The KC-135 force now has three flight simulators located at one tanker training facility, McConnell AFB, Kan., making it the premier follow-on KC-135 training location, according to McConnell officials. The Kansas base recently gained a simulator from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., which is losing its KC-135 mission under BRAC 2005. Once McConnell has the new sim operational, around the end of December, officials expect the training tempo to increase significantly. “The addition of this third simulator is expected to increase aircrew training missions from more than 750 per year to more than 1,200 per year,” said John Dock, project officer and quality assurance representative at the McConnell Aircrew Training Facility. In another year or so, the base plans to convert the new simulator to a KC-135R/T trainer. McConnell flies eight KC-135R/Ts, which can both transfer and receive fuel. (McConnell report by SSgt. Amanda Currier)
The long-standing method for communicating data down from space via radio frequencies has the potential to create deadly data bottlenecks that could slow and stymie future operations, according to a new report from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The report makes the case for combining RF with optical communications…