AZwildcat

FIFY. Yeah, of course we don't want them anywhere near it...I'm just pointing out the massive fail that is IT in the AF. If there was money on the line we'd have competent dedicated IT support who would make shit happen, and do it correctly...unfortunately this is the government so the people out there with skin in the game are the ones who have to take care of themselves. I've been through PIT twice, most recently a year ago, and it was a vastly different environment than the first time circa 2011. There were O-5s scheduling in the flights, 9-3 everyday, total good deal. Now not so much, you won't find an IP just sitting in the flight room, they're either flying, briefing, debriefing, or sitting ops sup/SOF...or they're attached staff....or most recently being the lowest paid AF IT techs making VR sims. Dudes are pulling 12 hr days, double/triple turning, and generally trying to keep the system alive and the product good. Is doing PIT at UPT bases doable...sure, but it still requires time, money, resources, and people. At the end of the day all this boils down to is the AF has and will continue to lower standards to make more pilots because that is what makes the spreadsheet turn green.

My theory is that it all boils down to a generational issue with leadership. Our current senior leaders and fossilized bureaucracy didn't grow up with technology however they have been exposed it enough and have seen its benefits over the last 20 years. When it comes to the execution and what kind of skills and resources are required, they're clueless for the most part. They understand that they pay Lock Mart or NG or Boeing some astronomical amount of money and years later something magical appears on the battlefield This magical thing is proprietary and doesn't talk to anything else it wasn't paid to talk to. Pretty soon we need a new magical thing and so the cycle continues. They're just starting to figure out that the pace and quality of commercial industry has outpaced the defense industry and there's a LOT of things that can be done on the small scale with COTS tech and so the new word of the day is "Innovation"! Everybody innovate! Perfect example: Electronic Flight Bags. Let's use a tablet to replace paper FLIP...makes perfect sense. The tablet brings exponential capability to the cockpit vs. a paper FLIP book, but it also comes with exponential support requirements. It takes a couple airmen to order the FLIP, open the boxes, and stock in on a shelf. To support an EFB program, it takes hardware, it takes software, it takes management of said hardware and software, it takes a network infrastructure, and it takes smart skilled people to properly configure, deploy and sustain it all. And oh by the way the local comm squadron has/wants nothing to do with it...so fail there. I listened to Goldfien talk on the WarontheRocks podcast...he was raving about how we can use inexpensive off the shelf simulators to help pilots chairfly. I'm thinking to myself, dude we had this 10 years ago! A guy in my UPT class built his own T-38 sim in his house....and here we are just now figuring this out. Better late than never, but the bottom line IMHO is we're headed full speed ahead in a direction the Bobs don't understand, and the technical knowledge and support requirements for this "innovation" is more so than ever, and will require us as a service to rethink our IT model...putting IT specialists back in the units, shit canning NIPR, leveraging the cloud, putting contractors in place to execute the innovation at the direction of the green bags....that's how we'll be successful.

The Bob's are banking on all this VR/Sim/P-mission innovation to cut down the number of sorties required to make a pilot or a UPT IP....but they recognize it's not going to get them to the magic number to "grow our way out of it"...I can't remember the figure, but well over 1K new pilots a year. The idea of another UPT base has been lingering for a while, and on the surface Randolph would make the most sense because the infrastructure is already in place. Still...i don't think the math works without buying more iron and hiring more help. There's only so much you can do on the ground. What really grinds my gears is all this balls to the wall talk about innovation and guess who's left holding the hammer to go execute...all the folks in flight suits. Go ahead and pin on your comm and contracting and cyber badges, if you didn't have them already. PIT dudes are skipping flying to work 12 hour days building VR sims and 360 videos...WTF

Yup that's ACC's plan for now. As the T-X comes online, ACC will take over as lead command for the T-38. CTPs will get C models, ADAIR will absorb the remaining A models (They don't want C models b/c the performance is worse due to PMP...18 deg NL to sustain 5G). I don't think anyone at ACC really knows what the future of ADAIR will be. There's lots talk of contract ADAIR too. T-X seems like a fantastic platform for ADAIR...cheap, relative to F-22 or F-35 flight hours...can simulate just about anything you want on the avionics, so 5th gen guys could train to their respective platforms. But...I predict ACC will, as per usual, shoot themselves in the dick and not buy it. Let's get that contract or reserve CTP IP force going...get you back in the game! I love the A model...but she just needs some attention. At least we're putting up sunshades at Beale to stop them from baking in the sun. Not sure on the final cost of the MB seat...rough number I heard was $1 million / jet. At the end of the day though that seat has saved 4 dudes in the past year. Should've been 5 unfortunately. But that's the stupidity of it all...we'll spend all kinds of money on stupid shit, and then refuse to do simple things, like put in a seat armed light, or an ISS position light...or a speed brake light in the A model.

T-X projected for IOC 2024, with IFF getting the first jets, followed by AETC....contract award was supposed to be June, then July, now it's almost September...we'll see. AETC has a real problem...the math doesn't work for them. Trying to grow their way out of a pilot shortage by upping production, while balancing hours on the C model fleet. The only answer is to cut the syllabus and fly less per student (aka lower standards), hoping that innovative things like VR training can make up the difference. With the A model, I don't know Huggy, I think we're starting to hit the exponential snowball of failing components sooner that the SPO projected. The MTBF is decreasing on lots of components, harder and harder to keep Code 1 jets on the line. They (the SPO) have a plan on phasing the A models in for something called the TRIM mod. Which is basically a light weight version of the Pacer Classic 3 mods on the C model to beef up the structure and extend their structural life. A models have never been cracked open, only x-ray'd and other NDI during phase, so we don't exactly know how bad they are from a structural standpoint. Gearbox issues are becoming a problem for the As too...and the other elephant in the room is avionics. We're laughable as an IFR platform. Not on track to meet the 2020 ADS-B either (like everyone else). Multiple jets down right now for HSI problems. Dual UHF radio is a joke. TACAN decommissioning all over the place, no ability to navigate point to point (Thank you Steve Jobs for iPads). Meanwhile NASA is upgrading their avionics...again. My time is being spent right now trying to convince the frozen middle at ACC that this is important and we need to spend a few dollars to make these things last for 10-15 more years.

FF is the gold standard. I'd hold off on making an iPad purchase (esp a Mini) until after the next Apple announcement (Sep/Oct time frame)...they are likely to update the product line and if a Mini 5 drops, get that. If the Mini goes away or doesn't get updated, get a 9.7. Highly recommend you get the cell enabled iPad...WiFi only does not have GPS. You'll still want to connect it to a Stratus or Sentry or other external GPS, but it's nice to have that backup GPS just built in just in case. Plenty of documented cases of dudes making it home on iPad/FF alone during electrical failures or other EPs...do it right, you'll be happy. You get what you pay for.

Just another day at the office... The U-2 Spy Plane Is Still Flying Combat Missions 60 Years After Its Debut

Realistically, this jet is going to be flying well past 2030, both As and Cs, especially as the T-X continues to slide to the right. Rumor is ACC is starting to move on upgrading the A models to the MB. I hope it happens for all the aforementioned reasons. The other issue is the avionics though....it's the oldest cockpit in the AF and I would argue it no longer meets acceptable standards to safely operate in the NAS, and certainly not without and iPad. ACC is upgrading the A model IFF to comply with the 2020 FAA ADS-B out mandate (spoiler alert: they won't meet it), however the IFF is a self contained unit that will know it's own GPS position for ADS-B out, but will not tell you the pilot where you are nor will it integrate with anything else. No plans for upgraded avionics. Dual UHF is a joke and frankly embarrassing. I'd like to see a paired down version of what NASA has done as an avionics upgrade for the A. Keep it simple, AHARS only, single MFD, simple GPS, output position data to ForeFlight on the iPad, place to mount Stratus 2S, VHF radio, speed brake light, some kind of digital track logging for ADAIR (probably can use fore flight/stratus for that). Anyone flown a NASA T-38?

4000 hrs, the hard way! Back when flying was dangerous and sex was safe! No hate on the Northrop seat, it is what it is and it’s worked as advertised for many many years, but...the MB is more capable and has saved lives where the old seat wouldn’t. There’s a reason AETC upgraded, and for the cost of some budget dust it’d be nice to see the A models get the same treatment.

That’s the truth

I really hope the Martin Baker makes it into the A models...

Just got back from the AOR and It's already a uniform bonanza out there. Between ABUs, OCPs, Army OCPs, OCP Flight Suits, Normal Tan Flight Suits....and the best part is no one seemed to give a shit what you were wearing, which was refreshing.

Very basic math shows that if the AF was to pay every single active duty, guard and reserve pilot an extra $100K/year that would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.1B / year. The FY 19 AF budget is $156 B. So for a roughly 1.3% reallocation of funds the AF could be competitive with airline pay. Obviously that's very simplistic, but you get the point. Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining AF...if you value your people you need to start paying them like it. The AF just spent over $1B on NG to tell us that a square peg sensor doesn't fit on a round hole Global Hawk. GMAFB. We have the money. People say it isn't about the money...they're lying. QoL is a big factor, but there's a lot more you're willing to put up with to keep flying cool jets at the right price.

Interesting how little media attention this has: Israel Believes Syria Strikes Took Out Nearly Half of Assad’s Air Defenses

https://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2018/February 2018/USAF-to-Grow-Out-of-Pilot-Crisis-by-Increasing-Training-Not-by-Competing-with-Airlines.aspx https://www.airforcemag.com/DRArchive/Pages/2018/February 2018/February 15 2018/USAF-Losing-700-T-6-Flights-Per-Day-While-Fleet-is-Grounded-Growing-Out-of-the-Pilot-Crisis-Making-Space-a-Priority.aspx

Making ISR great again

That damn zeolite dust...it'll getcha

One U-2 squadron wants to be the Silicon Valley of the Air Force ”[Air Force Chief of Staff] Gen. [David] Goldfein has told me as a commander to get ready for the fight. I cannot succeed at the mission that he’s laid out for me if I wait on the Air Force to give me the answers,” Lt. Col. Matt Nussbaum, commander of the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron, told Defense News in a Nov. 30 interview at Beale AFB in California. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/12/08/one-u-2-squadron-wants-to-be-the-silicon-valley-of-the-air-force/

Right? Someone literally just asked a question at a CSAF all-call about enlisted pilot opportunities and he said not right now, because we have a retention problem, not a recruiting problem...there is no shortage of people willing to raise their hand to fly So WTFO? What problem are we trying to fix again?

FIFY

Thankless work no doubt. At least you guys are aware and trying to get ahead of the power curve. I've been trying to get the U-2 flight manuals folks to add hyperlinks in the PDFs for a year now. And yes once paper finally does go away it opens up lots of new possibilities for how flight manuals and checklists are constructed and displayed. It would be great if ACC would throw money at developing an awesome checklist app or something like that but I'll believe it when I see it...like you eluded to once they realize that cost savings I'm sure that money will go somewhere else in a hurry. I think we'll be stuck with PDFs for checklists for a while.

This reminds me of the old F-117 story about painting the jet weird pastel gray colors because that was going to blend in best at night...but real men don't fly pastel jets, so paint it black! Just give the thing a damn afterburner...dilly dilly! ------ No one's really brought up the concept of integrated simulator training. I think that will play a large part in the discussion of how we move forward with requirements and how the syllabus is structured. I believe some of the T-X competitors at least had demonstrated integrated sim capabilities, flying an actual mission next to a virtual wingman who's sitting in the sim on the ground or what have you. I shudder at the thought of cutting large amounts of flights and hours out of the UPT or IFF syllabus in favor of sim time, but I've never had the privilege of using a state of the art gucci sim either, so I don't know.

Right! If you really think about it, 95% of the conversations here could be funneled into the WTF section. It's all a band aid. The new IFF will go in the same place as the old IFF, so I'm sure all that water that comes out of the air vent won't be a problem at all... And yeah ADAIR is the big driver for the T-38A in ACC as they have most of the jets. They don't have any interest in the C model mostly because of the PMP mod. Worse performance in the airspace, shorter sortie duration. What they really want is more A models until T-X or ADAIR-X or whatever can replace it. Basically zero chance of PMPing the remaining A/B models. I would think a low cost avionics upgrade using COTS products would be a drop in the bucket and a no brainer. Hell just steal what NASA already did, they've even offered up all their schematics to get the job done. I guess for now we have to be happy with the "Dual UHF upgrade"...if you can call it an upgrade. More like a Radio Shack weekend project. I want ForeFlight...but...I want more features and integration that are tactically useful. ForeFlight is great, but their biggest customer is civilian and commercial aviation. They are responsive to military needs but it's not their priority. We get a great product for flying from A to B, but it COULD be a game changer if we could meld it with tactical overlays. The interface, charting and overlays on ForeFlight is first rate, now imagine being able to lay down threats, blue force tracker, kill boxes, targeting coords/imagery, whatever you want. If we could have a MIL ForeFlight product that adapts and gets better at the rate the commercial app does but feature wise is catered to Military, capable of going classified and all that, you'd have an awesome tool. Instead of throwing money at something like Aero App how about not re-inventing the wheel and work out a contract with the best COTS product which is ForeFlight. The speed, innovation, adaptability of a commercial product tailored to meet operational and security needs of the military. Maybe it's a pipe dream but if I was king, that's what I would do. Yeah there's a new INS and new IFF on the horizon for the deuce, not sure about meeting the 2020 deadline though. The T-38A is actually not projected to meet the 2020 mandate either. I believe the exact quote was "We hope they'll come through with a waiver" Hope is always a great strategy.

BTW Prince Saleem needs more cigarette breaks and 12 more 87 rides. He's on the 2 year UPT program. Also he won't make formal brief Monday because he's got some Tinder dates in Dallas on Sunday and he doesn't want to drive his Maserati back in the dark. He may make 3rd go if Allah wills it. As-salamu alaykamu vanilla face.

If by NOW you mean IOC of 2024, not fully implemented until 2034....with absolutely no delays, then yes we're on track. 38's are getting cracked open for a structural inspection/overhaul which "should" allow them to fly for 20 more years. It's a house of cards...as the oldest 38s age out the T-X will come online to replace them. With a boost in UPT production, the 38 will essentially have zero surge capability. And that's assuming they can triage all the other stuff on the jet that is starting to break at an exponential rate. And like you said, the problem is retention right. Boosting UPT production doesn't fix it. In 10 years you end up with a couple bloated year groups and another RIF board. Congratulations Big Blue, you suck again. Let's focus on quality not quantity, keep pilot production where it is and pour your effort into fixing the other bullshit. Put a civilian or two in each shop in the squadron, stop BS deployments, figure out a way to streamline the staff queep and make flying staff jobs. It's 2017, you'd think we could figure out telecommuting for staff.