The first T-7A Red Hawk was delivered to the US Air Force on December 5, 2025, and it was initially assigned to the Air Education and Training Command.

Following its landing at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, the aircraft was assigned to the 99th Flying Training Squadron of the 12th Flying Training Wing. The aircraft will soon become a critical piece of the Air Force's combat training systems.

The arrival of this aircraft marks the first step of the operational plan to continue developing the Advanced Pilot Training System's capabilities, Simple Flying reports. 

The Air Education and Training Command began its Red Hawk era with the December 5 touchdown at Randolph, flown in by Boeing test pilot Steve Schmidt alongside 99th FTS leadership. The Air Force plans a formal arrival ceremony for the aircraft at a later date.

Branch leaders say that the T-7A is the first tangible proof of program momentum and a necessary replacement for the life-extended, early-1960s-era T-38C, for which sustainment costs only continue to climb, according to analysis from the United States Air Force.

The aircraft will integrate with ground-based training, maintenance trainers, and live virtual constructive scenarios, so students learn information management and sensor-driven decision-making.

The AETC's plan targets initial operational capability in August 2027, with 14 jets assigned to the 99th FTS. The aircraft offers open-architecture avionics, and fly-by-wire controls also let instructors tailor individual performance. 

Thus, there have been extensive delays in the decision to begin low-rate production in 2025. The Air Force's own planning now points to an August 2027 initial operational capability for the first aircraft at Randolph, while the broader program of record still envisions hundreds of aircraft and dozens of simulators to replace the organization's T-38 fleet over time.

The stakes are exceptionally high, with modern fighters and bombers demanding information-age pilot skills, and every year of operational slippage ultimately keeps students on a trainer aircraft that was designed for a different era in the cockpit. If overall integration stays on track, the Red Hawk could reshape throughput and overall readiness across air bases.