{"id":2411,"date":"2015-02-03T20:41:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-03T20:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=2411"},"modified":"2026-03-31T22:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:35:13","slug":"united-states-air-force-looking-to-turn-on-to-supersonic-mercenaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/united-states-air-force-looking-to-turn-on-to-supersonic-mercenaries\/","title":{"rendered":"United States Air Force looking to turn on to Supersonic Mercenaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\">One of the largest air forces is dealing with more missions than ever before. In fact, they are calling in some military contractors to fly their jets. The US Air Force is being forced to consider recruiting air contractors due to the fact that they simply don\u2019t have enough crew and jets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Due to investments in highly expensive gear and budget cuts, the Air Force was forced to discard one of three so called Aggressor squadrons that fly front line jets like the F-15C or the F-16 that are painted in enemy colors and use enemy tactics.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">More than a half-dozen senior Air Force Officials say that the reason for the new initiative is pure desperation. One senior Air Force official said that the red air situation is one total mess. \u201cThere are band-aid fixes being applied to areas around the community, but it\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">This is a sign of the system-wide stress that the Air Force is currently under. More than 10 years of war, combined with unwise investments in unsatisfactory stealth jets, has put the service in a bind. \u201cDemand for our services is way, way up. But we are meeting those demands today with the smallest Air Force in our history,\u201d Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told reporters \u201cAnd when you couple that smaller force against the backdrop of austere budgets, and with the huge demand, what we have is we have a total force that is under significant strain.\u201d Most have said that the Air Force has little choice, the short answer was \u201cContractor-provided red air is overpriced and underwhelming, but at the end of the day there isn\u2019t much choice in utilizing it,\u201d The Air Force is still gathering pricing information regarding how much it would cost for contractors to fly approximately 180 training sorties over a two-week period later this year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The contractors would have to operate supersonic \u201cfourth generation\u201d fighters similar to the F-15, F-16 or the Navy\u2019s F\/A-18 Hornet. The negotiated jets would have to be capable of reaching over Mach 1.0 and have to be equipped with:-<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li>Radar<\/li>\n<li>Radar Warning Receivers (RWR)<\/li>\n<li>Electronic Attack<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">According to the posting.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The need for outsourced enemies is the result of the wars in the Middle East. Since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force has recently been cutting its existing fighter force of fourth generationF-15s and F-16 to pay for super pricey hardware similar to the fifth generation F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2414\" style=\"width: 484px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/F35Park.jpg\"><img data-opt-id=1682695242  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2414\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2414\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:670\/h:437\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/F35Park-670x437.jpg\" alt=\"F35 during a preflight.\" width=\"474\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2414\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">F35 during a preflight.<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u201cAfter we brought the F-22 on line, and subsequently started cutting Aggressors, we met the intersection of high ops tempo in Afghanistan and Iraq,\u201d explained briefly one senior Air Force official. \u201cAt this intersection we found several fifth-gen (specifically the F-22 Raptor) fighters doing nothing but air shows and all the fourth gen fighters like the F-15E and F-16 were dropping bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq.\u201d Even as the Air Force\u2019s previous aircraft flew overseas combat missions, the service started to cut the fleet to pay for its higher priorities. \u201cNow, we have so few fourth gen fighters left and they\u2019re just crushed again\u2026 Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan,\u201d the senior official complained. \u201cFifth-gen, and most fourth-gen fighters need to train in the air-to-air role. And if you want to be realistic, we need to be equally matched or preferably outnumbered. We don\u2019t have the inventory to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify\">Probable contractors<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">There are many Air Force officials who put into question if the private military companies have the ability to realistically simulate the most realistic enemy fighters, like the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 or Mikoyan MiG-29. Most of the existing private military companies are flying older jets that have long been retired from active service. \u201cIt\u2019s 1970s technology trying to replicate a fourth-gen red air fighter,\u201d one Air Force official said. A company called Airborne Tactical Advantage Company flies the Israeli F-21 supersonic fighter, Hawker Hunter, and Czech-built L-39 Albatross. Another firm &#8211; Tactical Air Support flies the F-5B Freedom Fighter supersonic fighter and an Embraer EMB-314 light attack aircraft. In the early 2000s, the company attempted to buy some top-of-the-line Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighters from the Ukrainian air force. In fact the company sent pilots to train on the powerful Russian-built fighters. Yet another firm, Draken International, which boasts a fleet of more than 50 jets, actually succeeded in importing some 27 Russian-built MiG-21 fighters to use for training purposes. In addition to the MiGs, the company operates some 11 Douglas A-4K Skyhawk attack aircraft\u2014but those aircraft are upgraded with electronics including a radar from upgraded European-operated versions of the F-16 fighter jet. Draken\u2019s extensive fleet additionally includes nine Italian Aermacchi MB-339CB advanced trainers, 28 Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-159E light combat jets, and five L-39s.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/L39.jpg\"><img data-opt-id=1648335038  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-2415\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:670\/h:446\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/L39-670x446.jpg\" alt=\"L39\" width=\"474\" height=\"315\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">That sounds rather impressive, but unfortunately for them, private companies don\u2019t have the required equipment to train the Air Force\u2019s squadrons &#8211; neither does the service have the money to pay the expensive contractor\u2019s fees. \u201cThey are really expensive though and you have to pay for them with operations and maintenance money, which, is the first thing people lose in budget cuts,\u201d a senior Air Force fighter pilot said. However, another senior official totally disagreed. The private military companies can provide additional jets and trained pilots that jets like the F-22 and F-35 can beat up on without wasting time taking turns to act as an enemy aircraft. \u201cWe\u2019ve proven that fifth-generation red air in the form of F-22s is not good, as it\u2019s hard to \u2018dumb down\u2019 a Raptor,\u201d another senior Air Force official said. \u201cThe problem is even worse with the F-35.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Ultimately, the official said, it\u2019s highly unlikely that the Air Force will not be able to somehow afford the contractors\u2019 fees. \u201cI suspect we\u2019ll continue to limp along, use simulators and talk about how great they are, and fight T-38s,\u201d the official added. \u201cI doubt we will use these guys. They expensive and we don\u2019t have the cash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">[CSSBUTTON target=&#8221;https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jet-fluege\/flugzeuge\/l-39-albatros.html&#8221; color=&#8221;#F22F2C&#8221;]Want to fly a MiG29 or an L39? Click here![\/CSSBUTTON]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Additional reads &#8211;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/air-force-one-selects-the-747-8.html\" target=\"_blank\">Air Force One fleet replacement<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.migflug.com\/jetflights\/what-its-like-to-fly-close-air-support-against-is-militants.html\" target=\"_blank\">What it&#8217;s like to fly against IS militants<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Author &#8211; <em>Jake Meilak<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the largest air forces is dealing with more missions than ever before. In fact, they are calling in some military contractors to fly their jets. The US Air Force is being forced to consider recruiting air contractors due to the fact that they simply don\u2019t have enough crew and jets. Due to investments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"USAF supersonic mercenaries","_yoast_wpseo_title":"USAF Turning to Supersonic Mercenaries for Training | MiGFlug Blog","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"The US Air Force is hiring private contractors to fly adversary jets in training exercises due to pilot shortages and budget cuts. Learn about the growing role of supersonic mercenaries.","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,4,5,7,667,664],"tags":[73,187,189,226,345,490,585,604],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-experimental-aircraft","category-fighter-flights","category-fighter-jets","category-inside-migflug","category-military-aviation","tag-avgeeks","tag-f-18","tag-f-22","tag-fighter-jets","tag-mercenaries","tag-sorties","tag-usaf","tag-wars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>USAF Turning to Supersonic Mercenaries for Training | MiGFlug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US Air Force is hiring private contractors to fly adversary jets in training exercises due to pilot shortages and budget cuts. 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