PHANTOM FAREWELL F-22 RAPTOR F-15EX ADVANCED EAGLE

COMBAT
JAPAN RECCE ‘RHINOS’ FINAL CALL THE ULTIMATE GUIDE BOEING PUSHES AHEAD WITH USAF PLANS

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JOURNAL
AMERICA’S BEST-SELLING
MILITARY AVIATION
MAGAZINE

‘FIGHTING
Volume 21 No 2 FEBRUARY 2020 £4.99

SAINTS’ TOPGUN’S BAD GUYS

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FRENCH NAVY RAFALES: EXCLUSIVE AIR-TO-AIRS

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USAF STRATOTANKERS: STILL GOING STRONG

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COMBAT ACTION: OA-37 DRAGONFLIES OVER PANAMA

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Gaijin_FP.indd 1 25/11/2019 17:13:00

IN THE NEWS
6 HEADLINE NEWS
Boeing gears up for F-15EX, KC-46 Pegasus
moves forward, Russia gets active in the
Arctic and first Block III Super Hornet
8 NEWS
Our new integrated news and analysis
section includes the first series-
production Saab Gripen E, USAF E-4B
replacement plans, plus the latest unit
and deployment news, and the most
recent Military Losses
16 THE OPS DESK
Scott Wolff ’s column discusses the merits
of a new training system that blends virtual
and live domains
20 BOEING READY TO
PROGRESS WITH F-15EX
With a stalled Fiscal Year 2020 defense
budget, Boeing is pressing ahead with the
F-15EX project for the US Air Force
22 READY ROOM
Combat Aircraft’s new regular column,
looking at the stories behind the US Navy
and Marine Corps headlines, by Rick
Burgess
26 RAPTOR: 15 YEARS ON THE FRONT
LINE — PART ONE
At a time when the US Air Force wants to
accelerate fighter aircraft development
under a ‘Digital Century Series’, Jamie
Hunter looks back at how the first combat-
coded F-22 Raptor was delivered in May
2005 and how, some 15 years on, the USAF
is working to ensure the fighter remains
relevant
38 STILL GOING STRONG — PART ONE
In the first of a two-part feature, Bob Archer
and Tom Kaminski look at the service record
of the US Air Force C-135 family as it marks
64 years of service
46 WAR GAMES IN THE NEGEV
Giovanni Colla reports from Ovda air base in
Israel’s Negev Desert, which hosted Exercise
‘Blue Flag’ in November. The maneuvers
attracted five nations and some 70 aircraft,
including F-35s for the first time
50 FIGHTING WITH THE ‘SAINTS’
VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’ flies the F-5 Tiger II
W
in the adversary role at NAS Fallon, Nevada.
or
Jamie Hunter and Richard Collens meet the
squadron’s highly experienced personnel
ld
who provide an agile and scalable service
m
in support of TOPGUN and visiting fleet
aircrews
ag
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INSIDE
February 2020 • Vol 21 • No 2
SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE!
As part of your subscription, you can now enjoy even
more Combat Aircraft, more often, with the launch of
Key.Aero — Your Aviation Destination.
Visit www.key.aero and use your customer ID and email
address to register today for your exclusive access.
74
GLORY DAYS:
‘GOLDEN JAGUARS’ OVER PANAMA
Joe Copalman looks back at the role of the OA-37
Dragonfly in Operation ‘Just Cause’ in 1989, when
a small, specialist squadron was thrust into a
major campaign
ON THE COVER | PAGE 50
An immaculate gloss black F-5N
of VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’ — one
of the squadrons that plays
TOPGUN’s bad guys.
Jamie Hunter
60 BIG SHOT: ‘VIPER’ FLARE
Combat Aircraft’s new feature showcasing
military aviation’s best images each month
— in this issue it’s an F-16AM of the 148th
Fighter Squadron ‘Kickin’ Ass’
62 FRANCE’S MARITIME REVOLUTION
As the Aéronautique Navale marks the
centenary of Flottille 11F, it is striding ahead
with the latest standard of Dassault Rafale
— the F3-R variant, as Frédéric Lert explains,
with photographs by Anthony Pecchi
68 RUSSIAN TRAINING WOES
Alexander Mladenov explains how Russia’s
military flight training system is currently
running at surge capacity while suffering
from the shortage of aircraft to cope with
the sharply increased demand for new
pilots
82 FAREWELL TO THE
RECCE ‘RHINOS’
The Japan Air Self-Defense Force held a
public farewell event for the F-4 Phantom II
in late 2019 and Rich Cooper was there as
it marked the final chapter for its legendary
reconnaissance ‘Rhinos’
88 JOINT STARS DRAWS BACK
FROM COMBAT OPS
Jamie Hunter looks at why the US Air
Force has withdrawn its E-8s from combat
operations despite a lack of clarity on what
will replace their capability
90 MALAYSIAN GUARDIANS
The Malacca Strait is the world’s busiest
shipping lane — linking sea trade from the
East and West. Guarding this vital region,
the Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM,
Royal Malaysian Air Force) plays a vital role,
as Chen Chuanren explains
94 CUTTING EDGE
David Axe’s column looking at the latest
technological developments in military
aerospace
96 FLASHBACK
Combat Aircraft’s trip down memory lane —
this month it’s a YF-117A Nighthawk
Your Aviation Destination
Visit www.key.aero
for latest Military
Aviation News
 COMBAT EDGE // FIND US ON
A CHANGING TANKER WORLD
T
HE US AIR Force once flew close
to 800 KC-135 strategic aerial
tanker aircraft. No other nation
came even close to such a force
of in-flight refueling assets. With
few other nations possessing
organic tanker capabilities, American
tankers have always been in high demand
around the globe.
Today, the USAF flies just over 300
KC-135s, plus KC-10s, and it is starting
to recapitalize the fleet with 179 Boeing
KC-46s. More tankers will be required in
subsequent programs, but the Department
of Defense is no longer willing or able
to act as an unsupported donor to
meet requirements on the world stage.
Shouldering the burden of Western tanking
needs today is financially and numerically
impossible as squadrons groan under the
weight of operational commitments.
In Europe, only a handful of countries
have traditionally maintained organic,
A USAF KC-46A Pegasus refuels a B-1B
during recent trials. USAF/Donald Allen
04 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
4-5 Combat Edge C.indd 4
strategic tanker fleets. However, this
is now expanding thanks to the new
Multinational MRTT [Multi-Role Tanker
Transport] Force (MMF) — a pooled
European fleet of air refuelers able to
meet the demands of the region without
having to burden already over-worked US
Air Forces in Europe KC-135Rs. Moreover,
tactical tankers such as the Airbus A400M
are also increasingly playing their part
in supporting anything from helicopters
to fighters.
Contracted air tanker suppliers are likely
to have an increased
role too. Omega Air has
recently taken delivery
of the first of two former
Dutch KDC-10s, and it
will soon be able to offer
boom refueling to the
USAF. Moreover, the next
phase of American tanker
recapitalization may prove too
expensive in the near-term, opening the
door for an adventurous scheme from
Airbus and Lockheed Martin to offer A330
MRTTs on a power-by-the hour basis.
The Airbus tanker has enjoyed huge
success on the world stage, with sales
to nations that have traditionally leaned
heavily on the US for in-flight refueling. It
clearly illustrates how the tanker world is
changing — with an increasing number
of nations realizing a need to step forward
and meet the challenge.
Keep on top of all the latest breaking
military news and access all of our digital
content at www.Key.Aero
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
16/12/2019 14:12
 CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH
JOE COPALMAN
J
oe Copalman lives in
Arizona with his wife
and their two children.
He has written historical
and contemporary articles on
military aviation for numerous
print publications since 2013
4-5 Combat Edge C.indd 5
and is a co-founder of the
Arizona Aviation Photographers
photography club. In this issue
he presents a fascinating insight
into the role of the OA-37
Dragonfly during missions over
Panama in Operation ‘Just Cause’.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 05
16/12/2019 14:13
 [HEADLINES]

As of December, Boeing
was still awaiting a formal
contract for F-15EX. Boeing

PEGASUS PROGRESS
The 418th FLTS is also well into hose lengths to determine if the
trials with the KC-46A’s Wing pressures and flow rates being
Aerial Refueling Pods (WARPs), provided to the receiver aircraft
THE USAF HAS given approval to include the Remote Vision System having performed probe-and- are acceptable. The evaluations
a retrofit for the Boeing KC-46A’s (RVS) and issues with the flying drogue work with AV-8B, F/A-18D were conducted at various
cargo restraint lock system. The boom. Despite those problems, the and EA-18G aircraft. Although altitudes, airspeeds,
retrofit is intended to correct a major 418th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS) at the KC-46A is equipped with an tanker gross weights, and
(Category 1) deficiency that caused Edwards AFB, California, continues internal centerline drogue system, times of day.
the air force to prohibit the Pegasus to move forward and recently the WARPs allow the Pegasus In related news, the delivery of
from carrying cargo or passengers completed receiver certification to simultaneously refuel two three KC-46As to McConnell AFB,
in September. The contractor testing with both the F-22A aircraft. The test flights evaluated Kansas, on November 22 increased
continues to work on corrections Raptor and RC-135V/W Rivet Joint the WARP’s hose reel response the 22nd Air Refueling Wing’s
for several other deficiencies that reconnaissance aircraft. at various contact rates and inventory to 19 aircraft.
A KC-46A Pegasus operated by the 418th Flight Test Squadron
equipped with a pair of Wing Aerial Refueling Pods (WARPs) on the
ramp at Edwards AFB, California. USAF/Giancarlo Casem

06 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

6-7 Headlines C.indd 6 16/12/2019 14:35


BOEING WAITS ON
F-15EX CONTRACT
MANUFACTURER FUNDS INITIAL WORK
ON NEW USAF EAGLES
B
OEING IS MOVING
forward with
development of the
new F-15EX Advanced
Eagle for the US Air
Force using internal
funds, despite delays in receiving a
formal contract due to the failure of
elected officials to pass a Fiscal Year
2020 defense appropriations bill.
Boeing says it still plans to deliver
the first aircraft by the end of 2020,
despite the ongoing uncertainly.
Although Fiscal Year 2020 began
on October 1, the government has
been operating under continuing
resolutions (CRs) that restrict
spending to the same levels as
Fiscal Year 2019 and prevent
new-start programs including
A Russian Aerospace Forces MiG-31K armed
with a Kinzhal missile. Piotr Butowski
RUSSIAN ‘FOXHOUNDS’ CAUSE ARCTIC CONCERNS
THE RUSSIAN TASS news agency
has said that military exercises
in the Arctic during November
included a pair of MiG-31K
‘Foxhounds’ — that took off from
Olenya air base, located north
of the Arctic Circle — and at
east one aircraft fired a Kinzhal
air-launched ballistic missile
against a ground target that was
located 800 miles (1,300km) away
at the Pemboy training ground,
near Vorkuta.
6-7 Headlines C.indd 7
the F-15EX from getting under
way. Officially, the USAF plans to
procure as many as 144 F-15EX
fighters including 80 over the next
five years. Boeing hopes to sign
a contract in March 2020 and will
deliver the initial pair of test aircraft
within nine months.
The F-15EX will feature an
advanced cockpit with a large-
area display, fly-by-wire controls, a
fully integrated electronic warfare
suite and an active electronically
scanned array (AESA) radar. It will
also deliver increased lethality with
multi-role flexibility through its
12 air-to-air and 15 air-to-ground
weapon stations.
A full feature and analysis of this
story appears on p20 of this issue.
The 9A-7760 Kinzhal (dagger)
merges the MiG-31K with the
‘izdeliye 292’ ballistic missile on
the centerline pylon. The missile
can reportedly deliver a nuclear or
conventional warhead at ranges
in excess of 1,240 miles (2,000km).
The first trials squadron equipped
with MiG-31Ks is deployed to
the 929th Flight Test Center
at Akhtubinsk, with 11 aircraft
thought to have been converted
to date to carry the new weapon.
NATO GLOBAL HAWK DELIVERED
THE FIRST OF five NATO
Alliance Ground Surveillance
(AGS) unmanned air systems
(UASs) arrived at NAS Sigonella,
Italy, on November 21. The high-
altitude long-endurance (HALE)
RQ-4D departed from Northrop
Grumman’s facility at Air Force
Plant 42 in Palmdale, California,
on November 20 and landed 22
hours later at what is the AGS Main
Operating Base (MOB). The AGS is
being developed with funds from
15 alliance members comprising:
Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia and the US.  addition to the RQ-4D air segment,
All of the NATO allies will have
access to intelligence data acquired
by the system, which is owned and
operated by the alliance. The entire
The first NATO RQ-4D seen during its delivery flight on
November 21. Northrop Grumman/Alan Radecki
FIRST BLOCK III SUPER HORNET DELIVERED
BOEING RECENTLY DELIVERED
the first Super Hornet to complete
depot repairs under the first phase
of the Service Life Modification
(SLM) program. The project is
expected to span 15 years and cost
up to $7.8 billion — and is being
undertaken at Boeing facilities
in St Louis, Missouri and San
Antonio, Texas.
Under the first phase each
aircraft undergoes inspection,
modification, repair and
restoration that extends its
service life by 25 per cent from
6,000 to 7,500 flight hours at a
cost of around $10 million. The
second phase of the SLM makes
extensive modifications to the
launch system structure and
components, arresting gear, along
with other specific structural
areas that extend the service life
further to 10,000 flight hours.
Phase 2 also provides the aircraft
with Block III capabilities, which
[HEADLINES]
AGS system will be handed over to
the NATO AGS Force after all testing
and performance verification has
been completed. It is expected to
achieve initial operational capability
during the first half of 2020. NATO’s
Block 40 RQ-4D Global Hawk is
equipped with Northrop Grumman
AN/ZPY-2 Multi-Platform Radar
Technology Insertion Program
(MP-RTIP) radar. The X-band active
electronically scanned array
(AESA) sensor features ground
moving target indicator (GMTI),
synthetic aperture radar (SAR), air
track, concurrent moving target
indication, cued search, and ground
high-resolution radar modes. In
the AGS system also comprises
a European-designed ground
segment that includes mobile and
transportable ground stations.
include advanced crew stations,
communications and other system
upgrades. The upgrades will add
around 20 years of additional
service life to each airframe.
Approximately 20 per cent of the
upgrades will be carried out in St
Louis with the bulk of the work
planned at the San Antonio site.
Once full-rate production is under
way the two sites will induct and
deliver an upgraded Super Hornet
every nine days.
ALSO
THIS
MONTH...
USAF E-4B ‘Nightwatch’
recapitalization project
kick-starts 2020.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 07
16/12/2019 14:35
 [NEWS]
USAF’S E-4B REPLACEMENT
COMMAND POST RECAPITALIZATION UNDER WAY
US NAVY GROUP II HAWKEYES RETIRED
THE ‘BEAR ACES’ of carrier airborne
early warning squadron VAW-124
retired the last operational E-2C
Hawkeye Group II Navigation
Upgrade (NAVUP) aircraft following
a ceremonial final flight at Naval
Station Norfolk’s Chambers Field
The last Group II E-2C assigned to VAW-124 taxies to the ramp at Chambers
Field during a ceremony on November 19 that marked the retirement of the
last operational Group II Hawkeye. US Navy/MC3 Samantha Jenkins
‘NEW’ C-32A FOR USAF
THE USAF’S 89TH Airlift Wing at
Joint Base Andrews, Maryland,
has added an eighth C-32A to
its fleet. The Boeing 757, which
carries the serial number 90018,
was previously owned by L3Harris
as civil registration N903TB (c/n
28172/772). Originally delivered
08 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-14 News C.indd 8
in Virginia on November 19. The
squadron is transitioning to the
Hawkeye 2000 and, once that
conversion is complete, all US
Navy fleet squadrons will operate
the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 or E-2D
Advanced Hawkeye.
to Finnair, the civil registration of
the 757-2Q8 series aircraft was
canceled when its sale to the USAF
was listed in July 2018. The wing’s
1st Airlift Squadron had previously
operated seven C-32As although
only four were carried on the
USAF’s inventory. The others were
likely funded by and owned by
another government agency.
UPGRADED OCEAN SENTRY DELIVERED
THE US COAST Guard accepted
its sixth upgraded HC-144B Ocean
Sentry medium-range surveillance
aircraft to be equipped with both
the Ocean Sentry Refresh (OSR)
modifications and the Minotaur
mission system on October 31,
2019. Modifications to the Ocean
Sentry were carried out at the
Coast Guard Aviation Logistics
Center (ALC) in Elizabeth City, North
Carolina.
The OSR project provides
the aircraft with a new flight
OMEGA AIR ADDS NEW TANKER
AS REPORTED LAST month, Omega
Air Refueling Services has taken
delivery of the first of two KDC-10
tanker-transports being acquired from
the Netherlands. The aircraft arrived
in San Antonio, Texas, on November 4.
The KDC-10 carried the serial number
T-264, but has been assigned the civil
registration N264DE. Although Omega
management system and Minotaur
integrates the aircraft’s sensors and
radar and dramatically improves
its ability to fuse data along with
information processing and
sharing capabilities. Upgrades
to a seventh HC-144 were
scheduled for completion by the
end of December and the ALC
inducted its eighth HC-144A into
the missionization process on
November 1. The Coast Guard plans
to complete the upgrades to its 18
HC-144s by 2022.
already operates two Boeing 707s and
another DC-10 that are equipped with
hose and drogue refueling systems,
the KDC-10 is its first aircraft to feature
a refueling boom. The acquisition of
the KDC-10s will allow the defense
contractor to refuel USAF aircraft. The
second Dutch KDC-10 will join the
Omega fleet in 2021.
16/12/2019 11:13

T
HE US AIR Force has
established what has
been dubbed the
Survivable Airborne
Operations Center
(SAOC) weapon system
acquisition program, designed
to develop a replacement for
its four Boeing 747-based E-4B
National Airborne Operations
Center (NAOC) system aircraft.
The Air Force Life Cycle
Management Center’s Battle
Management Office plans to hold
an industry day at Hanscom AFB,
Massachusetts, in February to
brief interested industry parties
on its acquisition strategy for
the SAOC. Little information has
been released about the project,
but the commercial derivative
aircraft’s mission systems will
include modern communications,
networks, and advanced command
and control (C2) subsystems.
The USAF began studying
replacement options for the E-4B
fleet in August 2018, and had
considered a concept that replaced
A USAF Boeing E-4B National Airborne Operations Center aircraft takes
off from Offutt AFB, Nebraska. The main deck is divided into six func-
tional areas: a command work area, conference room, briefing room,
operations team area, communications area and rest area.
USAF/SSgt Jacob Skovo
ADVANCED ARRESTING GEAR MILESTONE
THE US NAVY’S Advanced Arresting
Gear (AAG) test facility at Joint Base
McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey,
successfully completed its most
demanding test event when 22
aircraft arrestments were conducted
in just over 26 minutes at the Runway
Arrested Landing Site (RALS) in late
October. The RALS is operated by
the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft
Division at Lakehurst. Testing of the
system was supported by five F/A-
18E/Fs from air test and evaluation
squadron VX-23 and 27 personnel
from Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8),
from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).
The aircraft carrier is the first to be
MOROCCO APACHE DEAL APPROVED
THE US STATE Department has
given its approval to the possible
sale of 36 AH-64E attack helicopters
to Morocco. The deal could be
worth as much as $4.25 billion. The
purchase, which was first announced
in 2018, requires the approval of US
lawmakers. It includes 24 AH-64Es
8-14 News C.indd 9
the E-4B, the US Navy E-6B
Mercury and the USAF’s VIP C-32A
with a common airframe under the
NEAT (NAOC, Executive Airlift (EA),
ABNCP, and TACAMO) program.
The E-4B, which entered service
in 1974, currently serves as a key
component of the National Military
Command System (NMCS) for the
President, the Secretary of Defense
and the Joint Chiefs of Staff
(JCS). In the event of a national
emergency or destruction of
ground command control centers,
‘the SAOC aircraft will provide
a highly survivable command,
control and communications
(C3) platform to direct US forces,
execute emergency war orders,
and co-ordinate actions by
civil authorities’. Additionally, it
provides outside-continental-US
(OCONUS) travel support for the
Secretary of Defense and his staff.
The USAF requested around $16
million for SAOC research and
development in 2020, but expects
that to jump to $100 million
annually beginning in 2021.
equipped with the AAG, which was
developed by General Atomics.
In addition to the RALS, Lakehurst is
home to a land-based Electromagnetic
Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) test
site. The AAG has completed more
than 2,600 dead-load arrestments at
Lakehurst’s Jet Car Track Site and over
1,570 aircraft arrestments at RALS.
Testing has also been conducted
aboard the aircraft carrier itself and
the next phase of flight operations,
which is scheduled for early 2020, will
include the first shipboard operations
with the T-45C, E-2C/D and EA-18G
as well as expansion of the F/A-18E/F
launch and recovery envelopes.
and an option for 12 additional
helicopters. In addition to aircraft
systems, the package includes
AGM-114R and AGM-144L Hellfire
missiles, 2.75in (70mm) Advanced
Precision Kill Weapon System
laser-guided rockets, and AIM-92H
Stinger missiles.
LAST CRUISE MISSILE RETIRED
THE USAF HAS retired the last
AGM-86C/D conventional air-
launched cruise missiles (CALCM)
from service. The last operational
missile was downloaded from
a 2nd Bomb Wing B-52H at
Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, on
November 20. The GPS-guided
weapon made its combat debut
on the first night of Operation
‘Desert Storm’ in January 1991
and has been replaced by the
MD 530G UPGRADES PLANNED
MD HELICOPTERS, INC. (MDHI)
and Elbit Systems Ltd (ESL) have
announced that they will jointly
develop a selection of next-
generation weapons and mission
management capabilities for the
MD 530G Block II Scout Attack
Helicopter. The integrated weapons
system (IWS) features a helmet
display and tracking system
(HDTS) that supports daytime and
nighttime operation, a new weapons
management system (WMS) and
mission management system (MMS).
The advanced, integrated avionics
suite includes an intuitive human
machine interface (HMI), multi-
functional smart displays and next-
generation applications designed to
reduce pilot workload, increase the
efficiency of crew operations, and
increase the helicopter’s lethality.
INDIAN P-8I PURCHASE
THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
has approved the purchase of
additional P-8I maritime patrol
aircraft from Boeing. However,
it has reduced the number
requested by the ministry of
defense from 10 to six aircraft.
The Indian Navy currently
operates a fleet of eight P-8Is
that were acquired under a
$2.14-billion Foreign Military
Sales contract in January 2009.
A $1-billion option for four
additional P-8Is was converted
in July 2016 and delivery of
those aircraft will occur between
July 2020 and December 2021.
The aircraft are operated by
INAS 312, under the popular
name Neptune from INS Rajali,
[NEWS]
Lockheed Martin AGM-158A
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff
Missile (JASSM) and the extended
range AGM-158B JASSM-ER. The
AGM-86B version, which features
a nuclear warhead, will remain
in service until it is replaced by
the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO)
weapon, which is currently under
development. Integration of
the LRSO with the B-52H is also
under way.
The strategic teaming agreement
between the two companies will
permit MDHI to rapidly expand the
capabilities of the MD 530G. The
digital WMS will support an array of
unguided and guided munitions,
including the Lockheed Martin
AGM‑114 Hellfire missile and BAE
Systems Advanced Precision Kill
Weapon System (APKWS) 2.75in
(70mm) rockets. The helicopter’s
standard configuration includes
M260 rocket pods, FN Herstal
HMP400 .50-cal gun pods, RMP
digital gun/rocket pods, and M134
Miniguns. The helicopter’s electro-
optical/infrared (EO/IR) system will
integrate directly with the new MMS.
MD Helicopters says that it expects
to conduct live-fire events with
a production-representative test
asset in 2020.
Arakkonam. India continues to
operate five upgraded Il-38SD
maritime surveillance aircraft
that are slated for retirement
beginning in 2025.
In related news, Boeing is
completing tests with a Multi-
Mission Pod (MMP) for the P-8A
that will allow export customers
to add additional intelligence
capabilities to their Poseidons.
Developed using internal
research and development
funding, the pod will contain
communications (COMINT) and
signals intelligence (SIGINT)
systems and other capabilities
along with a ground surveillance
radar. The MMP was first revealed
in March 2016.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 09
16/12/2019 11:13
 [NEWS]
GRIPEN STRIDES AHEAD
FIRST SERIES PRODUCTION JAS 39E
CARRIER NEWS
THE US NAVY’S newest aircraft
carrier, the future USS John F. Kennedy
(CVN 79), was christened during
a December 7, 2019, ceremony in
Newport News, Virginia. The future
CVN 79 is the second ship of the
Gerald R. Ford class, and will replace
the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) when it
enters operational service. The
second aircraft carrier to honor the
35th President of the US is currently
in production at the Huntington
Ingalls Industries’ Newport News
Shipbuilding division. Like the
first ship of the class, CVN 79 will
incorporate myriad new technologies
including a new propulsion system,
electric plant, Electromagnetic
Aircraft Launch System (EMALS),
Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG),
machinery control, radars and
integrated warfare systems.
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman
(CVN 75) departed from Norfolk,
10 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-14 News C.indd 10
Gripen E 39-6002 wears a new three-tone
grey splinter camouflage scheme. Saab
Virginia, on November 18 and after a
brief period of workups with carrier
air wing CVW-1, it entered the 6th
Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) on
December 1. The ship was originally
scheduled to deploy in August but
was sidelined for several months
while repairs were made to its
electrical distribution systems. The
carrier will relieve the USS Abraham
Lincoln (CVN 72), which is operating
in the US 5th Fleet (AOR) on an
extended deployment. The Lincoln
departed from Norfolk on April 1 for
an around-the-world deployment
and homeport shift to NAS Coronado
in San Diego, California. The ship
entered the Persian Gulf for the first
time during its current deployment
on November 19 when it passed
through the Straits of Hormuz.
It had been in the 5th Fleet AOR
since passing through the Suez
Canal in May.
The amphibious assault ship USS
America (LHA 6) arrived at its new
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transits
the Strait of Gibraltar on December 5, 2019. US Navy/MC3 Scott Swofford
homeport in Sasebo, Japan, on
December 6, 2019. America replaced
the USS Wasp (LHD 1), which arrived
at its new homeport Norfolk, on
November 18. The Wasp had served
as the flagship for the US Navy 7th
Fleet’s forward-deployed amphibious
forces in Japan for nearly two years.
The USS Boxer (LHD 4) and
Amphibious Ready Group the
11th Marine Expeditionary Unit
(MEU) completed a seven-month
deployment to the Middle East
and Indo-Pacific in support of
the US 5th and 7th Fleets, when
the ships returned to San Diego,
California, on November 27. The
ARG, which deployed in May, also
included the amphibious transport
dock USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26)
and amphibious dock landing
ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49).
Marine medium tiltrotor squadron
VMM-163 was tasked as the
MEU’s composite aviation combat
element (ACE).
S
AAB HAS FLOWN the
first series production
JAS 39 Gripen E (serial
39-6002), painted
in a striking splinter
scheme. The flight
on November 30 saw Henrik
Wänseth from the Swedish Defence
Materiel Administration (Försvarets
materielverk, FMV) in the cockpit
for the 76-minute mission. It is the
first Gripen E to feature the new
wide-area display (WAD) and larger
head-up display and it is joining the
test program for acceptance and
operational development flights.
This is the fifth Gripen E, following
39-8 (first flown on June 15, 2017),
39-9, 39-10, and the first Brazilian
aircraft (4100), which flew on August
26, 2019. Sweden is due to receive
60 Gripen Es and Brazil has ordered
an initial batch of 28 Gripen Es and
eight twin-seat Gripen Fs.
FRANCE SELECTS
FALCON 8X SIGINT PLATFORM
THE ARMÉE DE l’Air (French Air
Force) is upgrading its signals
intelligence (SIGINT) capability by
fielding three Falcon 8X aircraft
that are being modified for the
mission under the next-generation
intelligence aircraft — Avions
de Renseignement à CHArge
utile de Nouvelle GEnération
(ARCHANGE) program. The Falcons
will replace two C-160G Gabriels
that are currently in service.
Thales will supply the universal
electronic warfare capability
Capacité Universelle de Guerre
Electronique (CUGE) payload,
which is designed to intercept voice
radio communications and radar
signals. Construction of the aircraft
was authorized by the French
Defense Minister and the first
upgraded Falcon 8X is expected to
be delivered to Evreux-Fauville air
base in 2025.
The ARCHANGE program will
deliver greater accuracy, higher
speeds and better agility than the
Gabriels. The French Air Force is
also acquiring King Air intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance
(ISR) platforms that are referred to
as Avion léger de surveillance et de
reconnaissance (ALSR, lightweight
surveillance and reconnaissance
aircraft).
16/12/2019 11:13

AUSTRALIA
SELECTS
SKYGUARDIAN
AUSTRALIA’S DEPARTMENT OF
Defence has chosen the General
Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9B
SkyGuardian armed remotely-piloted
aircraft (RPA) to meet its Project
AIR 7003 requirement. The MQ-9B
was selected over a version of the
company’s MQ-9A Reaper. The
government plans to acquire 12-16
medium altitude, long endurance RPAs
for operation by the Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF). The project is
expected to cost around $880 million
and will give the RAAF its first armed
unmanned aircraft. The MQ-9A and
MQ-9B were short-listed in November
2018 when they were chosen over
the Israel Aerospace Industries’ Heron
TP. Although both the MQ-9A and
MQ-9B offer similar capabilities, the
SkyGuardian was developed with
co-operation from the US Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) and
is designed to meet international
airworthiness certification standards.
The SkyGuardian will provide the RAAF
with enhanced firepower and ISR
support for a range of operations that
include counter-terrorism missions.
Australia has also placed orders
for the first two of a planned fleet of
six unmanned MQ-4C Tritons with
Northrop Grumman. The Triton will
provide a persistent maritime ISR
capability and the first delivery is
expected in 2023. The MQ-4C supports
the AIR 7000 Phase 1B requirement.
C-130J SALE TO NEW
ZEALAND APPROVED
THE US STATE Department
has given its approval to the
possible Foreign Military Sale
(FMS) of five C-130J airlifters
to New Zealand in a deal that
could be worth $1.4 billion.
The package includes four
spare Rolls-Royce AE-2100D3
turboprop engines, defensive
countermeasures equipment,
MX-20HD electro-optical/
infrared (EO/IR) sensors and
W
other systems. New Zealand
or
chose the C-130J as the
preferred replacement for its
ld
existing fleet of C-130Hs in
m
June 2019.
ag
s.
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8-14 News C.indd 11
US UNIT
NEWS
AH-1Ws flank a UH-1Y and AH-1Z
during a sundown ceremony for
the Super Cobra with HMLA-269
on November 26, 2019. USMC/
LCpl Steven M. Walls
‘Gunrunners’ and
‘Coyotes’ transition
THE ‘GUNRUNNERS’ OF Marine
light attack helicopter squadron
HMLA-269 conducted a Sundown
HMLA-775 AH-1Z BuNo 168421 is the first assigned to the squadron as
part of its AH-1W to AH-1Z transition. USMC/Pfc Seth G. Merz
FINAL PC-21S DELIVERED
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN Air Force’s
(RAAF’s) final group of three PC-21
trainers arrived at RAAF Base Darwin,
Northern Territory, on November 23.
The final group was assigned to No 4
Squadron at RAAF Base Williamtown,
New South Wales. Delivery of the
49 aircraft began on February 18,
2017, when the aircraft began
replacing the RAAF’s fleet of PAC
CT/4B Airtrainers and Pilatus PC-9/
As. The bulk of the fleet is assigned
to training duties with the Central
Flying School at RAAF Base East Sale,
Victoria, and No 2 Flying Training
School at RAAF Base Pearce, Western
Australia. Three PC-21s are assigned
to the Aircraft Research and
Development Unit (ARDU) at RAAF
Base Edinburgh, South Australia, and
four are with No 4 Squadron.
Ceremony for the AH-1W Super
Cobra attack helicopter at MCAS
New River, North Carolina, on
November 26, 2019. The ceremony
marked the aircraft’s retirement by
the active-duty Marine Corps and
the transition of the squadron to the
AH-1Z Viper. As part of the event,
the squadron, which is a component
of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing’s
Marine aircraft group MAG-29,
conducted a ‘final flight’ with a pair of
Super Cobras, an AH-1Z and UH-1Y.
The Marine Corps Reserve’s
transition between AH-1W and
AH-1Z got under way on November
18, when the first Viper was handed
over to HMLA-775 at MCAS Camp
Pendleton, California. The ‘Coyotes’
are assigned to the 4th Marine
Aircraft Wing’s MAG-46.
Lightning II deliveries continue
The Vermont Air National Guard’s
158th Fighter Wing received three
KOREA RETIRES ALOUETTE III
THE REPUBLIC OF Korea Navy
formally retired its remaining three
Aérospatiale SA319Bs during a
ceremony at Mokpo Air Base (K-15)
on December 3, 2019. During
43 years of service, which ended
on November 7, the Alouette
IIIs flew 73,545 hours. The navy
operated a total of 12 SA319Bs
Alouette III serial 79-0312 lands
at Mokpo at the conclusion of its
final flight on November 7. ROKN
[NEWS]
additional F-35As on December
5 when the fighters arrived at
Burlington International Airport.
Their arrival increased the unit’s
inventory to five Lightnings. The
first two F-35As for the wing’s
134th Fighter Squadron arrived in
Burlington on September 19. The
unit’s conversion will be completed
by summer 2020 when 20 F-35As
will be assigned.
‘Hurricane Hunters’
complete season
WC-130Js flown by the 403rd Wing’s
53rd Weather Reconnaissance
Squadron concluded support for
the 2019 hurricane season, which
ended on November 30. Known as
the ‘Hurricane Hunters’, the squadron
flew more than 684 hours during
80 missions into nine storms over
both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Although the annual hurricane
season officially begins on June 1,
the 53rd flew its first mission into Sub
Tropical Storm Andrea on May 20.
Likewise, WP-3D and Gulfstream IV
‘Hurricane Hunters’ operated by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Aircraft Operations
Center flew 57 missions totaling 430
hours during the season. During
the ‘off-season’ both organizations
will continue to support weather
reconnaissance missions by flying
into winter storms during the season
that runs from November 1 to March
31, 2020.
in the shipborne reconnaissance
and anti-submarine warfare (ASW)
and anti-surface warfare (ASuW)
missions since 1977. Operationally
replaced by the Lynx Mk99/99A,
the Alouettes had been relegated
to the training role with the 609
Education & Training Unit’s 1st
Flight Training Squadron at Mokpo.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 11
16/12/2019 11:13
 [NEWS]
LAST OF THE LINE
RAAF ‘CLASSIC’ HORNET TRAINING FINALE
T
HE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN
Air Force’s (RAAF’s) final
class of F/A-18 Hornet
trainee pilots completed
the final course with No 2
Operational Conversion
Unit (OCU) on December 5. In
recognition of the milestone, the six
newly rated pilots along with four
No 2 OCU F/A-18B serial
A21-102 taxies out at RAAF
Base Townsville, Queensland,
during Exercise ‘High Sierra 19’.
Commonwealth of Australia,
Department of Defence
WORLD
NEWS
IN BRIEF
Dutch Apache upgrades
Boeing has received a $128.7-million
modification to a Foreign Military
Sales contract from the US Army
Contracting Command that provides
for the incorporation of systems
and equipment, unique to the Royal
Netherlands Air Force, into 11 AH-64E
helicopters. The Dutch government
had agreed to spend around $1.2
billion to upgrade its 28 AH-64Ds to
the AH-64E configuration.
Norwegian ‘Hercs’ sold
Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc. has
reached a deal to purchase five
C-130H transports from the
Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency.
Coulson will modify the aircraft for
12 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-14 News C.indd 12
instructors from the OCU conducted
a low-level formation flight over
RAAF Base Williamtown, New South
Wales, upon their return from RAAF
Base Townsville, Queensland. The
personnel had been deployed to
Townsville for Exercise ‘High Sierra
19’. Conducted in the Townsville
restricted airspace and the Townsville
aerial firefighting once the deal
closes. The five aircraft have been
stored with the 309th Aerospace
Maintenance and Regeneration
Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base, in Tucson, Arizona,
since 2008. In addition to aerial
firefighting systems, the aircraft will
be equipped with new glass cockpits.
Coulson was one of six companies
that responded to a March 2018
request for proposal (RFP) that
offered the aircraft for sale.
NATO plans AWACS upgrades
NATO has signed a $1-billion deal
with Boeing to upgrade the alliance’s
fleet of E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning
and Control System (AWACS)
aircraft. NATO expects its fleet of
14 Geilenkirchen, Germany-based
E-3As to remain in service until 2035.
The AWACS Final Lifetime Extension
Program (FLEP) will provide the
AWACS with new communications
and networking capabilities.
Field Training Area, the exercise
was carried out in conjunction with
the last three weeks of the F/A-18
class. Two of the pilots have been
assigned to No 77 Squadron at
Williamtown and two joined No
75 Squadron at RAAF Base Tindal,
Northern Territory. The final two
pilots will receive further training
following their assignment to
No 1 Squadron, which operates
the F/A-18F at RAAF Base
Amberley, Queensland. Nos 77
and 75 Squadrons will respectively
transition to the F-35A at the end
of 2020 and 2021.
Sea Hercules offered to NATO
Lockheed Martin has offered a
version of the C-130J to NATO
in response to a July 2019
request for information (RFI) for
a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).
The offer is reportedly based on
the contractor’s ‘Sea Hercules’
concept, which adapts the airlift
platform for the maritime patrol
mission. Under its Accelerated
Interim Multinational MPA Solution
(AIM2S), the alliance hopes to field
a new aircraft to fill a gap in the
European MPA fleet beginning
in 2023. A group of nine NATO
allies and partner nations are
considering joining AIM2S, which
will be tasked with several missions
including anti-submarine warfare
(ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASuW),
maritime ISR, and airborne mine
countermeasures missions. Boeing
and Airbus are also both expected
to offer proposals for this latest
European project.
CHILE ACCEPTS
UPDATED ORION
IMP AEROSPACE COMPLETED
a major upgrade on the first
of two P-3A maritime patrol
aircraft for the Chilean Navy
and serial 404 (BuNo 152165)
returned to the Naval Aviation
Command’s Concón naval
air base on November 26. In
addition to a structural mid-life
upgrade (MLU), the Albatros IV
program provided the P-3ACH
aircraft with an updated Collins
Aerospace Flight 2 integrated
avionics system, upgraded
T56 engines, and a Phased
Depot Maintenance (PDM)
inspection. The MLU extends
the Orion’s service life by 15,000
hours, meaning it can operate
for another 20 years. IMP was
awarded the $37-million contract
in October 2016 and work began
on the first Orion at its Halifax,
Nova Scotia facility in January
2017. Work on the second aircraft
began when serial 407 (BuNo
151384) arrived at Halifax Airport
in May 2018. In 1993 the Chilean
Navy received two P-3As and six
UP-3As that had previously been
operated by the US Navy.
Snowbirds return to operations
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds
display team returned to full
operations at 15 Wing/CFB Moose
Jaw, Saskatchewan, on December 5.
The team, which is formally known
as 431 Air Demonstration Squadron,
had been on an operational pause
since ‘Snowbird 5’ ejected from his
CT-114 prior to an airshow at the
Atlanta Speedway on October 13,
2019. In fact, the team’s CT-114s
remained on the ground in Atlanta,
Georgia, until November 29, 2019,
when they were permitted to return
to Moose Jaw. Although the Royal
Canadian Air Force Directorate
of Flight Safety is continuing
its investigation, the team was
permitted to resume operations
following a thorough risk-assessment
process. The team is now preparing
for the 2020 airshow season, which
is slated to commence on June
6, and marks the Snowbirds’ 50th
anniversary year. Training had been
16/12/2019 11:13

AFGHAN MD 530F
DELIVERIES COMPLETE
MD HELICOPTERS, INC. has
completed the delivery of the final
five new MD 530F Cayuse Warrior
helicopters to the Afghan Air Force.
The helicopters were ordered under
a $1.4-billion, five-year indefinite
delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ)
contract from the US Army that was
awarded in September 2017. The
light attack helicopters departed
from Mesa-Gateway Airport, in
One of the last five new Afghan Air Force MD 530Fs is loaded aboard a
Boeing 747 in advance of its delivery on October 19. MD Helicopters
delayed by a month due to the
accident and ensuing flight safety
investigation.
Ecuador orders from Airbus
Helicopters
Ecuador’s Ministry of Defense has
placed an order for six H145M light
helicopters with Airbus Helicopters.
According to defense officials,
the twin-engine helicopters will
be operated by the Fuerza Aérea
Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Air Force)
and will be tasked with search and
rescue and utility missions, The
H145Ms will likely replace Ecuador’s
troubled HAL Dhruv helicopters.
The air force received seven Dhruvs
and four crashed between October
2009 and January 2015. Ecuador’s
Army Aviation Brigade operates a
pair of single-engine Airbus H125
W
(AS350B3e) Ecureuil helicopters that
or
were delivered in 2018 as well as a
ld
number of older AS350L1 and B2
m
models and armed AS550C3s.
ag
s.
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8-14 News C.indd 13
[NEWS]
CAG-BIRD CORNER
After completing a three-week Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness
Program in July, CVW-3 returned to NAS Fallon, Nevada, in
November for workup prior to embarking aboard the USS Dwight D
Eisenhower in the first part of 2020. Among the CAG-birds seen on
November 18 was F/A-18E BuNo 166606 from VFA-83. Jim Dunn
Arizona, as cargo aboard a Kalitta
Air 747 and arrived in Kandahar
on October 27. They were part of a
30-aircraft order issued in September
2017 and increased the Afghan fleet
to 60 MD 530Fs. The contractor has
EA-18G BuNo 168268 assigned to the ‘Zappers’ of electronic attack
received another order for 12 MD squadron VAQ-130 taxies at NAS Fallon, Nevada, on November 18,
530Fs under the same IDIQ contract 2019. The Growler carries special markings for the commander or
for Afghanistan. The contract CAG of carrier air wing CVW-3. Ralph Duenas
provides for the sale of up to 150 MD
530Fs to partner nations.
USAF COLORS
Iraqi Golden Eagle
deliveries complete
The Iraqi Air Force received its
final pair of Korea Aerospace
Industries (KAI) T-50IQs on
November 29, when the advanced
training/light attack aircraft arrived F-16C serial 89-2048 assigned to the 57th Wing’s 64th Aggressor
at Al Shaibah Air Base, near Basra. Squadron takes off for a display during the Aviation Nation 2019
The Golden Eagles completed the airshow at Nellis AFB, Nevada, on November 16, 2019. The black
and red aggressor paint scheme is known as ‘Wraith’ and the
delivery of the 24 aircraft ordered name was chosen following a social media poll held by the 57th
in December 2013 at a cost of Wing commander. USAF/A1C Bryan Guthrie
$1.1 billion. Deliveries began in
December 2017. Seen landing at Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas, is the latest
heritage T-38C Talon (serial 66-4353), assigned to the 469th
Cobras arrive in the Philippines Flying Training Squadron (FTS) based at Sheppard AFB, Texas.
Caulun Belcher
A pair of AH-1S attack helicopters
arrived at Clark Field in Pampanga,
Philippines, on November 26.
The Cobras were a gift from the
Jordanian government and were
expected to enter service in
December. Four Philippine pilots
received training on the aircraft in
Jordan prior to the Cobras’ arrival.
Two of the pilots were certified as
instructors on the AH-1S.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 13
16/12/2019 11:13
 [NEWS]
RIVET JOINT GAINS NEW MOD
US AIR FORCE Boeing RC-135V
Rivet Joint serial 64-14844 has
gained a large new fairing on its
upper rear fuselage. The aircraft was
photographed at March Air Reserve
LOSSES
Compiled by Tom Kaminski
• MiG-23 serial 26144 operated by the
Libyan National Army (LNA) was
shot down by Government of National
Accord (GNA) forces on December 7.
The fighter went down south of Tripoli
near Al-Zawiya. The pilot reportedly
ejected safely, but was captured by the
GNA forces.
• Three crew members were killed
when a UH-60L operated by the
Minnesota National Guard’s C
Company, 2nd Battalion, 211th
Aviation Regiment crashed just
minutes after it departed from Army
National Guard Aviation Support
Facility at St Cloud Regional Airport on
December 5. The crew was conducting
a maintenance test flight when the
Black Hawk went down at the edge of
a wooded area near Kimball, around 20
miles (32.2 km) southwest of St Cloud.
• The pilot of an Egyptian MiG-29M
ejected safely before the fighter
crashed southwest of Alexandria,
during a training flight on December 5.
• The pilot of an F-16C, assigned to the
USAF’s 8th Fighter Wing’s 35th Fighter
Squadron, suffered minor injuries
after ejecting from the aircraft while
14 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
8-14 News C.indd 14
modification is likely to be related
to communications as it is located
Base, California, on December 5
in place of the previous wideband
on a fuel stop (using the callsign
secure satellite communications
‘Shiner 50’), having arrived from
antenna that was added under
Greenville, Texas, where it had been
Baseline 8 upgrades.
modified by L3Harris.
landing at Kunsan Air Base, Republic
of Korea, on December 2. The fighter
was apparently damaged in the
incident, but not destroyed.
• MD 500E serial 45 (c/n 0307E)
operated by the Salvadoran Air
Force crashed near Gao, Mali, on
November 29 injuring two crew. The
helicopter, which was assigned to the
1st Air Brigade’s Helicopter Group, was
returning from a mission in support of
the United Nations Multidimensional
Integrated Stabilization Mission
in Mali (MINUSMA). Known as the
‘Guardiancillo’, the helicopter carried
United Nations markings and the
registration UNO-85P.
• Yemen’s Houthi rebels shot down
a Royal Saudi Army AH-64D with
a surface-air missile near the border
with Saudi Arabia on November
29. Both crew were killed when the
Apache went down in the Majaza area
of Asir province in southwest Saudi
Arabia.
• Mi-24D TU-VHR operated by the
Ivory Coast Air Force was destroyed
when it struck Mi-17 serial TU-VHM
and rolled over on landing at Katiola
Dan Stijovich
The new, as yet unidentified
Airport in the central part of the
country on November 27. Four
personnel were injured in the
mishap.
• Israeli Air Force S-65C-3 (CH-53D)
serial 042 (c/n 65-399) was destroyed
by fire following an emergency
landing on November 26. The
incident was the result of an in-flight
fire that caused the crew to land
west of Beit Kama in the northern
Negev desert. None of the 13 crew
and passengers were injured.
• Two French Army helicopters
crashed following a mid-air collision
while conducing combat operations
in Mali as part of Operation
‘Barkhane’ on November 25. The
mishap, which occurred in Liptako
near the borders of Burkina Faso
and Niger, involved an EC665 Tigre
attack helicopter and a Cougar
transport that were both operated
by the 5th Combat Helicopter
Regiment. Both pilots aboard the
Tigre and 13 soldiers on the Cougar
were killed.
• An unidentified remotely piloted
aircraft (RPA) operating in support
of US Africa Command was lost
over Tripoli, Libya, on November 21.
The RPA, which had been assessing
the ongoing security situation and
monitoring violent extremist activity
in Libya, was apparently brought
down by a surface-to-air missile.
POSEIDON
DEPLOYMENT COMPLETE
A P-8A OPERATED by the Royal
Australian Air Force’s No 11
Squadron completed its first
deployment to the Middle East
and returned to RAAF Base
Edinburgh, South Australia,
in mid-November. Operating
from Al Dhafra Air Base, in the
United Arab Emirates, P-8A serial
A47-006 provided maritime
surveillance and reconnaissance
in support of Australia’s coalition
partners and the International
Maritime Security Construct
(IMSC), beginning on October
15. The Poseidon was tasked
with supporting freedom of
navigation and the free flow of
shipping through the Persian
Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz,
Gulf of Oman and the North
Arabian Sea.
• A UH-1H struck a warehouse while
landing in Pedro Juan Caballero
in eastern Paraguay’s Amambay
Department on November 21.
There were no fatalities as a result
of the mishap, but the ‘Huey’ was
consumed by a post-crash fire. The
UH-1 was operated by the Paraguay
Air Force and had been landing at
the operations base of the National
Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD).
• A pair of USAF T-38Cs was involved
in a collision while landing at Vance
AFB, Oklahoma, on November 21.
The Talons were assigned to the 71st
Flying Training Wing at Vance AFB,
Oklahoma. Both Talons departed
from the runway and one aircraft
flipped over, killing both pilots. The
crew of the second Talon egressed
from their aircraft safely on the
ground.
• An MQ-9A operated by the Italian
Air Force crashed near Tarhuana,
Libya, on November 20. LNA forces
claim to have shot down the aircraft
around 40 miles (65km) southeast
of Tripoli.
• Two US Army soldiers aboard
an AH-64E operated by the 1st
Battalion 227th Aviation regiment
were killed when the helicopter
crashed in Afghanistan on
November 20. The incident occurred
near Pangram village, in the Charkh
district of Logar province.
16/12/2019 11:14
 Officially the world’s number one authority on military aviation

JANUARY issue FEATURes:

AMX IN AFGHANISTAN
The Italian Air Force’s Task Group Black Cats were among
the unsung heroes of the operation over Afghanistan. Gian
Carlo Vecchi looks back at the missions flown by the unit’s
AMX A-11 fighter-bombers and speaks to the task group’s
commander.

THE ARCTIC TRANSPORTERS

The 139th Airlift Squadron – part of the New York Air
National Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing – is probably the only
flying unit that operates at opposite ends of the world. The
wing supports research activities in both polar regions,
two of the most inhospitable areas on the planet. Rogier JUST *
Westerhuis travelled to Greenland to learn more about this $12.60
UK
unit’s unique challenges and mission. £4.99

‘NEW COLD WAR’ AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Across the frozen Arctic north, Russia and the West are
squaring up in a new confrontation as they seek to control
the region’s natural resources and vital sea routes. Tim
Ripley looks at how rival air forces are at the centre of events
in this strategically important area.
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874 AFM latest fp.indd 15 16/12/2019 09:53

 BY SCOTT WOLFF

BRINGING YOU THE LATEST TALK

FROM AROUND THE SQUADRONS

O
NE OF THE biggest
hindrances to readiness in
the history of modern air
power is a lack of satisfactory
training. There are combat
ranges all over the US with
tremendous capacity to construct, host,
and execute Large Force Employment
(LFE) exercises, but a recurring theme is
a lack of suitable replication of current
threats — be they from the surface or

A CLEAN SLATE
in the air.
Aerial warfighters unanimously lament
the lack of training resources they
desperately need to in order to prepare for
a near-peer or peer-level conflict with the
likes of Russia or China.
PAVING THE WAY FOR LIVE-VIRTUAL TRAINING
Ode to a bygone era
‘Excuse me sir,’ said one young F-22 pilot
in a moment of vexation, ‘but the 1990s
called — and they want their threat
laydown back.’
While dedicated electronic combat
ranges are expansive and offer a
tremendous environment for training, one
of the biggest frustrations is the current
condition of available threat emitters,
and the fact the scenario really doesn’t
change very much. Most of the systems
represented are legacy, and don’t reflect
the capabilities currently being fielded by
potential adversaries.
One of the other limiting factors in most
electronic combat ranges is the inability
for the surface threats themselves to
change location, or to — in the case of
the joint and unmanned threat emitters
— adequately transmit in a way that
accurately projects the wavelength, range,
and lethality of modern surface-to-air
missiles (SAMs).
‘Notional’ Integrated Air Defense
Systems (IADS) are great — but only
to a point. There is a demarcation line
where accurate signature replication is a
necessity for operational test and weapons
officers to develop tactics, techniques, and
procedures to counter said threats — and
that’s just on the surface.
On the air side, the best the US has to
offer its fifth-generation pilots are some
of the oldest F-16s in the inventory, along
with Vietnam-era A-4s, some L-159s
flown by Draken International, Hawker
Hunters and Israeli-built Kfirs fielded by
the Airborne Tactical Advantage Company
(ATAC) along with F-5s and F/A-18s flown
by navy and marine corps composite
squadrons.
Granted, some of the contractors
such as Draken and ATAC are fielding
modernized Dassault Mirage F1s, which
will provide higher speed opponents with
new mission equipment. While that is a
tremendous step in the right direction,
even those organizations — and the air
force itself — admit to a lack of available
resources to properly tax modern fighter
aircraft both from a perspective of mass
and capability.
USAF chief of staff Gen David Goldfein
laid down the law a couple of years
back at the annual Weapons and Tactics
Conference at Nellis AFB, Nevada. He said
that the USAF is no longer in the single-
digit SAM (SA-2, SA-6, etc) business, so any
surface threat is to be — at a minimum —

16 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

16-18 Ops Desk C.indd 16 16/12/2019 15:28

 an SA-11, and the baseline air threat is
the formidable Sukhoi Su-30 ‘Flanker’.
Bottom line — the replication of
current threat systems is woefully
inadequate considering the demand.
Not only that, developing the next
generation of emitters and fielding
aircraft capable of replicating those
threats is extremely expensive.
Grim realities
If we break down the US Department
of Defense’s appetite for adversary
air (AdAir) alone, the numbers are
staggering. Between the various
fighter communities, as well as
the USAF Warfare Center — which
oversees operational test and tactics
development — and the USAF Weapons
School, the current annual need for
16-18 Ops Desk C.indd 17
AdAir is a figure nearing 60,000 sorties.
That’s 60,000 sorties per year!
To meet that need the USAF has two
aggressor squadrons, the 57th Adversary
Tactics Group and T-38 aggressor units,
VFC-12, VFC-13, and VFC-111 in the US
Navy and VMFAT-401 for the US Marine
Corps; plus the various commercial
contractors. There is also the incestuous,
time and money-sucking, self-generating
‘Red Air’ that is provided by regular units
themselves.
Even with all of that, the numbers of
sorties generated is roughly one third of
what’s required. In 2020, the figure should
be closer to one half, but still a far cry from
satisfying the DoD appetite, which will be
closer to 70,000 sorties.
In the next decade that figure is going
to double from the current figure, where
the demand for AdAir will be a number
of sorties nearing 120,000. Granted, that
is projected, and a figure arrived at based
on the fielding of the F-35 across a wider
range of units, and the projected increase
of capabilities being added to the F-22
Raptor’s already formidable offensive and
defensive suite.
Only with the implementation of live,
virtual, constructive (LVC) technologies will
the DoD be able to meet the needs of its
warfighters as they prepare for the conflict
of tomorrow, which — as discussed
Above: The previously — will be heavily reliant upon
demand for high- modern fighter aircraft.
end training in
fighters such as
the F-35 is driving SLATE
an increased As it applies to that near-peer or peer-
need for LVC
technology. USAF/ level conflict, fighter pilots from coalition
R. Nial Bradshaw nations too would be flying into a
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 17
16/12/2019 15:28
 OPS DESK // LIVE-VIRTUAL TRAINING
problematic scenario. The air is now
filling with the likes of the Chengdu J-20
and the Russian-built Sukhoi Su-57 —
and various other nations are joining the
fifth-generation club. Throw in a multi-
layered, double-digit IADS, as well as
multitudes of armed enemy unmanned
combat air vehicles (UCAVs), and you
have a real challenge.
Thank goodness for the amazing
minds and creative thinking of the Air
Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), for
they have developed a quantifiable
solution, which will help tremendously.
It utilizes emerging technologies to
combine real flying with simulators and
computer-generated assets in what is
known as SLATE: Secure LVC Advanced
Training Environment.
For the purpose of this discussion, let
us break down what LVC is. Live training
is just that — live, and encompasses
aircraft and sorties generated for
training missions. It’s real people in real
aircraft doing real flying. The virtual
aspect is real pilots in simulated systems
— such as the networked F-35 Mission
Training Centers. Lastly, the constructive
portion of LVC is threats generated
by a computer, then injected into the
battlespace in such a way they show up
on everyone’s radar (pun intended).
Last fall, the air force and navy used
an F-15E Strike Eagle and F/A-18E Super
Hornet, respectively, outfitted with the
Above: Mixing
live and virtual required pod(s), and flew missions with
training is a rather complex problem sets, all while
vital means to paired with a wingman in a simulator,
maximize current
and future and facing off with real and constructed
training. USAF/A1C threats with electronic signatures
Leala Marquez based on current threat systems. In
Right: The new fact, more than 100 sorties were flown
SLATE pod in support of an AFRL technology
attached to an demonstration, hosted by Cubic Global
F-15E during trials
at Nellis AFB in Defense — AFRL’s industry partner on
2018. USAF the SLATE project.
18 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
16-18 Ops Desk C.indd 18
Operational training
infrastructure
Specifically, for fifth-generation aircraft,
the system provides for individualized,
group, and team training environments,
and can incorporate all levels of LVC in
both local and distributed fashion. Its
interoperability allows for the passing of
data between USAF, US Navy, US Marine
Corps, and UK training systems — which
is a big deal on the security side of the
house. Hence the overpowering levels of
encryption and supporting architectures
that come into play.
It’s all about keeping the fifth-generation
Crown Jewels away from the prying
eyes of bad actors. The discussion and
dissemination of data like radar signatures,
weapons performance envelopes,
specific system capabilities, and other
data is incredibly sensitive, so the AFRL
developed the technology responsible for
allowing data to be passed to both US and
partner nations, and securing said data
so no one without a need to know can…
well, know.
There is a massive amount of data
transferred in SLATE, so the AFRL also
developed 5GATW — the ‘5th Generation
Advanced Training Waveform’, which
allows for the real-time management of
the data transmitted between platforms
in SLATE sorties. The security architecture
and encryption allows aircraft such as
the F-35 to utilize a SLATE telemetry pod
without needing additional electronic
safeguards.
One of the more remarkable concepts
now available with SLATE is the concept
known as ‘untethered’ LVC. What
It utilizes emerging technologies to
combine real flying with simulators and
computer-generated assets in what is known as
SLATE: Secure LVC Advanced Training Environment
that means is LVC can be conducted
anywhere it needs to be. What allows for
this feat is aircraft with SLATE pods can
actually ‘host’ the exercise.
For example, specific scenarios can
be loaded into the pods and into the
aircraft’s onboard systems. Those
scenarios can then be distributed
from one aircraft across the network
of participating assets — be they live,
virtual, or constructive. The pods can
also be programmed even without
being over an established complex such
as the Nevada Test and Training Range
(NTTR) or the fantastic battlespace
provided by Volk Field Combat Readiness
Training Center (CRTC) in Wisconsin. In
those cases, if the range infrastructure
experiences a failure of some sort, one
aircraft can still serve as the host — and
all participating assets can continue to
work through the scenario in real time,
anywhere, without stopping.
In conclusion, SLATE is a fantastic
capability in concept and so far in actual
simulation and real-time modeling, but
it needs to be refined in key areas in
order to meet the operational needs of
the DoD and its partners. As is the case
with all things LVC, ‘Big Blue’ writes the
requirements and develops the plans,
senior leadership buys off and tells
subordinate units what an amazing
concept and capability it will bring, and
the funding may or may not be there.
This is a resource warfighters
desperately need, so let us hope the
smart people will figure out how to pay
for it, implement it, and maximize its
effectiveness.
16/12/2019 15:28
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 INDUSTRY REPORT // F-15EX
D
EADLOCK IN WASHINGTON
over the sign-off of the
Department of Defense’s
(DoD) Fiscal Year 2020
budget, with the
government operating
under a continuing resolution (CR),
means the US Air Force has been unable
to move ahead with plans to place a firm
order for an initial batch of new Boeing
F-15EX Eagles. Prat Kumar, Boeing’s
vice-president and program manager
for F-15, told Combat Aircraft: ‘Boeing
is leaning forward and committed to
partnering with the air force on the
F-15EX program, we are ready to go
on contract as soon possible for our
customer.’ He added: ‘We are capable
of delivering two jets by the end of
2020 assuming a timely contract
award.’ Kumar said Boeing is making
investments to protect its ability to
With deadlock over the Fiscal Year 2020 defense budget, Boeing is all set
to press ahead with the F-15EX project for the US Air Force.
REPORT Jamie Hunter
BOEING READY TO
PROGRESS WITH F-15EX
20 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
20-21 F-15EX C.indd 20
F-15EX
FACTS
Boeing’s F-15EX for the USAF will be
a two-seat aircraft (aligned with the
Advanced F-15) and will be powered
by the same General Electric F110-
GE-129 Improved Performance
Engines. It will feature large area
cockpit displays in the front and rear
cockpits and digital Joint Helmet
Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS).
It will also feature the Eagle Passive
Active Warning Survivability System
(EPAWSS).
deliver the first F-15EX ‘by the end of
2020’ on that basis.
The FY 2020 defense budget issued in
March 2019 included $1.05 billion for eight
new F-15EX Eagles. The DoD allocated
$7.86 billion over the five-year future
spending plan to acquire as many as 80
jets, which will be used to directly replace
the USAF’s oldest F-15Cs.
In addition to the first eight jets —
which included an initial pair for test
work and should all be delivered by the
end of 2022 — a further $1.65 billion was
earmarked for an additional 18 Eagles in
2021, and the same number of aircraft
through each year to 2024. Ultimately,
the USAF could procure as many as 144
of the new Eagles.
Boeing says it will deliver
the first F-15QA to
Qatar this spring,
as well as the
last of 84
F-15SA aircraft
for the Royal
Saudi Air Force
16/12/2019 15:26
 during 2020. Qatar has 36 Eagles on order
that should all be handed over by 2023. It
also holds options on a further 36 aircraft,
which would push production out to
2026 if exercised. The new USAF jets are
broadly similar to the aircraft for Qatar.
Plans call for the initial two USAF
aircraft to be provided on a fast
track by the end of 2020 to provide
Below: Boeing extra capacity for ongoing test work
says it remains involving the new Eagle Passive Active
ready and poised
to be able to Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS).
deliver the first Following aircraft are destined initially
pair of F-15EX for the USAF Weapons School at Nellis
fighters by the
end of 2020. AFB, Nevada, with a few joining training
Boeing activities for the initial conversion The F-15EX will act as a weapons ‘truck’, F-15EX is also about keeping Boeing
process. A source familiar with the likely to be fitted with the Advanced in the fighter business, with the USAF’s
Inset: The F-15EX
will feature large discussions told Combat Aircraft that no Missile and Bomb Ejection Rack (AMBER) acquisition chief Dr Will Roper making
area displays in specific F-15EX testing is planned. to enable the carriage of a wide range of no secret of his concerns that the
both cockpits, the While this acquisition is about air-to-air and air-to-ground armament, industry is in danger of being reduced
same as is being
debuted in Qatar’s recapitalization of the F-15C, it also all cleared from day one, to enable to a single manufacturer capable of
F-15EX. Boeing enables significant capability advances. a versatile development roadmap. completing such work.

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 21

20-21 F-15EX C.indd 21 16/12/2019 15:26

 READY ROOM
THE STORY BEHIND THE US NAVY HEADLINES
RICK
BURGESS

WHITHER
TACAIR
INTEGRATION?

22 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

22-25 Ready Room C.indd 22 12/12/2019 13:54

 I
T HAS BEEN 17 years since US
Secretary of the Navy Gordon
England signed the memorandum
of agreement for the Tactical
Aircraft Integration Plan (TACAIR
integration) for the US Navy and
US Marine Corps. The plan called for the
integration of 10 marine fighter-attack
(VMFA) squadrons into the 10 navy
carrier air wings (CVWs), replacing a
like number of navy strike fighter (VFA)
squadrons in those wings. Three VFAs
would join in the rotation to the Unit
Deployment Program (UDP) in Japan,
replacing some VMFAs. The plan was to
be implemented fully by 2012.
Marine TACAIR squadrons on navy
carriers was nothing new. During the
last year of World War Two, marine
F4U Corsair (VMF) fighter squadrons
deployed on carriers to contribute to air
defense in view of the kamikaze threat. A
few VMF, all-weather VMF(AW), and VMFA
squadrons deployed on attack carriers in
the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, including
during the Vietnam War. Marine attack
(VMA) squadrons provided a few air
defense detachments of A-4 Skyhawks
on board anti-submarine carriers. Even
22-25 Ready Room C.indd 23
VMFA-312 ‘Checkerboards’ is the only
USMC strike fighter unit currently
assigned to a US Navy carrier air wing.
US Navy/MCS3C Alex Corona
an AV-8A Harrier VMA deployed on deployments enforcing the no-fly zones
the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. Marine over Iraq.
Main image: Corps photo-reconnaissance (VMFP)
An F/A-18C
Hornet assigned and tactical electronic warfare (VMCJ) The reasoning and logic for
to VMFA-312 squadrons also sent detachments to TACAIR integration
‘Checkerboards’ carriers, as well as A-6 Intruder VMAs and In the early 2000s, with F/A-18E/F Super
prepares to
launch from the F/A-18 Hornet VMFAs joining air wings in Hornets coming on line and the F-35 in
USS Theodore the 1980s. development, budget realities began
Roosevelt (CVN During the 1990s, a routine developed to sink in with a realization that the
71). This was one
of four marine where the marines would provide four desired naval aviation force structure
units assigned to VMFAs — one each to four CVWs — was becoming unaffordable. US naval
navy carrier air when they deployed. This worked well aviation was facing the need to develop
wings.
US Navy/MCS3C during the years after Operation ‘Desert and field new aircraft to concurrently
Alex Perlman Storm’ when there was a huge burden of replace many of the older ones.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 23
12/12/2019 13:54
 READY ROOM // TACAIR INTEGRATION
The ostensible purpose of TACAIR
integration was to enhance the
interoperability of navy and marine
TACAIR, with VMFA squadrons serving in
every CVW and navy VFAs serving the UDP
in Japan. The squadrons would be put
through the same training, with emphasis
for both types in maritime strike and close
air support. Also, some navy squadrons
would be based at Marine Corps Air
Stations (MCASs) in the US.
Skeptics questioned the overall logic
of TACAIR integration, believing it to
be mainly a budget affordability drill to
reduce the number of squadrons. The
plan — signed in mid-2002 — was put
into motion.
The level of four VMFAs in CVWs was not
immediately increased, but VFAs were put
into the UDP rotation to Japan. Two navy
squadrons were moved from NAS Oceana,
24 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
22-25 Ready Room C.indd 24
Virginia, to MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina. Stennis (CVN 74). In exchange, navy CAPT
Two more were slated to move to MCAS David B. Emich commanded MAG-12 in
Cherry Point, North Carolina, but that plan Iwakuni, Japan.
was never fulfilled. But over the succeeding years, the
Above: The USMC
Then, in March 2003, Operation ‘Iraqi is to receive 67 number of marine units committed to and
Freedom’ was launched. It placed yet F-35Cs to help able to deploy with a CVW has declined
further demand on USMC aviation, it support US to just one. It is equipped with F/A-18Cs,
Navy carrier
which was already engaged in ‘Enduring deployments. whereas the navy active component
Freedom’ in Afghanistan. The strain of US Navy/CMS VFAs all have made the transition to the
two theaters of combat prevented an Shannon E. F/A‑18E/F as of early 2019, when VFA-34
Renfroe
increase in the number of VMFAs allocated gave up its F/A-18Cs for new E-models.
to the navy air wings. Even so, the two Left inset: An
services endeavored to make the TACAIR F/A-18C Hornet
assigned to the
A plan in decline
Integration Plan work. ‘Death Rattlers’ in The reason for the decline in VMFA
In September 2004, VFA-97 ‘Warhawks’ 2018 during deck support for the navy carrier air wings is not
deployed to join Marine Aircraft Group qualifications as totally clear, but one factor is the transition
part of Carrier
(MAG) 12 in Japan, followed in rotation by Air Wing (CVW) 11 to the F-35C Lightning II. The first USMC
a second VFA, but not a third. USMC Col aboard USS John F-35C unit, VMFA-314 ‘Black Knights’ —
Douglas P. Yurovich assumed command C. Stennis (CVN traditionally one of the squadrons in the
74). US Navy/
of CVW-9 in January 2006 and took the MCSS Angelina carrier rotation — is currently in transition
wing on a deployment on the USS John C. Grimsley and scheduled to be ready for carrier
12/12/2019 13:55

Although squadrons
work up together
in preparation for a
deployment, the ‘churn’ —
swapping squadrons — has
an intangible but real effect
on the culture within the CVW
VMFA-323 ‘Death Rattlers’ was one of the
USMC F/A-18C units assigned to US Navy air
wings, but it will now become the training
squadron when VMFAT-101 disbands in Fiscal
Year 2024. USMC/Sgt Dominic Romero
22-25 Ready Room C.indd 25
deployment in 2022. Another factor is the
logistics problem of supporting a handful
of F/A-18Cs in a CVW — this is now the
domain of the Super Hornet.
On paper, at least, the plan now is for the
marines to supply four F-35C squadrons
to support navy air wings. It’s the primary
reason the service is acquiring the carrier
variant of the Lightning II. The USMC’s
intention is to procure 353 F-35Bs and 67
F-35Cs and the move to the new aircraft
will once again allow the two services to
dovetail the on-board logistics chains.
During this current period of turbulence,
the stability of the CVWs is clearly affected
by a lack of marine VMFAs. More often
today, the air wings are deploying with a
‘stand-in’ VFA to fill a hole in the inventory.
Although squadrons work up together
in preparation for a deployment, the
‘churn’ — swapping squadrons — has an
intangible but real effect on the culture
within the CVW. Squadrons often remain
together in an air wing for many years,
even decades, and develop a level of
teamwork that exceeds the sum of its
parts. This was particularly notable among
the pairs of fighter squadrons (VFs)
during the era of the F-4 Phantom II and
F-14 Tomcat.
When VF squadrons were transferred
to another air wing, they usually moved
together. CVW-5 — forward-deployed to
the Japan-based carrier for decades — is
notable for its stability. The navy has
kept this air wing constant, because of
the expense of transferring squadrons in
and out of bases in the US, and therefore
this CVW has enjoyed comparatively
little ‘churn’.
The instability in TACAIR integration is
likely to endure for the next few years
until the F-35 transition picks up speed.
In part, it was alleviated by the de-
activation of CVW-14 in 2017, making
some of its squadrons available for other
duties. This year’s temporary removal
of CVW-8 from routine operations —
because of budget restrictions — means
more fluidity in the system. Electronic
attack squadron VAQ-131 ‘Lancers’ has,
for example, detached from the air wing
and joined the other four expeditionary
VAQ squadrons in the rotation of
land-based EA-18G deployments to
south-west Asia. So, integration is alive,
squadrons are moving around and
supporting joint operations, but TACAIR
isn’t yet integrating as its originators
intended.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 25
12/12/2019 13:55
 PART ONE

15 YEARS ON THE FRONTLINE

26 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 26 16/12/2019 11:14


At a time when the US Air Force wants to
accelerate fighter aircraft development under
a ‘Digital Century Series’, Combat Aircraft
Journal looks back at how the first combat-
coded F-22 Raptor was delivered in May
2005 and how, some 15 years on, the USAF is
working to ensure the fighter remains relevant.
REPORT Jamie Hunter
T
HE VERY FIRST Lockheed
Martin F-22A Raptor took to
the skies on September 7,
1997, about 15 years after the
project was first launched. The
initial operational example
didn’t arrive at a fighter wing until May
2005, when the first frontline Raptor
touched down at Joint Base Langley-
Eustis, Virginia, in May 2005. Some 15
years later, this stealthy, supercruising,
sensor-fused, master of the skies is
undergoing something of a revolution.
While it stands as a clear example
of how long modern fighter
aircraft take to design
and mature, the US
Air Force is moving
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 27
to ensure this fleet of aerial dominators
is able to keep pace with emerging
threats and technology across the globe.
Despite an incremental upgrade
strategy, improvements for the F-22 have
become increasingly complex and late,
with this ferocious beast in danger of
being left behind by its peers. The USAF
and Lockheed Martin had slipped into
‘big bang’ updates rather than the spiral
of upgrades once promised, and therefore
in 2018 a major new initiative started to
revisit agile development options.
Along similar lines as are now being
discussed in relation to the USAF’s future
sixth-generation fighter requirements,
similarly efficient enhancement paths are
now being sought for the F-22. Think of
cloud-based software pulses leveraging
commercial approaches that are designed
to ensure a Raptor pilot isn’t flying a ‘sheep
in wolf’s clothing’.
This kind of approach is still regarded
The F-22 started
as being hugely ambitious in a world
life as a pure air
superiority fighter, of complex contracts and high security,
turning its hand not to mention a monopoly for the
to multi-role,
manufacturers. However, this new Raptor
which is where
it has seen its strategy could help pave the way for
only kinetic the vision of a ‘Digital Century Series’,
employment.
proving it is possible to get capability
USAF/SSgt Chris
Drzazgowski to the frontline in smaller enhancement
packages, as opposed to waiting for these
to be rolled together into a large formal
increment. The Raptor Agile Capability
Release (RACR) calls for regular program
reviews — frequent demonstrations from
a range of contractors — to help change
the way the USAF, and programs such as
the F-22, go about doing business.
Troubled start
The Raptor had troubled beginnings in an
era of defense cutbacks, being conceived
under the Advanced Tactical Fighter
(ATF) project and chosen amid an intense
battle between aerospace heavyweights.
The requirement was for 750 new fighters
to replace the McDonnell Douglas F-15
Eagle, able to counter advancing Soviet
fighter aircraft and surface-to-air missile
(SAM) systems.
In November 1981, the Pentagon
authorized the go-ahead without funds
actually being in place. This drew a wide
variety of designs from industry, much
as USAF acquisition chief Dr Will Roper
wants from his ‘Digital Century Series’
plan. When it came to the ATF, the USAF
started to focus on the air-to-air mission
in the light of the behind-the-scenes
development of the F-15E Strike Eagle
and the F-117A.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 27
16/12/2019 11:14
 FIGHTER FOCUS // F-22
By late 1982, the ATF had become a real
program with significant funding. A final
request for proposals (RFP) was issued
in 1983 as the USAF went into a concept
demonstration investigation (CDI) phase
to help weed out the riskier offerings and
down-select for a fly-off competition.
Concept definition studies were embarked
upon by Boeing, General Dynamics,
Grumman, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas,
Northrop, and Rockwell. Interestingly,
the secrecy of the F-117,which first flew
in 1981, was such that the ATF teams
were apparently unaware of emerging
technologies that would help enable them
to meet ATF needs and combine stealth
with high speed and maneuverability.
However, it appears that during 1983
some of that relevant information began
to filter down from the USAF to the
ATF teams.
Following a period of evaluation, the
Lockheed YF-22 and Northrop YF-23 were
declared the winners on October 31, 1986,
and were told to prepare prototypes for a
28 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 28
demonstration and validation (DEM/VAL)
phase. In parallel, both Pratt & Whitney
and General Electric were awarded
contracts to develop and build new
fighter engines: the YF119 and YF120,
respectively.
Lockheed’s Code One Magazine reported,
‘A few months before the proposals for
the DEM/VAL phase of the program were
to be submitted, the air force amended its
proposal request. The change significantly
increased the importance of stealth in
the design. Lockheed, with a stealthy
configuration derived from the F-117,
made no modifications to its design
as a result of the new requirements.
Boeing made some slight modifications
to the design of their inlet to address
the increased stealth requirements. The
company was, however, satisfied that its
twin-tail design would meet the stealth
requirements.
‘The upgraded requirements forced
engineers at General Dynamics to
again reconsider twin tails in a variety
of locations, including out on pods on
the wing. The trailing edge of the wing
and the control surfaces were cut into
chevrons aligned with the leading edge,
giving the wing a bat-like look. In the end,
no acceptable location for the twin tails
was found, and the design was submitted
with a single centerline tail and a serrated
trailing edge. The new final configuration
was labeled T-333.’
The Lockheed design
Lockheed, Boeing and General
Dynamics had formed a team in July
1986 to collaboratively tackle ATF
from a design and financial standpoint
— two months after the USAF said
it would want to build and fly ATF
prototypes. Despite its selection for the
DEM/VAL stage, the Lockheed design
subsequently changed dramatically
— indeed, the designers literally went
back to the drawing board. Lockheed’s
Below: YF-22 winning design clearly resembled the
PAV-1, serial F-117, but a succession of changes
N22YF, flying followed. By April 1988, the final YF-22
near Edwards
AFB during the design was locked down and the first
demonstration drawings were formally released.
and validation Construction of the first of two
fly-off. All photos
Lockheed Martin YF-22s started in Fort Worth, Texas.
unless stated Production of the forward fuselage
began at Lockheed facilities in Burbank,
Inset: Lockheed’s
proposal California. The aft section and wings
configuration, took shape during the same timeframe
called 090P, had at Boeing’s Washington State plant in
a wide strake that
ran in a straight Seattle. The centre fuselage, weapons
line from the wing bays, tail and landing gear were built
leading edge by General Dynamics. The eventual
outboard of the
inlets to the point acquisition of General Dynamics gave
of the nose. This Lockheed Martin control of 67.5 per cent
Lockheed diagram of the program.
illustrates well the
design evolution Shipped in by C-5A Galaxy, the different
of the F-22. sections of the two YF-22 prototypes
16/12/2019 11:15
 came together in Palmdale, California,
as the ‘Skunk Works’ took the lead role in
their production. Final assembly of the
first YF-22 (prototype air vehicle PAV-1)
began at Palmdale on January 13, 1990.
It was unveiled to the public on August
29 that year.
But Northrop’s competing YF-23
was first to fly, on August 27, 1990.
The initial YF-22 (N22YF) followed on
September 29, piloted by Dave Ferguson
as it flew from Palmdale to Edwards
AFB in California to enter the fly-off
competition. PAV-1 was powered by
two General Electric YF120-GE-100
turbofans. The second aircraft (PAV-2,
N22YX) used two Pratt & Whitney
YF119-PW-100s. It flew on October 30, in
the hands of Tom Morgenfeld, also from
Palmdale to Edwards.
Interestingly, there was a lot of
emphasis on credibility and ability to
meet promises. The two camps were
invited to submit sealed estimates of
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 29
Above left to right: how they expected their respective Going head-to-head
Dave Ferguson aircraft to perform, to be compared Paul Metz, who subsequently joined
with the YF-22.
Sadly, Ferguson with the actual data post-flight test. Lockheed, was the chief test pilot for
passed away on The two YF-22s made 74 test flights the Northrop YF-23. From 1992-2001 he
August 10, 2011. in three months. The prototypes were served as Lockheed’s chief test pilot for
He had joined
Lockheed in 1979 not required to be low-observable, the F-22, and made the maiden flight of
and retired as but they did incorporate some radar- the F-22A on September 7, 1997.
director of flight absorbent materials (RAM), though Metz joined the USAF in 1968 and
test in 1999.
Lockheed Martin/ only as an initial look at evaluating flew operational missions in the F-105G
Denny Lombard durability on high-speed platforms. ‘Wild Weasel’ in southeast Asia. He
The flight test designs were geared to completed 68 missions over North
The Northrop
YF-23. In late performance, and not designed to be Vietnam, including sorties against SAM
1990, the two representative of a production aircraft. and anti-aircraft batteries in support of
fighters were The YF-22s were soon demonstrating strike missions there, earning him two
pitted head-to-
head during the their agility, with high-alpha handling, Distinguished Flying Crosses and six
demonstration roll rates and then weapons work, firing Air Medals. In 1976, he graduated from
and validation AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards,
phase. USAF
Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) and AIM-9 before he joined Northrop Aircraft in
Below: The ‘Skunk Sidewinder missiles from the side and 1980 as an engineering test pilot. He
Works’ took the center weapons bays. The initial DEM/ and his team played a crucial role in the
lead for final
assembly of both VAL phase of the YF-22 program was YF-23, which many to this day suggest
YF-22 prototypes. completed on December 28, 1990, the was a superior design in several ways.
two YF-22s accumulating a total of 91.6 Metz, with the unique position of having
hours in 74 flights. flown both the YF-23 and the F-22A,
has never commented publicly on their
comparative performance.
Explaining the flight test program
between the YF-22 and the YF-23, Metz
said, ‘The air force intentionally separated
the two teams physically in the sense that
we were not allowed to communicate
with each other. Interestingly enough,
we were in the same hangar — the YF-22
on one side and the YF-23 on the other.
We honored that requirement of the air
force, except that myself as chief test
pilot of the YF-23 and Dave Ferguson as
chief test pilot of the YF-22 got together
before we ever flew and said that, since
we were using the same engines, there
was a chance that something would
come up that could affect both teams.
We said that if we did have a problem
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 29
16/12/2019 11:15
 FIGHTER FOCUS // F-22
that we knew could affect both teams,
we would get with the other respective
test pilot and tell them what’s going on
and what the problem was so that we
could investigate it before anything bad
happened. So we did have a gentlemen’s
agreement, a professional agreement, so
we could communicate in terms of safety
of flight.’
Metz took the YF-23 aloft a month prior
to Ferguson in the YF-22. Of that event he
said, ‘We were kept away — not allowed to
observe it.’
He continued, ‘We had a very short
program — about 90 days to wring them
out. By USAF decree, no pilot flew the
YF‑22 and the YF-23. The USAF was very
keen to avoid a situation whereby a pilot
30 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 30
Above: The had flown both airplanes and was asked US Air Force Secretary Dr Donald
YF‑22 shows by a reporter, ‘which is better?’, potentially Rice announced the day before the big
the Raptor’s
design traits, but causing the company to lose the decision that the number of ATFs to be
it was revised competition. So the USAF was extremely procured would be reduced from 750
dramatically for strict but even-handed in the program.’ to 648 aircraft as a result of declining
the production
aircraft. USAF defense budgets. At this time, the
The final verdict 648 aircraft were to be bought at an
Below left to right: With Northrop’s partner McDonnell estimated total program cost of $99.1
Tom Morgenfeld
made the first Douglas embroiled in the collapse of billion, making it the most expensive
flight of PAV-2 on the US Navy’s ill-fated A-12 Avenger, weapons system to date.
October 30, 1990. confidence in its ability to meet The F-22 and Pratt & Whitney F119
A rare shot of the expectations on the ATF project wasn’t combination were declared the winners
competing ATF in the YF-23 team’s favor. Compounding on April 23, 1991. Rice announced the
designs flying this was the F-117’s reputation as the decision at a Pentagon briefing, stating
together near
Edwards AFB. hero of Operation ‘Desert Storm’ in early that the F-22/F119 combination offered
USAF 1991, which actually served to build huge ‘clearly better capability with lower cost,
confidence in Lockheed’s pedigree and thereby providing the air force with a true
its ability to deliver the new fighter. best value’.
16/12/2019 11:15
 YF-22
TEST
REVIEW
• First prototype, N22YF, rolled out at
Palmdale August 29, 1990.
• First flight September 29, 1990.
• First air-to-air refueling October
26, 1990.
• Second prototype, N22YX, first flight
(Palmdale to Edwards) October
30, 1990.
• First supercruise flight (PAV-1)
November 3, 1990.
• First thrust-vectoring demonstration
by PAV-1, November 15, 1990.
• First supercruise flight by PAV-2,
November 23, 1990.
• First AIM-9M Sidewinder launch
Above top to
November 28, 1990, by Jon Beesley bottom: PAV-2
in PAV-2 over the NAWS China touches down
Lake ranges. on the runway
• First AIM-120A AMRAAM launch at Edwards AFB
December 20, 1990, by Tom during the initial
Morgenfeld in PAV-2 over the test phase.
Pacific Missile Test Range at Point
Mugu, California. An AIM-120A
AMRAAM is
test-fired over
the Point Mugu
A formal engineering, manufacturing range, under the at roughly 40ft above the runway on representative test vehicles (PRTVs)
watchful eye of
and demonstration (EMD) contract was an F-15D photo returning to Edwards AFB after a test including a pair of F-22B two-seaters,
awarded that August. Two contracts chase. flight. With the landing gear retracted, the plus one static test and one fatigue
totaling $10.91 billion ($9.55 billion for aircraft hit the runway and slid 8,000ft. test airframe. Like the YF-22 fly-off, the
The first F-22 is
the airframe and $1.36 billion for engines) towed from the Although no longer flight-worthy, the timelines were ambitious, with the first
were given to the F-22 and F119 teams, final assembly external damage was later repaired and EMD aircraft expected to fly in August
then made up of Lockheed, Boeing and area in the the YF-22 flown aboard a C-5 to Griffiss 1995 and a push for initial operating
B-1 building
General Dynamics plus Pratt & Whitney. in Marietta AFB, New York, where it was used for capability (IOC) with the USAF in 2001.
The Pratt & Whitney-powered YF-22 to the newly antenna testing. PAV-2 had been flown
PAV-2 resumed test-flying on October 30, constructed
B-22 engine
on 70 test flights for a total of more than YF-22 becomes F-22A
1991, on pre-EMD work. It performed 39 noise attenuation 100 hours. A variety of factors stemming from the
flights before, on April 25, 1992, it crashed facility for fueling It was a sad final event for the YF-22, YF‑22 DEM/VAL phase introduced delays.
following a control loss during a slow operations and but attention was already turning to Notably there was much moving of
engine runs.
pass at Edwards. The YF-22 experienced Lockheed Martin/ the next phase — EMD. Initially, this goalposts by the Department of Defense.
a series of pilot-induced pitch oscillations John Rossino was planned to involve 11 production- This pushed IOC steadily to the right

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 31

26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 31 16/12/2019 11:15

 FIGHTER FOCUS // F-22
well before Lockheed Martin began the
EMD phase.
One of the main challenges facing the
F-22 team as it moved into EMD was
balancing low-observable characteristics
with a high-performance design and
with through-life support in mind.
Picking access panels and potentially
corrupting the stealthy coating needed
to be minimized. All weapons and fuel
needed to be carried internally so as not
to compromise the stealthy signature,
meaning a capacious airframe design.
The fly-by-wire flight control system
was incredibly advanced, with thrust-
vectoring and high-alpha maneuvering
32 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 32
needing to be proved, and the software
written and tested to underscore the
performance.
Comparisons can be drawn between
the F-22 and the F-35 Lightning II. Like
the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 carried
a concurrency risk, albeit on a far more
sensible scale. However, much of the
concurrency was eventually written out
of the Raptor as deadlines were moved.
By the time EMD was complete, only 12
Raptors had been delivered to the USAF,
compared with hundreds of aircraft in
the F-35 program.
A major part of the F-22’s lethality is
its avionics suite, built around the BAE
Above: ‘Raptor Systems AN/ALR-94 passive electronic
01’ made two warfare receiver system and the
flights from
Marietta before Northrop Grumman AN/APG-77 active
being shipped to electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
Edwards. The ALR-94 is composed of more than
Below: ‘Raptor 30 antennas blended into the wings
01’ on its and fuselage to provide 360° coverage
maiden flight and detection for radar signals. Tom
from Marietta,
Georgia. Paul Burbage, former F-22 program manager
Metz reported at Lockheed Martin, described it as being
excellent handling ‘the most technically complex piece
and remarked
on the aircraft’s of equipment on the aircraft’. It has a
impressive greater range than the radar (more than
performance. 250nm), allowing the Raptor to limit its
own radar emissions to maximize its low-
observability. As targets approach, the
ALR-94 can cue the AESA radar to track
them with a narrow, focused beam. It can
also receive and transmit its data covertly
inside the formation via its secure intra-
flight data link (IFDL).
In the cockpit, the F-22 pilot is set up as
the tactician, with many of the systems
such as electrical power and hydraulics
all automated and computer-controlled.
Sensor fusion neatly combines all aspects
of the F-22’s sensor suite, and presents
them in a user-friendly manner. This
melds the radar and ALR-94 data with
that received via the data link.
16/12/2019 11:15
 All of this started to be fleshed out in
the EMD program. On August 2, 1991 it
was confirmed for 11 (later reduced to
nine) flying prototypes, plus one static test
article and one fatigue test airframe.
With very few major snags, only
budgetary restrictions delayed the F-22
initially, moving the first flight from
1995 back to May 1997. The planned
procurement was also cut further. In
1993, the USAF planned to purchase
648 F-22s at a unit cost of $84 million in
1995 dollars, but further cuts came, down
to 442 in 1994, then to 339 in the 1997
Quadrennial Defense Review. The 1994
reduction took the projected unit cost to
$91 million. These constant cuts and the
resulting need to restructure served to
create huge wastage.
In this period, the two-seat F-22B was
also removed from the project on cost
grounds. The USAF — rightly — felt
confident that the advanced fly-by-wire
‘carefree abandon’ handling of the F-22
and use of advanced simulators negated
the need for a two-seat trainer.
As well as pressure for the F-22 program
to be reduced in terms of production
numbers, it was being pressurized to
justify its existence through expanded
combat roles. In May 1993, the USAF
added a need for an air-to-ground
capability with precision-guided
munitions (PGMs). Under a $6.5-million
contract addition in May 1993, it was
agreed that the main weapons bay and
associated avionics would be adapted
for two 1,000lb GBU-32 Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAMs) in place of
two AIM-120s. The addition of a ground
attack capability eventually resulted
in a temporary redesignation as the
F/A‑22, announced by USAF Chief of
Staff Gen John Jumper on September
17, 2002. This lasted only until December
2005, when the F-22A designation was
adopted again.
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 33
The F-16 joined on me after take-off and we
immediately saw the power of the Raptor. We
started climbing to 15,000ft, me with the gear down, and
the F-16 on my left. He started falling away from me and
having to use afterburner to keep up
Paul Metz
The preliminary design review was Lockheed Martin’s chief test pilot for the
completed on April 30, 1993. The critical F-22, at the controls. He said, ‘After we
design review (CDR) was completed in lost the ATF competition with the YF-23,
February 1995 when configuration 645 Northrop transferred me over to the B-2
was finalized. Fabrication of the first program. I was there for two years and
components for the initial EMD aircraft I was just going through the check-out
had begun at Boeing’s facility in Kent, program for the B-2 when I got a call from
Washington, on December 8, 1993. This Lockheed Martin, asking me if I wanted to
was the first of three airframes dedicated be the chief test pilot for the F-22. Dave
to airframe, engine and weapons release Ferguson [YF-22 test pilot] and myself
testing. The prototype was rolled out had said, ‘whoever is on the losing team
April 9, 1997, when the F-22 was officially will submit a résumé to the other CTP,’
christened the Raptor. and I did just that after we lost. From
that came an offer to go to Lockheed at
First flight of the F-22A Marietta, Georgia, to help design and
The first F-22A Raptor (serial 91-4001, build the first Raptor.’
Above left to ‘Raptor 01’) made its maiden flight on Talking about the main differences
right: Much of September 7, 1997, with Paul Metz, between the YF-22 and the final
the EMD phase
work in the configuration of the F-22A, aside from
early years was physical appearance, Metz said, ‘The big
geared towards thing was the refined flying qualities.
planning how
the F-22 would Early on we decided that this kind of
operate, with a airplane really needed to change the
lot of emphasis paradigm of what a pilot does. We
placed on
simplifying the wanted to make the actual piloting of
pilot’s tasks. the Raptor a secondary task. The primary
task is that of being a tactician — taking
Raptor 4001
arrives at the information you’ve got and using
Edwards AFB via it to accurately destroy other airplanes.
C-5 Galaxy. That meant that we put a lot of emphasis
Right: Paul on the design of the engine and the
Metz gives a airframe to be tolerant to do anything
thumbs-up prior the pilot can do; we called it ‘carefree
to the first flight.
Lockheed Martin/ abandon’. The idea was that you can do
John Rossino anything with the stick and throttle and
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 33
16/12/2019 11:15
 FIGHTER FOCUS // F-22
the airplane will not be harmed, nor
will it do anything untoward. It won’t
depart controlled flight or do anything
unexpected.’
So much of the Raptor is software-
driven. It features several types of
computers — flight controls, mission,
avionics, radar and stores management,
while Lockheed Martin added a vehicle
management systems controller. This
looks after hydraulics, fuel, and oxygen
and co-ordinates all those subsystems.
Metz said, ‘It enabled us to take away all
the housekeeping tasks and automate
all of it.’
All this work was completed prior to
the first flight. Originally planned for May
1997, fuel leaks and hardware-related
anomalies led to a slip to September 7.
‘Preparations for the first flight started
nine months prior,’ said Metz. ‘Despite
being a single-seat airplane, this was
not a single-person operation. We had a
mission control room composed of about
30 engineers.’ Metz added that they ran a
dress rehearsal orientation session for the
34 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 34
first flight that lasted a week. The team thousand people out there and I didn’t
went through each part in incredible want to screw it up.’
detail, going through all the potential The landing went to plan and Metz
Above: The F-22
carries a special emergency procedures, running every described the Raptor as a ‘delight to fly’.
‘compressed- possible snag to ground and building He had been airborne for 58 minutes.
carriage’ variant confidence to handle that first mission. A second sortie of 35 minutes took
of the AIM-120C,
developed to fit Metz recalled that first flight, which place on September 14, after which
in the confined launched out of Dobbins AFB right into the aircraft underwent minor structural
weapons bay the busy Atlanta air traffic system for a modifications and was then placed in
of the F-22.
Lockheed Martin/ round trip from Marietta, Georgia. ‘We structural test fixture for load ground
Tom Reynolds had an F-15 that we bought in from tests and strain gauge calibration.
Edwards, plus an F-16 as our chase. The
Below: Lt Col
Evan Thomas F-16 joined on me after take-off and Moving to Edwards
completed the we immediately saw the power of the ‘Raptor 01’ made two flights at Marietta
first separation Raptor. We started climbing to 15,000ft, before being shipped to Edwards AFB
test of a 1,000lb
GBU-32 Joint me with the gear down, and the F-16 on aboard a C-5 Galaxy in February 1998.
Direct Attack my left. He started falling away from me It resumed test flying in May. ‘Ship Two’
Munition on April and having to use afterburner to keep — 91-4002 — made its maiden flight
23, 2004. This
was a later test in up. It was then that I began to appreciate from Marietta on June 29, 1998, and was
December 2005, the raw power of the F-22. Once we got ferried to Edwards on August 26.
with Maj John to altitude we commenced some small By the end of 1998, enough confidence
Teichert at the
controls for the maneuvers. I retracted the gear but I only had been built to enable a decision on
first supersonic went up to about 250kt. The airplane was low-rate initial production (LRIP). Having
guided release of very much like the simulator. After about notched up 183 relatively trouble-free
a JDAM.
Lockheed Martin/ an hour came the scariest part — landing hours of flight testing on November 23,
Darin Russell back at Marietta. There were a couple of 1998, it paved the way for the release of
16/12/2019 11:15
 $195.5 million in late December 1998
for advance procurement for six Lot 1
LRIP aircraft, which became known as
production-representative test vehicle
II (PRTV II) to save a congressional
budgetary clause. In early December,
Lockheed Martin had already received a
$503-million contact for two PRTVs.
Reflecting on the early test work,
Paul Metz recalled, ‘I spent three years
at Edwards. The first airplanes were for
engine and airframe test only, to explore
the flight envelope — looking at basic
functionality of the vehicle itself and the
structural integrity. We flew flutter testing,
explored high-speed Mach effects, high
angle of attack, [and] weapons separation
including ejecting missiles from the bays
into the airflow.’
On the subject of some of the high-alpha
test work, Metz explained, ‘It started in
the simulator to uncover problems here
and there and tweak the flight control
computers. Then we’d take it to flight-
test. Today, if a pilot gets up there and
does something funny, they just have
to center the controls and wait — the
Raptor can recover itself. A lot of the
Raptor’s maneuverability is achieved with
the thrust-vectoring, especially the pitch
control. It uses the control surfaces in an
unconventional way to obtain unusual
responses. For example, the horizontal
26-35 The Raptor pt1 C.indd 35
tails are individual units and they can The first AIM-120C AMRAAM firing came
work symmetrically or asymmetrically. So, on October 24, 2000, and aircraft 4006
I spent most of my time on the handling flew in early 2001. However, the decision
side of things, but also some of the initial to proceed with LRIP was not taken until
avionics testing on aircraft 4004 and 4005.’ August 15, 2001, when an initial batch
This testing wasn’t entirely trouble-free. of 10 aircraft was approved. Meanwhile,
Below: ‘Raptor
Weight reduction efforts on 4001 and 01’ was retired the PRTV jets were taking shape, the first
4002 had resulted in these two aircraft in 2000 and flying on October 12, 2002. These aircraft
falling below the required structural moved to Wright were to be used initially for DIOT&E,
Patterson in Ohio
strength for some of the more demanding for live fire testing. which was scheduled to start in August
envelope expansion work. Subsequently, It is now a GF-22A 2002, but ended up being delayed until
this was held up until the arrival of 4003, and located at April 29, 2004.
Hill AFB, Utah,
an instrumented structural test aircraft, where it is used Such was the concurrency knock-on
which joined the Combined Test Force at for battle damage that by this time, the initial aircraft had
Edwards in March 2000. repair training. already been delivered to the first USAF
Delays in the delivery of the EMD Bottom left to squadron. The 43rd Fighter Squadron,
aircraft saw this phase being pushed to right: ‘Raptor part of the 325th Fighter Wing, at Tyndall
the right. Indeed, it became clear that the 02’ flies past the AFB, Florida, received F-22A serial
tower at Edwards
development test work would overlap AFB. It was one 01-4018/TY on September 26, 2003.
with the dedicated initial operational test of nine EMD In the background, development test
and evaluation (DIOT&E) phase. aircraft, joined by work continued at Edwards. Avionics
Raptor 3999 for
The first EMD aircraft (4001) was flown structural tests issues including in-flight shutdowns
hard and retired in 2000. This stemmed and Raptor 4000 were problematic, but on December 27,
from the discovery of hairline cracks in for fatigue tests. 2005, the EMD phase was concluded, by
4001 and 4002, although the second A rare shot of which time 12 combat-ready F-22As had
aircraft resumed flight-testing. an EMD Raptor already been delivered.
The Edwards test work with the carrying AIM-120
eventual employment of nine
AMRAAMs on the
external wing
NEXT MONTH
EMD Raptors was tied to the major stations. RAPTOR INTO SERVICE
procurement milestones. All eyes were
on meeting test points and the Pentagon
Defense Acquisition Board’s decision to
award an initial batch of LRIP aircraft.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 35
16/12/2019 11:15
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In the first half of a two-part feature, Combat Aircraft looks at
the service record of the US Air Force C-135 family as it reaches
64 years of service.
REPORT Bob Archer with Tom Kaminski
H
UNDREDS OF BOEING
employees looked on as the
first KC-135A Stratotanker
emerged from the Renton
production facility on
Wednesday, July 18, 1956. In
gleaming bare metal, serial 55-3118 was
parked adjacent to a KC-97G to enable
the workforce, assembled guests, and
members of the press, to appreciate
the major advances offered by the
Stratotanker over its predecessor. Just
eight years later, in the final days of
1964, the last example — KC-135B serial
64-14849 — was rolled out. Amazingly,
a new aircraft was coming off the
production line every three or four days
alongside B-52 Stratofortress bombers
and jet airliners. Production totaled
some 820 aircraft for the USAF, together
38 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 38
with a further dozen for the French
Air Force.
In 2020, Boeing will mark 64 years since
that initial aircraft left the factory, and
roughly half of the C-135 series remain
in operational service. Approximately
260 have been retired, and placed into
storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.
A few of them have returned to service,
while an additional handful have been
renovated for export to Chile, France,
Singapore, and Turkey. Many of the
remainder have been cannibalized
for reusable parts as donors for
operational aircraft, before the carcasses
were scrapped.
Official US Air Force figures state that
426 airframes remain in operational
use. The oldest flyable airframe is
serial 57-1419, which was delivered
the extremely short distance from
Boeing’s Moses Lake facility to nearby
Fairchild AFB, Washington, on June 27,
1958, joining the 92nd Air Refueling
Squadron (ARS). The grandfather of the
fleet recently made the news, becoming
the final example reassigned from the
133rd ARS at Pease Air National Guard
Base (ANGB), New Hampshire, as the
unit became the first in the ANG to
recapitalize with the new Boeing KC-46A
Pegasus. This relocation is the first of
many that are now under way as the
KC-46s enter service, but with plans only
extending to 179 of the new Boeing
tankers at this point, the KC-135 will be
around for many more years to come.
This KC-135R
The mighty tanker
bears a Fiscal The first KC-135A entered service with
Year 1958 serial. Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Castle
Despite their AFB, California, in June 1957. The type will
age, the USAF’s
Stratotankers outlive the McDonnell Douglas KC-10A
remain the Extender, the eldest of which (serial
backbone of the 79-0433) has been in service 38 years.
world’s aerial
refueling fleet. Under current plans the Extenders will
Jamie Hunter leave the USAF inventory some time this
13/12/2019 10:24
 www.Key.Aero // February 2020 39

38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 39 13/12/2019 10:24

 TYPE REPORT // USAF C-135S
F-16C/Ds of the 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota
ANG await turns to receive fuel from a KC-135R
from the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Wisconsin
ANG. USAF/MSgt Jason Rolfe
decade. Delays and ongoing problems
with the KC-46 mean Air Mobility
Command (AMC) has been forced to
reallocate $57 million from the Fiscal Year
2020 KC-46 program to the KC-135 force.
AMC reports that it is now expecting to
retain a number of Stratotankers into
the 2050s.
The USAF now has 393 KC-135Rs
in operational service in five specific
variants. These comprise 313
conventional KC-135Rs, eight KC-
135R(RT) aircraft equipped with a
refueling receptacle to receive fuel and
known as air refueling receivers (ARRs),
20 KC-135R multi-point refueling system
(MPRS) aircraft, one test NKC-135R;and 51
KC-135Ts. These T variants were originally
assigned the designation KC-135Q and
feature changes to the aerial and ground
refueling systems when compared with
the KC-135R.
The basic KC-135R is at the peak
of its capabilities, having received
upgrades to the cockpit in the form
of the Pacer CRAG (compass, radar
and GPS) and subsequent global air
traffic management (GATM) programs.
Replacing the original Pratt & Whitney
J57 engines with new General Electric
F108-GE-100 (CFM56) turbofans yielded a
massive saving in fuel consumption and
afforded a higher gross take-off weight,
faster rate of climb, and extended range.
40 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 40
The eight KC-135R ARRs are capable fitted with enhanced communications to
of receiving as well as dispensing fuel make them compatible with the SR-71.
Right page
in flight. They have a receptacle above clockwise: Following the ‘Blackbird’s’ retirement,
the cockpit that was installed during the A US Navy the Qs were re-roled as traditional
1960s when the airframes performed EA-18G Growler tankers, and assumed the KC-135T
disconnects
specialized airborne command post and from the boom- designation when they too received new
reconnaissance roles. drogue adaptor F108 engines.
The 20 MPRS aircraft feature Flight that is added to
enable probe-
Refueling Ltd (FRL) Mk32B hose-and- equipped aircraft Test tankers
drogue air refueling pods under the outer to tank from the A range of test and evaluation roles
wings to enable the refueling of probe- centerline of the have been carried out by C-135s over
KC-135. USAF/SSgt
and-drogue aircraft. Non-MPRS KC-135s Jordan Castelan the decades. Today, Air Force Materiel
use a boom-drogue adaptor (BDA) to Command (AFMC) operates just two
provide fuel to probe-equipped aircraft. KC-135R 60-0357 remaining dedicated test aircraft,
is one of the eight
However, the addition of the basket to aircraft that have although one of these has now been
the boom prohibits the KC-135 from the air refueling relegated to ground training.
tanking in its traditional way. receiver installed The ‘Speckled Trout’ program was
above the cockpit.
Initially, there was a requirement for It is also used instigated by Gen Curtis E. LeMay in
45 modified aircraft and 33 pod sets, in the special 1957. At the outset it involved a KC-135
but problems including malfunctioning operations air outfitted for VIP duties, but later the
refueling role.
components reduced this total to 20. USAF via aircraft was assigned to evaluate
Reliability issues caused utilization of Bob Archer commercially available avionics, as well
the MPRS system to be extremely low in as communications equipment. KC-135R
97th AMW
the first decade of service, but this has KC-135R serial serial 63-7980 was the fourth and final
improved and the system is now used 58-0128 in a ‘Speckled Trout’ and was latterly employed
more frequently. hangar at Altus as the testbed for the Large Aircraft
AFB. Weather
Essentially similar to the KC-135R, the conditions in Infrared Counter-Measures (LAIRCM)
T-models were previously designated Oklahoma, system, which is now installed in many
KC-135Q, and were used for refueling including dust larger aircraft such as the C-130, C-17, C-5
and storms,
operations with the Lockheed SR-71, mean all aircraft and KC-135. Routinely using the radio
which required special JP-7 fuel — are washed callsign ‘Trout 99’, the aircraft was the
housed in tanks separate from the externally every primary transport for the Secretary of the
120 flight hours.
conventional kerosene carried by the USAF via Air Force, the chief of staff and vice-chief
tanker. Furthermore, the Q-models were Bob Archer of staff. Furthermore, ‘Trout’ was fitted with
13/12/2019 10:24
 SPECIAL
OPERATIONS
AIR REFUELING
A rarely publicized aspect of tanker
undertakings is support to special
operations. Whereas the majority of
KC-135s fly routine missions, supporting
all manner of receivers, there is a small
number of Stratotanker aircrews whose
mission is significantly enhanced to
encompass a program known as special
operations air refueling (SOAR), flying
versions of the KC-135 that have been
specifically modified for the task. Many
SOAR elements are classified, although
some details have been made available.
The mission is assigned to two squadrons
within the 22nd Air Refueling Wing (ARW)
at McConnell AFB, Kansas, and the aircraft
assigned to SOAR are eight KC-135Rs, one
KC-135R MRPS, eight KC-135R ARRs and
five KC-135Ts.
SOAR missions are typically undertaken
at low level, at night, and in radio silence.
Receivers include Air Force Special
Operations Command (AFSOC) MC-130s,
although other types are refueled when
38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 41
necessary, including fighter aircraft
operating close to combat zones.
SOAR KC-135 crews wear night vision
goggles and to aid the overall mission
management the cockpit crew usually
includes a navigator.
Away from the specialist SOAR role,
some aircraft in the wider KC-135R
community have been enhanced
with new avionics to support mission-
effectiveness, including the addition of
the Link 16 tactical military data link to
enable them to utilize a tactical picture in
near-real time.
During the early 2000s, 13 KC-135Rs,
six KC-135R MPRS, and 21 KC-135Ts were
outfitted with a communications system
known as ROBE — roll-on, beyond-
line-of-sight. ROBE was developed by
Northrop Grumman as a pallet-mounted
suite of electronics carried aboard
tanker and cargo aircraft to enhance
battlefield command and control (C2)
by automatically relaying line-of-sight
signals and communications via satellite.
The KC-135 was chosen because
the aircraft frequently orbit close to
battlefield areas, and are therefore ideally
placed to perform this relay function in
addition to their aerial refueling work.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 41
13/12/2019 10:25
 TYPE REPORT // USAF C-135S

an air refueling receptacle, the only regular
KC-135 to be so configured in recent years.
KC-135R 63-7980 was retired from
412th Test Wing (TW) service at Edwards
AFB, California, on April 27, 2019, and
flown to Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, for battle
damage repair training with the 76th
Aircraft Maintenance Group.
The sole surviving test aircraft is
NKC-135R serial 61-0320, which has
been stationed at Edwards with the
412th TW since 1998. This tanker is kept
incredibly busy, supporting important
test and evaluation programs, including
clandestine projects. It is regularly in
action above the restricted test ranges of
California and Nevada, with some of its
crews expressly security-cleared in order
to be able to support ‘black programs’.
Indeed, the aircraft has been tracked
flying missions from the Nevada Test
and Training Range (NTTR) seemingly
supporting ‘assets’ to and from the Pacific
Test Ranges.
As well as conventional refueling during
Above: The
protracted missions, the aircraft is used unique NKC-135R,
serial 61-0320, is
assigned to the
412th Test Wing
at Edwards AFB
and used for a
range of trials
including support
for top-secret test
projects. USAF

Left: The KC-135R

‘Speckled Trout’,
serial 63-7980,
departs RAF
Mildenhall, UK,
in March 2013.
Clearly visible
are the two
Large Aircraft
Infrared Counter-
Measures
(LAIRCM) pods
beneath the rear
fuselage.
Simon Mortimer

42 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 42 13/12/2019 10:25

 for aircraft tanker clearance certification.
It is also known as the ‘ice tanker’, due to
its ability to spray water from the flying
boom directly onto the nose of the
aircraft under test, which maintains close
formation in the slipstream. This is used
to evaluate de-icing during controlled
experimentation.
Preparing for the future
With an enduring role to play at the
forefront of the world’s greatest air arm,
the KC-135 fleet is receiving vital new
technology. Pacer CRAG continues to
enhance the cockpit. Block 40 modernized
the communication, navigation,
surveillance and air traffic management
(CNS/ATM) systems in 419 aircraft. Block
45 from Rockwell Collins adds a new
autopilot, flight director, radar altimeter
and electronic engine instrument display.
A total of 395 KC-135s will eventually be
modified, the program being planned for
completion in 2025.
The engineering and manufacturing
development (EMD) phase involved
22nd Air Refueling Wing (ARW) KC-135T
serial 60-0343 and KC-135R serial
63-7987 being modified to establish the
38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 43
production baseline for the remainder a Guardian pod to each side of the lower
of the fleet. Having been cleared for rear fuselage of the two aircraft (serials
operational use, the system is being 58-0049 and 60-0365), ground tests were
installed as aircraft are cycled through completed in March 2013 by a team from
programmed depot maintenance (PDM). the Michigan ANG, the Oklahoma City Air
A high-value asset (HVA) such as the Logistics Center, and Northrop Grumman.
vulnerable KC-135 requires a degree of Flight tests began soon afterwards at
self-protection, especially when operating Edwards and were completed in the
Inset: A line of adjacent to combat areas or hostile summer of 2013. Following a rather
Michigan ANG
KC-135Ts, which regions. The KC-135 was one of the lead sedate investigation into the benefits
were initially platforms for the LAIRCM pod. The 171st — and clearly this was far from being
KC-135Qs and ARS, Michigan ANG at Selfridge ANGB was an accelerated project — the decision
used to support
SR-71 operations. responsible for evaluation of the system, was taken to modify the remainder of
Michigan ANG via known as Guardian, which is designed to the KC-135 fleet, beginning in 2019.
Bob Archer automatically detect portable surface- Guardian is not designed to be installed
Below: Part of to-air missile systems, and to jam them permanently, and it will be allocated to
the flight line at with a laser. Following the installation of units operating in hostile zones as and
McConnell AFB,
with a trio of
KC-135R MPRS
aircraft parked
in the center.
During the height
of Stratotanker
operations, 62
aircraft were
assigned, but now
just two KC-135
squadrons remain
as the 22nd ARW
transitions to the
KC-46A. USAF via
Bob Archer
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 43
13/12/2019 10:25
 TYPE REPORT // USAF C-135S
when is appropriate. Enhancing the
LAIRCM, the air force is planning to add
real-time threat situational awareness in
the cockpit.
Preparing for the future also means
keeping aircrews at the peak of
their abilities. It’s not just the fighter
communities that place emphasis on
the quality of high-end training. The
509th Weapons Squadron (WPS) at
Fairchild AFB, Washington, is part of the
Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Two classes per year receive graduate
level instructor courses, which provide
‘patch-wearers’ for frontline units who
prepare the aircrews for operational
deployments. They are the officers who
44 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
38-44 Boeing Stratotankers C.indd 44
know every element of the tactics and Above left to US Strategic Command’s recent ‘Global
right: A KC-135R
procedures for ensuring the KC-135 is Thunder 2019’ exercise showcased how
boom operator
perfectly placed to perform its part in the concentrates as the KC-135 is still a lynchpin of modern
most complex of missions. an F-15E takes operations, despite the now advanced
on fuel from the
In an era when the US military is age of the aircraft. ‘Team Fairchild’
flying boom.
struggling with a ‘pilot crisis’, maintaining USAF/SSgt Daniel promotes itself as a ‘super-tanker’ wing.
that expertise is important for a Snider ‘We are the nation’s premier air refueling
community that offers a clear path team,’ commented Col Derek Salmi,
In the cockpit of a
out the door and into the airlines. The KC-135R during a the 92nd ARW commander. ‘With the
associate program blends active-duty mission over the increase in tankers and a new squadron
Nevada Test and
units with ANG and Air Force Reserve this year, we are even more capable
Training Range
Command (AFRC) experience under the (NTTR) during the of providing support to any mission
Total Force Integration (TFI) initiative. final evaluation around the world. By participating
mission of the
It means the USAF complements the in exercises like ‘Global Thunder’, we
USAF Weapons
world’s biggest tanker force with some School course. prove to our adversaries that if we’re
of the best expertise in this surprisingly Jamie Hunter called upon, we can respond anytime,
diverse mission. anywhere.’
NEXT MONTH
PART 2 – SPECIAL MISSION C-135S
A fabulous shot of a 100th ARW
KC-135R supporting ‘Heritage’
48th FW F-15C/Es for a flypast over
Kielce, Poland.
USAF/TSgt Matthew Plew
13/12/2019 10:25
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 Ovda air base in Israel’s
Negev Desert hosted Exercise
‘Blue Flag’ in November, which
attracted five nations and
some 70 aircraft including
F-35s for the first time.

REPORT Giovanni Colla

46 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

46-49 Blue Flag C.indd 46 12/12/2019 13:53

 T
HE FOURTH BIANNUAL ‘Blue
Flag’ was held between
November 3-14, 2019, at
Ovda air base in the southern
Negev region near the
Jordanian border. It attracted
the usual cocktail of exotic fighters
including the local Israeli aircraft such as
F-15s, F-16Is, and F-35s.
The US Air Force arrived with a dozen
480th Fighter Squadron F-16CMs from
Spangdahlem; Hellenic Air Force F-16C
Block 52+ jets came from from 335 Mira,
six German Eurofighters from Taktische
Luftwaffengeschwader 71 ‘Richthofen’,
and six Italian F-35As from the 13° Gruppo,
joined by six Eurofighter F-2000As from
the 9°, 10°, 12°, and 18° Gruppos and a
G550 conformal airborne early warning
and control system (CAEW).
The presence of Israeli and Italian Above: ‘Blue is four-and-a-half generation, so we ‘Blue Flag’ scenario
F-35s was a significant step up for ‘Blue Flag’ provides an are learning from the fifth-generation The story guiding the exercise scenario
opportunity for
Flag’ and, according to Lt Col Panagiotis fighters and aircrews [about] what they was based on two fictional neighboring
pilots to operate
Katsikaris, the commander of 335 Mira. in a range of can do and how we can work together countries, one being the ‘Blue’ force and
One of the main challenges is how to environments — that is where you get the best the other being the ‘Red’. The missions
together.
bring the various fighters together: outcome, when you work together as a included large package-type combined
Amit Agronov
‘That is what we are practising. Our jet combined force.’ air operations (COMAOs) of fighters,

A rather battered-looking F-15A Baz (681) of 133 ‘Knights

of the Twin Tail’ Squadron. Giovanni Colla

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 47

46-49 Blue Flag C.indd 47 12/12/2019 13:54

 EXERCISE REPORT // ‘BLUE FLAG’
remotely piloted air systems (RPAS),
transport aircraft, and helicopters. This
kicked off on November 5-7, with the
‘Blue’ team flying defensive counter-air
(DCA) protecting Israeli territory. Lt Col
‘M’ (name withheld for security
reasons) is commander of 133 ‘Knights
of the Twin Tail’ Squadron, who
explained how this type of mission is
not part of routine NATO operations in
Europe: ‘We teach the international
forces how to protect the country’s
skies, just like we see it in our
operational day-to-day activity
in Israel.’
48 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
46-49 Blue Flag C.indd 48
The exercise was designed to highlight 115 ‘Flying Dragon’ Squadron, with Main image:
the value of a coalition in tackling a Yahalom (Patriot) batteries acting as The ‘Blue Flag’
fighter team
common enemy capable of projecting advanced surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). forms up for
itself onto the world stage. During Katsikaris told Combat Aircraft, ‘The a formation
the second phase, the ‘Blue’ team ‘Reds’ started out easy during the first photo over the
southern part
attacked targets in enemy territory, few flights, but we noticed their tactics of the Dead
running a number of SFEs — small changing as the days went by. They Sea near the
force employment missions. Lt Col operated differently each day, and we Jordanian
border. IDF
‘M’ commented, ‘The F-35 brings a had to act accordingly.’ Indeed, some of
Right: The F-16Is
significant advantage to the theater, the missions saw Israeli F-35s, AH-64s
of the Israeli
which allows the other aircraft to carry and Black Hawks acting as aggressors. Air Force are
on with their missions while handling Throughout the event, flight specialists in
precision deep
oncoming threats.’ operations from other Israeli bases
strike and air
Playing the part of the bad guys were were halted, with civilian traffic in interdiction.
the Israeli Air Force’s aggressors from the area redirected during certain Amit Agronov
12/12/2019 13:54
 periods. Exercise co-ordinator Lt Col Tal
Herman said that for the entire period
Above left to of the exercise, crews are guaranteed
right: This
shot illustrates F-35 AT to be able to fly supersonic, low-level,
and they can use chaff and flares —

‘BLUE FLAG’
the various
participants, from representing a useful mix not always
USAF F-16CMs afforded in such events.
and Italian and This marked the first time the F-35I
Israeli F-35s, to
Meanwhile, as ‘Blue Flag’ was
Adir participated in ‘Blue Flag’. Lt
the F-15A Baz. Col ‘T’, who commands 140 ‘Golden unfolding, Israel Defense Forces chief
Amit Agronov Eagle’ Squadron at Nevatim, said, of staff Aviv Kochavi warned of threats
‘So far our training and co-operation to the country. About a week into
An F-35I Adir gets
airborne from using the ‘Adir’ has been within the the event, an Israeli air strike killed a
Ovda during ‘Blue [Israeli Air] Force.’ The F-35s flew with
commander of the Palestinian Islamic
Flag’. radar/reflecting Luneburg lenses, but
Amit Agronov according to Lt Col Herman: ‘Certain Jihad group in Gaza. The strike was
profiles of missions and rules of countered by 48 hours of fighting and
A resident engagement involved the F-35 being volleys of rockets being fired into Israel,
F-16C Barak immune to certain ground-to-air
aggressor from
most of which were intercepted by its
threats.’ This probably reflected how a
115 ‘Flying Dragon’ ‘Iron Dome’ air defense system.
‘cloaked’ F-35 would be able to work
Squadron. The exercise continued to its
Amit Agronov around such threat systems. Lt Col ‘T’
also commented on working with the conclusion despite the distractions
The F-15 Baz Italian Lightnings: ‘Our ability to sit and was heralded as being of great
remains Israel’s together, brief, debrief and exchange political importance between Israel
primary air information allowed us to take a step
defender. Talk of
and the visiting forces. The Ovda base
forward in our work, and see how
further Eagles has each side does things differently commander summed up by saying,
yet to proceed to while optimizing use of the aircraft’s ‘The co-operation with Israel sets the
a contract with
capabilities.’ ground for many wonderful future
Boeing.
Amit Agronov opportunities.’

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 49

46-49 Blue Flag C.indd 49 12/12/2019 13:54

 VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’ flies the F-5 Tiger II in the adversary role
at NAS Fallon, Nevada. The squadron and its highly experienced
personnel provide an agile and scalable service in support of
fleet aircrews that looks set to remain viable for many
years to come.
REPORT AND PHOTOS Jamie Hunter and Richard Collens
I
T’S 07.30HRS AND as the sun
crests the hills to the east of NAS
Fallon, Nevada, a whooshing
noise followed by the whine of
J85 engines spooling up signifies
the start of another busy day
for VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’. Actually,
the contactor maintenance team and
pilots have been here since well before
sunrise — fine-tuning the schedule and
ensuring sufficient F-5s are on the line to
meet the day’s flying requirements.
In no time at all, two small fighters with
canopies cranked open scuttle out of their
sun shelters and out towards the runway
to swiftly get airborne. Within minutes, this
section of Tiger IIs will be down among the
desolate desert canyons, giving a US Navy
fleet Super Hornet pilot a real headache.
The skilled F-5 pilots know what the young
squadron aircrews need to take away from
their time at Fallon — they’re providing a
service; a lesson in a fighter pilot’s life that
may just save his or her skin one day.
Sitting in his office wearing his
customary fur-collared, brown leather
pilot jacket, VFC-13 skipper CDR Andrew
‘Schlips’ Craig explains the theory behind
having professional adversaries in training
and he cites the Ault Report and Red
Baron II studies. These both highlighted
shortcomings in US Navy training, and
The immaculate gloss black F-5N that is the
mount of the ‘Fighting Saints’ commanding
officer.
50 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
50-59 VFC-13 C.indd 50
ultimately triggered the establishment
of TOPGUN, while also recognizing
the need for realistic dissimilar air
combat training (DACT). CDR Craig says:
‘Studies show if a young fleet aviator
can live through their first 10 combat
missions, they’ll have a pretty successful
deployment. For Air Wing Fallon — when
an entire carrier air wing [CVW] assembles
and trains here — we try to simulate
those first 10 combat missions. At VFC-13
we aim to provide the most realistic
adversary possible and hope to ruin the
day of a fleet aviator that may have made
a misstep. This way they can learn in
training and not have to learn by giving
their life.’
‘Our squadron is all about tactical
support to the fleet,’ says LCDR Matt ‘Abe’
Gottschalk, one of the 30 or so pilots at
VFC-13. ‘We are here to support fleet
squadrons through their Strike Fighter
Advanced Readiness Program [SFARP]
as well as during Air Wing Fallon, plus
NAWDC [Naval Aviation Warfighting
Development Center] including
TOPGUN.’ VFC-13 meets an
incredibly diverse range
of tasks, typically
at Fallon, but
occasionally
away from
13/12/2019 15:44
 www.Key.Aero // February 2020 51

50-59 VFC-13 C.indd 51 13/12/2019 15:45

 SQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFC-13 ‘FIGHTING SAINTS’
home too. The squadron also gets tapped
to support the resident Growler Tactics
Instructor (GTI) HAVOC course and even
provides ‘bad guy’ training for the SH-60
SEAWOLF school.
‘We also provide over-the-hill support
to the fleet squadrons at Lemoore
[California], which fly up to the Fallon
ranges and we either lead or plus-up their
in-house ‘Red Air’,’ says Gottschalk. ‘They
have the fuel to transit here, fight, and
transit back, without landing away from
their home field. If we aren’t supporting
pre-deployment air wings, fleet support is
our primary job.’
Fallon’s bandits
VFC-13’s bread-and-butter is about
playing the part of the bad guys, the
adversaries, bandits or ‘Red Air’ — it has
a number of popular monikers. With a
fleet of fabulously painted former Swiss
Air Force F-5Ns and a single two-seat
52 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
50-59 VFC-13 C.indd 52
gloss black F-5F, the ‘Fighting Saints’ offer Below: The simulated ship or other high-value asset,
VFC-13 F-5Ns
an expert but affordable way to prepare wear a variety then there will usually be a lot of merges
fleet squadrons for what they can expect of schemes [close-range ‘dogfights’]. If we have
in contested airspace. The US Navy and including this ‘pushed’ close to the defended assets
three-tone gray
Marine Corps currently operate three and blue finish. to try and strike the target, the fighters
reserve command squadrons of ex-Swiss An overall silver will be forced to push forward and ‘kill’
F-5N Tiger IIs, plus three F-5F ‘Franken- scheme is also everybody — so you could have as many
planned in 2020.
Tiger’ two-seaters, which mated existing as eight simultaneous merges.’
F-5F front fuselages with ex-Swiss rear Above left to right: The experienced F-5 pilots use a lot of
fuselages. The Tiger II is ideal for the role; The first four-ship clever tactics to ensure the fleet pilots
of the day eases
cheap to operate, simple to maintain with out from the sun learn to be prepared for the unexpected.
no complex systems. shelters at Fallon ‘We do a lot of low-level terrain masking
LCDR Traver ‘Jody’ Fordham says: ‘We to make it hard for the fighters to pick
The puff of smoke
are always needed and my job as the signals engine us up,’ explains Fordham. ‘Whereas the
squadron operations officer [OpsO] is to start for a ‘Saints’ US Air force aggressors are more about
F-5 on a cold
keep us gainfully employed.’ Describing threat replication, we are more dedicated
October morning
how missions can vary, Fordham says: at Fallon. to the full range of tactics; it’s less about
‘If we are flying in support of an OCA replication and more about testing
Right: With a
[offensive counter-air] sweep, they can relatively short specific objectives.’
be very benign and ‘Red Air’ will typically endurance, the
get ‘killed’ at range. If we are flying against close proximity of
the Fallon range
A ‘Saint’ life
a DCA [defensive counter-air] event — complex is very ‘On a day-to-day basis we have around
where the ‘Blue’ forces are defending a handy for VFC-13. 10-12 active-duty and full-time support
13/12/2019 15:45
 In the
simulator
you’re not actually
testing the ability for
the radar to send a
pulse out, hit a piece
of metal, and bounce
back
CDR Andrew ‘Schlips’ Craig

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 SQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFC-13 ‘FIGHTING SAINTS’
[FTS] pilots here, plus part-time reservists,’
explains LCDR Gottschalk. Many of the
reserve pilots split their time between
airline flying and time at Fallon on the F-5
and they tend to be very experienced,
many being TOPGUN graduates.
The attraction of a slot at VFC-13 means
that there isn’t a huge level of turnover in
the pilot cadre. However, the trickle of new
pilots means the three F-5 units — VFC-
13, VFC-111 ‘Sundowners’ and VMFAT-401
‘Snipers’ — rely on the three ‘Franken-
Tigers’. With the F-5 simulators being little
more than procedural trainers, this is all
about the live flying. ‘You solo after your
fourth flight,’ says LT Brad ‘Stuffer’ Holeski.
‘It’s a lengthy syllabus to get to be a Level
4 Adversary, but that means you can lead
the large ‘Red Air’ formations.’
TOPGUN runs an adversary course
twice per year, which is focused purely on
bandit tactics, with the graduate able to
wear a ‘red’ TOPGUN patch that features
an adversary ‘rocker’ underneath it.
Typically, there’s at least one (and usually
two) F-5 pilots enrolled in each course
and two F-5Ns allocated to support
TOPGUN’s schedule.
‘Since the combat systems on the F-5N
aren’t numerous or complicated, pilots
of the Tiger II focus on the within-visual-
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50-59 VFC-13 C.indd 54
range [WVR] dogfight,’ Gottschalk explains.
‘This is a highly perishable skill that is
practiced by ‘Saints’ pilots on an almost
daily basis. In fact, I’d say that there’s no
other unit that does as much BFM [basic
fighter maneuvers] as we do on a regular
basis. Many of the guys in the squadron
have over 15 years’ experience on the
Hornet and F-5.’
CDR Craig adds: ‘Our blend of active-
duty, full-time and part-time selective
reservists [selres] is a very efficient model.
When the air wing is here we train hard
for a month, and when they leave we can
throttle back and the part-time guys can
go back to their other jobs. Our regulation
manual says that all navy pilots need to
accrue 100 hours of flight time per year.
When you’re only flying 40 minutes at
a time in the F-5, that’s a lot of days —
almost 50 per cent of their work time.’ It
means ‘Fighting Saints’ pilots are never far
away from the F-5 cockpit.
Tiger tamers
LCDR Gottschalk describes the standard
‘step’ to the jet. ‘We wear a g-suit, helmet,
mask and parachute. No harness, no
combat vest, everything else we need is
in the seat pan. We do a quick walk-round
then hop in.
‘The maintainers do such a great job,
some of them have been working on
these jets for 30 years, and it’s a very
reliable little jet. Flying the F-5 is unlike any
other job in naval aviation. They don’t have
a head-up display [HUD] — it’s just a basic
gunsight with a rudimentary ‘pipper’ —
there’s no instrument landing system (ILS),
no VHF radio, no autopilot. The single,
small multi-function display gives the pilot
only an outline of working area — green
on black — the waypoints for the mission
are merely a green dot, this is not the
domain of the moving map!’
The F-5s are maintained by PAE, which
won a contract in 2016 to provide
maintenance and logistics support
services for 44 F-5s with the squadrons
at Fallon, Key West in Florida and Yuma,
Arizona. ‘It literally takes two minutes
to start up, but we have one limitation,’
Gottschalk continues. ‘We need an air
start cart. Once the air comes on we get
the battery on, start both engines, get a
quick alignment for the INS/GPS [inertial
navigation system/Global Positioning
System], throw the controls around to
make sure the hydraulics are working and Above: VFC-13
you’re done. They might be old but they F-5Ns engage in
a little in-house
are simple, built well and with no complex within-visual-
systems. Then you’re done. Ready to taxi. range training.
13/12/2019 15:46
 AIR WING ‘The air conditioning is great once we
have power on the jet, but we taxi with
generation fighters, such as the MiG-21,
but they work closely with ground

FALLON
canopy open. On the runway we hike the controllers to be able to simulate pretty
nose up. There’s a little switch that gives much anything that’s out there by using
us an extra six-to-seven degrees and analysis of weapons engagement zones
NAWDC’s Strike department leads Above: LCDR that difference is significant. The extra across a range of capabilities.
Air Wing Fallon with support from Traver ‘Jody’
Fordham, one of angle-of-attack means our take-off roll is Most nations will attempt to use their
VFC-13 on the adversary side — but
the ‘Saints’ lead the ‘Red Air’ side of the the experienced dramatically reduced. It’s still a significant ‘home field’ advantage to sneak up on
F-5 pilots at take-off roll, and at 4,000ft above sea their prey. That’s exactly what VFC-13
deployments to Fallon for the Strike
VFC-13.
Fighter Advanced Readiness Program level on a hot day at Fallon, we always use pilots do. LT Holeski says: ‘Fallon is great
(SFARP). ‘The East and West Coast Below: This is one afterburner.’ for terrain, we use our local knowledge to
Weapons Schools run a specific SFARP of three so-called our advantage — we fly a lot of low level.
syllabus,’ explains LT Brad ‘Stuffer’ ‘Franken-Tiger’
Holeski. ‘Their job is to train and F-5Fs, which Fighting ‘Saints’ We don’t fly with night-vision goggles,
evaluate the squadrons, as well as co- mated ex-Swiss The F-5Ns provide the navy and marine but we still fly in the low-altitude blocks
ordinate with us for the ‘Red Air’. VFC- rear fuselages corps with an ideal, low-cost, easy to at night, we know the terrain tops and
13 specifically runs the bandit side of with existing
two-seat front maintain adversary platform. They we stay 1,000ft above those hard deck
things, so they come to us to discuss
sections. are suited to replicating older third- altitudes.’
new tactics and evaluation elements
that need to be tested. VFC-13 acts
as the overall ‘Red Air’ flight lead and
debriefing agency — we handle all
the threat presentations. It means we
co-ordinate the specific mission and
then develop those presentations, the
tactics and the training, essentially
working around the desired learning
objectives. The Weapons School guys
lean on us so they can focus on the
evaluation side. SFARP actually starts
relatively benign, but as the two-to-
three weeks progress things become
far more advanced in terms of the
opposition that they will face.’
That opposition is likely to be up to
a dozen bandits on the final SFARP
mission and possibly up to 20 on the
Air Wing Fallon side. For the larger
events, the squadron calls on its
sister units from the Navy Reserve
adversary community — specifically
VFC-12 ‘Fighting Omars’ from NAS
Oceana in Virginia and VFA-204 ‘River
Rattlers’ from NAS JRB New Orleans,
Louisiana.

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 SQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFC-13 ‘FIGHTING SAINTS’

56 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

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 If we have ‘pushed’ close to the
defended assets to try and strike
the target, the fighters will be forced to push
forward and ‘kill’ everybody — so you could
have as many as eight simultaneous merges
LCDR Traver ‘Jody’ Fordham

‘Usually, their objective is to not get cuts because we have limited radar and the right piece of sky when you get close,’
caught up with us,’ says Gottschalk as talk sensor capability in the F-5. It’s about explains Holeski.
turns to close-in fighting. ‘The desired listening to them and building a picture The visiting fleet squadrons do most of
learning objectives of the flight can often in your head. Some of the pilots here their simulator training back at home base;
be met just by getting the geometry are more proficient with the radar, some coming to Fallon is all about the live flying.
right, but there are some scenarios where prefer to look outside — but it’s mainly Holeski says the simulator is great for
we get to the merge — sometimes we used as a cueing source to get your eyes in being able to ‘fire’ missiles and it enables
actively plan to end up dogfighting.
Merging with us tends to be frowned
upon. Getting into that close-in fight costs
precious fuel, and the fleet crews are likely
have other things they need to achieve
rather than dogfighting with us. It’s more
about the presentation they get from us Main image: LCDR
that they need to manage.’ Matt Gottschalk
The NAWDC building houses a Tactical in one of VFC-13’s
immaculate F-5Ns
Combat Training System (TCTS) room, above the ranges
which features a ‘God’s eye view’ of the near Fallon.
range airspace. Each of the participating
Right: The VFC-13
aircraft carries a P5 TCTS datalink pod pilots wear little
to track its position for the ground in the way of
controllers. ‘The TCTS controller gives equipment and
are able to rapidly
us SA [situational awareness] via BRA prepare the jet
[bearing, range, and azimuth] and bullseye and taxi out.

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 SQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFC-13 ‘FIGHTING SAINTS’
some of the training safety rules to be
relaxed. However, most at Fallon agree
that nothing beats live flying. It’s about
striking a good balance for an effective
combination of both.
The F-5s are perfect for their mission
at Fallon, but Gottschalk says: ‘There
are situations I wouldn’t want to be in
with the F-5, such as flying in congested
airspace and really bad weather. Plus,
with limited systems redundancy our
emergency procedures training is really
important. Overall, the jets are low cost,
we have great maintenance and we’re
really familiar with the airspace and the
procedures.’
The navy has received approval to
upgrade the F-5s with new Martin-Baker
US16T ejection seats, and Gottschalk says:
‘If you asked all the guys in the ready room
what they’d like, you’d struggle to get two
to answer the same way. Some want a
HUD, some an autopilot. However, a new
seat was top of everyone’s list.’ Retrofits are
now under way at VFC-13.
Enduring ‘Saints’
The intense periods of activity at Fallon
typically see contractor adversaries
brought in when increased numbers are
required. Mass of ‘Red Air’ is becoming
increasingly important to challenge
modern fighters, as is the need for
an improved threat representation
from the F-5s.
Tactical Air Support Inc (TacAir) of Reno,
Nevada, acquired a fleet of 21 F-5E/Fs from
the Royal Jordanian Air Force in 2017 and
immediately began developing a bespoke
upgrade for the aircraft at its maintenance
and logistics facility in St Augustine,
Florida. The company was rewarded
when in late 2018 it was awarded a
five-year $107-million contract from
58 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
50-59 VFC-13 C.indd 58
the navy to provide adversary services
in addition to training for air and ship
crews to counter electronic threats. The
award was challenged by the incumbent
Airborne Tactical Advantage Company
(ATAC), which had proposed a fleet of
ex-Jordanian F-16s for the contract. The
challenge was denied and the contract
went forward, with the Government
Accountability Office noting that the
advantages of the F-16 were outweighed
by the affordability of the F-5.
Once planned to ‘sundown’ in 2015,
the VFC-13 F-5s now look set to be
around past 2030. The US Department of
Defense’s $718-billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2020
budget includes $39.7 million to acquire
a further 22 F-5E/Fs from Switzerland, to
supplement and in some cases replace the
aircraft currently in service.
The arrival of TacAir on the scene at
Fallon has created an ideal situation to
take F-5 training to a whole new level.
The ‘Saints’ F-5s, along with their sister
squadrons, have already been using some
clever means to improve their offering.
RedNet is a tablet-based app that helps
the F-5 pilots provide improved threat
presentations, giving them effectively
the same view of the battlespace as the For the F-5s, a host of improvements to
GCI controllers and ability to see ‘players’ retain that credibility are in the works. CDR
carrying a TCTS pod, displaying the Craig says: ‘We are planning a significant
bearing, range, and azimuth information number of upgrades. Our mandate is to
for each of them. bring the F-5 into the 21st century, to be
The advent of the F-35 at Fallon is also better able to support the F-35.’
driving more live, virtual and constructive Dubbed the F-5AT (Advanced Tiger),
training, but with the caveat that doing TacAir’s upgraded prototype completed
more training in the virtual environment initial FAA airworthiness certification
doesn’t actually stress the systems. CDR in April 2018 fitted with a new Garmin
Craig says: ‘In the simulator you’re not G3000 large-area cockpit display and
actually testing the ability for the radar to communication, navigation, surveillance,
send a pulse out, hit a piece of metal, and and air traffic management (CNS/
bounce back. So, we are figuring out how ATM) capability, including automatic
each training piece fits together.’ dependent surveillance — broadcast
(ADS–B) and a terrain awareness and
warning system (TAWS), plus hand-on-
throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls.
Additionally, TacAir partnered with
Duotech Services to retrofit an Argus
radar warning receiver (RWR) as well
as its low-cost Nemesis Mechanically
Scanned Array (MESA) radar into the
upgraded F-5AT. This system employs
modern techniques with an ability to
add new modes to meet emerging
training requirements. According to
DuoTech, it also offers threat replication
Left: With engines via unclassified and classified means,
running, an allowing the aircraft to fly ‘realistic
engineer from the adversary intercept profiles, offering
contractor PAE
prepares to ‘see mission-critical situational awareness
off’ an F-5N. and assessment capabilities’. The F-5AT
13/12/2019 15:46
 pilot can also wear the Thales Visionix
Scorpion helmet with the new HObIT
(Hybrid Optical-based Inertial Tracker)
to provide cueing for captive air-to-air
training missiles.
TacAir’s contract supporting training
within NAWDC means the F-5AT requires
airworthiness certification from Naval Air
Systems Command (NAVAIR). This process
has led to PMA-226 (the program office
that oversees the F-5) deciding to leverage
the benefits of the TacAir F-5AT upgrade
Right top for its own fleet of F-5s. This means that
to bottom:
NAVAIR plans during 2020, US Navy-operated F-5N/
to dramatically Fs will not only start receiving new
overhaul the F-5 ejection seats; in addition, two prototype
fleet over the
next few years to conversions will commence that will
better enable it to bring the aircraft up to a broadly similar
replicate high-end configuration as the TacAir F-5AT.
threats.
LCDR Fordham says: ‘We’ll have
The F-5 fleet borderline fifth-gen level situational
will receive new awareness. TacAir’s and our aircraft will
ejection seats in
2020, part of the not be identical; their ex-Jordanian
overall initiative jets don’t have advanced handling Looking further ahead, CDR Craig says: Contractor aggressors clearly have a
to improve these characteristics that ours do.’ The Swiss ‘There’s talk of us getting new aircraft, but part to play in the overall picture. The
nimble and cost-
effective training jets feature wing leading-edge root our F-5s are extremely cheap compared likes of TacAir offer a fixed cost and
aircraft. extensions (LERX) and a flat ‘shark to a high-block F-16. In the adversary a scalable solution in as much as the
nose’ that makes the F-5N less prone community, the money has simply not company can relocate assets to where
Above: With
canopies cranked to departing from controlled flight. been there in recent years to [procure] the flying support is needed most. Craig
open in typical The navy is also looking at potentially new airframes. It’s hard to justify a new says: ‘The adversary side is going to be
fashion, two giving the VFC-13 jets an infrared search adversary platform to train with when you one big team, to make sure we offer
F-5Ns return
after a short but and track (IRST) system instead of the compare the cost of that with buying a what’s right for the guys preparing for
intense mission. Nemesis radar. frontline fighter for the fleet.’ combat.’

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 59

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 BIG SHOT // DUTCH F-16

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60-61 Big Shot C.indd 60 12/12/2019 13:55

 This stunning image was shot by Rich Cooper on a Nikon D5 over Arizona in November.
It’s an F-16AM of the 148th Fighter Squadron ‘Kickin’ Ass’, flown by Lt Col Joost ‘Niki’
Luijsterburg — an experienced fighter pilot with approximately 4,000 flying hours in F-16s
— as he punches out infrared decoy flares against a spectacular sunset. Rich Cooper

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 61

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 As the Aéronautique Navale marks the centenary of Flottille 11F, it is
striding ahead with the latest standard of Dassault Rafale — the F3-R
variant, which has now achieved initial operational capability, and is seen
as a ‘game-changer’ for France’s carrier air power.

REPORT Frédéric Lert PHOTOS Anthony Pecchi

A pair of Rafale F3-Rs

on a local mission from
Landivisiau against a
stunning cloudscape.

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 O
NE OF THE Aéronautique
Navale’s (French Naval
Aviation’s) most famous
squadrons, Flottille 11F, not
only marked its centenary
last year, but is also steaming
ahead thanks to the commissioning
of the Rafale F3-R, the latest variant
of the naval Dassault fighter. Contrary
to what the designation may suggest,
this is far more than simply a software
evolution — it’s a genuine step-change
with new operational capabilities and a
revised cockpit.
The Direction générale de l’armement
(DGA, defense procurement agency) said
in the media release issued to herald the
military qualification of this variant on
October 31, 2018, ‘The Rafale F3-R has
new capabilities that can change the
game in the field of combat aviation’. It
means the Rafale is able to wield the ‘big
stick’ of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-
range air-to-air missile combined with
the RBE2 active electronically scanned
array radar. The French Navy says Meteor
will allow the engagement of targets up
to 62 miles (100km) away with a high
probability of kill against maneuvering
targets. It puts the Rafale into a field of
‘game-changing’ air combat prowess.
The F3-R adds the Thales Talios new-
generation laser designation pod (LDP).
Talios, with its day/night and poor-
weather attributes, opens the door to
the laser-homing version of the Safran
62-67 French Rafale C.indd 63
AASM (Armement Air-Sol Modulaire,
Air-to-Ground Modular Weapon). The
Rafale F3-R also carries the new Safran
Aerosystems NARANG buddy-buddy
refueling pod, and adds RBE2 radar
enhancements, the Spectra electronic
warfare system, the Reco NG pod and a
new inertial navigation system.
Another notable development includes
the AGCAS (automatic ground collision
avoidance system). ‘In case of spatial
disorientation we already had a sort of
‘panic button’ on our aircraft,’ explained
an 11F pilot. If a pilot felt disoriented,
they could push the button located on
top of the instrument panel, and the
Rafale would automatically level its wings
and recover. With AGCAS, provided the
aircraft has the digital ‘map’ of the terrain
it’s flying over, the Rafale can now take
direct initiative for such a maneuver.
Navy Rafale on the front line
It seems remarkable that the Rafale first
entered French Navy service nearly 20
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 63
13/12/2019 15:40
 FORCE REPORT // MARINE NATIONALE RAFALE

years ago. The initial aircraft were received

from December 2000 and on May 18,
2001, Flottille 12F was re-formed with
the new fighters. The Rafale M replaced
the Vought F-8E(FN) and the passage Above: Transition
from the Crusader to the new Dassault to the F3-R
involves a
fighter was a true revolution, although considerable
the initial standard offered little in amount of training
the way of operational capability. The for the pilots with
some significant
subsequent F1 Rafale added the MBDA cockpit changes.
MICA (Missile d’interception, de combat
et d’autodéfense) air-to-air missile, while Left top to bottom:
A Rafale M pilot
F2 afforded a baseline air-to-ground prepares to climb
capability. The navy had to wait until into the cockpit
2009 for the entry into service of the for a training
mission.
Rafale F3, which heralded the era of
‘omni-role’ and a full range of missions The MICA was
including nuclear strike with the ASMP-A added under the
F1 upgrades, and
missile, reconnaissance with the Reco the Meteor is now
NG, and anti-ship with the Exocet. When in the F3-R Rafale
the navy received its first Rafale F3 in arsenal. This shot
shows armorers
July 2009, 11F was still flying the Super loading a MICA IR
Étendard Modernisé (SEM), but it began (infrared) missile.

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Recently,
three young
students transitioned
to the fighter via
a comprehensive
simulator course and
made their first solo
flights in single-seat
Rafales
the transition in the final days of 2010. By
September 19, 2011, it became the second
fully equipped Rafale M unit.
Since then the squadron has earned an
impressive reputation during operations
from the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
(R 91) — on ‘Chammal’ in 2015 (two
deployments) and in 2016, which saw
the carrier group being used to reinforce
Armée de l’Air aircraft deployed in Jordan
as part of operations against the so-called
Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. In March
2017, when the Charles de Gaulle entered
18 months of scheduled maintenance,
four Rafale Ms were detached to the Base
Aérienne Projetée (BAP) in Jordan. Pilots
from the three Aéronavale flottilles rotated
in and out of the site to fulfill the task.
F3-R arrival
The F3-R variant of the Rafale is hailed as
the biggest change to date, with the navy
declaring initial operational capability
62-67 French Rafale C.indd 65
FLOTTILLE
de Havilland Sea Venoms). The squadron
participated in the war in Algeria before
being disbanded again in April 1962. It
11F AT 100 re-emerged a year later at the naval base
of Hyères Le Palyvestre, this time with
The famous flottille with a seahorse as
its emblem is heir to the traditions of
Dassault Étendard IVMs. In May 1967,
11F departed from the Mediterranean
fighter squadron AC1, and is considered
the oldest of the French naval fighter
coast and headed north to Landivisiau in
Brittany, where it remains to this day.
units. It charts a history that began with
the Hanriot HD2 floatplane to today’s
Equipped with the Super Étendard
from September 1978, the squadron
Rafale, the only commonality between became renowned for its anti-ship AM39
the two being a single-seat cockpit. Exocet missiles and its role with the
AC1 was created in 1919, but it wasn’t AN52 tactical nuclear bomb. Subsequent
until June 20, 1953 that 11F assumed
the personnel, equipment, missions, and
battle honors include 1983’s Operation
‘Olifant’ in Lebanon, ‘Balbuzard’ in the
traditions of what had become 1F. The
unit was immediately sent to Indochina,
Adriatic and the UN missions in the
former Yugoslavia from 1993-95. By now
A Super
Étendard
Modernisé
notably being involved in fighting on
the entrenched camp at Dien Bien Phu.
flying the Super Étendard Modernisé
(SEM), 11F participated in Operation
shares the deck After a first disbandment in January ‘Allied Force’ in 1999. From February-
of the Charles 1955, it was re-formed in April of the May 2007, it deployed to Kandahar,
de Gaulle with a same year, receiving its first jets in the Afghanistan, with its ultimate Standard
Rafale M. form of SNCASE Aquilons (license-built 5 SEM.
A Rafale M bangs down on the
runway during land-based carrier
landing practice.
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13/12/2019 15:41
 FORCE REPORT // MARINE NATIONALE RAFALE

A quartet of 11F Rafale Ms off the

coast of Brittany showing their
special markings for the unit’s
centenary.

This image: A
pair of Rafale
Ms flies over
the port town
of Roscoff,
situated to
the north of
Landivisiau.

Left: The
Rafale M’s
twin SNECMA
M88-2 engines
in full reheat
accelerate
the jet down
the runway at
Landivisiau.

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 in late November 2019, followed by
the Armée de l’Air (French Air Force) on
December 9. The commanding officer
of 11F told Combat Aircraft: ‘The Rafale
F3-R is very different in its man-machine
interface compared with the current
F3.4+ and that prohibits us to swap
aircraft between flottilles, as we could do
up to now,’ he explained. ‘We are in the
same situation that we had before, with
part of the fleet in SEMs and the other
in Rafales. From a logistics perspective,
practically nothing changes from one
Rafale standard to another. For 11F, the
difficulty now is to match pilot training
and requalification with the arrival of
retrofitted aircraft.’
Changes in so-called software
ergonomics and the way information is
displayed in the cockpit directly impacts
the pilot. ‘A pilot qualified on the F3.4+
[Rafale] will not find it easy in the F3-R
standard,’ added the commander. ‘You
cannot jump into an F3-R without
training; therefore it is essential to
requalify before flying a tactical mission.’
This has placed something of a burden
on the current training infrastructure.
The Escadron de Transformation Rafale at
Saint-Dizier, which trains both Aéronavale
and Armée de l’Air aircrews, is already
62-67 French Rafale C.indd 67
saturated with both French and foreign
pilot training. However, synthetics are
able to play an increasing role to address
a lack of two-seat airframes. Recently,
three young students transitioned to the
fighter via a comprehensive simulator
course and made their first solo flights
in single-seat Rafales. ‘It’s a culture and a
way of doing things that we already had
from the Étendard and the Crusader,’ said
the 11F commander.
The Rafale simulator, with its very high
level of fidelity, plays a key role in pilot
training. However, the simulators have
not yet been upgraded to F3-R standard.
Modifications have first flowed into
the aircraft before permeating across
the training aids. It means French Navy
pilots have had to become familiar
with F3-R ‘at the coalface’ on their own
jets, with the help of the CEPA (Centre
d’Expérimentations Pratiques et de
réception de l’Aéronautique navale), the
French naval aviation test center, which
supported development of the aircraft.
Full operational capability for 11F
with its full complement of F3-R Rafales
and qualified pilots is expected for the
summer of 2020, as the squadron moves
through its 101st year at the leading edge
of naval military aviation.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 67
13/12/2019 15:42
 A
S RUSSIAN MILITARY
aviation enjoys a continued
resurgence, its fixed-wing
flight training system is
facing a serious problem. A
lack of aircraft is affecting
the ability to address the backlog of
hundreds of student pilots in the so-
called operative tactical streams who
should be bound for fighter and frontal-
bomber/attack units. The problem
chiefly lies in the airworthiness of aging
Czech-made L-39C training aircraft, as
acknowledged this September by the
Russian defense minister Sergey Shoygu.
He asked why aircraft availability rates
in training units is at such a low ebb and
68 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
68-73 Russian flight training C.indd 68
insisted that urgent measures would be
taken to address the situation.
Russian daily newspaper Izvestia
forecasted that the issue of the L-39C’s
airworthiness is so serious that it would
halt the start of initial training for the next
course of student pilots in March 2020,
despite the efforts made after Shoygu’s
proclamation.
The first major acceleration in recent
years relating to student pilots undergoing
their initial fixed-wing training began
in 2016. No fewer than 350 students
completed initial training that year,
compared with between 30 and 60 in the
previous years, as poor planning in the
early 2010s sharply reduced the number
Aging Czech-made L-39C jet trainers
still play an important role in the Russian
military flight training system. However,
the L-39C is becoming increasingly
difficult to support. Andrey Zinchuk
of new recruits. The number of trainees The Yak-130 was
developed as a
going through the basic flying training replacement for
pipeline in 2017 was 370, while in 2018 the L-39C, but it
the figure increased to 530. In 2019 that has failed to live
up to expectation
spiked again to 660, and more than 80 per in the early
cent of them must learn their trade in the phases of tuition.
troubled L-39C. As of January
2018, 91 examples
remained in active
L-39 in high demand service with the
The Aero Vodochody L-39C Albatros VKS, including
14 examples
is still the primary aircraft used for delivered in 2018
initial pilot training in Russia, operated to complete the
mainly by the Krasnodar Military Higher latest delivery
contract for 30
Aviation Pilot School, named after aircraft placed in
hero of the Soviet Union A. K. Serov April 2016.
(colloquially known by its Russian Andrey Zinchuk
abbreviation KVVAUL, Krasnodarskoe
Vyshee Voennoe Aviatsionnoe Uchilishte
Lyotchikov).
There are around 150 L-39Cs in
service, with a significant number of
these undergoing overhauls (or waiting
to be cycled through the program)
resulting in fewer than 100 examples
being routinely available to supply four
training bases — each equipped with
two squadrons. The fleet, inherited from
the Soviet era, is currently suffering from
serious problems relating to maintenance,
repair and overhaul, which is handled by
Russian industry without inclusion of the
original manufacturer Aero Vodochody.
Local component repair and production
facilities address frequently used spares
16/12/2019 14:14
 Russia’s military flight training system is currently running at
surge capacity while suffering from the shortage of aircraft to
cope with the sharply increased demand for new pilots.

REPORT Alexander Mladenov

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 FORCE REPORT // RUSSIAN FLIGHT TRAINING
and consumables, with design support late 1980s, spinning in the L-39C has
provided by the aerospace company been prohibited due to controllability
Myasishchev, a subsidiary of the Ilyushin issues that caused accidents. In addition,
Aviation Complex. Airframe and system the reliability of the VS1-BRI ejection
overhauls to extend service life by 1,500 seats is questionable and the aircraft
flight hours and 14 years are undertaken also features an antiquated analogue
at the aviation repair plant 275 ARZ in cockpit that is ill-suited to training for
This iamge:
Krasnodar, while the AI-25TL engine is modern aircraft. The Yak-152
overhauled at the 570 ARZ plant in Yeisk. is promoted
According to Izvestia, some 30 per cent Replacing the L-39C as the new
primary trainer
of the overhauled L-39Cs have been re- The L-39C has proved difficult to replace. for the VKS,
delivered behind schedule. The intended successor in both the basic and it was set
to replace the
It is expected that the Russian air arm and advance fast-jet pilot training phases
aging L-39C
will continue flying the L-39C in the — the Yak-130 — has proved rather in this role.
training role — via further service life expensive to operate and maintain, not Alexander
Mladenov
extensions — until the mid-2020s or to mention the fact that it’s been deemed
even beyond, due to the lack of a credible unsuitable for use in the initial training Left: The
replacement. role. Moreover, the Yak-130 fleet operated Yak‑152 is
expected to
Known as a tough and forgiving by the KVVAUL is still suffering from low
be launched in
machine, able to withstand a beating availability rates. production at
from inexperienced students — the It’s not just the US military that’s the Irkutsk-
based IAZ plant
most frequent issue being hard landings suffering from a pilot shortfall — the
in the early
— the L-39C’s chief shortcoming is ramp-up in Russia is intended to help the 2020s, but it is
that it is underpowered. It also has Vozdushno-Kosmichekiye Sily (VKS, still undergoing
testing.
several performance and aerobatic Russian Aerospace Forces) address a
Alexander
limitations — for instance, since the shortage of some 700 pilots and Mladenov

Below:
Assigned to the
209th UAB at
Borisglebsk,
this Yak-130
is armed with
B8 rocket pods
for firing S-8
80-mm rockets.
Andrey Zinchuk

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 MULTI-
ENGINE
TRAINING
Only a small proportion of student
pilots destined to fly long-range
bombers and transports are being
trained on multi-engine turboprops
from the beginning of their
instruction. The twin-engine, Czech-
made, Let L-410UVP turboprop
is used for part of the long-range
bomber/military transport course,
which also covers training of
aircrews for flying special-mission,
maritime patrol, and tanker aircraft.
Another element of the multi-
engine course is carried out on the
equally elderly, but much larger and
heavier, An-26. Since 2019, initial
training for the transport/bomber
pipeline has seen the introduction
of the piston-engine Diamond
DA42T built under license in Russia.
68-73 Russian flight training C.indd 71
navigators. As defense minister Shoygu issues, which have now cast doubt on its
revealed in 2017, the shortage at that ability to replace the L-39C.
time accounted for some 1,300 pilots and
navigators (for both fixed-wing aircraft
The Yak-152 made its maiden flight in
September 2016 and was intended to
and helicopters), but it appears that there become part of a new-generation aircrew
The DA42T is a
latest type used is no easy fix. initial training system for the VKS that
by the Russian The VKS also introduced measures to includes a procedural trainer, computer-
military flight attract retired pilots with expertise and based training aids and flight data analysis
training system —
for initial training experience back to the service to fill facilities — but little progress has been
of students for instructor billets. In the KVVAUL, for reported publicly.
multi-engine example, some 30 instructor pilots The Yak-152’s development was ordered
transports. As
rejoined regular service in 2017, in 2014 under a deal roughly valued at
many as 35 have
been ordered, according to KVVAUL deputy commander $10 million at the time, and the contract
assembled locally Col Oleg Buchel’nikov. He acknowledges awarded to the Yakovlev Design Bureau
at the UZGA in
Yekaterinburg. the challenges in getting the training called for the delivery of four aircraft
The last of the system on track, and warns that the — two for static testing and two for
DA42Ts was faithful L-39Cs cannot last much longer as flight tests — to be built at the IAZ plant
slated to enter
service with they are nearing the end of their useful in Irkutsk.
the 205th UAB service lives. The low-wing monoplane with a tandem
at Balashov The new Yak-152, touted as a possible two-seat cockpit arrangement and
until the end of
2019. Alexander successor for initial training, has been retractable landing gear unusually features
Mladenov delayed due to technical and commercial a German-made Raikhlin A03TV12 diesel
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 71
16/12/2019 14:14
 FORCE REPORT // RUSSIAN FLIGHT TRAINING
engine, rated at 500shp (372kW), driving
a three-blade, constant speed, MTV-9-E-C
propeller. In its production configuration,
the Yak-152 is planned to have a high
degree of cockpit commonality with
the Yak-130.
The original VKS requirement called for
150 aircraft to replace the L-39C in the
initial training phase. According to the
then Russian deputy defense minister
responsible for procurement, Yury Borisov,
on successful completion of the test
effort — originally slated for 2018 — an
order from the VKS would be placed, with
deliveries completed in 2020. However,
by October 2019, the Yak-152 was still
undergoing testing and evaluation with
little indication of when it might progress
towards service.
VKS training plan
The VKS currently employs a three-
phase flight training system. Fast jet
and long-range bomber students fly jet
trainers from the very beginning of the
course. The KVVAUL was re-established
in June 2015 as an independent training
and education institution, placed under
direct command and control of the VKS
headquarters in Balashikha near Moscow.
The first big overall ramp-up in pilot
output was reported in 2018 and included
assignments to other branches, such as
Russian Naval Aviation. In 2020, the output
is expected to reach about 500. According
to Col Buchel’nikov, the washout rate over
recent years stands at just 5-6 per cent!
The Russian system is still rather
antiquated compared with many western
models. It still embraces a rigid Soviet-
era approach of simultaneous officer
education and flight training under a
protracted five-year course that includes
a full civilian university education. This
72 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
68-73 Russian flight training C.indd 72
approach and ethos is considered to
be vital by the higher echelons of the
VKS. A major plus to this approach is
that candidates entering the system
are typically aged 17-22 years, with an
upper age limit of 27 — so the military is
getting its recruits early and potentially
able to gain significant return on
investment in terms of career longevity
from the new aircrews.
By their third year in the KVVAUL,
students will be at one of the three
dedicated aviation training centers, with
theoretical and simulator training for
one semester. The Armavir-based 2nd
Aviation Facility hosts the fighter course,
and 4th Aviation Facility in Borisoglebsk
deals with the frontal bomber/attack
course, while the Balashov-based 6th
Aviation Facility provides the long-range
bomber/military transport course.
In addition, the 8th Aviation Facility
at Kushchevskaya near Krasnodar
provides specialized training for foreign
student pilots.
The first flight-training phase for all
students begins in the sixth semester, after
completing the third academic year. This
is an intense four-to-five month course
to provide vital stick and rudder skills. It
continues until the end of the summer,
with the trainees logging about 60 hours
in the L-39C for the fighter/bomber
streams or about 40-60 hours on the L410
and DA42 for multi-engines.
The fighter stream at Armavir flies the
L-39C at the 192nd Guards Training Base
(UAB) at Tikhoretsk and the 272nd UAB at
Maikop, while the frontal bomber/attack
course is trained on the L-39C at the 219th
UAB at Michurinsk. The 195th UAB in
Kushchevskaya undertakes initial training
of foreign students heading to fighters,
and also provides some surge capacity
for the VKS.
Long-range bomber trainees also receive
initial training on the L-39C at the 213th
UAB in Kotel’nikovo. In turn, the 217th UAB
in Rtishtevo undertakes this phase using
the L-410UVP-E3 twin-engine turboprop
for the students included in the military
Inset: The transport aircraft stream, and in 2019 the
Yak‑130 has
205th UAB at Balashov began using the
been criticized
for coming with DA42T for the same purpose.
a hefty price tag
and relatively high
fuel consumption.
Moving ahead
Andrey Zinchuk Students in the fighter and bomber/
attack courses move to a second phase
Below: The
of flying after completion of the fourth
Yak-130 has
superseded both academic year. From 2017, fighter
the Su-25UB students started on the Yak-130 at this
and L-39C in the
point. The bomber/attack course is also
advanced and
lead-in fighter still in what is regarded as basic training
training (LIFT) role at this point at Borisoglebsk, also flying
at the 209th UAB
the Yak-130. On completion, both streams
in Borisoglebsk
and the MiG-29UB will have amassed between 130 and 150
and L-39C at the hours, including about 30 solo sorties.
200th UAB at
Armavir. Andrey
The bomber/transport stream flies its
Zinchuk second phase on the L-410UVP-E3 at the
16/12/2019 14:14
 217th UAB in Rtishtevo and the An-26
at the 205th UAB in Balashov. Students
destined to fly long-range jet bombers
still fly the L-39C at this point (set to be
complemented soon by the Yak-130).
The third and final part of the fighter
course comprises advanced and the
lead-in fighter training (LIFT) and this
usually runs from January-June, including
a final flight examination that leads to
promotion to officer rank in September
or October. At Armavir and Borisoglebsk,
the flying includes basic and some
advanced combat employment and
tactics, flown in single-ship and pair
formations as well as some night
flying. Students in the fighter stream
at the 200th UAB at Armavir practice
1-v-1 air combat and clear-weather
daylight intercepts at low and medium
level. In turn, their colleagues in the
frontal bomber/attack stream master
ground attack maneuvers for strafing,
rocket-firing and dropping bombs from

YAK-130 IN
the Yak-130. apparently for training foreign students.
Above: The Between February 2010 and
In 2018, the KVVAUL reported that Yak-130 is well
December 2018, the Russian Aerospace

overall, student pilots who completed
their first phase of training between
March and October, logged some 60
hours on the L-39C or L-410, while those
in the second training phase amassed
more than 75 hours in the air, flown
on the L-39C, Yak-130 and An-26 in the
different streams. Overall, an average
of 210 flight hours get a young trainee
from their initial introduction to flying,
to being ready for conversion to a
frontline type.
With the poor availability of the L-39C,
it’s clear that the newer aircraft need to
be readied for service in short order. Only
then will the VKS be able to realize the
capacity that it needs in order to address
its manning needs.
SERVICE
suited to training
students destined Forces (VKS) received 109 Yak-130s,
to convert to including 93 assembled at the IAZ
the new fighters plant in Irkutsk (of these 91 remain in
currently being The first Yak-130s built at the NAZ service) and 12 from NAZ Sokol. So
inducted into VKS Sokol aviation manufacturing plant far, three VKS Yak-130s have been lost
service. Andrey in Nizhni Novgorod were delivered to in accidents. All 11 survivors of the
Zinchuk the 209th Guards Training Base (UAB) NAZ Sokol-built batch were grounded
at Borisoglebsk in April 2011, with the in 2011 and are said to have been
Below: As many
initial instructor training following in subsequently re-rolled for use as
as 2,094 L-39Cs
were taken on August. The first students were trained ground instruction airframes. However,
strength by then on the new Yak in 2013 — this was in in 2019, at least two examples were
Soviet Air Force the third training phase in replacement spotted undergoing overhauls at
in the 1970s and of the Su-25/UB and L-39C. Kubinka, which indicates that some of
1980s, with the The new trainer was delivered to the these early Yak-130s will be eventually
last deliveries 200th UAB in Armavir in November returned to airworthy condition. In
taking place 2014 and saw use in student training March 2019, according to Lt Gen Sergey
in 1990. Today, for the first time there in April 2016, Dronov, the Yak-130 will also equip the
around 100
superseding the MiG-29UB and L-39C. 213rd UAB at Kotel’nikovo for advanced
examples remain
operational. In 2018, the Yak-130 was also delivered training of pilots destined to fly jet-
Russian Armed to the 195th UAB at Kushchevskaya, powered long-range bombers.
Forces

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 73

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 Combat Aircraft Journal looks back at the role of the Dragonfly in
Operation ‘Just Cause’ in 1989, when a small, specialist squadron
was thrust into a major campaign.
REPORT Joe Copalman
T
HE 30TH
ANNIVERSARY of
the start of Operation
‘Just Cause’ (OJC), the US
military operation to remove
Panamanian dictator Manuel
Noriega from power, was marked on
December 20, 2019. Once considered a
cunning and effective ally in America’s
fight against the spread of communism
in Central America, Noriega fell from
favor with the US as evidence of his
involvement in drug trafficking and
government corruption surfaced.
This led to Noriega’s February 1988
in absentia arraignment in the US on
drug charges. After President George
H. W. Bush urged Noriega to resign in
October 1988, the Panamanian Defense
Force (PDF) and civilian militias known
as ‘Dignity Battalions’ began harassing
US troops and American citizens living
in Panama.
Tensions between US and Panamanian
troops reached a deadly crescendo in
mid-December 1989, when PDF troops
fired on a car-load of American officers in
Panama City, killing one and wounding
another. A US naval officer and his
wife witnessed the shooting, and were
subsequently detained and beaten by
the PDF. These events were the last straw
for President Bush. He directed US forces
to invade Panama (13,000 troops were
already based in-country) on December
20, 1989, the objective being to capture
74 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
74-81 Glory Days C.indd 74
Noriega
and then
extradite him to
the US to stand trial on
drug charges, as well as to
restore Panama’s democratically
elected government.
Last of the Dragonflies
In air combat terms, ‘Just Cause’ is
popularly remembered as the debut
of the F-117A and the AH-64 Apache
gunship. Less well remembered is the fact
that it was also the combat swansong
for the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly in US Air
Force service.
Equipped with 24 OA-37Bs at Howard
AFB inside the Panama Canal Zone, the
24th Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS)
was the only US tactical aviation unit
permanently based in Panama. In 1989,
the ‘Golden Jaguars’ — as the 24th TASS
was known — was the only active-duty
air force squadron still flying the OA-37B
in the forward air controller — airborne
(FAC-A) role, as all the rest were flown by
Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force
Reserve (AFRes) units.
What made the ‘Golden Jaguars’ even
more distinctive is that while the guard
and reserve OA-37Bs lost some attack
capability in
the conversion
to FAC-A platforms,
the Dragonflies flown by the
24th TASS retained the full range
of attack capabilities of the A-37, while
still taking on the additional radios
needed for effective FAC-A work. For
the comparatively benign air defense
environments of Central and South
America — where the US was assisting
countries in preventing the spread of
Soviet communism in the region as well as
combating the scourge of narcotics cartels
— the Dragonfly was a good match for
the mission.
Controlling violence This iamge: An
OA-37B prepares
Like all tactical air support squadrons to dive on a target
at the time, the primary mission of the during a strafing
run at dawn.
Panama-based unit was FAC-A, locating USAF/SSgt
targets from the air, then using verbal Bob Simons
16/12/2019 11:14
 OVER PANAMA

A-37s IN OPERATION ‘JUST CAUSE’

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 GLORY DAYS // A-37 IN OPERATION ‘JUST CAUSE’
My pilots were literally experts on
ground operations in Panama. They
knew where everything was. We knew the
canal backward and forward, we knew
everything about Gatun Lake, we knew all
the locks in Colón and in Panama City
Lt Col Bill Wilson
talk-on and visual markers like smoke
rockets to guide strike pilots to successful
weapons employment against those
targets. This arrangement dated back
to the Vietnam War, when the air force
established several TASS units for service
in Southeast Asia flying aircraft like Cessna
O-1 Bird Dogs, O-2 Skymasters, and North
American OV-10 Broncos. By the early
1980s, jets like the Fairchild Republic
OA‑10 Thunderbolt II and the OA-37
joined the OV-10 in performing the role
in the TASS community, offering speedier
response times and greater battlefield
survivability.
In addition to flying FAC-A with
OA‑37s, the 24th TASS provided US Army
battalions with enlisted terminal attack
controllers (ETACs) and pilots serving
as ground FACs or air liaison officers. Lt
Col Bill ‘Howdy’ Wilson, the squadron’s
operations officer at the time, explained,
‘All of my squadron pilots were forward
air controllers. Then after that, you
became an airborne controller, which was
completely different; you were actually
76 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
74-81 Glory Days C.indd 76
controlling strikes from the air. We
practised all the time controlling other
airplanes and artillery.’
Air power ambassadors
The 24th TASS had the unique role of
liaising with regional air arms, many of
which also flew A-37s. Describing the
squadron’s mission, Wilson told Combat
Aircraft, ‘The basic mission prior to
Operation ‘Just Cause’ was to interface with
South and Central American countries
that had bought the A-37 as a counter-
insurgency aircraft and light patrol and
observation aircraft. We would fly out of
Panama to Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Chile,
Costa Rica, and would go and talk a little
bit about what we did — kind of pass the
goodwill around.’
While these exchanges usually fell
short of official training detachments, the
24th occasionally participated in formal
exercises with Latin American air forces.
Just two months prior to ‘Just Cause’,
the squadron had sent six pilots, four
aircraft, and two ETACs to Venezuela for
‘Deployment Training Exercise 914’. Over
eight days, the ‘Golden Jaguars’ provided
attack control for Venezuelan aircraft such
as OV-10s, Tucanos, and CF-5 Freedom
Fighters, with both FAC-As in OA-37Bs and
ETACs on the ground directing air strikes.
Regardless of how formal or informal the
structure of these visits was, they allowed
the pilots and airmen of the 24th TASS
to share experiences and best practices
with numerous air arms, and to build
stronger ties with anti-communist allies in
the region.
The run-up to war
In the face of PDF harassment of American
service members, US forces prepared for
possible combat by conducting ‘Sand
Flea’ presence patrols to desensitize A 24th TASS
the PDF to odd-hours US military Dragonfly flies
movements throughout the country. By over Panama in
January 1986
mid-December, though, it appeared the during an exercise
prospect of armed action against Noriega simulating
had lessened. This easing of tension defense of the
canal against
resulted in Wilson serving as acting attack. USAF/SSgt
commanding officer of the squadron David A. Cornwell
16/12/2019 11:14

SUPER
‘TWEET’
Conceived in the early 1960s as a
low-cost counter-insurgency aircraft,
the A-37 was derived from Cessna’s
successful T-37 ‘Tweet’ trainer. Cessna
made several changes to the basic
T-37 to meet requirements set by
the air force’s Special Air Warfare
Center: more powerful engines,
stronger wings, a nose-mounted
7.62mm minigun with accompanying
gunsight, six (eventually eight) under-
wing pylons for fuel tanks, free-fall
bombs, and forward-firing ordnance,
wingtip tanks for extended combat
endurance, and improved radios and
avionics. The air force purchased the
resulting aircraft, the A-37 Dragonfly,
which made its combat debut in
Vietnam in August 1967. By the end
of US involvement in Southeast Asia
in early 1973, A-37s had flown more
than 160,000 sorties, establishing
the Dragonfly as a credible close air
support platform. After Vietnam,
most remaining air force A-37s were
transferred to Air Force Reserve
and Air National Guard units and
converted to OA-37Bs, optimized for
the forward air controller — airborne
(FAC-A) role.
74-81 Glory Days C.indd 77
when ‘Just Cause’ kicked off. He said, ‘There Jaguars’ was the tactical aviation unit
was this period of time maybe a week most ideally suited to supporting combat
before Christmas where it was like, ‘well, operations on the ground. Being based
I think we’re going to do it, but it might at Howard AFB and tasked with aerial
be next year’. That was the point at which defense of the canal zone, the 24th TASS
our squadron commander said, ‘I’m going pilots familiarized themselves with every
to go home and have Christmas with my part of Panama, north to south, east to
family’, so I took over the squadron in a west. As Wilson explained, ‘My pilots were
temporary role. Then, all of a sudden, it literally experts on ground operations in
came to a head. I got called into a meeting Panama. They knew where everything
in the middle of the night and they said, was. We knew the canal backward and
‘D-Day is nine hours from now’. We put forward, we knew everything about Gatun
our guys on alert. ‘No more drinking, be Lake, we knew all the locks in Colón and
ready to go’.’ in Panama City. We knew everything. We
When ‘Just Cause’ began at 01.00hrs were the only air assets within 2,000 miles
local time on December 20, the ‘Golden or so, with a secondary mission of defense
Right top:
Maintainers work
on a newly arrived
OA-37B at Howard
AFB in May 1986.
USAF/SSgt David
A. Cornwell
Right top to
bottom: An airman
from the 24th
Fuel Management
Division refuels an
OA-37B at Howard
AFB. USAF/A1C
Gary R. Coppage
Airmen from the
24th Consolidated
Aircraft
Maintenance
Squadron
maneuver an
OA‑37B on the
Howard AFB flight
line. USAF/A1C
Gary R. Coppage
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 77
16/12/2019 11:14
 GLORY DAYS // A-37 IN OPERATION ‘JUST CAUSE’
of the canal. We familiarized ourselves
extensively with the locations of all the
forts and all the military bases.’
Armed overwatch
Operation ‘Just Cause’ was an
infantryman’s fight, with the US Army’s 7th
Infantry Division, 193rd Infantry Regiment,
and the 82nd Airborne Division providing
the bulk of America’s combat power in
Panama, and a significant number of
special operations troops conducting
discreet missions against high-value
targets. Attached to most ground units
were air force tactical air control parties
(TACPs) responsible for co-ordinating
A crew chief signals to a 24th TASS
Dragonfly pilot during start-up at
La Aurora International Airport in
Guatemala. USAF/MSgt Herbert Cintron
78 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
74-81 Glory Days C.indd 78
aerial support, directing air strikes on
enemy positions, and preventing friendly-
fire incidents.
In addition to flying the OA-37B in the
FAC-A role, some pilots from the 24th TASS
served as FACs on the ground as part of
the TACPs. On the night of the invasion,
OA-37 pilots Kevin Grove and Steve Mills
were attached to infantry units as ground
FACs — Grove with the 5th Battalion/87th
Infantry Regiment, and Mills with the 1st
Battalion/508th Infantry. The aircrews’
time with the army was limited, as Wilson
remembers: ‘My pilots started out going
to those units, but then they wound
up releasing them back to me and we
basically just used them for air sorties.’
However, the return of Grove and Mills to
the cockpit did not end the squadron’s
ground support for the army. Wilson
recalls, ‘We also had enlisted troops that
were assigned [as ETACs] to army units
as well. They actually made some of the
really early strikes into Panama City on
the first morning of the invasion, and
they rappelled down out of helicopters.
They armed up with M16s and dropped
right down into Noriega’s Comandancia
right in the middle of Panama City.’
Tasked with both the FAC-A and attack
missions during ‘Just Cause’, 24th TASS
aircraft were armed primarily with 2.75in
(70mm) rockets, with a seven-shot pod
of high-explosive (HE) rockets under one
wing and another of white phosphorous
(WP or ‘Willie Pete’) rockets for marking
targets under the other. The OA-37s
carried a Dillon Aero GAU-2B/A 7.62mm
minigun in the nose of the aircraft, with
1,500 rounds of ammunition. In addition
to kinetic weapons, the presence of
Dragonflies overhead sometimes proved
enough to deter the PDF from fighting
back. Describing the use of show-of-force
passes, Wilson said, ‘We would support
the army from above with rockets relative SMSgt Ortize
to whatever they needed. But a lot of the and SSgt
Bowden perform
time it was just flying over and scaring maintenance on a
the heck out of the bad guys. 24th TASS OA-37
‘We flew a lot of escort missions,’ Wilson while pilot Capt
Gary Jones looks
recalled, ‘just flying CAP [combat air on. USAF/A1C Gary
patrols] over the army as they moved R. Coppage
along in Panama attacking different
A 24th TASS
targets. We flew above them, then those OA-37B tucked
guys would run out of gas and we’d have in tight on the
two more, then two more, then two wing of another
Dragonfly on a
more. We did that for close to three days, convoy escort
24 hours a day. Then it started to peter mission over the
out a little bit.’ Though the number of densely forested
terrain of Panama.
aircraft the squadron put up waned after USAF/MSgt Donald
the first three days, it continued to have L. Wetterman
16/12/2019 11:14
 A 24th TASS OA-37B
fires a 2.75in (70mm)
white phosphorous
rocket on a target in
Panama. USAF/TSgt
Fernando Serna

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 GLORY DAYS // A-37 IN OPERATION ‘JUST CAUSE’
at least one Dragonfly airborne at all times
over the first seven days of OJC, ready to
employ live ordnance against PDF troops,
vehicles, or positions.
‘Cleared hot!’
Over the relatively short period of
combat operations in Panama, the 24th
TASS participated in a handful of kinetic
engagements against the PDF. Then-Capt
Jeff Shields, an OA-37 pilot and Wilson’s
assistant operations officer, recalled a
few of these: ‘I think the second or third
night, Capt John McClanahan and a
wingman did some self-illumination with
LUU-2 flares, then marked targets with
‘Willie Petes’ and then engaged with HE
rockets. That was a switchology circus in
the OA-37! I think the targets were troops
and I’m pretty sure it was in the vicinity
a little north of Tocumen International
Airport.’ Another engagement Shields
remembered involved taking out indirect-
fire weapons threatening army troops:
‘I remember Kevin Manion taking out a
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74-81 Glory Days C.indd 80
A four-ship of 24th TASS Dragonflies over a very full
ramp at Howard AFB. USAF/MSgt Herbert Cintron
mortar position in an OA-37. He marked Above left: 1st Lt PDF troops in a building. The OA-37
the target with WP and took it out with Jeffrey Harrigian co-ordinated with ground troops, marked
monitors the
HE rockets.’ progress of a with WP and the A-7s strafed with 20mm.’
In addition to attack missions, the 24th military convoy
TASS performed a handful of FAC-A on the ground Threats and luck
controls for A-7D Corsair IIs from the
in Panama.
Harrigian is Though outnumbered on the ground and
Air National Guard’s 112th (Ohio) and currently a lacking the training or equipment to put
175th (South Dakota) Tactical Fighter four-star general up a protracted, effective resistance to
and serving as
Squadrons. Guard units routinely sent the commander US forces, the PDF possessed air defense
detachments of A-7s to Panama on a of US Air Forces weapons that posed a real threat to
rotational deployment program called in Europe, US Air all aircraft, especially the perpetually-
Forces Africa,
‘Coronet Cove’, and the Ohio and South and Allied Air overhead OA-37s. Wilson says, ‘There were
Dakota ‘SLUFs’ [Short Little Ugly Fellas] Command. USAF/ some really high pucker-factor missions
just happened to be the units at Howard MSgt Donald L. where we were flying escort and we
Wetterman
AFB when ‘Just Cause’ began. Capable knew they had AAA [anti-aircraft artillery]
of carrying up to 15,000lb (6,800kg) Above: A pieces and SA-7s [surface-to-air missiles,
of bombs, rockets, and air-to-ground Uruguayan SAMs]. We knew the PDF was very well-
tactical air
missiles, the only weapon employed by controller stands armed with ZSU-23-4s and 57mm, and
the A-7s during OJC was the M61 Vulcan guard over could have easily shot us down. They
20mm cannon. Recalling one A-7 strike a 24th TASS probably had some other surface-to-air
OA-37B during
controlled by the ‘Golden Jaguars’ FAC-As, a deployment missiles, but the biggest threat to us
Shields said, ‘There was one other daytime for a combined were the shoulder-mounted SA-7s. We
engagement I remember debriefing training exercise. knew they had them and they fired them
USAF/MSgt
where an OA-37 worked with A-7s. I can’t Herbert Cintron occasionally, but nobody ever got hit by
remember who it was, but it involved one that I know of. We were really lucky.’
16/12/2019 11:14
 For all the squadron’s luck avoiding
SA-7 and AAA encounters, Wilson was
the only pilot whose OA-37 took damage
during combat operations over Panama:
‘I was the only guy that got hit when I was
flying a sortie. It hit me on the wing root
just outboard of the engine. It hit so fast,
and the airplane jerked around so much.
I wasn’t sure what it was, so I declared an
emergency, shut the engine down, and
made a single-engine approach, and
landed.’ After landing and shutting down,
it became clear that the PDF could not
claim a hit on Wilson’s aircraft. ‘We found
out it was a bird-strike — there were huge
birds all over Panama.’

Nuisance to Noriega
At some point during the invasion,
Noriega took refuge in the Apostolic
Nunciature in Panama City. This was the
Vatican’s diplomatic mission in Panama,
headed by an official known as the Papal
Nuncio. While army troops surrounded the
Nunciature and attempted to persuade
Noriega to surrender, which included
playing loud rock music around the clock,
the 24th TASS maintained a constant low-
level patrol overhead. When asked what
sortie stood out strongest in his memories
of ‘Just Cause,’ Wilson cited the Nunciature
missions, telling Combat Aircraft, ‘The
missions we flew over the Papal Nuncio
were very interesting because we were
down very low, just making noise. We’d
have one guy flying, then he would land
and another would be over. The whole
idea was just to irritate [Noriega] and
make noise. It was an interesting mission
because how many times would you ever
get to do that in the real world?’ Noriega
surrendered on January 3, 1990, and was
flown to Miami, Florida, the following
day to face drug-trafficking, racketeering,
and money-laundering charges. Despite
Noriega’s capture, small groups of PDF ‘JAGUARS’ offensive force — and 24 little A-37s could
troops continued to resist the American
occupation for another week before
surrendering as well.
REBORN make a dent in a lot of stuff.’
The 24th TASS remained at Howard AFB
after ‘Just Cause’, continuing the liaison
After inactivation, the 24th TASS’
By the time ‘Just Cause’ combat colors remained cased for 27 mission with other Central and South
operations ceased on January 11, the 24th years. In March 2018, the air force American air forces and its canal defense
‘Golden Jaguar’
TASS had flown 372 combat sorties, with re-activated the ‘Golden Jaguars’ at mission until March 31, 1991, when the
pilots rarely
an average mission length of two hours. conducted aerial Nellis AFB in Nevada as the service’s squadron was inactivated. Pilots from the
refueling during FAC-A schoolhouse for F-16 pilots.
The squadron had played a critical role in squadron carried on serving through the
local operations Additionally, the revived 24th TASS
providing overwatch for ground convoys over Panama, provides close air support sorties for inactivation process, with many ‘Golden
and in neutralizing PDF mortar positions but routinely did joint terminal attack controllers (the Jaguars’ deploying to the Middle East to
and other tactically relevant targets. so when flying to modern equivalent to the ETACs who join army units as air liaison officers and
other countries served in Panama) at the US Air Force
Recalling the squadron’s contribution to in Central and ground FACs during Operation ‘Desert
Weapons School’s Joint Terminal
the defeat of the PDF and the capture South America to Storm’. The squadron’s aircraft remained
Attack Controller Weapons Instructor
of Noriega, Wilson concluded, ‘We just work alongside in Panama and were sold to Central and
A-37 operators. Course.
happened to be there. We weren’t a USAF/CMSgt Don South American air forces via the Foreign
big offensive force, but we were still an Sutherland Military Sales program.

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 FAREWELL TO THE
RECCE ‘RHINOS’
T
HE ICONIC AND much-
loved McDonnell Douglas
F-4 Phantom II fleet of the
Japan Air Self-Defense Force
(JASDF) is very much in its
final throes. The latest phase
of the drawdown took the form of a
huge public farewell event held over the
weekend of November 30-December 1
at Hyakuri Air Base — the last bastion
of Japanese Phantoms — located
northeast of Tokyo. The primary focus for
the event was to hold a public farewell
for the reconnaissance-configured RF-
4E/EJs of 501 Hikotai (501 Squadron).
A stunning two-tone blue RF-4E taxies
out at Hyakuri in December.
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82-87 RF-4 Farewell C.indd 82
The JASDF’s 140 heavily upgraded The Japan Air Self-Defense
F-4EJ Kai air defense Phantoms were first
delivered from 1971, and included the
Force held a public farewell
last ever F-4 off the McDonnell Douglas event for the F-4 Phantom II
production line. Japan’s industrial
in late 2019 as it marked the
expertise enabled 127 F-4EJs to be built
under license by Mitsubishi. final chapter for its legendary
Alongside these fighters, 14 unarmed reconnaissance ‘Rhinos’.
reconnaissance RF-4Es were imported
from the US. In addition, 17 F-4EJs were
REPORT AND PHOTOS Rich Cooper
equipped with long-range oblique
photography (LOROP) pods and
converted to the reconnaissance role
under the RF-4EJ designation. The RF-4EJ
is visually distinguishable from the RF-4E
13/12/2019 16:24
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 FORCE REPORT // JAPANESE F-4 PHANTOM IIS
by its nose, which lacks camera equipment for the last time meant the Hyakuri event
and retains the F-4E’s gun housing. was perfectly timed.
Plans currently call for 501 Hikotai to The ‘Mother Squadron’ (so-called as it
This image: An RF-
disband once the RF-4s retire in March was the first to receive the F-4 in JASDF 4E makes a low
2020, and in the meantime the handful service and it also refers to 301’s original pass in full reheat
of remaining recce ‘Rhinos’ continue to operational conversion unit role) will during the show.
operate alongside 301 Hikotai — the last likely cease operations with the Phantom Below: Led by an
F-4EJ Kai squadron — which is also based in March 2021. Thus, this was the final RF-4EJ, a gaggle
at Hyakuri. The impending demise of the Phantom airshow at Hyakuri. of ‘recce birds’
taxies out at
reconnaissance squadron coupled with In March 2019, 302 Hikotai relinquished Hyakuri during the
the opportunity to showcase 301 Hikotai its F-4EJ Kais and is now in transition to airshow weekend.

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 the F-35A Lightning II at Misawa. The exact
timeline of the transition from the F-4 to
the F-35 (and therefore the final Phantom
retirement) has been somewhat fluid and
linked to deliveries and operational stand-
up of the new fighters. This was further
delayed by the crash of F-35A AX-05 (79-
8705) on April 9, 2019, that killed pilot Maj
Akinori Hosomi. This was the first aircraft
to have been assembled by Mitsubishi
at its Nagoya Final Assembly and Check
Out (FACO) facility. Japan is building initial
batches of F-35As at Nagoya, but it has
now said it will step back from assembly Above: An RF-4EJ
and instead concentrate on maintenance, leads a pair of
RF-4Es and three
repair, overhaul, and upgrade 301 Hikotai F-4EJ
(MRO&U) of F-35s. Kais during the
In another strategic change, the airshow.
Mitsubishi F-2s from 3 Hikotai that are Right top to
moving from Misawa to Hyakuri to make bottom: Only a
way for F-35s are now planned to arrive handful of these
shark-mouthed
at their new base in April 2020. This RF-4Es remain
timeline is also linked to F-35 fielding, as in service at
the Lightning II assumes Misawa’s quick Hyakuri.
reaction alert (QRA) duty. The special
However, for the next year, Hyakuri will markings tell the
still remain the domain of the Phantom, tale of 501 Hikotai
— as it prepares to
albeit with just a single active squadron. close its doors in
Thousands of people from all over the 2020.

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 FORCE REPORT // JAPANESE F-4 PHANTOM IIs

An RF-4EJ pilot and weapons systems officer

are greeted by the crowd as they complete
their sortie during the airshow.

The sad sight of the

scrappers getting to work
on a retired F-4EJ Kai.

Keeping it low on take-off — 301

Hikotai’s flagship in full reheat.

This is 301 Hikotai’s specially

painted F-4EJ Kai for the final year
of operations, with the inscription
GO FOR IT!! 301 SQ.

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 301 Hikotai is still operating at full
capacity — evidenced here by an
early morning four-ship departure.

world descended on the base for the

public farewell event. They were treated
to no less than five separate F-4 flying
events, including a six-ship flypast, a
QRA demonstration, a recce RF-4 flyby
and several low-level ‘airfield attacks’ —
with sweeping passes in full reheat and
aggressive pulls into the vertical. It was a
superb send-off and a perfect way for the
adoring masses to say a goodbye at this
well-run event.
Lt Col ‘Bowgun’ Okada, the commanding
officer of 501 Hikotai, stepped from his
RF-4EJ at the end of the Phantom finale
and said: ‘The view from up there in the
formation was emotional. The F-4 is a
great aircraft and our team spirit here at
501 is very strong. I feel fortunate to be
commanding the squadron at the end
of the RF-4’s service. But it will also be a
sad day — I’ve been flying the jet for over
20 years and have nearly 3,000 Phantom
hours. Today’s crowd is incredible — we
could see every face with our cameras!
When I normally break to land, all I see out
of the cockpit is the concrete of the ramps,
but today the base is 80 per cent covered
in people and that felt very good inside.’

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 COMBAT REPORT// E-8 JOINT STARS

DRAWS BACK FROM COMBAT OPS

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 The US Air Force has withdrawn its E-8s from combat operations The USAF initiated the JSTARS Recap
program to develop a replacement for the
despite a lack of clarity on what will replace their capability.
E-8C, in January 2014. Pre-engineering
and manufacturing development (EMD)

T
REPORT Jamie Hunter
contracts were issued to Northrop
HE US AIR Force has called operation including ‘Enduring Freedom’, Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Boeing
time on an 18-year-long ‘Iraqi Freedom’, ‘Freedom’s Sentinel’, and and a final request for proposals was
deployment for the Northrop ‘Inherent Resolve’. Brig Gen Thomas released in December 2016. However, by
Grumman E-8C Joint Grabowski, Georgia Air National Guard 2018, the USAF’s plans changed and it
Surveillance Target Attack commander, added: ‘They have set canceled the program despite Northrop
Radar System (STARS) to the the gold standard in TFI [total force Grumman having been selected to
Central Command area of responsibility integration] and will continue to lead develop a new modular ground-moving
(AOR) — the second-longest the way as they restructure to the target indicator (GMTI) radar. The USAF
deployment in the service’s history. The new Advanced Battle Management is now developing the Advanced Battle
final deployed E-8 departed Al Udeid Air System [ABMS] supporting the air Management System (ABMS). The
An E-8C Joint Base, Qatar, on October 1, 2019, with Col force we need.’ classified ABMS program will link together
STARS assigned Konata Crumbly, the 116th Air Control 

The E-8 provides battle management, currently fielded and newly developed
to the 7th
Expeditionary Wing (ACW) commander, at the controls. command and control, intelligence, aircraft and space-based sensors via
Airborne ‘It is difficult to measure the kind of surveillance, and reconnaissance cutting-edge communications links to
Command and success our ‘Team JSTARS’ airmen and — including ground-moving target support battlespace management. The
Control Squadron
receives fuel soldiers achieved over the last 18 years. identification. Established on October 1, USAF canceled the Recap project due
from a KC-135R It can only be measured in lives not 2002 as the USAF’s first TFI wing, ‘Team to concerns over its survivability against
Stratotanker lost,’ he said. JSTARS’ is based at Robins AFB, Georgia, Russian and Chinese air defense systems.
shortly before
being removed E-8s have been continually deployed and comprises the Georgia ANG’s In the meantime, the USAF has been
from deployed to CENTCOM since November 2001, and 116th ACW, Air Combat Command’s prohibited from retiring the E-8C fleet
operations in they had accumulated 10,938 sorties, 461st ACW, and the active-duty Army until ‘Increment 2’ of the ABMS is declared
CENTCOM. USAF/
SSgt Chris equaling 114,426.6 combat flying hours, Intelligence and Security Command’s operational. However, there is no clarity on
Drzazgowski in support of nearly every CENTCOM 138th Military Intelligence Company.

 what that is and when it will occur.

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 The Malacca Strait is the world’s busiest shipping lane — linking
sea trade from the East and West. Guarding this vital region, the
Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM, Royal Malaysian Air Force)
calls upon 18 and 15 Skuadrons (Skn, Squadrons) that respectively
operate the F/A-18D Hornet and the Hawk Mk108/208.
REPORT Chen Chuanren
B
UTTERWORTH IN MALAYSIA is (TUDM, Royal Malaysian Air Force, RMAF)
an air base steeped in history. and one of the main hubs for its fighter
It started out under the tenure aircraft community.
of the Royal Air Force, before RMAF Butterworth is now home to
passing to Australian operators, 15 Skn ‘Panther’ with the BAE Systems
which remained there until the Hawk Mk108/208 and 18 Skn ‘Lipan’ with
late 1980s. Even now, the Royal Australian the Boeing F/A-18D Hornet — the latter
Air Force maintains an important footprint having received its eight Hornets in 1997.
there, although today it is primarily the At that time, it was regarded as one of
home of the Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia the most potent platforms in the region,
especially in the air-to-ground role —
capable of delivering the AGM-84A Block
1C Harpoon and AGM-65 Maverick.
In 2011, Boeing was awarded a
contract to upgrade the Hornets to 25X
standard, and at the heart of this was
the introduction of the Joint Helmet
Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), the
AIM-9X Sidewinder, GBU-38 Joint Direct
Attack Munition (JDAM), the improved
AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range
G U A R DIA NS
90 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
90-93 RMAF C.indd 90
Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), Raytheon
AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward
Looking Infrared (ATFLIR), as well as GPS
improvements, new IFF (identification
friend-or-foe) antennas and color moving-
map displays. The work was completed in
March 2015.
Often touted as being comparable to the
Super Hornet, Maj Faizul Rizam bin Mat
Supri, safety standards readiness officer
at 18 Skn, said 25X was a ‘game-changer’.
Along with the Sukhoi Su-30MKMs of 11
Skn, Butterworth’s Hornets must today
provide the heavy lifting of air defense
following the decommissioning of
Malaysia’s MiG-29s.
This image: The
Hawk team RMAF’s F/A-18D
aircrews pride
The Hawk Mk108/208s of 15 Skn became themselves on
operational in March 1994, with 28 being masters of
low-level tactics
Hawks delivered through 1995 and now — still considered
distributed between 15 and 6 Skn, with an essential skill
the latter currently based in Labuan. The in this region.
Photos by Chen
RMAF retains five Hawk Mk108s and 13 Chuanren unless
Mk208s, and senior Hawk instructor Maj otherwise stated
Ezraini Azrin Khoo Bin Mohamad Erwan
Inset: An F/A-18D
Khoo said most of the single-seat Hawk pilot pre-flights
Mk208s are based in Labuan due to the an Air Combat
squadron’s ‘operational roles’, although the Maneuvering
Instrumentation
two-seat Mk108 is still capable of air-to- (ACMI) pod on the
ground missions. wingtip station.
16/12/2019 16:07
 15 Skn features both variants and has
three primary roles: fighter lead-in training
(FLIT) for new trainee pilots, offensive air
support/close air support (CAS) and air
interdiction, plus — rather surprisingly
— offensive counter air. When required,
the unit can also take on a defensive air-
to-air role.
Since the decommissioning of the
Aermacchi MB-339C in 2016, 15 Skn
became the only squadron to provide
FLIT for the entire RMAF, using the
Hawk Mk108. Despite celebrating its
25th anniversary in Malaysian service,
Ezraini said the venerable Hawk is very
hardy — with few structural issues thanks
to effective scheduled maintenance.
Its pilots also play a part in the Hawk’s
overall availability, knowing the aircraft’s
limitations.
Hornet ‘drivers’
On graduation from flight school at RMAF
Alor Selar, new pilots selected for the
fighter route are sent to 15 Skn for FLIT.
The RMAF blends in a decent amount of
synthetic work for an efficient training
program on the Hawk before the students
are streamed to either the F/A-18D or the
Su-30MKM — with a handful remaining
on the Hawk.
90-93 RMAF C.indd 91
Faizul explained that conversion for
F/A-18D pilots includes approximately
100 hours of flying, bearing in mind
that this involves a multi-role syllabus
that incorporates everything from basic
aircraft handling, basic fighter maneuvers
(BFM), intercept, air-to-ground and
aerial refueling. The D-model Hornet
was optimized for night attack, so the
advanced phase of the course sees
this feature heavily, as does maritime
attack and advanced weaponeering
including the JDAM.
Following graduation and once on the
front line, the F/A-18D pilots progress
through the roles of wingman, two-ship
flight-lead, and finally ‘operational lead’ —
able to command a four-ship package. The
RMAF says that its Hornet aircrews clock
up at least 100-150 annual flying hours.
Low-level experts
Both the Hornet and Hawk squadrons at
Butterworth play a key role in keeping
the strait and airspace safe, according
to Majs Faizul and Ezraini, who say the
Malacca Strait forms part of an important
training area. Faizul said that despite
the developments in standoff weapons,
the unit still stays sharp in conventional
low-level attack due to the mountainous
CAP55
In 2018, Gen Tan Sri Affendi Buang,
the commander of the RMAF, rolled
out the CAP55 roadmap, identifying
key programs the air arm might take
through 2055. In a bid to streamline
logistics, CAP55 will rationalize
the RMAF to a pair of single-type
squadrons of Multi-Role Combat
Aircraft (MRCA), plus three single-type
squadrons of light attack aircraft. Gen
Affendi has moved up the priority
for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)
project, saying its capabilities must
also include FLIT duties.
At the Langkawi Airshow in March
2019, companies such as Leonardo,
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI),
and Rostec, respectively submitted
information for the M-346FA,
FA-50 and Yak-130. The RMAF will
be submitting a proposal to the
government to be factored under a
five-year plan.
The F/A-18Ds are expected to
soldier on a little longer and Gen
Affendi hopes the fleet can be
supplemented by surplus F/A-18Cs
from Kuwait as it recapitalizes with
the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Although
talks have yet to begin, Affendi is
optimistic that the RMAF will get the
single-seat Hornets as the RMAF waits
for the MRCA program.
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 geographical features of the peninsular —
with a big emphasis placed on this type
of training.
‘Inland, the unit flies regularly in a low
flying area in Teloi, Kedah, although
we have the liberty to fly low-level
anywhere in the country,’ explained
Faizul. ‘Sometimes, as we have to loft or
‘pop-up’ as we strike, it might infringe
airspace, but ATC [air traffic control] is
very accommodating.’ He also added that
the Hornet squadron doesn’t often carry
out live bombing, aside from an annual
dedicated exercise. In fact, 18 Skn has only
live-fired a Harpoon and Maverick once,
dropping live JDAMs twice.
Ezraini explained that due to their CAS
roles, the Hawk crews are also proficient
in low-level navigation. However, he
acknowledged that the more modern
F/A-18D and Su-30 possess superior
avionics and perform these missions with
‘better efficiency’. The RMAF completed
its annual Exercise ‘Paradise’ in August, in
92 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
90-93 RMAF C.indd 92
which all combat squadrons are deployed masse regularly, but it picks and chooses
to East Malaysia for live firing and specific events that offer good return.
integration exercises. One such opportunity was the RAAF-led
‘Pitch Black’ in 2018, which saw the RMAF
The power of partnerships engaged in its second major participation.
The RMAF is an air force that works The annual Five Powers Defence
hard to ensure it generates an effective Arrangement (FPDA) ‘Bersama’ war games
operational output despite its rather with the UK, Australia, New Zealand and
limited resources. It isn’t able to deploy en Singapore see both of the Butterworth
units playing a leading role.
Top: The fighters Maj Faizul said his unit has benefitted a
at Butterworth are great deal, especially from the experience
accommodated
under huge sun/ of Singaporean pilots in the areas of
rain shelters. dynamic targeting and large force
employment (LFE): ‘We found air forces
Above: F/A-18Ds
line up at like the Royal Australian Air Force and
Butterworth for an USAF do things very differently, primarily
evening mission. due to their Link 16 capability,’ Faizul said.
Night attack is a
primary role of the ‘We have our own data link but no Link
D-model Hornet. 16, and unfortunately we still use radio to
communicate with other platforms. Our
Left: Malaysia
received 18 air force has a relatively small number of
single–seat platforms, hence we do not conduct LFEs
Hawk Mk208s, often. In ‘Pitch Black’, for example, we got
and 13 remain in
service with two to see [at first hand] what we have been
squadrons. TUDM reading in the [tactics] manuals.’
16/12/2019 16:05
 The RMAF was the only air force in the
region to exercise alongside US Air Force
F-22A Raptors during ‘Cope Taufan 2014’.
‘In [that exercise] we learnt a lot about
LFE and BFM,’ said Faizul. ‘We had the
opportunity to train with the F-22s and
we had to find a way to eliminate their
strengths and exploit the weakness of
these fighters, which was very hard.’ He
added: ‘We could tally [spot] them at 10
miles but we couldn’t lock-on, and that
was in a 1-v-1 situation — imagine in a
LFE, there would be no warning [that
they were there]. While we don’t expect
to get into a close fight with them, their
Below: Engine
thrust-vectoring controls make the
start for an
F/A-18D — note the Raptors very hard to fight against.’
mission markings In the same exercise, the Hawks
on the nose that
focused on combat air support
date back to
Operation ‘Daulat’ training, co-ordinating with forward
in March 2013. air controllers and honing methods for
passing information from the ground
-to-air elements, as well as sharing
the recognized air picture with USAF
E-3 AWACS (Airborne Warning And
Control System).
Tackling asymmetric threats
The Butterworth squadrons played a
major role in the significant Operation
‘Daulat’ in March 2013, which saw
Malaysian armed forces deployed to
Lahad Datu in eastern Malaysia to tackle
militants arriving from the southern
Philippines. F/A-18Ds and Hawks were
forward deployed to Labuan, and they
A formation of USAF and RMAF fighters during Exercise ‘Cope Taufan’ 2014
flies over the Penang Bridge near Butterworth. A 131st Fighter Squadron
F-15C leads a Su-30MKM ‘Flanker’, an F-22 from the 154th Wing, a Hawk
Mk108, a MIG-29UB ‘Fulcrum’, and an F/A-18D. USAF/TSgt Jason Robertson
90-93 RMAF C.indd 93
mounted air-to-ground sorties including
CAS. The Hornets dropped GBU-12 laser-
guided bombs and fired 5in (127mm)
Zuni rockets, while five Hawks from 15
Skn employed Mk82/83 iron bombs and
CRV-7 rockets.
‘In Operation ‘Daulat’, soil structure,
geographical features and vegetation in
the area had a big effect on the missions
and we learned a lot,’ recalled Faizul. ‘We
are always looking ahead at things like
asymmetric threats and have regular
standards meetings to discuss some of
the issues [we need to] to address.’
Butterworth’s Hawks also conduct anti-
piracy air patrols alongside Indonesian
Hawks in joint missions along the
Malacca Strait. Maj Ezraini said the
Hawks regularly fly show-of-presence
sorties, with pilots specifically looking
for abnormalities and movements by
suspicious vessels, which can be passed
to naval forces for further investigation.
Despite a relatively modest force
structure, the RMAF, and particularly the
two fighter squadrons at Butterworth,
provide a huge range of varied and
scalable effects that are vital to a region
that has major political and geographic
strategic importance. The retirement of
the MiG-29 has only served to increase
the workload, and with a long-running
recapitalization program still failing to
get genuine traction, the F/A-18Ds and
Hawks will need to keep up their good
work for several years to come.
www.Key.Aero // February 2020 93
16/12/2019 16:05
 It’s possible to
imagine the US
Air Force in the 2030s
and 2040s operating a
dwindling number of older
fighters plus F-35s and
DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT LINE air-to-air-capable B-21s,
OF AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY all controlling expendable
BY DAVID AXE
wingman drones
US NAVY
MULLS FUTURE
FIGHTER CONCEPTS
T
HE US NAVY will need a new ‘sixth-
generation’ fighter eventually to
follow the F-35C that’s just beginning
to enter service.
No one has any idea what that new
aircraft might look like, not even
the navy. But drones are strong contenders,
quite possibly flying and fighting in close co-
operation with manned warplanes.
The navy in February 2019 declared its first
frontline F-35C squadron ‘ready for flight’.
Strike Fighter Squadron 147 (VFA-147), based
in California, is slated to embark on the aircraft
carrier USS Carl Vinson for the type’s first
deployment in 2021.
The fleet aims to integrate a 10-plane F-35C
squadron into each of its nine carrier air wings,
which embark on the 11 Ford- and Nimitz-class
carriers. The US Marine Corps plans to equip
four squadrons with F-35Cs as that service’s
contribution to the carrier wings.
It will be at least a decade before the sea
services deploy all of the roughly 300 F-35Cs
94 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero
94 Cutting Edge C.indd 94
they plan to acquire at a cost of around $100
million per aircraft. The stealth fighters could fly
for 25 years or longer.
By the time the F-35Cs arrive, each wing
also will include three F/A-18E/F squadrons
plus detachments of EA-18G electronic attack
aircraft, E-2 airborne early warning and control
aircraft, CMV-22B transports and MQ-25 tanker
drones. All of the types are in production and
none should leave service before the mid-2030s,
at the earliest.
In other words, the navy is in no rush to
decide what its next warplane should look like.
Hence the ambivalent comments from Chief of
Naval Operations ADM Mike Gilday. ‘I do think
we need an aviation combatant, but what the
aviation combatant of the future looks like?’
Gilday said at US Naval Institute’s Defense Forum
Washington conference in early December
2019. ‘I don’t know yet’, Gilday added. ‘I think
there’s going to be a requirement to continue
to deliver a seaborne-launched vehicle through
the air that’ll deliver an effect downrange. I do
think that that will likely be a mix of manned
and unmanned. The platform which they launch
from? I’m not sure what that’s going to look like.’
Gilday’s remarks underscore the uncertainty
in the Pentagon regarding next-generation
aircraft programs. The navy isn’t alone in
The US Navy is lagging behind where it needs
to be in terms of a sixth-generation fighter.
USAF/Christopher Okula
needing a new warplane but being unclear as
to what that actually means. The US Air Force,
too, is struggling to define the aircraft that
should follow that service’s F-35A. The air force
plans to buy from Lockheed Martin as many as
1,700 F-35s.
In April 2018, senior air force leaders told
Congress there was ‘no silver-bullet solution’
when it comes to developing a new fighter.
The service has established the Next-
Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) office in
order to being developing concepts for the
F-35-successor. Congress appropriated around a
billion dollars for the office in 2020.
The leading NGAD concepts aren’t just
traditional manned fighters. NGAD has
expanded to encompass wingman drones that
can accompany manned aircraft into combat.
Not coincidentally, the US Air Force’s Skyborg
program is scrambling to develop the software
and hardware for operating inexpensive, missile-
armed wingman drones.
Remarkably, the service also is mulling an
air-to-air mission for its new B-21 stealth
bomber. Maj Gen Scott L. Pleus, Pacific Air Forces
Director of Air and Cyber Operations, floated
that idea in September 2019 comments to Air
Force magazine.
‘If we were to characterize [NGAD] as a fighter,
we would be … thinking too narrowly about
what kind of airplane we need in a highly
contested environment,’ Pleus said. ‘A B-21 that
also has air-to-air capabilities’ and the ability ‘to
work with the family of systems to defend itself,
utilizing stealth — maybe that’s where the sixth-
generation airplane comes from.’
The first B-21 could fly as soon as 2021. The air
force wants at least 100 of the subsonic, highly
stealthy new bombers for a cost of around $600
million per plane.
Extrapolating officials’ recent comments
decades into the future, it’s possible to imagine
the US Air Force in the 2030s and 2040s
operating a dwindling number of older fighters
plus F-35s and air-to-air-capable B-21s, all
controlling expendable wingman drones.
The navy and marines also could embrace
that construct, although it’s worth noting that
the sea services don’t at present possess any
combat aircraft as large as a bomber. Think
tanks, however, have urged the fleet to acquire
unmanned attack aircraft that could help to
extend the striking range of the carrier air wings.
To that end, Boeing has been careful to design
its new MQ-25 tanker drone with the basic
infrastructure for future armed roles.
Whether the MQ-25 itself might some day
gain an air-to-air capability is beside the point.
Gilday’s comments should make it clear that the
US Navy considers a mix of manned fighters and
armed wingman drones as one possible way
eventually to replace today’s F-35Cs.
16/12/2019 14:22
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 FLASHBACK // YF-117A NIGHTHAWK

96 February 2020 // www.Key.Aero

96-97 Flashback C.indd 96 16/12/2019 14:13

 Lockheed
YF‑117A
Nighthawk serial
79-10783 was the fourth
of five development aircraft,
and is seen here arriving at
McClellan AFB, California, on May
24, 1991. McClellan was the location
of the F-117 System Program Office (SPO)
from 1985 to 1998. First flown on July 7, 1982,
and accepted by the US Air Force on April 1, 1989,
this Nighthawk served in numerous test programs
at Edwards AFB, California, when it was assigned to the
410th Flight Test Squadron (FLTS). It was retired in March
2007 with 2,464 flight hours on the airframe and placed on
display at the Blackbird Air Park in Palmdale, California. It was
returned to Edwards in 2012 for restoration and eventual display in the
Air Force Flight Test Museum. Jim Dunn

www.Key.Aero // February 2020 97

96-97 Flashback C.indd 97 16/12/2019 14:13

 MARCH ISSUE: ON SALE GLOBALLY FROM FEBRUARY 6 (ON SALE DATE MAY VARY BY REGION)

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98 Next Month C.indd 98 16/12/2019 14:13

 AIRCRAFT • PERSONNEL • SQUADRONS • MISSIONS • PROGRAMS
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