For now, and probably through the end of 2013, the elite flight team’s aviators will each be permitted 11 hours per month of flying time, the same amount being allowed to Naval air forces on deployed aircraft carriers.
Our military combat capability is screwed if that is all we can give a Navy Aviator.
Pilots will leave at a higher rate because of all the bullshit.
One mission: 1 hour for take off and to meet the tanker. 1 hour from tanker to ingress. 1 hour just because for ingress, loiter, hit target, re-attack or alternate. 1 hour from egress to tanker. 1 hour from tanker to recovery. If you are lucky you get to fly again in a few weeks?
What a joke on the squadron training schedule and unit readiness.
Pacific pivot of the paper tiger.
7 comments:
11 hours per month is 132 hours per year, which will be comparable to old Soviet standards, but the Soviets seem to cram more into their limited hours - one flight and training task every 40 flying minutes. The US schedule is more varied, but the vibe I get is that it is not as "packed" as the Russian version.
Alternative proposal as means to restore readiness within the budget:
Suspend and defer all USAF F-35 procurement lots in FY15, FY16, FY17 and mothball both the manufacturing line and supply chain as much as possible. Maybe fund nominal retainer payments to critical suppliers to streamline process when Services are ready to restart.
Postpone development indefinitely of F-35B variant. Reduce F-35C development by 50% and F-35A by 25% over the 3 budget years.
Procure 20x F-16V type, plus 5x F-15SA+ type (with APG-82 and possibly the blockers conceived for F-15SE) for total mix of 25 operational Tactical stopgap platforms, per each of said 'suspension' buy years.
The USAF will have just acquired 75x modern and operational Tactical fighters and in the meanwhile, with the money saved, USAF can restore training and combat readiness of the force structure back to par.
Note that even par equates to a hollow force structure arguably, and an illusion of deterrence.
Below par is simply not yet an option at this point in time in history, unfortunately, make that crystal clear.
Hi Eric
Di you see this?
Do you think the USNavy is finally interested in the international roadmap?
http://defensetech.org/2013/04/08/upgraded-fa-18-to-begin-test-flights-offer-navy-alternative-to-f-35c/
Dont NATO demand 160-180 flight hours per year for pilots to conflict participation?
Put the tanker & ingress nearer !
1/4 hour to reach them, and you fly every weeks. Not that bad ! The rest on simulator and that's OK.
Paper tiger, really ?
How much flying for our potential opponents ?
IIRC there is a 165 hrs/yr NATO requirement (or guideline). Some NATO countries' air forces fly less, but that's generally associated with insufficient training. The share of flight safety-related activities (training take off and landing etc) is rather fixed, so one additional hour past a hundred or so is almost one additional hour for tactical training.
On the other hand, Russian aviators get less than 132 hrs on average, with exception of mostly the Tu-95 crews. Not sure how much the PLAF flies, but I haven't learned about high hours on their part.
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