‘WE
RECOGNISE THAT
EVENTUALLY
YOU’LL PROBABLY
FIND SOMEONE
WITHIN VISUAL
RANGE OF YOU
AND THAT
YOU’LL HAVE TO
MANOEUVRE,
SO IT’S STILL A
VALID TACTIC AND
WE HAVE TO BE
PROFICIENT’
MAJ ‘BURN’
simulator. The 38 live ights on the
course compares to some 47 events
in the simulator. The groundwork and
academics are focused on minimising
weaknesses and maximising strengths,
according to ‘Burn’.
The F-22 squadrons also rely heavily
on co-located T-38 Talon ‘Red Air’
aggressors. Only a few pilots y both
the Talon and the Raptor; the majority
of the time the T-38s are providing
adversary training for the F-22 missions.
‘‘Red Air’ is essentially the genesis of
the T-38 companion trainer,’ explains
‘Burn’. ‘A stealth aircraft can’t really
replicate another stealth aircraft; there’s
a physical limitation. You’re going to
get less realistic training than you
would say versus a regular third- or
fourth-generation threat. That said,
sometimes we do y ‘Red Air’
against one another, but it’s rare.’
With the F-22 being an
all-single-seat community,
the Raptor instructor
pilots rarely get any CT
[continuation training]
ight time; most
of their ying is(^46) RAPTOR
40-49 Raptor School C.indd 46 28/09/2017 11:41