Boeing’s T-X jet trainer is to use an auxiliary power system supplied by Safran Electrical & Power, under the terms of an agreement signed at the Paris air show with the US company's development partner, Saab.
Extending a relationship in place between Saab and the Safran group company since 2011 on the Swedish airframer's Gripen fighter programme, the new agreement covers the future production of equipment at the supplier's Pitstone facility in Buckinghamshire, the UK.
Boeing
"The auxiliary power system is used to provide electrical and hydraulic power to the aircraft during start-up on ground and emergency in flight," Safran Electrical & Power says.
Boeing's single-engined T-X was last year selected to replace the US Air Force's aged Northrop T-38C jet trainers and the airframer will perform final assembly in St Louis, Missouri. Saab in early May announced its selection of West Lafayette, Louisiana, as the location for its future rear fuselage assembly facility for the programme.
First deliveries of the T-X are expected in 2023, with the air force expected to acquire an initial 351 examples.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
