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GERMAN AIR FORCE CONCENTRATES AIR CREW TRAINING IN NEW MEXICO

On 31 March the German Air Force's Flight Training Centre at Holloman AFB officially entered service. Prospective fighter pilots now complete virtually all their training in the USA.

Conditions like those found on Holloman Air Force Base in the US state of New Mexico are the dream of pilots in Europe: over 300 days of sunshine a year, three long runways and vast expanses of thinly populated surrounding countryside where they can practise to their hearts' content. An ideal place indeed, then, to prepare prospective combat air crews for their first missions following completion of basic training.

This was the reasoning behind the decision that in future all German Air Force jet pilots and weapon systems officers (WSOs) should stay on in the United States after completing 15 months' training on the Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training programme at Sheppard AFB, Texas or with the German Air Forces 2nd Training Squadron USA in Pensacola, Florida and do their weapon system training on Tornados or F-4F Phantoms in Holloman. Centralising training in this way saves up to a year, resulting in "still greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness" in the complicated area of training air crew to the level of competence required for deployment in the field.

But before any money is actually saved, it was first necessary to invest heavily. The first step following the decision to use Holloman, which was taken at the highest political level, was to move Phantom training, which for many years had been carried out at George AFB, California, to New Mexico in 1992. In 1994 the contract for flying operations using a dozen Tornados was signed. In the course of "Holloman Phase I" $42 million was invested in new facilities such as a hangar for six aircraft and a refuelling facility.

The staff who would be responsible for setting up the unit, which initially was known as "German Air Force Tactical Training Command USA", arrived in Holloman in September 1995 and the unit was officially opened on 1 May 1996. In keeping with the political importance of the project, the occasion was attended by German Defence Minister Rühe and his US counterpart Perry.

In the meantime the German Air Force had defined its requirements for Holloman Phase II, the aim of which was to concentrate all Tornado training there so as to achieve a fully integrated training programme. Once the necessary approval procedures had been completed, additional building work which is expected to cost around $90 million then commenced in August 1998. The new facilities include an operations building, a warehouse, additional hangers, a munitions building, a simulator building and a calibration laboratory, together with quarters for around 150 servicemen.

When everything is finished by the end of the year and some extra Tornados have been sent over from Germany, the unit, which now operates under the name of German Air Force Flight Training Centre (FlgAusbZLw), will be able to provide 8,500 flying hours per year. 840 servicemen and civilians will then be employed at Holloman. Many of them will be joined by their families, so that the Germans will soon form 8% of the population in nearby Alamogordo. This is expected to have a not insignificant economic effect on the remote region.

The agreements allowing use and operation of Tornados in Holloman run to 31 December 2019. Phantom training will cease by April 2008, as the F-4F will gradually be replaced over the next few years by the Eurofighter.

Besides, the F-4's do not formally belong to the FlgAusbZLw, but as 20th Fighter Squadron they are part of the US Air Force's 49th Fighter Wing, which also flies F-117 Nighthawks and T-38 Talons. Nonetheless, command of the squadron has recently been taken over by a German squadron leader, and most of the flying instructors are German Air Force personnel as well. Maintenance has been handled since November 1999 by Dyn Corp.

The 20th Fighter Squadron runs weapon system courses for the Phantom four times a year. During this training, pilots and weapon systems officers fresh from their basic training learn how to master the aircraft in all operational scenarios. Seven months, including around 80 flying hours and 200 hours of theoretical instruction, are allowed for this.

Five to ten crews a year are also trained as F-4 flying instructors. This programme lasts around three months and entails 35 flying hours for the pilot and 24 for the WSO. Finally, another two Fighter Weapon Instructor courses are held for about three crews each. This advanced course comprises around 42 flying hours and no less than 242 hours of classroom training, and climaxes in participation in an exercise in Nellis, which also marks the end of the course.

The training provided to Tornado crews is equally comprehensive. Over a seven-month weapons systems course the young servicemen are trained in handling this variable-geometry aircraft, including basic weapons instruction. A pilot needs just under 90 flying hours to complete the course, whereas a WSO manages on 68 hours. They then spend another 15 hours in the air flying together as a team. On top of this they undergo around 220 hours of classroom training. The same applies to the German Navy's Tornado crews, who are also trained here.

It takes around three months to obtain a flight instructor rating for the Tornado. This entails 35 flying hours for the pilot, and 23 for the WSO. Two courses are scheduled per year, each with three to six students. Two weapons instructor courses are also planned, each lasting six months and involving 62 flying hours and 134 hours of ground-based training. The crews are then qualified to prepare other pilots for airborne missions in crisis areas.

Another important area of training at Holloman is tactical flying on Tornados. Up to six air crews from the various units take turns to receive three and a half weeks' intensive training at low-level flying down to an altitude of 100 ft, practise realistic air combat missions and have the opportunity to fire real weapons. The German Air Force believes these 20 hours of advanced training are essential to adequately prepare air crew for rapid-response deployment on mult-national missions.

In actual fact, without the grand-scale practice facilities in the USA, German air crew would have trouble maintaining their combat readiness. Over a quarter of all the flying performed by the German armed forces, namely 32,000 hours out of a total of 124,500 hours, is now performed in the USA and Canada.

Even if it sometimes has to endure being treated as the junior partner of a world power, the German Air Force thus has virtually no choice but to cultivate close links with the US Air Force. Air Vice Marshal Rolf Portz, Chief of the Air Staff, German Air Force therefore took the opportunity when the training centre officially entered service on 31 March to confer the Federal Republic of Germany's national decoration for outstanding service on his colleague, General Michael E. Ryan.

From page 112 of FLUG REVUE 6/2000