iscover
The BAe Hawk is also available in the single seat Mk200 attack version. Though no longer a trainer, the single seat Hawk is certainly a highly potent low cost, simple to operate, ground attack and anti shipping aircraft
Air Force Trainers-What Do Other Services Get Out Of Them?
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Air Force Trainers – What Do the Other Services Get Out of Them?
There is no point in buying an expensive, highly capable fighter aircraft if you are not prepared to pay for the proper training of its aircrew.
Therein lies a dilemma: with frontline fighter aircraft getting more and more expensive, can a modern air force’s (probably contracting) budget cover the cost of both buying the fighter and training its pilot? The answer is clear – the air force cannot afford not to train its aircrews properly. But there is a complicating factor to consider – the other services will be competing for their own share of a tight budget and, as is the way in these matters, something must usually be sacrificed if pilot training is to be funded properly. So how can the conflict between fiscal constraint and essential expenditure be reconciled? And can the wider interests of the defence community, rather than the purely local interests of the air force, be served?
As the strain on defence budgets grows, and larger numbers of military pilots fall prey to high paying civil airlines, the drive for cost effectiveness in pilot training continues to gain momentum. Different air forces have different approaches to pilot training, but generally speaking there is a basic standard which trainee air crew must attain if they are to successfully pass through operational conversion and become combat ready frontline pilots. Within European NATO air forces, to take one imperfect but convenient baseline for comparison, training methods differ greatly, but the end result is roughly the same. Pilots begin operational conversion to Mirage, F-16, Tornado, Harrier, F-18, Phantom, and Starfighter after roughly two years training and with about 250 flying hours under their belts.
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