Officials at McChord AFB, Wash., plan to ramp up nighttime training by 20 percent and fly the sorties out of McChord rather than the alternative site of Grant County Airport at Moses Lake, Wash., according to local TV station KOMO. Base officials say they need to revise C-17 training to match real-world situations, such avoiding the gunfire, anti-aircraft artillery, and ground-launched missiles encountered in Southwest Asia. The training will include rapid, spiral descents and climbs, with landings on 3,500 feet of the 10,000-foot base runway.
The Air Force is targeting August 2027 for its new T-7A Red Hawk trainer jet to reach its initial operational capability. To get there, the head of Air and Education Training has three milestones he needs to see the program hit.
