Sheppard AFB Trains NATO Students To Become Fighter Pilots

Down deep in the heart of Texas, Wichita Falls to be precise, lies Sheppard Air Force Base. It is home to 124 T-38 and 76 T-6 Texan aircraft. The planes are used mainly to train international military pilots to fly the next-level fighter jet - an F-15, F-16, F-22, F-35 among them.

At any given time, 14 NATO nations, including the U.S., are represented at Sheppard. The base has been in existence since the 1960s, and, since 1981, has trained pilots through the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program (ENJJPT).

To get a better idea of how it works, we sat down with Operations Group Commander GAF Col Jan Gloystein, the day after we had viewed a total solar eclipse from a T-38 (story link below). Gloystein manages roughly 900 people at Sheppard, which includes students, instructor pilots and the OSS (80th Operations Support Squadron). Following are edited excerpts from our chat with the Colonel.

Jim Clash: You have to manage quite a few different cultures here at Sheppard. How is that done?

Col Jan Gloystein: It is one of the most interesting leader issues we have. It's all on a very cooperative basis, and starts with the way the program has been developed. The top-down hierarchy starts with a steering committee that meets twice a year, usually at Sheppard in the spring. The partner nations sit at a table, with us - the ENJJPT personnel - on the side. These steering committee members are usually from the countries’ Defense Ministries or Air Force Commands. It is at this level where the decisions are made.

Then the strategies, guidance and direction is left to us, the 80th Flying Training Wing, to integrate into the program in which our students are trained. In short, this is where the cultural cooperation starts. NATO is making compromises at the table, because we need unanimous decisions here as is the case with any NATO program in Europe.

Clash: How do you decide how many pilots are trained from each country?

Gloystein: That has to do with how long the countries have been in the program, and how much they want to contribute. If you put a student in the program, you also need to put in an instructor pilot. So we bring in a package of trainers to get a package of trainees. Every nation has a different-sized package.

It's a big fight now, because every country wants the maximum number of pilots they can get in because of increases in European defense budgets to offset the conflict over there. The U.S. currently represents about 60% of the trainees, the other nations 40%. The second-most single nation represented is Germany, then Italy third, then it trickles down from there. This has nothing to do with the populations of the countries, by the way, just what the steering committee decides. There are politics involved, of course [laughs].

Clash: When a student "graduates" from the program, do they get to choose which planes they will be flying in their countries?

Gloystein: Every country has its own program as to which of its graduates is put into which aircraft. There is a very interesting evening here -assignment night, like a sports draft. Every student has a little dream sheet, a wish list of what they would like to fly. Not everybody is going to fly an F-35, F-22 or Euro fighter. There might be some getting a Tornado, or a transport aircraft if their performance was not on par with the rest of the class. It's performance-based.

Clash: The next-generation T-7 aircraft is supposed to replace the T-38. When do you think that will happen?

Gloystein: I can tell you as much as I know from the newspapers. The T-7 program, decided on by the U.S. government, currently has Sheppard as the last base to get it. It should happen hopefully in the early 2030s. So we're looking at 10 more years of training pilots in T-38s and T-6 Texans.

Clash: That must present some maintenance challenges, given that those planes are what, 50 to 60 years old, and getting older?

Gloystein: A civilian contractor does the plane maintenance for the U.S. government. We just got that contract renewed for another five years, and we’re really glad. The contractor here is one of the best in the Air Force, amazing people servicing us. Their work force is over 600 people working day and night to keep the aircraft ready and available.

These people are pretty good at improvisation. You've probably heard the term cannibalization, which means taking parts from one airplane and using them in another because you haven’t received the new parts in time. When the new parts actually come, though, hopefully you put them into the plane you took the others from.