USAF Efforts to get T-7A Redhawk testing back on track
August 31, 2024
The first Boeing EMD T-7A Redhawk (21-7001, known as APT-001) and the original BTX prototype (N381TX) arrived at Edwards AFB on 21 August to boost the ongoing flight test campaign, which is running some way behind schedule.
The T-7A Integrated Test Force, part of the Airpower Foundations Combined Test Force, is a partnership between the 416th FLTS, AFOTEC (Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center), and Boeing. Until recently, it operated a single T-7A, having received the first production representative aircraft to fly (21-7002, APT-002) on 8 November 2023. Another aircraft, (21-7003, APT-003), was dispatched to Eglin AFB on 15 December 2023, for climate testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory. The aircraft assigned to Edwards was due to have been joined by APT-004 in December 2023, and by APT-005 in January 2024, but the delivery of these aircraft was delayed by unspecified quality issues with parts from Boeing suppliers.
To bridge the gap, the first T-7A Redhawk (71-7001, APT-001) and the first of two original prototype aircraft (N381TX, BTX-1) were dispatched to Edwards AFB, though neither aircraft is fully representative of the production configuration, and had not been expected to participate in USAF EMD (Engineering, Manufacturing, and Development) flying.
The two aircraft arrived at Edwards on August 21, 2024, flown by Boeing test pilots and Lt Col Charles Brantigan, Commander of the 416th FLTS and Lt Col Jonathan Aronoff, Director of the T-7A Integrated Test Force. They routed from St Louis to Tinker AFB on 20 August, before flying on to Colorado Springs, and then on to Edwards AFB.
