RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
Combat systems officer training at Randolph Air Force Base can look forward to a new training facility when they make the permanent move to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in October 2010.
Training for CSOs won't end here for two years, but Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Education and Training Command, and NTF, L.L.C., broke ground two months ago for a new training instruction facility.
The ground-breaking took place after a $46 million contract was awarded in March 2008 for design and construction of a multi-aircraft hangar and navigator training school classrooms.
"As we turn dirt today, we look forward to meeting the challenges ahead and celebrate a new era in military aviation training," said Maj. Gen. Gregory Feest, 19th Air Force commander. "The facilities that are built on this site will train our next generation of aviators."
The project will accommodate the relocation of the Air Force's Combat Systems Officer Training School from Randolph to meet the requirements of the Base Realignment and Closure 2005 decision.
Construction of the training instruction facility at NAS Pensacola will allow operational needs to be met in a school that trains combat systems officers for 11 different aircraft to cover a wide range of military operations.
"The 479th Flying Training Group is going to be stood up next fall and there will be three squadrons underneath that," said Lt. Col. Pete Deitschel, 562nd Flying Training Squadron commander at Randolph. "We train aviators that integrate systems on board and off, to complete missions."
Colonel Deitschel said consolidated training will highlight the new facility at Pensacola, where currently only B-1 and F-15E are used in the training of electronic warfare and combat systems officers.
"Here at Randolph, we are in the process of transitioning from using the T-43 to using T-6 and T-1 aircraft," Colonel Deitschel said. "We will not be simply moving what we do here to Pensacola. We will be combining the two locations to produce highly skilled and trained advanced navigators and advanced electronic warfare officers. What it means is we've taken five syllabi and condensed them down to one."
The facility design is well underway and will include a 100,000 square-foot hurricane-protected, multi-aircraft training hangar. The hangar will include 75,000 square-feet of hangar floor space, 6,000 square-feet for a fuel-cell maintenance bay, roughly 19,000 square-feet for general aircraft maintenance space, as well as training and briefing areas.
"I was down there about a month ago and they had cleared the treelines and begun the building's infrastructure," said Lt. Col. Michael Love, 562nd Operations Group director. "The biggest thing that will happen with the move is that the program will be under one singular pipeline there at Pensacola, instead of being spread out in two locations."
Also included in the new Pensacola construction is a 52,000 square-foot single-story applied instructional facility that will include space for classrooms and six flight simulators. The facilities will be located at the main airfield.
"Many of the simulators we use at Randolph are older, and the new equipment will only enhance the education the candidates will receive," Colonel Love said. "We do fine with the equipment here now, but students in the program will certainly be using state-of-the-art tools."
The initiation of the Pensacola building project and the subsequent move that is to take place in 2010 represent the fruition of a plan first hatched in 2002 by then-Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper.
(NOTE: Naval Facilities Engineering Command Public Affairs contributed to this story.)