TAI and Airbus collaborate on Hurjet trainer for Spain
The Hurjet is pitched as the front runner for the Spanish Air Force’s Advanced Jet Trainer replacement programme for its ageing F-5M aircraft.
The US Air Force’s B-52s have been powered by TF33 engines. (Photo: Boeing)
Pratt & Whitney will support US Air Force (USAF) TF33 engines to the end of the decade under a US$870 million deal which could be extended for further four years.
The TF33 engine has powered the some of the force’s largest aircraft including Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress and E-3 Sentry. The deal has marked a continuation of Pratt & Whitney’s arrangements with the Defense Logistics Agency's decades-long partnership with the 448th Supply Chain Management Wing, Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma.
Pratt & Whitney will provide engine sustainment services for a fleet of nearly 1,000 engines including maintenance, spare parts, programme management, field service, repairs and engineering support.
Sustainment work will run through April 2034 and also occur at Tinker AFB, as well as additional USAF locations and Pratt & Whitney's Southern Logistics Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
The aircraft engine manufacturer described the deal as a ‘first-of-its-kind approach will reduce obsolescence, supporting the USAF’s wartime readiness today and into the foreseeable future’.
‘The TF33 enterprise is maturing beyond the conventional approach to a more complete, advanced sustainment process that will maximize the TF33's support to many missions across the globe through 2050,’ the company noted.
The Hurjet is pitched as the front runner for the Spanish Air Force’s Advanced Jet Trainer replacement programme for its ageing F-5M aircraft.
The US Army also added that it would push to get the long-range assault aircraft online “years ahead” of its original 2030 timeline.
Further tests will be carried out on the existing fleet, ahead of the Royal Air Force’s anticipated transition from MQ-9A Reaper aircraft to the MQ-9B Protector by the end of 2025.
Both the possible sale for six Chinook helicopters and F-16 sustainment will bolster existing UAE fleets and the country’s position as a US partner and ally, according to the DSCA.
Last week, it was revealed that the US Army intended to cancel the long-running Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS). The revelation, no doubt part of the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI), came a week after the force highlighted that it would cancel the procurement of Gray Eagle aircraft.
The two aircraft were delivered in the TR-3 configuration, bringing the RAF one step closer to fulfilling its order for 48 F-35B aircraft.