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Industry · Technology adoption

SNC selects Skyryse to pursue flight automation retrofits for defense aircraft

The collaboration pairs SkyOS flight controls with SNC's aircraft integration and modification experience, with an initial focus on existing defense fleets.

SNC has selected Skyryse to help bring flight automation and autonomous capabilities to existing aircraft fleets. The collaboration, announced Oct. 27, initially focuses on defense platforms.1

SNC selected Skyryse, developer of SkyOS, as a collaborator

with an initial focus on defense platforms

SkyOS flight-control hardware and software

The partnership combines Skyryse's SkyOS flight-control hardware and software with SNC's experience integrating, modifying and sustaining military and commercial aircraft

The collaborationwill explore opportunitiesplanned

The collaboration will explore opportunities in integration and certification, retrofit installation and modification, and broader deployment of SkyOS

Skyryse release via PR Newswire, Oct. 27, 2026

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

Skyryse brings SkyOS flight-control hardware and software; SNC brings more than 60 years of experience integrating, modifying and sustaining military and commercial aircraft. The companies are looking to integrate SkyOS across a range of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft used across the services, with other platform categories under consideration.1

“Modernizing a fleet doesn't always mean buying new aircraft,” SNC executive vice president Jon Piatt said in the Oct. 27 release.1

The release says SNC holds a Federal Aviation Administration Organization Designation Authorization through subsidiary 3S Engineering and Certification, giving it authority to certify SkyOS integration. Skyryse also reports that SkyOS was integrated into a UH 60 Black Hawk and flown within 91 days.1

The potential work extends beyond flight controls to integration, certification, retrofit installation and broader deployment. Those remain opportunities to explore; the announcement names no military customer or order for the collaboration.1

Sources (1)
  1. Skyryse: SNC, Skyryse Announce Collaboration to Advance Software-Defined Flight Automation for Existing Aircraft Fleets, PR Newswire, Oct. 27, 2026 www.prnewswire.com
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Industry · Naval aviation training

SNC exits Navy T-45 replacement competition, Breaking Defense reports

Breaking Defense reports SNC declined to bid under the Navy’s contract structure, leaving Textron’s M-346N as the service’s “one true competitor.”

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has left the Navy’s Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) competition to replace the T-45 Goshawk, Breaking Defense reported Nov. 3. SNC told the outlet it could not responsibly bid under the current contract structure.1

SNC is no longer competing for the Navy's new training jet

Undergraduate Jet Training System

SNC could not responsibly bid the UJTS [Undergraduate Jet Training System] program under the current contract structure

Textron Aviation Defense, the only known major competitor to SNC, confirmed to Breaking Defense that the firm submitted its offering of the M-346N to the Navy.

Stavatti Aerospace said on Oct. 30 it submitted a bid on UJTS

Reported by Breaking Defense

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

Breaking Defense says SNC’s exit leaves the Navy with “one true competitor”: Textron Aviation Defense, which confirmed to the outlet that it submitted the M-346N. The outlet also reported that Stavatti Aerospace said on Oct. 30 that it submitted a bid.1

SNC said it remains committed to naval jet training and would be ready to re-engage if the approach is revisited. Breaking Defense’s account does not identify the contract terms SNC objected to.1

The competitive field had already narrowed: Lockheed Martin announced in April it would not submit the TF-50N with Korea Aerospace Industries, and Boeing announced its departure in June. In September, Breaking Defense reported that Northrop Grumman was dropping off SNC’s bid, which centered on a clean-sheet design called the Freedom.1

The Navy kept its Oct. 30 proposal deadline, extended from June 30, the program office told the outlet. It now estimates an award between July and the end of September 2027, later than the June 2027 target in its September request for proposals. The service originally planned a March 2027 selection.1

Breaking Defense says the M-346N appears to be the de facto winner, barring a reopened competition or surprise entrant. The program office told the outlet that source selection is underway.1

Sources (1)
  1. Breaking Defense: EXCLUSIVE: SNC pulls out of Navy’s trainer jet competition breakingdefense.com
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Budget · Light attack

A two-ship formation of A-29 Super Tucanos fly over Kabul, Afghanistan during a mission on April 28, 2016.
Archive photograph · A two-ship formation of A-29 Super Tucanos fly over Kabul, Afghanistan during a mission on April 28, 2016. Staff Sgt. Larry Reid Jr. / DVIDS Taken 2016-04-28. public-domain; reuse terms. The appearance of U.S. Department of War (DoW) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW endorsement.

Air Force divests its A-29 fleet, Breaking Defense reports

Breaking Defense reports the Air Force plans to store its three Super Tucanos with SNC after the aircraft did not meet test pilot school needs.

The Air Force has divested its three A-29 Super Tucanos at Edwards Air Force Base, the service’s only examples of the Embraer-made turboprop, Breaking Defense reported.1

The aircraft are not expected to return to flight for Air Force use

three A-29 Super Tucanos

SNCplans to sole-source a contractplanned

the service plans to sole-source a contract with SNC to store the aircraft

storage contracta single base year and two option yearsplanned

the storage contract would have a single base year and two option years

Reported by Breaking Defense, Nov. 3, 2026

Sources
TGOs tgos.io

An Edwards spokesperson told the outlet that the aircraft had been thoroughly evaluated but did not meet the intended use for the Air Force Test Pilot School.1

Air Force Special Operations Command originally bought the aircraft, then relinquished them after mission requirements changed, the outlet reported, citing a 2024 Air Force release. The test pilot school subsequently took them to assess whether they could meet its test needs.1

An Oct. 29 Air Force notice outlined plans for a sole-source contract with SNC to store the aircraft. The planned contract would have one base year and two option years. The notice said the aircraft were not expected to return to flight for Air Force use.1

Embraer assembles A-29s in Jacksonville, Florida, where SNC installs mission equipment for U.S. and specific foreign military sales customers. Embraer officials have said that the Jacksonville line could be at risk without sufficient demand; the company also operates a separate Super Tucano production facility in Brazil.1

Officials are exploring future options for a sustainable spin and mission systems aircraft for the test pilot school, the Edwards spokesperson told Breaking Defense.1

Sources (1)
  1. Air Force divests its few A-29s, explores ‘future options’, Breaking Defense, Nov. 3, 2026 breakingdefense.com
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