Aerospace World

By Peter Grier

Curtis Bows Out Former Deputy Secretary of Energy Charles B. Curtis, whom the White House had planned to tap as its next nominee to be Secretary of the Air Force, withdrew his name from consideration for the post.

Curtis had become concerned that USAF photo by SrA. Jeffrey Allen his confirmation hearing in the Senate would focus on lax security at Energy Department labs, said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth H. Bacon on April 9. The result would be “a lengthy, protracted confirmation hearing” that would “deny the Air Force a perma- nent Secretary,” said Bacon. At least one DoE lab has allegedly been the source of leaks of sensitive nuclear weapons technology to the Chinese. Curtis, a Washington lawyer, was a

The reserve force call-up will beef US Mobilizes Guard, Reserve for Balkan Duty up USAF refueling operations in the Balkans. President Clinton authorized Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen to call up members of the National Guard and the Reserve to active duty to provide support for NATO operations in and around Kosovo, the Defense Department reported. The Pentagon declared April 27 that roughly 2,000 Guardsmen and Reservists will be called up initially for support of air-refueling operations, and others may be flew Raptor 02 to an altitude of 50,000 called in the future as required. feet and performed both flutter tests Clinton approved a Presidential Selected Reserve Call-up, or PSRC, to support and flying quality maneuvers. NATO operations. It authorizes Cohen to call up 33,102 members of the Selected “The entire F-22 team is excited Reserve to active duty. about moving into the next phase of Announcing the move, Cohen said, “Until now, we have been able to meet many of test activity,” said Tom Burbage, presi- our military requirements for operations in the Balkans using volunteers from the Na- dent of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical tional Guard and Reserve who have been serving side by side with the active forces.” He added, “Ongoing operations now require more support from the reserve forces. Systems. “The tests and modifications The PSRC is designed to help us meet those expanding needs.” performed on the F-22 over the past Guard and Reserve forces are thoroughly integrated into the Total Air Force. For three months will pave the way for example, more than half of USAF’s aerial refueling capability and airlift capacity expanded flight activity the rest of resides in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command. this year.” US law permits a President to call to active duty up to 200,000 members of the The flight hiatus started at the be- Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve for up to 270 days. ginning of 1999. Technicians swarmed over the two F-22s assigned to the Combined Test Facility at Edwards AFB, Calif., trying out maintenance classmate of Secretary of Defense Wil- not react quickly enough to reports of tasks and completing support equip- liam S. Cohen’s at Boston University’s Chinese espionage. Recent reports ment validations. Among the changes law school. He had been involved in indicate that, among other things, the the ground tests produced were security matters as a deputy secretary Chinese may have obtained data on modifications to landing gear sup- at the Energy Department and “has the exact shape of the Trident II W88 port equipment and reduced tool been cited for his zeal in dealing with nuclear warhead. requirements. [security] problems,” insisted Bacon, “Testing a fighter aircraft today is when asked about the withdrawal. F-22 Back in the Skies really a combination of ground tests Lax security at DoE labs has be- The F-22 is back in the skies after and flight tests,” said Maj. Gen. (sel.) come a controversial subject in Wash- a planned three months of ground Michael C. Mushala, director of the ington, with Republicans charging tests and system updates. On April 8, F-22 Systems Program Office. “The that the Clinton Administration did Lockheed Martin test pilot Jon Beesley F-22 has performed extremely well in

16 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 Shining Hope Aids Expelled Kosovars

Responding to the tidal wave of ethnic Albanians fleeing “ethnic cleansing” operations in Kosovo, the Air Force generated the largest humanitarian airlift

in Europe in 50 years. USAF photo by SSgt. Efrain Gonzalez Not since the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49 have Europeans seen such a massive movement of food, medicine, tents, and supplies. The airlift, part of NATO’s Operation Shining Hope, delivered to Kosovar refugees in the first month alone more than 3,150 tons of emergency supplies—2,000 tons of food, 400 tons of shelter gear, 520 tons of support equipment, 140 tons of bedding, 30 tons of medical supplies, and 60 tons of vehicles. More than 1 million ethnic Albanians— more than half of Kosovo’s former total population—have been displaced as a result of the fighting that began to escalate A1C Jimmy Blevins, 437th Security Forces Squadron, Charleston AFB, S.C., provides in March 1998 and went into high gear security for a C-17 at Tirana, Albania, where US forces have been deployed to pro- with the start of Operation Allied Force vide humanitarian aid to Kosovo Albanian refugees. March 24. The NATO offensive campaign sought to compel Yugoslav forces to halt operations in Kosovo and withdraw. Of the total refugees, more than 500,000 have crossed the border from Kosovo The Pentagon requested both com- into Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro, where they are concentrated in panies to submit their revised plans, spartan refugee camps. The rest are displaced within the war-wracked Yugoslav detailing how they propose to remain province itself. on budget and on schedule through Joint Task Force Shining Hope provided a lifeline of sorts for Kosovars outside the concept demonstration phase to of their homeland. The US effort comprises airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Marines, downselect in 2001, by the end of April. who are at work in the Albanian capital of Tirana and Skopje, Macedonia, support- The move came in response to a ing the United Nations’ plan for distributing humanitarian supplies to the refugees. $100 million cost overrun by Lockheed Leading JTF Shining Hope is Maj. Gen. William S. Hinton Jr., commander of USAFE’s 3d Air Force. He directs the mission from a communications facility in and an aircraft redesign by Boeing, Germany. which might add cost in the future. The The operation began April 5. Forty airmen from the 86th Contingency Response JSF concept demonstration program Group, Ramstein AB, Germany, arrived in Tirana, established a base camp at a began in November 1996 and will end local airfield, and made preparations for a relief force to follow. The US presence when a contractor is selected in 2001. grew to about 400. Boeing announced April 7 that it has C-5s, C-17s, and C-130s have hauled many tons of supplies, including a loader begun final assembly of its model, the and forklifts. The airlifters have brought in thousands of prepackaged humanitar- X-32A, two weeks ahead of schedule. ian daily rations, as well as support equipment. A contract 747 carried tons of DoD program officials had not set rations, or about 68,000 meals, in one early flight. Relief supplies include tents, cots, sleeping bags, blankets, and 700,000 daily rations. a date for completing a review of the Flights have originated not only in Europe but also from points in the United revised plans. States. Supplies have been offloaded not only in Albania and Macedonia but also in Italy, where they were transferred to ships for transport. Luke Finds F-16 Engine Cracks Other US services and NATO countries, including France and England, are An investigation looking at the also providing humanitarian assistance. causes of a series of crashes at Luke AFB, Ariz., has found significant engine cracks in 18 F-16 fighters, the Air Force stated in late April after both areas, demonstrating 25 percent past Mach 1.8 and demonstrate super completing inspections of the 190 more flight test points and 20 percent cruise, or the ability to cruise faster F-16s located at Luke. more logistics, or ground test, points than the speed of sound without use The cracks were found in relatively than originally planned.” of afterburners. If all goes well the De- old Pratt & Whitney 220 engines. They The ground team also carried out a partment of Defense will likely award were located in augmenter ducts, number of planned modifications to the contracts for the first six production which help boost engine thrust by aircraft themselves. These included F-22s in November. channeling exhaust from the engine’s new brakes, new fuel pumps and fuel nozzles. Some of the cracks were up system probes, and new flight control JSF Goes Back for Replanning to an inch long, said officials. actuators and horizontal tails to meet The Pentagon has asked the two Luke has been bedeviled by acci- stiffness requirements. contractors vying to build the Joint dents, with six base F-16s crashing Raptor 02 also received a spin Strike Fighter, Boeing and Lockheed since last October. Air Force officials recovery chute for use in upcoming Martin, to submit reworked plans to temporarily halted flights at the base high-angle-of-attack testing. make sure they can finish the demon- after a March crash near Phoenix. During the coming months, flight stration phase of the program without Flights were halted once again after tests will attempt to push the F-22 busting their $1.1 billion budgets. the sixth crash, which occurred April

AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 17 Aerospace World

not used to prevent the first SBIRS Allied Force’s “Amazing” Achievement High launch from slipping to 2004—a prospective delay first revealed in A May 3, 1999, analysis of the USAF–led Balkan War by Anthony Cordesman, budget papers this year. senior fellow for strategic assessment at the Center for Strategic and International Such items as F-16 aircraft, preci- Studies in Washington, contained this statement: “As of April 27, NATO had flown over 11,574 sorties with only one loss—an sion air targeting pods, and an extra F-117—in combat and with no accidents costing the life of a pilot or destroying Joint STARS radar airplane were an aircraft. It had flown over 4,423 attack sorties under some of the most difficult simply much higher priorities, said weather and terrain conditions that can be encountered in modern warfare and Peters in a letter to senators this April. under extremely demanding rules of engagement designed to limit collateral dam- “If you will look at the Air Force’s age. Since that time, NATO has flown over 14,000 sorties, although it has lost an unfunded priority list, you will see that F-16C/D to engine failure and one AV-8B in an accident. ... there are many high-priority items “NATO has had few incidents involving collateral damage and only two involving that could not be funded,” Peters said. Kosovar Muslim civilians. There were four to five strikes on Serbian and Kosovar “Given these circumstances, we could civlians during some 4,423 attack sorties. This was a maximum ‘mistake rate’ of about 0.11 percent per attack sortie flown. By [May 3], there have been seven to just see no way to divert funds from eight incidents involving serious collateral damage in Serbia. This is still a mistake other high-priority programs in order rate of under 0.2 percent per attack sortie flown. This is an amazing tactical and to restore the 2002 launch.” technical achievement.” Phoenix Aviator Rising Phoenix Aviator 20—the Air Force’s new pilot retention program—has been 26 near the White Tank Mountain test,” said a Pentagon statement on highly successful so far, say Air Force Range, northwest of the base. the decision. personnel officials. Service officials announced three Even with the delay the NMD pro- Nearly 400 of the 1,500 service days later that faulty landing gear gram may be rushing things some- pilots eligible for the program have was the probable cause of the lat- what, according to a report from signed up since it began Oct. 1, est crash, involving an F-16D which DoD’s director of operational test and says Lt. Col. Philip Barbee, head of had passed the engine inspection. evaluation, Philip E. Coyle III. the PA-20 program office at the Air It was the first instance of a landing Over the next six years NMD has Force Personnel Center at Randolph gear–related crash and prompted an scheduled an average of three in- AFB, Texas. inspection of 100 of the fighters with tercept tests per year, Coyle said in “This is a great program,” said Bar- similar equipment. a report to Congress. That does not bee. “It offers several benefits to pilots However, with four of the six crashes leave enough time between shots to in turn for a commitment to stay on engine-related, the Air Force has be- apply lessons learned, he said. active duty past 20 years of service.” come increasingly concerned about the This spring both the House and The basic aim of PA-20 is to help older F-16 power plants. The problems Senate passed legislation calling retiring pilots make the transition to now stretch from cracks to bearings for deployment of a National Missile commercial airlines. Among other to compressors and turbines. Defense “as soon as technologically incentives, it promises enrollees a Many F-16s are now powered by possible.” flying job their last two years in the a newer, updated Pratt & Whitney NMD proponents say the bill en- Air Force and guarantees an interview engine, the F100-PW-229. sures that deployment of such a with one of its participating airlines. “The Air Force has never lost an system is now a matter of when, not if. As of mid-April, 31 enrollees had F-16 equipped with a 229 engine,” The Clinton Administration disputes gone through the interview process. said company spokesman Tim Burris. that interpretation, saying that the Thirteen had received job offers. legislation makes clear that NMD is “The biggest carrot of the program NMD Test Postponed still subject to the annual military ap- has turned out to be the interview. The Ballistic Missile Defense Or- propriations process, and thus liable Interviews with a commercial airline ganization has postponed the first to cancellation, as are other proposed are hard to come by,” said Barbee. scheduled intercept test in the Na- new weapons. Lt. Col. John C. O’Donnell was one of tional Missile Defense program from the PA-20 participants offered airline mid-June until mid-to-late August, USAF Defends SBIRS Tactic employment. He recently finished his officials said April 14. Acting Air Force Secretary F. Whit USAF career with an assignment as The move is apparently precau- ten Peters is defending the service’s an advisor to an Air National Guard tionary, not the result of any spe- decision to channel $1.4 billion into KC-135 unit. O’Donnell says that cific problem. Officials do not want key modernization accounts rather PA-20 will be an effective way for the NMD—which would be the heart of than use the funds to keep the 2002 service to try and entice pilots at the any planned missile defense of the launch date for the Space Based 15-to-16-year mark to stay. United States homeland—to suffer Infrared System High. “Many aircrew members just want through the same growing pains as SBIRS High would be a crucial set of to fly,” he said. “The opportunity to go its troubled little brother, the Theater eyes for any National Missile Defense from a staff job back to the cockpit High Altitude Area Defense system. effort and space-minded lawmakers for your last two years in the service The planned experiment will involve have objected to past reductions in certainly sweetens the pot.” launch of a target missile from Van- the program. denberg AFB, Calif., and a prototype When the Air Force received an Missile Crew Assignments interceptor from Kwajalein atoll in the extra $1.4 billion in funds from the Extended central Pacific. “Additional time is Clinton Administration this fall, Sen. The first tour of duty for new mis- needed to complete detailed systems Bob Smith (R) of New Hampshire sile combat crew officers has been checks and inspections prior to the questioned why part of the money was extended from three to four years, Air

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AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 19 Aerospace World

Force Space Command officials said. Bales, another 99-11 student. “I have companies as our industry continues The move will provide the officers my four-wheel-drive truck and plan to to search for more efficient ways to in the space and missile operations make the best of it.” design and produce structural com- career field with more opportunities to ponents,” said Mark Wilson, chief gain experience, according to AFSPC. C-17 Becomes a Little Lighter engineer for ASC’s C-17 System “This is a win–win situation for ev- C-17s rolling off Boeing’s produc- Program Office. eryone,” said Col. Perry N. Karraker, tion line in Long Beach, Calif., will chief of the operations and training now have a new, lighter horizontal JASSM Crashes evaluation division for AFSPC. stabilizer, thanks to a joint military– The Joint Air to Surface Missile “New officers in a four-year tour will industry improvement effort. crashed on its first test flight April 8 get a chance to grow and take some The new stabilizer is a hybrid at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. of those desirable jobs, such as flight composite/metal structure that is 20 Flight Test Vehicle No. 1 struck the commander and assistant flight com- percent lighter than the C-17’s exist- ground 40 seconds after separating mander, that many of the officers in a ing all-metal tail. cleanly from an F-15. three-year tour miss out on.” The new stabilizer also uses 90 Air Force program officials said an The change took effect March 25 percent fewer parts and 81 percent electrical glitch caused the missile with Class 99-11 of Undergraduate fewer fasteners than its predecessor. to go into safety mode after it was Space and Missile Training, held at All C-17s from No. 51 onward will dropped. That means its wing and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Reaction have the new structure, which was tail never deployed. seems positive so far. designed under the Military Products The JASSM program is supposed “I’m excited about the change,” Using Best Commercial/Military Prac- to deliver the first of its stealthy cruise said 2d Lt. Timothy Koczur, a 99-11 tices pilot program. missiles to the force beginning in 2002. student. “It will provide stability for my The pilot effort was a combined The program remains on schedule, family and give me a chance to grow program funded by the Aeronautical according to program officials. as an officer.” Systems Center, the Air Force Research On the downside, the change means Laboratory, and C-17 contractors. Air Force Mum on F-117 Loss an extra year at a northern-tier USAF The program’s overall goal is to Air Force officials say they have base where winter can close around take the best acquisition and design a pretty good idea what caused an you like a clenched fist and large practices it can find and extend their F-117 stealth fighter to crash in metropolitan areas are a long ways usage throughout the weapons build- Yugoslavia on March 27—but that away. It is an experience that can be ing process. Specific goals for the they will not publicly disclose the particularly hard on single officers. tail redesign were to demonstrate causes while operations against But that is a problem that was a 20 percent weight saving and 50 the Belgrade regime of Slobodan pre-existing. The added year does percent cost saving over the metal Milosevic remain ongoing. not make it significantly worse, said tail baseline. Officials did say they had ruled out some single students. “The lessons learned from this an act of God or loss of consciousness “I already considered this when I program will benefit Boeing, Northrop on the part of the pilot. Mechanical came to missiles,” said 2d Lt. John Grumman, and many other aerospace failure has not been entirely eliminated as a cause, but indications are the aircraft was brought down by a Serbian surface-to-air missile. NATO Embraces Broad New Security View “It’s not invisible,” said Maj. Gen. At their late April gathering in Washington, NATO officials formally adopted a new Bruce A. Carlson, USAF’s director Allied strategic concept, one that greatly expands the scope of Alliance security plans of operational requirements, at a to encompass nontraditional—even nonmilitary—dangers. Pentagon briefing. “It never has been The document, released April 24, was viewed as being as significant as any since invisible. We know [there are] radars NATO’s founding in April 1949. that can track our stealthy airplanes. In its first 50 years, NATO functioned strictly as a defensive military Alliance based They can sometimes find us. The key on collective security. Soviet–led Warsaw Pact forces were the adversary. Each ally pledged to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. “Out-of-area” operations—that is that that zone of detectability or is, those that would unfold beyond the actual territory of NATO nations—were virtu- lethality is shrunk by orders of mag- ally nonexistent. nitude, but it’s still not invisible. For Now, NATO’s new 18-page concept document takes official note of “the evolving instance, the F-117’s radar signature strategic environment” and the new security challenges posed by regional instabil- increases when its bomb bay doors ity—such as the wars in the Balkans—terrorism, and the spread of Weapons of Mass are open, said Carlson. Destruction. Operational changes have attempted The document reaffirms NATO’s determination to counter direct armed attack on to minimize the amount of time the doors NATO soil. However, in the key passage, the Alliance contends, “Alliance security are open during bomb runs. interests can be affected by other risks of a wider nature, including acts of terrorism, sabotage, and organized crime, and by the disruption of the flow of vital resources.” Reports indicated that among the Further, said the document, “The uncontrolled movement of large numbers of people, possible causes of the Serb’s unex- particularly as a consequence of armed conflicts, can also pose problems for security pected anti-aircraft success were and stability.” the undetected shifting of a surface- The new approach appears to place major emphasis on “political, economic, to-air missile battery, a predictable social, and environmental factors” as well as the “indispensable defense dimension.” flight path by the F-117, and a US Moreover, the new NATO concept appears to view out-of-area operations, such as electronic jamming aircraft that was that now under way in Kosovo—as a foregone conclusion. “As NATO forces may be flying too far away. called upon to operate beyond NATO’s borders,” it said, Allied capabilities must be Of 60 F-117s built, according to “flexible, mobile, rapidly deployable, and sustainable.” Carlson, seven have now been lost. Six were destroyed in accidents.

20 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 cast last June 7. Following an internal CNN report last summer that found The Archaeology of Stealth that the story was unsupported by The following statement about stealth technology came from Maj. Gen. Bruce A. the evidence, Arnett argued that his Carlson, director of operational requirements at USAF, in an April 20, 1999, briefing role in preparing the broadcast was for reporters: in fact minimal. He was allowed to “We started out a long time ago building airplanes that had low observable technol- keep his job but was placed in limbo. ogy incorporated into their design. The SR-71 was an example of where we took the He had appeared on air only once aerodynamic design and then added some radar absorbing material to the airplane since last July. to make it slightly stealthy. ... “We went to the second generation of airplanes and ... we designed that airplane, Now CNN plans to exercise an exit the F-117, essentially from the bottom up to be stealthy. It was crude technology. It clause in his contract, Arnett said April was developed at a time when we didn’t have the modeling and computer power we 18. The move effectively removes him needed to make the kind of aerodynamic design that we would have liked, but we with two years remaining on a five- built one that we thought was very stealthy. ... year employment pact. “Then we came to the third generation of stealth airplanes—we built the B-2. And Arnett has long been one of the most of course, by that time, we had the modeling tools and the design tools and the com- recognizable faces on TV. He won a puting power to make an aerodynamic design that was optimum. And this airplane is Pulitzer for Vietnam coverage in 1966, [a] much higher altitude, much better performing airplane than the F-117. We were when he was a writer for the Associated able to eliminate a lot of the radar absorbing material from the structure. “By the time we got to the fourth generation [the F-22], we were able to add Press. He broadcast live from Baghdad supersonic speed, the agility of an F-15-, F-16-class airplane, and do that with no in 1991, when US airstrikes began the degradation to the stealth. In addition to that, we were able to add a number of ap- Gulf War. His future journalistic plans ertures—in other words, openings—in the airplane’s surface for antennas, radars, are uncertain. and other sensors. And in the F-22, as an example, there are over a hundred of those apertures on the airplane, where if we jump back a couple of generations to Downsizing at ACC the F-117, there are essentially a couple of aperture openings and the rest of them In a reorganization that began we hide when we go into combat.” May 1, Air Combat Command is aiming to reduce its current 4,849 headquarters job slots by 1,000. Too-large headquarters staffs at Langley AFB, Va., are taking up money DoD Updates Funeral between increased demand and a and personnel that could be put to Commitment shrinking active force. better use in stressed frontline units, Every US military veteran who has Since 1989 the number of veteran said ACC officials. A streamlining of honorably served will be entitled to deaths per year has increased 18 headquarters organizations could also the presence of two armed services percent. Yet during that time the speed decisions on everything from representatives, plus the playing of size of the military has shrunk about training to parts resupply. “Taps,” at his or her funeral, according 35 percent. And demand for funeral Col. Perry Lamy, director of a 35-per- to a Pentagon proposal announced honors is sure to increase further. son re-engineering team, said the April 21. Currently, the Pentagon provides effort will force specialists, such as The Defense Department has been honors at about 37,000 funerals per logisticians, intelligence experts, and besieged by complaints about funerals year. Officials estimate that about communicators, to work in multidis from veterans’ families in recent years. 250,000 families per year could even- ciplinary teams instead of their own Many say they have been unable to tually request funeral honors in the specific specialities. Military jobs can have Taps played at funeral ceremo- coming years. be reassigned to squadrons and other nies or have a military representative The rising demand will present field units. The first reductions will present the family with a flag. geographical challenges, as well. not begin to take hold until next year. Under the new proposed rules, With the closing of more and more the military representatives would bases, “funeral honor guard details Readiness Challenge Canceled conduct a flag folding and presenta- must often travel greater distances Readiness Challenge VII was sup- tion ceremony. Taps would be played than in years past to provide support,” posed to start April 19 at Tyndall AFB, by either a bugler or a “high-quality according to DoD. Fla. But the biennial, multinational audio recording,” according to DoD. The Defense Department also said combat support competition was can- “Our heartfelt, shared goal was to that it will streamline the process celed. Teams that had planned to take honor appropriately and consistently for requesting honors, via a toll-free part were needed to augment NATO’s those veterans who have faithfully request number and a Web site for Operation Allied Force in the Balkans, defended all Americans and our use by funeral directors. said Air Force officials. national interests,” said Undersec- “It’s only prudent to free up our retary of Defense for Personnel and CNN, Arnett Part Ways combat support resources in case Readiness Rudy de Leon. “These The Tailwind affair has claimed its they’re needed,” said Col. Bruce Mc- proposals accomplish this impor- highest-profile journalist—Peter Arnett. Connell, contingency support direc- tant goal.” Cable News Network has parted tor, Air Force Civil Engineer Support Critics of DoD funeral practices may ways with perhaps its most recog- Agency. “The competitors ... and all find the new rules—which must be nizable correspondent, the Pulitzer involved with Readiness Challenge approved by Congress—inadequate. Prize–winning Arnett, at least in part will now focus their attention on real- Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D) of Maryland because of his role in a CNN special world contingency operations.” introduced legislation which would report that falsely charged the US Civil engineering, public affairs, and mandate a five-person military detail military with using nerve gas during chaplain services are among the sup- at veterans’ funerals, for instance. the Vietnam War. port groups that take part in Readiness But on this as on so many matters, Arnett was chief correspondent for Challenge competitions. Canada, the the Pentagon is caught in a squeeze the so-called Tailwind report, broad- United Kingdom, Germany, Norway,

AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 21 Aerospace World

than 430 combat missions in the Called On—and Under—the Carpet O-2A, A-10, F-4, and F-15. Prior to his assuming the ACC post, Gen. Klaus Naumann, then chairman of the NATO Military Committee, met April Hawley was the commander of US 26 with the Defense Writers Group in Washington, where he was asked why Ger- Air Forces in Europe and Allied Air many was reluctant to consider providing ground forces for a NATO land campaign in Kosovo. His reply: Forces Central Europe at Ramstein “You should never forget the psychological situation of Germany. It was, after all, AB, Germany. among others, you who told us, ‘You Germans behave properly. March underneath Eberhart is a fellow graduate of the the carpet, but in an upright position, and never dare again to come on the carpet. academy and received his commission You stay down there.’ ... Then suddenly, when unification [of West and East Germany in 1968. He has accumulated more in 1990] came about, you told us, ‘Now you Germans are on the carpet, and you are than 4,000 hours in a variety of Air not only 6 feet tall, you are 10 feet tall.’ You cannot get consensus for things like this Force aircraft and flew 300 combat overnight. That we achieved this in more or less the incredible short period of eight missions as a forward air controller years is something which I believe is quite remarkable. I am not so familiar with all in Vietnam. the details of American history, but I know that it took some 30 years for you to think about the use of military power outside the United States of America after the Civil War. ... The Germans are not doing too badly at this time. If I look at the NATO council, Benken to Step Down they [the Germans] are definitely not the ones who are delaying decision. There are On April 7, Chief Master Sergeant a few others that are wobbling.” of the Air Force Eric W. Benken announced that he will retire from the service after wearing his nation’s uniform for more than 29 years. His formal retirement ceremony will be and Japan were all scheduled to send E. Hawley, commander of Air Com- July 30 at Bolling AFB, D.C. Benken competitive teams. bat Command, will retire July 1. His admitted that part of him still wanted Events test a range of skills from replacement will be the current Air to stay on the job. He likely could have setting up tent cities with sanitary wa- Force vice chief of staff, Gen. Ralph remained on until the end of Chief of ter supplies and electricity to pumping E. Eberhart. Staff Gen. Michael E. Ryan’s term. out press releases. A change of command ceremony But at three years–plus Benken’s Canada was the first to cancel, when was tentatively scheduled for June 11. time in the top NCO job has already the Canadian team was placed on Hawley has headed ACC since April been longer than most. And he has standby for deployment to the Kosovo 1996. He first entered the service in strong feelings about extending past area. The team from US Air Forces 1964 after graduating from the Air the 30-year mark. in Europe also withdrew—at which Force Academy and has more than “There are many Vietnam–era point officials decided that perhaps 3,000 flying hours, including more chiefs like myself who would like to other challenges took precedence over their scheduled contest.

ABL’s Mirror Milestone USAF Raises Space Budget The Air Force’s Airborne La- Senior Air Force officials disclosed April 26 that the service plans a five-year buildup ser program passed another major of space funding that will come at the expense of air funding. milestone April 13 when its primary optical mirror was delivered to the “Each program is important,” said F. Whitten Peters, the acting Air Force Secretary, contractor who will polish it to the “but you must remember that we are trying to create a seamless [aerospace] needed optical quality. system of systems.” The mirror—62 inches in diameter He said that the service’s space Science and Technology account will rise from and 8 inches thick—was built by Corn- somewhat under $500 million today to $712 million by 2005. At the same time, ing Glass, N.Y. Design and fabrication air S&T funding will drop from $749 million to $541 million. took two years and included use of a unique water-jet machining technique Peters and the Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen. Michael E. Ryan, talked of other to reduce the weight of the mirror core space topics as well. by over 90 percent. Now Contraves Brashear Systems n USAF space assets supported the Balkan War effort with GPS, surveillance, of Pittsburgh, Pa., will take another communications, combat search and rescue, and weather. year to polish the mirror to the opti- n The Air Force is interested in shifting the moving target indicator role from cal quality necessary to direct a Joint STARS aircraft to space. This is “a mission naturally suited to migrate to high-energy laser beam to a target space,” said Ryan. hundreds of miles away. “This event represents another n New GPS satellites will have two jam-resistant channels for military-only use, successful milestone in the effort as well as two new civilian-only channels. to develop and demonstrate this revolutionary weapon system,” said n The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency and DoD will merge Col. Michael W. Booen, director of their weather satellite operations. the ABL System Program Office at n “Space negation” studies are under way now. They are being undertaken Kirtland AFB, N.M. pursuant to the “right of self-protection under international law.”

Hawley Set to Retire in July n The Air Force hopes to launch a space-based laser in 2010 rather than 2012. On April 9, the Department of De- fense announced that Gen. Richard

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AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 23 Aerospace World stay beyond 30 years,” he said. “I appropriate for me to do something after noticing a recruiting poster em- have asked them not to do that, so I have asked my fellow chiefs not blazoned with what he now jokes he we can make room for the younger to do.” thought was a direct order: Join the troops to move up. It would be in- The chief began his career in 1970 Air Force. He began as an adminis-

Senior Staff Changes

NOMINATIONS: To be General: Lester L. Lyles. Asst. SECAF for Acq., Hanscom AFB, Mass., to Cmdr., Cheyenne To be Lieutenant General: Paul V. Hester, Leslie F. Kenne. Mountain Ops. Ctr., NORAD/USSPACECOM, Cheyenne Mountain To be Major General: Roger A. Brady. AS, Colo. ... Brig. Gen. Theodore W. Lay II, from Cmdr., 57th To be Brigadier General: Gary H. Murray. Wg., ACC, Nellis AFB, Nev., to Dep. Dir., Politico–Mil. Affairs, CHANGES: Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Baptiste, from Cmdr., Jt. Staff, Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. Richard B.H. Lewis, from Dep. Cheyenne Mountain Ops. Ctr., NORAD/USSPACECOM, Chey- Dir., Ops., Natl. Mil. Cmd. Center, Jt. Staff, Pentagon, to Vice enne Mountain AS, Colo., to Dir., Plans, NORAD, Peterson Cmdr., 6th ATAF, Izmir, Turkey ... Lt. Gen. Lance W. Lord, from AFB, Colo. ... Brig. Gen. Barry W. Barksdale, from Cmdr., 37th Vice Cmdr., AFSPC, Peterson AFB, Colo., to Cmdr., AU, AETC, Tng. Wg., AETC, Lackland AFB, Texas, to Vice Cmdr., 12th AF, Maxwell AFB, Ala. ... Maj. Gen. David R. Love, from Dep. Cmdr., ACC, Davis–Monthan AFB, Ariz. ... Maj. Gen. (sel.) John D. 6th ATAF, Izmir, Turkey, to Cmdr., AF Security Assistance Cen- Becker, from Cmdr., 305th AMW, AMC, McGuire AFB, N.J., to ter, AFMC, Wright–Patterson AFB, Ohio ... Gen. (sel.) Lester L. Cmdr., Tanker Airlift Control Center, AMC, Scott AFB, Ill. ... Brig. Lyles, from Dir., BMDO, USD, Acq. & Tech., Pentagon, to Vice Gen. Richard B. Bundy, from Dir., Manpower, Orgn., & Quality, C/S, USAF, Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Robert E . Mansfield DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon, to Vice Dir., Operational Plans & Jr., from Cmdr., Defense Reutilization & Marketing Service, DLA, Interoperability, Jt. Staff, Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Richard Battle Creek, Mich., to Dir., Supply, DCS, Instl. & Log., USAF, J. Casey, from Exec. to the CINC, USTRANSCOM, AMC, Scott Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. Michael C. McMahan, from Cmdr., 7th AFB, Ill., to Cmdr., 43d AW, AMC, Pope AFB, N.C. ... Lt. Gen. BW, ACC, Dyess AFB, Texas, to Dir., Manpower, Orgn., & Quality, (sel.) Donald G. Cook, from Dir., EAF Implementation, DCS, Air DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, & Space Ops., USAF, Pentagon, to Vice Cmdr., AFSPC, Peterson from Cmdr., TACC, AMC, Scott AFB, Ill., to Dep. Dir., Prgms., AFB, Colo. ... Brig. Gen. Sharla J. Cook, from Dir., Log., AETC, DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon Randolph AFB, Texas, to Cmdr., 82d Tng. Wg., AETC, Sheppard Brig. Gen. Richard A. Mentemeyer, from Cmdr., 12th FTW, AFB, Texas ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Kelvin R. Coppock, from Chief, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas, to Cmdr., 305th AMW, AMC, McGuire Global Engagement Div., USSPACECOM, Peterson AFB, Colo., AFB, N.J. ... Maj. Gen. (sel.) Teed M. Moseley, from Dep. Dir., to Dep. Dir., Ops., AFSPC, Peterson AFB, Colo. Politico–Mil. Affairs, Jt. Staff, Pentagon, to Dir., LL, OSAF, Penta- Brig. Gen. Tommy F. Crawford, from Cmdr., 354th FW, PACAF, gon ... Brig. Gen. Paul D. Nielsen, Dir., Plans, NORAD, Peterson Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Dep. Dir., Ops. (Natl. Systems Spt.), Jt. AFB, Colo., to Vice Cmdr., ASC, AFMC, Wright–Patterson AFB, Staff, Pentagon ... Maj. Gen. Daniel M. Dick, from Vice Cmdr., Ohio ... Brig. Gen. Charles N. Simpson, from Cmdr., 9th Recon. 12th AF, ACC, Davis–Monthan AFB, Ariz., to Cmdr., 13th AF, Wg., ACC, Beale AFB, Calif, to Cmdr, 363d Air Expeditionary PACAF, Andersen AFB, Guam ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Lloyd E. Dodd Wg., ACC, Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia ... Brig. Gen. James Jr., from Command Surgeon, AFSPC, Peterson AFB, Colo., to N. Soligan, from Cmdr., 6th ARW, AMC, MacDill AFB, Fla., to Cmdr., 311th Human Sys. Wg., ASC, AFMC, Brooks AFB, Texas Dir., Strategy, Policy, & Plans, USSOUTHCOM, Miami, Fla...... Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, from Vice C/S, USAF, Pentagon, to Brig. Gen. John M. Speigel, from Cmdr., 81st Tng. Wg., AETC, Cmdr., ACC, Langley AFB, Va. ... Brig. Gen. Edward R. Ellis, from Keesler AFB, Miss., to Cmdt., AFOATS, AU, AETC, Maxwell Cmdt., AFOATS, AU, AETC, Maxwell AFB, Ala., to Dep. Cmdr., AFB, Ala. ... Brig. Gen. Randall F. Starbuck, from Cmdr., 45th 5th ATAF, Allied Air Forces, Southern Europe, Vicenza, Italy ... Space Wg., AFSPC, Patrick AFB, Fla., to Dir., Air Expeditionary Brig. Gen. Michael N. Farage, from Dep. Commanding Gen., Forces Mgmt. Team, ACC, Langley AFB, Va. ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) USSOCOM, Ft. Bragg, N.C., to Cmdr., 37th Tng. Wg., AETC, Joseph P. Stein, from Cmdr., 93d ACW, ACC, Robins AFB, Ga., Lackland AFB, Texas ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Stanley Gorenc, from to Cmdr., 7th BW, ACC, Dyess AFB, Texas ... Brig. Gen. Law- Cmdr., 80th FTW, AETC, Sheppard AFB, Texas, to Vice Cmdr., rence H. Stevenson, from Vice Cmdr., 5th AF, PACAF, Yokota 5th AF, PACAF, Yokota AB, Japan AB, Japan, to Cmdr., 12th FTW, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ... Maj. Gen. (sel.) Thomas B. Goslin Jr., from Dep. Dir., Prgms., Brig. Gen. Billy K. Stewart, from Dir., Supply, DCS, Instl. & Log., DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon, to Dir., Ops., USSPACECOM, Pe- USAF, Pentagon, to Dir., Log., AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ... terson AFB, Colo. ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) Elizabeth A. Harrell, from Maj. Gen. Garry R. Trexler, from Dep. Cmdr., 5th ATAF, Allied Air Exec., Vice C/S, USAF, Pentagon, to Cmdr., 81st Tng. Wg., AETC, Forces, Southern Europe, Vicenza, Italy, to Vice Dir., Jt. Staff, Keesler AFB, Miss. ... Maj. Gen. William S. Hinton Jr., from Cmdr., Pentagon ... Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Waskow, from Cmdr., 13th 3d AF, USAFE, RAF Mildenhall, UK, to Dir., EAF Implementa- AF, PACAF, Andersen AFB, Guam, to Dir., Air & Space Ops., tion, DCS, Air & Space Ops., USAF, Pentagon ... Brig. Gen. John PACAF, Hickam AFB, Hawaii ... Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Wehrle Jr., L. Hudson, from Senior Mil. Asst., USD, Acq. & Tech., USAF, from Dir., Prgms., DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon, to Cmdr., 3d AF, Pentagon, to Dep. Dir., JSF Prgm., Asst. SECAF, Acq., Arlington, USAFE, RAF Mildenhall, UK. Va. ... Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, from Cmdr., 43d AW, AMC, SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE RETIREMENTS: Russell R. Pope AFB, N.C., to Vice Cmdr., AFSOC, Hurlburt Field, Fla. ... Lt. Burton, Johnny M. Rampy, David S. Sibley, George W. Simon, Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, from Cmdr., ESC, AFMC, Hanscom AFB, Jerome P. Sutton, James A. Vinarskai. Mass., to Dir., BMDO, USD, Acq. & Tech., Pentagon ... Maj. Gen. SES CHANGES: James D. Bankers, to Asst. Vice Cmdr., Leslie F. Kenne, from Dir., JSF Prgm., Asst. Secy. Navy, R&D & AFRC, Robins AFB, Ga. ... James A. Cunningham, to Exec. Dir., Acq., Arlington, Va., to Cmdr., ESC, AFMC, Hanscom AFB, Mass. ESC, Hanscom AFB, Mass. ... Donald C. Daniel, to Dep. Asst. ... Maj. Gen. Rodney P. Kelly, from Dir., Ops., USSPACECOM, Secy., Science, Tech., & Engineering, OSAF, Pentagon ... Lorna Peterson AFB, Colo., to Asst. DCS, P&P, USAF, Pentagon ... Brig. B. Estep, to Dir., Materiel Systems Gp., Wright–Patterson AFB, Gen. Edward L. LaFountaine, from Vice Cmdr., AFSOC, Hurlburt Ohio ... Edward C. Koenig, to Chief, Combat Spt. Div., USAF, Field, Fla., to Cmdr., 6th ARW, AMC, MacDill AFB, Fla. ... Brig. Pentagon ... Jon G. Ogg, to Dir., Engineering, ASC, Wright–Pat- Gen. Dennis R. Larsen, from Cmdr., 363d Air Expeditionary Wg., terson AFB, Ohio ... David E. Tanzi, Dir., Plans, AFRC, Robins ACC, Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia, to Dir., Air Expeditionary AFB, Ga. ... Patricia J. Zarodkiewicz, to Dir., Budget Investment, Forces Mgmt. Team, ACC, Langley AFB, Va. ... Brig. Gen. (sel.) OSAF, Pentagon. Robert H. Latiff, from Sys. Prgm. Dir., Jt. STARS JPO, AFPEO,

24 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 Gary Hart, in the Spotlight Again Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen announced April 2 the selection of Gary W. Hart to serve as the co-chair of the Senior Advisory Board on National Security.

The former Democratic senator and failed Presidential candidate will replace former Sen. David Boren, who stepped down as a result of responsibilities as the president of the University of Oklahoma.

The Pentagon announcement said that Cohen, an old Senate colleague of Hart’s, “highlighted Hart’s vast experience, keen intellect, and many important contri- butions to the nation’s security.” Cohen added, “Gary Hart stands out as one of our nation’s best thinkers and most skilled practitioners on matters dealing with America’s security.”

Hart represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1976 to 1984. Before that, he had worked as campaign manager for Sen. George McGovern in the latter’s unsuccessful 1972 bid for the Presidency.

Hart was himself twice a Presidential candidate. He was forced to abandon his 1988 quest for the White House when he was caught in an adulterous affair. He is the author of several books, the latest of which, The Minuteman, was published in 1998.

Hart and co-chair Warren Rudman will lead the national security study group, a two-and-one-half-year effort that will focus on three areas:

■ The global security environment of the first quarter of the 21st century.

■ The character of the nation during that period and what might be an appropriate national security strategy.

■ Possible alternatives to the current national security apparatus.

The group will complete its work in February 2001.

trative specialist, now known as an after serving as USAFE senior en- News Notes information manager. listed advisor. The US military will soon have Besides Vietnam, his overseas “Knowing he was my advisor on two new chiefs: On April 21, Sec- postings included Taiwan, Korea, enlisted issues has meant peace of retary of Defense William S. Cohen Belgium, and Germany. He assumed mind for me,” said Ryan. “He tackled nominated Gen. Eric K. Shinseki for the post of Chief Master Sergeant many tough issues in particularly appointment as chief of staff of the of the Air Force in November 1996, tough times for our Air Force.” Army and Lt. Gen. James L. Jones Jr. for appointment as commandant of the Marine Corps. On April 9 the Department of Defense announced that Lt. Gen. Lester L. Lyles has been picked for appointment to the grade of general

Photo by Paul Kennedy and the position of USAF vice chief of staff. On April 12, President Clinton announced that he will issue an executive order designating the Kosovo area of operations as a “combat zone” for tax relief benefits. Those serving within the zone will be largely exempt from income tax on their military pay, among other benefits. The nation’s 20th B-2 stealth bomber was named Spirit of Indiana at a ceremony at Grissom ARB, Ind., May 22. On April 21, Secretary Cohen asked Congress for the authority to transfer former military base property At a dedication ceremony, ANG Brig. Gen. David Beasley answers questions about to local communities at no cost if they the newest asset of the 175th Wing, in Baltimore. The wing received the ANG’s first use it for job-generating economic de- C-130J Hercules and named it The Pride of Baltimore. Maryland will take delivery of velopment. The new policy of no-cost eight of the cargo aircraft during the next two years. economic development conveyances

AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999 25 Aerospace World would minimize the need for time- consuming property appraisals and CIA’s Chinese Damage Assessment negotiations, officials said. The best food service programs in On April 21, CIA director George Tenet made public a brief, declassified summary the Air Force are at Hurlburt Field, Fla., of its internal inquiry into Chinese intelligence operations in the US nuclear arms and Kirtland AFB, N.M. That is what the establishment. The damage assessment report was titled “The Intelligence Commu- Air Force Services Agency Food Branch nity’s Damage Assessment on the Implications of China’s Acquisition of US Nuclear Weapons Information on the Development of Future Chinese Weapons.” decided in designating them the 1999 The report made the following points: Hennessy award winners for multiple “By at least the late 1970s the Chinese launched an ambitious collection program and single dining facilities, respectively. focused on the US, including its national laboratories, to acquire nuclear weapons Lockheed Martin Aeronautical technologies. By the 1980s China recognized that its second strike capability might Systems formally turned over the first be in jeopardy unless its force became more survivable. This probably prompted the C-130J Hercules to the US Air Force Chinese to heighten their interest in smaller and lighter nuclear weapon systems to Reserve in a March 31 ceremony at permit a mobile force. Keesler AFB, Miss. The airplane is the “China obtained by espionage classified US nuclear weapons information that first of two training aircraft and will be probably accelerated its program to develop future nuclear weapons. This collection program allowed China to focus successfully down critical paths and avoid less used by the 403d Wing at Keesler. promising approaches to nuclear weapon designs. The first brand-new F-15E to roll “China obtained at least basic design information on several modern US nuclear off the production line since 1994 took re-entry vehicles, including the Trident II (W88). China also obtained information on to the skies over St. Louis for its initial a variety of US weapon design concepts and weaponization features, including those flight April 1. Boeing is slated to deliver of the neutron bomb. 17 new Strike Eagles by early 2000, “We cannot determine the full extent of weapon information obtained. For example, bringing the total delivered to the Air we do not know whether any weapon design documentation or blueprints were ac- Force up to 226. quired. We believe it is more likely that the Chinese used US design information to Boeing has been picked to proceed inform their own program than to replicate US weapon designs. “China’s technical advances have been made on the basis of classified and un- into the second phase of the Unin- classified information derived from espionage, contact with US and other countries’ habited Combat Air Vehicle program, scientists, conferences, and publications, unauthorized media disclosures, declas- Pentagon officials announced March sified US weapons information, and Chinese indigenous development. The relative 25. The UCAV is a demonstrator effort contribution of each cannot be determined. aimed at producing an unmanned craft “Regardless of the source of the weapons information, it has made an important capable of carrying out suppression of contribution to the Chinese objective to maintain a second strike capability and pro- enemy air defenses against anticipated vided useful information for future designs. ... threats of 2010. “China has had the technical capability to develop a Multiple Independently targe- The AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air table Re-entry Vehicle system for its large, currently deployed ICBM for many years but has not done so. US information acquired by the Chinese could help them develop missile completed its first air launch at a MIRV for a future mobile missile.” the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, Calif., March 18. The AIM-9X is a joint Navy and USAF program currently in engineering and manufacturing development that aims to update the famous Overton has her own law practice in New York ANG’s 106th Rescue Wing, Sidewinder short-range weapon now Council Bluffs, Iowa. Francis S. Gabreski IAP, N.Y., para- used by more than 40 nations around An aircrew from the 40th Heli- chuted to the aid of the unconscious the world. copter Flight, Malmstrom AFB, Mont., captain of a freighter near Bermuda ANG Maj. Suellen Overton, a le- rescued two injured snowboarders on April 4. The seaman, who had suf- gal officer assigned to the Iowa Air from a mountainside near Augusta, fered a brain aneurysm, represented National Guard’s 132d Fighter Wing Mont., April 19. The crew hoisted the the unit’s 276th rescue. in Des Moines, has been selected as men nearly 60 feet to the safety of a On April 5 the Department of the 1999 American businesswoman UH-1N Huey, bringing the unit’s total Defense announced the formation of of the year by the American Business number of saves to 318. an advisory panel, headed by Virginia Women’s Association. In private life, Four pararescuemen from the Gov. James Gilmore (R), to assess domestic response capabilities for terrorism involving Weapons of Mass Destruction. The WMD Advisory Panel Index to Advertisers will be a three-year effort and will report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations to the President ANSER ...... 13 and Congress. Boeing...... 48–49, Cover IV Secretary of Defense Cohen an- Breitling...... 5 nounced the winners of the 1999 Com- GEICO...... 23 mander in Chief’s Award for Installation Lockheed Martin...... Cover II–1 Excellence on April 2. The winners—Ft. Messe Berlin...... 11 Benning, Ga.; MCAS Cherry Point, Mitchell Lang...... 25 N.C.; Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan; Northrop Grumman...... Cover III Pratt & Whitney...... 15 Hickam AFB, Hawaii; and Defense Rockwell Collins...... 3 National Stockpile Center, Alexandria, TEAC America...... 19 Va., are being recognized for providing excellent working, housing, and AFA Wearables...... 89 recreational conditions. ■

26 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1999