Major General Jeff Smyth

• Overview of Canada’s Air Forces’ defense strategy for the air domain and how a next-generation fighter would fit in

• Updates on Canadian Air Force’s current initiatives, program status, and anticipated timelines for implementation

• Adopting common operational and communication strategies and standards for effective collaboration with allies

• What are the key missions that pilots must ace in a peer conflict and given lessons from Ukraine? How must air forces prioritise live and synthetic training for lethal advantage?

• What are the future trends in training for 6th generation aircraft, alongside unmanned systems?

• Changing training needs on the fly: How to build-in flexibility and minimize disruption in the transition from a traditional training cycle? How would existing trainingregimes need to evolve and how quickly can this transition take place when needed?

• What might the teaching of “softer” but necessary skills such physical and mental resilience need to look like and how to measure and assess these skills?

• How are air forces increasing retention of new pilots, and what strategies are they using to recruit the next generation of fighter pilots?