A brand new replace to the Undergraduate Jet Coaching System’s RFI mentions the requirement for a 216-aircraft fleet, blaming the federal government shutdown for the RFP’s delay.
The U.S. Navy has set a requirement for 216 plane to exchange the T-45 Goshawk fleet as a part of the Undergraduate Jet Coaching System (UJTS). The requirement was talked about within the newest replace to the Request for Data launched on Dec. 15, 2025.
Newest RFI
The RFI, the sixth for the reason that launch of the trouble, explains that the UJTS program has two overarching targets, that are the pace to Preliminary Operational Functionality (IOC) and the standard of coaching. The primary one, nonetheless, has been impacted by the latest authorities shutdown.
The up to date RFI, in actual fact, mentions that the discharge of the Request for Proposals has additional been delayed, and is now deliberate for late February 2026, as an alternative of December 2025 as beforehand deliberate. The projected contract award date has additionally been delayed from January 2027 to the second quarter of Fiscal Yr 2027.
Notably, a draft of the RFP could be launched in late January 2026, says the service. Moreover, the RFI explains the RFP shall be for the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Growth (EMD) of the UJTS answer in addition to the Procurement of the primary lot of Low-Price Preliminary Manufacturing (LRIP) plane and restricted portions of ground-based coaching techniques.
For the primary time, the RFI gives explicitly a quantity for the brand new fleet to be procured. The Navy needs “approximatively 216” plane, with three LRIP a number of 1-7 plane, 2-12 plane and 20 plane, respectively, earlier than a Full-Price Manufacturing of 25 plane per 12 months.
The RFI additionally features a notable paragraph:
“The Contractor shall carry out a flight Operations Program to facilitate the achievement of roughly 35 flight hours monthly per plane for a Interval of Efficiency for 12-months beginning 60 days previous to the primary LRIP plane supply to NAS Meridian, with an possibility to increase for 6-months.”
This seems to point the Navy could wish to hit the bottom operating and begin operations with the brand new plane as quickly as it’s delivered to NAS Meridian. Moreover, this might imply the service is aiming to acquire an early operational functionality inside a short while, additional signaling the urgency to exchange the T-45.
Earlier RFIs
The earlier RFI was launched on Mar. 31, 2025, and, whereas mentioning the UJTS program is on an accelerated procurement timeline,” already delayed a number of the milestones. Most significantly, the RFI included one of many Navy’s most important choices, stating that “the UJTS air automobile will solely be required to conduct Subject Service Touchdown Apply (FCLP) to wave off.”
As we beforehand reported, a superb portion of the coaching command’s syllabus is centered across the FCLP, which permits new pilots to coach on land bases for the whole strategy and touchdown maneuver as carried out on the plane service, simply in need of the arrested touchdown. With the brand new requirement, future scholar pilots will solely carry out the strategy section of the present FCLP, going round as soon as reached the minimums, with out touching down on the runway.
The Navy says that this determination, which units a totally completely different route in comparison with the T-45 Goshawk and, beforehand, the T-2 Buckeye, is “as a result of developments in operational platform touchdown modes and in ground-based simulation.” This implies the brand new naval aviators will rely extra on automation and carry out full FCLPs solely within the flight simulator.
Additionally, this determination would enable for faster growth, because the new coach plane is not going to require advanced and prolonged structural modifications to be tailored to the brand new position. The service, in actual fact, wants shortly a substitute for the T-45 fleet, because it retains dealing with issues.
With the brand new RFI, the Navy can be requesting trade enter to finalize the necessities for the Floor Primarily based Coaching System (GBTS). The service is “considering a four-tiered GBTS product line, consisting of Operational Flight Trainers (OFT), Unit Coaching Units (UTD), Cockpit Procedural Trainers (CPT), and Desktop Avionics Trainers (DAT),” full with “Stay/Digital/Constructive (LVC) built-in coaching.”
The earlier RFI, launched in 2024, targeted on the plane itself. The attributes requested for the cockpit characteristic the protection and environmental traits frequent to all fashionable plane, with a cockpit configuration which mirrors the Navy’s latest fighters.
The RFI then strikes to suitability and efficiency attributes, starting from the potential to take care of fastened Angle of Assault (AoA) strategy focusing on 3.25 diploma glideslope whereas sustaining discipline of view throughout unflared landings. This RFI mentioned the plane was anticipated to carry out 6-10 unflared landings per coaching occasion, or 1,400 landings per 12 months assuming 400 flight hours per 12 months, and a complete of 10,000 hours of airframe fatigue life and 35,000 landings.
As for the efficiency, the Navy is searching for an plane able to a pace of a minimum of Mach 0.9/450-500 KIAS, sustained AoA over 20 deg, sustained load issue of a minimum of 6 G, working ceiling of a minimum of 41,000 ft and switch fee of a minimum of 12 deg/sec. The RFI additionally mentions wing and/or wingtip pylons for shops carriage, which within the attachment are higher specified as exterior gas tanks, baggage pod and PMBR (Apply A number of Bomb Rack) with six MK-76 kind follow bombs.
The brand new UJTS plane can be required to combine the brand new Precision Touchdown Mode (PLM), which is now on F/A-18s and F-35s and can ultimately be the usual technique for approaching the plane service for all naval plane. PLM not solely drastically reduces the variety of corrections required through the remaining strategy to the plane service, however might additionally decrease the demand on the construction of the plane, decreasing the necessity for structural modifications.
