Combat Systems Officer eCourse
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INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS A CSO? WHAT'S AN ABM?Introduction
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The Kill Chain
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What's a WSO?
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What's an EWO?
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What's a CSO?
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What's a NAV?
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What's an ABM?
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THE FIRST STEP - COMMISSIONINGCommissioning Sources
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Qualifications
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TRAININGThe Pipeline
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Initial Flight Training
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UCT (Undergraduate CSO Training)
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Training Progression and Checkrides
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UCT Tracks and Phases
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UABMT (Undergraduate Air Battle Management Training)
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How to Survive and Thrive
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Three Keys to Success
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Class Rankings and the "Dream Sheet"
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Drop Night and Beyond
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FTU & Follow-on Training
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SQUADRON LIFE & CAREER PROGRESSIONOfficer Life
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Deployments
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Instructor and Evaluator Upgrades
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Fighter Life
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Bomber Life
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SOF Life
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Mobility Life
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Electronic Warfare Life
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ABM Life
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CAREER PROGRESSIONUpward Moves
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Lateral Moves
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Civilian Transition
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Guard/Reserve
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MOVES TO THE FRONT SEATStill Want to Be A Pilot?
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Active Duty UPT Transition
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Guard/Reserve UPT Transition
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GI Bill
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Bootstrapping
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Scholarships
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CONCLUSIONParting Words
What’s a CSO?
CSO (Combat Systems Officer)
If a Navigator is your highly-specialized grandfather/forebear, then the Combat Systems Officer is the jack-of-all-trades millennial. As we’ve seen, the designation of CSO was developed as a catch-all for the various roles in question. Eventually, the aircraft and the missions evolved and the USAF needed somebody who is not quite a NAV, not really a WSO and not exactly an EWO, but who specializes in operating airborne-mission equipment and systems. The umbrella term CSO then got applied to these aviators (it’s a little like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares).
CSOs, in this sense, typically operate a versatile suite of aircraft mission-systems such as radios, sensors, situational awareness (SA) tools like maps and imagery, data links and weapons systems (eg. laser designators for guiding munitions or targeting sensors for aiming gunship rounds). These airmen are expected to maintain high SA on ground-forces movement, enemy locations and positions, and friendly air assets. Given their mission set, CSOs and are generally found within the AFSOC (Air Force Special Operations Command) communities.

CSO Aircraft include: AC-130Js, AC-130Ws, U-28As, MC-12s and RC-26s.