Because our military can't afford to equip their own aggressor squadrons.
ATAC, a part of Textron’s Airborne Solutions division, has a two-decade history providing adversary air services for the U.S. military, supplying outsourced jets and civilian pilots to play the role of enemy fighters in live training drills against Navy or Air Force pilots.
ATAC acquired the F1 jets to bulk up its existing fleet of nearly 30 jets — made up of a mix of F-21 Kfir, MK-58 Hawker Hunter and L-39 Albatros aircraft — to better compete for the upcoming Air Force contract. At its max, ATAC has provided about 6,000 flight-hours in a given year; the Air Force is looking for up to 37,000 a year.
Aggressor squadrons are expensive and the inventory of “aggressor” aircraft in the US is getting too old to maintain. F-5s, A-4s, F/A-18A&B models etc. Just arent viable anymore. Plus using civilian pilots and maintainers for aggressors allows ACDU personnel to focus on training and maintaining our war fighting inventory.
“Because our military can’t afford to equip their own aggressor squadrons.”
They could easily afford it. But they’d rather drop every dime into Lockheed’s pockets for more Joint Strike Failures.