Washington: After pushback from industry, the US Navy has boosted the budget for developing a new training jet by roughly $900 million. The Navy in March originally solicited bids for the Undergraduate Jet Training System with a ceiling of roughly $1.8 billion for the aircraft’s engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase, a price cap that included up to seven low-rate initial production aircraft. But in May, the service raised the price ceiling to $2.7 billion, according to an updated request for proposals.
“The Government updated the price cap to reflect a change in the programme cost estimate due to new information received,” Naval Air Systems Command said in a statement.
Several defence firms are competing for the new trainer jet, including Textron Aviation Defence, who is offering the Beechcraft M-346N as part of a partnership with Leonardo. A spokesperson for Textron said in a statement that the firm “remains focused on delivering a proven training solution in the Beechcraft M-346N that meets the Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System mission needs.”
SNC, along with Northrop Grumman and General Atomics, is offering its Freedom Trainer. A spokesperson for SNC did not respond to a request for comment from Breaking Defense by press time.
However, Jon Piatt, SNC executive vice president for ISR, aviation and security, previously raised concern about the programme’s original $1.8 billion budget. “I am a little bit surprised that for something this important, for the next generation of trainer, that the Navy would make a decision to put a cap on a development programme that is already going to be hamstrung by budget constraints in the first two years of what has currently been budgeted,” Piatt said in April. “It’s a big challenge. It could be a big obstacle.”
