Raytheon is developing an integrated training system to prepare pilots for the increasingly sophisticated combat missions of tomorrow. The company is partnering with aircraft manufacturer Leonardo to build the T-100 Integrated Air Training System, its contender for the T-X, the U.S. Air Force's highly competitive challenge to create an advanced new jet trainer. A decision on T-X is expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

"Next-generation combat programs require a next-generation training system,” said Brick “Bluto” Izzi, a 25-year veteran F-16 fighter pilot who now serves as chief engineer for business development at Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business. “The T-38, the Air Force's current jet training system, is simply not capable of presenting tomorrow's pilots with the avionics and mission scenarios that will prepare them for next-generation aircraft.”

Raytheon brings decades of sensors and electronics expertise to its partnership with Leonardo, which is supplying the airplane: The T-100, a variant of the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer, currently in use by the Italian Air Force, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Israeli Air Force and Polish Air Force.

The Raytheon/Leonardo trainer will be manufactured in the United States.

“I've flown the F-16 as a USAF weapons school instructor for almost 20 years, and I've flown this trainer, and it provides two key advantages: thrust-to-weight that leaves no question about excess power, and truly amazing, embedded tactical training,” said Izzi. “It is a superior instructor platform.”

In the T-100, pilots will be immersed in a realistic, complex training environment with cutting-edge avionics and pilot-vehicle interfaces, including the ability to simulate tactical scenarios, sensors, threats and weapons while in flight.

“The M-346 is a proven, mature, eminently flyable aircraft, qualities that are critically important for any new trainer,” said Rick Yuse, president of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. “Even more critical are the sophisticated electronics that will prepare trainees to fly in the information-rich environment of current and future technology.”

The T-100 builds on Raytheon's heritage as a developer of high-performance training solutions, having served as prime contractor on the T-6 Texan II and T-1 Jayhawk.

Also partnering with Raytheon and Leonardo on the T-100 proposal are Honeywell Aerospace and CAE USA Inc.