July 2010/$5 Mobility Ups and Downs NATO’s Nuclear Fighters Wild Weasels in Vietnam Project Aquatone © 2009 Lockheed Martin Corporation BETWEEN WORLDWIDE NEED AND WORLDWIDE RESPONSE, THERE IS ONE IMPORTANT WORD: HOW. In a remote area, supplies are desperately needed. Increased range and proven performance lead the C-130J Super Hercules. Supporting troops and disaster victims worldwide is all a question of how. And it is the how that makes all the difference. July 2010, Vol. 93, No. 7 4 Editorial: Superpower No More? 66 Take It Down! The Wild Weasels in By Robert S. Dudney Vietnam The new watchword seems to be By John T. Correll use of soft power to help protect Weasels, using themselves as bait, and preserve vital US interests. cleared a path through the SAMs. 28 The Double Life of Air Mobility 70 CyberPatriot Gets Serious By John A. Tirpak By Peter Grier Airlift generates confidence. Refuel- This time, AFA expects 1,000 high ers generate anxiety. USAF must try schools to square off in search of to reconcile the two. the top prize. 36 Around, and Over, the Horn By Marc V. Schanz 36 Air Forces Africa has picked up the pace of air operations in the conti- nent’s most restive region. 42 Nukes for NATO By Rebecca Grant “Extended deterrence” will go on, and the F-35 fighter will take up the burden. 46 The Front Lines Down South By James Kitfield 62 Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, SOUTHCOM commander, sees www.airforce-magazine.com illicit trafficking networks destabiliz- ing Latin America and threatening 6 Letters 58 US security. 8 Washington Watch 50 Project Aquatone 12 Air Force World Photo Research by Zaur Eylanbekov In the 1950s, the epoch-making U-2 16 Index to Advertisers spyplane was young, promising, and 20 Senior Staff Changes still very, very secret. 24 Chart Page 58 The Little Airlifter That Could 26 Issue Brief By Megan Scully C-27 program changes have put the 34 Verbatim Air Force and Army “on a far more amicable path.” 65 Keeper File 73 AFA National Report 62 Putting the Pilot in the RPAs By John A. Tirpak 76 Unit Reunions Remotely piloted aircraft are big 78 Field Contacts business, but USAF must come up About the cover: A USAF C-17A with the trained people to fly them. 80 Airpower Classics Globemaster III blasts off from a dirt runway. See “The Double Life of Air Mobility,” p. 28. Photo by Kevin White- head/Jetwash Images. AIR FORCE Magazine (ISSN 0730-6784) July 2010 (Vol. 93, No. 7) is published monthly by the Air Force Association, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209-1198. Phone (703) 247-5800. Second-class postage paid at Arlington, Va., and additional mailing offices. Membership Rate: $45 per year; $110 for three-year membership. Life Membership (nonrefundable): $600 single payment, $630 extended payments. Subscription Rate: $45 per year; $29 per year additional for postage to foreign addresses (except Canada and Mexico, which are $10 per year additional). Regular issues $5 each. USAF Almanac issue $8 each. Change of address requires four weeks’ notice. Please include mailing label. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to Air Force Association, 1501 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22209-1198. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Trademark registered by Air Force Association. Copyright 2010 by Air Force Association. 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DIGITAL FILES SPECS. 3C 50K SCREEN ANGLES DOT SHAPE LINE SCREEN DMAX RESOLUTION PDF Live: 14 in. x 10 in. Client: Boeing Line : 2400 YEL MAG CYAN BLK Elliptical 133 280 X-1A 50C 90˚ 45˚ 105˚ 75˚ Graphic : 300 4C 41M Trim: 16-1/4 in. x 10-7/8 in. Proof Reader: 41Y YEL MAG CYN BLK Bleed: 16-3/4 in. x 11-1/8 in. Legal: Production Artist: S. Bowman Traffic Manager: Traci Brown 0 25 50 75 100 Retoucher: Digital Artist: Art Buyer: Vendor: Color Inc. PUBLICATION NOTE: Guideline for general identification only. Do not use as insertion order. Material for this insertion is to be examined carefully upon receipt. If it is deficient or does not comply with your requirements, please contact: Print Production at 310-407-4445. Frontline Communications Partners 1888 Century Park East, Suite 975, Los Angeles, CA 90067 25 50 75 CM 25 50 75 CY 25 50 75 MY 25 50 75 Y 25 50 75 M 25 50 75 C 25 50 75 K 25c17m17y 50c40m40y 75c63m63y Editorial By Robert S. Dudney, Editor in Chief Superpower No More? OST Americans don’t know it, paramount. Obama made this point tary power. More space is given to what Mbut the US has a new national in a recent West Point speech. “At no is called the “real, urgent, and severe” security strategy. It is set down in a time in human history,” he said, “has a danger of climate change. 52-page White House paper, dated nation of diminished economic vitality Only on p. 41, buried under the sub- May 27, which lists US interests and maintained its military and political head “Ensure Strong Alliances,” does ways to protect them. Unfortunately, primacy.” one find a pledge “to ensure that we can the thing instantly calls to mind Dr. Another basic belief concerns the prevail against a wide range of potential Samuel Johnson’s words about the value of talk and treaties in containing adversaries—to include hostile states” epic Paradise Lost: “None ever wished the world nuclear threat. By seeking and to retain “capabilities” needed to it longer than it is.” nuclear arms cuts with Russia, Obama “decisively defeat the forces of hostile The paper has a leaden style, has gotten back on a well-worn liberal regional powers.” composed, according to one critic, When it comes to terrorism, the strat- of “platitudes, wishful thinking, and The new watchword egy builds on the past but departs from self-delusion.” What Mark Twain once seems to be use of soft it in important ways. There is a pledge to said of a certain religious book—“It is “disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda chloroform in print”—applies here, too. power to help protect and its affiliates.” However, the terrorist The bromides and clichés, however, and preserve vital US role played by Iran is barely mentioned. do not totally obscure the paper’s wor- interests. Terms such as “jihadism” or “radical risome substance, which sums up the Islam” do not appear. basic worldview of President Obama track, as he has also done by pushing At this stage in the Obama Adminis- and his Administration. The principal nonproliferation schemes. tration, there really shouldn’t be any ma- theme —possibly unintended—appears The strategy puts great store in jor surprises. The paper, in fact, mostly clear enough: America is no longer a talking to rogue regimes such as North rehashes policies that the President superpower, exactly. Korea and Iran. It says Washington has advocated since before his election The strategy paper is at pains to “will pursue engagement with hostile campaign. note—over and over—that American nations to test their intentions, give It isn’t wholly an academic exercise.