An illustration of the Sierra Nevada Corporation’s “Freedom Trainer” aircraft in flight. SNC had sought to build the aircraft for the US Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS); now that it has withdrawn from consideration, the program’s future is uncertain. (Courtesy of Sierra Nevada Corporation)

This Aerospace Company Just Dropped Out of the US Navy’s Trainer Jet Competition

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The Sierra Nevada Corporation withdrew from the Undergraduate Jet Training System this week, leaving a joint entry from Textron and Leonardo the only viable option.

The Sierra Nevada Corporation, a US aerospace contractor based in Nevada, unexpectedly announced its unilateral withdrawal from the US Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS), the competition to find the service’s next jet trainer—leaving only one team still in the running.

SNC’s departure, which was not publicized in advance, follows the similar withdrawal of aerospace giant Boeing this past June. It effectively seals the competition in favor of a joint offering from Textron Aviation and Italian aerospace firm Leonardo S.p.A.

SNC’s decision to leave the program may have resulted from an intensive bureaucratic reporting process, which it suggested had made it impossible to formally meet the Navy’s October 30 deadline to........

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