The Air Force this week began training an initial cadre of instructor pilots in F-35 aerial refueling at Eglin AFB, Fla., starting a process that will allow the service to eventually train other pilots at various bases across the country.
Air Force 50th Fighter Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Lee Kloos told Defense Daily Wednesday once experienced pilots like him are trained in F-35 aerial refueling, the Air Force will bring in pilots directly out of pilot training to train them in live refueling. Kloos said these pilots doing the initial training have experience flying F-15Es, F-16Cs, A-10s and F-16s.
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| A F-35 refuels via a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. Photo: Air Force. |
After those pipeline students are trained in live F-35 aerial refueling, Kloos said they’ll return to their respective bases to qualify others in live refueling using simulators developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT]. Kloos credited Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Full Motion Simulator for helping him easily re-acquaint with aerial fueling after a two-year break since he last performed a live aerial refueling.
“It really turned out to be a non-event, which is exactly the way you want it to be,” Kloos said. “I think it is a testament to how good the simulators are here and how well it prepares you for it.”
Kloos, an experienced pilot who said he has over 2,000 career flight hours in F-16s and F-35s, with over 100 in the F-35, likened his F-35 refueling experience to a “Cadillac cruising down a paved highway.” Kloos said, compared to aerial refueling an F-35, his experience refueling F-16s was like driving around on a bumpy, gravel road.
“(The F-35 was) very smooth, very easy to control,” Kloos said.
The Air Force said in a statement the ease of F-35 aerial refueling gives the fifth-generation fighter a longer operational combat radius and range. The F-35 is also developed by Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Full Motion Simulator accurately replicates all sensors and weapons deployment of the F-35, according to a company statement. With a reconfigurable cockpit, it can simulate all three variants of the F-35 for the United States and international partners: the conventional F-35A, the short take off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B and the aircraft carrier variant F-35C. The simulator simulates the flight performance envelope, onboard systems, applicable stores/weapons systems, targeting head mounted display and emergency procedures.
Lockheed Martin has five of its F-35 simulators at Eglin and two at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz. Lockheed Martin’s simulator also uses Rockwell Collins’ [COL] Griffin rear-projected dome real image display system.