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Brian Everstine
September 01, 2026
The Navy’s Boeing T-45 Goshawk fleet is already old and has had availability problems. Credit: U.S. Navy
The U.S. Navy is again delaying its next-generation trainer, pushing a potential award back three months as it gives competitors more time to respond to its request for proposals.
In an updated solicitation, the Navy says it now expects an award for the Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) on June 30, 2027. Previously, an award was expected in March 2027.
The Navy has extended the deadline to respond to its request for proposals (RFP) to October 30, 2026, after previously pushing it back to Sept. 9. That deadline was originally in July.
As the UJTS process has played out, the field of competitors has dropped from four to two. Lockheed Martin first pulled its proposal in March, having originally planned to offer the T-50 along with Korea Aerospace Industries. Boeing then dropped out in July, noting that its T-7A Red Hawk did not meet the Navy’s UJTS requirements.
The remaining competitors are Sierra Nevada Corp. with its clean-sheet Freedom trainer and the team of Textron and Leonardo with the Beechcraft M-346.
Both the T-50 and T-7 use the GE Aerospace F404 engine, and Boeing said at the time that it would require new development work to get the F404 to meet requirements. SNC’s offer uses two Williams FJ44s, and the M-346 uses Honeywell F124s.
The Navy also changed its cost target for the program as it amended the solicitation, adding approximately $1 billion to the original projected cost of $1.7 billion. However, the RFP kept initial award costs comparatively low at $52.8 million in fiscal 2027 and $181 million for fiscal 2028, along with firm-fixed-price contract plans for low-rate initial production.
