With the T-50, the mission capable rate is holding strong at 90 percent across 300,000 flight hours.
Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries have expanded their decade-old relationship by signing a new teaming agreement for future T-50 opportunities. The T-50 program was originally developed by KAI in partnership with Lockheed Martin and took its maiden flight in 2002 and its first production flight in 2005. Since then, 208 have been produced with an additional 28 on order across a number of aerobatic and combat variants including the T-50A, T-50B, TA-50, and FA-50.
Aimee Burnett, vice president, Integrated Fighter Group Business Development at Lockheed Martin said, “Lockheed Martin is an air power solutions leader, delivering capabilities across the entire spectrum of training and combat aircraft. We are proud to continue to partner with KAI on the T-50 to leverage our collective experiences to train the next generation of pilots to fly, fight and win.”
T-50 is a proven aircraft program that reduces the learning curve for new pilots and gets them flying operational sorties faster – even in fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35. That’s important as air forces around the world need to get their pilots up to speed faster than ever before, whether that’s to fill a gap in personnel or due to the increased frequency of combat missions.
Aimee Burnett further added, “That’s where the benefits of the proven T-50 program really come into play. The seamless training experience with the T-50 gives student pilots an additional edge and fully prepares them – in less time than in the past – to fly any combat mission. We are focused on readiness for the fleets and customers we support and bringing new digital tools to enable new capabilities. And we’re seeing success. As an example, with the T-50, the mission capable rate is holding strong at 90 percent across 300,000 flight hours – an outstanding result that demonstrates our focus.”
The program has reduced the number of required flights for Korean pilots learning in the KF-16 to only nine sorties. Feedback from many of the 2,500 pilots who have been trained in the T-50 across 3,750 test flights says it’s easy to fly and offers controls similar to other Lockheed Martin aircraft like the F-16 and F-35. This allows student pilots to focus their airmanship skills on improved aero performance, digital flight controls, and next-generation air traffic management systems.
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Additionally, a ground-based training system contains an array of innovative technologies to provide options for training in a simulation environment. From a production standpoint, T-50 components can be shipped to a single location and produced with minimal space with maximum ease. That’s because aircraft components would be shipped in two containers and ready upon arrival in their home destination, for final assembly and check-out.
