Simulating slow-moving, low-altitude threats for the first time at the Air Force Weapons School, turboprop T-6A Texan II trainers began flying “aggressor” sorties from Nellis AFB, Nev., this month. “It is difficult for fighter aircraft to simulate low and slow targets, so the T-6 Texan II fills that void,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Garoutte, 33rd Flying Training Squadron operations director from Vance AFB, Okla., in May 15 Nellis release. “We add another dimension to [the weapons school students’] decision-making, and we increase the numbers of the opposing forces” that they face in the training drills, he added. Paired with F-15 and F-16 aggressor aircraft from Nellis, the Vance T-6s force the students to “prioritize their intercept decisions based on the type of threat they were facing,” explained Maj. Jason Zumwalt, adversary integration boss with the USAF Warfare Center. Debuting in this month’s weapons instructor course, the Texan IIs add a “unique intercept challenge against an asymmetric threat,” he said. (Nellis report by SSgt. Chris Hubenthal)
There is a new entrant in the highly competitive field of collaborative combat aircraft—semi-autonomous drones meant to fly alongside manned combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman unveiled its new Project Talon aircraft to a small group of reporters at the facilities of its subsidiary Scaled Composites.
