Air Force could spend $1.5B, get ‘Doomsday Plane’ data in T-7 engine ‘horse trade’
“There’s goodness in it, but not as a taxpayer,” a source told Breaking Defense about the prospective deal. “And only if the Air Force gets it right with its requirements.”
The negotiation for the T-7 Red Hawk engine deal is currently underway, highlighting immediate cost and strategic considerations for the US Air Force.
This potential deal highlights the US Air Force's complex balance between immediate financial costs, long-term strategic needs such as nuclear command and control, and industrial base concerns.
The Air Force may trade a more expensive T-7 engine choice for access to critical data and intellectual property related to survivable airborne operations, influencing future defense procurement and data ownership models.
- · US Air Force (potential data acquisition)
- · Boeing (if deal secures their engine and future work)
- · US Taxpayers (potentially higher initial T-7 costs)
- · Alternative engine manufacturers
The T-7 Red Hawk trainer aircraft's engine choice will be finalized, with potential implications for its performance and cost.
The precedent set by acquiring 'Doomsday Plane' data through a different program's engine procurement could influence future defense acquisition strategies focusing on IP and data transfer.
This could lead to a broader re-evaluation of how the US government values and acquires critical defense intellectual property in future contracts, possibly integrating IP clauses into all major procurements.
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Read at Breaking Defense — Air