The World’s Premier
Military Flight Training Conference

Existing conflicts are reshaping the role of the military aviator and exposing the need for training to evolve at the same pace as frontline operations. Tomorrow’s aircrew will increasingly act as mission commanders, managing crewed and uncrewed systems, integrated AI and complex information flows while making critical decisions in contested environments. Flying skill remains fundamental, but operating effectively in degraded, distributed and high-threat conditions is becoming just as important.

Pilot shortages, constrained resources and rising operational demand are placing growing pressure on training systems. Producing more pilots is no longer enough. Air forces, army aviation and naval aviation must generate, sustain and measure mission-ready aircrew with fewer instructors, fewer flying hours and greater reliance on synthetic training, autonomy and multinational capacity. Degraded communications, electronic warfare, disrupted situational awareness and drone-saturated battlespaces are redefining what realistic training must look like.

In partnership with NFTE, Military Flight Training brings together senior military leaders, training commands and industry to examine how the training enterprise must adapt as AI, autonomy and crewed-uncrewed teaming become integral to future operations. From ab initio training through to advanced mission preparation, the programme will address mission command, human-machine teaming, autonomous systems, simulation, data and the changing skills required of future aircrew.

Dedicated streams covering Fixed Wing, Multi-Engine and Mission Aircrew, and Rotary Wing and Vertical Lift Operations will focus on preparing crews for real-world combat conditions rather than ideal ones. Through lessons from current conflicts, contested-operations training, future doctrine and CCA integration, MFT 2027 will examine how training must evolve to deliver aircrew who are not simply qualified to fly, but ready to fight.

Key areas of discussion:

• Generating combat-ready aircrew at scale without lowering the standard
• Training to fight in contested, degraded and communications-denied environments
• Dedicated rotary-wing and vertical-lift training for Army and naval aviation
• Multi-engine and mission crew readiness across airlift, tanker, ISR, AEW/AWACS and maritime patrol
• Preparing pilots and mission commanders for CCA, MUM-T and autonomy-enabled operations
• Using simulation, LVC, AI and data to increase readiness while protecting essential live-flying skills
• Instructor capacity, aircrew retention and the growing flying-hour constraint
• Training for dispersed operations, forward arming and refuelling, and sustained sortie generation
• Human performance, cognitive load and decision-making under operational pressure
• Lessons from current conflicts and their implications for future aircrew training