Aviation Specials — F-22 Raptor (2017)

O

UR COURSE IS designed to

train our pilots to be experts

at the tactical level,’ explains

Lt Col Brad Huebinger,

commander of the 433rd

Weapons Squadron (WPS

— known as ‘Whips’), which is part of the

USAF Weapons School, based at Nellis

AFB, Nevada. His squadron runs the F-22

Weapons Instructor Course (WIC, known

as ‘Wick’). ‘That’s not only in the Raptor

but also integrating with the joint force,’

he adds. ‘It’s also a leadership course, so

that when they graduate they are not

only the tactical experts on their

squadron but also the tactical leader. A

squadron Weapons Officer is the chief

tactician below the Squadron

Commander and the Director of

Operations [DO]. They are the lower-level

leader if a squadron goes to war, and

they will be the first guys leading the

forces into the first missions.’

The Weapons School is akin to a mini air

force, led by Col Steven Behmer, the

current Commandant. This mini air force

out-guns most of the world’s air forces in

terms of pure numbers alone,

notwithstanding the fact that it features

the top one per cent of the best aviators

in the USAF and is composed of its most

advanced aircraft. This centre of

excellence within the world’s most

advanced air force is always going to be

impressive!

Every six months the Weapons School

graduates approximately 100 Weapons

Officers and enlisted specialists who

‘

The USAF Weapons School is the centre of excellence when it

comes to the world’s greatest air force. The 433rd Weapons

Squadron is responsible for teaching the best of the best

Raptor instructor pilots.

RAPTOR^73

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