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Show 8 HILLTOP TIMES Hilltop TIMES August 7, 2014 F-22 From 3 of a part to play as the 43rd FS and with the maintenance squadron," Costello said. "Students spend 10 to 12 hours a day for two full months with the 325th TRSS before they are qualified to fly a solo mission." The academics and simulator missions are adjusted to be better aligned to the CAF mission needs, he added, and F-22 student pilots are taught by the only government civil service instructors in Air Combat Command. "We call them 'Big A' Airmen—they do just as much of the heavy lifting as our flightline instructors," said Costello. "Our civilian simulator instructors are known Air Force wide as F-22 subject matter experts. Their detailed knowledge of the F-22 weapons system is as deep, if not more so, than most active-duty instructors, and in some cases, more than the engineers who designed the F-22." Raptors need their Talons Prior to the introduction of the T-38 Talon as an adversary aircraft, the Raptor played the role as an adversary during training missions. This change produces significant cost savings, to the tune of $15.5 million in 2013, as it costs about $18,000 less per flight hour to fly a T-38 than an F-22. "Bringing adversarial training on board with the T-38 has allowed the majority of F-22 sorties to focus on training and combat missions while additionally supporting training and adversary platforms," Costello said. "This has also been an economic gain, and it has increased student production while saving hours on the Raptor. The Raptor, like all aircraft, has a limited service life. Every hour spent in an adversary role is an hour we don't get back for a wartime role. With the T-38, we not only preserve flying hours on the F-22, but we also help to preserve a national asset." In addition, T-38s are more realistic as adversary aircraft because the F-22's attributes of stealth, supercruise and integrated avionics are unique and unmatched by any aircraft in the world. From a production perspective, the T-38s are putting in work. In 2013, T-38s flew 831 adversary air sorties in nine months, and that number is expected to double in 2014. Maintenance partnerships and collaborations The health of the F-22 fleet in the first half of fiscal year 2014 was the best of any half year in the 10-year Raptor history, highlighted by the F-22 meeting and exceeding the 74 percent command mission capable, or MC, rate standard for the first time with an 80.7 percent rate in March. By comparison, the average MC rate from January to March 2013 was 49 percent. "This was not achieved in a vacuum," said Col. Curtis Hafer, the former 325th Maintenance Group commander. Partners such as the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, Virginia, share some of the 325th MXG workload such as in conducting some of the low observable coating maintenance, or LO, which helps the Raptor to maintain its low observable, or LO, stealth characteristics. In addition, the Langley AFB team assists in performing some of the scheduled packaged maintenance plans, a threeweek phased inspection required every 300 flight hours on the F-22. "The ability for us to fly the jets up to Langley to do the LO work and also leave them there for PMP has given us more capacity and helped tremendously in aircraft reliability," Hafer said. Other contributing factors to the improved aircraft reliability and higher MC-rates were software enhancements as well as the availability of quality F-22 parts, he said. "The whole supply chain, from Lockheed Martin Corporation to the Air Combat Command weapons systems team, increased the parts priority for us. Our partners understand the importance of our training mission and that its success is based on mission capable (or MC) airplanes. It's been a true collaboration," Hafer said. One of the residual benefits of hitting historic maintenance marks is the While the Air Force still needs to determine if 42 new B-Course F-22 pilots is the right number and is a number that can be easily absorbed into the six combat-coded F-22 squadrons, the consensus is that more new pilots are sorely needed. "The F-22 program is taking a tremendous step forward by being able MASTER SGT. J. WILCOX/U.S. Air Force to do career broadening that they couldn't do Two F-22 Raptors and a T-38 Talon from Tyndall Air before," said John Wigle, Force Base, Fla., fly together during a 43rd Fighter an Air Staff Operations Squadron Basic Course training mission over Florida. A Directorate program sortie begins when an individual aircraft takes off and analyst. "The F-22 should ends when it lands. The 43rd FS is the only squadron in be represented on the the world that trains and develops F-22 pilots. staff, at undergraduate pilot training (and) they positive impact on moGroup commander. "We serve as air liaison ofrale. are moving closer to the ficers. We should begin "Our Airmen are required number of 42 to see the payback of all fired up and energized, B-Course pilots per year these improvements in and holding their heads that the CAF has asked high with pride of what of us." In its simplest terms, they've accomplished," Hafer said. "This in turn the Air Force needs to makes them work hardgraduate 265 new fighter er." pilots, across all fighter Moving forward aircraft, per year to meet manning requirements. "We are careful not to ring the victory bell Of those required 265 fighter pilots the F-22 just yet; but, clearly we have a plan for fiscal percentage accounts for approximately 42 F-22 year 2015 and beyond," said Col. Max Marosko B-Course graduates per III, the 325th Operations year. the next three years." For the formal training unit to graduate 42 B-Course pilots and meet the CAF needs, it will require continued process improvements, increased training aircraft reliability and possible future syllabus changes, Graff said. "We're on the right track," he added. "We've made cultural changes here, institutionalized processes and we have stopped looking at the old ways of doing things. My mindset is that if we can't defend what we're doing other than by saying, 'it's how we've always done it,' then we need to be willing to rip it apart or shatter it with a hammer." • Hill AFB Job Openings Site Internal civilian announcements are posted on the USAJOBS web site.Announcements for bargaining unit positions are posted any week day. The website is www.usajobs.gov . On the home page type "HILL" in the box titled "What". In the box titled "Where" type "UT" and hit the Search Jobs button. 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