Over hostile territory, it's essential to destroy, disrupt, or degrade the enemy radar.

Slam Wm and Jam Wm

BY JEFFREY P. RHODES, AERONAUTICS EDITOR

PHOTOS BY GUY ACETO, ART DIRECTOR

g LECTRONIC combat is a tough simply because of the larger number G game to play," says Col. Rich- of emitters working on a multitude ard Hellier, Commander of the of frequencies. 366th Tactical Fighter Wing at Individual aircraft carry self-pro- Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. tection jammers (and chaff, too) "Except it's not a game." into combat to ward off radar-di- Electronic combat is a difficult rected antiaircraft artillery (AAA) concept to grasp. Because of its and air-to-air and surface-to-air mis- "electron-vs.-electron" nature, it siles (SAMs). Jamming over a wide can't be seen or touched. With the area to mask an incoming strike exception of destroyed enemy radar package from enemy radars, emitters, there is no physical evi- though, requires the power of the dence after an electronic battle. Air Force's Tactical Jamming Sys- Success in the electronic battle, tem (TJS), the EF-111A Raven. however, determines the success or Radar suppression was a re- failure of the overall mission. sponse to Soviet-built SA-2 SAMs Electronic combat takes many and "Fan Song" radars that the forms, but the primary tactics em- North Vietnamese used to down ployed to get a force package of American planes in 1965. Eighty- fighters or bombers into a target nine days after initial development, The beginning and the end of another area is a combination of radar equip- four North American F-100Fs mod- busy day on the ramp at George AFB, Calif. At right, SrA. Robert Collins makes ment destruction, signal elimina- ified with radar homing and warning sure the Texas Instruments AGM-88A tion, and jamming to achieve radar receivers and other equipment ar- High-speed Antiradiation Missile suppression. rived in Thailand to begin "Wild (HARM) is securely attached to its Airborne jamming began during Weasel" operations against the ra- launch rail while preflighting "his" F-4G. World War II when aluminum strips dars and SAMs. After a rocky start, With its standoff range and devastating accuracy, HARM is the weapon of called chaff or "window" were the Weasel program developed into choice for Wild Weasel crews. Above, a thrown out of bombers by the bale an outstanding success using Re- 37th TFW electronic warfare officer to confuse German radars. Today, public F-105F and F-105G and climbs out of his office at the end of a jamming (obliterating radar returns McDonnell Douglas F-4C aircraft. training sortie. by more powerful emissions on the Radar suppression was described same wavelength) is more complex, by one Vietnam-era pilot as "three-

50 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 dimensional chess where cheating right-seater's station to the center Demanding Missions is legal." It is the same today. "The console. This allows the aircraft The combination of scarce air- Wild Weasel fundamentals haven't commander to do everything neces- frames and demanding missions re- changed since Vietnam," notes Col. sary to fly the plane during the quires that the Weasel and Raven Bill Payne, Vice Wing Commander height of combat while the EWO crews be among the most experi- of the 37th TFW at George AFB, tends to the jamming. enced in the Air Force. In the past, Calif. "Electronically, there is a world of difference."

Different But the Same While targeting and jamming are quite different, there are many sim- ilarities. At the top of the list, both missions are dangerous. The Wild Weasel crews play a continuous cat-and-mouse game with enemy radar, trying to get it to "come up" (turn on) so the elec- tronic warfare officer (EWO) in the F-4G's backseat can find the site and destroy it, or to make the radar operator so fearful of attack that he does not turn on his set. "If we get the radar to shut down, we're doing our job, even if it is just for the minute or so we're there," says Lt. Col. Les Moore, Assistant Deputy Commander for Operations The 390th ECS at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, represents the nonlethal side of for the 37th TFW. "They turn off, electronic warfare—radar jamming. EF-111A crews can jam transmissions in several and the force package can get in." ways. Above, AlC John Moore and Sgt. Curtis E. Sargent prepare an EF-111 for one of The Soviets have developed suc- the uprated TF30-P-109 engines now being fitted to the Ravens. cessive generations of increasingly sophisticated radar, AAA, and "In the F-4G, the backseater is an EWO needed at least 500 hours SAMs. This has forced the Weasels the key guy," adds Colonel Moore. to become a Weasel, and pilots for to operate at lower and lower al- "He determines the order of battle. both the F-4Gs and EF-111s needed titudes. "We've had to go lower It's really EWO-intensive. 'Weasel- at least 1,000 hours coming in the since Vietnam, often as low as 100 ing' is a team-oriented concept. We squadron door. These requirements feet," says Capt. Tom Finke, an are tied to the force package in a have been lowered slightly, but not EWO with the 37th TFW's 561st supportive role. We don't just go much. Tactical Fighter Squadron. "The out and destroy radars. We have to At George, crews go through the front-seater has no time to look in- be in support of some specific ob- Replacement Training Unit (RTU), side [the cockpit]. Make a mistake jective." the 562d Tactical Fighter Training and in two seconds you are in the Another "given" is that nothing Squadron, which takes an average ground." in electronic warfare is as constant of four months. The 562d TFTS also The EF-111As, meanwhile, are as change. "All electronic warfare trains crews for the other Wild unarmed. The Ravens are just as is essentially reactive," notes Col- Weasel units—the 52d TFW at susceptible as the Weasels to onel Hellier. "We see a potential Spangdahlem AB, West Germany, ground threats. Unlike the F-4Gs, adversary develop a capability, and the 3d TFW at Clark AB in the which carry air-to-air missiles, the and we have to move to counter Philippines. EF-111s don't have any means of it." Mission-qualified F-111 crews go defending themselves except for a For electronic combat to be effec- through two levels of training before terminal jammer and speed. "At 600 tive, the Weasels, Ravens, and other becoming full-fledged Raven op- knots, EF-Ills are not lucrative tar- aircraft, such as EC-130H Compass erators. "It takes one year to gets," says Capt. Greg Menke, an Call communications jammers, [prepare] a mission-ready crew instructor EWO with the 390th have to be used together. But that member," says Lt. Col. Rich Mee- Electronic Combat Squadron at highlights the limited numbers— boer, the 390th ECS Commander. Mountain Home AFB. "Speed is forty-two EF-111s and fewer than "Even then, he is not really ready— life." 130 F-4Gs—of each of the electronic we are just scratching the surface." A second similarity is that both warfare assets. "We don't try to The 390th ECS is also the EF-111 missions are task-intensive and spread the Weasels out along the RTU. There is only one other Raven task-specific. When standard whole FEBA [Forward Edge of the squadron in the Air Force—the 42d F-111 As were redone as Ravens, all Battle Area]," says Colonel Payne. ECS at RAF Upper Heyford, UK. navigation and communications "We want to mass our forces in one Close coordination is needed be- equipment was moved from the area at the proper time." tween pilot and EWO in both air- 52 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989

planes. Thus, a crew is paired off gence is just a little different. We ous AGM-45A Shrike to be used by more or less permanently. A pilot have to tell our crews not just, the "killers." In the inventory since and EWO in the two operational `There is a target here.' We have to Vietnam, Shrike has a range of Weasel squadrons at George, for ex- tell them what kinds of radars, how about three miles, which brings the ample, will fly with each other more they operate, and what frequencies aircraft closer to the SAMs and than seventy percent of the time. they operate on." AAA. A "loft" delivery, where the Weasel and Raven crews both "killer" pulls up and launches, gives have the same basic objective—to How They Operate the AGM-45 a little more range. disrupt the Soviet Integrated Air The Wild Weasels operate in If a war lasts long enough for the Defense System (IADS). The goal is hunter-killer teams of two aircraft, Weasel crews to run out of HARMs to get a radar emitter to "go autono- an F-4G with an F-4E at George and and Shrikes, the next weapon to be mous," that is, to break out of the Clark and an F-4G with an F-16C at used would be the AGM-65D Imag- chain of radars that are linked to Spangdahlem. (The latter combina- ing Infrared Maverick. Principally provide a coordinated defense. tion may be the wave of the future.) an antitank weapon, Maverick's Once isolated, the radar can be dealt The F-4G "hunters" find the emit- devastating accuracy would work with. If the radar is destroyed, it is ters with their equipment and then well on a radar. After that, it's down no longer a threat. If the radar is launch ordnance, or the information to iron bombs and directly overfly- jammed or shuts down, that creates is passed to the "killer" aircraft, ing the target, which is a method a hole for the strike package. Either which can't find the emitters on that crews would just as soon avoid. way, the effectiveness of the entire their own but can certainly attack The heart of the EF-111A is the IADS is degraded. them. AN/ALQ-99E jamming system, a Opening holes in the FEBA is the The weapon of choice is the Texas version of the ALQ-99 used in the Navy's EA-6B Prowler. The receiv- ers and antennae for this system are located in the "football," the blunt pod on the tip of the aircraft's fin. The transmitters are housed in the u■ omasi MO MIMS "canoe" on the belly. The pro- Sze WIN cessors and other equipment are nnnnnn mmmmm permanently installed in what was the F-ill's weapons bay. Unlike the system in the EA-6B, which requires three crew members to operate, the EF-111's jamming system is much more automated and requires only one EWO. The Intelligence Support System (ISS) is a computerized program that pro- vides information about radars in the area where the Raven crew will be working. Before the start of the mission, ISS data are fed into the Mission Data Generator (MDG) and Playing the electronic "bad guys" is a role the 392d Electronic Combat Range then loaded into the aircraft via Squadron takes very seriously. Here, Sgt. Dan McDaniels (left) and Sgt. Hoyt Hagens track a target in the AN/MSQ-T43 Modular Threat Emitter, which accurately simulates Raymond cassette. Soviet antiaircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile radars. Through the use of the MDG, the Raven's computer system can deter- primary task for the F-4G and Instruments AGM-88 High-speed mine what radar is "up," its priority EF-111 crews, but both also train to Antiradiation Missile, or HARM. as a target, and how to jam it. The go to the target with the force pack- With a range of more than ten miles, computer can jam automatically, or age. Europe will be an electronic HARM gives the Weasel crews a the EWO can jam manually. The jungle, and once the force flies true standoff capability. The nearly EWO also has the option of jam- through the first layer of defenses, fourteen-foot-long missile can be ming other emitters as the situation the Weasel and Raven crews will be launched from a level delivery and dictates. Where there is an air-to-air needed to go against threats both en greatly expands the working area threat, the EWO will let the comput- route and surrounding the target. for the Weasel crews. "The AGM-88 er take more of the work load so he Intelligence is vital for every op- is a great weapon," says Maj. Walt can get his head out of his console eration, but it is paramount in the Michalke, a pilot with the 561st TFS and help the pilot look for airborne battle of electrons. "We will not at George. "You launch it, and "hostiles." send out Weasels without good, up- there's a pretty good chance of its There are three primary types to-date intelligence," says Colonel hitting what you want it to hit." of jamming. Standoff jamming Moore. Adds 1st Lt. Paul Hylton, HARM's only negative is that it is blankets a number of emitters to the 390th ECS's Intelligence Of- not overabundant. That leaves the mask friendly forces. Its primary ficer, "Electronic warfare intelli- older, less reliable but more numer- advantage is to keep the EF-I 1 Is 54 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 away from the thick of enemy de- tern degradation, is around seventy- The keepers are rewarded for fenses. Close-in jamming obscures seven percent for the EF-111s, a their efforts in several ways. At radars in a specific area to open a dramatic increase from just two George, if a squadron meets its sor- corridor for the strike package and years ago. These percentages come tie goal for a month, the AMU gets increases the Raven's exposure to despite the EF-111s' having among the day off. Both the 37th and 366th surface threats. The third type is the highest utilization rates in the TFWs offer orientation rides as an escort jamming, wherein the Air Force. The F-4Gs also see a incentive to the maintainers. "When EF-111s protect the strike package great deal of use. deployment season comes, our guys all the way to the target, as in the New technology is one reason are ready to go," says Capt. Lee 1986 USAF/Navy reprisal raid on matters have improved. The Weasel Cherry, officer in charge of the Libya. Attack Signal Processor (WASP) 390th AMU at Mountain Home. part of the APR-47 system that was "We go to Korea, Puerto Rico, and Preparing to Go recently installed in the F-4Gs is Europe. We thrive on that." Maintenance for the F-4s (and the much more reliable and easier to fix Deployment is not just an occa- EF-111s as well) is a labor-intensive than the APR-38's Homing and sional thing with these two units. activity. "You are definitely a crew Warning Computer (HAWC) it re- The Weasel and Raven crews par- chief on an F-4," noted TSgt. Mark places. It is also easy to change the ticipate in every Joint Chiefs of Staff Mantz, a crew chief with the 37th software to keep the system cur- exercise and in every Red Flag and TFW's 563d Aircraft Maintenance rent. The AGM-88 can be bench- Green Flag exercise at Nellis AFB, Unit. "You know you will have to tested with a single connection to Nev. The Ravens deploy overseas work hard. On some newer aircraft, the DSM-160 computer, which in periodically and are frequent guests the crew chief is a glorified gas-sta- minutes can run a complete diag- at Navy exercises, adding a new tion attendant, but not here." nostic test on the missile. wrinkle to what the Navy electronic All of the George F-4Gs are 1969 There are also many easier, warfare players usually see. model F-4Es that were converted to smarter ways of doing things. "We Weasels, so while some of the elec- have to assemble the AGM-45s in Ready for Anything tronic equipment is new, the air- the field," says MSgt. Stephen Cot- Another unit at Mountain Home frames and most of the electronics ta, Assistant Chief of the 563d Com- that spends lots of time on the road are not. bat Munitions Unit. "It's like a big is the 392d Electronic Combat One major problem is parts. "I Erector Set. The guidance and con- Range Squadron. This small, spe- have to spend a lot of time on the trol sets have to match up or the cialized unit functions primarily as phone trying to get spares," says missile won't work." The HARMs the ground "aggressor" force for the SSgt. Charles Clark, the assistant come as all-up rounds—just add Raven crews, but it also trains many NCOIC maintenance supply liaison fins. other units. The radar operators for the 37th TFW. "We have to get "We are doing very well, mainte- simulate the Soviet IADS and take it some things out of AMARC [Aero- nance-wise," says Col. Robert personally when they get jammed or space Maintenance and Regenera- "Slick" Andrews, Deputy Com- "destroyed" by strike packages on tion Center at Davis-Monthan AFB, mander for Maintenance at Moun- training missions. Ariz., where old aircraft are tain Home. "Dedicated people The unit has established one stored]. Getting parts for the G- make it happen." training range at Saylor Creek, Ida- models is particularly hard. It gets hairy at times." Likewise, the EF-111 airframes are old. The F-111As, from which the EF-111s were modified, were built in 1966-67, but Grumman did not make the electronics modifica- tions to the aircraft until the early 1980s. The electronics are of a new- er, modular type and are fairly easy to repair or replace. Finding parts for the airframe is a problem, but such parts are more plentiful than those for the F-4, which the Air Force is phasing out of the invento- ry. Despite the hurdles, the mainte- nance sections for both units are getting the job done. The Fully Mis- sion Capable (FMC) rate for the 37th TFW's aircraft was 52.8 per- Mountain Home's EF-111s have one of the highest utilization rates in the Air Force. cent in 1982. Last year the rate was This Raven is being "Euked" (towed) from the maintenance hangars out to the flight 82.6 percent. The Mission Capable line. The "football" on the vertical fin and the "canoe" on the belly house the (MC) rate, which allows some sys- receivers and transmitters that make the EF-111s so effective. AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989 55 Close coordination be- tween pilot and elec- tronic warfare officer in both Wild Weasel and Raven aircraft is essen- tial. This team concept is illustrated here, as Lt. Col. George Osborne flies the F-4G and looks for threats while Capt. James Avrit has his head in his console searching for radar emitters on a training sortie over a range in the California desert.

ho, with another under construc- Mission academics at both base civil engineer. (Mountain tion, but the 392d ECRS also goes George and Mountain Home is Home has only one active runway.) on approximately thirty deploy- taught under contract by civilians "The number-one priority is hous- ments a year. These deployments working for McDonnell Douglas ing and feeding the 2,000 additional range from two people and no Training Systems Inc. At George, military people." equipment at a Red Flag exercise to there is a G-suit/G-seat Weapon In the meantime, incremental as many as sixty people and twelve Systems Trainer (WST) operated by changes are being made to the radars at the Dugway Proving CAE Link. The simulator doesn't Weasel and Raven aircraft. The Ground in Utah for a joint force de- allow for two-ship or tactics work, EF-111s will be getting new instru- ployment. but does provide highly realistic ments, terrain-following radar up- The squadron has nearly thirty mission simulations for aircraft pro- grades, global positioning system different radar systems with which cedural training. There is a WST at equipment, and a new inertial navi- to train. "All of the radars are Amer- Mountain Home, too, and the gation system under the Avionics ican-made," says Lt. Col. Carl EW0s also have the opportunity to Modernization Program for all Newman, the Squadron Command- practice jamming procedures on an F/FB-111s. The EF-111s are now er. "The part of the operation that elaborate part-task trainer (PTT). getting the uprated Pratt & Whitney looks like the Soviets' is the RF There are a number of changes TF30-P-109 engines. A program to [radio frequency] part. But we have being planned for the Air Force's integrate HARMs into the EF-111 a tough time keeping them up be- electronic warriors. The 37th TFW to increase its lethality (and surviv- cause some are so old." The Soviets is scheduled to be merged with the ability) is in the idea stage. seldom retire anything, but merely 35th Tactical Training Wing (the F-4 Several electronic upgrades have pass it on to their client states. A "schoolhouse"), also at George. been proposed under the Weasel 1949 model MPS-9 radar given to Once the consolidation is complete, Performance Upgrade Program, but the Soviets under World War II the new wing is tentatively sched- the Air Force is increasingly turning Lend-Lease is still used in some uled to move to Mountain Home, its attention to a Follow-on Wild parts of the world, so today's crews probably in 1992. This will mean Weasel platform. Several candi- still have to train against them. An- that most of the Stateside electronic dates have been proposed, includ- other radar set used by the unit was assets will be in one place. George ing derivatives of the McDonnell found in a museum. AFB is expected to be closed. Douglas F-15E, General Dynamics The unit regularly works with the To make room for the Weasels, F-16D, and the Panavia Tornado, intelligence section to keep current the two F-11 IA squadrons at Moun- which would be built in the US by in the Soviet order of battle. Intelli- tain Home are scheduled to be Rockwell. A decision is expected in gence also helps with aircrew transferred to Cannon AFB, N. M. the early 1990s. ground training. "We prepare the While Mountain Home has the One thing is certain. "The [elec- crews to fight a war in a different ramp space for the expected F-4s, tronic combat threat] situation will part of the world each month, so new facilities will be needed. do nothing but get worse," con- they are ready for anything," says "There appears to be justification cludes the 390th ECS's Captain Lieutenant Hylton. "You also see a for another runway, given the Menke. "We can't disregard it. We lot of pilots and EW0s coming in to number of aircraft movements per have to get better with it. It is not do self-study." hour," says Col. Ron Kroop, the going to go away." •

56 AIR FORCE Magazine / June 1989