BAE Systems has partnered with Boeing and Saab to bid the T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer as a successor to the Royal Air Force’s Hawk fleet and as a potential future platform for the Red Arrows aerobatic team. Announced on November 18, 2025, the collaboration positions the U.S.-developed aircraft at the center of the UK’s fast jet trainer requirement and signals a major alignment of industrial interests around the RAF’s next-generation pilot training needs.
Announcement of the BAE-Boeing-Saab Partnership
BAE Systems has signed a formal pact with Boeing to offer the T-7A Red Hawk for the UK Royal Air Force trainer need, creating a transatlantic industrial team around the U.S.-developed jet. Reporting on the agreement describes how Boeing’s T-7A has “snagged” BAE Systems for the UK trainer bid, underlining that the British company is not simply a subcontractor but a core partner in shaping the proposal and its industrial footprint. For the RAF, the decision by its long-standing Hawk supplier to align with Boeing on a new platform signals that the service’s future advanced training system is likely to be built on a more global, digitally designed aircraft rather than an incremental Hawk upgrade.
The partnership has quickly expanded beyond a bilateral arrangement, with Saab joining Boeing and BAE Systems in pitching the T-7 Red Hawk specifically for the UK’s fast jet trainer program. Coverage of the team-up notes that the three companies are presenting a unified front, combining Boeing’s role as T-7A prime contractor, Saab’s co-developer status, and BAE’s deep experience with RAF training and support into a single bid aimed squarely at the UK Ministry of Defence. By pooling these capabilities, the consortium is positioning the T-7A not only as a replacement aircraft but as a complete training ecosystem, a shift that carries significant implications for how the RAF structures pilot pipelines, simulator networks, and long-term sustainment contracts.
Details of the T-7A Red Hawk Pitch
The industrial team is offering the T-7A as the RAF’s next advanced jet trainer, explicitly framing the aircraft as a modern successor to aging platforms that no longer match front-line combat aircraft in avionics or performance. According to detailed coverage of the bid, BAE Systems, Boeing, and Saab are emphasizing the T-7A’s digital design, open architecture, and embedded training systems as core advantages for replacing legacy jets that were conceived in a very different technological era. For UK decision-makers, the pitch highlights how a clean-sheet trainer could better prepare pilots for complex sensor fusion, data links, and mission systems that now define aircraft such as the Typhoon and F-35, reducing the gap between training and operational squadrons.
Reports on the campaign explain that Boeing, Saab, and BAE Systems are combining efforts to pitch the T-7A jet trainer directly to the UK Ministry of Defence as a comprehensive solution rather than a stand-alone aircraft sale. One detailed account notes that BAE Systems, Boeing, and Saab formally pitched the T-7A jet trainer to the UK as a complete pilot training package, integrating aircraft, ground-based training, and support. That framing matters for the RAF’s procurement strategy, since it aligns with broader trends in air forces seeking turnkey training systems that can be rapidly updated through software and modular hardware, rather than piecemeal upgrades that risk obsolescence over a multi-decade service life.
Industrial Roles and Strategic Alignment
Several reports stress that the T-7A bid is not only about aircraft performance but also about industrial roles and strategic alignment between the UK, the United States, and Sweden. One analysis notes that BAE Systems, Boeing and Saab have combined to pitch the T-7A as the RAF’s next advanced jet trainer, with each company expected to bring specific strengths in design, manufacturing, and through-life support. For the UK government, this structure offers a potential balance between leveraging an in-service U.S. platform and preserving domestic aerospace skills, particularly in systems integration, training services, and support infrastructure that could be based in Britain.
Further reporting highlights that the industrial team is deliberately aligning its proposal with the RAF’s long-term operational and industrial continuity goals. One account describes how BAE, Boeing and Saab have teamed up on the T-7A Red Hawk trainer bid specifically for the RAF, focusing on a sustained presence in the UK market rather than a one-off delivery program. That approach has clear stakes for British aerospace workers and supply-chain companies, since a successful bid could anchor decades of maintenance, upgrades, and training services, while also reinforcing the UK’s role in a broader T-7A user community that already includes the United States Air Force.
Replacement for the RAF Hawk and Red Arrows Role
The bid explicitly targets the T-7 as a successor to the RAF Hawk, addressing a widely recognized need for an updated training aircraft as the Hawk fleet ages and front-line aircraft become more complex. Coverage of the campaign explains that the Boeing–Saab–BAE team is offering the T-7 as a successor to the RAF Hawk and as a future Red Arrows platform, tying the proposal to both everyday training requirements and one of the UK’s most visible aviation symbols. For the RAF, choosing a Hawk replacement is not only a technical decision but also a statement about how it intends to maintain pilot throughput and public engagement as its legacy training jets approach the end of their economic lives.
Several reports underline that the partnership positions the T-7 for use as the future Red Arrows platform, integrating aerobatic and advanced training functions into a single aircraft type. One detailed account notes that Saab, Boeing, and BAE Systems are pitching the T-7 Red Hawk for the UK fast jet trainer program with an eye on long-term operational continuity, including potential adoption by the Red Arrows. If the RAF selects the T-7A for both roles, the service could streamline logistics, maintenance, and pilot conversion, while the Red Arrows would gain a modern platform that better reflects the technology and performance of the combat aircraft the team represents at home and abroad.
Competitive Context and RAF Training Priorities
Reports on the T-7A campaign consistently frame the bid within a broader competition to define the RAF’s next fast jet training architecture. One analysis explains that BAE, Boeing and Saab have teamed up on the T-7A Red Hawk trainer bid for the RAF at a moment when the UK is reassessing how many pilots it needs, how quickly they must be trained, and what mix of live flying and synthetic training will deliver that output. The T-7A’s embedded training systems and digital backbone are being presented as tools to compress training timelines and tailor syllabi to individual pilots, which could help the RAF address bottlenecks that have periodically constrained its ability to field fully qualified fast jet crews.
Another detailed report notes that BAE Systems, Boeing and Saab are pitching the T-7A as the RAF’s next advanced jet trainer in direct response to the service’s fast jet trainer requirement, which is expected to shape the UK’s aircrew pipeline for decades. For stakeholders across government and industry, the outcome of this competition will influence not only which aircraft RAF students fly, but also where training is based, how much of it is outsourced, and how the UK coordinates with allies that are also modernizing their training fleets. In that context, the T-7A bid is as much about aligning with allied training standards and digital architectures as it is about replacing the Hawk on RAF flight lines.
