In October 2024 the U.S. Air Force established the Flying Training Center of Excellence (FT CoE) within the 19th Air Force. Directed by the Secretary of the Air Force, the FT CoE has sought to bring together institutional development functions under a single command to modernize and enhance the effectiveness of Air Force pilot training.

Since its creation, the Center’s mission has been to “acquire, establish, secure, sustain, and seamlessly integrate” the best available tools and techniques into a training system that evolves with operational needs.

Brian Kirk is Deputy for Technology Integration within the FT CoE where he has played a critical role in developing an adaptive learning ecosystem, otherwise knows as “the portal”, for the CoE and future generations of Air Force Pilots. This October 28-29, Kirk will be in San Antonio to present at IDGA’s Military Flight Training Summit.

Before the conference, Kirk sat down with IDGA to discuss the new training portal, how it has been tailored to meet the personal needs of each student, and the impact AI will have on the future of flight training.