479th Flying Training Group trains first-generation Combat Systems Officers

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christopher Callaway
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  The 479th Flying Training Group, stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, was activated Oct. 2, 2009, and began a new training program May 5, 2010, that incorporated the legacy panel navigator, Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) and Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) skill sets into the Combat System Officer training program.

This was the first time in Air Force history that an undergraduate aviation program formally incorporated the fundamentals of electronic warfare into the flights and in the student syllabus. Instructors could now train CSOs in while airborne using current unclassified tactics, techniques and procedures.

This training had previously been taught only in the T-25 simulator and without the students getting the chance to test their abilities in the aircraft.

“The execution of what we do here is a building block of chemistry between the students,” said Lt.Col. Phillip S.R. Walker, 451st Flying Training Squadron commander.. “It is exciting to watch this community come together and it is exciting to watch these first-generation students being CSOs head to their first duty station and understand their execution is going to be paramount when they deploy down-range.”

The CSO concept was first advanced in May 2002. Gen. John P. Jumper, then the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, tasked the Air Education and Training Command with reforming the way the navigator and electronic warfare training pipeline accomplished its mission.

The new mission goal was to produce an aviator skilled in advanced navigation systems, electronic warfare, weapons employment and the ability to operate the complex systems so critical to the Air Force mission.

“During each flight there are always instructor pilots and instructor CSOs,” Walker stated. “With that group training the two undergraduate CSOs, we are developing the greatest generation of navigators, EWOs and WSOs the Air Force has ever seen.”

Part of the evolution to the new CSO program was the incorporation of aircraft that had been used previously, but with modifications to enhance the training capabilities. AETC estimated it would take almost $29 million to modify the T-1A aircraft used in a different block of training that challenges the students to work in a larger crew environment.

“While we may have older aircraft, new technology and knowledgeable instructors ensure our students are qualified to operate in the 21st-century Air Force and employ air power effectively,” said Maj. Brett Gibson, 451st Flight Training Squadron assistant director of operations.

The modifications of the T-1A Jayhawk have allowed this plane to outlast the age of the students who use it for training. Second Lt. Matthew Stochelski, who is set to graduate from the program March 28, is younger than the aircraft in which he trains on.

“Flying in an older aircraft does not bother me in anyway,” Stochelski said. “If it has been around for a while, I know that it has been an effective and trustworthy platform. I trust the maintainers and know they would never send us up in a bad aircraft.”

Combat Systems Officer training at Pensacola NAS has come a long way in a very short time, but overall the program is well on its way to being one of the finest in the Air Force.