The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement on 2 August that the U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing Co. a contract for T-45 Goshawk training jet aircraft upgrades.

According to a statement by the US Department of Defense (DoD), Boeing Co. is awarded $15,9 million for cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price order N6134018F0067 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001).

The contract award from U.S. Navy to provide for the procurement and delivery of 39 inlet retrofit kits as well as required special tooling, support equipment and engineering and logistics services to complete planned inlet installations in support of the T-45 aircraft.

Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in April 2020.

The T-45 Goshawk is a highly modified version of the British BAE Systems Hawk land-based training jet aircraft.  The T-45 was selected to meet the U.S.Navy requirement for an undergraduate jet pilot trainer to replace the TA-4J Skyhawk and T-2C Buckeye.

The T-45 is based on the airframe of the basic Hawk Mk 60, but features a new forward fuselage deepened to house a new twin-wheel nose gear, redesigned main gear units, a taller fin and tailplane of increased span, a single ventral fin, fuselage side-mounted airbrakes, an arrester hook and small fins ahead of and below the tailplanes.

The Boeing company continued to support the T-45 fleet by providing engineering, logistics and support equipment in partnership with BAE Systems which had supplied the aircraft’s rear and center fuselage sections, wing assembly and vertical tail.