The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has decided not to propose its Freedom Jet design for the U.S. Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) competition. The field of contenders for UJTS, which aims to find a replacement for the aging T-45 Goshawk jet trainer, has narrowed significantly already this year. The Beechcraft M-346N, put forward by U.S. firm Textron and Italy’s Leonardo, is now the only known major design left in the running.
SNC’s decision on UJTS was first reported by Breaking Defense and has since been further confirmed by Aviation Week. In September, Northrop Grumman had announced it was dropping out of its partnership with SNC on the Freedom Jet proposal. General Atomics has also been named in the past as being part of this team. The Navy’s deadline for bids for its jet trainer competition had come up on October 30. The service’s stated goal has been to acquire 216 new trainers to replace the just under 200 T-45s that are in its inventory today.
Freedom Family of Training Systems (FoTS)
“With great respect for the Navy and PMA-273, SNC could not responsibly bid the UJTS program under the current contract structure,” SNC said in a statement to Breaking Defense. “We do remain committed to naval jet training and stand ready to re-engage if the approach is revisited.”
Textron Aviation Defense separately confirmed to that outlet that it submitted the M-346N, a navalized version of the Leonardo-developed M-346 Master advanced jet trainer, and said that it was “ready to support the U.S. Navy and its future training needs.”
TWZ previously flew aboard the M-346, providing a firsthand look at the aircraft Textron is pitching to the service.
M-346 Jet Trainer Walk-Around Tour With Its Test Pilot.
Whether or not any other serious bids have been submitted for UJTS is unknown. What impact SNC’s decision not to put forward a proposal may now have on the competition is unclear. TWZ has reached out to SNC and Textron Aviation Defense, as well as the Navy, for additional details.
“Proposals were due on 30 October 2026,” the Navy’s UJTS program office said in response to our queries. “The Government is in source selection with the intent to award the UJTS procurement in 4QFY27 [the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2027].”
As mentioned, SNC’s announcement follows decisions by several other major aerospace companies to pull out of the running for UJTS.
Lockheed Martin announced in April that it would not submit a proposal for UJTS. The company had previously planned to submit the TF-50N, a navalized version of the T-50 developed with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). Neither firm appears to have given a detailed explanation for this decision.
Boeing followed suit in June, saying it would not put forward a proposal due to issues tied to the General Electric F404 turbofan and UJTS engine qualification requirements. The company had been expected to submit a bid involving a version of the T-7A Red Hawk being built now for the U.S. Air Force, which is powered by a single F404.
After Boeing’s announcement, the Navy’s competition looked to be down to just two established teams: Textron and Leonardo with the M-346N, and SNC with its Freedom Jet. It is important to note that the M-346N and Freedom Jet are twin-engine aircraft, while the TF-50N and T-7A are single-engine types. SNC had also been the only one in the running with a clean-sheet design.
Now the field has dwindled to just one major contender, the Textron/Leonardo team, at least that we know of, barring the emergence of a surprise entrant. The Navy has not confirmed how many bids it ultimately received for UJTS. The service could also potentially reopen the UJTS competition or otherwise restructure its T-45 replacement plans.
Since the early 1990s, the Navy has been using variants of the T-45 Goshawk to train future naval aviators destined to fly tactical jets and other carrier-based aircraft. This includes members of the U.S. Marine Corps and foreign student aviators. The Goshawks are currently the service’s only fast jet trainer aircraft.
Despite having received various upgrades over the years, the T-45 fleet continues to age and has faced significant struggles. This includes a spate of reported hypoxia-like physiological episodes among pilots that led to the development of a new oxygen system. There have been several Goshawk crashes in recent years due to a variety of factors, the most recent of which came just this past May. The pilots of that aircraft involved in that mishap thankfully survived.
As such, there has been a growing imperative to replace the T-45s, which led to the UJTS program. UJTS also reflects broader changes to how future naval aviators are trained.
One of the most significant developments already has been the elimination of carrier qualification requirements, including touch-and-goes and full landings, from the syllabus for students in the tactical air aviator training pipeline. Those individuals can still get carrier qualifications in T-45s, if there is time and space available. There is currently still a carrier qualification requirement for future E-2 Hawkeye pilots and foreign student aviators in order to graduate and earn their coveted wings of gold.
At present, prospective naval aviators training to fly fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft do still have to conduct so-called Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) at facilities ashore. FCLP is structured in such a way that it “simulates, as near as practicable, the conditions encountered during carrier landing operations,” per the Navy.
F-18 Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP). Touch-and-Go Landing.
This is all set to change further with the acquisition of new trainers through UJTS. Unlike the T-45, the Navy’s future jet trainers are not required to have features to support full carrier-based operations, touch-and-goes on those ships, or even FCLP training at bases on land.
The Navy’s decision to alter what have long been considered vital aspects of the naval aviator training pipeline has been and continues to be controversial. Concerns and criticisms have been raised about safety and other ramifications of cutting carrier qualification and other requirements.
For its part, the Navy has argued that other modernization efforts have fundamentally changed what is necessary to train naval aviators. The service regularly points to the development of new live, virtual, and constructive training capabilities and associated constructs, as well as assisted carrier landing capabilities, such as Magic Carpet and its successors.
Flight Ready: Magic Carpet
Flight Ready: Live, Virtual, Constructive
The Navy has also said that the changes help move student aviators through training faster, helping to address chronic pilot shortages. There is a cost-benefit argument to be made here, too.
It is important to note here that with Freedom Jet, SNC had made an explicit and deliberate decision to develop an aircraft that could still perform carrier qualifications and FCLP training. The company said it did so to preserve those capabilities and give the Navy flexibility to alter its naval aviator training plans in the future.
Beyond the further narrowing of the field of competitors, the UJTS program has already faced delays and other hurdles. The Navy had originally hoped to see its new jet trainers begin entering service in 2028. That schedule subsequently slipped multiple times. The stated plan earlier this year was to at least award the UJTS contract by March 2027. As mentioned earlier, the contract award timeline has now shifted again to sometime in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal cycle, which runs between next July and September.
Earlier this year, the Navy also confirmed that it had increased the total cost ceiling for the prospective UJTS contract from approximately $1.8 billion to $2.7 billion. “The cost structure has raised concerns as the Navy has detailed an initial award cost of $52.8 million in fiscal 2027 and $181 million for fiscal 2028,” according toAviation Week’s report today.
With all this in mind, the M-346N does offer an option that is powered by established Honeywell F124 turbofan engines and that can leverage significant existing supply chains. Other versions of the M-346 are already in service with multiple air forces globally, and more operators are on the horizon.
At the same time, SNC’s withdrawal and other prior setbacks for the UJTS program can only raise questions about how the competition might now proceed with only one major entrant left. SNC’s statement to Breaking Defense makes clear the company is willing to re-engage with the Navy if there is a further shake-up in the T-45 replacement plans.
For the Navy, acquiring a successor to the T-45 is only becoming an ever-more pressing priority. That being said, with how the UJTS effort has already proceeded to date, another change of tack cannot be entirely ruled out.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
TWZ
