EAGLE REBIRTH PAINS
It is utterly ridiculous that the U.S.
Air Force’s premier air superiority
fighter requires support from fourth-
generation fighters to accomplish its
primary mission (AW& S T March 16-29,
p. 46).
OK, the Raptor wasn’t built with
an infrared search-and track (IRST)
system, but why has it taken so long
to figure this out? While believing that
stealth was the ultimate trump card,
the service left the back door open by
not reacting to program cancellations.
Instead of equipping 40-year-old
aircraft with an IRST pod, Raptors
should be fitted with distributed aper-
ture systems from the F-35 program.
USAF should also consider stealth
drop tanks for the F-22 to enhance
performance in support of the so-
called Pacific Pivot.
Dan Jurchenko
MANSFIELD, TEXAS
COOPERATION = BETTER CONOPS
In a recent Viewpoint, Deputy De-
fense Secretary Robert O. Work states
that the U.S. will seek to identify a new
concept of operations (Conops) as we
did in the Cold War (AW&ST March
16-29, p. 74), which will be very difcult,
again, for three big reasons; he lists one
I find particularly irksome.
Work says: “We find ourselves in
a very diferent competitive environ-
ment” where all the major technological
advances are being pushed primarily by
the commercial sector.
I don’t get it. Are the defense and
commercial sectors in competition?
Major commercial technological ad-
vances would seem to make the Defense
Department’s Science & Technology
aspect easier, allowing them to focus en-
tirely on non-civilian applications while
capitalizing on the tremendous military
opportunities presented by civilian
advances (I could list hundreds).
Jim Sandberg
BUSHWOOD, MARYLAND
STREAMLINE ATP REQUIREMENTS
In regard to the upcoming pilot
shortage, I can remember in the mid-
1960s that United Airlines ofered
flight training for anyone with a college
degree and no previous aviation expe-
rience. After completion of training the
applicants were hired as First Ofcers
and training costs were paid via pay-
roll deductions.
The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Ma-
rine Corps had programs that gradu-
ated non-college-educated pilots with
as little as 250 hr. who started flying in
the right seat of C-141, P-3, and C-
aircraft, and later became aircraft
commanders. Additionally, the Army
warrant ofcer rotary-wing aviator
program graduated 18-19-year-old
helicopter pilots, many of whom went
on to become airline pilots.
The real solution is to demonstrate to
Congress that the 1,500-hr. air trans-
port pilot (ATP) requirement for new
airline hires needs to be rescinded, and
for the airlines to help fund training as
United did in the ’60s. The restricted
ATP is merely a way around the pres-
ent day law and adds to the financial
burden of the civilian-trained pilot.
Craig Wheel
WILMINGTON, DELAWARECAS BY OTHER MEANS
“Domino Efect” (AW& S T March
2-15, p. 49) discusses the imminent
retirement of the venerable A-10, yet
it does not mention the Army’s view of
the retirement.
The A-10 grew out of a set of require-
ments for a Close Air Support (CAS)
aircraft that resulted from an extensive
Efects Study conducted by the Ballis-
tics Research Laboratory at Aberdeen
Proving Ground, Maryland, just after
World War II. The A-10 has proven to
be an excellent result; one wonders how
CAS will be provided while the Army
waits years more for the F-35 to arrive?
The Navy says it can provide CAS
at a fraction of the cost with a cruise
missile and a laser cannon—why isn’t
it being provided now?
In terms of cost-efectiveness, it is
hard to imagine the F-35 really being
a very good option, although we did
see the B2 used for that mission (once)
during the Iraqi war.
The F-35 looks like another of those
great designs that can do everything,
but none of it well. The Air Force does
not want the A-10, but neither did it
want the F-5 years ago. It was forcedon them by Congress, but it turned out
to be a very good weapon—and the
basis for the long-lived T-38.
Maybe we should be looking for a
replacement for the A-10, and rethink-
ing the assignment of that mission to
the Air Force.
Arne Sandberg
CODY, WYOMINGADDING TO ADDITIVE HONORS
Pratt & Whitney congratulates Greg
Morris for his pioneering work on addi-
tive manufacturing (AM) in aerospace.
Our entire industry has benefited from
his work at Morris Technologies.
We have been working with AM
since the 1980s, and are looking for-
ward to an upcoming milestone—the
first production PW1500G engines
with AM parts will be delivered later
this year.
Among the more than 2,000 additive
manufactured metal prototype parts
Pratt has made to support develop-
ment engines, we will begin produc-
ing compressor stators and sync ring
brackets for our production engines in
the coming months. Additive manu-
facturing ofers significant benefits to
the production of jet engines, and we
applaud Aviation Week’s recognition of
this through awarding Greg Morris a
Laureate (see page 68).
Tom Prete, Vice President, Engineering
Pratt & Whitney
EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUTCORRECTION: Photo credits for the story on
pp. 39-41 of the March 16-29 issue were switched.
Photos on pp. 39 and 41 were by Nigel Howarth.
The image on page 40 was by Keith Gaskell.Feedback Aviation Week & Space Technology welcomes
the opinions of its readers on issues raised in
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8 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/MARCH 30-APRIL 12, 2015 AviationWeek.com/awst