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When Shaner attended USAF Weapons School in 2020, the graduating class included five F-35 weapons officers among the nearly 150 others from different communities, including space, intelligence, cyber, fighters, bombers, mobility and rescue.

Simply, these weapons officers provide best practices for air, space and cyber combat techniques. They problem-solve to lead the force and integrate its combat power seamlessly alongside other military services.

Air Force and Department of Defense can be employed in tandem to achieve synergistic effects.Īfter graduation, weapons officers serve as advisers to military leaders and lead combat missions. Officers must become intricately familiar with the weapons platform or system they have trained on throughout their career path, such as the F-35, and knowledgeable about how the whole of U.S. This grueling, graduate-level classwork is designed to create tactical experts in various combat specialties.īefore graduating, students must demonstrate their ability to lead and instruct while also effectively integrating multiple weapons systems across land, air, space and cyber domains. After a highly competitive selection process, accepted students face roughly six months of the world’s most advanced training in weapons and tactics employment. The knowledge and experience should benefit the VTANG much more than me personally,” said Shaner.Īctive-duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve officers are eligible to apply for admission to the U.S. “It’s definitely an honor and privilege to attend and graduate. Howard “Cash” Shaner, F-35A Lightning II pilot assigned to the 134th Fighter Squadron, Vermont Air National Guard, is the first Air National Guard F-35 pilot to graduate from this course. – Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing, the first Air National Guard unit with the F-35A Lightning II mission, now boasts the first ANG F-35 pilot to graduate from the challenging U.S. A Ukrainian pilot prepares to fly during Safe Skies 2011, a military-to-military exchange between the U.S., Ukraine and Poland to enhance airspace security over the Ukraine and Poland in preparation for Eurocup 2012. But the extra gear came in handy when the Ukrainian pilot was downed by a surface-to-air missile over the contested Donbas region and “he basically fought his way out with the help of rescue forces,” Armey said. pilots often carry just a pistol or, at most, a compact rifle in case they are shot down. Armey recalled a MiG-29 fighter pilot saying he was equipped with a submachine gun and grenades in the cockpit, which is a pretty intense loadout considering many U.S. pilots train with Ukrainians, the Europeans often have hairier war stories than the Americans. It makes sense for Ukraine’s Air Force to take such serious measures: after all, they have been more or less at war with Russia since 2014. Get the latest in military news, entertainment, and gear in your inbox daily. president was in office, but the focus was always on building bonds with Ukraine’s Air Force and helping Ukraine’s airmen be the best they could be. Often the rules changed about what specific tips and tricks the U.S.

In Ukraine, that took the form of swapping ideas in classrooms, flying together, and helping Ukrainian pilots develop their own culture of self-improvement. Despite the bigger scope, the program objective remains helping foreign militaries develop best practices and “helping the nations know how a military works in a democracy,” according to a Department of Defense press release. The program started in the early 1990s, and it has since expanded to 93 countries around the world. Swertfager has been to Ukraine about 70 times since 2002 as part of the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, where the militaries of a dozen former Soviet Bloc countries paired with the National Guards of U.S. Members of the 144th Operations Group pose with Ukrainian pilots in the 144th Fighter Wing Hangar Sept.