A New US Air Force Jet Pilot Training Construct

摘要

One of the most significantUS Air Force (USAF) simulation& training (S&T) developmentsMS&T will publish in its 2020 editorialprogram is this brief feature article,which examines that service’s roll out ofits Rebuilding the Forge (Reforge) Conceptof Operations (CONOP). As readersfamiliar with military bureaucracies areaware, a CONOP label has significantimplications, most notably, the lack offunding mechanisms through the budgetoutyears and other support of a true USDoD program of record. Yet, this CONOPis an attention-getter. For instance, AlexiWorley, a Media Operations spokespersonat Air Combat Command (ACC), initiallynoted, “Reforge seeks to reduce thetime from Undergraduate Pilot Training(UPT) graduation to combat flight leadin an operational fighter squadron by12-18 months.” At the end of the day, theservice is conceptually seeking to parlaythis reduction into the time needed totransform an aspiring student pilot intoa fighter flight lead from 40 to as few as22 months.