Air Force World by Aaron M

Home , 354th Fighter Squadron, 421st Fighter Squadron, 500th Air Defense Group

Air Force World By Aaron M. U. Church, Associate Editor

Tyndall Joins ACC assumed a new role as the Air Force Tyndall AFB, Fla., transitioned from Association’s President.

Air Education and Training Command USAF photo screenshot to Air Combat Command Oct. 1 as Double Raptors in the Pacific part of the Air Force’s F-22 fleet re- A second package of F-22s from organization. JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Tyndall, home to one Raptor train- deployed to the western Pacific, joining ing squadron, is due to receive a new Raptors from JB Langley-Eustis, Va., combat-coded F-22 squadron transfer- that deployed over the summer. ring from Holloman AFB, N.M. The placements were “a prudent “Co-locating a combat-coded F-22 measure to maintain a credible de- squadron together with F-22s assigned terrent posture and presence in the to the formal training unit ... provides region,” said Elmendorf spokeswoman training, maintenance, and operational Capt. Ashley Conner, quoted by the advantages that benefit combatant Alaska Dispatch Sept. 18. Though commanders and ensure operational territorial tensions between China and readiness,” AETC officials stated in a Japan were running high in September, press release Oct. 1. the deployments were “not in response Due to budgetary constraints under to any specific situation,” she said. the continuing resolution, the Air Force Elmendorf’s F-22s took up station had no immediate “specific timetable” at Andersen AFB, Guam, while the for the combat-ready jets’ arrival. A CR Langley Raptors operated from Kadena took effect at the beginning of October AB, Japan. to supply funds in lieu of Congress The twin deployments are the Rap- enacting Fiscal 2013 defense appro- tors’ first to the region since the F-22 priations legislation before the new fleet returned to flight in 2011. fiscal year began. The Elmendorf contingent includes The 337th Air Control Squadron airmen from the Active Duty 3rd Wing (redesignated from the 325th ACS Oct. and Air Force Reserve Command’s 4), trains air battle managers and is the 477th Fighter Group, which reached only unit at Tyndall that still remains full operational capability for the first under AETC. time in September.

New Guard Bureau Chief Back on Campus Army Gen. Frank J. Grass replaced Air Force ROTC cadets took the oath Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley as of enlistment at Yale University for the National Guard Bureau chief in a first time in decades, at the beginning change-of-responsibility ceremony at of the school year at the New Haven, the Pentagon Sept. 7. Conn., campus. McKinley was the first four-star Return of an Air Force ROTC detach- leader of the Guard Bureau and the ment to the Ivy League school resulted first Guard chief to serve as a statutory from an agreement between Air Force member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Secretary Michael B. Donley and Yale “The National Guard has been an President Richard C. Levin, signed in integral part of our Active force for September 2011. decades, and I don’t think we’ve ever University officials allowed the de- reached a point where it’s been more tachment’s return after the Obama relevant, or reliable, or competent,” Administration’s repeal of the law ban- McKinley said at the handover. ning homosexuals from openly serving Grass, who previously served as in the US military. US Northern Command’s deputy com- Yale had an AFROTC detachment on mander, received his fourth star at campus until 1957. The school’s ban the event prior to taking charge of the predated DOD’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell National Guard Bureau. policy by several decades. McKinley, who had served as NGB Yale’s new AFROTC detachment chief since November 2008, retired officially opened its doors on Sept. 21, after 38 years of uniformed service and with 38 cadets from Yale and cross-town

12 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 partnership institutions, said AFROTC Pacific Air Forces headquarters, also The inactivation ceremony took place officials at Maxwell AFB, Ala. at Hickam. on Sept. 28 and also celebrated the Classes began for the academic year “Our commitment to the region remains NAF’s 70-year history of supporting Aug. 29, and AFROTC Det. 009 Com- steadfast,” said Lt. Gen Stanley T. Kresge, the Pacific region. mander Col. Scott Manning administered who led the numbered air force at its In Air Force parlance, PACAF is a the oath in a ceremony Sept. 6. inactivation, effective Oct. 1. “The joining C-Majcom, or component major com- of 13th Air Force and PACAF not only mand, that now has direct operational Goodbye, 13th Air Force ensures an effective response in a crisis, responsibility under US Pacific Com- The Air Force inactivated 13th Air but also facilitates increased trust and mand for the area of the Asia-Pacific Force, headquartered at JB Pearl Harbor- interoperability with allies and partners,” region formerly covered by 13th Air Hickam, Hawaii, transferring its airpower said Kresge, taking up his new post as Force. PACAF’s 7th Air Force at Osan planning and execution functions to PACAF vice commander. AB, South Korea, still has operational

A loadmaster with the 192nd Airlift Squadron watches out the back of a C-130 during a 10.04.2012 Spouse Lift operation over Lake Tahoe. The 152nd Airlift Wing performs these flights occa- sionally to orient spouses of airmen to the unit aircraft and familiarize them with the unit’s mission. The flights are retention and recruitment incentives for airmen with critical skill sets.

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at Edwards AFB, Calif. The others are Afghanistan Surge Ends assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The United States has completed the drawdown of surge forces from Afghanistan, returning to the US all 33,000 additional troops authorized by Space Fence Post President Obama in December 2009. The Air Force will base its first Space Completion of the surge drawdown marks an “important milestone” in Fence radar site on Kwajalein atoll in the the gradual handover of security in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, Defense Marshall Islands, Air Force space officials Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a Sept. 20 statement. revealed Sept. 25. The return of US surge forces fell at a difficult time for NATO’s International Space Fence features an S-band Security Assistance Force. A week before Panetta’s announcement, the co- radar system expected to be capable alition suspended the majority of its joint operations with Afghan forces, due of detecting, tracking, identifying, and to a spike in “green on blue” killings, incidents in which uniformed Afghans characterizing objects as small as a turn on allied forces. (See: “Green on Blue Scourge,” p. 44.) softball in low and medium Earth orbits Speaking in a press briefing Sept. 21 during a visit with New Zealand up to 1,200 miles away. Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman in Auckland, Panetta said the 68,000 Construction is scheduled to begin US troops in Afghanistan will continue working to reduce violence. next September and take 48 months to In addition, US forces remain dedicated to building the capacity of Afghan complete, leading the site to initial opera- forces to ensure the Taliban does not regain momentum in the region, he said. tional capability in Fiscal 2017, according In his statement, Panetta reiterated that the transition to Afghan control to the service’s news release. “will be completed by the end of 2014” per the Administration’s plan. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have been maturing their respective Space Fence designs, and the Air Force is ex- responsibility for the Korean peninsula and northwest Pacific. In addition to 13th Air Force, USAF stood down 17th Air Force in April and inactivated 19th Air Force in July as part of a servicewide initiative to operate more efficiently and shed redundancy.

B-2 Fleet Upgraded USAF photo by SSgt. Kenneth Bricker Northrop Grumman completed field installations of an upgraded radar system for the B-2 stealth bomber fleet, according to company officials. “Every operational B-2 is now equipped with the new radar” thanks to efforts undertaken for the B-2 Ra- dar Modernization Program, Northrop Grumman said in a Sept. 24 news release. Raytheon supplied the components to upgrade the B-2’s 1980s-vintage AN/APQ-181 multimode radar; they include active electronically scanned array antennas, a power supply, and a modified receiver/exciter. Northrop Grumman completed hard- ware installation at Whiteman, delivering jets “anywhere from one to 11 days early,” said Ron Naylor, company director of B-2 modernization. The total package improves the radar’s maintainability and lays the foundation for future capability en- hancements. USAF operates a fleet of 20 B-2s, including one normally used for testing

Not Just Blowing Smoke: SSgt. Ernest Andrews wades though smoke during combat airman skills training at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. The training ensures that soon-to-deploy airmen have fundamental skills in fighting and survival in a combat zone. Andrews is from the 7th Civil Engineer Squadron, Dyess AFB, Tex.

14 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 15 Air Force World National Guard photo by SMSgt. Brian Avery

See Ya, C-5: The last 105th Airlift Wing C-5 aircraft at Stewart ANGB, N.Y., heads off to retirement on Sept. 19. The wing is tran- sitioning from the venerable C-5A aircraft type to the more modern C-17, an airlifter capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and cargo to forward bases. pected to select one competitor to begin problem since the weapons can’t engage The center is meant to support the engineering and manufacturing develop- targets at that range,” said Fiel, speak- increased education and training require- ment early this fiscal year. ing at the Air Force Association’s Air & ments driven by the emerging NATO The Air Force may also establish a Space Conference outside Washington, mission for the territorial ballistic missile second Space Fence site in Western Aus- D.C., in September. defense of Europe. “What we see today tralia that would come online sometime in AFSOC is working to fix the problem, represents the US contribution to this criti- Fiscal 2020, according to Federal Busi- he said. The command has already inte- cal mission, and we fully expect to grow ness Opportunities documents online. grated Small Diameter Bombs onto its it into a true coalition center with US and The Fence will form an important part AC-130W gunships for a limited standoff European nation partners working side of the Air Force’s overall space surveil- precision strike capability and is working by side,” said Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, lance network. to expand the arsenal. commander of US Air Forces in Europe. Stinger gunships in Afghanistan cur- Breedlove also leads NATO’s allied Spooky in the Sunlight rently carry eight SDBs—four under Air Component Command, collocated AC-130 gunships began daylight mis- each wing—as well as “internal precision with USAFE at Ramstein AB, Germany. sions for the first time this summer, guided munitions,” said Fiel. He assisted EUCOM Commander Adm. providing fire support to coalition ground AFSOC planned to begin testing Hell- James G. Stavridis, who also heads forces in Afghanistan thanks to a new fire air-to-ground missiles on the AC-130 NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied high-definition sensor suite. in October to add true standoff capability Powers, Europe, in the ribbon cutting “We have not flown gunships during the in the near future, he said. Sept. 26. day before, but they are currently flying during the day” now over Afghanistan, Missile Defense Center Opens F-35 Schoolhouse About To Open said Air Force Special Operations Com- US European Command and NATO Air Force evaluators began the final mand boss Lt. Gen. Eric E. Fiel. leaders recently inaugurated the new certification process for full-up F-35A The new sensors “allow us a longer European Integrated Air and Missile De- training at Eglin AFB, Fla., early this fall. standoff range, which caused a little fense Center in Einsiedlerhof, Germany. A cadre of four pilots began the operational utility evaluation, essentially Index to Advertisers a dry run of every facet of Eglin’s F-35 training pipeline, on Sept. 10. Arinc...... Cover II “The start of the OUE is another huge Ashford...... 9 milestone for the Air Force and the pro- Boeing...... 11, 33, 43, Cover IV gram as a whole,” said Col. Andrew J. Bose ...... 35 Toth, 33rd Fighter Wing commander in General Atomics...... 19 General Dynamics...... 7 charge of Eglin’s joint F-35 schoolhouse. Gulfstream...... 41 Training officials at Eglin originally Hawker Beechcraft ...... 15 intended to launch the OUE last Oc- Hewlett Packard...... 17 tober, paving the way to start training Lockheed Martin ...... 5 operational F-35 pilots this past January. Northrop Grumman...... 3, 25 Instead, Air Force officials didn’t clear Panasonic...... 21 the F-35A to begin flight operations at Pilatus...... 27 Eglin until the end of February, bumping Pratt & Whitney...... 23 the OUE back almost a year. USAA...... Cover III Following the 65-day OUE, “we should Airforce-magazine.com...... 84 receive the Air Education and Training AFA Hangar Store...... 85 Command’s approval that states we are AFA Technology Expositions...... 86 ‘ready for training’ ” sometime in mid- AFA Upcoming Events...... 65 November, said Toth.

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them to pursue the wrong target instead of White House Reports on Sequestration attacking our aircraft,” said Harry Schulte, Raytheon’s vice president of air warfare If Congress doesn’t reach a deficit reduction deal before January, the systems. “With MALD-J, we are building Pentagon will have to cut its base budget by $54.7 billion in Fiscal 2013 un- on this combat-proven decoy to provide der sequestration, according to a White House report released to Congress. the warfighter with even more capability.” The cut translates to a 9.4 percent reduction to each of the services’ discre- Several more operational test and tionary accounts—except for personnel accounts, which are exempt—states evaluation flights were scheduled for the the document, issued by the White House budget office Sept. 14. remainder of the year, according to the Congress mandated the report under the Sequestration Transparency Act company. of 2012 in order to understand sequestration’s effect on defense accounts and federal nondefense programs in Fiscal 2013. Reports Complete on Two Accidents Among the Air Force’s cuts would be a $5.2 billion reduction to operation A combination of operator and me- and maintenance activities; a $2.7 billion hit to research, development, test, chanical errors downed an MQ-1 Preda- and evaluation work; a $2 billion reduction in aircraft procurement; and $167 tor remotely piloted aircraft that crashed million less for military construction, according to the report. in Afghanistan Feb. 14. “While the Department of Defense would be able to shift funds to ensure Air Combat Command investigators warfighting and critical military readiness capabilities were not degraded, found that the Predator experienced a sequestration would result in a reduction in readiness of many nondeployed dual alternator failure followed by the units, delays in investments in new equipment and facilities, cutbacks in complete loss of electrical power mid- equipment repairs, declines in military research and development efforts, flight, according to a command press and reductions in base services for military families,” states the report. release Sept. 7. The controller responsible for launch and recovery of the Predator then “failed New GPS Satellite Launches Block IIF satellites are designed to to adequately assess the nature of the The Air Force and its industry partners provide greater navigational accuracy, a emergency and fully execute proper launched the third GPS Block IIF satellite more secure and jam-resistant military procedures,” states the release. into space Oct. 4. signal, a more robust civil signal, and an The RPA lost electrical power and A United Launch Alliance Delta IV extended design life. The first IIF satellite crashed in a field northeast of the rocket carried the Boeing-built positioning, entered operational service in August 2010, deployed airfield. The resulting loss of navigation, and timing satellite aloft from followed one year later by the second IIF equipment and property damage totaled Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. “Once again, the satellite. an estimated $3.9 million, the abbrevi- 45th Space Wing, working in concert with ated investigation report said. our talented mission partners, is delivering MALD-J Starts Operational Testing In a second incident, engine failure space assets that will greatly benefit our The Air Force and Raytheon began caused by an ignition cable malfunction nation,” said Col. Robert J. Pavelko, the operational testing of the Miniature Air downed an MQ-1B Predator remotely wing’s vice commander and the mission’s Launched Decoy Jammer with four suc- piloted aircraft during a reconnaissance launch decision authority. cessful test shots, company officials said. mission over Afghanistan April 14, Air The October launch was the first boost The decoy and jammer variants have Combat Command determined. of a GPS satellite this year, and the Space “achieved 13 successful flight tests in 13 The RPA “experienced a single-point and Missile Systems Center expects SVN- attempts,” according to Raytheon’s an- failure that simultaneously caused both 65 to be designated “healthy” for navigation nouncement Sept. 24. ignition circuits” to lose control of engine use approximately 90 days after the launch. The MALD-J adds radar jamming capa- ignition, stated an ACC press release, In the meantime, the satellite will un- bility to the basic MALD platform, which Air summarizing the accident investigation dergo extended navigational signal testing, Combat Command cleared for real-world board’s findings Sept. 4. but indications are good, as controllers operations in July. The RPA controllers followed the confirmed initial contact several hours after “MALD saves lives by saturating enemy correct protocols and attempted to the launch, according to Boeing. integrated air defense systems, causing recover the aircraft. After deeming USAF photo by Capt. Raymond Geoffroy

Over the Mountain: A C-17 taxis to its parking spot at Bagram Airfield, Afghani- stan. The aircraft type is a frequent visitor to Afghanistan, carrying troops, equipment, and supplies.

18 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 19 Air Force World it impossible to restart the engine or glide the aircraft safely to base, the The War on Terrorism crew intentionally crashed it on an unpopulated mountainside. Operation Enduring Freedom The Predator and a guided anti- surface missile survived the impact Casualties mostly intact and were destroyed by an By Oct. 16, a total of 2,133 Americans had died in Operation Enduring Free- Army recovery team after they stripped dom. The total includes 2,130 troops and three Department of Defense civilians. the aircraft of sensitive components. Of these deaths, 1,691 were killed in action with the enemy while 438 died in noncombat incidents. Another Hot, Busy Season There have been 17,790 troops wounded in action during OEF. The Air Force’s small fleet of C-130 firefighting airplanes finished a busy Liberty’s 100K season battling wildfires in the western MC-12 Liberty aircraft of the 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron United States in mid-September. surpassed 100,000 flight hours over Afghanistan on a sortie from Bagram Airfield. US Forest Service officials released The unit reached the operational milestone less than three years after USAF the final two Modular Airborne Firefight- introduced the MC-12s to Bagram in December 2009, according to 4th ERS ing System-equipped C-130s due to officials. favorable conditions in the western states Flying the first MC-12 airframe to arrive at Bagram three years ago, the 4th Sept. 14, 153rd Air Expeditionary Group ERS aircrew reached the flight milestone on a Sept. 11 mission. officials stated. “One hundred thousand hours is huge,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Alexander, 4th MAFFS C-130s began fighting the wild- ERS commander. “That’s about 11-and-a-half years’ worth of flying for the MC- fires on June 25, with up to six airplanes 12s in two years and nine months.” simultaneously battling blazes across It took the unit nearly two years of providing ISR to coalition ground forces the western US throughout the summer. in theater to achieve 50,000 flight hours, and only a single year to double the As of the stand-down, MAFFS aircraft figure, according to a statement released in September. had released some 2.5 million gallons of fire retardant in 1,011 drops over 10 states, Arizona Warthogs Descend on Bagram racking up the second highest tally for Twenty A-10s from the 354th Fighter Squadron recently deployed from gallons dispensed in a single season in Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., to Bagram Airfield, with approximately 400 airmen MAFFS fleet history. In the 1994 season, and support personnel. aircraft dropped five million gallons. “Over the last six months, the men and women of the 354th Fighter Squadron The last two C-130s—Air National and 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron have done a superb job preparing to Guard assets from California and North support operations in Afghanistan,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Luce, 354th FS commander. Carolina—staged from Sacramento, Ca- The unit’s Warthogs began departing for Bagram on Sept. 26, two days after lif., for several weeks prior to the end of the first maintainers and operators left, according to an Oct. 3 news release. operations. D-M’s contingent is replacing a mixed group of Air National Guard A-10s “Although our planes and crews have from Arkansas’ 188th Fighter Wing at Ft. Smith and Maryland’s 175th Wing near returned home, we all know MAFFS can Baltimore that arrived in Afghanistan in early July. still be reactivated well into the fall,” warned The Davis-Monthan A-10s will serve at Bagram as the 455th Air Expeditionary Lt. Col. Donald Taylor, 153rd AEG acting Wing’s close air support package, flying strike missions for coalition operations commander. and top cover for personnel recovery missions. C-130s from the Wyoming Air Guard and Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing also took part in wildfire operations, surging several times throughout The group reached F-22 initial opera- should the base come under attack, the summer. tional capability along with the 3rd Wing according to Osan officials. less than a year later in September 2008. Along with the gunships, some 100 Reserve Raptors Cleared for Ops The 477th FG traces its heritage to US special operators and support per- Five years after activation, Air Force the Tuskegee Airmen of the 477th Bomb sonnel deployed for the exercise, which Reserve Command’s 477th Fighter Group Group in World War II. ran Sept. 2 to Sept. 14. at JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, is now fully capable of executing its com- Plinking at Pilsung WinFly Ends, Deep Freeze Begins bat mission, group officials said in early Air Force Special Operations Command A C-17 from JB Lewis-McChord, September. deployed AC-130U gunships to South Wash., launched aerial resupply activi- “Fully operation[ally] capable means Korea for the first time in more than a ties for the 2012-2013 season of Op- that we are ready and able to execute decade to participate in live-fire close eration Deep Freeze, the US military’s our wartime tasking,” said Col. Bryan P. air support training with South Korean mission providing logistical support to Radliff, 477th FG commander, announcing special operations forces. US scientific researchers in Antarctica, the milestone Sept. 9. For Exercise Teak Knife, South Ko- Oct. 1. The group cooperates with Elmendorf’s rean special operators directed the two Active Duty and Reserve airmen of Active Duty 3rd Wing to operate and gunships as well as F-16s and A-10s McChord’s 62nd Airlift Wing and Air maintain the base’s two squadrons of from the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Force Reserve Command’s 445th AW combat-coded F-22s. Base against targets on the Pilsung deployed with the airlifter to the staging The 477th FG was activated at Elmen- Range complex. base at Christchurch, New Zealand, on dorf in October 2007, becoming the Air Additionally, five members of Osan’s Sept. 29, according to McChord officials. Force’s first Reserve F-22 unit and the 51st Security Forces Squadron trained In August, a McChord C-17 flew only AFRC unit in Alaska. to direct air strikes in defense of Osan, six preseason missions to the barren

20 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 21 Air Force World Senior Staff Changes hinder a patient’s care,” said SrA. Gabriela Perez, a technician with Ramstein’s 86th NOMINATIONS: To be Lieutenant General: Christopher C. Bogdan. To be Major General: Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. Andrew M. Mueller. To be ANG Major General: Donald P. Dunbar. To be ANG Brigadier The Learjet C-21s the squadron cur- General: Matthew P. Jamison. To be AFRC Brigadier General: Gerard F. Bolduc Jr., Jon rently uses for low-capacity transfers lack A. Weeks. sufficient range to reach Africa unrefueled, CHANGES: Lt. Gen. (sel.) Christopher C. Bogdan, from Dep. Dir., Jt. Strike Fighter Prgm., so the unit has been exploring the feasibility OSD, Arlington, Va., to Dir., Jt. Strike Fighter Prgm., OSD, Arlington, Va. ... Brig. Gen. Scott of using civil Gulfstreams instead. L. Dennis, from Cmdr., Kandahar Airfield, US Forces-Afghanistan, CENTCOM, to Spec. “This is something that has been in the Asst. to the Cmdr., ACC, JB Langley-Eustis, Va. ... Brig. Gen. John K. McMullen, from Cmdr., planning phase for more than a year,” ex- 325th FW, AETC, Tyndall AFB, Fla., to DCS, Ops., Allied Air Command, Allied Command plained Lt. Col. Paul Yenter, air evacuation Ops. (NATO), Ramstein AB, Germany. chief in Ramstein’s 603rd Air and Space Operations Center. “Once the waivers to SENIOR EXECUTIVE SERVICE CHANGES: Richard K. Hartley, to Asst. DCS, Strat. Plans fly on the G3 were complete,” along with & Prgms., USAF, Pentagon ... Gregory C. Radabaugh, to Dir., Jt. Info. Ops. Warfare Center, the training, unit members just had to “wait JBSA-Lackland, Tex. ... Barbara A. Westgate, to Exec. Dir., AFSPC, Peterson AFB, Colo. n for the right patients,” he said. The first flight departed Ramstein on a continent, ferrying 319 passengers and tigation board, which released its findings one-day mission, recovering two ambula- more than 230,000 pounds of cargo to in a report Sept. 26. tory patients from Africa Sept. 3, according McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Despite Midway through the training engage- to a news release. weather delays, the team extracted ment, the Strike Eagle’s crew experienced a 69 passengers and more than 35,000 violent concussion during a full-afterburner Splayed Blade pounds of equipment on return flights climb. The pilot leveled the aircraft, and A fan blade flawed in manufacturing to Christchurch. immediately shut down the right engine, caused an F-16C to crash during ground- McChord C-17s and ski-equipped responding to an overheat warning. Strug- support training over the Utah Test and LC-130 “Skibirds” from the New York gling to control the aircraft, the pilot applied Training Range May 4, Air Combat Com- Air National Guard’s 109th AW in full left stick and rudder to keep the fighter mand investigators determined. Scotia form the air component of Joint near level. He called for his backseater to Eight years of cracking and wear along Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica. eject, then canceled the order after regain- the manufacturing anomaly at the base of The C-17 primarily shuttles between ing momentary control. Moments later, a the fan blade caused it to snap off, caus- Christchurch and McMurdo. LC-130 complete power failure forced the crew ing “catastrophic damage to the engine flights from McMurdo farther inland to eject. Both were recovered unharmed. fan, compressor, and turbines,” ACC said, were slated to begin Oct. 18, according The F-15E belonged to the 391st Fighter outlining the accident investigation findings to a task force statement on Sept. 26. Wing from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. in a release Sept. 6. ACC estimated losses and damage from The pilot “correctly applied” procedures, Flaming Titanium the crash at $45.5 million. trying to restart the engine for 90 seconds An unexplained engine fire caused an before he was forced to eject from the F-15E to crash during an aggressor train- Grading Gulfstreams crippled jet, the accident investigation ing sortie from the 380th Air Expeditionary Medical flight crews at Ramstein AB, board report said. Wing’s operating location in Southwest Germany, tested use of a civilian Gulf- The pilot escaped unscathed, but the Asia May 3, stated Air Combat Command. stream III jet as a way of speeding aero- fighter was destroyed upon impact, result- “A rare ignition of the titanium compo- medical evacuations from Africa earlier ing in a $23.9 million loss, according to ACC. nents” within the right engine severely this fall. Investigators faulted the “failure to detect damaged vital systems, leading to the “Each takeoff and landing places stress the anomaly” during an engine installation crash, according to ACC’s accident inves- on patients, and any delays in a flight could inspection in 2004 as the main contributing factor in the crash. The Eye of the Storm: C-130Js sit out a storm at Dyess AFB, Tex. Dyess Both the pilot and the F-16 were as- recently received the 23rd of 28 such tactical airlifters slated for the base. See “H signed to the 421st Fighter Squadron at Model Hercs Leave Dyess,” p. 26. Dyess will be home to the largest C-130J fleet. Hill AFB, Utah.

CV-22s and MC-130Js to Britain Air Force Special Operations Command plans to stand up a squadron of CV-22 Ospreys at RAF Mildenhall, UK, next USAF photo by A1C Damon Kasberg year, AFSOC boss Lt. Gen. Eric E. Fiel said at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in September. “Probably June or July [2013], we’ll be standing up our third CV-22 squadron when the first CV-22s land at Mildenhall,” he said speaking at National Harbor, Md., Sept. 19. The command had originally planned to deploy CV-22s to England sometime this year. Next summer, AFSOC also plans to replace its legacy MC-130 covert operations aircraft at Mildenhall. Shortly after the Ospreys arrive, “we’ll begin to recap

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tions relay aircraft, the Canadian company China’s Raptor? revealed in September. “The intention is to equip this new Clearer photos of China’s second stealthy-looking fighter design emerged addition with the battlefield airborne com- on the Internet as Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta kicked off his diplo- munications node, or BACN, in time for matic visit to Beijing in September. deployment next summer,” the company The Shenyang F-60—also called the J-21 or J-31—resembles the F-22, stated in a press release Sept. 6. but with the intakes more reminiscent of the F-35 strike fighter. The F-60 After conversion, this airframe will be appears to lack the Raptor’s stealthy thrust-vectoring engines, and there the fourth BACN-equipped Bombardier appear to be no attempts at a reduced radar cross section with the engines Global aircraft to join the inventory. currently installed in the airplane. USAF’s three other E-11As have been The F-60’s canopy, nose, and overall dimensions closely mimic those supporting coalition operations in Af- of the F-22, and the photos seem to show internal weapon bays arranged ghanistan, alongside several similarly similarly to the Raptor’s. equipped EQ-4B Global Hawk remotely Unlike the F-22, however, the fighter sports a ruggedized undercarriage, piloted aircraft. potentially suiting it to future carrier-deck operations. The BACN communications suite, Photos of what may have been a partially disassembled F-60—heavily supplied by Northrop Grumman, enables shrouded en route to testing earlier this year—implied the aircraft is smaller disparate battlefield communications sys- than the Chengdu J-20, unveiled by the Chinese at the end of 2010. tems to share data, even in rugged terrain. As such, the larger J-20 seems designed for longer-range strike roles, Handover ceremonies took place at while the F-60 appears to be optimized for air superiority. Bombardier’s facility in Connecticut Aug. 30.

Lot Two F-15E AESAs our ageing MC-130 fleet, both our Talon revealing areas of concern for future Raytheon received a contract to build IIs and our Combat Shadows,” by replac- maintenance and repair planning. the second lot of APG-82(V)1 active ing them with the MC-130J Commando “This comprehensive testing is a proac- electronically scanned array radars for II, said Fiel. tive way for Boeing to meet its mission the Air Force’s F-15E fleet, the company AFSOC hopes to introduce CV-22s of keeping the B-1 bomber fleet ready announced. into the Pacific region as well by 2014, and viable,” said Rick Greenwell, the Delivery of Lot 2 low-rate initial produc- he added. company’s B-1 program director. tion AESA units is scheduled to begin in Boeing projects that the B-1 will remain February 2014, according to a Raytheon The 500 F119s structurally viable out to 2050. release Sept. 17. Pratt & Whitney delivered the 500th Under the F-15E Radar Moderniza- F119 turbofan built for the F-22 Raptor A Fourth Serving of BACN tion Program, Boeing is installing the fleet in September and plans to wrap up Bombardier delivered a Global 6000 Raytheon-supplied AESAs on the Strike production of the fifth generation power business jet destined for conversion to an Eagle fleet, replacing the aircraft’s exist- plant by year’s end, company officials said. Air Force E-11A overhead communica- ing APG-70 mechanically steered radar. The F119 also recently surpassed 20 years of simulated use in accelerated mission tests, the company announced in a release Sept. 25. “Delivery of the 500th F119 engine, along with our accomplishments in AMT, provides tangible proof of the durability of this fifth generation propulsion system,”

said company F119 director Cliff Stone. USAF photo TSgt.by Chad Chisholm “We continue to demonstrate substantial life-extension capabilities and cost savings” much as the company has for F100 engines used on the F-15 and F-16, he said. “The F119 AMT demonstrates our abil- ity to deliver similar cost savings for the F-22,” said Chris Flynn, vice president of F119 and F135 engine programs. To date, F119 engines have logged more than 230,000 operational flight hours on the F-22 fleet, according to the company.

Lancer Torture Test Boeing recently began fatigue-testing a B-1B bomber wing late this summer and was scheduled to begin similar testing on Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport: SSgt. T. J. Grover (l) and A1C Rachael Orazine ready straps used to secure airdrop bundles in the belly of a C-130J at Kandahar Air- the Lancer’s fuselage this month. field, Afghanistan. Both airmen are loadmasters with the 772nd Expeditionary Airlift The stress testing at the company’s Squadron. Loadmasters run preflight checks of the aircraft, make sure all equipment facility in Tukwila, Wash., will help validate is working, supervise cargo and passenger loading, and calculate the weight and the aircraft’s predicated life expectancy, balance of the load.

24 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012 25 Air Force World

planned 28 C-130Js just two weeks Realistic Torture before.

Lockheed Martin engineers inspecting the F-16C Block 50 airframe soon McChord Adds C-17 to undergo a 12,000-hour full-scale durability test discovered the aircraft’s Boeing delivered the Air Force’s left wing was not original to the airframe. 218th production C-17 Globemaster “The left wing was installed onto the aircraft postproduction,” said Air Force III to JB Lewis-McChord, Wash., in spokesman Richard Essary at Hill AFB, Utah. mid-September. Officials picked airframe 91-0409 as a representative example of the The commander of Air Force Re- Block 40/42/50/52 inventory, expecting it to have original components with serve Command’s 446th Airlift Wing, approximately 3,800 flight-hours of wear. Despite the discrepancy, USAF Col. Bruce A. Bowers Jr., piloted the will go ahead with the “torture” test and doesn’t expect it to delay service life factory-fresh airlifter from Boeing’s extension program plans, said Essary, quoting F-16 program management. assembly plant in Long Beach, Calif., “Many flying units ... swap aircraft parts in order to meet flying schedules to McChord Field Sept. 14, base of- and/or real-world missions,” he said in a Sept. 13 statement. This is “not an ficials said. unusual occurrence,” and “therefore, the wing mismatch is indeed represen- The 446th AW cooperates with the tative of the fleet,” he said. Active Duty 62nd Airlift Wing to operate Lockheed Martin accounted for the newer wing with “specific flight-load and maintain McChord’s three C-17 criteria” and has already “updated the overall test spectrum,” said Essary. flying squadrons. Testers will take advantage of the situation to see if there’re any structural USAF has ordered 224 C-17s from implications of wing mismatches throughout the fleet, he noted. Boeing.

Wyatt Inducted Into Order Raytheon will assemble 10 units dur- battlefield,” giving ground forces access The Air National Guard’s enlisted ing the Lot 2 production run according to video, imagery, and Internet chat, corps inducted Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt to prime contractor Boeing. according to a company announce- III, Air Guard director, into the reserve In addition to enhancing reliability, ment Sept. 24. component’s Order of the Sword, the APG-82 can simultaneously detect, The Air Force’s small, combined fleet honoring him for his contributions to identify, and track multiple air and surface of BACN-equipped E-11As and RQ-4B supporting enlisted Air Guardsmen. targets at longer ranges than the current Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft The induction ceremony took place APG-70, according to Raytheon. currently provide near-constant com- on Sept. 28 in Tulsa, Okla., according to The company began Lot 1 production munications relay over Afghanistan, the National Guard Bureau. Wyatt has totaling six units last fall. the company revealed. led the Air Guard since February 2009. The E-11A slated for the upgrade is First Cadet T-53A Solo one of three Bombardier BD-700 Global Gen. Bennie L. Davis, 1928-2012 Cadet 1st Class Staci Rouse became Express airplanes already modified Retired Gen. Bennie L. Davis, com- the first cadet to solo in the Air Force with BACN payloads. Technicians at mander of Strategic Air Command from Academy’s new Cirrus T-53A single Hanscom AFB, Mass., are scheduled August 1981 through July 1985, died engine flight training aircraft on Sept. 7. to complete BLOS C2 installation and Sept. 23 in Georgetown, Tex. He was Rouse lifted off on the historic flight at integration work on this aircraft by 84 years old, the academy’s airfield, flying once around next June. Born in McAlester, Okla., in 1928, the pattern before landing. The Air Force previously announced Davis graduated from West Point in “I had much more confidence flying it is undertaking conversion of a fourth 1950 and subsequently joined the Air the aircraft than I expected I ever would Bombardier aircraft to E-11A standards Force, earning his pilot wings in 1951. after my first flight,” said Rouse, a se- to augment the existing BACN fleet. He flew more than 9,000 hours as nior from Woodbridge, N.J., with Cadet a bomber pilot throughout his career, Squadron 40. H Model Herks Leave Dyess including cockpit time in the B-29, B-47, “I was overjoyed to see everyone The last two C-130H transports as- B-52, and B-57. waiting for me after the flight because signed to Dyess AFB, Tex., departed Among his early assignments, Davis they all helped me so much,” she added, for their new home at Little Rock AFB, served as a B-52 instructor pilot. He thanking her classmates and instructors Ark., this fall, as part of Dyess’ ongoing then flew the B-57 during the Vietnam who greeted her after the flight. transition to the C-130J. War from 1967 to 1968, accumulating Rouse “was definitely ready for solo “We’re not only saying goodbye to more than 350 combat hours, according and well-qualified to be the first solo the H models that have had a great to his official service biography. cadet,” said her instructor, Lt. Col. Scott history here for 37 years, but we are Later, Davis led the Air Force Re- Oskvarek, a Reservist with the 70th Flying losing flight engineers and navigators” cruiting Service and became deputy Training Squadron. “I’m extremely proud as well, said Col. Walter H. Ward, Dyess’ chief of staff, personnel. In April 1979, of her accomplishment.” 317th Airlift Group commander. “It’s a he received his fourth star for his ap- bittersweet day.” pointment as commander of Air Train- BACN Bits and WiFi In March 1975, Dyess received ing Command at Randolph AFB, Tex. The Air Force awarded Northrop the first C-130H to roll off Lockheed He then led SAC until his retirement Grumman a $20 million contract to Martin’s assembly line in Marietta, Ga., in August 1985. A maintenance facil- add beyond-line-of-sight command and according to the base. ity at Offutt AFB, Neb., home to SAC control functions to one of its E-11A Capt. Christopher Dorough—son of headquarters, is named in his honor. communications-relay aircraft. the pilot who ferried the first C-130H to Davis is to be interred with full BLOS C2 will allow the Battlefield Air- Dyess—flew the final C-130H to leave military honors at Fort Sam Houston borne Communications Node-equipped the Texas base Sept 26. Lockheed National Cemetery in San Antonio jet to spread “wireless Internet over the Martin delivered the 23rd of Dyess’ early this month. n

26 AIR FORCE Magazine / November 2012