Representatives from Martin-Baker Aircraft are in the early stages of installing the company’s new the Mk US16T ejection seats in the Air Force’s T-38C trainer aircraft at Randolph AFB, Tex., officials there announced Friday. The new seats offer improved aircrew safety and comfort. “The old ejection seat has the least capability in the flight regime where the most ejections occurred: the low-altitude, low-airspeed range,” explained Rick French, a T-38 program manager for Air Education and Training Command. The new seats allow pilots to bail out at zero altitude and zero airspeed as well as when flying high and fast. Among its other features, the ejection seat offers more secure thigh and ankle restraints than its predecessor and can better accommodate smaller pilots. Randolph is the second of five AETC bases behind Laughlin AFB, Tex., whose T-38s are being upgraded. (Randolph report by Robert Goetz)
The Air Force plans to have its new Integrated Capabilities Command stood up by the end of 2024, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said May 2, offering new details of one of the signature reforms announced by the service earlier this year. Allvin said around 500-800 Airmen will…