I’m really curious for the behind the scenes justifications that must be going on with the Navy wanting its own separate jet trainer when we have a “common” front line platform currently in service.
Didn’t you guys play around with the idea of getting rid of trainer carrier quals all together? That seems like if we go that far there is no real excuse for the Navy to not have to just adopt what the AF bought (though given how F’d that timeline has been I can see good argument as to not doing that).
And before anybody goes that way, I’m fully on board with forcing the Army to take a joint approach to a common RW training program and wrestle the decision making away from Rucker after the last ten years of wtf were you thinking. The fact we are saying we are pacific oriented when Rucker refuses to even consider the need for an FDLP at its flight school is maddening.