Looks like the AirForce may be onto something to address their pilot shortage.
The Air Force is launching a new pilot training program that will include enlisted airmen — and could eventually lead to them flying combat aircraft.
Maj. Gen. Timothy Leahy, commander of the Second Air Force, said in a Nov. 30 email to his commanders that 15 officers and 5 enlisted airmen will be picked for the six-month pilot training program.
“Enlisted volunteers will be pioneers in innovating Air Force aviator recruitment, selection, and training processes by demonstrating the potential of non-college graduates to succeed in a rigorous pilot training environment,” Leahy wrote. “This program will provide data to [Air Education and Training Command commander Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast] on the potential for enlisted members to train to fly modern combat aircraft.”
Candidates who succeed and become students will take solo flights in T-6 trainers, Leahy wrote.
The email was provided to Air Force Times by former airman Steven Mayne, who runs the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco page.
AETC spokeswoman Marilyn Holliday confirmed Leahy’s email was genuine. She said in an email to Air Force Times that the Pilot Training Next Initiative will create a training detachment in Austin, Texas. Instructors will “leverage existing and emerging technology” to train the students.
“AETC chose to focus on flying training because of the urgency involved with the enterprise,” Holliday said. “However, our focus is on how airmen learn, not necessarily what they learn, exploring technology and how that technology can produce better and faster learning.”
Holliday said that as part of the initiative, the Air Force will team up with researchers, industry representatives, advanced biometrics experts, and academics to build a training environment integrating virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and analytics.
Leahy began his email by saying that Kwast asked Second Air Force for help modernizing “how the Air Force conducts pilot training by employing emerging technologies.”
Leahy also said that the deadline for airmen to volunteer online is Dec. 15, and that the selectees will begin training Feb. 15. Leahy said that his staff had identified 250 potential candidates for pilot training.
This could represent a major expansion of the Air Force’s fledgling experiment with enlisted aviators. After a long study, the Air Force two years ago began allowing enlisted airmen to fly the unarmed RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance remotely-piloted aircraft.
Aside from that, the Air Force has until now not made any moves to allow enlisted to fly armed RPAs such as the MQ-9 Reaper, or manned aircraft of any kind.
But top officials never closed…