Can The U.S. Air Force Train New Pilots Without Planes?

Members of the 3rd Flying Training Squadron walk to their T-1A Jayhawk aircraft at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in August 2018. The 30-year-old fleet of Jayhawks is being retired. (Tech. Sgt. Erik Cardenas/Air Force)  

Military Times: Can The Airforce Train New Pilots Without Planes 

Airmen are gearing up for what could be the most consequential move in military pilot training since the Air Force was created in 1947: teaching students to fly without stepping foot in a real airplane. 

The new program, known as “Air Mobility Fundamentals-Simulator,” is the Air Force’s next step in a yearslong attempt to modernize pilot training without sacrificing quality. 

It’s also an opportunity for the service to embrace more cost-effective technology and retire its 30-year-old fleet of T-1A Jayhawk trainer jets.  

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WNU Editor: Simulators have greatly improved over the years. I have a friend who works at CAE in Montreal, and before the pandemic he put me in one to show how realistic the simulation is. I was impressed. But even with that experience, I would want to fly a real plane with an instructor to build up my confidence to fly one by myself.

America’s MiG - Sukhoi Air Force

America’s MiG Air Force -- David Axe, Offiziere.ch

For at least 35 years the U.S. military has operated Soviet- and Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi jet fighters.

Speaking at an Air Force Association event in Virginia on Tuesday, Jack Manclark, former U.S. Air Force former test director, described overseeing Constant Peg, a once classified program that ran from 1977 to 1988.

When Manclark took over in 1985, the Constant Peg initiative included 26 MiG-21s and MiG-23s acquired through undisclosed channels, Manclark said. Constant Peg’s 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron reportedly once also operated 1960s–vintage MiG-17s from its base in Utah’s Tonopah Test Range.

The Pentagon declassified Constant Peg in 2006.

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My Comment: I would to know if the Russians or the Chinese have an equivalent in their country on American aircraft.

Russian And U.S. Air Force

Hat Tip: Asian Defense

Top 10 Most Expensive U.S. Military Planes (Photo Gallery)

B-2 Spirit: $2.4 billion
The B-2 bomber was so costly that Congress cut its initial 1987 purchase order from 132 to 21. (A 2008 crash leaves the current number at 20.) The B-2 is hard to detect via infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic, visual or radar signals. This stealth capability makes it able to attack enemy targets with less fear of retaliation. In use since 1993, the B-2 has been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Top 10 Most Expensive Military Planes -- Time

As the Senate votes to cut military spending on the $350 million F-22 fighter, here's a look at the military aircraft with the biggest price tags

WNU Editor: The photo gallery starts here.

The Case For Maintaining America's Air Force

U.S. Must Keep Nuke Triad, F-35, Satellites, Tanker: Air Force Secretary -- Aol Defense

National Harbor: Air Force Secretary Mike Donley pledged today to keep all three legs of America's nuclear triad, arguing that the rise of new nuclear powers makes the air, sea and land legs even more important.

"We must maintain the nuclear triad," he said, drawing a tiny smattering of applause -- the only spontaneous applause -- from the standing-room-only audience at the Air Force Association's annual conference.

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More News On Air Force Secretary Mike Donley's Case For Maintaining The Air Force At Present Levels/Commitments

AF secretary: Keep our force intact -- DoD Buzz
Air Force Wants to Keep Almost Everything -- Defense Tech
Air Force secretary vows to ‘protect’ big-ticket programs in budget fight -- The Hill
AFA: Balance Will Be Key, Says USAF Secretary -- Defense News
Air Force's Top Civilian Leader Warns of More 'Budget Churn' Ahead -- National Defense
Buzzkilling Secretary Donley brings the malaise, warns Air Force cuts are coming -- Stars and Stripes

My Comment: The problem is .... not enough members in Congress or the White House are listening to him. Their focus is on cutting the budget, and the Defense budget is the first program on the chopping block.

A New Flight Suit For The Air Force (Maybe)

Pilots walk the flight line at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, wearing the iconic green flight suits, which are slated to be replaced unless a congressional effort to block the development of the new suits succeeds. Lawrence Crespo / Air Force

AF, Reservist Lawmaker Clash Over Flight Suit -- Air Force Times

A KC-135 pilot in Congress is facing off against Air Force leadership over whether now is the time to invest $100 million in a new high-tech flight suit.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Reserve captain and first-term Illinois Republican elected last year on a tea party platform to cut spending, has already gotten the House to go along with his push to cancel the $99.4 million, seven-year program.

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My Comment: There are better places to spend money now, but this request will probably be approved.

What Does U.S. Air Power Actually Do?

[Photo: USAF]

What U.S. Air Power Actually Does -- CBS

Why we need a new lexicon to describe air power in the age of the war on terror

When men first made war in the air, the imagery that accompanied them was of knights jousting in the sky. Just check out movies like Wings, which won the first Oscar for Best Picture in 1927 (or any Peanuts cartoon in which Snoopy takes on the Red Baron in a literal "dogfight"). As late as 1986, five years after two American F-14s shot down two Soviet jets flown by Libyan pilots over the Mediterranean's Gulf of Sidra, it was still possible to make the movie Top Gun. In it, Tom Cruise played "Maverick," a U.S. Naval aviator triumphantly involved in a similar incident. (He shoots down three MiGs.)

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My Comment: A cynic's view of U.S. air power .... but one that is sobering and (probably) closer to the truth than what some in the Air Force may wish to admit.

F-35 Delays Means Other Fighter Jets Are Purchased

PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 5, 2007) - An F/A-18C Hornet, attached to the "Vigilantes" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 151, launches off the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Lincoln and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 are underway off the coast of Southern California participating in Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMTUEX). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jordon R. Beesley

Aging Fighter Jet Gets New Lease On Life -- L.A. Times

The F/A-18, a fixture on U.S. carriers for decades, benefits from delays on its replacement, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon keeps ordering more F/A-18s, which is good news to workers at Northrop and hundreds of other California firms.

The ear-piercing machine-gun-like blasts of an air hammer are a welcome sound to workers on the Northrop Grumman Corp. assembly line in El Segundo.

It means they're busy churning out fuselage sections for the supersonic F/A-18 fighter jet, a fixture on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers since 1983 and still in demand worldwide.

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My Comment: Now .... if we could only get the F-22 back.

The U.S. Air force Looks To The Future And The Impending Budget Cuts

Air Force Speeds Up Fleet Upgrades as Big-Ticket Acquisitions Slow to a Crawl -- National Defense

In a time of tight budgets, the Air Force is choosing to buy time.

Blue-suit leaders have said for years that the service needs to soon begin to modernize its aging fleet of fighter jets and bombers. But the Air Force still does not appear to be in any hurry to begin acquiring new hardware. Rather, it is planning to refurbish existing aircraft for as long as it takes before replacements are available.

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More News On The U.S. Air Force

Air Force Lacks Schedule for Next Generation Bomber -- Global Security Newswire
Air Force lacks schedule for next generation bomber -- Government Executive
US prods industry for F-22 fighter successor ideas -- Reuters
JSF Woes Push AF to F-16s -- DoD Buzz
Upgraded Boeing F-15Cs Arrive at US Air Force’s Kadena Air Base -- Defpro News
Boeing delivers four upgraded F-15Cs to US Air Force -- Wire Update
Air Force Drone Patrols Reach New High -- Aol News
Military wants to fly more sophisticated drones -- MSNBC
US military looking for higher-tech drones that can fly in heavily guarded airspace -- Canadian Press
Deep Strike Key to Air-Sea Battle -- DoD Buzz
U.S. Air Force School Focuses on Cybersecurity -- Defpro
US Air Force Begins Move To Windows 7 -- Windows7News
Air Force's G-Force centrifuge spins its last -- CNET
Air Force Medal of Honor recipients highlighted on AF.MIL -- U.S. Air Force

Air Force's Space-Based Surveillance Satellite Launches Tomorrow, To Scan For Space Junk

Space Debris NASA

From Popular Science:

A massive collection of spacecraft parts, dead satellites, and spent rocket stages circle high above the Earth in a sort of “floating landfill.” According to recent estimates, about 4 million pounds of space junk currently orbit the Earth, including some 20,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters.

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My Comment: That is a lot of junk up there.

How New Tech Is Making Old Fighter Jets More Lethal

Giving Sight Back To An F-15C Golden Eagle -- Popular Mechanics

Precision is something that 30-year-old warplanes lack. But they can be retrofit. Here’s how the Air Force made the F-15C lethal once again.

The Air Force this year deployed F-15C Golden Eagle warplanes with new active electronically scanned arrays (AESA) that can track more targets with precision and can guide several missiles at once. AESA’s digital beams, which replace radar that turns mechanically, are agile enough to spot cruise missiles and enable the F-15C to shoot them down with air-to-air missiles.

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My Comment: In an age of budget cuts and tight money .... I am sure some bean counters are looking at these cost savings.

Projecting Air Power On The Cheap

AC-208B "Combat Caravan" aircraft. Photo from C208B.com

Air Power On The Cheap -- The Economist

Small, slow and inexpensive propeller-driven planes are starting to displace fighter jets.

JET fighters may be sexy in a Tom Cruise-ish sort of way, but for guerilla warefare—in which the enemy rarely has an air force of his own with which to dogfight—they are often not the tool for the job. Pilotless drones can help fill the gap. Sometimes there is no substitute for having a pilot on the scene, however, so modern air forces are starting to turn to a technology from the yesteryear of flying: the turboprop.

So-called light-attack turboprops are cheap both to build and to fly. A fighter jet can cost $80m. By contrast the 208B Caravan, a light-attack turboprop made by Cessna, costs barely $2m. It also costs as little as $500 a hour to run when it is in the air, compared with $10,000 or more for a fighter jet. And, unlike jets, turboprops can use roads and fields for takeoff and landing.

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My Comment: Small, slow and inexpensive propeller-driven planes were extremely effective in Vietnam .... I do not see any reason why they will not be effective in places like Afghanistan or Iraq.

‘Batman’ Prepares To Join The Air Force

From the Danger Room:

Grappling hooks attached to siphon electricity from low-hanging power lines. Computers mounted onto a commando’s chest plate. Communications gadgets small enough to fit into gear pouches worn around the waist. The Air Force is actually preparing its special operators to act (and outfit themselves) more like the Batman.

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My Comment: What I find interesting (and amusing) about the Air Force logo, is that it looks very similar to the logo from Russia's GRU (military intelligence).

U.S. Air Force Prepares For Homeland Defense

Units Make History With Air Force's First Homeland Defense ORI -- U.S. Air Force

6/1/2010 - GULFPORT, MISS. (AFNS) -- Three units representing each component of the Air Force made history here May 16 through 23 when they successfully completed the first homeland defense operational readiness inspection.

The ORI, held at the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center here, was administered by the Air Mobility Command Inspector General on a trial basis, but it may help pave the way for future inspections, officials said.

"For the very first time, the U.S. Air Force has validated a unit's wartime capability to defend the homeland by fighting an enemy right here on U.S. soil," said Col. Greg Nelson, the commander of the Kentucky Air National Guard's 123rd Airlift Wing, which served as the lead organization for the ORI.

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My Comment: The phrase that got my attention was the following ....

"For the very first time, the U.S. Air Force has validated a unit's wartime capability to defend the homeland by fighting an enemy right here on U.S. soil,"

Hmmmm .... who is the enemy on U.S. soil?

Top 10 Low Pass Flyby's Of All Time (Video)

WNU Editor: Number #1, #3 and #4 are awesome. #2 is insane.

Northrop Pulls Out Of Race For US Air Force Tankers

An artist's depiction of the Northrop Grumman aerial tanker refueling an Air Force stealth bomber. The tanker would have been based on the A330 commercial passenger jet built by European aircraft maker Airbus. (Northrop Grumman / April 9, 2006)

Boeing Has Inside Track For Tanker As Northrop Steps Aside -- McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Boeing now has the inside track on a $35 billion contract to start replacing the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial refueling tanks after Northrop Grumman announced Monday that it wouldn't bid.

Northrop's partner, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., left open the possibility that it could bid on its own, though lawmakers and military analysts said that might be difficult. EADS is the parent company of Airbus, Boeing's fierce rival in the commercial airplane market.

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More News On Northrup Dropping Out

Northrop Won't Bid on USAF Tanker -- Defense News
Northrop Drops Tanker Bid -- DoD Buzz
Northrop pulls out of race for US air tankers -- Financial Times
Northrop Grumman drops bid for aerial refueling tanker contract -- L.A. Times
EADS drops bid for US air force tanker contract -- The Guardian
Boeing Sole Air Tanker Bidder As Northrop Grumman Quits -- Wall Street Journal
EADS grounds $40bn US air tanker bid -- The Telegraph
Boeing's Bawling Pays Off -- Forbes

Where Planes Go To Die: Massive £22bn Air Force 'Boneyard' Revealed In High Resolution By Google Earth

(Click Image To Enlarge)
Four of the numerous types of military aircraft kept at the site in Arizona

From The Daily Mail:

It's where old planes go to die - a 2,600-acre patch of U.S. desert where several generations of military aircraft are stored in what has been dubbed 'The Boneyard'.

The $35billion (£22billion) worth of outdated planes is kept as spare parts for current models at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.

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My Comment: The Google link is here.

Why Does The Air Force Want Thousands Of PlayStations?

PlayStation 3 (PS3)

From ABC News:

Clusters of High-Performance Gaming Consoles Can Serve as Supercomputers.

Guess what's on the U.S. Air Force's wish list this holiday season.

Sony's popular PlayStation 3 gaming console. Thousands of them.

The Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., recently issued a request for proposal indicating its intention to purchase 2,200 PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles.

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My Comment: You just now that a few of these gaming consoles are going to be put on the side for "testing" purposes.

Why An F-15E Strike Eagle Crashed In Afghanistan This Year

A U.S. Air Force ground crew inspects an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet at Bagram air base, some 31 miles north of Kabul, on Aug. 10, 2009. Manan Vatsyayana / AFP / Getty

Behind An Afghanistan Plane Crash: Missed Signals -- Time Magazine

Soldiers talk about rampant confusion amid mud and blood on the battlefield, but the picture is not always that much clearer thousands of feet above the fray. Sometimes, even when everything aboard a $50 million fighter jet works perfectly, the stresses of combat, accumulating slowly and insidiously, can overcome the world's best pilots. That's what happened on July 18 over eastern Afghanistan, when two Air Force officers stumbled into a series of missed signals and blown procedures. The errors combined to send their F-15E screaming into a dark mountainside in a steep, controlled dive at 550 m.p.h., according to an Air Force investigation released last week.

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My Comment: Our prayers are with the families and their love ones.

Another Air Force Wing Commander Has Been Fired

From In From The Cold:

For the second time in less than a month, an Air Force wing commander has been fired at Minot AFB, North Dakota.

Air Force Times reports that Colonel Joel Westa, Commander of the base's 5th Bomb Wing, was relieved of his post on Friday afternoon, after senior officials "lost confidence" in his ability to lead.

Westa was dismissed by Major General Floyd L. Carpenter, Commander of 8th Air Force, headquartered at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. Eighth Air Force is in charge of all USAF strategic bomber units, including the B-52 wing at Minot.

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My Comment: Two times in one month .... there is a problem.