UK F35 Pilots to train in the US
 

This proposal to train in the US results in large cost saving. Is there a downside?

Didn't German Starfighter pilots train in the USA?

Is there a downside?

No.

YES
 

Is there a downside

YES

glf

Does that mean that the OCU (if we ever form one) will be permanently septicside?

the upside is the reduced cost, the downside is the sovereignty issue - if we lose the ability to train aircrew without US assistance then we lose the ability to not be friends with the US.

I thought a whole squadron would be based stateside as access to ALIS would be easier.....never mind the practicality of actually flying in your own airspace.....

Ask the Germans, they have a long history of it.

the yanks trained a hell of a lot of pilots for us in WW2 without anyone complaining..................

Don't forget the Dutch
 

Also the Dutch with F-16C/CH-47F/AH-64d with the ANG and Army units in and around Ohioans Texas plus ENJJPT and IERW in Texas and Alabama. More so with them having the F-35.

Cheers

I wonder where the groundcrew school will be?

There's no sovereignty issue. Where your pilots are trained makes no difference, unless you believe that the F-35 will remain operationally functional for any useful period without the active support and approval of USG.

After all it has been stated that the F-35 can't be operated effectively without a link to ALIS. And it would be foolish to discount the possibility that in a Syria-type scenario that went active, with some allies standing aside, a future administration would cut off or reduce support to the non-combatants in order to guarantee support to deployed aircraft.

You can't get everything you want at ALIS's restaurant...

Not to mention the Singaporeans (F-15SG) at Mountain Home AFB, the Saudis (F-15SA) soon to join them at the same location, the Emiraties (F-16 Block 60) with the Air National Guard in Arizona, and the Indians (C-17) at Altus AFB, to name but a few.

Heathrow- I think you meant to say Canadians did under the BCATP not the Yanks. Some may have trained in the US but the vast majority trained in Canada.

I'm not aircrew, but I do recall reading in various publications over the years that training ab initio pilots in the clear and wide open skies of the US was poor preparation for the crowded skies and crrud weather found in NW Europe. Obviously the F35 guys will all be experienced, but I'd be interested to hear the views of you pilots.


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If you want to practice stealth tactics it's handy to operate in sterile airspace where you don't have to be under radar control and squawking mode 3/3C.

Norway does all flight training in the US. (And has done so since the 50s)
Basic and advanced FJ at Sheppard, basic for multi at Pensacola, advanced multi at Corpus Cristi, helo basic and advanced at Rucker, P-3 type conversion at Jacksonville, C-130J conversion at Little Rock, and F-16 type conversion with the ANG at Tuscon.

All of them end up operating in Wx not at all nice.......and they manage.

Our pilots will all have been through the MFTS sausage machine before the F35 OCU so will already have experienced the joys of British weather. Besides, can't see many F35s needing to make tricky weather reroutes at low level. US pilots seem perfectly capable of flying over here as well.

Is this thread based on anything new or just an observation?

"Heathrow- I think you meant to say Canadians did under the BCATP not the Yanks. Some may have trained in the US but the vast majority trained in Canada."

I think there were 5 British Flying Training Schools in the US under the Arnold Scheme, producing a significant number of pilots, with PanAm training navigators under the Towers Scheme. Admittedly the numbers were not as large as those trained in Canada under the BCATP but they still provided a fair chunk of the RAF's aircrew in the Second World War.