flyguyinthesky

Hey all, just chiming in as someone who got picked up for UCT a couple years ago. Knowing a lot of people out there want to go fighters, just wanted to share that it is definitely possible through UCT. F-15 WSO slots seemed to be the one consistent part of the UCT drops, around 3-5 every class out of 14-20 students. For reference, the average class probably had about 6 people who ranked them high on their dream sheet. There are so many other cool platforms CSO’s go to that the fighter slots sometimes aren’t that competitive to get! Just something I wish somebody put out there when I was applying.

Accurate-ish. Not 9G’s but it is the EX profile.

26-10 1x AC-130 2x B-1 2x B-52 1x OA-1K Guard 1x HC-130 2x MC-130 1x EA-37 4x F-15E 2x RC-135 2x RQ-170

I find myself the lone survivor of this thread…no matter. UCT 26-06 2x MC-130 2x HC-130 1x LC-130 4x F-15E 2x B-52 1x B-1 1x EA-37B 1x RQ-170 1x RC-135 Nav

Just throwing my hat in the ring for anybody applying in future years who might get CSO instead of Pilot, because I was in that spot a few years back. If you’re not 1000% sure you want to be a pilot, I would definitely take a UCT slot. I’m glad I did. For those who end up liking pilotage, we’ve got airframes where you get plenty of stick time in a small cockpit (F-15, OA-1K). For those who end up not liking pilotage, we’ve got airframes for that (RC-135, EA-37B, AC-130). New CSO’s have unique opportunities that pilots don’t get straight out of undergrad, so if you like airpower but don’t feel like you need to be the bus driver, you’ll probably love being a CSO.

26-05 drop, decent variety for a smaller class: 3x F-15E 2x RQ-170 1x LC-130 (Guard) 1x C-130 (Guard) 1x EA-37B 1x HC-130 1x B-1B

RQ-170

Honestly not really. It’s always changing and it’ll be different again even just a year from now.

Hear ye, hear ye, the first single track UCT drop was certainly…unique: RC-135 x 8 F-15E x 4 RPA x 2 AC-130 x 1 B-52 x 1

They vary quite a bit, life happens and people migrate between classes. All said and done they’re typically 10-20 people. Cant speak for UPT, not a pilot.

Just get ready for the NEW new curriculum…

I wouldn’t say they’re the least competitive, but I don’t know if they’re the most. Truth is there are a ton of airframes you can go to from UCT, so as long as a class’s spread is decent then most people get what they want or something close to it.

Basically going back to what you experienced as a jack of all. Shifting to more sims to replace the T-1, T-6 sorties remaining the same as before.

The last “track” drop, all drops after this will be single track with all students able to drop any available airframe, no longer limited to a category (EWO/WSO/SO): EWO 25-15 3x RC-135 2x RPA

We have a few FAIP’s down here in PCola, not a ton but not unheard of.

June Drop EWO: 4x RC-135 2x RPA WSO: 3x F-15E 1x B-52

Drop out of deep left field, somebody on EWO track dropped E-7 Wedgetail, airframes are always changing it seems!

Indeed. They definitely offer some great flexibility with colors and designs, but I think people will miss the heritage of traditional patches if we continue with PVC.

Yep, a lot of new ones are PVC.

Word on the street is too many CSO’s wash out of the Growler schoolhouse so they switched to only taking NFO’s, but that’s just the word. Airframes will probably switch 2-3 more times in the 2 years before you drop yours, so maybe they’ll come back. Seems like everybody loses a dream airframe while in training due to them going away, just stick with it and you’ll probably find an airframe you’ll love even if you don’t know about it right now. Tons of cool things to do as a CSO.

Update on general UCT drop trends: RC-135 is still popular as ever, there’s been a generous number of strike eagles, AC-130J’s seem like they’re in full swing, and Growlers are totally off the table now so the only “WSO” platforms now are F-15E, B-1, and B-52, although new classes don’t have traditional tracks anymore.

As far as I know there aren’t any Navs going out right now, but I know RC-135 slots are a little weird since you get further assigned once you’re at the FTU so I’m not an expert.

If anyone has questions about CSO stuff and UCT, airframes, etc, hit me up. Got picked up last year and just started training so I can get you some up to date info on what training and potential airframes are (always changing it seems)

Small update in UCT info: Track system is no more, looks like new classes can drop any airframe with no EWO/WSO/SO tracking necessary. New ACJ FTU is being stood up so those should be dropping again in the near future. Tons of RC-135 and C-130 drops recently, but still plenty of WSO’s. OA-1K is alive and in the near future for CSO’s.

I can speak for people who are here on casual, people are definitely getting class dates in 2025.