Military Flight Training Summit Weighs Civilian Partnerships

More than 300 senior military leaders, program managers, instructors, and aviation industry executives gathered in San Antonio for the 2026 IDGA Military Flight Training USA Summit. The summit puts uniformed and civilian leaders in the same room to trade ideas and find better ways to produce the next generation of military aviators.

Flag officers and senior decision makers from Air Education and Training Command (AETC), Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA), and the Army Aviation Center of Excellence were in the room.

Among the featured industry speakers was Colonel (Ret.) Mark Mattison, Vice President of Military Programs for US Aviation, which holds a ten-year, $835 million Air Force contract as the sole provider of Initial Pilot Training (IPT). He addressed how to modernize training, increase capacity, cut costs, and get uniformed personnel back into operational warfighting assignments.

Mattison built his presentation around three principles: leverage existing civilian training capacity, capitalize on civilian certifications under FAA oversight, and redirect military manpower into operational warfighting units.

During the Q&A, a former three-star Air Force general officer asked what US Aviation had learned in its first two years of building the IPT program. Mattison’s answer: “It’s hard.”

“Graduating one class of 25 students earning three certificates in 139 days is challenging,” he said. “Two classes overlapping at the same time isn’t twice as hard, it’s three times as hard.”

“The difficulty rises exponentially when the third class is added to the mix,” Mattison said.

With multiple classes in the pipeline, aircraft availability, instructor schedules, maintenance, checkrides and student progression all interact, and one delayed lesson can affect other classes.

Mattison encouraged attendees to consider how the same approach could apply to other training disciplines and services. The presentation drew questions about implementing IPT and replicating the model across other services.