Air Force World

First Weapons School F-35s Course (WIC), and the aircraft will initially operate under the The US Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nev., umbrella of the 16th Weapons , the F-16 WIC unit, received its first F-35A, announced base officials. The aircraft said Lt. Col. David Epperson, the squadron’s commander. was delivered from Lockheed Martin’s production facility in The school is scheduled to receive 24 F-35As, tentatively Fort Worth, Texas, to Nellis on Jan. 15. beginning USAFWS F-35 courses in January 2018. Over the next year, the school’s instructors and staff will Nellis has hosted a separate force of F-35As for devel- develop curriculum for the first F-35A Weapons Instructor opmental and operational testing since March 2013.

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14 AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 By Aaron M. U. Church, Associate Editor

European Base Consolidation The biggest change for the Air Force will be the closure The Defense Department plans to return use of 15 sites, of RAF Mildenhall in where the US’ only European located in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the permanently stationed aerial tankers are based. The 15 KC- Netherlands, Italy, and Portugal, back to their host nations. 135s will move to Germany, and Mildenhall’s other assets will The base closures will be implemented under the Euro- be dispersed to other European locations. pean Infrastructure Consolidation plan, announced by US The Defense Department also announced plans to continue European Command on Jan. 8. with the streamlining process at Lajes Field in Azores, Portugal.

02.08.2015

MSgt. Rebecca Jackonic, a fl ight engineer with the 758th Airlift Squadron, runs a prefl ight check on a C-130 at Pittsburgh Arpt./ARS, Pa., prior to an airdrop mission.

USAF photo by SSgt. Justyne Obeldobel

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“The Air Force originally chose to streamline US operations frastructure, and combined training opportunities. The F-35 on Lajes as the current presence exceeds requirements to “assures allies and partners alike and provides a credible support transiting aircraft,” stated the release. “The Air Force deterrent,” said Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of US Air will adjust the size of the unit to reflect the level of support Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa. required while keeping forces at the installation.” The decision was not part of the two-year European In- frastructure Consolidation (EIC) study, but was announced a en ea e F A in conjunction with its results. The EIC decision to close The Air Force will base the first European F-35As at RAF RAF Mildenhall and realign its missions allows for the two Lakenheath, UK, officials announced in January. The eventual F-35A squadrons. Officials previously announced plans to 48 aircraft will arrive in phases beginning in 2020 and will be build shared F-35 maintenance facilities in Italy and . assigned to two fighter squadrons of 24 aircraft each, stated a Jan. 8 press release. Then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Air Force officials based the decision on Lakenheath’s air space, in- By the Numbers 1,500 to 2,100 h r r rc r har ra c a a 12 ra a rcra a r h h a ar acc r a r c M c r r

AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 USAF photo by TSgt. Lindsey Maurice Lindsey TSgt. by photo USAF

Auxiliary Airfi eld Reopens at Randolph Remember the Alamo: SrA. Cory Brown secures a tactical Flying resumed at the Seguin Auxiliary Airfi eld at JBSA- vehicle in a C-5A before takeoff Feb. 7 on the JBSA-Lackland, Randolph, Texas, for the fi rst time in three years, following Texas, fl ight line. Brown and his teammates had to quickly a $12.4 million construction project. upload, tie down, and offl oad a pallet and vehicles into the aircraft as part of the 433rd Airlift ’s Operation Alamo “The previous runway was so rippled that when standing Stampede competition. It pitted two teams of operations, at one end, you couldn’t see someone standing at the other maintenance, and aerial port airmen against one another. The end,” said Maj. Matthew Reynolds, with the 12th Operations exercise was meant to improve C-5A employment techniques. Support Squadron. “The new runway is crowned so that water drains. The old runway was fl at and water puddled creating safety issues.” lost altitude in the mountains of Afghanistan last spring, Air “Being able to fl y again at Seguin Auxiliary Airfi eld gives Combat Command investigators determined. us a 30 percent increase in training opportunities due to a The RPA lost power as the operator at Creech AFB, Nev., shared familiarity with T-38C Talon operations,” said Lt. Col. Joel attempted to increase power to maintain its assigned fl ight DeBoer, commander of the 560th Flying Training Squadron. level on a sortie near Jalalabad on June 25, 2014. “It also allows us to distribute training throughout the area, According to the abbreviated investigation, downdrafts reducing the volume of operations over our primary patterns.” in the mountain valley caused the aircraft to lose additional altitude and slam into terrain. Airmen With C-130s Train in Bangladesh The turbocharger failure was blamed on oil residue caused Airmen from Yokota AB, Japan, worked with Bangladesh by high temperature inhibiting its proper functioning, according air force personnel and one BAF C-130 during the bilateral to the inquest. Loss of the RPA and its weapons was pegged airlift exercise Cope South at BAF Base Bangabandhu, at an estimated $4.8 million. Bangladesh, in January. No damage was caused to or unassociated govern- Some 80 airmen and three C-130Hs from Yokota’s 36th ment property, according to a Jan. 8 news release. Airlift Squadron ran cooperative fl ight operations, including aircraft generation and recovery and day-night low-level Turkey Buys More F-35s navigation, and conducted subject-matter-expert exchanges Turkey is upping its initial F-35 buy from two airframes on issues like maintenance practices and cargo rigging. to six, the country’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, an- “Cope South provides valuable training for US and Ban- nounced in January. “It is planned that Turkey will buy 100 gladeshi airmen in air-land and airdrop delivery,” said Lt. Col. F-35 warplanes in the project,” Davutoglu said, quoted by Andrew Campbell, 36th AS commander. “Our work here is Reuters on Jan. 7. vital in contingency and disaster-response operations.” “We previously ordered two in this framework. We have now Bangladesh has sought to expand its tactical airlift capa- decided to order four more,” he said. The ’s bilities and has replaced its older C-130Bs with refurbished fi rst batch of F-35As was planned as part of low-rate initial US C-130Es. The exercise ran Jan. 24-30. production Lot 10, to be delivered in 2015. Turkey is one of the nine F-35 strike fi ghter program partners Gummy Mess and One Less Predator and was recently designated the European region’s heavy A turbocharger failure doomed an MQ-1B remotely pi- engine maintenance pole for multinational F-35 operators, loted aircraft, which crashed due to severe turbulence as it including the Air Force.

AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 17 Ai F e

Turkey’s planned F-35A buy is estimated at approximately Among the advantages, the extra airspace will allow the $16 billion. Air Force to conduct several large-force exercises each year where some 20 airplanes will train together as they would F e en a Ai F e One fight in actual combat, states the record of decision. The Air Force will base the next presidential aircraft on ’s 747-8, the service announced. The Dash-8 “is the Eag e A ia i n only aircraft manufactured in the United States” that when “fully Air Force officials recently stood up the F-15C active as- missionized” can meet the project’s stringent requirements, sociate unit that will support the F-15C/D schoolhouse run according to service Secretary Deborah Lee James. The by the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing at Dash-8 resembles the legacy VC-25, but adds an extended Klamath Falls. “It’s very invigorating. This is the first active upper deck and new high-efficiency wings. association for the F-15C in the Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Chris The existing VC-25s are 747-200Bs that have been flying Clark who took command of the newly minted Active Duty since 1987. They’ve performed well, but are afflicted with 56th Operations Group, Det. 2, in December. “parts obsolescence, diminishing manufacturing sources, The Air Force is injecting 84 Active Duty airmen to increase and increased downtimes for maintenance,” James said on pilot production at the service’s sole F-15C/D schoolhouse. Jan. 28. The first of them arrived late last year and the detachment USAF will acquire three aircraft. Separate requests will swell to eight pilots, 68 maintenance personnel, and eight for proposals—one for the airframe and one for mission support airmen by spring. equipment—will be issued this year, with a contract award expected in 2017. The first airplane that will be ready for modification to the VC-25 configuration is to be delivered in late 2018 and is to In e A e i e be operational in 2023. Bradford Exchange...... 73, 79 Ai F e A e ing Range E an i n GovMint...... 67 The Air Force approved the plan to quadruple the airspace Metlife ...... Cover II Northrop Grumman...... Cover IV of the Powder River Training Complex in several Great Plains USAA...... Cover III states to give B-52H and B-1B crews from the Dakotas more realistic training close to home. AFA Corporate Members...... 3 The expansion decision to create the largest training air- AFA Hangar Store...... 75 AFA Member Benefits Reference...... 13 space over the continental United States was signed on Jan. AFA Résumé Service...... 76 16. The Federal Aviation Administration must now approve Long Term Care...... 78 the plan and then modify and establish the requisite airspace. Pet Insurance...... 78

e ing a e Hypersonic flight is one of the key leap ahead tech Air Force Research Lab chief Maj. Gen. Thomas J. nologies suggested as a way to keep the US ahead of Masiello, in an exclusive January interview with Air Force its competitors over the next 30 years, as called out by Magazine, reported that the Air Force has partnered with top defense and Air Force leaders in recent speeches. the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to pur Indications are the technology is getting more attention sue two distinct hypersonic projects in the coming years. and is closer than ever. “We’ve each invested about $300 million ... on two The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, in a January follow-on demonstrations” to the X-51 project. One is a release, revealed the results of a yearlong exploration of larger version of the X-51 technology, called Waverider, the feasibility of useful hypersonic flight. It determined that, “and the other is a tactical boost-glide vehicle, where based on a survey of advances in propulsion, aerodynam there’s no scramjet power. You’re just basically taking a ics, materials, and structures, a “tactical-range hypersonic booster, accelerating it to hypersonic speed, then it glides strike weapon has substantial operational utility in pro to the target.” Substantial work will be done on “integrating jected anti-access, area-denial (A2/AD) environments and a sensor, so you’re able to hit mobile targets, and then can be fielded for use in the 2025 timeframe.” In a study integrating a payload,” Masiello explained. abstract, the SAB said that hypersonic weapons would He cautioned that as yet, “there is no Air Force program “place defensive challenges on any potential adversary.” of record” to create a hypersonic weapon. However, he Based on previous work, including the successful X-51 predicted a test flight in 2018. Waverider project, which ended in 2013, hypersonics is “Independent of DARPA,” he said AFRL is looking to already at technology readiness level 5 and will reach TRL have a larger vehicle available circa 2030, which would 6+ by 2020, the SAB reported. A TRL of six indicates a be “a reusable platform, that’s maybe 10 times the scale” technology is mature enough to be worked into a practi of what USAF is calling the High-Speed Strike Weapon. cal weapon. Though it wouldn’t be large enough to carry a crew, it The key priorities to work on now, the SAB said, are would be able to perform intelligence, surveillance, and terminal seekers and maneuverability in the terminal phase reconnaissance missions. of flight. It suggested the Air Force fund these efforts and “And then in the 2040 timeframe—2040-plus—is where make sure wind tunnels are ready to test these systems. we would envision a no-kidding, reusable persistent, The next priorities would be integrating payloads and penetrating hypersonic vehicle that could be manned or munitions. unmanned,” Masiello said. —John A. Tirpak

AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 e a n e i

O e a i n En ing F ee O e a i n In e en Re e

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i e e e e e a e quired a brief suspension of flying for inspections and the Modification and developmental testing of the second addition of more test flights for safety reasons. AC-130J Ghostrider gunship has been delayed due to Operational testing is now slated to begin in October 2015. integration setbacks and component availability, accord- ing to the Fiscal Year 2014 Director, Operational Test and E e e a n e Evaluation report, released Jan. 20. The last Europe-based legacy MC-130H special-mission The new aircraft vibrates more than legacy AC-130Ws, aircraft departed RAF Mildenhall, UK, as new-build MC- causing problems with the accuracy of the electro-optical/ 130Js officially took over in January. infrared sensors. “Erratic” sensor movements caused by The last Combat Talon II, assigned to the 7th Special aircraft systems interference with the mission systems also Operations Squadron, departed Mildenhall on Jan. 8, ac- “inhibits target tracking” and increases the “risk of fratricide” cording to a base news release. The unit now operates a during weapon employment, according to the report. mix of CV-22 Osprey and MC-130J Commando IIs and will The second MC-130J airframe was delivered for conver- eventually shift to a base in Germany with the closure of sion to AC-130J standards last September, but changes to Mildenhall. Its MC-130Hs are now joining the 15th SOS at the intercom system and parts availability have delayed the Hurlburt Field, Fla. aircraft’s readiness for developmental testing. The 17th SOS at Kadena AB, Japan, also began phas- In February 2014, the first test aircraft also “experienced ing out legacy MC-130P Combat Shadows, preparing to a temporary departure from controlled flight” during flying transition to MC-130Js in the Pacific. Kadena received its and handling qualities testing near the stall limit. This re- first new-build MC-130J late last year.

AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 Air Force World USAF photo by 1st Lt. Jake Bailey Jake Lt. 1st by photo USAF

And Then There Were Three May I Escort You?: Two F-7BG fi ghters from the Ban- Retired Lt. Col. Edward J. Saylor, one of the last four gladesh Air Force escort a USAF C-130H near Kishoreganj, surviving Doolittle Raiders, died in Washington state at the Bangladesh, during Exercise Cope South on Jan. 28. Cope age of 94, Jan. 28. South is a PACAF-sponsored bilateral tactical airlift exercise focusing on cooperative fl ight operations, day and night low- Saylor enlisted in the Air on Dec. 7, 1939, and level navigation, tactical airdrop, and knowledge exchanges in served as an enlisted airman throughout World War II. On the operations, maintenance, and rigging disciplines. April 18, 1942, he joined 79 other volunteers led by Lt. Col.

James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle on a top-secret mission to bomb Court Denies Schwalier A Second Star targets in Japan. Saylor was an engineer in the 15th of 16 Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Terryl J. Schwalier, who B-25 to launch from the aircraft carrier USS commanded the 4404th Wing (Provisional) at Dhah- Hornet. The mission was a huge success in boosting Ameri- ran, Saudi Arabia, at the time of the terrorist attack on can morale and wounding that of the Japanese, because it Khobar Towers in 1996, cannot challenge the Clinton proved Japan’s home islands were not beyond the reach of Administration-era ruling to pass him over for promo- US sea- and airpower. tion, according to a US appeals court ruling in January. Saylor received his commission as an aircraft maintenance Schwalier and his supporters, including the Air Force offi cer in October 1947. He served at bases in Iowa, Wash- Association, have long argued the decision made him ington, Labrador, and England. a scapegoat for the attack and that he had actually The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders received the Congressional improved defenses at the facility prior to the attack. Gold Medal in 2014. In addition, Saylor earned the Distin- Schwalier was fi rst approved for promotion in 1995, with guished Flying Cross, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Senate confi rming the nomination in March 1996. In the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1st the aftermath of the June 1996 attack, then-Secretary Grade, according to a Doolittle Tokyo Raiders press release. of Defense William S. Cohen recommended President Clinton remove Schwalier’s name from the promotion Legendary Test Pilot Dies list—forcing his retirement in 1997. Fitzhugh L. “Fitz” Fulton Jr., a highly decorated Air Force In 2003, Schwalier fi led an application to retroactively and NASA test pilot, died on Feb. 4 at the age of 89. correct the record, arguing his promotion was a matter Fulton joined the Air Corps in 1943. He fl ew some 200 of law, and sought to have records corrected. While the Berlin Airlift missions from 1948 to 1949 in C-54s. During the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records had , Fulton fl ew 55 combat missions in the Douglas twice agreed with his case, this time the US Court of B-26 Invader and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided the retroactive Cross and fi ve Air Medals for combat heroism. promotion would allow Congress to “compel the President In 1952, Fulton graduated from USAF’s Experimental Test to appoint senior offi cers of the United States,” and that Pilot School (later being honored as a distinguished alum- presidential approval is required for a promotion to be nus). He is credited by the Air Force Flight Test Center as fi nalized, not just a Senate vote. “perhaps the greatest multiengine test pilot of his generation” —Marc V. Schanz and was awarded an additional three Distinguished Flying Cross medals for his test pilot work.

20 AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015 e aga a e ac r ach a a r h h r rc quickly as possible,” service Secretary Deborah Lee James h r h a a ch h c a h a a a h r c a r ra r a a ar acc r a review” of the space launch certification process to see if, a a h ca r a a r h r r h a r h r rc r c a a h r rc ha a h r oratively with SpaceX to complete the certification process c r r a ch r c r h in an efficient and expedient manner,” according to the r ra h h r c rac a a a r rc ac a a c r tions,” the statement continued. ac a a c a ch r r The California-based SpaceX company filed the lawsuit payloads into space “no later than midyear,” said Lt. Gen. a r c a h r c a c rac h h a r a c a r h ac a M ach ac a r r a a a a a a c h Mar c h r c a r a h c a r h c r c r a a c r ac a ch a c r c r ar h r rc c c c h r rc c r r c c consistent with the emergence of multiple certified provid h r c a ach ers,” stated the release. Vehicle program and getting new entrants certified as —Aaron M. U. Church and Amy McCullough

Fulton was chief of the Transport Test Operations After a 23-year Air Force career, Fulton retired as a lieuten- Division at Edwards AFB, Calif., and was the only USAF pilot ant colonel and became a civilian research pilot for NASA. He to fly the atomic-powered NB-36H. He set an international participated in tests of the 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, the XB-70 altitude record of 85,360 feet flying the B-58 in 1962 and was prototype supersonic bomber, as well as the YF-12A and YF-12C. awarded that year’s Harmon International Aviation Trophy for By the time he retired from NASA in 1986, Fulton had more than his work with the program. 15,000 hours in more than 200 types of aircraft. %

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AIR FORCE Magazine / March 2015