L3Harris to provide mission management processor for USAF T-7A trainers

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L3Harris to provide mission management processor for USAF T-7A trainers

The processors will increase pilot readiness by connecting various data feeds to the cockpit’s displays.

 

The T-7A Red Tail aircraft is the USAF’s first jet trainer in 60 years. Credit: ©Boeing/L3Harris Technologies.

Boeing has awarded a contract to L3Harris Technologies to deliver mission-management processors for the US Air Force’s (USAF) T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft.

The estimated value of this contract is approximately $91.5m.

According to L3Harris, the mission-management processors have been developed specifically for T-7A Red Hawk trainer jets.

The system will combine a set of data streams that will help the aircraft’s pilots easily decode and process mission-critical information in flight.

The processors’ communication and sensors capabilities connect internal and external data networks and link video feeds to the cockpit’s displays for providing optimal battlespace awareness.

The new processors can also provide the required simulation for the trainee pilots.

Designed to increase operational reliability, the processor technology is part of the company’s digital and open-system approach to decrease the overall maintenance and lifecycle cost of the aircraft.

The modular system is also capable of expanding mission capabilities by using extra payload slots.

L3Harris’ mission management processors are also in use with the US Navy’s new MQ-25 uncrewed aircraft, the F/A-18 aircraft and the F-35 fighter jet.

L3Harris Space and Airborne Systems president Ed Zoiss said: “L3Harris mission management processors are key to the T-7A Red Hawk’s mission of training the next generation of Air Force pilots.

“The processors deliver technology the Air Force can rely upon to bolster pilot readiness.”

Unveiled by Boeing in April, the T-7A Red Hawk trainer jets are being developed to train the USAF’s pilots to fly fourth and fifth-generation aircraft.

The new T-7A trainer fleet is expected to start operating in 2024.

Once in service, the new jets will replace the Air Education and Training Command’s (AETC) T-38C Talon fleet.

Source airforce-technology.com

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