Naval Flight Officer - Training

Training

Training for a Naval Flight Officer is in a tiered system. After primary training is completed, students are selected for either carrier aviation or "maritime" aviation (i.e., land-based, larger aircraft). Selection is based on a combination of student preference and the rank of the student in his class. The top graduate is typically offered his or her choice of duty. The rest of the graduates are placed in billets according to "the needs of the Navy" or Marine Corps.

For carrier aviation student NFOs, training progresses an additional fourteen weeks in the primary training squadron before they are assigned to Training Squadron 86 (VT-86) for jet training. VT-86 prepares student NFOs for eventual assignment to F/A-18F Super Hornets (USN), F/A-18D Hornets (USMC), EA-18G Growler (USN), or EA-6B Prowlers (USN and USMC), flying the T-39 Sabreliner and T-45 Goshawk. Training in specific Fleet aircraft occurs after graduation from Advanced NFO training (i.e., "winging") and is conducted at the respective Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) for the particular type/model/series (T/M/S) aircraft. This process also holds true for newly winged NFOs slated for land-based naval aircraft.

An exception to this process is for those Student NFOs assigned to the E-2 Hawkeye community, who, following completion of Intermediate NFO training at VT-10, are transferred to NS Norfolk, Virginia for advanced training at Airborne Early Warning Squadron 120 (VAW-120), the E-2 Hawkeye FRS. VAW-120 awards these NFOs their wings during their training syllabus at the FRS.

Until 2009, intermediate training for land-based aircraft typically sent student NFOs to Randolph AFB in San Antonio, TX for joint training with the 12th Flying Training Wing (12 FTW) before being sent to Patrol Squadron THIRTY (VP-30) at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, the Fleet Replacement Squadron for the P-3 Orion and the EP-3E Aries, or the Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron SEVEN (VQ-7), the FRS for the E-6 Mercury TACAMO aircraft at Naval Air Facility Tinker / Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.

Following the divestiture of Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training (SUNT) from the Air Force's 12 FTW at Randolph AFB and its relocation to NAS Pensacola as the 479th Flying Training Group, a geographically separated unit (GSU) of the 12 FTW, a select number of Student NFOs slated for the P-3, EP-3, and eventually the P-8 Poseidon are being sent directly to VP-30, the FRS for P-3s, EP-3s and the P-8, as part of a prototype advanced training program similar to that historically utilized by the E-2 community (i.e., NFO "winging" at the FRS), before beginning the normal FRS syllabus. A similar program for Student NFOs slated for the E-6 Mercury at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma is also underway with VQ-7. At present, the Navy is evaluating if this will remain a permanent change or if pre-winging NFO training will eventually shift back to the Naval Air Training Command.

NFO training has recently undegone an extensive overhaul under a program known as Undergraduate Military Flight Officer (UMFO). The UMFO program continues to use the T-6A Texan II aircraft, has replaced the T-2C Buckeye with the T-45C Goshawk. Long term plans include eventually replacing the T-39G/N with a modified T-45C Goshawk once further navigational training system upgrades are made to NFO-specific T-45C aircraft (including a synthetic radar with both stored air-to-ground and data link-based air-to-air modes) operated by Training Air Wing SIX, the parent command for all Student NFO training squadrons at NAS Pensacola.