Originally Posted by
DuckDodgers
I wish them all the luck in the world. We can only assume they, Air Cap, might actually engage with industry, assuming they have any money, and come up with a viable requirement set to meet training effects that holistically provides a course of action that is feasible, acceptable, distinguishable and complete! Assuming they aimed at just the fast jet requirement of legacy programmes then they need somewhere around 3,350 per year, even then you lose a bucket of hours, but that can be offset with synthetics, if technologically mature and able to interact with adjacent programmes!
Did we mention airworthiness and certification? If they default to the UK MAR for the air system and organisations having to obtain UK MAA organisational approvals you may as well add 12-18 months to the schedule as a minimum, assuming there's any resource. Standby for all sorts of wacky ideas as to how not to have to go down this route, it can and has been done quite successfully in Europe!
Its quote the mess isn’t it, DD! The answer is loud and clear, a COCO aggressor platform and start using synthetics to supplement live fly not replace it. Exactly as the Americans have come to realise.
I think a COCO platform would fit better operating under the CAA regulatory framework rather than going down the MAA route.