Northrop drops off SNC-led Navy trainer team

An artist's rendering of SNC's Freedom aircraft. (SNC)

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Northrop Grumman has dropped out of its team-up with Sierra Nevada on the latter’s offering for the Navy’s next-gen trainer, Breaking Defense has learned.

Northrop joined SNC’s Freedom offering for the Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) in February 2026 . In response to questions from Breaking Defense about the status of the agreement, Northrop and SNC confirmed today that the agreement was no longer in effect.

“As part of our disciplined portfolio management and ongoing commitment to prioritizing the warfighter, we have elected to focus our resources on opportunities where our mature capabilities and investments can deliver the greatest mission impact,” Northrop said in a company statement. “We remain committed to naval aviation and delivering the capabilities the US military depends on with speed and urgency.”

SNC is still moving forward with the Freedom offering. A spokesperson for General Atomics- Aeronautical confirmed they were sticking with SNC as part of Team Freedom as well.

“SNC remains focused on offering the very best training system available for the Naval Aviation Mission,” a company spokesperson said.

Freedom is up against Textron Aviation Defense, offering the Beechcraft M-346N as part of a partnership with Leonardo. Lockheed Martin announced in April it would not put forth its offer of the TF-50N with Korea Aerospace Industries for the program, and Boeing announced in June it also would exit the competition.

It’s unclear exactly when the Navy will be ready to make a decision. In September, the Navy postponed its decision to June 30, 2027.

Northrop, meanwhile, is waiting on another key Navy program to be awarded: F/A-XX, the service’s sixth-gen fighter competition. The Navy is expected to announce a winner between Northrop and Boeing in the near future, although that target date has been continuously moving.

这是艺术家绘制的SNC公司“自由”号飞机的效果图。（SNC）

马里兰州国家港——据《防务新闻》报道，诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司已退出与内华达山脉公司合作，后者为海军提供下一代教练机。

诺斯罗普公司于 2026 年 2 月加入了 SNC 的“自由计划”，参与本科生喷气式飞机训练系统 (UJTS) 的建设。针对 Breaking Defense 就该协议状态提出的询问，诺斯罗普公司和 SNC 今天证实，该协议已不再有效。

诺斯罗普公司在一份声明中表示：“作为我们严谨的投资组合管理以及持续致力于优先服务作战人员的一部分，我们选择将资源集中于那些我们成熟的能力和投资能够带来最大任务影响的领域。我们将继续致力于海军航空事业，并以最快的速度和最紧迫的措施交付美国军方赖以生存的能力。”

SNC仍在推进“自由计划”。通用原子航空公司的一位发言人证实，他们也将继续与SNC合作，成为“自由计划”团队的一员。

“SNC 将继续致力于为海军航空任务提供最好的训练系统，”该公司发言人表示。

Freedom公司将与德事隆航空防务公司展开竞争，后者与莱昂纳多公司合作，提供比奇M-346N战斗机。洛克希德·马丁公司在4月份宣布，将放弃与韩国航空航天工业公司合作的TF-50N战斗机竞标该项目；波音公司也在6月份宣布退出竞争。

目前尚不清楚海军何时会做出决定。今年9月，海军将决定日期推迟至2027年6月30日。

与此同时，诺斯罗普公司还在等待海军另一项关键项目的最终结果：F/A-XX，即海军第六代战斗机竞标项目。海军预计将在近期宣布诺斯罗普和波音之间的中标者，尽管这一目标日期一直在推迟。