T
he 27th Fighter Squadron at JB Langley-Eustis, Va., has commenced initial operations with its T-38 adversary aircraft. “Our whole mission requires us to train against the Raptor,” Col. Derek Wyler, 27th FS director of T-38 operations, told the Daily Report in a recent interview at the joint base. Squadron officials could not complete mission qualification of the pilots who will fly the T-38s in training drills against the 1st Fighter Wing’s F-22s until after the Air Force leadership lifted the fleet-wide F-22 grounding in late September, said Wyler. That’s because “there was no one for them to train against,” he explained. Air Combat Command established the T-38 Adversary Air Program to provide the wing’s Raptors with cost-effective air-to-air training. “You essentially get more training at a much lower cost,” since “you don’t have to have . . . F-22s replicating bad guys,” explained Col. Kevin Robbins, 1st FW commander, in an interview. There are seven T-38s assigned to the wing, with a possibility of expanding to 14 airframes in Fiscal 2013, said Robbins. The 325th FW at Tyndall AFB, Fla., is also receiving T-38s for enhanced combat training. (See also Raptor Versus Talon.)
NASA Boss: Race to Moon Has National Security Stakes
Sept. 15, 2026
NASA is pushing hard to get astronauts back to the moon by 2028—and the urgency is driven in no small part by the national security implications of doing so before China does, Administrator Jared Isaacman said Sept. 15.
