Ever since General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) decided last March to drop its partnership with Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi to bid on the U.S. Air Force’s T-X training jet, the Italian company has been looking for a new partner. It appears that Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) has stepped up.
A report in Defense News cites a source who said that Raytheon will announce on Monday, February 22, that it is joining Alenia in a bid for the training jet program. The first phase of the program is valued at about $8.4 billion. The Air Force is expected announce a contract award in 2017 to acquire 350 of the new planes to replace the decades-old T-38 fleet.
The Raytheon/Alenia bid is based on Alenia’s M-346 training jet, which the company has rebranded as the T-100. The Italian company needs a U.S.-based prime contractor, and Raytheon, which provides electronics and weapons to other manufacturers, needs a platform for its components.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Saab have teamed on a clean-sheet design for the T-X. Other expected bidders on the Air Force trainer contract are a clean-sheet design from a team lead by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and a proposal from Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) in conjunction with Korean Aerospace, makers of the T-50 jet trainer, which would be modified to meet the Air Force’s requirements. Textron Airland may also be preparing a new design, but none has yet been announced.
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