The air combat effective pilot: an analysis of the personal characteristics and combat skills of Korean fighter pilots

Abstract

Recognizing the tenuous position that the Republic of Korea maintains with regard to communist North Korea, the Korean Air Force, as a first line of defense, must maintain the highest level of air combat readiness, the crux of which is the combat effectiveness of its pilots. Through research of past studies, the determinants of the combat effective pilot, combat skills and psychological characteristics, were identified and broken down into component factors, which have positive effect on combat effectiveness and implications for pilot selection, training, and assignment. NPS Korean Air Force students were surveyed as to their perceptions of these factors as they relate to combat effectiveness and their own experience. This activity served as a primitive model for possible expert systems determination of improved objectives in support of Korean Air Force combat effectiveness training.