Despite longeron cracks in two-seat F-16s and engine restrictions in F-35s, Air Education and Training Command is continuing to fly those training programs, AETC boss Gen. Robin Rand said Wednesday. In a press conference at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in National Harbor, Md., Rand said AETC has the bulk of the F-16Ds that were grounded by longeron cracks discovered in the last few weeks. “We are delaying some tasks” for F-16 pilots and changing the syllabus to work around the affected aircraft, but Rand predicts little long-term impact. If necessary, some traditional two-seat missions will be flown without an instructor, in single-seat airplanes. “We do that with the A-10, F-35,” and F-22, where there are no tandem trainers, he noted. As for the F-35, the engine problem that has imposed flight restrictions has really not affected training at Eglin AFB, Fla., he said. The limits are mostly on the outer edges of the flight envelope—“airspeed and G-restrictions”—where instructors typically don’t fly, he noted. “I think we’re going to be okay,” without any long-term impact from the limits, which have been in place since June, he said.
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…