Hill AFB F-16s to the used for training
August 22, 2016
The Air Force will soon stand up interim F-16 training units to increase pilot output, the service announced Aug. 11.
“We need to increase our pilot production, and soon we will announce the stand up of new F-16 training units,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told reporters at a State of the Air Force briefing with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. “We expect to select candidate locations for up to two new training locations by the end of December 2016.
“In the meantime we intend to augment up to two of our existing training units to jump-start pilot production by the end of September 2017,” she said Aug. 10.
Because the Air Force cannot permanently base formal training units, or FTUs, without first conducting an environmental impact analysis, cost benefit analysis, and other site surveys, an interim solution to increase fighter pilot training will temporarily move F-16 aircraft at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to two of the existing F-16 training locations, the Air Force said in a release.