USAF (United States Air Force) Aggressor F-16 Transition: A Time for Change.

摘要

Over the past twenty five years, the Soviet and Warsaw Pact air-to-air threat has undergone a significant growth and modernization. Improvements in fighter aircraft performance, air-to-air missiles, avionics performance, and composite force training, have markedly improved the threat to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces. Aggressor training is vital to providing USAFE fighter crews with realistic, threat oriented aerial combat training. The Aggressor Squadron transition to the F-16 greatly improves their ability to emulate the threat, but some aspects of the training they can provide with the F-16 are woefully inadequate. A significant number of F-16s must be added to the unit before the Aggressors can even begin to provide a level of aerial combat training that resembles the Pact threat. This study examines past Aggressor training with the F-5, compares that to current training with the F-16, and proposes some changes that should be made in order to improve the realism and productivity of Aggressor aerial combat training for USAFE aircrews.