Randy Jackson/Boeing
Boeing has spliced together the fore and aft sections of the first Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk prototype advanced jet trainer in record time. Despite the two sections being built 4,500 miles (7,200 km) apart, they were perfectly matched and joined in under 30 minutes.
The assembly of the first T-7A is a major milestone in the quest to build a replacement fleet of training jets for the US Air Force that is capable of simulating the characteristics of a fifth generation fighter plane. It's also an example of the Air Force's new eSeries approach to aircraft design.
Instead of relying on the traditional method of building models and test aircraft as the primary means of development, the eSeries approach relies more on creating digital twins and using 3D printing as a way of speeding up development and assembly by as much as 80 percent.