Combat systems officer

Flight member of an aircrew in the United States Air Force

A Combat Systems Officer (CSO) is a flight member of an aircrew in the United States Air Force and is the mission commander in many multi crew aircraft. The combat systems officer manages the mission and integrates systems and crew with the aircraft commander to collectively achieve and maintain situational awareness and mission effectiveness. CSOs are trained in piloting, navigation, the use of the electromagnetic spectrum, and are experts in weapon system employment on their specific airframe. Aircrew responsibilities include mission planning, mission timing, weapons targeting and employment, threat reactions, aircraft communications, and hazard avoidance. In 2006, USAF undergraduate CSOs began attending Initial Flight Training (IFT), a civilian contracted flight training operation under Air Education and Training Command (AETC) auspices, with their USAF undergraduate pilot counterparts at Pueblo Memorial Airport, Colorado, a program that replaced the previous Pilot Indoctrination Program (PIP) at USAFA, the previous Flight Instruction Program (FIP) in Air Force ROTC, the former Centralized Flight Screening Program for Air Force OTS graduates (and later USAFA and AFROTC graduates following discontinuation of PIP and FIP) at Hondo Municipal Airport, Texas, and the former Cessna T 41 Mescalero phase in Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) that was discontinued in the early 1970s. Initial Flight Screening (IFS) has continued as previously established at Pueblo with the transition of USAF Navs to CSOs. CSO training merges three previous USAF Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT) tracks formerly known as the Navigator track, the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) track and the Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) track into one coherent training cycle in order to produce an aeronautically rated officer who is more versatile and able to adapt to all spectrums of an airframe. Parallel Navigator and WSO training tracks ended in 2009.

In 2009, most USAF navigators still in an operational flying status, or due to rotate back to an operational flying assignment, transitioned to CSO. Under Air Force Instruction 36 402, rated USAF navigators who do not transition to CSO are not eligible for advanced CSO ratings, e. g. senior CSO and master CSO. Those USAF officers currently on active duty or on the Reserve Active Status List in the Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard who were designated as USAF navigators prior to 30 Sep 1993, completed Undergraduate Navigator Training (UNT) and received their wings with the former 323d Flying Training Wing (323 FTW) at the former Mather AFB, California. With the BRAC directed closure of Mather AFB, UNT was transferred to the 12th Flying Training Wing (12 FTW) at Randolph AFB, Texas in late 1993 and all USAF navigators except those destined for the B 1B and F 15E subsequently received their wings at that location. Concurrent with the move from Mather to Randolph, a parallel student USAF Navigators track was established for those officers desiring to become weapon systems officers (WSOs) in the B 1B and F 15E. These officer students proceeded to the U. S. Navy's Training Air Wing SIX at NAS Pensacola, Florida and followed a training track nearly identical to USN and USMC Student Naval Flight Officers destined for tactical jet aircraft. The separation between CSO candidates previously attending UNT with the 12th Flying Training Wing (12 FTW) at Randolph AFB until 2009, and those who attended a joint program with the U. S. Navy's Training Air Wing SIX (TRAWING 6) at NAS Pensacola, Florida was in the type of operational USAF aircraft the candidates would later fly:

Navigators that graduated from Randolph AFB were eventually assigned to C 130 airlift; KC 135 aerial refueling; AC 130 and MC 130 special operations; HC 130P combat search and rescue; WC 130J weather reconnaissance; OC 135/WC 135/RC 135 reconnaissance; EC 130H Compass Call, EC 130J Commando Solo, E 3 AWACS or E 8 J STARS electronic warfare; or B 52 Stratofortress bomber duties. Navigators trained via this track were also assigned to fly the E 4, the VC 25, and until its 2001 retirement, the VC 137. However, these latter three aircraft were not direct entry positions for recent flight school graduates and were/are crewed only by highly experienced navigators previously qualified in another aircraft. Navigators cum CSOs graduating from NAS Pensacola were assigned as weapon systems officers in the F 15E Strike Eagle strike fighter, the B 52 Stratofortress, or the B 1B Lancer bomber after follow on EWO training at Randolph AFB. USAF navigators/combat systems officers at the general officer level have also begun serving in positions of increasing responsibility at the USAF major command (MAJCOM) and Unified Combatant Command level, up to and including commander of MAJCOMs and deputy commander of combatant commands. Although only one USAF navigator who did not subsequently retrain as a USAF pilot has achieved 4 star rank (pay grade O 10) in the entire history of the USAF, several have reached the 3 star (pay grade O 9) level. The most senior CSO currently on active duty is Lieutenant General Bradley A. Heithold, USAF, previously Deputy Commander of U. S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and previous Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).