Afghan airmen have received training for the first time on how they would use signaling equipment to alert help if their aircraft go down. This is part of the broader survival skills that NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan advisors are teaching them. As part of the training, which took place Nov. 3 at the Blackwater Training Range in Kabul, the Afghans shot several different types of signaling flares and learned how to use mirrors and other items to show their locations to rescue aircraft. “Some of these guys have been being advised for four to five years, but they only within the past seven months have gotten equipment,” said MSgt. Jeremy Raymond, an NATC-A/438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group advisor. (Kabul report by MC3 Jared E. Walker)
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.