Defense Tech: Pilot Training Time Slashed

Tight budgets are forcing the Air Force's combat squadrons to cut back their training hours by nearly 60 percent -- 'leaving frontline units unprepared to go to war,' according to Defense News.

Air Combat Command (ACC), the primary provider of combat airpower, is cutting 32,000 flying hours to help compensate for its $825 million operations and maintenance shortfall.

The cuts come as Air Force aircrews are heavily worked, flying missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and over some U.S. cities in an attempt to prevent another terrorist attack.

"Starting early this summer, units may have aviators unable to get required training to maintain full combat-ready status," Col. Jim Dunn, deputy director of flight operations for ACC, said in a written statement. "Overall effectiveness will become a growing challenge."

Snip

They're not cutting fat, they're cutting to the bone," Hornburg said, noting the Pentagon has taken large sums of money away from the Air Force to pay for the Army in Iraq.

The Air Force, in making these cuts in training, will cost peoples their lives in the end. A good train soldier, in any branch, will be one that survives combat.

Semper Fi