The US Air Force (USAF) has revealed a new designating system for its assets, adding the ‘e’ identifier to all aircraft, weapons, and satellites to be digitally engineered and virtually tested before ever taking physical form.
The Boeing T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer is the first aircraft to receive the USAF’s new digital eSeries designation, becoming the eT-7A. (Gareth Jennings/Janes)
The announcement was made by the Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett at the virtual Air Force Association Air, Space, and Cyber Conference on 14 September.
“A true paradigm shift, systems being considered for acquisition will be designed, developed, and manufactured on a digital foundation, just like the Boeing eT-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer. The new process is part of the Department [of the Air Force’s] digital eSeries approach,” the USAF said.
According to the USAF, this new designating system is designed to “inspire companies to embrace the possibilities presented by digital engineering”. The first USAF aircraft to receive this new moniker will be the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer, which will now be referred to as the eT-7A.
“An eSeries digital acquisition programme will be a fully-connected, end-to-end virtual environment that will produce an almost perfect replica of what the physical weapon system will be. It will bring unprecedented speed and agility to help compete in the technology battlespace by enabling thousands, even millions, of virtual iterations at machine speeds to design the best possible system — but only build the single, best design,” the USAF said.
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