CAPFlyer wrote:
There's been at least 1 AT-38 at Whiteman and the Air Force even put out at reports post-BRAC about moving some of the companion trainers from Holloman to Whiteman as a "cost saving" measure to allow pilots to maintain "all qualifications". I'm not sure how a stock T-38 can allow them to maintain weapons qualifications.
I haven't heard that there was at least 1 AT-38 at Whiteman- that may be true -I don't know. If it is, they are certainly not using it in the role the AT-38 was designed for - fighter lead-in training. The AT-38 has weapons capability - the ability to drop bombs and fire a gun pod. The AT-38 is designed for teaching fighter fundamentals - it has absolutely nothing of use for the B-2 pilots at Whiteman in this respect. If there is an AT-38 at Whiteman, it is being used in the same role as their non-armed T-38's - for pilot proficiency and training, not for tactical flying and teaching fighter fundamentals.
By the way, the T-38's at Holloman were leftovers from the F-117 days, when they were being utilized as companion trainers. I don't think they had any AT-38's over there, but if they did, there certainly weren't very many. There might have been a few AT-38's that survived after the Stealth left that were being utilized in some kind of testing/evaluation/chase ship role, I'm not sure, but their numbers were certainly small, if that was the case. Transferring the T-38's from Holloman to Whiteman makes sense, since they are the same airplane that Whiteman has used in the past. Holloman, did in fact have AT-38's for many years from the 70's until about 2000 or so, providing Fighter Lead-in Training. The ones you are talkiing about are the ex- companion trainers for the F-117's, not the ex-LIFT jets which had all left more than a decade previously.
You are confusing two issues here, "all qualifications" and "weapons qualifications". They are two different things. "All qualifications" means flying only duties - things such as formation, instrument, and low level flying proficiency and checkrides. "Weapons qualifications" is something that is utilized by fighter and bomber crews both, but AFAIK no AT-38 has ever been used as a level bombing proficiency trainer for any heavy bomber like the B-52, B-1 or B-2. It just doesn't make sense. Why would a B-2 pilot maintain bombing proficiency in the AT-38, when it has absolutely nothing in common with the Stealth bomber, which has totally different flying characteristics? A common mantra in the Air Force is "Train like you fight". Why would you train in an AT-38 to drop JDAM's and nuclear bombs when that airplane doesn't even use those weapons?
The reason that the T-38 is used as a companion trainer for the U-2 and B-2 is that they are much cheaper and easier to use for basic things such as taking instrument checkrides and maintaining general flying proficiency and satisfying Air Force currency requirements. Both the U-2 and B-2 are considered national assets which are very expensive to maintain and fly and support. Both planes are not made any more and are very, very expensive to operate. Does it really make any sense to take a multi-billion dollar airplane like the B-2 and fly it around for a couple of hours while the pilot just does an instrument checkride flying ILS's, Loc's, and Tacan's? Is it really effective use of taxpayer's money to put the wear and tear and more hours on these national assets when the same mission can be accomplished on an "effectively zero or no-cost" T-38? This is the reason they use the T-38's. It's effective utilization of a resource that is plentiful, cheap, and reduces stress on the U-2 and B-2 airframes.
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