Air Combat Command has launched a sweeping end-to-end review of its training activities to better align them with current warfighting priorities, Gen. William Fraser, Air Combat Command boss, said Feb. 19 at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. “I want to make sure that we are training the way that we are going to be fighting,” he told reporters after his address, expanding on comments made in December. He said the review will assess which training activities require a higher degree of proficiency for today’s fight and where “measured risk” could be taken to reduce training demands—de-emphasizing some secondary training—now placed on frequently deploying units. And, ACC wants to rethink the best mix of actual flight training vs. simulator and virtual training, making such non-flying activities count toward proficiency requirements. Fraser noted, too, that more virtual training would help reduce the strain on legacy airframes.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.