Swift: Looking Back on the Forgotten T-X Contender

Northrop Grumman's Model 400 was developed for the T-X competition, but was withdrawn. Recently more dtails have emerged about the aircraft

The Model 400 Swift is seen landing at Mojave after one of its seven flights. (photo: Scaled Composites)

By Jon Lake

January 25, 2019

Almost two-and-a-half years after it first flew, and two years after the program was abandoned, Scaled Composites has quietly revealed more details of its Model 400 Swift proof-of-concept aircraft. The Model 400 was built as part of Northrop Grumman’s response to the USAF’s T-X advanced jet trainer requirement, but was abandoned in February 2017 when the company (and its principal teammate BAE Systems) decided not to submit a proposal for the T-X trainer program, which it judged “would not be in the best interests of the companies and their shareholders.”

Northrop Grumman was initially teamed with BAE Systems and L-3 Communications for the T-X program and originally offered the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) as its T-X platform. A decision was subsequently made to incorporate a new air vehicle into the team’s T-X solution when timescales moved to the right, and when it became clear that the Hawk was no longer the optimum solution “in terms of requirements and affordability.”

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