Air Education and Training Command officials awarded a $178 million contract for Initial Flight Screening activities to Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Doss Aviation. The Air Force decided last year to dispense with its six-year-old program employing several civilian flight schools to conduct introductory flight training, instead switching to a single operation. Doss now will evaluate all USAF candidates hoping to gain a pilot or combat systems officer training slot. Officials say Doss will provide a turn-key operation, offering all services, facilities, and equipment, including housing, transportation, facilities, and security. IFS students are scheduled to begin training at the company’s Pueblo, Color., facility on Oct. 1, 2006.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…