Air Education and Training Command chief Gen. Edward Rice said on Wednesday he was interested in examining the Air Force’s “entire training system,” not just new aircraft platforms, to determine how better to train and support the future force. Speaking at the Four-Star Forum of AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., Rice said he believed the Air Force could shift a lot of the training it currently does on expensive platforms to less expensive ones or simulators. “I think [the future force] looks very different from the fourth generation concept that we use today,” said Rice. He referenced the need for a new advanced trainer, hoping it would serve as a “jumping off point” toward guaranteeing airmen the “world-class training” needed for a fifth generation force. “We really have an open window to change that model in a way that allows us to be much more effective in a shorter period of time to get an even greater product out” to train airmen, he said.
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.