Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) and Leonardo have decided to end their partnership to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer aircraft program after the companies failed to “reach a business agreement, †Defense News reported Wednesday.Aaron Mehta and Valerie Insinna write Leonardo said in a statement published Wednesday the firm has started to evaluate how to leverage the potential of the T-100 trainer jet in support of the service branch.
B.J. Boling, a spokesman for Raytheon, said in a statement the decision comes nearly a year after the company partnered with Leonardo to offer the T-100 aircraft for the trainer replacement program.
Leonardo originally partnered with General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) to propose T-100 for the T-X program, but the latter decided to end its role as a prime contractor in March 2015, Insinna and Mehta report.
According to Defense News, other industry teams that plan to compete for the T-X program include:
- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Korean Aerospace Industries
- Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC)
- Boeing (NYSE: BA)
- Sierra Nevada Corp. and Turkish Aerospace Industries
The Air Force expects to name the winning contractor this year to build 350 T-X trainer jets, the report added.
