Rebuilding the Forge: Reshaping How the Air Force Trains Fighter Aviators
Gen. Mike Holmes
January 28, 2019
The U.S. Air Force’s pilot training system has long been the envy of air forces around the world, but for the past several years it has failed to keep pace with increasing production requirements. Furthermore, the current training model is facing a widening gap between the capabilities of our primary training aircraft and the advanced fighter aircraft our pilots now employ. To close this gap, the current system has required the use of retraining programs and extended formal training courses that increase both the duration and cost of a new fighter pilot’s training.
New capabilities, such as the broad proliferation of airborne data links, and dramatic improvements in aircraft sensors, have seen the pilot’s role evolve from that of heavy equipment operator to a system manager, aerial tactician, and team leader. Given the magnitude of Air Force pilot production shortfalls, and the opportunity presented by a new trainer that will finally replace our half-century old T-38 trainer aircraft, the Air Force has an opportunity to radically overhaul its entire pilot production paradigm. My team and I have been working on a fighter aviator-training paradigm that will produce a larger number of better-trained pilots, and ultimately build a readier, and more lethal fighter force.
https://warontherocks.com/2019/01/rebuilding-the-forge-reshaping-how-the-air-force-trains-fighter-aviators/
