Lockheed Martin begins T-50A flight operations

GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has begun conducting flight operations with its T-50A training aircraft to test its capabilities.

The operations followed an initial flight test, which took place on Nov. 19, company officials announced in a press release.

The T-50A is the result of a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Korea Airspace Industries, and is designed to train prospective pilots for more advanced fighters such as the F-22 Raptor and the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II.

For combat training, the training aircraft incorporates air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, an avionics suite with electronic warfare capabilities, and a multi-mode radar. The configuration is based on South Korea's FA-50.

The aircraft is a follow-up to the legacy T-50, and has accumulated over 100,000 flight hours and trained more than 1,800 pilots.