Air Combat Command has launched a sweeping end-to-end review of its training activities to better align them with current warfighting priorities, Gen. William Fraser, Air Combat Command boss, said Feb. 19 at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. “I want to make sure that we are training the way that we are going to be fighting,” he told reporters after his address, expanding on comments made in December. He said the review will assess which training activities require a higher degree of proficiency for today’s fight and where “measured risk” could be taken to reduce training demands—de-emphasizing some secondary training—now placed on frequently deploying units. And, ACC wants to rethink the best mix of actual flight training vs. simulator and virtual training, making such non-flying activities count toward proficiency requirements. Fraser noted, too, that more virtual training would help reduce the strain on legacy airframes.
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.