RED AIR FOR HIRE THE AIR FORCE NEEDS EVERY FIGHTER IT CAN SPARE FOR REALWORLD MISSIONS. ARE PRIVATE AGGRESSORS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?

By Amy McCullough, News Editor temporarily ll the gap left by the loss the Arizona ’s 162nd of the 65th’s F-15s, but this wasn’t a Fighter Wing, which also participated udget cuts in recent sustainable long-term approach: e in the exercise. years have compelled ghters were needed for real-world After Northern Lightning, the Air the Air Force to shrink missions elsewhere. Force began to think industry might be its aggressor air ca- In June 2015, USAF tried something able to help it solve its Red Air problem. pability, the in-house new. Four Air National Guard F-16 units asked Draken to adversaries who serve squared o against Douglas A-4K Sky- provide similar training for the USAF Bas aerial sparring partners for front- hawk “aggressors for hire” and realistic Weapons School at Nellis. line aircrews. After the 65th Aggressor surface-to-air threats during the large- “It was only supposed to be a couple (AGRS)—which ew F-15s— force employment exercise Northern of weeks, but we never left,” said John shut down in 2014, only the 64th AGRS Lightning at Volk Field, Wis. Baum, Draken’s vice president of stra- at Nellis AFB, Nev., and the 18th AGRS e Skyhawks, provided by Draken tegic projects and security. at Eielson AFB, Alaska—each ying International, provided “top-notch” By September 2015, Draken was of- F-16s—were left. training and were “ve times” cheaper cially awarded a contract to provide Within months, the service was forced to y than organic assets, said Lt. Col. adversary support to augment the Air to pull aircraft from operational units to Richard Wigle, a pilot at the time with Force’s existing F-16 eet at Nellis. eir

APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM Aggressor F-15s and an F-16 head to the fight during Red Flag 07-3 at Nellis AFB, Nev., in August 2007. The 65th was shut down in 2014, leaving only the 64th and 18th AGRS to perform aggressor missions. They are supplemented with civilian contractor aircraft. RED AIR FOR HIRE

contract was recently extended another A pilot carries a flight year. bag with a distinctive In the period since the original con- aggressor patch during tract award, Draken has virtually taken Red Flag 17-4. over the role of the now-inactivated 65th AGRS, said Baum. “Our role is to augment the 64th [AGRS] in capability and capacity to support primarily the Weapons School [and] Red Flag,” he said, though the company also supports the 422nd Training and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis. It has also supported Air Educa- tion and Training Command by mock dog ghting with F-35s from Luke AFB, Ariz., in the airspace between the two

bases. Photos: MSgt. Kevin Kevin SrA. Gruenwald; Tanenbaum

APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM ’ Dornier Alpha aircraft have been modified to meet the aggressor role.

“We’re essentially like … having two squadrons on base,” Baum said. “We operate like any other ghter squadron, … we have hangar space and operate out of the as a combined unit.” Even with Draken’s support, USAF still can’t meet all of its requirements for adversary air, said Lt. Col. Zach Manning, 64th AGRS commander. “During Red Flag, oftentimes blue units will augment us and will y on the red side for some missions. at’s less than ideal, and there is still a need for additional capacity,” said Manning, who arrived at Nellis shortly after the 65th shut down. “We haven’t slowed down at all because Draken is here.” e average 64th aggressor pilot ies Capt. David Hickle, an pilot, reviews an F-16 two to three times a week. “e schedule maintenance log at Eielson AFB, Alaska. can be fairly harrowing on personnel. In general we’ll have a day mission ward with plans to contract out up e contract—known as Nellis ADAIR and then have a night mission,” said to an additional 5,600 ying hours of II—will be worth a maximum of $280 Manning. realistic advanced adversary air at Nel- million for one base year, with four For night missions, pilots may show lis. Industry leaders said the service is option years, according to documents up to work at 4 p.m. but won’t nish leaning toward a single provider, though posted on a federal website. It is part debrie ng until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. “Some it is open to multiple contract awards. of the service’s overall eort to free up of the challenges I see as a commander Ideally, Nellis would have the winning aircraft and blue-suiters for operational involve making sure I give my people provider or providers ying on Oct. 1, missions while meeting the growing appropriate time o,” he noted. so there is no gap in capability from demand for Red Air. when Draken’s current contract ends In 2019, the service plans to award AN INSATIABLE DEMAND on Sept. 30 and when the follow-on multiple contracts—known as the CAF So now the Air Force is moving for- contract begins. ADAIR—totaling nearly 37,000 hours

APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM Draken was originally awarded a contract to provide adversary support in 2015; the contract expires Sept. 30, 2018. of Red Air at 11 bases, including Sey- mour Johnson AFB, N.C.; JB Pearl Har- bor-Hickam, Hawaii; Holloman AFB, N.M.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; JB Langley-Eustis, Va.; Tyndall AFB, Fla.; Kingsley Field, Ore.; Luke AFB, Ariz.; Hill AFB, Utah; and Tucson Arpt., Ariz., according to industry o cials briefed on the plan. Over the past few years, industry has been aggressively building up its eets of potential adversary aircraft in antic- ipation of the contract. Once fully im- plemented, USAF will have the world’s largest contracted adversary air force. In December, Draken announced it had bought 12 South African Atlas-made Cheetah supersonic ghters (converted ex-French Mirage IIIs), bringing its to- F-16 maintainers replace the landing gear on an Aggressor F-16 at Nellis in 2015. tal eet to 110 jets. e rest of its eet comprised nine Aermacchi MB-339s, 27 the Air National Guard had contracted it time, but physically the airplanes are MiG-21s, 21 Aero Vodochody L-159s, 22 to provide adversary air support at Volk less complex. … We have third genera- Dassault Mirage F1s, 13 A-4s, ve Aero Field, Wis.; Alpena, Mich.; Gulfport, La.; tion airplane reliability but all our jets L-39s, and one Lockheed T-33. Savannah, Ga.; Klamath Falls, Ore.; and have been upgraded from an avionics e Cheetahs—nine C-model sin- Oahu, Hawaii, in addition to the roughly standpoint to where they have fourth gle-seat and three D-model two-seat- 4,300 annual hours it currently ies at gen capability.” ers—can y at speeds exceeding Mach Nellis. Textron Airborne Solutions an- 2 and have an average of 500 hours on If Draken provided “this bit of Red Air, nounced in September it had acquired each airframe, making them consider- I did the math, you could generate three 63 Dassault Mirage F1 aircraft previ- ably younger than many of the USAF, more full classes and create another 30 ously owned by the French air force, Marine Corps, or Navy aircraft they F-16 pilots a year,” Baum said. “You can making it the “world’s largest private could potentially challenge in a Red get ve Draken sorties for the cost of supersonic air force,” said Jerey Parker, Air capacity. one USAF F-16 sortie. It’s because we chief executive o cer of the Airborne

A month earlier, Draken announced have airplanes that have been tried over Tactical Advantage Company. Textron SSgt. Aces; Siuta Intl.; Ika SSgt. Draken Jerilyn Quintanilla; Photos: Top

APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM A Jordanian F-5E is unloaded from a transport. TacAir has purchased more than 20 such Jordanian aircraft, intending to support US Navy and USAF adversary contracts.

bought ATAC last year in anticipation tition, company ocials say they’re not “ey are essentially our airplanes. We of a rapidly growing contracted Red going after quantity but quality. TacAir have money down on them, and we can Air market. is hoping to capitalize on its experi- bring them into the country as soon as ATAC has own nearly 50,000 hours enced cadre of pilots and maintainers— we get a contract.” of contracted adversary air since the as well as its ghter ethos. e company Philman said the aircraft are being 1990s—mostly for the US Navy—and employs 52 weapons school graduates maintained and though they are not is hoping that experience and its most and 17 former weapons school instruc- currently ying, they are “functional” recent procurement will give it an ad- tors, including some with more than and are considered in “ yaway condi- vantage in USAF’s competition. 2,000 hours in the F-5. e fact that the tion.” He said he could not release the “Industry is going to be working really F-5 is a US-built aircraft still own by the name of the country where the aircraft hard to address the full requirement for US Navy and Marine Corps is a bonus, currently reside, but noted that all have the Air Force,” Parker said in an inter- ocials say. either undergone the Falcon Star up- view last fall. “We could go out and get the sexiest grade, or the kit has been purchased. “It’s a massive requirement, and it thing we could nd” built by a foreign e Falcon Star upgrade extends the requires a whole lot of airplanes,” he manufacturer, said Scott Gallagher, Tac- service life of the jets to 10,800 hours, said. “I think the calculations we ran Air chief revenue ocer, but if you and Philman said they have about 3,400 [concluded]…140 to 150 aircraft will be “have to go to an international service hours of commercial service left before required to satisfy the Air Force require- provider to maintain [the eet] that’s they reach that point. at translates to ment. And aircraft are a limiting factor going to be a big problem” over time, between 10 and 15 years of commercial when standing up and responding to he asserted. viability. these requirements because there is “That’s why we’re in St. Augus- “It’s American built and will be ying a nite number of them available and tine [Fla.] shoulder-to-shoulder with around the world for decades to come, supportable in the world.” Northrop Grumman,” Gallagher said. so it’s very sustainable from a logistics ough the third generation Mirage “When we have diculties we can go standpoint,” he said. “We also have a eet was built in the 1980s, Parker said right to the [original equipment man- lot of maintainers and aviators that the aircraft have “a lot of life left and are ufacturer] and say, ‘We need help.’ ” have very high experience in the F-16, highly upgradable, which is key.” Top Aces says it’s the only company so it’s a way to recapture the literally Tactical Air Support, Inc. (TacAir) is with a true fourth generation capability. millions of dollars the Air Force or Navy also looking to break into the emerging e company, a subsidiary of Discovery spends on pilots and maintainers … market. It announced the acquisition of Air Defense, has a “guaranteed purchase with our eet.” 21 ex-Jordanian Northrop F-5s last year, agreement for 29 early block F-16s.” A Most of the companies say they plan bringing its total eet to 26. and B models sold to a partner country to upgrade their aircraft to specically ough the company’s eet is much through a foreign military sale, said Da- meet USAF requirements, which were smaller than those own by its compe- vid L. Philman, Top Aces vice president. released for Nellis phase two in January.

 APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM spokeswoman for the at Nellis. “ us, there may be dif- ferences in the requirements in Nellis ADAIR II and CAF ADAIR,” though she said “the government is considering feedback received from industry to more closely align” the requirements for both contracts.

IT’S NOT A PERFECT WORLD “In a perfect world we’d have enough resources to maintain the aggressor squadrons we used to have and bring [this training] in house,” Air Combat Command boss Gen. James M. “Mike” Holmes told reporters in September. However, “in the world we’re living in now, I don’t want to have to trade an actual ghter squadron for an aggres- sor squadron because of limits on my budget. e next best thing is to see if An aggressor F-16 we can contract some portion of that during a Red Flag Red Air out. … Why spend valuable exercise. Organic training sorties being a training aid for aggressors, combined somebody else if we can bring on con- with contract support, tract Red Air and not only get dedicated have allowed the US people to train against but also reduce to keep up its Red Air the amount of time for our guys?” added despite retiring its Holmes. adversary F-15s. Since 2015, Draken has successfully done just that. On a typical day, USAF and Draken will y side-by-side, with one of the 64th aggressors serving as the WHAT USAF WANTS aircraft, pilots, aircraft maintenance, lead air-to-air commander. However, e Air Force has said it’s purposely required support equipment, and qual- service leaders say there are still some avoiding specifying a specic platform ity assurance/quality control, while things industry simply can’t provide. for the job, but ideally it wants an air- the Air Force will provide parking and For example, USAF works closely craft capable of ying at Mach 1.5, with hangar space. with the Intelligence Community to a service ceiling of 35,000 feet, and a 45 e Air Force hasn’t publically re- accurately replicate tactics used by to 60 minute ght endurance. Aircraft leased the requirements for the larg- foreign air forces. Manning said when must be equipped with fire-control er CAF ADAIR contract, but industry he showed up at Nellis from his previ- radar capable of detecting, tracking, sources said the draft requirements ous assignment at Kunsan AB, South and simulating “ordnance employment they’ve seen are about 50 pages long, Korea, he was a qualied F-16 pilot, against an opposing aircraft,” and have a signicant departure from those re- yet when he started aggressor training the ability to “replicate semi-active mis- leased by Nellis. he was “blown away, because I was not siles out to a range of 20 [nautical miles] During a January industry day at prepared for the level of expertise that and active missiles out to a range of 45 Nellis, both prime and subcontractors was needed … in this assignment.” [nautical miles],” according to require- urged the service to merge the require- He said being an aggressor has “made ments document posted online. Aircraft ments so they can upgrade their eet me a better pilot,” and that is some- also must be congured to carry training in a more ecient and cost-eect way, thing he will take with him to his next and electronic attack pods provided by rather than piecemealing the work to assignment. the government. meet varying contracts. Capt. Justin Bellamy, an aggressor Within a month of contract award, the “By nature, the Nellis ADAIR II and pilot with the 64th AGRS, said he and service wants the contractor to be able CAF ADAIR requirements are dier- his fellow USAF pilots are the subject to y as many as 22 sorties a day, with ent—one looks to provide capabilities matter experts on how US adversaries each sortie averaging about 90 minutes. at one base for a single customer as operate in the air. “Tactical proles may include, be- early as fall of 2018 and another intends “We’re focused on teaching about yond-visual-range engagements, oper- to provide various levels of capabil- our adversaries and then replicating ational test support, dissimilar air com- ities at multiple bases with services what they do,” he said. “Replication is bat maneuvers, oensive and defensive starting a few years in the future. Both only one portion of what we do. us far, within-visual-range maneuvers, multi- acquisitions are attempting to balance contract Red Air has only been focused ship tactics, and merges and ight,” the [Air Force’s] needs and time lines on the replication. We don’t really refer according to the document. with current and future industry ca- to contract Red Air as an aggressor

Contractors will provide their own pabilities,” said 2nd Lt. Marie Ortiz, a because they don’t have that mission,” Air Support, USAF Photos: Tactical

APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM Textron’s MK-58 , F-21 Kfir, and L-39 Albatross cruise over the Pacific.

meaning the additional duties of teach- Draken bought ing adversary tactics, techniques, and 12 South African procedures. air force Cheetah For these reasons, Holmes calls con- aircraft. The tract Red Air a “temporary measure,” but Mirage variants he allowed that, given projected bud- are young, with gets, “temporary” could mean several an average of 500 years. e Air Force’s preference is still flight hours per to have Red Air as an organic mission, airframe and can he said—but industry is hoping to show fly Mach 2. the Air Force that it doesn’t have to be. “All the folks in this initial tranche who are getting into this market need to provide quality service, because any one of us who stumbles will reect on the rest of the market,” said TacAir’s Gallagher. He readily acknowledged of options, but the free market is a e F-35 pilots also aren’t allowed that USAF will look for an alternative if self-cleaning oven … there will be more to turn on all their fifth-generation the service doesn’t believe it’s getting choices,” said Gallagher. “ e govern- sensors, keeping them from ying the what it needs from industry. ment will be well served by that compe- aircraft the way it was intended and the ough the US Navy has contracted tition. We’ve literally built our company way they would ght a real battle. some of its adversary air for years, the with that value proposition in mind.” “We’re not trying to come in and say Air Force is leading the push in this Draken’s Baum, a former Viper pi- the Air Force shouldn’t do any Red Air. emerging market, which Gallagher said lot, said it just makes sense to contract at’s not our message at all,” he said. he expects to be “fairly mature” in about out at least a portion of USAF’s Red But, if USAF is going to “burn up hours” ve years. Air requirements. He noted the Air for adversary air, the service should “do “Between now and then we’ll learn Force “literally has to bolt panels on it on our jets. ey’re never going to a lot, and government will learn a lot” the outside of the F-35 to let it be seen war. Don’t do it on the brand new jets about potential versus performance. by radar” if the F-35 is to play the role [the US] just spent billions of dollars …

“Right now there really aren’t a lot of “bad guy.” procuring.” J Solutions; Airborne Intl. Draken Textron via Carlson Photos: Ted

 APRIL / MAY  H AIRFORCEMAG.COM