheet alternative, the former should have the advantage on risk and cost.

 

Il punto è in effetti è qui: "millions in prototypes and industrial preparation". Milioni che Stavatti probabilmente non ha, avendo tra i suoi "prodotti" alcuni coreografici rendering e un progetto acquisito da AGT che però è fallita nel proporlo.

[TT-1 Pinto]

Stavatti forse non merita molto più che essere sottointesa in quell'other, almeno finchè non farà qualcosa in più che scrivere un comunicato non molto diverso da quello di Sierra Nevada.

Il punto è in effetti è qui: "millions in prototypes and industrial preparation".

Milioni che Stavatti probabilmente non ha, avendo tra i suoi "prodotti" alcuni coreografici rendering e un progetto acquisito da AGT che però è fallita nel proporlo.

 

Progetto che dovrebbe essere proprio questo ... http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/javelin-ajt/...

 

[Mustanghino]

ormai tutti dicono (e propongono) la loro su questo T-X: facciamolo anche noi!!!! ci basta avere un utente americano e il gioco è fatto

[TT-1 Pinto]

Intanto i Taiwanesi il trainer se lo faranno in casa ... lasciando Leonardo con un palmo di naso ... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/taiwan-launches-indigenous-advanced-jet-trainer-proj-433923/ ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Nuovo colpo di scena ...

 

... Leonardo torna alla carica ... http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/leonardo-enters-solo-t-x-bid-following-break-with-raytheon/article/2614244 ...

 

Il comunicato ufficiale ... http://www.leonardocompany.com/-/t-x-program...

 

 

Modificato 8 Febbraio 2017 da TT-1 Pinto

[Flaggy]

Bene, anche se evidentemente è un ripiego con cui tentare di convincere il cliente con una sufficiente quota americana nella proposta: in effetti finora la costruzione di aerostrutture non rientra tra le aree di attività di DRS.

 

http://www.leonardocompany.com/product-services/drs-t

[TT-1 Pinto]

Il rischio di perdere ... anche vincendo ...

L'analista Aboulafia dice la sua ... http://aviationweek.com/defense/opinion-t-x-lockheed-s-lose-and-boeing-s-win ...

 

Opinion: T-X Is Lockheed’s To Lose, And Boeing’s To Win ...

Richard Aboulafia - Aviation Week & Space Technology (Feb. 14, 2017)

Last month saw a sudden self-downselect by potential U.S. Air Force T-X trainer program contractors.

Northrop Grumman, which had built a clean-sheet T-X prototype, decided it would not bid after all.

Raytheon, bidding Leonardo’s M-346 as the T-100, left the partnership, leaving Leonardo’s expected bid as the sole non-U.S. prime.

On Jan. 1, there were four front-runners, and two are now left.

Lockheed Martin, offering Korea Aerospace Industries’ T-50A, and Boeing, working on a clean-sheet design with Saab, will bid, perhaps along with Sierra Nevada Corp.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin are sticking with the T-X, and they represent a study in contrasts.

The two dropouts left for a reason.

The final T-X request for proposals (RFP), released in late December, basically constitutes a price shootout, not too different from the KC-X aerial refueling tanker competition.

The RFP gives a price adjustment for superior performance but with a maximum that is less than $400 million, for a contract valued at over $16 billion.

Improved maintenance costs do not count either, since there is merely a maximum life-cycle cost, with no credit for anything lower.

Meanwhile, T-X development cost overruns beyond a certain point will be borne by the contractor.

The KC-X program used this formula too, resulting in Boeing’s $1.5 billion in KC-46 losses.

A contractor persisting in these circumstances needs either an off-the-shelf platform or a strategic imperative to win a U.S. military aircraft contract.

Lockheed Martin has the former, while Boeing has the latter.

Northrop Grumman, with a new aircraft and the important B-21 contract win behind it, had neither.

Raytheon, which has not built an aircraft since it owned Hawker Beechcraft over a decade ago, had Leonardo’s off-the-shelf M-346, but it could not make the bid price numbers work.

While the T-50 and Boeing T-X will be superb performers, it will be hard for either to gain a performance edge, given the terms of the RFP.

They both use the same GE F404 engine, and neither will be able to gain a significantly greater share of that performance incentivization increment than the other.

For the Lockheed/KAI team, the advantage is in not having to bury any serious development costs in the bid price.

As an off-the-shelf aircraft, the T-50 also will not suffer any risk-related upward price adjustment, another feature of the RFP with which Boeing will need to deal.

For Boeing, much depends on how it amortizes the cost of developing its clean-sheet design, a question that is related to its expectation for total market size.

Much of this nonrecurring expense is shared with Saab, but the Swedish company will want some degree of amortization, too.

If the development bill is $1.5 billion, and this is amortized solely by the 350 aircraft in the T-X program, this represents a $4.3 million additional cost for each aircraft.

Since T-X unit costs will likely be lower than $20 million, this added cost would be disastrous, particularly due to the RFP’s risk cost-adjustment.

But if Boeing believes the total market is 1,000 aircraft, the unit cost increase would be in the $1.5 million range, a far more manageable increment.

The problem is that the 1,000-unit market is speculative, at best.

Boeing has designed an aircraft optimized for the T-X competition, and the world market for supersonic high-end trainers is relatively small.

There is also the light fighter market, but with its stadium seating and other trainer features, it is far from clear that Boeing’s T-X can play a significant role as a light fighter.

Even the T-50, sold as the FA-50 for light fighter missions, has only found a small export market niche.

Selling 650 Boeing T-Xs for these missions in the world market would be a very difficult task.

Therefore, the big question is with Boeing.

If it is sufficiently eager to win a new military airframe contract, it will make the aggressive decision to spread costs over a large and perhaps unrealistic number of aircraft, probably resulting in future losses.

If it does not do this, then Lockheed/KAI will win, assuming the team puts in a sufficiently aggressive bid.

It is Lockheed’s to lose and Boeing’s to win.

As for the Air Force, it has done its job, with T-X RFP terms harsh enough to eliminate two of the four front-runners but reasonable enough to preserve competition between the two survivors.

The service clearly has not left any money on the table.

Contributing columnist Richard Aboulafia is vice president of analysis at Teal Group.

He is based in Washington.

The views expressed are not necessarily those of Aviation Week.

 

 

 

[ROSSETTI BRUNO]

Se continua così ogni addestratore finirà per costare più di un F35

[TT-1 Pinto]

Intanto i Taiwanesi il trainer se lo faranno in casa ... lasciando Leonardo con un palmo di naso ... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/taiwan-launches-indigenous-advanced-jet-trainer-proj-433923/ ...

 

Ulteriori informazioni ...

The decision is controversial.

The ROCAF evaluated jet trainers produced by Korea Aerospace Industries (the T-50) and Leonardo (the M346).

In 2014 AIDC signed an MoU with what was then Finmeccanica to buy 66 M346s for approximately $2.1 billion.

Most of them would have been built by AIDC in its Taichung facility.

But following the victory of Taiwan’s pro-independence party in last year’s general election, new President Tsai Ing-Wen pledged to boost the island’s own defense industry.

Leonardo reportedly reduced the price of its M346 offer by about 25 percent, but to no avail.

Fonte: AINonline ... Taiwan Confirms Indigenous Jet Trainer Development ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Una giornalista in volo sul T-50 .....

 

... https://twitter.com/LeighGiangreco/status/834179736414912514 ...

 

 

[TT-1 Pinto]

T-X ... DefenseNews fa il punto sulla situazione ...

... The T-X battle comes down to Lockheed and Boeing ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Un'altra giornalista in volo sul T-50A ...

Questa volta è toccato a Lara Seligman di AW&ST ...

 

... Aviation Week Rides in Lockheed’s T-50A Pilot Trainer ...

 

... https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/835103248784687104 ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Leonardo comunica che produrrà il T-100, qualora risultasse vincente nella competizione, negli Stati Uniti ... ma si riserva di rivelare successivamente la località ove questo avverrà ...

After parting ways with Raytheon, Leonardo is flying solo in the US Air Force’s T-X trainer competition but still plans to establish final assembly for the M-346 trainer derivative in the USA..

The Italian company will announce the location of the manufacturing facility soon, DRS chief executive Bill Lynn told FlightGlobal in a 9 March interview.

The T-100 will maintain the M-346’s two Honeywell F124 engines, which are manufactured in Arizona, and its CAE simulators will be built in Florida.

Sin qui niente di nuovo ... poiché la produzione 'in loco' dell'aereo è, ovviamente, uno dei requisiti principali del bando ...

L'articolo di FlightGlobal è però interessante sotto altri punti di vista ... in quanto fornisce chiarimenti su alcuni aspetti particolari della proposta italiana ...

... Leonardo to manufacture T-100 in the US ...

[Jastreb]

​Al momento si sa,indicativamente,quando l'USAF dovrà pronunciarsi circa il vincitore di questo concorso?

[TT-1 Pinto]

​Al momento si sa,indicativamente,quando l'USAF dovrà pronunciarsi circa il vincitore di questo concorso?

 

Entro il 2017 ... sempre che, nel frattempo, non intervengano fatti nuovi ... tipo ... Trump che si mette a strillare ... 'Costa troppo !!!'

 

... http://www.aetc.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/5115/Article/1038907/air-force-releases-rfp-replaces-t-38.aspx ...

 

... http://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2017/January%202017/January%2004%202017/Off-We-Go…on-the-T-X.aspx ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Textron Airland ha detto ... NO !

Textron Airland has officially decided against offering its Scorpion jet for the Air Force’s T-X trainer competition, ending speculation about whether the aircraft would emerge as a dark horse candidate.

“We certainly believe the Scorpion can fit a good training role, not only for the U.S. Air Force but around the world, but with the requirements that had been put out there for the T-X, we don’t believe the Scorpion fits all the requirements,” said Bill Harris, the company’s vice president of Scorpion jet sales.

Fonte: DefenseNews ... Textron AirLand to forgo T-X bid with Scorpion jet ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Moretti va all' attacco ...

The CEO of Italy’s Leonardo has denied reports that the firm’s M-346 jet is too pricey to compete in the U.S. T-X trainer contest, pointing fingers at another supplier for driving up the cost.

Leonardo’s partnership with Raytheon to pitch the Italian trainer in the T-X context broke up last month amid reports that Leonardo refused requests from the US firm to lower the aircraft’s price.

Leonardo has since replaced Raytheon with its US electronics subsidiary DRS as prime contractor on the bid.

Asked about the split with Raytheon at a press conference in Milan on Wednesday, Leonardo CEO Mauro Moretti said, “The problem with Raytheon was not (our) price, because Raytheon checked it against a U.S. benchmark and our prices were lower.”

Moretti suggested Raytheon did have a problem with conditions set down by Honeywell, which provides propulsion for the jet, which was renamed the T-100 for the bid.

“Raytheon could not get what they wanted with Honeywell on the engines,” he said.

Fonte: DefenseNews ... Leonardo CEO: Raytheon-Honeywell impasse to blame for T-X breakup ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Leonardo ... i (legittimi) timori dell'ex AD Moretti sull'esito della competizione ...

Mauro Moretti, Leonardo’s chief executive, speaking on a full-year results call, noted that as the T-X competition was the last of the air force’s big ticket acquisitions, this provided an extra competitive edge.

“It is quite reasonable to assume that whoever didn’t have a result before wants to have a result today,” he says.

However, he is concerned that political considerations will favour domestic suppliers, despite Italy’s considerable defence purchases from the USA, notably the Lockheed F-35.

“If you consider the balance of what Italy is buying in defence in the USA against what we can sell in the same market we know it is absolutely not comparable,” he says.

“I don’t know a similar situation in defence and security between two countries. I hope and think that politically it will be considered to give the best system on the market at the moment the possibility that it needs.”

 

Fonte: FlightGlobal ... Leonardo fears US domestic politics will scupper T-X bid ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

LM ..... pronta (e anticipata) consegna offresi ...

Lockheed Martin could deliver its T-50A training jet to the U.S. Air Force six years earlier than a clean-sheet design, saving the service some $1 billion it would otherwise spend on the current T-38 Talon, the manufacturer contends.

“Our airplane is ready now,” Rob Weiss, Lockheed Martin executive vice president, declared March 21 as the proposal deadline neared for the Air Force’s T-X advanced pilot training requirement.

The service plans to award a contract this year for engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) and production of 350 new jets and ground-based training systems, an estimated $16.3 billion acquisition.

“We believe we’ve made the right choice with an off-the-shelf aircraft that meets all the requirements at very little risk to EMD,” Weiss added.

Fonte: AINonline ... Lockheed Martin Says It Can Deliver T-50A Early If Needed ...

Questi hanno una fifa boia di perdere e le pensano tutte per tentare di vincere ... a tutti i costi ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Boeing ha presentato la propria proposta ...

Boeing submitted its proposal for the Air Force’s T-X advanced pilot training system on Tuesday, two days ahead of the deadline, company program manager Ted Torgerson told reporters during a company teleconference Wednesday.

The 90 days of preparation since the service released its request for proposals was “proposal hell,” Torgerson said, but all the required basic flight data, collected with the No. 1 aircraft, have been submitted, he reported.

Fonte: AFA ... Boeing’s In on T-X ...

[TT-1 Pinto]

Leonardo, qualora dovesse vincere la competizione, produrrà il T-100 a Tuskegee in Alabama ...

 

... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/tuskegee-to-host-leonardos-t-100-assembly-435724/...

[TT-1 Pinto]

If the Leonardo T-100 wins the Air Force’s T-X advanced trainer contract, the jet would be assembled at Moton Field, Ala., coincidentally where the Tuskegee Airmen trained in World War II, Alabama governor Robert Bentley announced Thursday.

He said the company will “create 750 … high-paying jobs … over a 10-year ramp-up period” at the site, which will get going with a public-private partnership lease of new-build facilities.

 

Così comincia il commento del Daily Report dell'AFA sulla scelta di Tuskegee da parte di Leonardo ... Sweet Home if Leonardo Wins T-X ...