5th Gen Marketing
I continue to hear from many military flying training programs how they are focused on 5th Generation (5th Gen) fighter pilot training. Having been an F-35 test pilot for more than a decade, I have yet to see any of these out-of-country programs revolutionize fighter pilot training as is needed to properly prepare young wannabe fighter pilots for 5th Gen aerial warfare. Cool looking touchscreen displays, Virtual Reality goggles, new simulator systems are just evolutionary contributions to help teach students new skills, not tools to drive the revolutionary skills needed for 5th Gen fighter pilots.
Not a single person in the RCAF or any other military fighter pilot training program can tell me what unique skills are needed to be a lethal 5th Gen fighter pilot. They have not flown 5th Gen fighters and have not seen what discriminates an older generation (legacy) fighter pilot from a young pilot who goes straight from pilot training into a 5th Gen fighter. I know that difference and saw it all the time in my F-35 world. But none of the training programs focus on the skills needed; they teach legacy fighter pilot skills with cooler tools. So no matter how many times the marketers say it, there is no 5th Gen training available right now. Knowing this, why did RCAF officials give up on the 4th Gen training system that the Air Force had run for 24 years?