October 11, 2018 | International, Aerospace
By: Stephen Losey
The Air Force hopes to be able to train 1,500 new pilots each year by fiscal 2022 as part of its effort to solve its troubling shortage of aviators.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at a Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee hearing Wednesday that the Air Force trained 1,160 new pilots in fiscal 2017, and expects to train 1,311 in fiscal 2019, before expanding further.
The Air Force has taken several steps to try to improve air crew's quality of life and quality of service, and solve problems that might be leading some to choose to leave the Air Force. Wilson highlighted efforts to reduce operating tempos, revitalize squadrons and restore support staffs so air crew can concentrate on flying, as well as generous incentive pay and bonuses.
The Air Force is also working on testing a “fly-only” technical track for interested airmen, and giving air crew greater input on assignments.
But, Wilson said, “retention efforts alone will not solve the aircrew shortage," leading the Air Force to beef up its training capacity.
Increased pilot training capacity could become even more important as the Air Force seeks to increase its number of operational squadrons from 312 to 386 by the end of 2030.
Wilson told lawmakers that restoring readiness must be a top priority of the Air Force. The service is focusing on fixing readiness in the 204 operational squadrons that would be most important in a high-end fight. By the end of 2020, she said the Air Force hopes 80 percent of those units will have the right number of properly trained and equipped airmen. And two years after that, Wilson hopes 80 percent of all 312 operational squadrons will be ready.
The Air Force has already made significant progress in cutting the maintainer shortage, Wilson said. Two years ago, the Air Force was short 4,000 maintainers, but by December, that gap is expected to be completely eliminated.
But the Air Force's work on maintenance isn't done. Wilson said these new, green maintainers must be seasoned until they have enough experience to do more complicated or unsupervised work.
September 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo's partner, UK firm 2Excel.
September 17, 2021 | International, Land
The goal is to field the core system as rapidly as possible, as the global supply chain for critical subsystems like cables and connectors remains backlogged across sectors since the start of the pandemic.
February 5, 2020 | International, Naval
By: Nathan Strout The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific has awarded Booz Allen Hamilton a $178 million contract for to modernize GPS systems in partnership with the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, the company reported Jan. 24. The Naval Information Warfare Center heads the Navy's research, development, and engineering efforts for space systems, and its Positioning, Navigation and Timing Division oversees research and development for the service's navigation sensors and systems. Under the contract, Booz Allen will support the modernization of the GPS architecture, specifically through programs such as Military GPS User Equipment, GPS III and the Next Generation Operational Control System. In other words, the company will help the Navy and Air Force modernize all three segments of the GPS enterprise, from the user terminal to the ground system to the new GPS III satellites. Booz Allen will provide system definition, requirements synchronization, capability improvement, cybersecurity engineering, platform integration and testing and acquisition program management. The contract comes at a key moment for GPS, with the first GPS III satellite on orbit and online and the military working to ensure that ground systems are capable of fully interacting with and utilizing the new satellites' more advanced features, including increased accuracy and stronger anti-jamming capabilities. While the Next Generation Operational Control System being custom built to work with the GPS III satellites is years behind its original schedule, the Air Force has contract with Lockheed Martin to provide a contingency operations software update that allows the current ground segment to work with the new, more advanced satellites. According to a Jan. 30 report from the Pentagon's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, slips in scheduling to all three segments of the GPS enterprise have caused testing delays. Those delays, especially to the user segment, could lead to integration issues for those platforms developed to rely on GPS. “The Air Force has improved the GPS Enterprise schedule by addressing schedule and performance risks; however, articulation of program risks with stakeholders continues to be incomplete, increasing the probability of unmitigated risks causing further program problems and delays,” the report warned. The Air Force plans to conduct operational testing of the enterprise in 2020. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/02/04/navy-awards-a-178m-contract-to-update-gps-systems