Military aviation training in Menghe
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Military aviation training in Menghe encompasses the full spectrum of flight training provided to flight-qualified personnel in the Armed Forces of Menghe. The current program was established as part of the 2005 Menghean military reforms, intended to create a more rigorous and standardized flight training system for the nation's military pilots.
Flight training track
Flight Induction Course
Ab initio training takes the form of a Flight Induction Course at the Armed Forces Basic Flying School in Hwangsaju, capital of Sŏchŏn Prefecture. This course provides fundamental instruction in flying techniques to trainees with little or no prior flying experience. This includes a minimum of 24 flight hours on twin-seater light aircraft. The Armed Forces Basic Flying School also conducts physical and mental assessments of trainees, and educates them in theoretical and practical topics relating to aviation. Trainees deemed unfit for flying work after these assessments are put on the non-flying track, where they will train to work as navigators or other airborne non-flying personnel.
This is the only stage of Menghean flight training which is integrated across the Menghean Armed Forces, with the same institute educating trainees destined for Menghean Army Aviation, Menghean Naval Aviation, and the Ministry of National Defense Troops--though personnel destined for these various services have already enlisted or been assigned to a service, and stay in separate dormitories. The Armed Forces Basic Flying School itself is operated by the Ministry of National Defense. Most of its flight instructors are civilian contract employees, and many have prior experience training pilots for civil and general aviation.
Primary training
Lead-in training
Lead-in fighter training
Trainees on the fighter and ground-attack track are assigned to lead-in fighter training (or LIFT) aircraft. For most trainees, this represents their first experience operating high-performance jet aircraft. LIFT aircraft in Menghean service are equipped with a full suite of combat avionics, and are capable of carrying a variety of weapons, particularly in the air-to-ground mode but also including IR-guided air-to-air missiles. The current mainstay of the Menghean lead-in fighter training fleet is the Daesŭngri DS-10, which is capable of supersonic flight and can be programmed to emulate the performance of combat aircraft including the DS-9 and SR-8.
Lead-in fighter training squadrons are grouped into Training Regiments and placed under the command of operational Army Air Corps units, meaning they are directly subordinate to front-line commanders. The 304th, 305th, and 306th LIFT squadrons, for example, are part of the 9th Army's Air Corps in the Army Group of Forces in the Southwest. In peacetime, this provides pilots with opportunities to train with other combat units, including fixed-wing fighters and air support direction units on the ground. In wartime, LIFT squadrons can also be pressed into combat service as front-line ground-attack aircraft, which was done during the One-Month War.