We do a couple 2v1 flights, but overall everything is very scripted and straightforward. I think perhaps we too could benefit from a little bit more dynamic complex training while still only burning VT level gas and mx man hours, even if our guys are only strike-fighter types and not purely focused on traditional air-to-air stuff. Thoughts?
Everything at IFF is very scripted, too.
Remember, it is called "
Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals", so although there are many different subjects and disciplines taught in the course, its real purpose is to simply expose the student to all of those concepts.
The reality is that T-38 performance, avionics, and weaponry limits the practical application of any sort of "tactic" in IFF. We basically teach 1960s F-5 tactics, shooting rear-aspect heaters and gun.
The REAL learning, however, is in taking a student who is only used to performing basic administrative tasks in a non-demanding environment, and exposing them to a fast-paced, high-G environment where their brain and body are working overtime....and ensure that they can still perform those basic administrative tasks.
I call IFF "Admin Weapons School". Students think the objective is to learn BFM, ACM, and bombing. It
really teaches how to perform all those classic "wingman" tasks (in position, on freq, ready to execute) while being task saturated with other "stuff" (and the "stuff" happens to be BFM and bombing).
All of that being said, from an instructor point of view, every single sortie is pretty closely scripted. There is an exact way to fly every single BFM engagement correctly -- there are no bonus points for going off script and using ingenuity to find a better way to kill the bandit. It's just that students are too task saturated by even the scripted stuff to have the fact that it
is scripted matter.
IFF has traditionally been the AF's "washout" course for the fighter pipeline. Where SUPT gets measured by it's ability to produce "X" number of pilots in a particular year, IFF has no reward for productivity -- they yardstick themselves by how their graduates perform in the FTUs. The "high bar" in IFF is defensive BFM, and more specifically, the 3K defensive BFM engagement.
