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IN THE NEWS
06 Headline News
US Navy seeks T-45 Goshawk replacement,
carrier review is canceled, and Saab delivers
first GlobalEye
08 News
Our integrated news and analysis
section includes US Marine Corps
F-35B developments, plus all the
latest Military Losses
14 OPS REPORT: HERCS HEAD EAST
Beginning a four-month combat deployment,
the 19th Airlift Wing routed across Europe from
its home at Little Rock AFB as Peter R. Foster
reports
16 SPECIAL REPORT: USAF FOCUS ON THE
FUTURE
Gen Charles Brown, the new US Air Force
Chief of Staff, is focused on plans to increase
squadrons and keep programs on track, as
Jamie Hunter details
42 BOMBER TRIAD FLEXES ITS MUSCLES
Jamie Hunter details how US Air Force strategic
bombers are demonstrating a new approach to
global operations
44 GUARDIANS OF THE LAST FRONTIER —
PART ONE
Rich Cooper heads to Alaska to meet the
personnel of the US Coast Guard, flying in some
of the most demanding conditions on the
planet
52 FROM RUSSIA WITH COMBAT
HELICOPTERS
Piotr Butowski looks at how the Mi-28N
overcame many hurdles before it finally
emerged as the capable attack helicopter we
know today
60 BIG SHOT: ‘AMERICA STRONG’
The US Air Force and US Navy has combined its
respective Thunderbirds and Blue Angels flight
demonstration teams for a series of spectacular
flypasts — known as ‘America Strong’
62 SICILIAN PREDATORS
Peter ten Berg reports from Sigonella on the
operations of the MQ-1 Predators that are
based here and primarily tasked with patrolling
the Mediterranean waters
68 LAST CALL FOR MARINE RESCUE
Joe Copalman joins the end of operations
event for MCAS Yuma’s search and rescue
flight, which marks the end of an era for the
US Marine Corps
3 Contents C.indd 3
INSIDE
July 2020 • Vol 21 • No 7
SUPER HORNET AND GROWLER
20
TRAINING THE EXPERTS
Joe Campion joins VFA-122 ‘Flying Eagles’ — a
huge squadron dedicated to training new
Super Hornet air and ground crews to man the
backbone of US Navy strike fighter operations
30
‘RHINO’ ON THE RISE
While the US Navy has slightly reduced Super
Hornet procurement, the type is taking a major
step ahead with the Block III variant now entering
testing, as Jamie Hunter explains
36
NEW LIFE FOR OLD ‘RHINOS’
Michael Keaveney visits one of Boeing’s Service
Life Modification (SLM) facilities for the Super
Hornet, which is breathing new life into the
oldest airframes, with a plan to concurrently add
new capabilities
ON THE COVER | PAGE 20
In this issue, discover all the
latest news on the Boeing Super
Hornet, illustrated here by an
F/A-18F from VFA-122 at low level
in California. Jamie Hunter
72 MAINSTAY —
RUSSIA’S EYES ON HIGH
Alexander Mladenov details how the Beriev
A-50 is one of the most important assets
in the Russian military. The small fleet is
operating at a high tempo, including the
ongoing Russian campaign in Syria
78 STINGRAY — A CARRIER
AVIATION REVOLUTION
The US Navy’s nascent MQ-25 Stingray
unmanned aerial vehicle promises to be
one of the biggest ever evolutions in carrier
aviation, as Mark Ayton explains
86 MOODY ‘HAWGS’
Active-duty A-10C Thunderbolt II units are
few and far between in the US Air Force.
Henk de Ridder visits the 23rd Fighter Group
at Moody AFB, Georgia, and underscores why
the A-10 remains a potent close air support
aircraft that is here to stay
92 SAAB’S NEW FIGHTER RADAR
Swedish defense giant Saab has unveiled a
brand new fighter radar that has a range of
potential applications, as Jamie Hunter explains
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94 CUTTING EDGE
David Axe’s column looking at the latest
technological developments in military
aerospace
96 FLASHBACK
Combat Aircraft Journal’s trip down
memory lane, this month it’s a pair of
F-4G Phantom IIs
Your Aviation Destination
See
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details IVE
21/05/2020 10:31
 COMBAT EDGE // FIND US ON
CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH
ALEXANDER MLADENOV
A
lexander Mladenov
was born near Sofia in
Bulgaria in 1972 and
has been working
as an aerospace journalist
and photographer since
1991. His articles and photos
have appeared in aerospace
and defense publications
around the world and his
first contribution to Combat
Aircraft Journal dates
04 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
4-5 Combat Edge C.indd 4
back to 2010. He specializes
in East European and Russian
military aviation topics with
a particular interest in the
latest combat fixed-wing and
rotorcraft technology, air-
launched weapons, and combat
employment. He is also a co-
founder and managing partner
of an aerospace and defense
consulting company based in
Sofia, Bulgaria.
21/05/2020 11:28
 DEMONSTRATING RESOLVE
A
S IS THE case in so many
walks of life, the US military
is showing it can adapt and
cope with the global crisis
caused by the COVID-19
pandemic. It is operating
under an official ‘stop move’ for what are
deemed non-essential relocations until
the end of June, such as family moves for
new assignments. However, after an
initial pause, operational deployments
and day-to-day flying are ramping up.
The military is learning how to change
operating procedures in order to cope
with this ‘new normal’.
The US Air Force’s strategic bomber
force has been one of the clearest
indicators of the focus to respond and
adapt. Missions from home bases are
being conducted around the world in
4-5 Combat Edge C.indd 5
addition to larger-scale agile
detachments. Moreover, the US Navy is
spinning up the USS Nimitz battle group
to be ready to deploy. Indeed, Carrier Air
Wing 17’s cruise will include VMFA-323
‘Death Rattlers’, which will mark the final
ever carrier deployment for the
‘legacy’ Hornet.
It’s all an indication of how the military
world has taken stock of the situation
and demonstrated resolve. It has shown
that it can carry on, and that it can
remain that solid, reliable, safeguard. The
effects of COVID-19 aren’t going away
any time soon — so we are in a world
that has to adjust to working in this
difficult new environment.
Keep on top of all the latest breaking
military news and access all of our
digital content at www.Key.Aero
We are able to report that, at time of
going to press, production and
despatch of our magazine is currently
not affected by the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic. We will continue to update
you as best we can should this change.
Some postal services may be delayed.
You can keep in touch with our latest
updates and see what we are doing to
keep distribution as normal as possible
by visiting:
www.keypublishing.com/FAQs
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 05
21/05/2020 11:28
 [NEWS] HEADLINES

US NAVY SEEKS T-45

GOSHAWK REPLACEMENT
NEW TRAINER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LAND OR LAUNCH FROM AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

T
HE US NAVY has begun
its search for a new
jet trainer to support
its Undergraduate Jet
Training System (UJTS)
program to replace the
current Boeing T-45C Goshawk
that is used in the role. A request
for information (RFI) associated
with the program was released
on May 14. The service is seeking
to acquire a non-developmental,
land-based jet trainer by 2028.
Rather than being carrier-capable
like the Goshawk, the new trainer
will be limited to conducting field
carrier landing practice (FCLP) and
shipboard touch-and-go landings.
Both of these missions require
an aircraft capable of high sink-
rate landings.
The navy’s requirements for the
next-generation trainer include a
service life of at least 14,400 flight
hours including 43,200 landings.
Additional requirements include
an operational ceiling of 41,000ft
(12,497m), a top speed in excess
of Mach 0.84 and the capability to
sustain at least 3.1g. Two weapons
pylons will also be needed. The
two-seat aircraft is expected to
fly an average of 400 hours and
conduct 1,200 FCLP landings
and 45 carrier touch-and-go
landings annually.
Likely competitors for the next-
generation trainer program would
include the Boeing-Saab T-7A,
which is being developed for the
USAF, Lockheed Martin’s T-50A,
and Leonardo’s T-100, which are
respectively based on the Korean
Aerospace Industries F/A-50 and
the Leonardo M-346 Master.
The reduced emphasis is likely
facilitated by the Precision Landing
Mode (PLM) type of technology
that has been added to the Super
Hornet. This is a mode in the flight-
control software that is designed
to reduce pilot inputs in the final
phases of approach to the carrier.
It’s one of a number of initiatives
designed to simplify traditional ‘cat
and trap’ carrier operations.

The successor to the T-45 Goshawk will only be able to perform

touch-and-go landings for training aboard US Navy aircraft carriers.
US Navy/MCS3C Kallysta Castillo

06 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

6-7 Headlines C.indd 6 21/05/2020 11:25


CHINESE PHONE NETWORK
THREATENS LAKENHEATH F-35S
CITING THE UK’S planned use of
Chinese technology in its future
5G communications network,
US lawmakers have reportedly
drafted legislation that would
prevent the USAF from basing
48 F-35As at RAF Lakenheath,
Suffolk. The legislation is planned
for inclusion as an amendment
to the 2021 National Defense
Authorization Act. It is seen as
an attempt to reverse Britain’s
The US Navy
currently fields a
fleet of 11 large-deck
aircraft carriers.
US Navy/MCSS
Brennen Easter
CARRIER REVIEW CANCELED
THE US NAVY’S acting secretary
has canceled a planned six-month
study that would have looked at
the future of the aircraft carrier.
Rather than carrying out the
Department of the Navy’s ‘Future
Carrier 2030’ effort, the service will
support an internal Department
of Defense review of future
force structure requirements to
determine the size and structure
of its fleet going forward. The
study will include a review of the
carrier fleet. The DoD is expected
to release its plans for the future
navy force structure in July 2020.
6-7 Headlines C.indd 7
decision to permit Chinese
participation in the development
of the UK’s future 5G network.
The F-35As are scheduled to
begin arriving at Lakenheath in
2021 and work is already under
way at the base to make the
infrastructure compatible with
the Lightning II. Plans call for
stationing two squadrons of
F-35As alongside a second pair
equipped with F-15Es.
The ‘Future Carrier 2030’ Task
Force would have considered
how the fleet’s nuclear-powered
aircraft carriers would have fared,
when pitted against the latest
generation of submarines and
long-range precision weapons
being developed and fielded by
China and Russia. Although the
navy is mandated to maintain
a fleet of 12 aircraft carriers, it
currently has just 11 such ships.
Recent reports indicate that
the number of carriers could be
reduced to as few as nine in the
upcoming DoD review.
SAAB DELIVERS
FIRST GLOBALEYE
SAAB DELIVERED THE first
GlobalEye Swing Role Surveillance
System (SRSS) aircraft to its launch
customer the United Arab Emirates
Air Force on April 29. The UAE has
ordered three GlobalEye aircraft,
with the initial contract signed in
late 2015. In November 2019, it
also announced its intention to
complete a contract amendment
for the purchase of an additional
two aircraft. Micael Johansson,
president and CEO of Saab, said:
‘The delivery of the first GlobalEye is
a major milestone for Saab, but also
an important step in the history of
airborne early warning and control.
We have set a new standard for
the market and I am proud to say
that we have delivered the most
advanced airborne surveillance
solution in the world to the United
Arab Emirates.’
The first GlobalEye that was delivered to the United Arab Emirates. Saab
STINGRAY PRODUCTION APPROVED
THE US NAVY has given approval
for Boeing to begin production
of four engineering development
model (EDM) and three system
demonstration test article (SDTA)
MQ-25A Stingray aircraft. The
approval followed the successful
completion of the program’s
system design review in March that
assessed the technical maturation
of the MQ-25A air vehicle and the
unmanned carrier aviation mission
control system (UMCS). Boeing
received the initial $805-million
contract for four EMD aircraft in
August 2018. An option for the
three SDTA MQ-25As was exercised
on April 2, when Boeing was
awarded an $84.7-million contract
modification. Boeing recently
completed the first phase of flight-
testing with its company-funded
MQ-25 test asset. During testing,
MQ-25 T1 flew nearly 30 hours at
HEADLINES [NEWS]
GlobalEye combines Saab’s
new Erieye Extended Range (ER)
radar and a range of additional
advanced sensors on the ultra-
long range Bombardier Global
6000 aircraft. The delivery came
bang on time and just four-
and-a-half years after contract
announcement. The first delivery
was actually the second aircraft
to be built, registration SE-RMZ,
and it arrived in the UAE to be
welcomed by a team of trained
pilots and system operators.
Saab is eyeing a few further
opportunities for the GlobalEye.
It is included in the offering to
Finland under the HX project,
and the domestic customer
could elect to replace its Saab
340 Erieyes with the GlobalEye.
It is also subject to an ongoing
campaign in South Korea.
various speeds and altitudes. The
air vehicle is currently undergoing
a planned modification period
that will install an aerial refueling
store under the left wing. Flight-
testing will resume later this
year. The Stingray will serve as an
aerial refueling and intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance
platform when it becomes the first
unmanned aircraft integrated into
the carrier air wing.
ALSO
THIS
MONTH...
US Marine F-35Bs
Latest developments from
the squadrons.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 07
21/05/2020 11:26
 [NEWS]
US MARINE CORPS
EVOLVES F-35 SQUADRONS
LATEST-STANDARD LIGHTNINGS DELIVERED TO JAPAN
VMFA-121 ‘Green Knights’
has received latest build-
standard F-35Bs. US Navy/
MC2 Sarah Myers
CANADIAN GRIFFONS WITHDRAWN FROM IRAQ
SEVEN CH-146 HELICOPTERS and
aircrews from the Royal Canadian Air
Force (RCAF) were withdrawn from
Operation ‘Impact’ in Iraq and
redeployed to CFB Petawawa, Ontario
and CFB Edmonton, Alberta. Two
tactical aviation detachments and
around 100 personnel had been
supporting Operation ‘Impact’ in Iraq.
Based in Erbil, four Griffons, operated
by 427 Special Operations Aviation
Squadron, were supporting Canadian
and coalition special operations forces
in northern Iraq. Flight crews and
personnel from 408 Tactical Helicopter
Squadron had been providing utility
lift and transport to NATO Mission Iraq
(NMI) at Camp Taji airfield around 16
miles (30km) north of Baghdad with
three Griffons.
AIR POLICING HANDOVER
THE SPANISH AIR Force assumed
responsibility as the lead unit for
NATO’s Baltic Air Policing (BAP)
mission at Šiauliai air base in
Lithuania on May 1. Four EF-
18Ms deployed from Zaragoza
air base on April 27. The Spanish
detachment is augmented by
Royal Air Force Typhoons from No 6
Squadron, which arrived from RAF
08 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-12 News C.indd 8
M
ARINE FIGHTER
ATTACK squadrons
VMFA-122 and VMFA-
211 recently delivered
eight latest-standard
F-35Bs to the 1st
Marine Aircraft Wing’s (MAW) forward-
deployed VMFA-121 at MCAS Iwakuni,
Japan. Known as the ‘Green Knights’,
the squadron was permanently
relocated from MCAS Yuma, Arizona,
to MCAS Iwakuni in 2017. It became
the first operational F-35B unit in
the USMC in 2012. Its mission as a
forward-deployed squadron in the
US Indo-Pacific Command area of
operations makes it imperative that
the ‘Green Knights’ are equipped with
the most capable systems available.
As a result, the eight new aircraft were
transferred to Japan shortly after
delivery to the marine corps. All were
initially assigned to MCAS Yuma and
placed in the custody of VMFA-122
and VMFA-211, before being moved
forward to Iwakuni.
Meanwhile, in preparation for its
transition to the F-35C, VMFA-251
was temporary deactivated at MCAS
Established in May 2016, the
detachment in Erbil averaged
B-52 SOLICITATION UPDATED
THE US AIR Force Lifecycle The move is part of a plan
around 3,000 flying hours Management Center has released to keep the Stratofortress in
transporting personnel and the formal request for proposals service until 2050 or beyond. GE
equipment throughout the region seeking up to 608 new turbofan Aviation, Rolls-Royce and Pratt &
in support of special forces engines for its B-52H fleet. The Whitney are all expected to offer
annually. The detachment near service plans to replace the engines in response to the USAF
Baghdad stood up in January 2019 eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 requirement. The contractors
to support the Canadian-led turbofans on 76 bombers with have until July 22 to respond to
NATO mission. current-production turbofans. the draft solicitation.
The move was part of a larger
repositioning of Canadian Forces in
the region due to the coronavirus
pandemic. It followed the
suspension of training by Iraqi
Security Forces as COVID-19 spread.
The return of the Griffons, their crew
and Canadian Special Operations
Forces, leaves around 100 Canadian The USAF is finally set to replace the
engines on its B-52H fleet. Jamie Hunter
personnel in theater.
HAWKEYE REFUELING MOVES AHEAD
AIRBORNE COMMAND AND control (CVN 75). The milestone event
Lossiemouth, Scotland, on April
squadron VAW-120 successfully marked the culmination of a test
28. The RAF’s recent deployments
conducted the first fleet aerial and evaluation period that spanned
to the region operated from Ämari
refueling dry-plug certification more than three years and included
air base, Estonia. The Belgian Air
between an E-2D and a refueling over 500 hours of evaluation flight
Component had supported the
pod-equipped Super Hornet on May time developing the Advanced
mission in Lithuania as the lead unit
11. The initial contact was conducted Hawkeye airborne refueling
since September 2019. Operations at
with an F/A-18F operated by strike capability. During the evaluation,
the Estonian base were turned over
fighter squadron VFA-211, which was VAW-120 conducted 39 refueling
to French Air Force Mirage 2000-5F
embarked aboard the Nimitz-class contacts with Super Hornets from
fighters on May 1.
aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman VFA-211 and VFA-81.
21/05/2020 11:10

Beaufort, South Carolina, on April
23. Known as the ‘Thunderbolts’, the
squadron had flown the F/A-18A
and later F/A-18C after flying its final
F-4S mission in November 1985. The
squadron will be reactivated at MCAS
Cherry Point, North Carolina.
Despite promises of an accelerated
capability roadmap, development
delays have extended the F-35’s Block
4 upgrade program by two years,
and increased the associated cost
to $12.1 billion, according to the US
Government Accountability Office.
The original schedule called for the
Block 4 program to be completed
by 2024, but it will now conclude in
2026. An additional $3.4 billion will
be allocated to equip the fleet with
the capabilities. Lockheed Martin
had planned to deliver four of the
Block 4 capabilities for deployment in
2019. Ultimately only the automatic
ground collision avoidance system
entered service.
The US Navy is accelerating the
integration of design changes
and modifications that will
make the future aircraft carrier
USAF CONSIDERS JET-POWERED
LIGHT ATTACK AIRCRAFT
ALTHOUGH THE USAF canceled
the planned acquisition of a light
attack aircraft, the service remains
interested in experimenting with
a low-cost, jet-powered, light
fighter for allied countries. In fact,
the service still plans to ‘continue
to experiment with light attack’,
according to the deputy chief
of staff for plans and programs.
That could leave the door open
F-16 UPGRADES RELEASED
THE USAF RELEASED the latest
software update for the F-16
Operational Flight Program (OFP)
in April 2020. Known as OFP M7.2+,
the program delivers a wide range
of new capabilities to the Block
40/42/50/52 series versions of the
fighter. The $455-million program’s
major capability upgrades include
the addition of the Northrop
Grumman-made AN/APG-83 active
electronically scanned array (AESA)
radar, integration with the AGM-158B
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile
— Extended Range (JASSM-ER)
and an Integrated Communication
8-12 News C.indd 9
USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)
compatible with the F-35C. This
compatibility is mandated by the
US Congress. The vessel is currently
under construction in Newport
News, Virginia.
Under the navy’s original plan,
which was influenced by delays
with the Lightning II and cost caps
on the construction of the first two
ships of the Ford-class, the ship’s
compatibility with the Lightning II
would have been retrofitted after
the carrier became operational.
Under the revised plan, testing of
the modifications will now be carried
out during the ship’s operational
testing phase. Modifications to the
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) will be
carried out during the ship’s first refit
period. The USS Enterprise (CVN 80)
and USS Doris Miller (CVN 81) will be
equipped with the necessary design
changes during construction. The
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl
Vinson (CVN 70) has already received
the required modifications and will
be the first ship to deploy with a
squadron of Lightning IIs.
for further evaluations of the
Textron AirLand Scorpion jet that
was unveiled in 2013 as well as a
development of the Boeing T-7A
Red Hawk.
The Scorpion is a clean-sheet,
twin-engine observation and light
attack aircraft, which participated in
the first round of the USAF’s Light
Attack Experiment in 2017, but was
excluded from subsequent tests.
Suite. The upgrades reduce pilot
workload, enhance close air support
(CAS) weapons accuracy, increase
lethality, and will improve mission
effectiveness rates. Flight-testing
was led by the OFP Combined Test
Force (CTF) at Eglin AFB, Florida, and
included more than 4,200 sorties
and 4,600 flight hours. The CTF is
composed of personnel from both
Air Combat Command and Air Force
Materiel Command. The USAF says
it wants to move towards software
upgrades such as these being
available to be sent to the aircraft in
flight as a future ambition.
FIRST STRATOTANKER ‘NUKE
SNIFFER’ CONVERSION UNDER WAY
L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES HAS
begun converting the first of three
KC-135Rs to WC-135R ‘Constant
Phoenix’ configuration at its
Greenville, Texas, facility in May. The
$218-million conversion will install
specialized equipment designed to
detect radiation in the atmosphere.
The modifications equip the aircraft
with dual fuselage-mounted sensor
pods that contain filters designed
to capture particles discharged
by a nuclear detonation blast or
accident. The samples are directed
into storage devices by onboard
compressors for subsequent study.
In addition to installing the special
equipment, the conversion will
remove the KC-135R’s refueling
boom, plus avionics and flight
systems will be upgraded to the
same configuration as the wing’s
RC-135V/W Rivet Joint and RC-135S
Cobra Ball aircraft.
C-2A BuNo 162142 conducted its final flight prior to
retirement at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on March
19. The Greyhound was one of 39 delivered to the US
Navy. US Navy/Erik Hildebrandt
‘OLD GAL’ RETIRED
AIR TEST AND evaluation
squadron VX-20 conducted
a final flight with C-2A BuNo
162142 on March 19 at NAS
Patuxent River, Maryland. The
Greyhound’s final flight marked
the end of its 28-year career as
a flying testbed. Delivered in
1985, the Greyhound was the
third of 39 C-2A carrier onboard
delivery (COD) aircraft produced
by Grumman Aerospace. It was
assigned to VX-20’s predecessor
the Force Aircraft Test Squadron
in 1992 and had served as a test
article ever since. One of its most
recent assignments saw the C-2A
support land and carrier-based
testing of the Electromagnetic
Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)
and Advanced Arresting Gear
(AAG) that equip the Ford-class
[NEWS]
The project is managed by the
USAF’s 645th Aeronautical Systems
Group (645th AESG — also known
as ‘Big Safari’) at Wright-Patterson
AFB, Ohio. The WC-135R conversion
is expected to take around 24
months and the first aircraft (serial
64-14826) is scheduled for delivery
in 2022. Work on the second and
third WC-135R conversions will
begin in 2021 with deliveries
following in 2023.
The new variants are intended as
replacements for a WC-135C and a
WC-135W, currently operated by the
55th Wing’s 45th Reconnaissance
Squadron at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
Unlike the RC-135s and KC-135Rs,
the WC-135C/Ws retain the
original Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-9
or P-5 turbofan engines and are
among the few Stratolifter variants
still equipped with these aging
powerplants.
aircraft carriers. During its final
detachment aboard the USS
Gerald R. Ford (CVN 79) the
Greyhound, which the squadron
referred to as the ‘Old Gal’, flew for
11 days straight and made around
40 catapult launches and arrested
recoveries plus 50 touch-and-go
landings. In addition to testing, it
performed several logistics flights
back to land bases. Following
its retirement, the Greyhound
was prepared for display at the
Patuxent River Naval Air Museum.
Retirement of the C-2A preceded
the start of the navy’s transition
of the COD mission from the
fixed-wing Greyhound to the
CMV-22B tiltrotor. The reprocured
Greyhounds replaced 19 earlier
C-2As that were delivered
between 1966 and 1967.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 09
21/05/2020 11:11
 [NEWS]
LOYAL WINGMAN ROLLED OUT
AUSTRALIAN PROGRAM MOVES AHEAD
OPEN SKIES TESTING UNDER WAY
BOMBERS IN EUROPE
A 28th Bomb Wing B-1B flies in formation with a Royal Danish Air Force
ALTHOUGH THE USAF still has
plans to replace the aircraft, one
F-16AM during a Bomber Task Force Europe training mission, on May 5, of two OC-135B Open Skies Treaty
2020. The long-range, long-duration Bomber Task Force mission was
conducted to support interoperability training with Danish fighter aircraft surveillance aircraft is currently being
and Estonian joint terminal attack controllers. Royal Danish Air Force tested after being outfitted with a new
digital camera suite that replaced its
earlier film cameras. The Digital Visual
Imaging System (DVIS) upgrade is
expected to be completed on both
OC-135Bs by February 2021 at a cost
of $43.9 million.
The DVIS includes four high-
altitude and four low-altitude digital
cameras, camera bay gimbals, new
digital sensor operator workstations,
and equipment racks developed
by KIHOMAC. The project includes
upgrades to the Open Skies Media
Processing Facility at Wright-Patterson
AFB, Ohio.
OC-135B serial 61-2672 was
reportedly the first to receive the DVIS.
SUPER HORNET MILESTONES
THE US NAVY accepted the last
Block II Super Hornet on April
QUADRIGA EUROFIGHTER
Photographed in May at Germany’s Nörvenich air base, Luftwaffe
17. The final example, the 332nd
F/A-18E produced, was delivered
to strike fighter squadron VFA-34 at
Eurofighter 31+49 (GS0109) had received special Quadriga/Tranche 4
markings ahead of its planned appearance at the now-canceled ILA NAS Oceana, Virginia.
Berlin airshow. The markings refer to the planned purchase of new Block II Super Hornet deliveries
Eurofighters to replace the Luftwaffe’s early Tranche 1 examples. began in 2005 — they were the
Michael Balter
first variant to feature the AN/
10 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-12 News C.indd 10
B
OEING ROLLED OUT
the first unmanned
Loyal Wingman
aircraft in Sydney,
Australia, on May 5.
The aircraft, which
uses artificial intelligence
to extend the capabilities
of manned and unmanned
platforms, is the first of three
prototypes for Australia’s
Loyal Wingman Advanced
Development Program. It is the
first aircraft to be designed,
engineered and manufactured in
Australia in more than 50 years.
It also serves as the foundation
for Boeing’s Airpower Teaming
System (ATS), which is being
developed for the global defense
market. Once ground testing is
completed, the Loyal Wingman
prototype will carry out taxi test.
Its first flight is expected to occur
in late 2020.
The second OC-135B, which carries
the serial number 61-2670, will receive
the new equipment once operational
testing is completed and the first is
returned to operational service with
the 55th Wing’s 45th Reconnaissance
Squadron at Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
At this time, it remains unclear
whether a replacement aircraft
will actually be purchased. Citing
numerous violations of the 34-nation
Open Skies Treaty by the Russians
and alleged covert activities,
President Trump and elected officials
are understood to be making moves
to exit the program. Additionally,
experts believe that the surveillance
capabilities of US satellites are able
to provide the same quality of
intelligence as the manned aircraft.
The USAF awarded the contract to
KIHOMAC in 2016.
APG-79 active electronically
scanned array (AESA) radar
and its advanced crew station
incorporated new displays, and
the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing
System (JHMCS).
A full report on US Navy Super
Hornet programs appears in
this issue.
21/05/2020 11:12

UPGRADED BLACK HAWK NEARS SERVICE
WORK ON THE first two updated
UH‑60V helicopters is nearing
completion at the US Army’s Corpus
Christi Army Depot in Texas. The Black
Hawks are the first of 72 UH-60Ls
that will be upgraded during the Low
Rate Initial Production phase over
five years. The aircraft are expected to
complete flight-testing by September.
The upgraded ‘Victor’ models will be
delivered to the US Army National
Guard and the first unit is expected
to be fully equipped in Fiscal Year
2021. The UH-60V program provides
the UH-60L model with a digital Pilot
Vehicle Interface that is comparable to
the UH-60M.
CANADIAN FIGHTER
DEADLINE EXTENDED
THE DEADLINE FOR
competitors to submit
proposals for the Royal
Canadian Air Force fighter
competition has been
extended to July 31 by Public
Service and Procurement
Canada. Submission for the
Future Fighter Capability
Project was extended by one
month due to disruptions
caused by the coronavirus
pandemic. The Future Fighter
Capability Project will provide
the RCAF with 88 aircraft that
will replace its aging fleet of
CF-188 Hornets. Companies
that are offering aircraft for
the program include Saab,
Boeing and Lockheed Martin,
which are putting forward
the Gripen E, F/A-18E/F and
the F-35A respectively. The
government expects to
release a contract for the new
fighter in 2022 with deliveries
following in 2025.
Although the Canadian
government has participated
in the US Joint Strike Fighter
program since 1997, it has not
ordered the Lightning II, citing
the aircraft’s cost. It recently
delivered a final $70.1-million
payment to the program to
bring its total investment to
$541 million. As a result of
that participation, Canadian
companies have received more
than $1.8 billion in contracts.
8-12 News C.indd 11
Three Engineering Development
Model (EDM) UH-60V Black Hawks
completed the army’s initial
operational test and evaluation phase,
in September 2019. Testing of the new
digital cockpit was carried out by the
16th Combat Aviation Brigade’s 2nd
Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment
under realistic operational conditions
at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the
Yakima Training Center in Washington.
The UH-60V upgrade replaces
the UH-60L’s analog cockpits with
a new electronic flight information
system (EFIS) that includes a mission
computer, four ‘glass’ multifunction
displays and an open architecture for
IN BRIEF
Draco retirement plans
The US Special Operations
Command (SOCOM) plans to retire
its U-28A Draco fleet as the planned
Armed Overwatch close air support
aircraft enters service with Air Force
Special Operations Command
(AFSOC). Aircrew and support
personnel will be transferred to
the new platform. Its planned
acquisition includes 75 aircraft that
will serve as a light observation and
attack platform and be tasked to
support small special forces teams
operating in remote areas.
SOCOM plans to begin acquisition
of the Armed Overwatch aircraft
after it selects a winning platform in
April 2021. AFSOC currently operates
28 Pilatus PC-12 single-engine
turboprops under the designation
U-28A. Acquired beginning in
2006, the Dracos are equipped
with an electro-optical /infrared
sensor and intelligence and tactical
communications capabilities.
USAF orders third A-29
The USAF has added a third A-29B to
its contract with the Sierra Nevada
Corporation (SNC) for delivery to
the US Air Force Special Operations
Command. The Super Tucanos will
support the command’s Combat
Aviation Advisor mission. The service
had previously ordered two A-29Bs
at a cost of $129 million in February
2020. Embraer has begun assembly
of the first two light attack trainers
at its Jacksonville, Florida, facility.
the mission systems software that
provides greater mission flexibility and
supports rapid upgrades. Additionally,
it provides the Black Hawk with
upgraded navigation functionality
that meets Global Air Traffic
Management (GATM) requirements.
The army plans to upgrade 760
UH-60Ls to the UH-60V configuration
at a cost of around $7.1 million each.
The first low rate initial production
helicopters were funded in Fiscal
Year 2018 and inductions at the
Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD)
began in January 2019. Delivery of
the initial LRIP UH-60V is expected by
the end of May. Full rate production
All three Super Tucanos will be
delivered in 2021. The SNC/Embraer
team plans to offer the A-29B for
US Special Operations Command’s
Armed Overwatch contract.
Training helicopter issue resolved
The US Government Accountability
Office (GAO) denied a formal
protest by Airbus over the US
Navy’s selection of Leonardo’s
model AW119 as its new Advanced
Helicopter Training System. The
decision clears the way for Leonardo
to begin development of the TH-
73A. Leonardo was selected as the
winner of the $648-million program
in January 2020. The service plans
to procure 130 TH-73As to replace
its fleet of TH-57B/C Sea Rangers
with deliveries scheduled to begin
this year.
ATAC contract extended
The US Navy plans to extend its
contract with Textron’s Airborne
Tactical Advantage Company
(ATAC) to provide adversary air
support for another year before it
seeks competitive bids. The navy’s
Contracted Air Services program
released a notice on April 10 that
it will extend ATAC’s contract on
a sole-source basis. The move will
allow the service to conduct a
competition and select a winner in
the first quarter of FY 2021. In related
news, ATAC received an indefinite
delivery, indefinite quantity contract
to provide contracted air services
to the US Navy’s Terminal Attack
Controller Trainer (TACT) program.
The ATAC team will use its aircraft
[NEWS]
will initially include 24 aircraft in
FY2021, but will increase to 36
in FY2022. The first of three EDM
UH-60Vs flew in January 2017 and
the army’s Redstone Test Center
and aviators from the 82nd Combat
Aviation Brigade conducted a
Limited User Test (LUT) in July
2018 with two helicopters. Prior
to receiving the UH-60V work,
each airframe is recapitalized to
Block 30 configuration by the
CCAD. That effort extends the
airframe for an additional 10 years
of service. The EDM UH-60Vs had
not been recapitalized prior to
upgrade. Follow-on operational
test and evaluation (FOT&E) will be
conducted in FY 2021 using fully
recapitalized UH-60Vs.
to replicate typical attack and
close support missions, for training
ground-based forward air controllers
(FAC) and joint terminal attack
controllers (JTAC) that hones their
ability to direct operations in a range
of operational scenarios.
Fire Scout radar evaluation
The US Navy and Northrop
Grumman recently began flight-
testing of the Leonardo AN/ZPY-8
active electronically scanned array
(AESA) search radar installed on
an unmanned MQ-8C rotorcraft.
Installation of the Osprey radar,
which is capable of simultaneously
employing multiple modes,
significantly increases Fire Scout’s
ability to detect and track targets.
Flight-testing is being conducted by
air test and evaluation squadron UX-
24 at NAS Patuxent River’s Webster
Field Annex in Maryland. Northrop
Grumman has delivered 32 of the
navy’s planned fleet of 38 MQ-8Cs,
which are based on Bell’s model 407
helicopters. The MQ-8C achieved
initial operational capability in
June 2019 and will make its first
deployment in 2021.
Idaho A-10s head east
The Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th
Fighter Wing began a deployment
to Southwest Asia on May 11.
Pilots and A-10Cs from the 190th
Expeditionary Fighter Squadron
departed Boise Airport-Gowen Field
the following day. While deployed,
the A-10Cs will support Operations
‘Freedom’s Sentinel’, ‘Inherent
Resolve’ and ‘New Normal’.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 11
21/05/2020 11:12
 [NEWS]
SWITZERLAND EXTENDS AIR2030 DEADLINE

CITING THE COVID-19 pandemic,
the Swiss government’s defense
materiel agency extended the
deadline for potential bidders
to deliver their proposals for the
$8.27-billion Air2030 program.
The program includes both fighter
aircraft and extended-range
ground-based air defense systems.
Responses to the request for
proposals were due by August,
but Armasuisse has extended that
RECENT LOSSES
deadline to November 2020. Air2030
will replace the Swiss Air Force’s fleet
of F-5E and F/A-18C/D fighters with a
single combat aircraft. Four fighters
are currently vying for the contract.
They comprise the Eurofighter
• A USAF F-35A assigned to the was destroyed in a hard landing at
Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, the
58th Fighter Squadron crashed San Angelo Regional Airport-Mathis
F/A-18E/F and F-35A, which were
upon landing at Eglin AFB, Florida, Field, Texas, on May 15. The Predator
all evaluated in Switzerland in mid-
on May 19. The aircraft came down B had been assigned to the CBP Air
2019. The government is expected
at roughly 2130hrs local time. and Marine Operations’ National
to purchase 36-40 fighters at a cost
The pilot successfully ejected Air Security Operations Center–San
of $6.2 billion.
and was transported to the 96th Angelo.
Medical Group for evaluation and

M-345 TRAINER CERTIFIED

LEONARDO HAS RECEIVED
military certification from the
Italian Ministry of Defence’s
Directorate for Air Armaments
and Airworthiness for its M-345 jet
trainer. Receipt of the certification
is a major milestone in advance of
the M-345’s introduction to service
with the Italian Air Force. Initially
known as the High Efficiency
Trainer (HET), the M-345 is an
evolutionary development of the
earlier SIAI-Marchetti S.211 jet
trainer. The trainer was known
as the M-311 after the rights
The first of two MV-22Bs for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
arrived in Japan at MCAS Iwakuni on May 8. USMC/Sgt Akeel Austin
to the aircraft were purchased
monitoring. • An Indian Air Force MiG-
29UPG crashed under unknown
• Royal Canadian Air Forces circumstances on May 8. The pilot
by Aermacchi. In addition to a
CT-114 serial 114161 operated ejected safely before the fighter
redesigned forward fuselage,
by the 431 Air Demonstration came down near Benkovac in
Leonardo modified the trainer’s
Squadron Snowbirds crashed in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab.
engine intakes, improving airflow
Kamloops, British Columbia, about
to the Williams FJ44-4M-34
150 miles (241km) northeast of • An Mi-35 helicopter operated by
turbofan that replaced the S.211’s
Vancouver on May 17. The mishap the Russian Aerospace Forces
Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5C. Its
occurred shortly after a pair of crashed in the Dzhankoi area of
upgraded avionics system is based
Tutors departed from Kamloops northern Crimea on May 7. The
on Leonardo’s M-346 trainer.
Airport. The Snowbirds display pilot was killed and two crew were
The Italian Air Force ordered
team was scheduled to conduct seriously injured in the crash.
13 M-345s in June 2019 and is
a flyover of the Okanagan area
expected to purchase 45 trainers • Beechcraft B55 serial FAB-051
as part of a salute to Canadians
as replacements for its current fleet (c/n TC-1388) operated by the
and frontline workers during the
of MB-339s. Bolivian Air Force crashed around
COVID-19 pandemic. Although the
pilot ejected and suffered serious 5.4nm (10km) from Trinidad, in
injuries, the team’s public affairs southeastern Bolivia, on May 2. The
officer was killed in the crash. Baron was attempting to return
to Teniente Jorge Henrich Arauz
• A USAF F-22A assigned to the Airport after experiencing engine
325th Fighter Wing’s 43rd Fighter problems. Two pilots and four
Squadron at Eglin AFB, Florida, Spanish passengers were killed.
crashed just north of the base on
May 15. The pilot ejected safely • CH-148 serial 148822 (c/n 925022)

JAPANESE OSPREYS ARRIVE

THE FIRST TWO MV-22Bs for the
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
(JGSDF) arrived at MCAS Iwakuni
in Yamaguchi Prefecture on May
8, when serials 91701 and 91705
were off-loaded from the vehicle
carrier ship MV Green Lake. The
Ospreys will undergo inspections
and testing by US Marine Corps
personnel before being handed
before the Raptor came down on
the Eglin Test and Training Range
operated by the Royal Canadian
Air Force’s 423 Maritime Helicopter
around 12 miles (19.3km) northeast Squadron crashed in the Ionian
over to the JGSDF and flown to
of the main base. The pilot had Sea on April 29. The Cyclone had
Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture
been conducting a training sortie been operating from the Canadian
in late June or early July. Japanese
with F-35As from the 33rd Fighter Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS
pilots are undergoing training
Wing’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Fredericton (FH337), when it went
with the marine medium tiltrotor
down around 50nm (85km) west of
training squadron VMMT-204 at
• An unmanned US Customs and the Greek island of Kefalonia, killing
MCAS New River in Jacksonville,
Border Protection (CBP) MQ-9 all six crew.
North Carolina.

APACHE AND VIPER SALE APPROVED FORMATION T-38 LANDINGS HALTED

THE US DEFENSE Security Cooperation
Agency (DSCA) has given its approval
to the possible Foreign Military
Sale of six AH-1Z or AH-64E attack
helicopters to the Philippines. The
potential $450-million Viper package
includes six AGM-114 Hellfire missiles,
26 70mm Advanced Precision Kill
Weapon System (APKWS) rockets and
associated defensive aids. The AH-64E
package is worth around $1.5 billion
and includes 200 Hellfires and 1,700
APKWS rockets along with 200 Stinger
air-to-air missiles. The Apache package
provides fire-control radars and
manned/unmanned teaming systems
for UAS control. It remains unclear why
there is such a difference between
the two options. Manila is considering
the AH-64E and AH-1Z as well as the
Turkish Aerospace T129 ATAK to fulfill
its attack helicopter requirement.
In the aftermath of a crash that
killed an instructor and student
pilot at Vance AFB, Oklahoma,
on November 21, 2019, the
Air Education and Training
Command has halted formation
landings with the T-38C.
The command directed the
suspension of formation landing
training during undergraduate
pilot training on March 5. The
crash, which involved T-38C
serials 65-0395 and 67-4590 from
the 71st Flying Training Wing’s
25th Flying Training Squadron,
occurred when the Talons
suffered a collision during a
formation landing.

12 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

8-12 News C.indd 12 21/05/2020 11:13

013_CAM_JUL20_ad.indd 1 20/05/2020 11:40:28
 OPS REPORT // 19TH AIRLIFT WING

HERCS
HEAD EAST
T
Beginning a four-month combat deployment, the 19th Airlift HE 19TH AIRLIFT Wing from
Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, has
Wing routed across Europe from its home at Little Rock AFB. taken the unusual move of
deploying nine of its Lockheed
REPORT Peter R. Foster with Jamie Hunter Martin C-130J-30 Hercules
into combat operations via
the UK. Over a 10-day period, the aircraft
— drawn from all three squadrons in
the wing: the 41st Airlift Squadron (AS),
the 61st AS, and the 62nd AS — routed
across the US, then night-stopped in
Bangor, Maine, before heading east
across the Atlantic for Ramstein Air Base,
Germany. The aircraft made fuel stops
in Goose Bay, Labrador, and then RAF

14 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

14-15 C-130 C.indd 14 20/05/2020 16:06

 Mildenhall, UK. From Ramstein they
continued eastwards with a further fuel
stop in Souda Bay, Crete.
The aircraft arrived at RAF Mildenhall in
flights of three and were on the ground
for roughly an hour before continuing
onwards to Germany. The first batch
arrived on May 7 and they were all from
the 61st AS. The second wave arrived on
May 9. The final three aircraft, from the
41st AS, descended on the Suffolk base
early on May 11.
The 61st AS, along with its sister
units, recently completed the first
Below: The
iteration of a new 4/12 deployment
19th Airlift Wing
from Little Rock initiative. Developed in 2019 between
AFB, Arkansas, airlift squadrons from Dyess AFB,
deployed nine
Texas, and Little Rock, the initiative as a unit. Just as important, our families environment to already be in place before
C-130J-30
Hercules allows each squadron a full year of that remain at home will progress we set foot downrange.’
into combat dwell time followed by a four-month through life changes in parallel, which The final preparations for the four-
operations in May.
rotation to their respective area of lends to a positive support structure.’ month deployment coincided with the
Peter R. Foster
responsibility (AOR). Lt Col Donald Hudson, 19th Aircraft outbreak of the coronavirus, which forced
Right: The 61st In a USAF media release, Maj Gregory Maintenance Unit commander, the unit to adapt its plans, but as Caylor
AS is operating
Caylor, 61st AS director of operations, commented: ‘The opportunity to deploy said: ‘In the end, through the dedication
under the 4/12
deployment said: ‘Unit cohesion is vital when with members of other units from the 19th and focused effort, we were able to meet
initiative, which deployed to combat environments. Airlift Wing gives us a tactical advantage and exceed all of our deployment training
allows a squadron
Rather than deployments in the past, during this deployment. We have been requirements.’ A media release said the
a full year of dwell
time followed where squadrons were fragmented training hand-in-hand with these units. unit will ‘put to the test [its] expeditionary
by a four-month from multiple deployments that did The fact we get to deploy with airmen skills and support contingency operations
rotation to its
not overlap, we finally had the ability who we have already been working by providing rapid global mobility to
respective area
of responsibility to build unit cohesion. We spun up as a with allows for the communication and remote, austere, and distributed locations
(AOR). USAF unit, deployed as a unit, and will return teamwork that is essential in a deployed in contested environments’.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 15

14-15 C-130 C.indd 15 20/05/2020 16:08

 FOCUS T
HE SELECTED INCOMING Chief
of Staff of the US Air force, Gen
Charles ‘CQ’ Brown appeared
before the Senate Armed
Services Committee on May

ON
7 and in doing so expressed
his support for the broad aims that were
set out on the National Defense Strategy
(NDS) of 2018: ‘I am committed to the air
force achieving irreversible momentum
Bottom: Through-
towards implementation of the National
life sustainment

THE
Defense Strategy and an integrated costs continue
and more lethal joint force,’ he told to be a major
concern for the
senators during a hearing to consider his
USAF leadership.
nomination as the new USAF chief. That USAF/A1C Valerie
includes the headline aim of growing the Seelye
service to 386 squadrons — an ambitious

FUTURE
Below: Gen
increase of 74 squadrons in terms of Charles Brown
overall USAF strength by 2030. was nominated
as the new USAF
That vision was laid out by the current
chief to succeed
USAF chief Gen David Goldfein and former Gen David
Secretary of the USAF Heather Wilson in Goldfein. USAF

Gen Charles Brown, the new US Air

Force Chief of Staff, is focused on
plans to increase squadrons and
keep programs on track.

REPORT Jamie Hunter

16 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

16-18 USAF new direction C.indd 16 20/05/2020 16:03

 September 2018 to address a relentless
operational tempo, stretched squadrons
and fatigued personnel. The air force
hierarchy says the increase is necessary to
counter growing threats from China and
Russia and is what the USAF requires in
order to cover its range of missions.
It’s designed to evolve the USAF from an
organization that has an operational focus
on tackling insurgency in the Middle East
to one that is prepared for a ‘great power
competition’. In September 2018, Wilson
said: ‘The [National] Defense Strategy tells
us that we need to be able to defend the
16-18 USAF new direction C.indd 17
homeland, provide a credible nuclear
deterrent and win against a major power
while countering a rogue nation, all while
Above: The stated managing violent extremists with a lower
ambition included level of effort. Our operational squadrons
in the vision for are the combat power of the air force; they
‘The Air Force We
Need’. USAF are the clenched fist of American resolve.
We have 312 operational squadrons
Below: today. The ‘Air Force We Need’ has 386
Recapitalizing an
aging fleet such operational squadrons by 2030.’
as the KC-135R The USAF has faced a series of critical
is a costly and problems in recent years, not least a
drawn-out
process. USAF/ chronic pilot shortage and poor mission
SrA Philip Bryant capable rates. The latter was so serious
that former US Secretary of Defense
Jim Mattis issued an edict that four key
tactical aircraft types needed to raise their
mission capable rates above 80 per cent
by the end of September 2019. Specifically
targeted were the F-16, F/A-18, F-22 and
F-35. While the US Navy met its goal for
the Super Hornet, the USAF struggled.
Indeed, Gen Brown said the USAF has
now abandoned the mission capable rate
targets for these aircraft: ‘The office of the
Secretary of Defense determined the Fiscal
Year 2019 80 per cent mission capable rate
initiative is not an FY2020 requirement,’
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 17
20/05/2020 16:04
 SPECIAL REPORT // USAF CHIEF OF STAFF
he said in a written testimony sent to
the US Armed Services Committee
and released on May 7. The policy has
now been amended to allow individual
commands to set availability rates based
on operational requirements.
The USAF was always going to struggle
to meet the target for the F-22 and F-35,
and in July 2019 the US Department of
Defense warned that the two would fail
to hit 80 per cent, but that F-16s would.
In reality, Gen Brown said that the F-16
hit 75 per cent in June 2019, the F-35 was
next at 74 per cent by September 2019,
with the F-22 languishing at a 68 per cent
high in April 2019. However, he added
that between April 2018 and February
2020, overall readiness had increased by
16 per cent.
Gen Brown underscored the problems
of maintaining a fleet of aging aircraft,
while new, advanced weapon systems
‘present their own challenges,’ he said. ‘We
developed and are now implementing
a Strategic Sustainment Framework that
will both improve materiel readiness
and set the conditions for long-term
cost reduction by developing multiple
sources of supply, enhancing our repair
network capabilities, and capitalizing on
conditions-based maintenance, plus other
commercial best practices.’
Air force equipment priorities
Gen Brown is a pilot with more than
2,900 flying hours, primarily in the F-16,
18 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
16-18 USAF new direction C.indd 18
I am committed to the air force achieving
irreversible momentum towards implementation
of the National Defense Strategy and an integrated and
more lethal joint force
Gen Charles Brown
including 130 combat hours. He faces
the perennial problem of maintaining
legacy fleets while introducing new
aircraft. Headline priorities continue
to be the development of the new
Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider
stealth bomber and introduction of the
Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker. Brown
also referred directly to controlling
sustainment costs associated with the
Lockheed Martin F-35A.
In response to a question from Senator
Angus King about the need to ‘pay close
attention’ to ensuring development
of the B-21 remains on time and on
budget, and for resolving on-going
problems with the KC-46 to avoid
‘massive overruns and delays’, Brown
replied: ‘Senator, that is exactly my
goal if confirmed, to ensure they stay
on track.’
Brown discussed support for efforts to
modernize the USAF acquisition process
and resolve to forge strong relations
with aerospace companies. He said: ‘For
me personally, building a relationship
with the CEO of Boeing so we can have
frank dialogue, particularly if it gets off
track, with the goal to keep it on track so
we can get it in the hands [of airmen] as
quickly as possible.’
Brown is set to pick up where Gen
Goldfein leaves, facing a stated goal
of 386 squadrons, retaining quality
personnel, and the need to control
complex modernization efforts: ‘I
expect there will be tough decisions
regarding legacy programs and future
modernization. If confirmed, I would
continue carefully considered risk A B-1B Lancer
assessments balancing the air force’s moves in for
fuel from a
support to current combatant command
KC-46 Pegasus
requirements while investing in during trials
capabilities that prepare us for future from Edwards
AFB, California,
competition, conflicts, and challenges,’
recently. USAF/
Gen Brown said. Don Allen
20/05/2020 16:04
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Combat Key Aero fp.indd 19 20/05/2020 14:19

 Low-altitude tactical training
(LATT) is an important phase of the
course at VFA-122, evidenced here
as an ‘Expert’ F/A-18F gets down in
the canyons in the R-2508 training
area to the east of Lemoore.

20 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 20 20/05/2020 16:00

 VFA-122 ‘Flying Eagles’ is a huge squadron dedicated to training new
Super Hornet air and ground crews to man the backbone of US Navy
strike fighter operations.

REPORT AND PHOTOS Joe Campion

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 21

20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 21 20/05/2020 16:00

 SUPER HORNET // US NAVY TRAINING
T
HE BOEING SUPER Hornet is
the bedrock of US Navy strike
fighter squadrons. Seeing as
the Super Hornet fleet is larger
than most entire air forces in
the world, the job of training
aircrews is a massive undertaking. The
navy’s two Fleet Replacement Squadrons
(FRS) tasked with underpinning the
F/A-18E/F force include one located
on the east coast of the US, and one
on the west. At NAS Oceana, Virginia, is
VFA‑106 ‘Gladiators’, whereas in California,
VFA‑122 ‘Flying Eagles’ operates from NAS
Lemoore, in dead-flat farming country to
the north of Bakersfield.
VFA-122’s mission is to train both
brand-new and returning aviators and
maintainers on the ‘Rhino’, feeding them
through to the front-line fleet squadrons.
Students are split into three categories on
joining the FRS: newly winged aviators
who have recently completed fast jet
training in the T-45 Goshawk (category
I); aviators transitioning from one type of
aircraft to another, including exchange
pilots from other air arms (category
II); or naval aviators returning to the
cockpit after a period of non-flying duties
(category III).
22 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 22
Each day, scores of VFA-122 missions to grips with the Raytheon AN/APG-79
This image:
launch from Lemoore to make the best advanced electronically scanned array ‘Expert’
use of the wealth of surrounding training (AESA) radar through academics and instructors — an
airspace. Each formation typically uses live practical sessions consisting of evocative shot
on the flight
the squadron radio callsign ‘Expert’. intercepting aircraft that are co-operative line at Lemoore
and flying in a predictable manner. as staff from
Big fleet, big squadron On completion of this conversion VFA-122 prepare
for a night ‘go’
Being a training squadron, VFA-122 follows (convex) phase comes ‘strike’, with a clear with a T-34C
the typical trend of being far larger in focus on air-to-ground missions. This ready to roll in the
scale than the norm, with 250 enlisted begins with what are known as ‘circle background.
personnel, 59 officers and 69 students the wagons’ flights, as many as four Right top to
making use of 44 jets. These figures make aircraft — a division — operating in a bottom:
it one of the largest individual squadrons bombing pattern, circling a dive target on The busy flight
line at VFA-122, a
in any air arm. Every six weeks, between the ground. Students learn both 15 and huge squadron
eight and 12 pilots and naval flight 30˚ dive-bombing mechanics, dropping in terms both of
officers (NFOs) arrive through the doors of unguided weapons from the Super Hornet personnel and
jets.
VFA‑122 to form a class that will complete including Mk76 practice bombs, which are
the training syllabus. They essentially learn used to simulate Mk80-series weapons. As students
how to fly and fight in the Super Hornet in These are basic weapons employment progress through
the course they
multiple scenarios — air-to-air and air-to- profiles, with attacks from low altitude, increasingly fly
surface, both by day and night, including popping up and pulling into a dive the single-seat
aircraft carrier qualifications. attack. This leads into strafing with the F/A-18E if they
are destined for
The nine-month syllabus is split into 20mm M61 gun. a single-seat
phases and varies in complexity for This phase culminates with ‘live day’, squadron.
students in those different categories. where the students are able to employ
A pilot gives the
It kicks off with a familiarization phase, live ordnance on the range, typically Super Hornet’s
where they learn the basics of flying flying on the wing of an instructor. This is twin General
the Super Hornet, such as low-level and repeated at night. Once students master Electric F414
engines a ‘tap’
formation flying. Next up, it’s the all strike flying as a single-ship, section of reheat at low
weather intercept (AWI) phase, getting (pairs) and multi-aircraft tactics follow in level.
20/05/2020 16:00
 www.Key.Aero // July 2020 23

20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 23 20/05/2020 16:00

 SUPER HORNET // US NAVY TRAINING
what are known as ‘shift attacks’, with
the instructors and students working
together. These basics of weaponeering
are brought into real-life scenarios and
applications, such as flying close air
support (CAS). This sees the students
being required to strike emerging
targets within a 10-second window.
The objective is to make both the
pilots and weapons systems officers
(WSOs) comfortable in the cockpit, and
able to employ the Super Hornet in
a range of dynamic scenarios. In fact,
these particular flights are considered
to be among the most demanding on
the course, due to the range of skills the
students must bring together.
Following the unguided weapons
phase, trainees learn about using smart
weapons. These comprise both GPS and
laser-guided bombs, principally using
LGTRs (laser-guided training rounds),
which simulate GBU-12 Paveway IIs.
Students are taught how to lase their
own weapons and buddy-lase for
another aircraft. Much of this work is
conducted in the simulator, especially
the art of using GPS-guided Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAMs), as these are
too expensive to employ live. The entire
‘strike’ phase concludes with a capstone
exercise, using smart weapons in a
realistic CAS scenario.
24 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 24
‘FLYING
EAGLES’
THROUGH
THE AGES
The history of VFA-122 goes back to
1950 and VC-35, an A-1 Skyraider
composite squadron with a mission to
supply all-weather attack and anti-
submarine warfare crews for the Korean
War. After being an attack squadron for
three years from 1956-59, the mission
of VA(AW)-35 changed and it became
a Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS).
It was renamed VA-122 and tasked to
train pilots and maintainers for the A-1
Above:
Skyraiders within Carrier Air Wing (CVW)
12, affectionately being known as ‘Spad Instructor and
student walk
School’. In 1963, the squadron moved
back to the
to NAS Lemoore and continued to fly
squadron after a
the Skyraider until 1966 when the A-7 ‘section’ mission.
Corsair arrived, causing the moniker to
be updated to ‘Corsair College’. In 1971, Above left:
it was formally renamed as the ‘Flying One of VFA-122’s
Eagles’. During May 1991, VA-122 was T-34Cs taxies out
at Lemoore to be
deactivated. Just eight years later in 1999
it was resurrected as the first squadron in situ over the
to operate the Super Hornet as the FRS, a range airspace as
the Super Hornet
role that continues to this day.
students arrive on
task.
20/05/2020 16:00
 ‘TURBO
DAWGS’
As well as operating the Super
Hornet, VFA-122 flies the Beech T-34C
Turbo Mentor, known affectionately
as the ‘Turbo Dawg’. The T-34C was
the navy’s primary trainer before
it was replaced by the T-6 Texan II.
Today, VFA-122 retains the type for
‘low safe’ missions, with an instructor
in the T-34 ensuring safety during the
air-to-surface phases. A ‘low safe’ pilot
is there to ensure the students don’t
succumb to target fixation, remaining
earlier AWI work. The training now focuses Both offensive and defensive are
on station long enough to oversee an on how and when to take air-to-air missile blended into air-to-air engagements. At
entire strike mission. The T-34’s docile shots. Students are constantly exposed first, students fly from and maintain an
handling characteristics and slow to the ‘picture’, the colloquial way of offensive position, after which they are
speed make it very maneuverable describing the battlespace on the radio. put in a defensive position and taught to
and ideal for working the tight
Above right: range airspace. Flown only by senior
They carry out beyond visual range (BVR) survive, or to turn it into a neutral fight
Field carrier instructors, the Turbo Mentors are training, firing the AIM-120 Advanced against their opponent. Finally, they
landing critical in ensuring that the range Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile start engagements in a neutral position
practice (FCLP)
remains clear and the student (AMRAAM) prior to moving into visual against an instructor with the aim of
is a regular
procedure for aircrews operate safely. range with the AIM-9X Sidewinder, and gaining the advantage. The intention is
VFA-122, using VFA-122 currently flies five T-34Cs
from Lemoore, and the type is set to
the 20mm M61A1 six barrel Gatling gun. to learn the tactics and develop muscle
the runway
at Lemoore stay in service until 2025 with no sign A mix of tactical scenarios takes crews memory through the hands-on-throttle-
to simulate a of an extension or replacement. into offensive counter-air (OCA), pushing and-stick (HOTAS) controls, while
carrier deck. into hostile territory or against an working the weapons systems.
Below: adversary, or defensive counter-air (DCA),
VFA-122 uses Fighter phase where they have to defend a point or Going to the boat
T-34Cs as A switch back into air-to-air roles sees the high-value asset. In this part of the course Of course, the Super Hornet brings these
low-cost range
safety spotter students first learning advanced radar they bring in basic fighter maneuvers missions sets together and is able to
aircraft. handling techniques, building on the (BFM) sorties — dogfighting. perform them from an aircraft carrier.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 25

20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 25 20/05/2020 16:00

 SUPER HORNET // US NAVY TRAINING
The final part of this demanding course
is therefore carrier qualifications (CQ).
Students carry out an average of 16 day/
night field carrier landing practice (FCLP)
periods and six flight simulator sessions
at Lemoore to learn emergencies and
procedures around the boat. They then
embark an aircraft carrier to complete
a minimum of 10 daytime traps and
two hook-up passes. In addition, six
night traps and two hook-up passes
at night gain them their CQs. During
The training now focuses on how and when to take air-to-air missile shots
and the students are constantly exposed to the ‘picture’, the colloquial way
of describing the battlespace on the radio
26 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 26
this last phase, students go through a Knowledge of working on and around
This image:
fleet transition. This is where they learn an aircraft carrier has been carefully As well as flying
air-to-air refueling, both day and night, retained by the Royal Air Force and from Lemoore,
and fly in close formation with night the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in VFA-122 detaches
jets south to El
vision goggles. partnership with the US Navy under Centro, California,
an effort known as the Long-Lead for intensive
Foreign exchange Specialist Skills Program (LLSSP). Up to bombing work.
While VFA-122 is a gateway to strike 300 British pilots, maintainers and ships’ Right top to
fighter operations for US Navy staff have been part of a non-reciprocal bottom:
personnel, it continues to play an exchange program, with the aircrews Low-level remains
a valid tactic for
important role in the UK’s return to flying the Super Hornet in front-line US the Super Hornet
the carrier strike role with the F-35B. Navy fleet squadrons and working on community, and it
big-deck aircraft carriers. It’s proved to forms a key phase
of the VFA-122
be a fundamental element of ‘spinning course.
up’ the capabilities of the UK’s Queen
Elizabeth-class carriers. One of VFA-122’s
experienced
Lt Cdr Matthew King joined the Royal instructors pre-
Navy 15 years go. Having trained on flights a venerable
the F/A-18C Hornet, he served with T-34C Turbo
Mentor.
VFA-94 ‘Mighty Shrikes’ and completed
a cruise aboard the USS Carl Vinson. British exchange
After returning to the UK to advise on pilots are involved
in the Long-Lead
the restart of carrier operations with Specialist Skills
HMS Queen Elizabeth, he went back to Program (LLSSP)
Lemoore in 2017 to be an instructor that has helped
support the UK’s
at VFA-122 on the Super Hornet. In return to carrier
fact, he’s clocked up an impressive operations.
20/05/2020 16:01
 1,000 hours in the F/A-18C and Super
Hornet combined. He has also earned
the divisional officer role and acted
as the strike phase department head
at VFA-122. At present he is the unit’s
low-altitude tactical training (LATT)
instructor, teaching students how to
operate safely and tactically at low level.
King told Combat Aircraft Journal, ‘I think
a Royal Navy pilot completing a full tour
over here with the US Navy is in a great
position to step from a Super Hornet
cockpit into an F-35 back in the UK.’
Lt Tom (full name withheld for security
reasons) is another Fleet Air Arm pilot
in the LLSSP program. Having initially
undertaken the basic fast jet training
phase on the Tucano T1 in the UK, he
transferred to the T-45C Goshawk at
NAS Meridian in Mississippi, coming to
VFA-122 in September 2018 for the full
Super Hornet course. He’s now assigned
to VFA-137 at Lemoore.
Flt Lt Christopher Deen is on VFA-122
as a reciprocal exchange, which means
a US Navy officer is in the UK as a
direct swap. Deen previously flew the
Tornado GR4 and is now an instructor
at the ‘Flying Eagles’ focusing on strike
and LATT events. He said, ‘We can
share experiences and learn how each
other does business. At the end of our
exchange tours and after returning to
the UK, we can pass on what we have
learned to try to improve how our armed
forces operate within our own country
and when working alongside allies.’

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 27

20-27 VFA-122 C.indd 27 20/05/2020 16:01

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 While the US Navy has slightly reduced Super Hornet
procurement, the type is taking a major step ahead with the
Block III variant now entering testing.
REPORT Jamie Hunter
B
OEING HAS UNVEILED the
Block III Super Hornet for the
US Navy. It officially rolled
out the first two-seat F/A-18F
in the new configuration at
its production facility in St
Louis, Missouri, on May 8. The airframe
in question is build number F287. It is
one of two test aircraft that will be used
to evaluate the additional features of
the Block III Super Hornet, including 10
x 19in large-area cockpit displays and an
airframe life extended from the previous
6,000 to ‘9,000-plus’ flight hours.
Notably, the aircraft emerged from the
factory without the new conformal
fuel tanks (CFTs) fitted, which will add
30 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 30
3,500lb (1,588kg) of fuel to increase
the strike fighter’s range by 100-120nm
(185-222km).
Block III includes stealthy features such
as different paint, an enhanced network
designed to improve computing power
(DTP-N) and sensor/platform integration,
allowing large amounts of data to flow
in and out of the aircraft. It also brings
about an improved ability to receive
and transmit targeting information
via the Tactical Targeting Networking
Technology (TTNT) system.
Although it sits outside of Block III,
the new Lockheed Martin AN/ASG-34
infrared search and track (IRST) pod is
timed to coincide with the new variant,
although this system has already been
fielded by some fleet squadrons.
Jennifer Splaingard, Boeing F/A-18
program development manager, said
of the new large-area display, ‘It’s going
into Kuwait [aircraft, and] it fits in the
Block III flight plan in that it’s going into
the first Block III test jet and the full-up
Block III jet. This large-area display and
the low profile HUD [head-up display]
really changes the way that the pilot
interfaces with the aircraft.’ Fleet future — an
artist’s rendition
Boeing chief test pilot Steve ‘Bull’ of Block III Super
Schmidt added, ‘To me as a pilot, just the Hornets with
extra display space [means] that I can see conformal fuel
tanks and the
all my displays both front and back. The infrared search-
workload really goes down for the aircrew.’ and-track. Boeing
20/05/2020 15:57
 www.Key.Aero // July 2020 31

30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 31 20/05/2020 15:58

 SUPER HORNET // BLOCK III SUPER HORNET
The journey to Block III
The first Block III aircraft follows on from
322 single-seat F/A-18Es and 286 two-seat
F/A-18Fs that have been delivered to the
US Navy in Block II configuration. The final
Block II jet (F/A-18E E322) was delivered
to the navy on April 17, 2020, and has
joined VFA-34 ‘Blue Blasters’ at NAS
Oceana, Virginia.
Affectionately known as the ‘Rhino’,
Super Hornets were built in Block
32 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 32
I configuration from 1997. Boeing
delivered 147 Block I Super Hornets —
comprising 64 F/A-18Es and 83 F/A-18Fs
(including 10 flight/ground test articles)
— before deliveries of improved Block
II variants began in October 2002. A
key enhancement for the Block II was
provision for the Raytheon AN/APG-79
active electronically scanned array (AESA)
radar, as well as new cockpit displays, and
increased range.
Above: The first
Block III Super
Hornet is rolled SLM SUPER
out of the factory
in St Louis on May HORNET
RETURNED TO
8. Boeing
Below: Testing of
features for the
Block III such as SERVICE
the conformal fuel
tanks dates back The first Super Hornet to receive
to 2013. Boeing/ service life modifications (SLM) was
Kevin Flynn delivered to strike fighter squadron
VFA-106 ‘Gladiators’ at NAS Oceana,
Virginia, on January 21, 2020. It had
entered SLM in April 2018. Carried
out at Boeing’s St Louis, Missouri,
facility, the SLM program extends
the service life of each Block I Super
Hornet from 6,000 to 7,500 flight
hours. Block II Super Hornet service
lives will be further extended to
10,000 hours beginning in late 2022,
and the aircraft will be upgraded to
Block III configuration. These will then
complement new-build Block IIIs. CAPT
Stephen May, PMA-265 co-lead for
the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G, said, ‘SLM
is going to provide a critical resource
for the navy to recapitalize on long-
serving aircraft to return them to the
fleet in a near-new condition.’
Boeing is under contract to carry out
the SLMs on 22 Super Hornets, but the
program is expected to run through
2033 or beyond. A full feature on SLM
starts on page 36.
20/05/2020 15:58
 Block III is designed to take the Super
Hornet a step further and extend its
service life to 2040, keeping the strike
fighter credible to meet future threats
and better able to complement the
F-35C Lightning II. Notably absent from
the Block III plan, though, are the new
F414-GE-400 Enhanced Performance
Engines (EPE), which offer decreased fuel
burn rates and up to 20 per cent more
thrust, and have been pitched frequently
by Boeing and General Electric.
The US Navy awarded a multi-year
procurement contract to Boeing for
Block III Super Hornets in March 2019,
totaling approximately $4 billion. The
multi-year buy enabled more efficient
production rates via long-lead parts
acquisition and improved project Above right: The Super Hornet procurement. Production standard as they pass through its two
new large-area
stability. display has been had been planned to run through FY service life modification (SLM) lines
However, the navy has recently extensively tested 2024, and the navy’s previous Future from late 2022. According to Justin
trimmed Super Hornet production as in the simulators. Years Defense Program included the Gibson, the Boeing F/A-18 and EA-18G
Boeing
it refocuses on its Next Generation Air purchase of 36 additional Super Hornets communications office spokesman,
Dominance (NGAD) program. It still Below: Boeing is from FY 2022 through FY 2024. that figure will likely increase to more
plans to buy 78 new-build Block IIIs offering the Block In addition to the new-build aircraft, than 400 aircraft through the mid-2030s
III Super Hornet to
between Fiscal Years (FYs) 2019 and Canada. Boeing will begin updating at least with an ambition for all Block IIs to be
2021, which will now be the final year of Boeing Canada 313 existing Block II aircraft to Block III upgraded to Block III configuration.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 33

30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 33 20/05/2020 15:58

 SUPER HORNET // BLOCK III SUPER HORNET
Keeping the ‘Rhino’ relevant
Timing of the announcement that
the navy was reducing Super Hornet
production by two years did little to
help Boeing’s efforts to sell the strike
fighter in Canada and Finland. It is also
targeting India’s requirement for a new
carrier-based fighter. Both Canada and
Finland have openly stated that they
require a new fighter aircraft that will
remain credible past 2050. However,
Boeing points to the fact that Block III is
only now reaching flight-test and that
these enhanced jets will remain in fleet
service well past 2040. Indeed, news that
Germany wants to purchase 30 Super
Hornets to partially replace its Tornados
has come as a massive boost to Boeing.
CAPT Jason Denney, manager of
the F/A-18 and EA-18 program office
(PMA-265), said in April, ‘Delivery of [the]
last production Block II Super Hornet
34 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 34
is hardly the end of an era, but rather
a stepping stone along the path to
continuously evolving our platforms to
meet the navy’s ever-evolving needs.
‘Block III delivery is just steps behind
and the production lines won’t miss a
beat, with the first two US Navy Block
III test jets delivering in the next two
months [by the end of May], followed
by delivery of 24 E/F aircraft over
the next year for our international
customer, Kuwait.’
The Block III aircraft may offer enough
to persuade new customers that it is the
best fit for their needs. Further endorsing
the Super Hornet, Denney added, ‘The
solid partnership with Boeing for Block III
production and modification programs
This VX-9 ‘Vampires’
ensures the Super Hornet will remain F/A-18F is carrying the
not only relevant, but ready to fight in new infrared search-
today’s dynamic global environment and and-track pod as
its crew undertakes
well into the future.’ operational evaluation
in 2019. Jamie Hunter
20/05/2020 15:59
 The solid partnership with Boeing for Block III
production and modification programs ensures the
Super Hornet will remain not only relevant, but ready to fight in
today’s dynamic global environment and well into the future
CAPT Jason Denney
US NAVY
PROGRESSES
NEW
CAPABILITIES
FOR GROWLER
The US Navy is moving forward with
plans to develop a new version of the
EA-18G Growler, dubbed the Block II. The
service released a sources-sought notice
on January 28, 2019, seeking contractors
to support system development and
integration. However, the program will
very likely be carried out by Boeing
as prime contractor for the Growler.
The integration program will provide
the type with a new electronic attack
unit, upgraded AN/ALQ-218(v)4 radio
frequency receiver system and improved
AN/ALQ-227(v)2 communication
30-35 What next Super Hornet C.indd 35
countermeasures set. The upgrades will
be in addition to the new features already
funded for the Block III F/A-18E/F.
Under a separate program, the Growler
will receive the AN/ALQ-249 Next
Generation Jammer Mid-band (NGJ-MB),
which is under development by Raytheon.
It will achieve early operational capability
(EOC) on the EA-18G by Fiscal Year 2022. A
low-band version will follow two
years later.
The navy is taking an extremely
pro-active stance when it comes to the
Growler. The Naval Air Warfare Center
Aircraft Division and Boeing recently
demonstrated a capability for the EA-18G
to act as a controller for autonomous
unmanned air vehicles. Test unit VX-23
flew a pair of EA-18Gs that simulated
unmanned air systems, controlled from
a third Growler. In a series of four flights
that began in September 2019, the
Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division
demonstrated 21 missions. The sorties
were intended to demonstrate the use
of the EA-18G as a mission-controlling
platform for autonomous
unmanned aircraft.
In preparation for the evaluations,
three Growlers were modified to support
an open-architecture processor and
advanced networking. Incorporation
of the Distributed Targeting Processor
— Networked (DTP-N) and the Tactical
Targeting Network Technology (TTNT)
radio transformed two of the jets into UAS
surrogate aircraft. Take-offs and landings
were conducted by pilots aboard the
aircraft, but the Growlers subsequently
flew in multiple planned formations
and transmitted air-to-air sensor data
back to the ‘manned’ aircraft. Conducted
from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland,
under the annual fleet experimentation
(FLEX) program, the manned/unmanned
teaming demonstration validated the
effectiveness of operating F/A-18E/Fs and
EA-18Gs to perform combat missions in
conjunction with unmanned systems.
Tom Kaminski
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 35
20/05/2020 15:59
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36-41 Super Hornet SLM C.indd 36 20/05/2020 15:49

 Boeing’s service life modification (SLM) for the Super Hornet will
breathe new life into the oldest airframes, with a plan to add new
capabilities at the same time.
REPORT Michael Keaveney

T
HE US NAVY’S so-called combined with buying more new Super
strike fighter shortfall came Hornets. Following a careful service life
about due to a couple of key assessment program (SLAP), Boeing
factors. Slower-than-predicted was awarded the contract in Fiscal Year
procurement of the F-35 led to 2018 for the service life modification
there being fewer new aircraft (SLM) line, which covered the initial four
on the front line, placing higher reliance aircraft to go through the new program.
on the existing Boeing F/A-18E/F Super During May 2018, a first Super Hornet
The first combat
Hornets, the workhorse of the combat was inducted into the SLM in St Louis,
deployment by a aircraft fleet. The Super Hornet having Missouri. It was an F/A-18F from the Fleet
US Navy Super entered service in 2001, the early fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), VFA-106
Hornet squadron,
VFA-115, started
is already up against its useful structural
in the summer of life of 6,000 flight hours.
2002. This image With a mounting fleet of ‘hard-broken’
dates from 2005
and depicts a
jets and a need to wring as much
VFA-41 ‘Black capability as possible out of a fleet
Aces’ F/A-18F over struggling with readiness, the navy had
the Persian Gulf
region. USAF/TSgt
to extend the lives of its early-block
Rob Tabor F/A-18E/Fs. This was the best solution,

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 37

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 SUPER HORNET // SERVICE LIFE MODIFICATION
‘Gladiators’ at NAS Oceana, Virginia —
BuNo 166619.
Combat Aircraft Journal spoke with
Dave Sallenbach, the Boeing program
director for SLM, and he explained how
the navy selects suitable airframes for
the SLM work. ‘We have an integrated
process with our Naval Air Systems
Command [NAVAIR] program office,
Naval Sea Systems Command [NAVSEA]
and Type Command (TYCOM), and even
the squadrons, to look at the aircraft
and their current flight time. In order for
an aircraft to be a candidate to come
into the SLM line, it needs to have in the
range of 5,500 to 6,000 flight hours. As
they target the aircraft in those ranges,
TYCOMs weigh in and make the discrete
38 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
36-41 Super Hornet SLM C.indd 38
decisions about which aircraft they will
target to come to the SLM line. That is
a continued evolution based on the
requirements of the mission. Around 12
months out we start identifying those
tails that will be coming.’
Bringing a Super
Hornet to SLM
Boeing has two SLM facilities: the initial
line at St Louis and what is becoming
the primary location in San Antonio,
Texas. The SLM process includes eight
main phases.
Line Station 1 is conducted while the
aircraft is outside on the ramp. Nick
Batkoski, the operations lead in San
Antonio, explained, ‘When the aircraft
arrives, the pilot performs a check to
ensure the brakes are in a safe condition.
They [make] safe the seat and canopy
before we jump in and get all the
maintenance status panel [MSP] codes.
Meanwhile, we hold a debrief with the
pilot for any issues that they saw —
Above left to
right: F/A-18F essentially, any details that will help
BuNo 166465, with our planning for SLM. The aircraft is
which last served then defueled and the pyrotechnics are
with VFA-106
‘Gladiators’, in the disarmed. We fuel the aircraft with 10-10
newly refurbished preservation oil for long-time storage
SLM hangar. of the fuel system. We also perform
Michael Keaveney
an engine run to ensure everything is
A view of the cleaned out; then we wash it and start
SLM line in San removing components, starting with the
Antonio, with two
jets in their dock. engines and doors [and including the
Michael Keaveney ejection seat].’
20/05/2020 15:53
 Line Station 2 is where the aircraft is
moved inside the hangar. In St Louis the
HISTORY OF
SLM line can handle a maximum of eight SAN ANTONIO/
KELLY FIELD
aircraft per year, and in San Antonio it
will process 32 aircraft per year at full
capacity from 2023. At station 2, Boeing Boeing’s San Antonio, Texas, operation
is conducted out of the former Kelly
mechanics start to remove the flight
AFB Logistics Center. After World
controls, and begin breaking the aircraft War Two, Kelly AFB had logistical
down to ensure it is ready for all the responsibility for such aircraft as the
inspections to take place. B-29, B-50, B-36, B-47, B-58, F-102,
The all-important inspections start at F-106 and C-5. In 1995, the resident
Air Logistics Center (ALC) was
Left: A VFA-213 Line Station 3. Batkoski said, ‘We use a
selected by the Base Realignment
F/A-18F that had lot of non-destructive inspections [NDIs] and Closure (BRAC) commission for
just arrived in San such as ultrasound of the composite shut-down. Boeing moved into the
Antonio in April
structures, looking for cracks. Crack old USAF facilities in 1998, and today
to join the SLM
program. Michael detection is completed by using it performs depot-level maintenance
Keaveney on C-17s and KC-135s here. The two
eddy current and magnetic particle
Boeing 747-8s that will become the
Below: An inspections. This is for an in-depth look new Air Force One aircraft are also
F/A-18F assigned at every inch of each aircraft. Information being modified at this location.
to VFA-102 from the inspections is then forwarded to
‘Diamondbacks’
— one of the the engineering [team], and the aircraft
early Block I then moves forward to the next station.’
jets — prepares to
launch from USS
Kitty Hawk (CV Modification work
63) in 2004. The main focus of the modification
US Navy/PMA Bo work gets under way at Line Station 4.
J. Flannigan
An aircraft is typically in this section for
Right: Dave anywhere from four to eight months,
Sallenbach, the depending on the scale of work required.
Boeing program
director for SLM. Dave Sallenbach explained, ‘As we gain
Boeing access to these areas for inspection and

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 39

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 SUPER HORNET // SERVICE LIFE MODIFICATION
modification, which is our core SLM
focus, we are also finding corrosion
and other issues that are above and
beyond the planned scope of the work.
We actually use the term repair incident
to modification [RIM]. Not only are you
doing the modification work and basic
life extension work as required, but also
repairing any other conditions you find
in those areas of the airframe that you
are in. We are supporting that work as
well, even though this is a major depot
event. The importance of making sure
that we are doing the organizational
‘O’ level work is that when the jet leaves
here, and we deliver it back to the fleet,
they want an aircraft going back to the
squadron and being on the flight line as
an ‘up’ airplane. They don’t want it leaving
our facility in St Louis or San Antonio and
having another two or three months’
worth of work to comply with all the
‘O’ level special inspections prior to it
being on the flight line. So, that is a big
deal — a game-changer for the fleet. I
40 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
36-41 Super Hornet SLM C.indd 40
think they are starting to do that with the
Fleet Readiness Centers [FRCs] as well.
Extending the life was objective number
one. To deliver a mission-capable airplane
was going to start at the end of FY 2020.
The navy asked us to accelerate that
forward all the way to our first airplane,
about a year ago. We delivered our first
mission-capable jet out of this site —
F/A-18F BuNo 166619 — in February 2020.’
Nick Batkoski says Line Station 5 is
strictly for repairs: ‘This can be anywhere
from material condition repairs to complex
structural work, because we will have
found a location that did not satisfy the
service life in its existing condition.’ Once
this is complete, the aircraft is moved to
Line Station 6, known as ‘restore’. Here,
the aircraft has its General Electric F414
engines, fuel bladders, access panels and Above: SLM will
control surfaces reinstalled, ready for it ensure early-build
Super Hornets
to be moved back outside. Line Station can remain in
7 sees the pyrotechnics added and the service well into
aircraft being powered up to start system the future.
US Navy/PM2C
checks, before it moves to Line Station 8 Seth C. Peterson
and the function test flight check (FCF),
and then redelivery. Left: The effort
will concurrently
upgrade Block II
Combining structures aircraft to Block
with upgrades III configuration
including the
To date, three Block I Super Hornets have new large-area
been inducted into the St Louis SLM display. Boeing
20/05/2020 15:56

line. The current plan includes two
additional Block I aircraft to be added
there for a total of five, according to
Justin Gibson, Boeing’s communications
lead for the F/A-18 and E/A-18G.
The Block I jets are not capable of
being modified to Block III standard.
deliver 78 new Block III aircraft to the US Boeing was awarded a 10-year
Navy. With Block IIIs coming off the SLM sole-source contract for the planned
lines and new-builds off the production modification of the Block IIs to Block
line, the navy will be receiving upwards of III standard.
60 jets per year between 2022 and 2024. Dave Sallenbach said there is also
As detailed in the preceding article potential to put early EA-18G Growlers
What next for the Super Hornet and through SLM: ‘I don’t think those decisions
Growler?, Block III adds a swathe of have been made. That is potentially out in
new capabilities: the 10 x 19in large- the 2028 timeframe, but they have quite a
area display and a new, low-profile bit of life in front of them. They are starting
head-up display (HUD). Conformal fuel to do some engineering analysis in
tanks (CFTs) reduce the requirement support of [the] Growler, so it will depend
to carry drop tanks and free up pylons on what that analysis yields.’
for additional ordnance. ‘We will
deliver improved signature with a SLM SUPER HORNET
MODIFICATION PLAN
low-observable radar cross-section for
Fiscal Year Number of aircraft
increased survivability,’ said Justin Gibson. 2020 9
Enhanced network capability includes a 2021 18
2022 36
system that improves computing power 2023 34
— the Distributed Targeting Processor 2024 39
2025 40
Network (DTPN), Tactical Targeting 2026 40
Network Technology (TTNT) and sensor/ 2027 40
2028 40
platform integration. ‘[It’s] not a Block 2029 40
III program of record, but we will also 2030 40
Total 376
deliver the Block II infrared search and SLM only (up to 7,500 flight hours): 63 aircraft.
track [IRST] on Block III’, Gibson added. SLM and Block III (up to 10,000 flight hours): 313 aircraft.

Thus they will only receive the

structural modifications needed in
order to keep them in the training
pool for the FRS. Not including early
Right top to
engineering and manufacturing bottom: A
development (EMD) aircraft, Boeing former VFA-106
delivered 137 Block I ‘Rhinos’, and F/A-18F on the
SLM line in San
the pick of these early-batch aircraft Antonio, which
that are going through SLM are only will process 32
receiving the work that will extend aircraft per year
at full capacity
their lives to 7,500 flight hours. Aircraft from 2023.
slated for induction from October 2022 Michael Keaveney
will be Block II examples, which will
Stripped parts are
be taken out to 10,000 flight hours stored away from
and concurrently modified to the new the airframes,
Block III standard. Boeing will also start to be reinstalled
after the main
delivering new Block IIIs in 2022. The SLM work.
company is currently budgeted to Michael Keaveney

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 41

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 SPECIAL REPORT // USAF BOMBERS
US Air Force strategic bombers demonstrate a
new approach to global operations.
T
REPORT Jamie Hunter
HE US AIR Force gave a very
visible shows of strength by
its three strategic bomber
fleets during May with a
sequence of long-range Global
Power missions and agile
deployments.
B-1B Lancers returned to the Indo-
Pacific region on May 1 to conduct
Bomber Task Force operations out of
Andersen AFB, Guam. Four B-1s and
approximately 200 airmen from the 9th
Expeditionary Bomb Squadron (EBS), 7th
Bomb Wing (BW), at Dyess AFB, Texas,
flew to Andersen, with one of the aircraft
BOMBER
TRIAD
FLEXES
42
ITS MUSCLES
July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
42-43 Bombers C.indd 42
splitting off to fly down the east of Japan
to conduct training with US Navy assets
before heading to Andersen.
Col Ed Sumangil, the 7th BW
commander, said: ‘Deployments like
this allow our airmen to enhance
the readiness and training necessary
to respond to any potential crisis or
challenge across the globe.’
The USAF has sought to change the
predictability of the Bomber Task Force’s
rotating series of deployments, in line
with the National Defense Strategy’s
objectives of strategic predictability and
operational unpredictability.
In April, the USAF ended its 16-year
Continuous Bomber Presence in Guam,
and it now focuses on sending smaller
bomber deployments to the region as
part of its new dynamic force employment
model. Air Force Global Strike Command
(AFGSC) chief Gen Timothy Ray said the
new strategy means that bombers can This image: A B-1B
operate around the globe, even without Lancer from the
being permanently deployed to bases 28th Bomb Wing
flies with a Polish
abroad: ‘We can come and go anytime Air Force F-16C
they need us, we don’t need to be there during a Bomber
physically,’ he said. Task Force
mission to Europe
Lt Col Frank Welton, the Pacific Air on May 11. USAF
Forces (PACAF) chief of operations force
management, compared the B-1 with the Right: A 9th
Expeditionary
B-52H, commenting: ‘The B-1 can carry Bomb Squadron
the largest conventional payload of both B-1B Lancer
guided and unguided weapons in the US flies over the
Philippine Sea on
Air Force. The B-1 is able to carry a larger May 6. USAF/SrA
payload of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff River Bruce
20/05/2020 15:41
 Missiles [JASSMs] and a larger payload of
2,000lb-class Joint Direct Attack Munitions
[JDAMs]… Additionally, the B-1 is able to
carry the LRASM [Long-Range Anti-Ship
Missile], giving it an advanced stand-off,
counter-ship capability. It also has an
advanced self-protection suite and is able
to transit at supersonic speeds to enhance
offensive and defensive capabilities.’
Col Sumangil added: ‘We’re excited to be
back in Guam and proud to continue to be
part of the ready bomber force prepared
to defend America and its allies against
any threat.’
Over the course of four days, AFGSC
also flew long-distance training flights
to Europe and the Pacific. On May 11,
B-1s from Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota,
flew round-trip missions to Eastern
Europe, working with Danish and Polish
F-16s. Commenting on the ability to fly
such missions despite the coronavirus
outbreak, USAFE chief Gen Jeffrey
Harrigian said: ‘Although mitigation efforts
created challenges to overcome, our
allies, partners, and adversaries should
make no mistake that we are ready, able,
and willing to deter and defend when
called upon.’
On May 7, two B-2As, two B-52Hs
from Minot AFB, North Dakota, and two
B-52Hs from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana,
flew training missions to the US European
Command and US Indo-Pacific Command
areas of responsibility. The next day,
two additional B-1Bs from the 9th EBS
deployed to Andersen via operations over
the South China Sea.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 43

42-43 Bombers C.indd 43 20/05/2020 15:46


Combat Aircraft Journal heads to Alaska to meet the personnel of the
US Coast Guard, flying in some of the most demanding conditions on
the planet.
REPORT AND PHOTOS Rich Cooper/COAP
S
EMPER PARATUS IS
painted on the white
hangar walls in huge
letters. Anyone who
knows the ancient tongue
of Latin will recognize that
this inscription runs deep in the soul
of those who have it ingrained upon
their modus operandi. The ode, written
in 1928 by a US Coast Guard captain,
translates as ‘Always Ready’ and forms
the song and march of the US Coast
Guard to this day, as well as the very
backbone of the men and women of
current ‘Coastie’ operations.
To these modern-day heroes ‘Always
Ready’ means they are literally prepared to
brave any obstacle and challenge in order
to protect and, as is often the case, save
lives on land or sea — no matter what
Mother Nature throws at them. There’s
nothing quite like the US Coast Guard and
the brave lifesavers who call the outdoor
forces of nature their office.
The coast guard is the principal federal
agency for maritime safety, security and
environmental stewardship and it protects
and defends more than 100,000 miles
of US coastline and inland waterways.
Directly reporting to the Department
of Homeland Security, it safeguards the
world’s largest Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ), which encompasses 4.5 million
square miles from north of the Arctic Circle
to south of the Equator and crosses nine
time zones. It is the first responder and
humanitarian service that provides aid to
people in distress or who are impacted by
44 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 44
natural and man-made disasters whether
at sea or ashore, and is an important
player in law enforcement operations.
The operations are split into Pacific
and Atlantic areas, and divided into nine
districts with 35 sectors. The 56,000 US
‘Coastie’ personnel operate a fleet of 243
cutters (commissioned vessels, 65ft/19.8m
or longer) and more than 1,600 boats, as
well as just over 200 fixed and rotary wing
aircraft. The aerial assets comprise 102
MH-65E/D Dolphins, 44 MH-60T Jayhawks,
eight HC-27Js, 18 HC-144s and 22 HC-130J
Hercules. Each type has a myriad of roles
and specialties, playing to the strengths of
each aircraft — notably their power and
endurance limits. What’s also clear is how
versatile these assets are and the absolute
‘bang for the buck’ that the US Coast
Guard manages to achieve with them.
One coast guard air station in particular
pushes the extremes of all of this — both
PART ONE
in terms of man and of machine. Kodiak,
an Alaskan island of around 13,500 people
located 280 miles south of Anchorage, is
truly an exaggeration of ‘extreme’ in more
ways than one. It’s where the mission of
the US Coast Guard comes into its own
and where these men and women are
‘Always Ready’.
Alaskan extremes
They call it ‘The Last Frontier’. It’s a place
where wilderness still reigns supreme;
a place where extreme weather and
subsistence living is not just a pastime, but
a way of life. It’s where aviation is woven
into the tapestry of life in a unique way —
simply put, without aviation there’d be no
way in or out of many of Alaska’s remote
villages. The sheer grandeur of the state is
something to behold and, combined with
its rugged terrain, the everyday reliance
on aviation and the dynamic elements of
snow and ice combine to create a majestic,
yet unforgiving landscape.
Eric Kolwicz is one of the 42 helicopter
pilots based at Kodiak and saving lives
across the region. He said: ‘I fly the
powerful H-60 helicopter, built by Sikorsky,
which we use as a land-based rescue asset
that we deploy from Kodiak all over the
Alaskan state. Our other rotary type, the
H-65, is primarily a ship-borne helicopter
to support our cutter patrol ships, where
A lone HC-130J
they come into their own amidst our out on a training
operations in the Bering Sea.’ mission and
Kodiak is the USCG’s largest base and its nicely illustrating
the vast
assets are deployed across five primary wilderness of
Forward Operating Locations to better Alaska.
20/05/2020 15:33
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 OPS REPORT // US COAST GUARD
spread the coverage of their mission.
These are in Cordova, Kotzebue, Cold
Bay, Saint Paul Island and Dutch Harbor,
though not all are used all the time, as
Kolwicz explained: ‘Our responsibility
stretches from Yakutan to Sitka and we
deploy all over the Alaskan wilderness on
a rotational and seasonal basis, mainly
dictated by the fishing and ice patterns
and along the coastline. The vast range
of our state represents a real challenge
to rescue launches. We had a case off
Saint Matthew recently that presented an
endurance issue, which saw us launch out
of here in Kodiak with an H-60 with the
Ready Crew on board, alongside a C-130
Hercules with a second helicopter crew on
board. They landed and transferred fuel
from the C-130 to the H-60 and pressed
on to MEDEVAC [medical evacuate] the
survivor and brought the patient back.’
46 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 46
This is not for the rookie pilot. ‘Anyone
that comes here to fly any of our assets
has to be on their second tour already,’
said Kolwicz. ‘The challenging terrain, the
conditions, the scope of responsibility all
demand high levels of experience. This is
not the place to come to learn to fly.
‘Once here, it’s all about training for
our Kodiak-specific, highly demanding
missions. A new pilot would normally
arrive at the start of the winter and you
will remain a co-pilot for your first winter
out of Kodiak — the idea being that we
would want you to see all the different
deployment locations in the state and the
ops work there, hit the mountain-flying
syllabus and learn the delicate power
management of such intense flying. That
is just so important.
‘Historically, we’ve noticed something
of a complacency amongst the H-60
Above: MH-65
Dolphins are
operated primarily
as ship-borne
helicopters to
support the
USCG’s cutter
patrol ships. Bryn
Forbes
Left: The rotary
wing assets work
in close concert
with the HC-130s,
especially during
long-range
rescues.
community — it’s a powerful machine,
so power itself is not normally something
that we would have to worry about. But
here in Kodiak, it has to be at the forefront
of your mind, with things like how to get
out of a particular landing zone or battle
against dangerous winds. It’s good to see
all of that as a co-pilot before you have
to pull someone who’s near death off the
side of a mountain for real.
‘Furthermore, we have unique missions
at Kodiak such as vertical surface rescue,
where someone has fallen off a cliff edge
and is hanging on for their life, which you
just wouldn’t need to train for if you were
flying in the coast guard out of Clearwater,
Florida, for example.’
Dolphin ops
The USCG’s HH-65s are smaller, sleeker
and more executive-looking than their
H-60 powerhouse stablemates and have
been in the inventory since the mid-1980s.
While they might seem to be something
of an ugly duckling with lesser range and
endurance and no anti-icing systems,
they are useful assets as they are the only
helicopters that can operate frowm the
USCG’s ship fleet. From the cutter decks,
they project the roles of search and rescue
(SAR), law enforcement and homeland
security, further from shore than any other
rotary asset can.
Of the USCG’s 243 cutters in service,
three are based in Kodiak with new
examples on the way in order to be even
better equipped for the Bering Sea.
‘We’re still very capable as we can use
the cutter to refuel and resource outside
20/05/2020 15:34
 of our range,’ explained H-65 pilot LCDR
Jay Kircher. ‘The cutter can sail to a distant
point, from where we can then launch to
execute the mission.’ The H-65s also act
as something of a ‘shock absorber’ for the
H-60’s SAR mission, as a back-up to take
some pressure off when required.
Landing a helicopter on the bucking
rear-end of a ship in the middle of the
unforgiving ocean is quite a feat of
airmanship. LCDR Kircher said: ‘It’s the
Bering Sea, so landing on a ship is always a
challenge! It can be pretty scary out there.’
Getting the helicopter onto the ship is one
thing, but keeping it there is quite another,
as Kircher explained: ‘What is unique
to us is that our H-65s have the Talon
Probe system, which senses when we
touch down on the deck and it’s charged
to shoot a probe out from the forward
fuselage to hit a honeycomb metal grid on
the flight deck. The probe will capture that
grid like a harpoon to hold us on!’
Born survivors
There are around 70 flight mechanics at
Kodiak, of which 40 are on the MH-65
and 30 with the MH-60. They will either
be qualified as Aircraft Maintenance
Technicians (AMTs) or Avionics Electrical
Technicians (AETs), meaning that the
crewmembers can also fix the asset
on-location.
Petty Officer Rik McCabe is one of
the ice-cool crewmembers of the H-60
fleet. His role of AMT means he’s front-
row center of those unique missions.
Because of an AMT holding a dual role
of aircrew and helicopter maintenance,
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 47
Above: Rescue it makes people like Rik responsible for Due to the extreme nature of operations
Swimmer in the running the non-flying element of the and deployments, the crews proudly wear
water, an MH-60T
hovers close by. mission from the back of the H-60 ‘cab’. something of an understated ‘badge of
Robert Arts Crucially, he’s responsible for winching honor’ in the form of a low-viz green patch
down the Rescue Swimmer from the on their jacket shoulder, containing the
Below: The
aircraft hovering H-60 to whatever emergency Alaskan state stars and the words ‘Arctic
maintenance is unfolding in the rotorwash below, Survival’. This signifies their qualification
technicians and recovering the stricken victims in a very specialized course, which is not
(AMTs) or avionics
electrical once the swimmer has secured them. for the faint-hearted. McCabe gave a wry
technicians ‘We put the swimmer on the hook, we smile, raised his eyebrows and almost
(AETs) act as both run the radios, and back up the pilots to shivered as he recalled the undertaking:
crewmembers
and maintainers if ensure a safe and successful mission in ‘We get allocated a couple of seats a year
required. A1C Brad all weathers — there’s so much going to join the US Air Force’s arctic survival
Pigage on up there that it’s total teamwork in course, which takes place up in Fairbanks,
action to save a life.’ in the middle of Alaska.’
The course is five days long and is held
between December and March, with the
temperatures plummeting. The first two
days of the course are theory-based to get
attendees up to speed on technique, tools,
skills and awareness of what the cold can
do to your body, as McCabe explained:
‘This is non-stop, sleepy stuff, but they do
their best to make it interesting. Besides,
even if you’re finding it boring and can’t
wait to get out of the classroom, you’re
going to want to pay attention because
it will save your life. At this point you’re
being pounded with information and
you’re taking in as much as possible and
you’re analyzing everything — not only
because it’s so imminently important, but
also because you know the time will come
when you will need to use it in real-world
operations to save a life.’
Those two days in a dry, warm classroom
will fly by as the wake-up call looms —
0500hrs on the third day. ‘It was about
25 below when the time came,’ McCabe
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 47
20/05/2020 15:34
 OPS REPORT// US COAST GUARD

This image: Rear

crew heroes —
Rescue Swimmer
Brad Pigage on the
right and an AMT
on the left.

Above: The badge

of the arctic
survival course.

48 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 48 20/05/2020 15:35

 recalled. ‘We were dressed in the same kit
we would be in if we were in the back of a
helicopter. This is super important for two
reasons — firstly, so that we know exactly
how we would feel if we had gone down
and were awaiting rescue, and secondly
so that we know how others feel and what
will work best for them in the rescue of
a downed helicopter. We know how to
handle both situations — it might be 12,
24 or 48 hours before we see somebody.’
The students are then loaded up into a
school bus and driven out into the weeds.
‘They kick you out of the bus and say,
‘alright… survive!’ and off they go.’ They
will then hike out into a pre-prepared
camp, where McCabe joked that they
had a Starbucks ready and waiting and
that a squirrel tastes as good as a Big Mac
when you’re out there and hungry. ‘We’re
given a game plan and our goals by our
USAF instructors — all qualified in Survival
Evasion Resistance and Escape [SERE].
Our first step is fire and shelter, followed
by setting traps for small animals. Within
our kit we will have one Meal Ready to
Eat [MRE] and this has to be split between
the three days — I rationed out my syrup
container to last all three days! We put our
new skills to use and built a wet fire and
a dry fire and made smoke signals that
could be seen for hundreds of miles.
Another interesting factor was
the way that the ‘zero degree’
sleeping bags worked — you
have to be naked to get
them to work, so if you get
into them with jackets and
coats on, they just don’t
do their job of keeping
you warm and getting
you through the night!
‘For me, the hardest bit
was the hike back out. After
three days, we then had to
walk two miles to get back to
the bus — it might not seem that
far, but you’re dehydrated and
freezing cold after three days in
the arctic woods. It’s brutal. But
once you see the bus, everyone’s
spirit is raised and you cannot
wait to hit the shower and
have a beer.’
Out on the wire
What of those who are being
winched down from the dry and
relative safety of the H-60 to the
icy, choppy and often chaotic,
panic-stricken emergency
scene below? Combat Aircraft
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 49
Journal talked to the steely-eyed aviation
survival technician (AST) 1st Class Brad
Pigage, a Rescue Swimmer and one of
around 30 flying in the H-65s and H-60s at
Kodiak. He recalled thinking that his small
build might prevent his dream to become
a Rescue Swimmer, but in fact, ‘it’s the
small ones that get through,’ he said with a
smile. ‘I’ve swum competitively my whole
life, and am pretty sporty.’
The school class lasts for six months and
is a specific US Coast Guard set-up. It used
to piggyback onto US Navy schools but
was found to be more beneficial split off.
Pigage explained: ‘The navy will primarily
rescue their own, whereas we respond to
the ‘ma and pa’ off the back of a small boat
sailing to Bermuda — it’s different, so we
had to be schooled as we are working with
civilians rather than the military.
‘You can swim laps all day, but the
minute you wrestle with someone in
the water and he takes you down to the
bottom of the pool in a stricken panic
and you’re out of air, then it’s a whole
different story.
‘It’s actually at that point — when you’re
wrestling someone and you’re out of
breath in the water — that people often
realize it’s not for them or they have a
freak-out moment. It happens.’ But the
hard work and drive doesn’t end there.
After that six-month AST school, the
swimmers will report to a unit and go
off to a seven-week Emergency Medical
Technician [EMT] course in Petaluma,
California, where the life-saving and
on-the-spot emergency first aid is taught.
The personnel then report back to the
air station and whichever helicopter type
they are assigned to, in order to then
qualify on the type that they are going to
be flying on.
‘On board a launching H-60 will be a
pilot and a co-pilot. Both will be highly
qualified, second tour pilots. Then we have
a Rescue Swimmer and a flight mechanic
in the back, the latter being the guy that
hoists myself up and down. He’s the eyes,
making sure that I can get down to the
boat and the survivor can get back up to
the helicopter safely. We mix and match
teams — we’re all standardized for that
reason. It means that if we have to deploy
to respond to a national disaster like a
hurricane, then I can fly with pilots and
AMTs from any coast guard air station.’
Brad Pigage continued: ‘We get a lot
of medical scenarios and evacuations
around here, specifically responding to
the surrounding villages that don’t have
proper medical facilities. They may have
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 49
20/05/2020 15:36
 OPS REPORT // US COAST GUARD
a local doctor, but nothing for advanced
medical care. As EMTs we have certain
capabilities, but sometimes we will need
extra medical personnel too. We have a
couple of paramedics and one advanced
EMT in the unit, which is something they
trained for under their own initiative
and it really helps out. Once I have
brought them onboard, I carry oxygen
and can undertake advanced airways
50 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 50
or resuscitation and monitor all of that, you really have to start using your brain,
as well as administer aspirin for heart thinking about where you are going to
patients or activate charcoal for poisoning, be placed in the water, how am I going to
or glucose for diabetes.’ get on the boat, if I am going to get on the
What goes through a Rescue Swimmer’s boat, how I am going to get that person
mind as they lean out of the helicopter, off… My safety first obviously, because
about to hit the freezing seas? ‘I don’t if I get injured then I am the only asset
think about the cold too much, we’ve that can go down there… Then I have
got excellent equipment for the job,’ Brad to think about the survivor’s safety — I
explained. ‘But when you get to the door, don’t necessarily want to put them into
the water, especially around here. But a
lot of fishing boats have rigging all over
the place so it can be very difficult to get
winched onto a clear platform, so they
may have to get off their boat and into the
sea so I can get to them.
‘If we respond to a village and take
someone out to a hospital then the whole
village is out there — I’m getting hugs and
Above: A Rescue handshakes from the whole community.
Swimmer homes You don’t get that anywhere else.’
in on a ‘survivor’
during training
with an MH-60T. Coast Guard muscle
The USCG is acquiring 22 Lockheed Martin
Left: Petty Officer HC-130Js to replace its HC-130H fleet, with
Rik McCabe in
the back of an five now based at Kodiak. The Hercules
MH-60T. is used as a long-range surveillance
20/05/2020 15:36
 platform, which can provide heavy airlift
and maritime patrol operations. Crucially,
each airframe is capable of acting as
an on-scene command and control or
surveillance platform with the means
to detect, classify and identify objects
and share that information to other
operational forces, such as the H-60s
performing a rescue.
This fleet, the largest concentration in
USCG service, transitioned from the H
to the J-model, with the final example
arriving in September 2019. LCDR Casey
Corpe holds the ‘J’ reigns. He’s the assistant
operations officer and manages all the
C-130 day-to-day operations at Kodiak,
which has 16 HC-130J pilots and 95
aircrew (consisting of mission sensor
operators, loadmasters and basic airmen).
Following a noticeable trend among USCG
personnel, Corpe joined in the footsteps
of his father. He said: ‘It was ingrained in
us and I saw the service he had, the team
aspect of it all, and fell in love with the idea
from an early age. I pursued it at all cost.’
Having joined in 2006, he began flying
in 2008 and gained nine years’ experience
with the C-130H, before arriving at Kodiak
in June 2018 and switching to the J. Here,
the coast guard machines are being
employed for an incredible variety of roles.
Corpe added: ‘We Americans love our pick-
up trucks and we joke that the Hercules
is like that — a really good pick-up, called
44-51 USCG pt1 C.indd 51
upon to do anything. We support all of our
Forward Operating Locations, which is an
essential mission, and we are also here to
support the helicopter force here in their
operations, as well as execute the long-
range maritime domain awareness and
extreme long-range SAR.
‘It’s something of a seasonal dance,’ he
explained. ‘As the fishing regions change
based on the ice conditions, so does our
H-60’s deployment plan and therefore our
support of those locations — from the top
at Barrow to the south along the Aleutian
Chain — is in parallel with that. We not
only undertake these supply flights, but
also undertake joint rescue ops with the
helicopter assets, including a self-rescue
capability if required.
‘There will often be two H-60s launched
in order to maximize the success of the
mission in the threat of bad weather and
we will shadow that mission in our ‘J’ as
well as provide the immediate response
to the rescue itself. Having us out there in
a Herc is a huge benefit and we will often
take over comms for the helicopter guys
and this allows them to focus on what
they do. We might be heading hundreds
of miles off shore for a rescue at the ends
of the H-60’s radius, and we can fly ahead,
get a weather report as we have a much
better radar system, take a wind reading
Above: Even and provide them with the best and most
the flight line at efficient path to the target, which we will
Kodiak features also be locating for them and giving them
impressive
scenery! the vectors, all at the same time.
‘I’ve been flying Hercs all over the
Bottom left to Pacific and the Caribbean, but Kodiak is
right: An MH-60T
on the ramp at incredible. What we get called to fly into is
Kodiak, turning quite something — I flew into all three big
and burning ready name hurricanes that hit the US last year
for a mission.
at least once, including to execute SAR in
An HC-130J the middle of it… but that happens here
sweeps low at Kodiak on a daily basis. Plus, we are so
across Kodiak in
beautiful clear remote and isolated, with difficult comms,
weather. and with terrain also involved. So yes, it is
hard; it requires our airmen to have higher
This image: Storm
clouds roll in over situational awareness than at anywhere
Kodiak — Alaska else. Everywhere here is extreme.’
is an unforgiving
place when it In the second part of this feature we meet the
comes to terrain commander of USCG Air Station Kodiak.
and weather.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 51
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 Combat Aircraft Journal looks at how the Mi-28N overcame
many hurdles before it finally emerged as the capable attack
helicopter we know today.
REPORT Piotr Butowski
I
N RUSSIAN, THERE is a stock
phrase describing phenomena
which are otherwise too complex
for conventional explanation:
‘it historically developed’. And
so, it historically developed that
Russia now manufactures three types
of combat helicopters in parallel: Ka-52,
Mi-28N and Mi-35M. Furthermore,
it’s not the case that each of these
fulfils a separate niche, is intended
for different tasks, or differs in size
compared to the others. All three
Russian combat helicopters have a
similar take-off weight of 11-12 tonnes,
all are powered by the same VK-2500
(TV3-117) turboshaft engines, carry out
similar tasks and share close-combat
capabilities.
On December 16, 1976, the Soviet
government ordered new-generation
combat helicopters to replace the Mi-24
(NATO codename ‘Hind’). Two rotorcraft
were developed to meet this request
— the Mi-28 (izdeliye 280) from the Mil
Design Bureau and the Ka-50 (izdeliye
V-80, or izdeliye 800) from Kamov DB.
These helicopters competed for Soviet
and then Russian defense ministry orders
over many years, with differing fortunes.
Only in the late 2000s did both types
enter production and they are now in
service in Russia and other countries in
their improved, night-capable, Ka-52 and
Mi-28N versions.
Only two prototypes of the initial Mi-28
(izdeliye 280) version, numbers ‘012’ and
‘022’ were completed; the first took to the
air on November 10, 1982. In 1988, tests
began of two slightly improved Mi-28A
(izdeliye 286) versions, ‘032’ and ‘042’. The
Mi-28A featured a new X-type tail rotor,
A pair of Mi-28Ns redesigned engine exhausts, slightly
from the Berkuty
display team, improved sensors, and flare launchers in
crew for which oval wingtip fairings for self-defense.
are provided by In 1987, the Ka-50 was selected for Soviet
the evaluation
and aircrew Army Aviation while the Mi-28 program
conversion center was continued for export. A foreign
in Torzhok. All debut took place at Le Bourget, Paris, in
photos Piotr
Butowski unless June 1989, when Mi-28A ‘032’ was shown
stated (Mi-28A ‘042’ was shown at Le Bourget in
52-59 Mi-28 C.indd 53
1993, followed by Mi-28N ‘014’ in 1997).
However, no customer was found at that
time. In the fall of 1990, an agreement was
signed for the delivery of Mi-28s to Iraq
and the subsequent licensed manufacture
of Mi-28L helicopters there; with the 1991
Gulf War, the plan was abandoned.
On September 30, 1991 the Soviet
defense ministry ordered the Mil Design
Bureau to undertake the Avangard-2
program, for a night-capable version of
the Mi-28 designated Mi-28N (izdeliye 294,
NATO codename ‘Havoc-B’, nicknamed
‘Night Hunter’ in Russia). The first Mi-28N
‘014’ made a first hovering flight on
November 14, 1996. However, after a
few flights the program was suspended
for several years in expectance of new
systems and, in particular, new main
transmission gear. Only on April 24, 2002,
did ‘014’ resume tests, now with VR-29
transmission adapted for higher power.
Into production
Russia launched mass acquisition of
military equipment in the mid-2000s,
when a sustained increase in oil prices
began. In 2005, the defense ministry
placed a first order for 67 Mi-28Ns. It was
followed by a series of purchases, the most
recent of which was placed on April 24,
2016 for 24 dual-control Mi-28UB versions.
The Mi-28 is in production with the
Rostvertol Company at Rostov-on-Don.
On January 22, 2008 the Russian Air
Force accepted delivery of the first Mi-28N
helicopters for the evaluation and aircrew
conversion center in Torzhok. Successive
deliveries were then made to operational
air bases at Budyonnovsk (starting in
March 2009), Korenovsk (2010), Zernograd
(2012), Ostrov (2013), Vyazma (2014),
Dzhankoy (2014) and Pushkin (2016). To
date, approximately 120 helicopters have
been delivered to Russian Army Aviation.
Rostvertol is also fulfilling two export
contracts. The first deal for 15 Mi-28NE
helicopters for Iraq was completed
between August 2014 and June 2016;
11 of them were initial Mi-28NE izdeliye
2941 versions and four were dual-control
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 53
21/05/2020 11:05
 TYPE REPORT // Mi-28N ‘HAVOC’
Mi-28NE izdeliye 299 versions. On
December 26, 2013 Algeria ordered 42 Mi-
28NE izdeliye 299 helicopters; deliveries
began in May 2016. Mi-28s have taken
part in combat operations in Iraq (Iraqi Mi-
28NEs) and in Syria (Russian Mi-28Ns).
Other countries have shown interest in
the helicopter, including Egypt and Peru,
as well as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan among the former Soviet
Republics. The Mi-28NE also took part in
the tender for 22 attack helicopters for
India but lost to the AH-64E.
Conventional design
A Mil design team headed by Marat
Tishchenko designed the helicopter in
a fairly conventional way. The Mi-28 falls
somewhere between a refined Mi-24
without the cargo compartment and the
Boeing AH-64 Apache — which at that
time was already the template for a ‘classic’
54 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
52-59 Mi-28 C.indd 54
combat helicopter. The two crewmembers (20 80mm/3.1in) rocket pods, incendiary
Below: Only two are seated in tandem, with the navigator/ tanks, KMGU submunition dispensers,
examples of
weapons systems officer (WSO) forward minelaying containers, UPK-23 and GUV
the initial Mi-28
(izdeliye 280) and the pilot at the rear. The five-blade gun packs, and others. A single-barrel
version were high-lift main rotor has all-composite 30mm 2A42-2 cannon with 250 rounds is
completed. Mi-28
blades; the X-type tail rotor comprises two mounted in the NPPU-280-1 (9A-4349-1)
‘012’ was the first
prototype, first separate two-blade rotors arranged in a under-nose turret that can be moved +/-
flown in November ‘scissors’ configuration. The four-stage VR- 110° in azimuth, and +13/-40° in elevation.
1982. Mil
29 main transmission gearbox is based on The targeting sensor for the Ataka-VN
Bottom left to the pattern of the Mi-26’s gearbox. anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is the
right: Mi-28A In standard anti-tank configuration, the Zenith/Krasnogorsk OPS-28 Tor (path)
‘042’ arrives for
Mi-28N’s armament comprises eight (or a electro-optical (EO) turret with TV and
tests in Sweden
in October 1995. maximum of 16) 9M120 radio-command- forward-looking infrared (FLIR) channels
Swedish Air Force guidance anti-tank missiles within the (each wide and narrow), and LD-294 laser
A view of Mi-28Ns
Ataka-VN system, in one (or two) eight- rangefinder, as well as a radio-command
under assembly tube APU-8/4U clusters. 9M342 Igla-S (and data link. The FLIR’s search range for a
at Rostvertol’s previously, 9M39 Igla-V) anti-aircraft tube- tank-type target is 4.3 miles (7km), while
facility in Rostov-
launched missiles loaded in four-round aiming range is 3.1 miles (5km). The OPS-
on-Don; the same
factory makes the Strelets packs can be used against enemy 28 is located in a rotating cylinder under
Mi-35M combat- helicopters. Unguided weapons are typical the helicopter’s nose; it covers +/-110°
transport and
for Russian aircraft and include up to four in azimuth and +30/-45° in elevation.
Mi-26 heavy-lift
helicopters. B-13L1 (five 122mm/4.8in) or B-8V-20A Another EO turret is the pilot’s UOMZ/
21/05/2020 11:06
 Yekaterinburg TOES-521 in a ball in front of
and above the OPS-28.
The OPS-28 is the only targeting
sensor on early operational Mi-28Ns.
For a long time, the helicopter was
advertised with N025 radar installed
at the top of main rotor mast. In fact,
the radar tests were only accomplished
in 2015. They were pushed by export
orders, as both Algeria and Iraq wanted
radar-equipped helicopters. The first
production helicopters with radar were
delivered to Iraq in February 2015. The
Russian Aerospace Forces required more
demanding certification than that for
export customers, and the first radar-
equipped Mi-28UB versions were only
Left: This Mi-28N delivered to Korenovsk air base at the
was part of end of 2017.
the first batch
Algeria requested a customized
delivered to
Torzhok in 2008. configuration with both radar and dual
The Russian Air controls for its Mi-28NE; the prototype was
Force used these
flown at Rostov-on-Don in mid-July 2013.
initial helicopters
for evaluation The front cockpit is equipped with the
and aircrew controls, artificial horizon and horizontal
conversion.
situation indicator; the width of the crew
Below: A pair of compartment is increased by 5.5in (14cm).
Mi-28Ns on the Both crew members received new shock-
hunt. The under-
absorbing AK-2005 seats. For export, this
nose gun turret
is armed with modification is designated simply ‘Mi-
a single-barrel 28NE with dual controls’ or izdeliye 299,
30mm 2A42-2
while its Russian derivative is the Mi-28UB
cannon provided
with 250 rounds. (Uchebno-Boyevoy, training-combat;

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 TYPE REPORT // Mi-28N ‘HAVOC’

izdeliye 298). The Mi-28UB remains the first hovering flight at the Mil company’s exhibition at Kubinka on June 27 that
only operational Russian Aerospace Forces site in Tomilino on July 29, 2016 and Above left to right: year; deliveries are due between 2020 and
Flares are ejected
version fitted with radar. a first full-profile flight followed on from a Mi-28N. 2027. The Russian Helicopters CEO Andrey
October 13. In March 2019 it was briefly The self-defense Boginsky specified that the defense
Ambitious plans deployed to Syria. suite comprises
the L150-28 Pastel
ministry would receive six helicopters
With the basic Mi-28N essentially ready, During a conference with military and radar warning annually in 2020-22 and then 16 each year
on December 24, 2009 Mil received a industry officials at Sochi on the Black receiver, L370-2 in 2023-27. Earlier, in April 2019, an initial
contract for the Avangard-3 research- Sea coast in May 2019, Russian President UV missile launch batch of two Mi-28NM helicopters, ‘70’ and
and approach
and-development program. This was a Vladimir Putin ordered industry to ‘supply sensor, L140 ‘71’, was also completed.
thorough modernization that resulted in troops with 100 upgraded Mi-28NM’ Otklik laser The Mi-28NM was presented to the
the Mi-28NM helicopter; its dual-control helicopters by 2028. To fulfil Putin’s wishes, warning receiver public for the first time at the MAKS
and UV-26 flare
derivative will be the Mi-28UBM. The Russia’s defense ministry inked an order dispensers in the exhibition in Zhukovsky in August 2019.
Mi-28NM ‘701’ prototype performed a for 98 Mi-28NMs during the Army-2019 wingtip fairings. It was an unusual debut — Mi-28NM ‘70’
flew over Zhukovsky in a column with
Rocket attack
on targets at the other helicopters and performed an
Dubrovichi training individual display; however, the helicopter
ground during the was not advertised in any way and the
‘Aviamix-2019’
exercise. The manufacturer even refuses to confirm its
B-8V-20A pods presence at the event.
for 20 examples
of the S-8 series
80mm (3.1in) New systems
rocket are an The Mi-28NM (izdeliye 296) differs from
almost permanent the N version mainly in its upgraded
fixture.
mission systems and weapons. It has an
Left: Mi-28N ‘05 N025M radar mounted at the top of the
Yellow’/RF-95315 rotor mast, OPS-28M Tor-M electro-optical
is assigned to the
15th Army Aviation turret carried in a much bulkier cylindrical
Brigade, based at housing under the nose, and a new
Ostrov in the far SMS-550 pilot’s turret. The crew received
west of Russia,
close to the border NSTsI-V helmet-mounted sight and
with Latvia. display systems.

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 Developed by the GRPZ company in
Ryazan, the N025M is a two-range, Ka-
and X-band radar (the N025 on current
production helicopters works in Ka-band
only) used for surface mapping, detection
of surface targets, and indication of targets
for the EO sight, as well as weather and
air-to-air functions; the third channel is
the L-band identification friend-or-foe
(IFF). The radar’s antennas and transmitter
are installed inside a radar-transparent
ball at the top of the main rotor mast,
while the remaining components are in
the fuselage. The N025M radar, like the
basic N025, is not able to assign targets
directly to the weapon and only indicates
their initial co-ordinates to the OPS-28M
electro-optical turret.
The Mi-28NM’s L370V28 Vitebsk self-
defense suite combines the L150-28M
radar, L-140M laser and L370-2 ultra-violet
warning receivers, a decoy-launching
system and an L370V28-5L laser-based
directional infra-red countermeasures
(DIRCM). ‘When developing this
modernized self-defense complex for
the Mi-28NM we have fully considered
experience of real combat use of
Russian helicopters in Syria,’ declared a
representative of the Concern Radio-
Electronic Technologies (KRET). The new
52-59 Mi-28 C.indd 57
KSS-28NM (S-406-2NM) communication in maximum speed by 10 per cent and an
suite enables operations within army increase in cruise speed by 13 per cent.
aviation’s command system.
Platform changes are minor, except Khrizantema and beyond
for installation of new VK-2500P engines Standard weapons of the Mi-28NM are
with improved ‘hot and high’ capability the laser-beam-riding and radar-homing
developed by the Klimov company of St 9M123M Khrizantema-VM and the
Petersburg, as well as a new TA14-130-28 laser-beam-riding 9M120-1 Ataka-VM
auxiliary power unit (APU) provided by anti-tank guided missiles, neither of which
Aerosila. Mil declares that the new main were previously used by the Mi-28N.
rotor blades that will be installed on the Meanwhile, the obsolescent radio-
Mi-28NM — now being tested on the command ATGMs have been removed
Mi-24 LL PSV testbed — allow an increase from the Mi-28NM weaponry. This led to
Above right: A
head-on view of a
Mi-28N.
Right: On strength
with the 549th
Independent
Helicopter
Regiment at
Pushkin, near
St Petersburg, is
Mi-28N ‘71 Red’/
RF-13655.
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21/05/2020 11:07
 TYPE REPORT // Mi-28N ‘HAVOC’

Above: This the most obvious external difference in

Mi-28N, ‘40
comparison with the Mi-28N: the lack
Blue’/RF-91391,
is flown by the of the distinguishing bulge for the data
39th Helicopter link antenna in the helicopter’s nose.
Regiment, at
The use of laser-beam-riding versions
Dzhankoy on the
Crimea peninsula. of the Khrizantema and Ataka required
the helicopter to be equipped with the
Left: An example
new LSN-296 laser-guidance system
of the radar-
equipped Mi-28UB fitted inside the OPS-28M, instead of the
of the 344th previous LD-294 laser rangefinder.
Evaluation Center
The 9M123M Khrizantema-VM (AT-15
at Torzhok at the
MAKS 2019 show. ‘Springer’) is a further development of

MIL MI-28N ‘HAVOC’ CHARACTERISTICS

Two Klimov/St Petersburg VK-2500-02 turboshafts, each
Powerplant
rated at 2,200shp (1,641kW) at take-off
Main rotor diameter 56ft 5in (17.2m)
Tail rotor diameter 12ft 7in (3.84m)
Fuselage length 55ft 4in (16.88m)
Length without rotors
55ft 10in (17.01m)
up to nose gun tip
Maximum length
69ft 5in (21.155m)
with rotors turning
Maximum width with APU-8-
19ft 1in (5.824m)
4U clusters attached
Height to top of rotor head
12ft 7in (3.823m)
without radar
Wheelbase 36ft 1in (11m)
Wheel track 7ft 6in (2.29m)
Empty weight 18,850lb (8,550kg)
Nominal take-off weight with
eight 9M120 missiles and 24,251lb (11,000kg)
cannon rounds
Maximum take-off weight 26,676lb (12,100kg)
Maximum speed 174mph (280km/h)
Cruising speed at nominal
149mph (240km/h)
TOW
Hovering ceiling, out of
ground effect (OGE), nominal 9,678ft (2,950m)
TOW
Service ceiling 16,404ft (5,000m)
Combat radius at nominal
93 miles (155km)
TOW, 5 per cent reserve

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 the Ataka; its initial ground-launched
Khrizantema-S version entered service
in 2005. The missile attains the same
3.7-mile (6km) range of the Ataka but
has a more powerful warhead able to
penetrate 43-47in (1,100-1,200mm) of
rolled homogeneous armor equivalent
(RHAe). It has two guidance channels:
semi-automatic laser-beam-riding
guidance and automatic millimeter-
wave radar homing; thanks to this, two
missiles can be guided simultaneously
towards two separate targets. Using
radar guidance, the missile can be
employed at night, in difficult weather
conditions (fog, rain or snow), or
under a smokescreen. However, the
use of the radar-homing Khrizantema
requires fitting the helicopter with an
additional radar; it is carried in a large
underwing pod. The radar — operating on four APU-305 launchers each with helicopters — numbered ‘1707’ and
on 100-150GHz frequency or 2-3mm two missiles. ‘1811’ — on several occasions in an
wavelength — detects and traces the The Zvezda TV channel affiliated with intermediate version between the
Above: Mi-28NM
ground target and then automatically ‘70 Red’ is the first the Russian defense ministry showed N and the NM. This has no specific
guides the missile to its objective. pre-production footage from the trials of the Mi-28NM designation but is described as the
In early 2019, Russian media example, seen ‘701’ prototype armed with new LMUR ‘Mi-28NE modernized’. The main feature
with Ataka ATGMs,
announced the Mi-28NM helicopter Igla-S AAMs and (Lyogkaya Mnogofunktsionalnaya is introduction of Khrizantema-VM and
was to be armed with a ‘new guided rockets. Upravlaemaya Raketa) lightweight multi- Ataka-VM ATGMs on the standard
missile izdeliye 305’. The few available function guided missile. The image of the Mi-28N platform. The helicopters also
Right: The pilot
details indicate that the missile has a (left) and WSO/ missile was blurred, but it was clear that feature the L370V28 Vitebsk (exported as
satellite navigation receiver and imaging navigator it was short and bulky, of much greater the L370V28E Prezident-S28) self-defense
IR sensor; the video signal from the IIR cockpits of Mi- diameter than previous missiles. It is likely suite, uprated VK-2500-01 engines rated
28NE ‘1811’.
sensor is transmitted to the helicopter that the LMUR is the izdeliye 305. Russian at 2,400shp (the standard VK-2500-02
via radio data link. Reportedly, there Left: A view of Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said engines are rated at 2,200shp for take-
is also a version with millimeter-wave Rostvertol’s in March 2019 that the LMUR could hit off) and new test-standard main rotor
demonstration
radar seeker. The izdeliye 305 is made helicopter ‘1811’, targets at a distance of 9 miles (15km). blades. Dust filters of a new design have
by KB Mashinostroyeniya at Kolomna, with Khrizantema been mounted on the engine air intakes
the same company that manufactures ATGMs and the
radar pod for
Intermediate version of ‘1707’, as well as explosion-proof fuel
the Ataka and Khrizantema missiles. The missile guidance Beginning in summer 2018, Rostvertol tanks. It represents the latest chapter in
Mi-28NM can carry up to eight missiles in front. presented its two demonstration the story of the Mi-28.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 59

52-59 Mi-28 C.indd 59 21/05/2020 11:08

 BIG SHOT // AMERICA STRONG
T
HE US AIR Force Thunderbirds
flight demonstration team and
the US Navy Blue Angels have
come together for a series
of flybys over the US under
Operation ‘America Strong’.
This commenced with a flight over the
New York City area on April 28. Blue
Angels team leader CDR Brian Kesselring
said in a video interview: ‘Although our
primary mission is flight demonstrations,
one thing that is coupled with that
— that we don’t get to do due to
this pandemic — is the community
60 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
60-61 Big Shot C.indd 60
outreach. Reaching out and helping or
touching the lives of those inside each
community in every airshow that we
get a chance to perform in. What we
thought when we got together with the
Thunderbirds is in what way we can we
reach out and maybe touch those lives?
If nothing more than neighbors looking
out through their window pane at each
other together and watching a couple
flight demonstration teams fly by.
Maybe increase the morale and have a
visible show of support. I thought that’s
something we could do together.’
His comments were echoed by Lt
Col John Caldwell, the Thunderbirds
commander. ‘It’s a complete honor to
be able to show our support for the first
responders, the healthcare workers, the
medical professionals out there and even
beyond that, really to everybody who’s
doing their part to battle COVID-19. Our
flyovers are to honor everybody doing
what they need to do to make sure that
America will get through this, because Photos: US
we will get through this virus, because Navy/PO3C
Cody Hen
this is a strong nation — we are America USAF/SSgt
strong.’ Cory Bush
20/05/2020 15:30
 www.Key.Aero // July 2020 61

60-61 Big Shot C.indd 61 20/05/2020 15:32

62 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

Combat Aircraft Journal reports from Sigonella on the operations
of the resident MQ-1 Predators, tasked primarily with patrolling
the Mediterranean waters.
REPORT AND PHOTOS Peter ten Berg
S
ICILY, THE SOUTHERNMOST
tip of Italy, has long proved
to be the ideal geographic
location for aerial operations
to help maintain border
control and to observe
international shipping ploughing
across the Mediterranean seaways. The
typically pleasant climate here has heavily
influenced aviation, with ideal flying
weather almost year-round. It was for
this reason that, in the 1950s, the Italian
military established the base at Sigonella,
close to the city of Catania and to Mount
Etna, the highest volcano in Europe.
Today, Sigonella hosts a wide variety of
aircraft ranging from fighters to transports,
it has a significant US Navy presence, and
its location has increasingly lent itself to
operations by remotely piloted air systems
(RPAS). This now includes the new NATO
Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system,
and the Aeronautica Militare (AM, Italian
Air Force) MQ-1C Predator A+ fleet.
The unmanned presence here builds
upon a lineage of long-range maritime
patrol, currently manifested in the
manned operations of the Leonardo P-72A
of the 41° Stormo (41st Wing). However,
its relations with the US as both a useful
transit stop for the Middle East and, more
importantly, a hub for the US Navy’s Sixth
Fleet, have placed Sigonella high on the
list of influential locations.
It was a natural development that the
32° Stormo (32nd Wing) would station
a detachment for its MQ-1C Predators
here. Perhaps more important than the
An MQ-1C taxiing
out for a mission blue skies was the relatively uncluttered
from Sigonella. airspace around these shores compared
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 63
 UNIT REPORT // 61° GRUPPO VOLO

with mainland Italy. Regional geopolitical

elements also came into play, mainly the
rapidly growing number of immigrants
from the African continent, trying to
make the treacherous journey north
to Europe. The flow of refugees, mainly
out of Libya, was increasingly being
Above: Inside controlled by criminal organizations
the hushed helping to facilitate this illegal human
environment
of the ground trafficking. With no eye for safety, the risk
control station. to life rose dramatically, with unsuitable,
Seated on the left overcrowded vessels and mounting
of the console is
the pilot, with the fatalities. It was a humanitarian disaster.
sensor operator In an effort to control the situation, the
to his right and European Union was forced into action.
the mission co-
ordinator standing One of the initiatives was Operation
behind. ‘Sophia’, which saw various maritime
patrol aircraft (MPA) being deployed to
Left: Maj ‘F’, the
61° Gruppo Volo Sigonella, poised to respond quickly to
commander. events in the Med as they unfolded.

64 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

62-66 MQ-1 C.indd 64 21/05/2020 11:01

 from around Europe. The shelters are
fringed with container-based facilities
that provide offices, crewrooms and
ground control stations (GCS).
Detachment and squadron
commander Maj ‘F’ (full name withheld
for security reasons) explained that the
MQ-1s are operated in unusually close
proximity with the respective GCS, being
connected by local mobile antenna units
to provide line-of-sight pilot control
of the Predators during take-offs and
Below top to
bottom: The landings. They are then handed over to
groundcrew secure satellite connections for work in
perform final the operational areas.
checks for
a Predator The transportable GCS contains
launch. work-stations, used by the flight crew,
a mission intelligence co-ordinator
An MQ-1C
returns from and avionics technicians, all of whom
a long- oversee the missions.
endurance Maj ‘F’ is an MQ-1 pilot, meaning he
mission
over the works in concert with a sensor operator
Mediterranean. and mission co-ordinator. The latter is
responsible for overseeing the entire
mission, typically looking over the
shoulder of the pilot in the left-hand
seat, and the sensor operator to his or
her right. The Sigonella Predator flights
typically last for up to 20 hours, which
means one MQ-1 is suitable for the
entire period of coverage, although
the humans in the loop work in shifts.
Several individual crews can therefore
be used for a single mission.
MQ-1 mission
The MQ-1C is an upgraded variant of
the RQ-1B Predator A. Italy actually
accepted the final two Predators off the
General Atomics production line in 2015.
Today, with the 61° Gruppo Volo flying
from Sigonella, this is very much the
operational side of the Predators, while
Amendola is mainly focused on training
with the 28° Gruppo Volo. It looks after
initial qualification training (IQT) for

In addition, the AM realized a need

to increase its support. The 61° Gruppo
Volo (61st Squadron) was established in
2017 as a part of the 32° Stormo, based
at Amendola. Known as the Aerei a
Pilotaggio Remoto (APR), it sat alongside
the 13° Gruppo, which flies the F-35A,
and the 28° Gruppo, a second APR
squadron equipped with the General
Atomics MQ‑1C and MQ-9 Reaper.

Sigonella Predators
In late 2019, Combat Aircraft Journal
was offered a close look at the Predator
operations of the 61° Gruppo Volo, which
was by now a permanent detachment
to Sigonella. The squadron operates out
of temporary shelters located adjacent
to the resident 41° Stormo P-72s and the
variety of Operation ‘Sophia’ MPA guests

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 65

62-66 MQ-1 C.indd 65 21/05/2020 11:02

 UNIT REPORT // 61° GRUPPO VOLO
new pilots and sensor operators, as
well as regular emergency procedures
refresher work.
Although Italy became the second
nation to arm its Reapers, the MQ-1s are
dedicated to intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance (ISR). The AM operates the
MQ-1 unarmed, hoovering up information
via its electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR)
sensors, for real-time surveillance. This is
an important factor, as ISR data can be
transmitted immediately to command
and control (C2) centers as senior leaders
monitor situations on land or sea.
The Sigonella Predator operation
concentrates on the southern part of the
central Mediterranean, supporting the
overall operation to discourage and even
prevent the plethora of criminal activities
that have been identified in the region.
Shared knowledge
The team at the 61° Gruppo Volo is also
keen to show the multi-role use of its
On November 20, 2019, the
Aeronautica Militare declared that
it had lost a Predator over Libya,
while flying a mission in support of
Operation ‘Mare Sicuro’ (‘Safe Seas’).
This is part of the Frontex operation,
designed to monitor the flow of
refugees out of the African continent
towards southern Europe. The MQ-1
was operating near the Libyan
coast, local forces claiming to have
shot it down.
66 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
62-66 MQ-1 C.indd 66
Above: Two of the Predators, including applications away
Sigonella-based from the immediate security patrols to
Predators tucked
up inside the the south. During 2019, it participated in
temporary shelter. local combined air operations (COMAOs)
with other AM units to help spread
Below: Italy was
the last customer understanding of the versatility and
to take delivery usefulness of the MQ-1C.
of Predators from In parallel with programs such as the
General Atomics.
F-35 Lightning II, the AM maintains
close contact with the US. Even though
the US Air Force no longer operates the
MQ-1, Italy has made good use of the
opportunity to tap into the experience
of its partner in using the type. This
co-operation extends to AM personnel
attending regular courses in the US,
along with American exchange pilots
who are embedded in the operation
at Amendola.
The Italian RPAS operators have also
become linked with other European
unmanned operations. Current and
prospective RPAS operator nations have
been frequent visitors to both Amendola
and Sigonella. For example, Dutch
Defense Secretary Barbara Visser visited
the 28° Gruppo Volo at Amendola as
part of preparatory work for the delivery
of new MQ-9s to the Royal Netherlands
Air Force in 2020.
According to recent figures published
by the European Border and Coast Guard
Agency, also known as Frontex, the flow
of migrants across the Mediterranean
has decreased considerably. Monitoring
over 11 months from January-November
2019 showed 13,180 illegal border
crossings on the central Mediterranean
migratory route, a decline of some
43 per cent compared with the same
period the year before. While other
factors clearly come into play, it
underscores that Operation ‘Sophia’ has
made a significant impression, as have
the MQ-1s of the 61° Gruppo Volo at
Sigonella.
21/05/2020 11:03
 I NT E R NAT I O N AL SU B SC R I P T I O N O FFER S

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251 CAJ Bundle fp JUL20 overseas.indd 67 21/05/2020 09:27

 HH-1N BuNo 158257 makes a low pass
during the ceremony on March 13 for the
Yuma SAR flight.

68 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

68-71 YUMA C.indd 68 20/05/2020 19:27

 FOR MARINE RESCUE
The end of operations for Arizona’s MCAS Yuma search and rescue
flight marks the end of an era for the US Marine Corps.
REPORT AND PHOTOS Joe Copalman

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 69

68-71 YUMA C.indd 69 20/05/2020 19:28

 UNIT REPORT // YUMA SAR
T
HE LAST SEARCH and rescue
(SAR) unit in the US Marine
Corps stood down on March
13, 2020, when MCAS
Yuma’s SAR detachment
(part of Headquarters and
Headquarters Squadron (H&HS) MCAS
Yuma) flew its final flight with the Bell
HH-1N Twin Huey. Since 1957, Yuma
SAR has provided search and rescue
coverage for the range complexes in
the Yuma area, which includes some of
the most heavily used military airspace
in the US.
The US Marine Corps has divested
air station SAR units over the past two
decades, with Yuma SAR and MCAS
Cherry Point’s ‘Pedro’ unit in North
Carolina (which flew HH-46E Sea Knights)
being marked for deactivation back
in 2015. With no viable replacement
(and with Arizona Senator John McCain
70 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
68-71 YUMA C.indd 70
successfully protecting the unit from
being shut down), Yuma SAR held onto
the role and its four ancient Hueys,
conducting numerous military, civilian,
and law enforcement rescues every year
since then.
As the last operator of the November-
model Huey in the US Marine Corps, parts
availability increasingly became a problem
over recent years, and by December
2019, the unit put out a NOTAM (notice
to airmen) that it would not be able to
reliably provide SAR coverage for the Barry
M. Goldwater, Chocolate Mountain, and El
Centro ranges.
On February 25, 2020, the USMC
announced that Yuma SAR would be
deactivated on March 14, during a
ceremony at the conclusion of the 2020
MCAS Yuma Air Show. Unfortunately, the
airshow was canceled just days prior, a
casualty of the COVID-19 virus. Rather
than a public send-off, Yuma SAR’s last
flight took place the day before the
airshow was to occur, with a private get-
together at the H&HS Yuma hangar. Pilots,
crew chiefs, and navy SAR personnel who
had flown with Yuma SAR going back
as far as the late 1970s attended, while
a flight crew flew marines and sailors
assigned to the unit on their last flights
aboard an HH-1N. At the conclusion of the
‘thank you’ flights, the crew performed a
SAR demo, lowering a corpsman down
to recover another member of the unit,
role-playing as a casualty, then being lifted
aloft and short-hauled directly in front of
the unit’s hangar before the pilots landed
and shut down the HH-1N’s twin P&W
T400 turboshaft engines for the final time
Above: There is no in operational service.
clear replacement The unit will keep at least two aircraft in
for the venerable
Hueys of Yuma airworthy condition until the US Marine
SAR. Corps decides the final disposition of
20/05/2020 19:28
 the aircraft. With two of Yuma SAR’s
HH-1Ns previously being ‘Marine One’
Presidential helicopters with HMX-1, the
likelihood of these aircraft being loaned
to museums is high. With no direct
replacement for SAR coverage of Yuma’s
local ranges, the marines are considering
several alternatives to an organic SAR
capability, with some discussion of the
Right top to Arizona Department of Public Service
bottom: One final (DPS) stepping in to provide coverage.
SAR hoist for the
last mission.
Regardless of whatever solution is worked
out, several marines expressed concern
The four-person that the local area familiarity that Yuma
crew for the final
flight in March.
SAR’s crews brought to the mission and
which made them so effective will be
A view that has missing from any law enforcement or
been welcome
for many less
civilian contractor replacement. With Yuma
fortunate SAR leaving a 63-year legacy of being on
individuals over call to rescue pilots and aircrew in the
the years as
Yuma SAR came
Yuma area, whatever agency takes their
to their rescue. place will have some big boots to fill.

71

68-71 YUMA C.indd 71 20/05/2020 19:28

 MAINSTAY
RUSSIA’S EYES ON HIGH
The Beriev A-50 is one of the most important assets in the
Russian military. The small fleet is operating at a high tempo,
including the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria.
REPORT Alexander Mladenov
T
HE RUSSIAN MILITARY
has been paying particular
attention to shoring up its
small and aging airborne
early warning (AEW) force.
In 2011, the Vozdushno-
Kosmicheskiye Sily Rossiyskoy Federatsii
(VKS, Russian Aerospace Forces) received
a serious capability boost through
the introduction of the significantly
upgraded A-50U, which offers expanded
mission capabilities and vastly improved
reliability. By early 2020, there were
six A-50Us on strength, representing
an estimated 50 per cent of the active
‘Mainstay’ fleet, which now bear the
brunt of operational and training activity,
both in Russia and abroad.
72 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
72-77 A-50 Mainstay C.indd 72
retaining impressive capabilities for land
and sea target detection and recognition.
Soviet-era surveillance
Development of the A-50 ‘Mainstay’
dates back to 1973 under the Beriev
Design Bureau, now known as
The importance placed on the AEW TANTK Beriev, situated in Taganrog, Above: The
greatly enhanced
mission means that the VKS is already in southwestern Russia. It used the Shmel-M radar
looking at a new-generation Airborne airframe of the Ilyushin Il-76MD of the A-50U
Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) ‘Candid-B’ transport aircraft, hosting boasts the ability
to track low-radar
platform in the shape of the Beriev A-100 a mission suite comprising the cross-section
‘Premier’, which is currently in the testing sophisticated Shmel (‘Bumblebee’ ) unmanned
phase. Set to enter squadron service in airborne radar, which was developed aircraft and
helicopters in the
the next few years, this is a sophisticated by the Moscow Research Institute hover at low level.
platform by current Russian standards, of Instrument Engineering (now Russian MoD
bringing with it an active electronic known as the Vega Radio Engineering
Right: The crew
scanned array (AESA) radar together with Corporation). of upgraded
new signals collection, data processing, The Il-76MDs used as platforms for the ‘Mainstay’
and operator displays. The ‘Premier’ is system were constructed in Tashkent, named Taganrog,
seen in front
billed as being able to detect, identify now the capital of Uzbekistan, and then of the aircraft
(including using non-cooperative ferried in a ‘green’ configuration to the upon return
targeting techniques), acquire and track Beriev’s plant in Taganrog for installation from a combat
deployment to
small targets (such as stealthy craft and and integration of the components of Syria in December
non-strategic ballistic missiles), while the Shmel system. 2017. Russian MoD
20/05/2020 19:22
 The A-50 prototype made its maiden
flight on December 19, 1978, but
lacking the missions systems, this was
just the start of a slow and laborious
development path, exacerbated by
the notoriously low reliability of the
components assigned to the over-
complex mission suite.
The ‘Mainstay’ was eventually
approved for full-scale production
in December 1984. The Voisk PVO
(Soviet Air Defense Forces), which also
incorporated interceptors, surface-to-air
missile (SAM) systems, early-warning
radars and command-and-control (C2)
centers, formally accepted the first
‘Mainstay’ in 1985.
The A-50 immediately built upon
the traditional ground-controlled
intercept (GCI) model for Russian
fighter operations, which was adapted
for detection via the Shmel radar and
guidance from onboard operators.
The concept behind the ‘Mainstay’ was
originally intended for deployment
to remote regions that lacked reliable
ground radar coverage, mainly in the
vast and deep-frozen Arctic, where
the Voisk PVO had to counter massed
penetrations at low-level by US Air Force
strategic bombers armed with nuclear-
tipped cruise missiles.
72-77 A-50 Mainstay C.indd 73
The first A-50s were delivered in 1985
to the 67th Independent Aviation
Squadron (67th OAE), stationed in
Siauliai in what was then the Soviet
Socialist Republic of Lithuania. The
squadron was soon expanded into
an independent aviation regiment of
AEW&C aircraft — the 144th OAP. In
1989, the regiment moved closer to its
main theater of operations, to Beryzovka
airfield on the Kola Peninsula. In August
1998, it moved once again, this time
to its present base at Ivanovo-Severniy
airfield, northeast of Moscow. It came
under a new unit, known as the 2457th
Aviation Base of Combat Employment of
A-50 aircraft. In December 2009, during
radical organizational changes, the
Ivanovo-based A-50 unit was reformed
as a Combat Employment Aviation
Group and included into the structure of
the VKS’ 610th Aircrew Conversion and
Combat Training Centre at Ivanovo-
Severniy, which was in turn subordinate
to the Lipetsk training center. However,
a couple of years later, the 610th Aircrew
Conversion and Combat Training Center
was re-assigned to the military transport
aviation command, centered in Moscow.
As many as 25 A-50s, including three
prototypes, were built, with the last
delivered in 1992.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 73
20/05/2020 19:23
 TYPE REPORT // BERIEV A-50
HEAVY-
DUTY
RADAR
The A-50’s huge rotodome necessitated
extensive fuselage aerodynamic and
structural modifications for the ‘green’
Il-76MD.
The most evident aerodynamic
alterations are large strakes added to the
aft section of the main undercarriage
fairings. These provide stability in pitch,
and also prevent radar returns, reflected
from the ground, from reaching the
antenna. This is intended to reduce radar
‘clutter’.
The Shmel radar antenna is
accommodated inside a large ‘saucer’
of 34ft 5in (10.5m) diameter and 8ft 2in
(2.5m) maximum thickness, that rotates
at 12rpm. The assembly weighs about
22,000lb (10,000kg) and is mounted on
two de-iced pylons aft of the wing trailing
edge, rising about 10ft (3.2m) above
the fuselage, near the aircraft’s center of
gravity.
The Shmel mission system uses a
mechanically scanned slotted-array
antenna with horizontal slotted
waveguides. Working in the centimeter
wavelength, it has been advertised as
being capable of detecting large air
targets (such as bombers and transport
aircraft) at high altitude at up to 350nm
74 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
‘Mainstay’ today
Today, up to a dozen A-50s and
(650km), while fighters can be seen at upgraded A-50Us are in service at any
up to 124nm (230km) at low altitude given time and they equip two squadrons
and up to 162nm (300km) at high levels. at Ivanovo-Severniy. Satellite images of
The enhanced Shmel derivative,
introduced in the early 1990s, was able to
Ivanovo-Severniy airfield, dating from
mid-2019, showed three A-50s on the
simultaneously track about 150 targets
compared with 60 of the original system. base’s active operations apron, while
The A-50’s mission system is able to nine more examples were parked in the
facilitate automated control of intercepts long-term storage area. In addition, three
of up to 12 friendly fighters, supplying more A-50s were at the TANTK Beriev plant
these with data linked targeting Above: VKS
in Taganrog, most likely set to undergo or
information. sources claim
The radar features two principal already undergoing upgrades. that the A-50U
modes of operation: quasi-continuous The A-50 is a precious asset, particularly upgrade is a huge
and pulse. While the former is used for in Russia’s enormous far northern and leap forward with
air target detection and tracking, the new computing
far eastern territories. The type’s role is power and display
latter facilitates detection of sea and
increasingly important given Russia’s systems.
land targets. The Shmel can also operate
policy of vastly expanding its military and Russian MoD
in the so-called ‘interleaved mode’ by
alternating the quasi-continuous and economic presence in the resource-rich Right, left to
pulse modes. and remote territories beyond the Arctic right: The mission
When operating in the ‘slaved mode’ Circle. Notably, they are also actively consoles of a
to a ground-based C2 facility, the non-upgraded
supporting the VKS strategic bomber force A-50, showing
A-50’s data link systems can downlink
selected tactical information. The and its fighter escorts while operating the antiquated
‘Mainstay’ also comes equipped with in international airspace in the northern circular displays
for six fighter
electronic intelligence (ELINT) and Atlantic, the Pacific and the Black and controllers and
signal intelligence (SIGNIT) systems for Baltic Seas. tracking operators
detecting radio-emitting sources such as in addition to a
radars and communications radios, and
for locating the source within a broad Upgrading the ‘Mainstay’ tactical crew
commander.
range of frequencies. The ‘Mainstay’ is The A-50 mid-life upgrade effort targeted Russian MoD
also outfitted with a powerful radar enhanced overall mission performance
jammer for self-protection, together A shot from
and improved reliability. It also added inside an A-50U
with a radar warning receiver (RWR). The
a set of new operational capabilities to showing the
self-protection suite also incorporates
the radar system. These included reliable upgraded
countermeasures dispensers on both operator
sides of the tail section. detection and tracking of low-flying consoles.
helicopters and integration of modern Russian MoD
 data exchange terminals. This allows the
system’s ground users to expand the
user base down to the ground forces’
division level and the addition of new
data fusion techniques.
This package of enhancements,
originally designed in the early
2000s but not tested until 2009, was
incorporated in the A-50U program,
undertaken by Beriev and Vega. The
upgraded ‘Mainstay’ lacks the A-50’s
distinctive horizontal strakes on
the aft section of the undercarriage
fairings, apparently due to the much
better Doppler filtering of the return
signals, rendered by the new on-
board processors. The new Shmel-M is
advertised as being capable of detecting of Western origin; this has also been the first production-standard A-50U. It
an expanded air target set, previously acknowledged by Vega sources. is also noteworthy that all the upgraded
Above: The
impossible for the non-upgraded A-50 ‘Mainstay’ (here The first upgraded example, ‘Red A-50Us lack the countermeasures
in addition to vastly improved maritime in non-upgraded 47’, wearing the Russian state aircraft dispensers of the A-50.
surveillance capabilities. The tactical form) is a highly registration RF-92957 (MSN 40-05), was The first production standard-upgraded
valued VKS asset,
crewmembers got all-new consoles employed on handed over to the VKS in October 2011 aircraft was reported to have attained
featuring large, high-resolution liquid regular basis while the second, ‘Red 33’, RF-50602, MSN operational capability in February 2012.
crystal displays, capable of showing to support 41-05, followed suit in December 2012. Despite plans to upgrade one per year,
operations.
much more data than the old-fashioned Alexander These examples entered upgrade at predictably the program progressed
cathode ray tubes of the original A-50. Mladenov Beriev’s plant in Taganrog in late 2008 and slower than planned, and nine years after
Stripping out old equipment saved early 2011, respectively. ‘Red 33’ was also the handover of the first A-50U, only six
Below: This A-50U
weight — enabling the A-50U to take ‘Red 37’ was the first upgraded ‘Mainstay’ to feature the A-50Us were in VKS service. The third
off with more fuel and spend longer the third aircraft new-style dark gray camouflage, but in the upgraded ‘Mainstay’, ‘Red 37’ (RF-93966,
on station. According to Russian daily handed over and event it remained the only one painted in MSN 58-05) was taken on strength in
it acted as the
newspaper Izvestia, new processors prototype. this manner; all the following examples March 2014 — this was, in fact, the
and other important hardware are TANTK Beriev retained the smart scheme pioneered by prototype aircraft used for testing. The

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 TYPE REPORT // BERIEV A-50
COMBAT
EMPLOYMENT
SPECIFICS
The A-50’s flight crew comprises two
pilots (commander and co-pilot),
navigator, flight engineer and radio
operator. The 10-strong tactical crew in
the rear compartment is made up of a
tactical crew commander, a senior fighter
controller, two fighter controllers, a senior
tracking operator, two tracking operators,
a system engineer, a radar engineer and a
communication suite engineer.
The system commander manages
the tactical crew’s workflow and
communicates with ground and ship-
based C2 facilities. The tracking operators
76 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
72-77 A-50 Mainstay C.indd 76
monitor the air, ground and sea situation
in the designated areas of interest on
their tactical situation indicators. They
adjust the operation of the automatic
target acquisition/tracking and
identification (ID) systems and perform
manual tracking and ID of selected
targets in complex tactical situations,
when the automatic modes have been
rendered unusable or unsuitable.
The display system shows the relevant
target information on the screens of the
tracking operator and fighter controller in
a label placed next to the target symbol.
This label contains the target reference
number (assigned by the tracking
operator), heading, altitude, speed and
IFF status, while labels of friendly fighters
also show information about their fuel
state and the mode of the weapons
control system.
fourth example, ‘Red 41’ (RF-94268, MSN
63-05), was handed over three years later
in March 2017, while the fifth, ‘Red 45’ (RF-
93952, MSN 71-05), followed in December
2018, followed by the sixth and so far the
last A-50U, ‘Red 42’ (RF-50610, MSN 64-05),
which was taken in March 2019. A seventh
A-50U is due for delivery in 2021.
The new generation A-100
Beriev and Vega are now in the process of
validating an entirely more sophisticated
early warning aircraft for the VKS — the
A-100 ‘Premier’. It is claimed to be a
major boost over the A-50U, designed to
complement Russia’s latest fighters and
unmanned aircraft.
According to the former deputy minister
of defense Yury Borisov, the A-100 uses
a new-generation dual-band radar
designed by Vega. It employs S-band
active electronic scanning array (AESA)
technology, plus integrated, new-
generation and sophisticated ELINT and Left: This is ‘Red
SIGINT systems. VKS requirements called 33’ (R(F-50602,
for the A-100’s radar to boast double the MSN 41-05), the
second A-50U
detection range in both the air-to-air and taken on strength
air-to-surface modes over the A-50U. by the VKS in
It was mandated to be able to control December 2012,
and the only
more fighters, enjoy jam-proof data one to wear the
links, and control UAVs at up to 351nm overall dark gray
(650km) range. camouflage.
Alexander
It is based on the Il-76MD-90A ‘Candid’ Mladenov
transport aircraft derivative — which has
a glass cockpit and more fuel-efficient PS- Below: Compared
to the classic
90A76 turbofans, providing some 25 per ‘Mainstay’, the
cent more range and endurance over its upgraded A-50U
predecessor. Its design and development is considered to
be a much more
dates back to 2011, but plans for a 2014 capable platform,
first flight, predictably, were missed. The albeit not as
first ‘green’ Il-76MD-90A was handed over advanced as the
latest Western
to Beriev in November 2014 and it flew systems.
in A-100 configuration on November TANTK Beriev
20/05/2020 19:25
 20, 2017. It lacked the mission systems,
but some of these were in flight-test in
Above: The

‘MAINSTAY’
A-100 ‘Premier’ the A-100LL testbed (which lacks the
was first flown rotodome), and is a converted A-50,
in November

AT A GLANCE
and which flew for the first time in
2017. It uses
the Il-76MD- October 2016.
90A airframe, The A-100 detection range against The A-50 has a normal take-off
comes bombers is claimed to be 324nm (600km), weight of 383,800lb (190,000kg),
equipped with including 121,200lb (60,000kg) of
a radar system low-flying cruise missiles can be detected
fuel. When on station, the platform
developed by at more than 170nm (300km) while
typically loiters at 32,808ft (10,000m)
the Moscow- large-size ships can be detected at up to altitude and 324kt (600km/h) speed,
based
Vega Radio 216nm (400km). The A-100 can patrol up following a figure-of-eight flight
Engineering to six hours at 540nm (1,000km) distance pattern with a distance of 54nm
Corporation from its base and it is also equipped with (100km) between the centers of the
and bristles two orbits. Without air refueling, the
with antennas an in-flight refueling probe for extended-
‘Mainstay’ is limited to loitering for
for the endurance missions exceeding nine hours. only four hours at a 540nm (1,000km)
sophisticated Yuri Slyusar, president of Russia’s distance from base. In addition to
ELINT and the figure-eight flight profile, the
SIGINT suites. United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), parent
company of TANTK Beriev, told the Russian system is capable of flying two more
TANTK Beriev
automated loitering profiles —
press in September 2018 that the contract
Below: The racetrack and shuttle pattern.
A-100’s sole signature for A-100 serial production was The aircraft is outfitted with a
flying prototype expected in late 2018 or early 2019. In sophisticated flight management
is now in joint addition, state flight-testing apparently system that enables wings-level
state testing gentle turns while flying a pre-
with the VKS’s began in 2018, with the effort being
programmed loitering pattern. This
929th State undertaken at the VKS’ 929th State Flight
creates optimal conditions for radar
Flight Test Test Institute in Akhtubinsk. The first operation, keeping the antenna level
Center in
Akhtubinsk. delivery of a production-standard aircraft all the time.
TANTK Beriev to the VKS is planned for 2024.

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 The US Navy’s nascent MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial vehicle
promises to be one of the biggest ever evolutions in carrier aviation.

REPORT Mark Ayton

Combined system and taxi testing at

Boeing’s St Louis facility. This shot shows
the fuselage cross-section form, the
bulges of the wing joints housing the
actuators and hydraulically actuated pins
that lock the wings in place, and the pitch
of the tail surfaces of the V-tail.
Boeing Phantom Works

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 A
TEAM OF AEROSPACE
specialists led by Naval
Air Systems Command
(NAVAIR) and Boeing’s
clandestine ‘Phantom Works’
is testing a new weapon
system, one that’s set to change many of
the long-established cultures of military
aviation.
Designated as the Boeing MQ‑25A
Stingray, this 51ft (15.5m)-long
unmanned air system (UAS) is the first
full-scale production platform of this
type to be developed for big-deck carrier
operations. In addition to catapult launch
and arrested landing, the Stingray will
perform autonomous aerial refueling in
support of all fixed-wing aircraft as an
integral part of the US Navy’s Carrier Air
Wings (CVWs).
Secondary to this, the MQ-25A will
have an intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance (ISR) role, afforded by
an electro-optical (EO) and infrared
(IR) sensor. Data will be transmitted at
78-85 MQ-25 C.indd 79
appropriate classification levels to other
aircraft, naval vessels, ground forces, and
to exploitation nodes afloat and ashore,
specifically via the navy’s Distributed
Common Ground System (DCGS).
In official US Department of Defense
(DoD) parlance, the MQ-25 extends the
range of CVW mission-effectiveness,
partially mitigates the current shortfall in
organic ISR among Carrier Strike Groups
(CSGs) and fills the future CVW tanker
gap, mitigating strike fighter shortfalls
and preserving F/A-18 Super Hornet
fatigue life for the fleet defense and strike
missions. The latter is due to the fact that
the MQ-25 will reduce the need for Super
Hornets to act as air wing tankers.
MQ-25 — a revolution
As the first carrier-based Group 5 UAS,
the MQ-25 will pioneer the operational
integration of manned and unmanned
flight operations, demonstrate sea-based
UAS command, control, communications,
computers, and intelligence (C4I)
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21/05/2020 10:38
 INDUSTRY REPORT// BOEING MQ-25 STINGRAY
technologies, and pave the way for future
multi-mission UASs to keep pace with
emerging threats.
The latter is a pointer to follow-on roles
for the MQ-25. Certainly the air vehicle’s
low-observable, stealthy configuration
points to it being able to support air wing
strike packages further from the carrier
than ever before — most importantly,
supporting F-35C Lightning IIs in non-
permissive, high-threat environments.
CAPT Chad Reed, MQ-25 program
manager, unmanned carrier aviation with
program management office PMA-268,
told Combat Aircraft Journal, ‘Right now,
even though its configuration is stealthy,
there is no low-observable requirement
for the MQ-25. Our requirement was
for Boeing to use mature technologies
in accordance with the accelerated
program goals. It is designed to operate in
permissive environments when it enters
the fleet, while concepts of operation are
explored, and it’s meshed with manned
operations. Manned-unmanned teaming
is a notable aspect of the program,
one that’s on the cutting edge simply
because other aircraft are not designed
to operate in such close proximity to and
with manned aircraft. [The] Stingray has
a configuration and a new capability
unmatched in a current air wing.’
MQ-25 requirements are aligned with
the initial capability documents for the
Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne
Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS)
program, and the Next Generation Air
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78-85 MQ-25 C.indd 80
Dominance (NGAD) family of systems. The CVN (aircraft carrier) segment
Both documents highlighted the need encompasses the ships’‘spaces’ allocated
for carrier-based refueling and persistent to unmanned carrier aviation, installed
ISR capabilities. Guidance from the systems and modifications. This includes
Joint Requirements Oversight Council launch and recovery, data dissemination
(JROC) set out a requirement for a (including radio terminals and antennas),
versatile platform that supports many and deck operations plus required
organic naval missions, such as aerial changes for the UMCS.
refueling and ISR to support the CSG. In terms of its operating envelope, Above: An artist’s
On July 21, 2017, the JROC validated the the MQ-25 meets the fleet’s current impression of
General Atomics’
capability development document for operational needs adequately. It has a
proposal for the
the MQ-25 Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling relatively low empty weight and excellent CBARS program,
System (CBARS). fuel efficiency thanks to its Rolls-Royce shown aerial-
refueling an
AE3007N engine, rated at 9,000lb (40kN).
F/A-18 Super
How will it operate? Other key systems include Raytheon Hornet from
Designed to be sustainable on board ALR-69A(V) digital radar warning receivers the single pod
mounted under
an aircraft carrier and at shore bases, (RWRs), which provide 360° coverage; a
the left wing.
the MQ-25 is composed of three major Raytheon AAS-52 MTS-A multi-sensor General Atomics
‘architectural segments’. imaging system equipped with infrared
Top right,
The air segment involves the MQ-25A and charge-coupled device television
left to right:
air vehicle and associated support (CCDTV) sensors, laser rangefinder, This top shot
and handling equipment including designator and illuminator. More specific of T1 attached
to the imitation
the deck handling system, spares and to its carrier role, the MQ-25 has a tail hook
catapult’s shuttle
repair materials. The control system and for arrested landings and foldable wings shows the
connectivity (CS&C) segment takes in to minimize its parking footprint. embedded engine
intake a top the
the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission
fuselage, and the
Control System (UMCS) and its associated CBARS competition airfoil of the wing.
communications equipment, mission Based on the US government’s acquisition Boeing
support functionality of the Distributed strategy approved in April 2017, the
Another view
Common Ground Station — Navy MQ-25 is an evolution of the previous of the upper
(DCGS-N), the navy’s primary intelligence, UCLASS project. Concepts for the now surfaces shows
the fuselage
surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting defunct UCLASS were deemed too
planform,
system, all network-based interfaces and challenging given the number of new the engine
routing equipment required to control technologies involved, all of which intake’s curved
articulation, and
the Stingray, plus all of the necessary required evaluation. Consequently,
the flaperons’
modifications to existing networks and C4I NAVAIR’s PMA-268 restarted the effort position on the
system infrastructure. to evaluate ‘the art of the possible’ for wings. Boeing
21/05/2020 10:51
 introducing something as revolutionary
as the MQ-25, and to explore concepts of
operation.
In 2016, PMA-268 received a
congressional appropriation award
for four contractors each capable of
developing an UAS suitable for the
CBARS requirements, these being Boeing,
General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and
Northrop Grumman. Each presented
ideas about how they would mature
their own technologies and concepts
prior to receiving their share of the
congressional award, a means of funding
their respective concept development
programs through mid-2018. With details
78-85 MQ-25 C.indd 81
such as ‘giveaway’ fuel and ranges,
PMA-268 conducted a tanker trade
study to help conclude its requirements
for CBARS.
PMA-268 released the draft air system
engineering, manufacturing and
development (EMD) request for proposal
(RFP) in July 2017 and released the final
Below: EMD RFP in early October 2017. Shortly
T1 positioned afterwards, Northrop Grumman dropped
with the forward out of the competition, citing an inability
launch and aft
holdback bars to meet the navy’s specifications and
lowered over deliver a profit.
the imitation Less than eight months after receiving
catapult’s shuttle
track. Boeing qualified proposals, PMA-268 awarded
Phantom Works the EMD contract to Boeing in August
2018. This was the fastest acquisition
category 1 (ACAT-1) EMD award in the
past decade.
Moving forward
Under the EMD contract, the first seven
aircraft procured by the US Navy are
planned to comprise four engineering
development model (EDM) test air
vehicles (AV-1, AV-2, AV-3 and AV-4)
that came under the $805-million EDM
contract, and three system demonstration
test articles (SDTAs), ordered in April 2020.
In addition, Boeing will build two more
airframes, one for fatigue testing and one
for static loads testing.
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21/05/2020 10:52
 INDUSTRY REPORT// BOEING MQ-25 STINGRAY
T1 made its September
19, 2019 maiden flight
with the landing gear
extended, common
practice for initial
test flights. Boeing
Phantom Works
Part of the requirement was to have
a considerable amount of the design
already complete prior to contract
award. Each company had either a
prototype or a developmental article
ready. PMA-268 staff conducted a
thorough review of each proposal over
eight months, and Boeing’s bid was
determined to offer the best value, first
and foremost because of its ability to
meet both the schedule and the key
performance parameters (KPPs).
It’s notable that the MQ-25 had just
two KPPs. This was a consequence of a
pilot program launched by the chief of
naval operations, ADM John Richardson,
in 2017 that sought to limit the number
of these to no more than three. PMA-268
opted for two: the ability to give away
a set amount of fuel to a CVW strike
package hundreds of miles away from
82 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
78-85 MQ-25 C.indd 82
the carrier, and full integration with
Nimitz and Ford-class carriers.
The MQ-25 is designated as a maritime
accelerated acquisition program, because
ADM Richardson and the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy for research,
development and acquisition, James
Geurts, recognized the importance of
getting it to the fleet quickly. A key driver
for this was to reduce tanker work for the
Super Hornet fleet.
The ‘Phantom Works’ began building
air vehicle T1 in 2012. It features the
same outer mould line and the same
engine as the planned production-
standard MQ-25. The objective of the
MQ-25 test program is to evaluate
system maturity and technical
performance of the aerial refueling role,
which involves both mission and carrier
recovery tanking.
Initial ground testing with T1, including
communications integration, towing
and taxiing, began at Boeing’s facilities
in St Louis, Missouri, almost immediately
after the contract award. In April 2019,
Boeing trucked T1 to MidAmerica St
Louis Airport in Illinois to conduct the Below left to right:
T1 undergoing
first phases of flight-testing. The maiden initial ground
flight took place there on September 19, testing on an
2019. Boeing chose MidAmerica because imitation catapult
at Boeing’s St
of hangar, runway, taxiway and airspace Louis, Missouri,
availability. The team has systematically facility. Note the
worked through test points designed ‘Phantom Works’
logo on the side
to evaluate the aerodynamic of the forward
performance of the air vehicle, with the fuselage. Boeing
instrumentation capturing flight-test Phantom Works
data throughout all missions. Boeing conducts
T1 is now undergoing a planned a MQ-25 deck
modification for installation of the handling
demonstration
Cobham 31-301-7 aerial refueling buddy at its facility in St
store under the wing. The modification Louis. Boeing
21/05/2020 10:52
 is required because T1 was originally aircraft comes off the production line the McKinley climatic laboratory at
developed without pylons to carry stores, means early lessons can be applied Eglin AFB, Florida. EDM aircraft AV-1 will
as this was not a requirement of UCLASS. and corrected during development of undertake those important catapult
Aerial refueling flight tests are due later the EDM examples. For example, an launches and arrested landings at both
in 2020. Testing will also be expanded to icing susceptibility issue with the air Patuxent River and Lakehurst. The
include Joint Precision Approach Landing data probe system has already been EDM flight-testing will be conducted
Below left to right: System (JPALS) functionality, ready for identified and a fix implemented. by an integrated navy/Boeing team
Touch-down at
MidAmerica St carrier work. The latter will require T1 to Initial testing of each EDM air vehicle led by VX-23.
Louis Airport, undergo a second modification period will take place at Boeing’s MidAmerica Whereas AV-1 and AV-2 will be
Illinois at the to enable it to use JPALS, a differential, facility by an integrated US Navy/ dedicated to flight sciences testing and
end of T1’s
maiden flight GPS-based precision landing system that Boeing test team before delivery to fitted with similar instrumentation to
on September guides aircraft onto carriers in all weather NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where T1, AV-3 and AV-4 will be dedicated
19, 2019. Boeing and surface conditions. Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23 to mission systems and carrier
Phantom Works
T1’s involvement in the test program will (VX-23) ‘Salty Dogs’ will lead testing of suitability testing, and the air vehicle’s
When T1 entered culminate in it being hoisted aboard an the MQ-25. effectiveness in the aerial refueling role.
the initial flight aircraft carrier to test the deck handling A crucial and technologically
test program, the
and control station systems. demanding phase will be catapult MQ-25 STINGRAY CHARACTERISTICS
‘Phantom Works’
logo was removed launch and arrested landing testing, Wingspan 75ft (22.86m)
from the forward
fuselage on each
Follow-on test which will be carried out at Naval Air Wingspan folded 31ft 3in (9.54m)
Having the T1 air vehicle available Engineering Station Lakehurst, New Length 51ft (15.54m)
side. Boeing
Phantom Works for testing years before the first EDM Jersey, followed by cold soak trials in Height 15ft 8in (4.78m)

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 INDUSTRY REPORT// BOEING MQ-25 STINGRAY
CONTROLLING
THE STINGRAY
The Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission
Control System (UMCS) is built around an
MD-5 A/B control station, which includes
open-architecture software, being
developed by program management
office PMA-268.
A team demonstrated the first build of
the UMCS using representative shipboard
equipment and a simulated air vehicle
at Patuxent River on April 11, 2017.
During the demonstration, the UMCS
communicated with a surface mobile
aviation interoperability laboratory truck,
which simulated an air vehicle. Limited
control and data dissemination between
the UMCS and simulated air vehicle
included automatic identification system
detection, EO/IR camera operation, and
full-motion video. Pre-planned and
dynamic mission replanning was also
performed.
Using a mouse and keyboard, the
single air vehicle officer (AVO) tells the
MQ-25 where it needs to go and what
it is required to do. The system itself
84 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
78-85 MQ-25 C.indd 84
determines how to get there in the most
safe and efficient way. Typical operation
involves the AVO maintaining positive
control, including the ability to change
speed, direction and altitude. Flight
control software is designed to handle
unexpected events such as bad weather
or when a change of altitude or position
of its tanking pattern is required. The
AVO works from the MD-5 control
station in the carrier’s Unmanned Carrier
Aviation Warfare Center throughout all
stages of the mission from the launch to
recovery.
Non-flying phases see a deck-handling
operator using a different control device
to taxi the Stingray around. Once the air
vehicle is on the catapult, it is handed
over to the AVO. This is a similar method
to what was pioneered by Northrop
Grumman during its work with the
X-47B demonstrator. During aerial
refueling, the AVO will have the ability to
communicate with the receiver aircraft
pilot.
21/05/2020 10:54
 The air vehicle’s all-up weight is an
incredibly important design parameter
for carrier suitability. The MQ-25 must
be capable of fulfilling its tanking role
despite the constraints imposed by
maximum catapult shot and arrested
recovery weights from both Nimitz and
Ford-class aircraft carriers. All-up weight
was constrained by the requirement for
Left:
Northrop a fuel giveaway of 16,000lb (7,257kg)
Grumman’s X-47B at 500nm (925km) from the carrier. By
is prepared to comparison, a Super Hornet holds a
launch from the
aircraft carrier giveaway fuel load of 12,000lb (5,443kg)
USS Theodore on a two-hour cycle, 15,000lb (6,803kg)
Roosevelt (CVN on a normal cycle and 25,000lb
71). The aircraft
completed a (11,339kg) on a short cycle.
series of tests The MQ-25 will also be tasked with
demonstrating its recovery tanking, which involves having
ability to operate
safely and an airborne tanker orbit close to the ship
seamlessly with while aircraft are recovered. A critical
manned aircraft. capability is at night, or when bad
US Navy
weather conditions create a pitching
Below: deck in heavy seas, meaning pilots need
An artist’s to top up the aircraft’s fuel tanks to
rendition of the
Lockheed Martin afford further attempts to land.
proposal for
CBARS, shown
on a catapult
Next steps
ready to launch. Since the contract award to Boeing,
Lockheed Martin PMA-268 is following a non-standard
version of the rigorous systems
engineering and technical review (SETR)
process in order to finalize the MQ-25’s
design. The DoD tasked the program
office to tailor elements of the standard
SETR process as part of the MQ-25’s
military airworthiness authority in order
to stay on track with the aggressive
six-year schedule. Work will continue
through to the MQ-25 system design
review (SDR) later this year in order to
set its baseline design. This will allow
the production of the EDM air vehicles
to begin.
An April 2, 2020, modification to an
existing contract added a total of $84.7
million for three additional SDTAs,
bringing the number of Stingrays on
order to seven.
The navy is pursuing a Milestone C
decision for low-rate initial production
(LRIP) in Fiscal Year 2023 to procure up
to 12 MQ-25As. Following successful
initial operational test and evaluation,
PMA-268 will pursue a full-rate
production decision for an estimated
total of 76 Stingrays, targeting initial
operational capability with the fleet
in 2024.

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 A-10Cs assigned to the 23rd
Fighter Group form up for a
photo en route to Nellis AFB,
Nevada, for an exercise.
US Air National Guard/TSgt John
Winn

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 Active-duty A-10C Thunderbolt II units are few and far between in the US
Air Force. The 23rd Fighter Group at Moody AFB, Georgia, is a vital unit that
underscores why the A-10 is back in favor and here to stay.

REPORT Henk de Ridder

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 UNIT REPORT // 23RD FIGHTER GROUP
In 2017, the 74th deployed again to Turkey for OIR. A
total of 4,100 [IS] targets were struck and over 2,000
danger close employments were registered
T
HE US AIR Force has confirmed
that it intends to retain the
A-10C Thunderbolt II into
the 2040s, despite the recent
announcement that the service
would retire 44 aircraft in 2021,
and 63 over a two-year period. USAF
long-term plans include seven squadrons
of A-10Cs that will support close air
support (CAS) missions in permissive or
lightly contested airspace, according to Lt
Gen David Nahom, Deputy Chief of Staff
for Plans and Programs.
The A-10C fleet will include three
active-duty, three Air National Guard,
and one Air Force Reserve Command
squadron, which the air force says will
be sufficient for operations, test, and
training. The service plans to reinvest
the funds saved through retirement in
upgrades for the remaining Thunderbolt
IIs. In addition to structural modifications,
the savings would provide for avionics
upgrades that would integrate the
aircraft into the ‘digital battlefield of
the future’.
Moody AFB, located near the city of
Valdosta, Georgia, is home to two of
the four front-line, active-duty A-10
squadrons. The resident 23rd Wing
includes a pair of ‘Warthog’ units: the 74th
Fighter Squadron (FS) ‘Flying Tigers’ and
88 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
86-91 Moody A-10 C.indd 88
75th FS ‘Tiger Sharks’. These squadrons
are complemented by reservists assigned
to the 76th FS ‘Vanguards’, which comes
under the 442th Fighter Wing/476th
Fighter Group at Whiteman AFB, Missouri.
Capt Rod Appleton is assigned to the
‘Flying Tigers’, and told Combat Aircraft
Journal: ‘The 23rd Fighter Group is the
USAF’s largest operational A-10C unit and
has 49 aircraft in its inventory and over 80
A-10 pilots that are based here at Moody.’
Besides the two A-10 squadrons, Moody
is also home to a single HC-130J Combat
King II and one HH-60G squadron —
both of which come under the 347th
Rescue Group. Additionally, US Foreign
Military Sales (FMS) for the Embraer/
Sierra Nevada Corporation A-29 Super
Tucano are underpinned here as part
of the support package through pilot
training with the 81st FS, which comes
under the 14th Flying Training Wing.
The 23rd Operations Support Squadron
(OSS) looks after both the airfield and the
adjacent Grand Bay air-to-ground range,
plus 250,000 square miles of surrounding
military airspace. The proximity of the
Grand Bay range is clearly a massive
bonus for all the resident squadrons as
it supports live fire and training events,
and provides airdrop facilities and assault
strip operations for the HC-130s.
The Avon Park Range is another massive
resource for the local units, and it is the
largest primary training facility on the
US East Coast. Appleton said: ‘It’s a little
far away, about 40 minutes’ flying, south
of Orlando. But when we go there, it’s
absolutely great training; a lot of space to
Top:
work, a lot of tactical targets like airfields
A Moody A-10C
lets rip with the and villages — so it’s very, very valuable.’
30mm Gatling
gun. All photos
Henk de Ridder,
Thunder and attack!
Hans Drost and The 74th FS has approximately 25 A-10
Dick Wels unless pilots on strength, plus 10 attached pilots
stated
who generally work at the group level.
Above: There are also about eight pilots from Air
A-10 pilots now Force Reserve Command (AFRC) who dip
routinely wear the
in and out of the operations. Appleton
Scorpion helmet
sight system. said: ‘We [in the 74th FS] introduce
21/05/2020 10:35
 ourselves with ‘thunder’, and those from
the 75th respond with ‘attack’.’
After World War Two, the emergent
US Air Force was disinterested in CAS,
with it remaining ‘an army thing’. The
Douglas A-1 Skyraider was the USAF’s
only dedicated CAS asset in Vietnam and
a 1966 report by a US subcommittee
was critical of the USAF not being
suitably supportive of the mission,
saying that it should develop a simple,
inexpensive, specialized CAS aircraft.
This led to the A-X (Attack Experimental)
program, which was geared to the
development of an aircraft with low-
speed maneuverability, massive cannon
firepower, extreme survivability, and
the ability for extended loiter time in a
target area.
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt

II was the result — designed around
the fearsome General Electric GAU-8/A
seven-barrel Gatling cannon. To ‘feed’
the ammunition drum, a special vehicle
23rd
heritage with the distinctive shark
mouth markings similar to those that
adorned the P-40 Warhawks of World
FIGHTER War Two. Capt Rod Appleton said: ‘The
‘Flying Tigers’ served with distinction

was built by Syn-Tech — the GFU-8/E
Ammunition Loading Assembly cart —
known as ‘The Dragon’.
Always under fire
Ironically, for an aircraft designed to
withstand heavy punishment over the
battlefield, the A-10 has endured a
pummeling from those who have tried to
GROUP
Right: during World War Two. It flew 24,000
A 2,000lb Mk84 combat sorties and 53,000 flying hours.
bomb is dropped The pilots shot down 621 enemy aircraft
over the Grand The 23rd FG dates back to the in air combat and they destroyed 320 on
Bay range. American Volunteer Group (AVG) that the ground.’
Below:
was established in 1941 when the US
government organized volunteer air
The 23rd FG, part of Moody AFB’s 23rd
Wing, re-united the original squadrons
Striking shark
units to help the nationalist government through A-10 operations and, since
mouth markings
adorn the 23rd of China. The same three squadrons 2007, they have worn the famous ‘Flying
Fighter Group within the group today mark their Tigers’ teeth.
A-10s.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 89

86-91 Moody A-10 C.indd 89 21/05/2020 10:36

 UNIT REPORT // 23RD FIGHTER GROUP
kill it off on successive occasions. It’s been
argued that other multi-role types can
better fill the CAS mission, without the
need for the single-role A-10. Even after
the A-10 proved so effective in 1991’s
Operation ‘Desert Storm’, the calls for its
retirement grew.
Yet the ‘Warthog’ endured as lawmakers
effectively banned the USAF’s plans
to retire the type. Through the A-10C
upgrade with smart weapons and new
avionics, to a re-winging project that
provides an additional 10,000 flight hours
— the A-10 will be around into the 2040s.
In 2015, all work on the type had stopped
as the A-10 community feared that time
had been called on the aircraft. Today,
the USAF is well into planning for a raft of
new upgrades.

Moody ops
Those new pilots destined for the A-10
cockpit train with the 357th Fighter
Squadron at Davis Monthan AFB in
Arizona, on its B-course. This squadron
is the Formal Training Unit (FTU) for the
A-10. Capt Appleton said: ‘When you
arrive at Moody you must complete LAO
— local area orientation — which takes
eight rides. Then you fly as a wingman,
a number two or four for about a year;
just learning the ropes and making the
mistakes that we all made. Then you will
do the two-ship flight lead and after that
the four-ship flight lead. We also carry
the FAC-A [Forward Air Controller —
Airborne] mission. We still carry that role
in case we need to do that in Afghanistan
or Iraq. So, we train for this mission in
the squadron.’ Appleton explained that
the relationship with the resident special
operations HC-130s and HH-60s means
the Moody A-10s fly a lot of combat
search and rescue (CSAR) — typically on
the Avon Park range.
Little is reported of the A-10 flight
simulators, but Moody has four on site,
with former pilots running these facilities
and they create realistic scenarios,
especially for emergency procedures,
with pilots spending up to six hours a
month here on average.

Keeping it relevant
Reflecting on the latest kit in the A-10,
Appleton underscored how far the
‘Warthog’ has come in the past decade:
‘We now use precision-guided munitions
and have a tactical awareness display that
intergrades with the SADL [Situational
Awareness Data Link], plus a moving map
and variable message format [VMF]. The

90 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

86-91 Moody A-10 C.indd 90 21/05/2020 10:37

 reason we use SADL is due to integration just a radio, we can also use it to send proximity to friendly ground forces.
with army troops. Our helmets can be messages on a phone.’ ‘The squadron was awarded the Gallant
fitted with the Scorpion Helmet Mounted The ongoing Operation ‘Inherent Unit Citation, the first USAF unit to win
Integrated Targeting [HMIT] system, Resolve’ (OIR) battling so-called Islamic this award at squadron level. In 2018,
which projects information [onto a State (IS), coupled with a resurgent the 75th deployed to Afghanistan for
monocle] so we have full situational Taliban in Afghanistan, has meant the Operation ‘Freedom’s Sentinel’. During
awareness, and it allows us to cue our A-10 community has been in high 2,000 missions, around 10,000 combat
weapon systems in the direction of where demand. Appleton said: ‘In 2016, the 74th hours were flown, and 1,300 weapons
we are looking. A planned update is the deployed for Operation ‘Inherent Resolve’. destroyed 148 targets.’
implementation of HObIT [the Hybrid During the deployment, 10,700 combat It underscores why the USAF has finally
Left top to bottom:
A pristine ‘Flying Optical-based Inertial Tracker], which hours were flown with 55 deliberate decided that the A-10 must be retained.
Tigers’ A-10C will give us even more precision motion strikes against [IS] troops in Iraq and Opting for a smaller fleet will enable
ready to depart tracking.’ Syria. During Operation ‘Atlantic Resolve’ some saved money to flow into new
Moody AFB.
The A-10C has four radios. Appleton we flew 1,200 missions from remote improvements for the ‘Warthog’.
Pre-flight checks, said: ‘It can get a little bit busy for one locations in Eastern Europe. The sheer range of munitions carried
include the AIM-9 guy to work four radios. LARS v12 is used ‘In 2017, the 74th deployed again by the A-10 is reason enough to keep
Sidewinder, which
is carried for self- to communicate with the JTACs [Joint to Turkey for OIR. A total of 4,100 [IS] these aircraft as a very handy tool in
defense. Terminal Attack Controllers] during CAS targets were struck and over 2,000 the overall kit. The A-10C is able to use
missions. It’s a great update and it is very danger close employments were the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons
The machine —
known as ‘The useful during CSAR missions as we can registered.’ This means the A-10s System (APKWS) — which are laser-
Dragon — is used also talk with the downed pilot. It’s not were employing ordnance in close guided rockets — not to mention a
to load 30mm range of Joint Direct Attack Munitions,
rounds into the
A-10. laser-guided bombs, AGM-65 Maverick
missiles (with electro-optical, laser, and
Above: imaging infra-red guidance systems), and
A-10s of the
23rd FG have of course its lethal gun.
been regularly The combination of great training,
deployed to the readiness, upgrades and that CAS
Middle East in
recent years. mentality, means the ‘Flying Tigers’
USAF/MSgt are primed and ready for the future,
William Greer whatever that may bring.
Right: The author wishes to thank 2nd Lt Kaylin
The Grand Hankerson of 23rd Wing Public Affairs, wing
Bay range is historian William Godwin, and the men and women
pummeled by
of the 23rd Fighter Group for their help in making
30mm rounds
this feature possible.
from an A-10.

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 91

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 TECHNOLOGY REPORT // SAAB
SAAB’S NEW
FIGHTER RADAR
Swedish defense giant Saab has unveiled a brand new fighter
radar that has a range of potential applications.
REPORT Jamie Hunter
S
AAB COMPLETED THE first
flight trial of its new X-band
Active Electronically Scanned
Array (AESA) radar for fighter
aircraft on April 8. It marked
the commencement of a
comprehensive test campaign of the
system that’s designed to be offered as a
new addition to the company’s PS-05/A
radar family. The first flight was completed
successfully from the company’s
Linköping airfield, according to Saab’s
media release, which added that the
flight was used for ‘collecting data while
detecting and tracking objects’.
Saab has a rich heritage in radar work,
and the new (as yet unnamed) system
is designed to be adapted for a variety
of platforms, while continuing Saab’s
heritage of developing, producing
and delivering fighter radars. The host
aircraft during the flight-testing is a JAS
39 Gripen D (serial 800), a type that is
currently offered with Saab’s PS-05/A Mk4
mechanically scanned radar. The PS-05/A
Mk4 was the most recent development
of the PS-05/A, originally developed for
the Gripen. Saab said it plans to offer
the new AESA as an upgrade for existing
Gripen customers, and it will leverage high
commonality with its predecessor.
Anders Carp, senior vice-president and
head of Saab’s surveillance business area,
said: ‘This is an important step in the
development of our new fighter AESA
radar. We see great possibilities for the
radar, and its modular, adaptable and
scalable design means it can also be used
for a range of other applications.’
The tech
The new AESA radar features gallium
nitride (GaN), a material that gives lower
power consumption and improved heat
resistance. Saab has been at the forefront
of this technology, notably with its Giraffe
ground and sea-based air defense radar
systems and the Erieye Extended Range
92 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
92-93 AESA C.indd 92
system that now features in its GlobalEye
airborne early warning aircraft. The
hundreds of transmit-receive modules
(TRMs) that are a feature of the AESA
radar are built by Saab in Gothenburg,
a former Ericsson facility. Indeed, Saab
manufactures most elements of the PS-05
radar itself. The GaN TRMs generate less
heat and consume far less power that the
more traditional gallium arsenide (GaA) in
many current AESAs. The new Saab radar
enables wider bandwidth and greater
reliability, availability and efficiency.
The system will offer, for example,
improved performance against small
targets, enhanced Electronic Counter-
Countermeasures (ECCM) capability and
also improved ability to support more
advanced weaponry.
Saab’s new JAS 39 Gripen E is offered
with the unrelated Selex ES-05 Raven
AESA. Unlike the new Saab X-Band, the
Raven is fitted with a repositioner in the
Gripen E, allowing the ES-05 40° additional
field of view either side of the nose for off-
boresight tracking.
In addition to Gripen A-D upgrades,
the new radar has potential applications
in advanced training aircraft and
aggressors — it is built in a modular
way to make it more adaptable to other
applications, and according to Carp
it is free of restrictions from the US’
International Traffic in Arms Regulations
(ITAR), meaning there would be fewer
restrictions on new applications.
A version of the new AESA antenna has
already been sold to a US government
customer. In September 2018, US Naval
Air Systems Command’s Naval Air Warfare
Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD)
Lakehurst awarded a firm fixed-price
contract to Saab for the research and
development of a prototype GaN-based
X-band AESA in support of the US Office
of Naval Research (ONR) for evaluation
under a Foreign Comparative Test (FCT)
program.
20/05/2020 15:27
 Saab has built a single prototype of
its X-band AESA radar for flight trials
aboard a Gripen D. Saab

www.Key.Aero // July 2020 93

92-93 AESA C.indd 93 20/05/2020 15:28


DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE
OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
BY DAVID AXE
THIS MiG-31 IS A
SATELLITE-KILLER
R
USSIA APPEARS TO be working on a
new kind of anti-satellite weapon.
One that combines tiny, weaponized
satellites, a small rocket booster and
a MiG-31 interceptor that functions
as the overall system’s first stage.
That’s the startling assessment from Bart
Hendrickx, who The Space Review described as a
‘long-time observer of the Russian space program’.
Hendrickx in late April 2020 penned a long
analysis in The Space Review, piecing together
fragmentary evidence including photographs,
government contracts and testing activity.
His conclusion is that Russia is developing an
anti-satellite system under the project name
Burevestnik (storm petrel). Unlike most other ASAT
systems, Burevestnik doesn’t rely on an explosive
or kinetic-energy warhead to actually destroy its
orbital target.
Instead, the weapon deploys predatory micro-
satellites that would maneuver toward their
targets in low-Earth orbit and disable them.
Hendrickx’s evidence is compelling. It begins
with a photo that circulated in September 2018.
‘An aircraft photographer noticed something
interesting while observing activity at the Gromov
Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky near
Moscow’, Hendrickx wrote.
‘What caught his attention was a MiG-31BM
fighter jet with a large black missile suspended
under its belly. While this specific aircraft had been
seen before, the rocket was new. The pictures
he posted on the internet baffled observers: it
seemed to be too big to be an air-to-air or an air-
to-surface missile. It did appear to be the right size
for an anti-satellite weapon.’
Hendrickx scoured open-source records to
track the various developmental efforts that
could contribute to a new ASAT weapon. ‘These
showed that the project began on September 1,
94 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero
94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94
2011, with a government contract awarded to the
Design Bureau of Machine Building, a weapon
manufacturer based in Kolomna (about 100km
southeast of Moscow) that seems to be the overall
co-ordinator of the project.’
A May 2019 PowerPoint presentation from
PAO Saturn, a Russian solar-panel and battery
manufacturer, identified two different satellites
that could be part of the wider Burevestnik effort.
The satellites presumably are potential payloads
for the rocket that appeared on the MiG-31 the
previous year.
Perhaps most compellingly, Russia since 2013
has been conducting on-orbit tests of so-called
‘inspection satellites’ that can maneuver close to
other spacecraft, ostensibly in order to inspect
them for damage. With no major modification,
inspection satellites could function as weapons.
Disabling enemy spacecraft instead of inspecting
friendly ones.
‘Analysis of publicly accessible online Russian
sources now leaves little doubt that the MiG-31BM
and the rocket are part of a broader ASAT project,’
Hendrickx concluded.
Burevestnik isn’t Russia’s only anti-satellite
system. Russia on April 15, 2020 tested a
conventional anti-satellite rocket, US Space
Command announced.
The PL-19 Nudol (named after a Russian river)
is a so-called ‘direct-ascent anti-satellite’ weapon.
Direct-ascent weapons arguably are the least
sophisticated anti-satellite weapons. Essentially
Russia has been conducting on-orbit tests of so-
called ‘inspection satellites’ that can maneuver
close to other spacecraft, ostensibly in order to inspect
them for damage. With no major modification, inspection
satellites could function as weapons
just medium-weight rockets, like the kind space
agencies use to boost small payloads into low-
Earth orbit, DA-ASATs are cheap to develop and
easy to use but only can threaten low-flying
spacecraft.
The MiG-31 supported an earlier ASAT system. In
the 1980s Russian missile-maker Fakel launched
development of the 79M6, a three-stage anti-
satellite weapon that, unlike Burevestnik, itself
would strike enemy spacecraft.
MiG built two special MiG-31s to launch the
79M6. These two MiG-31Ds featured several
unique systems, including wing endplates that
afforded the fighters additional stability at high
altitude. As a weight-saving measure, MiG omitted
the cannon from the aircraft.
The idea was for the MiGs to accelerate to Mach
2.5 at an altitude of 55,000ft before launching
their 79M6s.
In that way the 79M6 system was similar to
the US Air Force’s own direct-ascent ASAT, the
ASM-135. In 1985 an F-15 flying nearly vertically
at a speed of Mach 0.9 and an altitude of 38,000ft
launched a single ASM-135.
The ASM-135 struck a defunct science satellite,
destroying it. It was the first and only live-fire test
of the missile.
Citing the high cost and complexity, the air
force in 1988 canceled the ASM-135 effort.
Development of the Soviet 79M6 and the follow-
on 95M6 system ended with the collapse of the
Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
A Russian Aerospace
Forces MiG-31 carrying an
example of the Burevestnik
ASAT weapon under the
fuselage. Piotr Butowski
20/05/2020 15:26
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 FLASHBACK // F-4G

96 July 2020 // www.Key.Aero

96-97 Flashback C.indd 96 20/05/2020 15:24


Seen here on October 18,
1993, returning to Nellis AFB
from a ‘Gunsmoke’ mission,
F-4G serials 69-7561
and 69-0265 were both
assigned to the 190th FS at
the time, although the latter
aircraft still retains the
markings of the 561st FS at
Nellis. F-4G serial 69-0265
was one of eight aircraft
leased to Iran in 1972 whilst
still in F-4E configuration
under the ‘Peace Roll’
program, before it was later
converted to F-4G standard.
Both of these aircraft were
converted as QF-4Gs, with
69-0265 shot down on
March 17, 1999, and 69-7561
going down on June 6, 2001.
Jim Dunn
96-97 Flashback C.indd 97
T
HE MCDONNELL DOUGLAS F-4G was
the final version of the Phantom II in
active US Air Force service, latterly
serving with the 561st Fighter
Squadron, part of the 57th Wing,
at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The final unit
to operate the F-4G was the 190th Fighter
Squadron, Idaho Air National Guard, at Gowen
Field in Boise, which flew these ‘Wild Weasels’
in the suppression of enemy air defense (SEAD)
role until April 1996.
Being the final aircraft to be retired from
service, they were first into the full-scale aerial
target conversion program, which turned
the airframes into QF-4 drones, used for both
manned and unmanned testing with the 82nd
Aerial Targets Squadron.
www.Key.Aero // July 2020 97
20/05/2020 15:25
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RUSSIA’S FEARSOME

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‘FULLBACK’
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