Escape system problem causes T-7 deliveries to slip to end of 2025
By Stephen Losey
Apr 20, 02:16 PM
The first production T-7A Red Hawk is now expected to be delivered in December 2025, more than two years later than originally planned. (Boeing)
WASHINGTON — Problems with the T-7A Red Hawk, including a potentially dangerous escape system and ejection seat, have caused the U.S. Air Force to push back a production decision and deliveries of the service’s next jet trainer aircraft.
The Air Force said in an email to Defense News that it now expects to make a decision on producing the T-7A in February 2025, and for the aircraft’s manufacturer Boeing to start delivering them in December that year. The schedule shift means the aircraft will now arrive at least two years later than the service originally intended.
It is the latest slide in the T-7′s schedule, after a December acknowledgement that problems with the aircraft’s design and testing caused the plane’s production to slip into 2024.
The delay was first reported by Air and Space Forces Magazine.
https://www.militarytimes.com/air/2023/04/20/escape-system-problem-causes-t-7-deliveries-to-slip-to-end-of-2025/
