Usafe the Dangerous Decade

In the first crucial hours of con- Europe (USAFE) and NATO part- US and allied airmen flict, echelons of armor-intensive ner nations. would have their hands ground forces would hammer Thanks in part to system modern- NATO's forward defenses while ization in recent years, these in- full with the ever wave after wave of tactical aircraft place forces are looking good. increasing might of would seek control of the skies and F-I5Cs and Ds from Bitburg AB, destruction of NATO air defenses. Germany, and Camp New Amster- the Warsaw Pact. air bases, and command and control dam in the Netherlands would pro- centers. vide potent air defense in the NATO F WAR came to Europe, events Even after reinforcements began center. Conversion to F-16s at Hahn I would unfold rapidly. NATO's arriving from the United States, al- AB, Germany, was completed in ground defenses are situated near lied airpower would have its hands 1982. A-10s are now at RAF Bent- the inter-German border, and only full. It would have to establish air waters and Woodbridge in the UK, about fifteen minutes of flying time superiority, keep enemy fighters off but would deploy forward in war- separates the forward elements of the backs of friendly forces, and time. The veteran F-4 is still effec- the opposing air forces. also help defeat the ground assault. tive. USAFE's electronic combat Warsaw Pact doctrine, dictated The opening battle over the conti- capability will be significantly en- by the Soviet Union, emphasizes nent, though, would be in the hands hanced around the end of this year surprise and quick victory. of airmen from US Air Forces in when EF-111A tactical jamming air-

USAFE THE DANGEROUS DECADE An AIR FORCE Magazine Staff Report craft are stationed at RAF Upper tion, and the plan is to have eighteen steadily on their ability to generate Heyford. The F-111Es and Fs based operational by 1985. sorties and keep runways open. in Great Britain can operate around USAFE squadrons are keenly They practice their wartime rou- the clock in any weather. They are aware of the responsibility that tines in bulky clothing and equip- heavily committed to long interdic- would fall to them in the forefront of ment that offers some protection tion and strike missions. a European conflict. They work from chemical attack. Combat Allied airmen are flying some im- training is more realistic than ever, pressive equipment too, such as the and teamwork with allies and US multinational, multirole Tornado, ground forces receives constant which can be outfitted to dispense emphasis. cluster munitions against mobile USAFE F-15s and F-16s are bet- targets. Enhancing the effective- ter than anything the Soviets can ness of tactical air forces in Europe put up against them, and are likely is the E-3A Airborne Warning and to remain better for the next several Control System aircraft flying out of the NATO air base at Geilenkirchen An A-10 from RAF Bentwaters taxis out at Sembach AB, Germany, during an in Germany, where the first multina- Autumn Forge exercise, Carbine tional crews have been assembled. Fortress, last September. (USAF photo Four NATO E-3As are now on sta- by Ken Hackman) F-16s arrive at their new duty station, Hahn AB, Germany, July 9, 1982. Among those on hand to greet them was Gen. Billy M. Minter, CINC USAFE. Four other NATO nations also fly the F-16. (USAF photo by AlC Dave Polinsky) years. In the overall conventional A prime target under this concept standoff attack weapons will add to force balance, though, the Pact— would be enemy armor moving up the ability of US tactical air to hit which has long had the advantage in but not yet in the fight. These rein- fixed point targets in the enemy's sheer numbers—has been closing forcements would be hit from both rear—including various facilities at the quality gap. The mobility and the air and the ground in a coordi- Pact air bases—which would at min- firepower of Soviet ground forces nated effort. If they can be broken imum put a hitch in the rhythm of have increased greatly. The time is up, the Soviet strategy of punching sortie production. long gone when Soviet tactical air- through with successive echelons USAFE eagerly awaits the avail- power consisted chiefly of limited- will be defeated. ability of the LANTIRN navigation range day fighters. The current gen- Operating against the enemy's and targeting pods. At present, long eration of aircraft has significant rear, however, calls for major strides winter nights and foul weather in range and increased night and bad in target acquisition and for muni- Europe severely restrict the hours weather capability. The next gener- tions tailored to the purpose. The when ground-attack missions can ation will be even better. Joint Surveillance and Target At- be flown. LANTIRN pods will NATO may soon face the unen- tack Radar System (Joint STARS) is make it possible to conduct such viable prospect of an enemy who is being developed by the Air Force operations in darkness and under technologically equal as well as nu- and the Army for long-look target weather. merically superior. On both sides of detection, tracking, and weapon the Atlantic, defense planners are guidance. Target-hunting drones are Air Base Survivability concluding that once war begins, another possibility. USAFE must anticipate that its they cannot allow these strength- The Air Force is working on a own bases will be hit—or at least ened enemy forces to keep the op- number of weapons for use against targeted. Protection of air bases is tion of bringing the war to the West. armor, and is also looking toward an Army responsibility, but in re- US doctrine in this regard is re- the possibility of attacking enemy cent years the Army has neglected flected in a new operational concept airfields—a job for which it cur- point defense in favor of area de- called Joint Attack on the Second rently has no effective munition. A fense. To the Army's displeasure, Echelon—or J-SAK—in which the first step toward that capability is the Air Force is acquiring British Air Force and the Army would work purchase of the French Durandal Rapier missiles, to be manned by 4 together to disrupt, delay, and de- runway-cratering munition. Several the RAF, for defense of its air bases stroy the enemy's capability for other weapons, among them crater- in the United Kingdom. Unless the continuous operations by altering ing submunitions, are in progress. Army shows more interest in meet- the momentum of his attack. Acquisition of glide bombs and ing its responsibilities, a similar ar- 42 AIR FORCE Magazine / April 1983 rangement may be made for defense of USAFE bases in Germany, prob- ably with the German-French Ro- land system. Dispersal and collocated operating bases are at a premium in Eu- rope (seep. 54), so USAFE is working hard on ways to put a cratered runway back in use quickly. At Ramstein AB, Germany, local civil engineers and a Red Horse team from RAF Wethersfield demonstrated recently that concrete slabs instead of conventional aluminum matting can be used to patch runways. In early December, more than fifty NATO engineers and lo- F-15Cs from Camp New Amsterdam in the Netherlands fly a training mission over gisticians watched as the team re- northern Europe. In the opening battle of a European conflict, USAFE F-15s would paired a simulated crater, measuring provide potent air defense in the NATO center and would be crucial to allied twelve by sixteen meters, on the control of the air. Ramstein ramp in four hours. In another demonstration in January, a quire twenty-seven people if mat- pipelines can withstand all but di- slab repair held up nicely when an ting were used. The matting has to rect hits. USAFE hopes to install F-4E rolled across it. The slabs cost be prestocked and stored, whereas the first full-scale system at Bit- less than $3 a square foot, compared the slabs are manufactured locally burg, and is urging that in-shelter to about $25 a square foot for the and can be used for assorted paving refueling be adopted as a NATO AM 2 aluminum matting that jobs around the base. Forklifts easi- standard. USAFE has been stocking to fix ly shuttle the slabs to where they are An additional aspect of air base battle-damaged runways. needed. vulnerability is the high degree of The technique is a modification of At present, USAFE's aircraft are terrorist activity in western Europe. a method the West Germans and the extremely vulnerable to attack Infiltrators managed to explode a Swiss have used for several years. while refueling from trucks or at hot bomb in USAFE headquarters at First, high-speed concrete saws pits. To reduce the exposure of both Ramstein in August 1981. Less than cut a square or rectangle around the aircraft and trucks, in-shelter re- a month later, a vehicle carrying an damaged area. The crater is filled fueling methods have been devised. Army general was rocketed in with rocks and gravel, then capped A prototype system is in operation Heidelberg. US installations and with the slab. Machines do the at Spangdahlem AB, Germany. citizens are preferred targets for the heavy work. People do most of the It consists of a buried pipeline terrorists. With attacks against the lifting when matting repairs are loop leading into aircraft shelters, military on the increase, USAFE made, and it is grueling labor, es- with isolation valves to limit the security procedures have been pecially if they must wear chemical damage if the pipeline is cut. Tests stepped up. protection gear. Ten people can conducted last year at Tyndall AFB, make a slab repair that would re- Fla., demonstrated that buried Sortie Generation An improvement in sortie rates is almost as good as having additional airplanes. Some of the sortie figures USAFE is now posting can be laid to the command's modernized fighter fleet. Fighter aircraft averaged one combat mission every four days in World War II, one every three days in Korea, and nearly one a day in Vietnam. Surge tests with F-15s in Europe have demonstrated rates of better than four sorties a day. Part of the credit, however, goes to the production-oriented maintenance concepts now in use and to

OV-10 forward air controllers from Sembach AB, Germany, work in teams to find targets and direct attack aircraft onto them.

AIR FORCE Magazine / April 1983 43 NATO air forces get in less actual shooting than do the Soviets and the Pact.) Five nations—the United States, Belgium, Germany, the Nether- lands, and the United Kingdom— send aircraft and crews to TLP reg- ularly. Canada, France, Denmark, and Norway have taken part at times, and Turkey and Greece have sent observers. Future TLP courses will involve the NATO AWACS, and the first appearance of the Tornado is expected soon. In 1982, every USAFE fighter wing participated. This year, forty- two USAFE aircraft, including the F-16 for the first time, will be going to Jever. There is good progress in a different dimension of cooperation: cross-servicing of aircraft that have to divert from their home bases on the way back from a combat mission. This program, begun in 1978, Civil engineers in full chemical ensemble practice rapid runway repair during an provides for them to refuel and re- exercise at Hahn AB, Germany. A new technique for getting battle-damaged runways arm—or get fresh film in the case of back into action employs concrete slabs instead of aluminum matting, a cheaper reconnaissance aircraft—and not approach that requires less human labor. lose a sortie. USAFE aircraft can be handled at selected allied bases, the determined efforts of USAFE onstrate their ability to reinforce and USAFE bases offer the same maintenance crews. western Europe. Air Force crews service to allied airplanes diverting The newest wrinkle in USAFE get to know their bed-down bases, their way. maintenance is called Aircraft Bat- fly in multinational operations, and Stage A servicing is refueling tle-Damage Repair (ABDR), a con- gain experience with local weather only; Stage B includes rearming and cept pioneered by the RAF and said and terrain. film reloading as well. Currently, to have been proven during last Less noticed are the cooperative USAFE can service ten different al- year's war in the Falklands. Self- ventures going on year-round be- lied aircraft at its main operating supporting repair kits, mounted on tween USAFE and allied air forces. bases, and eight types of US aircraft trailers, would contain everything Combined training doesn't get can be accommodated at allied needed to fix a battle-damaged much better than the Tactical Lead- bases in six nations. Five types of fighter to the extent that it could fly ership Program (TLP) conducted US aircraft can be serviced at dis- at least one more sortie. These eight times a year by NATO's Allied similarly equipped USAFE bases. mobile units could be wheeled from Air Forces Central Europe at Jever Tlirkey, Italy, and Norway were one semihardened shelter to an- AB in northern Germany. Each ses- originally cool to the whole idea, other, airlifted, or even taken to sion runs for four weeks. (See "You but have recently expressed inter- emergency landing strips on the Fight Like You Train," December est, although they have reservations German autobahn. The trailers '80 issue, p. 44.) about Stage B cross-servicing. would have their own power genera- Each nation selects its top per- When an airplane diverts for tors. formers to go, and competition is cross-servicing, the Allied Tactical Thus far, USAFE is the only Air keen. Aircrews get a concentrated Operations Center (ATOC) will feed Force command working toward week of seminars on the threat, al- its next target to the receiving base, such a capability to augment con- lied capabilities, doctrine, tactical where a decision is made in conventional maintenance operations. leadership, and interoperability. junction with the aircrew on which ABDR manuals are already out for The other three weeks are mostly of the available munitions will be the F-4 and F-5, and manuals for the flying. Each crew gets fifteen sor- loaded. A-10, F-111, and F-16 will be avail- ties alongside airmen from other able by next year. NATO nations. A-10s, Harriers, ATOC Interoperability F-15s, F-4s, FGR-2s, Alpha Jets, The ATOCs themselves will be Allied Teamwork Lightnings, Mirages, Jaguars, and working together more smoothly The most spectacular example of F-104s work together in a variety of now that the EIFEL 1 command Alliance cooperation is the annual missions. The combat training is as control and information system is in Reforger exercise, during which US realistic as possible, but does not operation at USAFE's ATOC at units deploy from Stateside to dem- extend to live firing. (In general, Sembach AB, Germany. It is a high-

44 AIR FORCE Magazine / April 1983 Map study is part of the course for NATO pilots and forward air controllers at the Air Ground Operations School at Sembach AB, Germany. speed automated system, replacing monitor execution of the orders. and increases the possibility that manual procedures for planning tac- Not every seemingly sensible co- NATO would have to resort to nu- tical air requirements and matching operative venture is readily adopted, clear weapons early in a conflict or them up with available sorties. though. be defeated. Concurrently, the So- It provides a computer-to-com- Some days the troops in Europe viets are doing well in their propa- puter interface with EIFEL 1 sys- must wonder if the folks back home ganda war to block upgrading of tems already in the two German understand the problem. A year ago NATO's nuclear deterrent while ATOCs, Kalkar and Messtetten. this month, West Germany agreed continuing to deploy SS-20 medium- The British, Dutch, and Belgian to a wartime plan under which it range nuclear missiles at an alarm- ATOC at Maastricht in the Nether- would pay to mobilize 93,000 Re- ing rate. lands will be getting EIFEL, too, servists to support US forces if the Adequate conventional forces which will standardize the ATOCs US would pay for the equipment. Of cannot eliminate the need for a nu- in the Central region. the total, 27,000 of those Reservists clear deterrent, but they can raise EIFEL (the German acronym is would assist USAFE in air base se- the nuclear threshold and make war for Electronic Information Com- curity, airfield damage repair, collo- of any kind less probable. mand and Control System for the cated operating base augmentation, The technology—particularly in Luftwaffe) was developed by the and medical evacuation. By some target acquisition and munitions—is Germans. USAFE adopted it as the estimates, the proposal would cost emerging to add muscle to NATO quickest and most economical way the US one two-hundreth as much squadrons. Since the Alliance is to automate its air tasking. An add- as bringing people and equipment pledged not to fire the shot that ed feature of the system is that the from the States—but as this article would open a war, any conflict host computer at Sembach will went to press, Congress still had not would begin at the time and place of share combat information with ter- funded the program. the enemy's choosing. That defen- minals at other USAFE bases. sive strategy places a heavy burden Manual ATOC operations are no The Most Dangerous Decade on the flexibility of airpower. longer flexible and efficient enough Despite some improvements and This is already Europe's most to handle the requirements for tacti- new systems, the conventional mili- dangerous decade since the Al- cal airpower that would flood in dur- tary situation in Europe has been liance was formed—and it could get ing wartime, to assign sorties and going downhill for the West. That, in even more dangerous before it's weapons against those needs, and to turn, lowers the nuclear threshold over. •

AIR FORCE Magazine / April 1983 45