Originally Posted by
muppetofthenorth
When somebody else is paying for it, capacity can always be found.
Which does beg the question, how much are we paying for it, in respect to what they 'should' be getting?...
Less than MFTS I would think.
It's not necessarily somebody else paying. The aircraft at Sheppard were all GAF owned, not sure about the T6 now but assume the T-38s are still German, and the IPs were mostly German until the advent of ENJJPT. Cost-wise, it was reckoned to be a lot cheaper in terms of pounds per hour. As I understand it, UK went into it to be 'part of the program' as well as the easy potential to surge - an extra 20 studes a year would have been be a drop in the ocean but completely unattainable here.
For all the time RAF studes were involved, it only went as far as (then) wings ie post-AFT, so there was quite a penalty in cost and time doing TW back in UK, and the associated AFT/Hawk convex/UK orientation. Since 1994, ENJJPT has included Fighter Lead In or 'Intro to Fighter Fundamentals' so studes could potentially go from there to the OCU, depending on previous UK experience. Failing that, a short spell on the Ton would cover it.