Interesting news on the Javelin being offered for the T-X requirement, in an article on AW&ST. A very very very long shot IMO.
On Nov. 14, Rud Aero’s namesake and president Taras Rud signed a licensing agreement with Stavatti to “reimagine, reconfigure, redesign, engineer, develop, prototype, certify, qualify, manufacture, market, promote, sell and support” the ATG Javelin MK 20/30 for the international military aircraft market.
ATG of Englewood, Colorado, originally designed Javelin as a civil sportplane before partnering with Israel Aircraft Industries to develop the Javelin Mk-20/Mk-30 for the military trainer market. The lone prototype first flew on Sept. 30, 2005, but the project was abandoned in 2007 and ATG declared bankruptcy the following year.
Beskar said in an interview on Feb. 2 that the original design had some well-documented performance issues and will be updated with larger wings and improved twin vertical stabilizers, among other changes. He pegged the unit price for T-X at about $10 million apiece. “The airplane flew, but currently it is disassembled,” Beskar says. “It was being updated when ATG went bankrupt. Instead of putting it together, we’re retooling and developing a prototype based on that aircraft.”
Stavatti, which has no experience building aircraft, is on the lookout for teammates for T-X, a $16.3 billion competition for 350 trainers to replace the 56-year-old Northrop T-38 Talon. Beskar claims to be in ongoing discussion with major aerospace firms and a leading training and simulation provider about teaming arrangements. He expects to make further announcements in early March ahead of formal submission to the T-X request for proposals by the March 30 deadline.
The service will likely approach this bid with caution, since Stavatti has few, if any, aerospace projects of significance to point to except for a sizable collection of conceptual aircraft and missiles that look more like gadgets from a video game than serious aerospace ventures. The firm’s corporate headquarters is in Eagan, Minnesota, with a research office in Buffalo, New York, and a manufacturing center in San Bernardino, California, where it mills tools for the oil drilling industry and some landing gear components.
Rud Aero has a 35,000 sq. ft. facility in Sebastian, Florida, that provides engineering and milling services for the aerospace and maritime sectors. The company has developed and flown several light aerobatic aircraft including the RA-2, -3 and -4. The Javelin-based RA-6 is listed as a 7,860 lb., Mach 8.6-capable multipurpose jet powered by two Williams FJ-33-4 or FJ44-3A turbofan engines.
Beskar says the updated Javelin T-X will be powered by two Williams FJ44-4A derivative turbofans with “custom afterburners” to produce 5,400 lb. thrust each or 3,600 lb.-thrust each without afterburners. Measuring 38 ft. in length with a wingspan of 22 ft., the aircraft will have a maximum takeoff weight of 11,000 lb.
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