Air Force May Alter Pilot Training, May Buy More T-X Trainers In The Future

摘要

The Air Force is looking at taking a step back from the specialized pilot training that it began investing in back in the 1990s and reverting to generalized pilot training - a move that would call for the purchase of additional advanced trainers, known as the T-X aircraft. Gen. Edward Rice, the commander of Air Education and Training Command, told reporters Monday during the annual Air Force Association conference that if the Air Force reverted to generalized pilot training, it would have to buy a "couple dozen" extra T-X aircraft. Rice said a recent decision to reduce the size of the Air Force's force structure has prompted the service to revisit the way it trains pilots. "We have a much smaller force structure today than we did when the decision was made," he said. "As it is forecasted in the future, [we] will have a smaller Air Force in terms of force structure and those dynamics make the calculus different than it was then. So we are thinking our way through whether or not, in a smaller Air Force, generalized is better than specialized."