The Air Force Weapons School plans to start graduating its first KC-46 experts in three years under a new weapons instructor course, the service said Aug. 5.
Creating the course is a joint effort between the Weapons School, Air Mobility Command, and Air Combat Command. The school offers specialized education to people seen as the best in their field on how to best use Air Force assets in combat.
Syllabus development is currently underway, and the school hopes AMC and ACC will approve it by next June, service spokesperson 2nd Lt. Richard R. Caesar told Air Force Magazine. Later that summer, school officials will start finding a group of Airmen who will work out any kinks in the course in July 2022.
Caesar said the current goal is for undergraduate students to begin the course in January 2023, and to graduate the first KC-46 weapons officers in June 2023. That timeline coincides with when the Air Force hopes the troubled new KC-46 will be ready to use in regular operations.
KC-46 weapons officers will go back to operational units to create the tactics, techniques, and procedures that Airmen need to fly the tanker in challenging or dangerous areas.
“Upon graduation, weapons officers return to the field to prepare their units for combat and provide Air Force senior leaders with tactical expertise on integrated force packaging and how their particular platform best works with all others,” the service said July 24.