We as a race are at a point in our history when we can make pretty much everything we want, any way we want it. The technological advancements made over the past few decades now make it possible, for instance, to build parts of an airplane in distant areas of the world and then have them assembled extremely fast elsewhere.
Some of you may already be aware that Boeing is presently working on a trainer aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. It’s called T-7A Red Hawk, an evolution of the Boeing T-X concept developed by Boeing together with Swedish company Saab.
And by developed, we don’t only mean designed. The aircraft, expected to enter service shortly, was not only penned by the two companies but it is also being put together in different parts of the world.
Using model-based engineering and 3D design, the two companies were capable of constructing two parts of the airplane with perfect precision. That allows Boeing engineers in U.S. to quickly mate the aft section of the Red Hawk, made 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) away in Sweden, with the front fuselage, in just 30 minutes.
According to the airplane maker’s reps, the methods used for the creation of the Red Hawk allow for 50 percent improvement in production quality and 98 percent reduction in drilling defects.
This particular aircraft is the one Boeing will use for static tests. Five more airplanes, the engineering and manufacturing development jets, will follow shortly. When all the testing is done, USAF will field 351 Red Hawk trainers, each rocking a General Electric turbofan engine capable of generating 17,000 lbf (76 kN) of thrust with an afterburner.
Production of the aircraft began in February this year when Boeing showed a rendering of the planes in the colors of the Tuskegee Airmen, the unit of the 477th Bombardment Group responsible in World War Two for 1,578 combat sorties and the destruction of around 260 enemy aircraft.
And by developed, we don’t only mean designed. The aircraft, expected to enter service shortly, was not only penned by the two companies but it is also being put together in different parts of the world.
Using model-based engineering and 3D design, the two companies were capable of constructing two parts of the airplane with perfect precision. That allows Boeing engineers in U.S. to quickly mate the aft section of the Red Hawk, made 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) away in Sweden, with the front fuselage, in just 30 minutes.
According to the airplane maker’s reps, the methods used for the creation of the Red Hawk allow for 50 percent improvement in production quality and 98 percent reduction in drilling defects.
This particular aircraft is the one Boeing will use for static tests. Five more airplanes, the engineering and manufacturing development jets, will follow shortly. When all the testing is done, USAF will field 351 Red Hawk trainers, each rocking a General Electric turbofan engine capable of generating 17,000 lbf (76 kN) of thrust with an afterburner.
Production of the aircraft began in February this year when Boeing showed a rendering of the planes in the colors of the Tuskegee Airmen, the unit of the 477th Bombardment Group responsible in World War Two for 1,578 combat sorties and the destruction of around 260 enemy aircraft.