T
he Air Force and Navy have together flown the T-6A Texan II for more than half a million hours since the new trainer’s introduction in mid-2000. The new joint trainer reached the milestone at the end of June, according to a recent release from the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The Air Force now has some 318 T-6As and the Navy another 47; the services expect to buy a total of about 760 aircraft. The two services use the single-engine, turboprop trainer with tandem seats for initial undergraduate pilot training, and the Navy also uses it for flight officer training and its test pilot school. In the Air Force, the T-6A has replacing the T-37 Tweet.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.