WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee, today received a favorable response from Richard Spencer, President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Navy, regarding his proposal to help find a solution to the hypoxia-related episodes occurring in T-45 training jets. Physiological episodes occur when pilots experience a loss of oxygen, breathe contaminated oxygen, or undergo cockpit decompression. The T-45 jets are flown at the Navy’s three training installations for new aviators, including Naval Air Station Meridian.

Despite years of investigating the increase in physiological episodes experienced by pilots, the Pentagon has not found a “smoking gun.” In response, Wicker authored a provision in this year’s defense authorization bill to help military officials identify the cause of these episodes, which have been experienced by Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps pilots. The plan would authorize the Secretary of Defense to offer a $10 million prize – similar to the XPrize – to incentivize the brightest minds in academia and industry to help find the root cause or causes of these episodes.

Spencer responded by saying that he was excited “that those tools and authority would be available to [them].”

Earlier this year, Wicker was briefed by senior Navy officials, instructor pilots, and students at NAS Meridian to discuss these safety issues.