Arrned Forces of the World

USAirForc
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,ry'estern world's largest and most powerf ul air
ihe United States Air Force (USAF) operates
Part I

* : -: than 7,000 aircraft, this impressive total being

:::sted by close to 2,100 additional machines that
=': assigned to the Air National Guard (ANG) and Air
=:':e Reserve (AFRes); the majority could be called
:: active duty in conflict at the discretion of the
:-:sident, acting in his capacity as commander-in-
:- e;. No less impressive are the numbers of per-
-:rnel, figures released for the 1982 fiscal year
-. cating that regularforces totalled 581,000 whilst
-:servists comprised 100,00Q with the ANG and
a-.000 with the AFRes. A further 236,000 civilian
:ersonnel are employed by the USAF, many in an
=:r-ninistrative capacity, although roughly one+hird
:-e responsible for major aircraft maintenance,
-odification and overhaul work performed by the
:'r Force Logistics Command (AFLC).
Having had to employ combat aircraft based on
:re technology of the 1950s for much of the Viet-
^am War, US Air Force tactical assets have in the
:ast 10 years or so been considerably updated, a
srocess which began with the McDonnell Douglas
:-1 5 Eagle in the early f970s and continues today;
:rge numbers of F-1 5s, General Dynamics F-1 6s
=rd Fairchild Republic A-10s have been delivered in
.-3cent years. Procurement of these three types
:ontinues. and, looking to the future, Rockwell's
,l-1 B will at long last provide Strategic Air Command
SAC) with an infusion of new equipment, terminat-
^g a period of what might best be described as
rrake do and mend' in which the veteran Boeing Peacekeeper will, if present planning is followed, A General Dynamics FB- I I I equipped with AGM -
:-52 Stratofortress has been progress vely updated enter service in 1986, although the baslng mode to 69A SRAM (Short Range Attack Missile). The
.-l ensure its continuing effectiveness. SAC wlllalso be employed has still to be decided after a long- decision to purchase the Rockwell B-lB makes it
:e responsible for another new weapon system, the running saga which comes close to emulating TV likely that these aircraftwill not be stretched and
18 Peacekeeper ICBM (lntercontinental soap operas. updated as was once planned.
"iEM-1 Missile), perhaps better known as MX. The
Sallistic Moving to less warlike aspects, airlift capacity has
-. -bject of considerable controversy n recent years, been significantly boosted by the recently-com- new equipment in the shape of the Lockheed C-53
pleted programme of 'stretching' Military Airlift Galaxy, delivery of the first of a projected total of 50
Command's (MAC) fleet of Lockheed C-141A Star- being due to start in 1986. And Alr Training Con--
That ageing giant, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress,
will remain in front-line sewice with the USAF until Lifters, the resulting C-141 B being a far more capa- mand (ATC) will also begin to be updated in the aiter
well into the next decade. A component of ble machine in that it can be refuelled in flight, thus half of the present decade when the Fairchild T-4e
America's strategic nuclear force, the B-52 may bestowing genuine global capability on MAC's NGT (New Generation Trainer) begins to enter se-
:tself carry ALCMs (Air-Launched C ruise M issiles). workhorse. MAC is also to receive an infusion of vice. Due to fly for the first time in April 1985, rn:
T-46 will lnitially supplant, and eventually replace,
the Cessna T-37 with ATC, an eventual total of no
less than 650 being required to fulfil basic training
tasks for the remainder of this century. Even f urther
ahead, in the 1 990s, the USAF expects to deploy the
much-vaunted 'Stealth' technology in the shape of
yet another new bomber whlch is now under de-
velopment by a consortium made up of Boeing,
Northrop and Vought. whllst Lockheed is also
understood to be working on another 'Stealth' pro-
ject, apparently a tactical reconnaissance aircraft
similar in size to the McDonnell Douglas F/A-1 B
Hornet. Fighter-sized stealth prototypes are
rumoured to have been flying in Nevada since 1978.
Responsibility for control of two of the three
elements which form the United States strategic
nuclear triad is vested in Strategic Air Command
(SAC) with headquarters at Offutt AFB on the out-
sklrts of Omaha, Nebraska. Both of these elements
(manned bombers and land-based ICBMs) are to be
the subject of modernization during the remainder
of the present decade, with older aircraft and mis-
siles being retired from the inventory as new and
potentially far more capable weapons are intro-
duced. This process has already begun with a fairly
major reorganization of existing bomber assets
resulting in the withdrawal of the older Boeing B-
52D Stratofortresses. Optimized for conventional
bombing duties, the B-52D provded the backbone
of SAC activity in South East Asia, and its passing
has resulted in some B-52Hs being configured to
perform similar tasks as well as sea survelllance
duties as part of the SAC contribution to the Rapid
Deployment Force. These are, however, unable to
carry quite so large a weapons load. Withdrawal of
the B-52D has resulted in a contraction of the
bomber f leet, the number of active squadrons being
scheduled to fall from 25 Io 21, operating approxi-
mately 270 B-52Gs and B-52Hs plus a f urther 60 or
so General Dynamlcs FB-1 'l 1As. Similarly, six
Strategic Missile Squadrons (SMSs) with the older
liquid-fuelled LGM-25C Titan ll ICBM are to be dis-
banded with the missiles being gradually removed
from their silos, a process which began ln 1982 and
is scheduled for completion in 1987.
Operational elements of SAC are organized withln
two numbered Air Forces: the 9th Air Force with
headquarters at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, and the
15th Air Force with headquarters at March AFB,
California. Both possess aircraft- and missile-
equipped units, command and control devolving via
a number of subordinate Air Divisions to the respec-
tive bomber and missile Wing organizations at the
various air bases.
Essentially, the Bth Air Force is responsible for
those units located to the east of the M ississippi and
is predominantly an aircraft-operatlng command
with eight B-52 Bomb Wings, two FB-1 'l Bomb i
Wings, two Titan Missile Wings and one Minute-
man Missile Wing. Two Air Refuelling Wings, each
with two squadrons of Boeing KC-l35 Strato-
tankers, and two single-squadron Air Refuelling
A USAF MDonnell Douglas KC- 104 Extender
refuels a Boeing B-5 2G S tratofortress. S trategic Air
Command no longer maintains a round-the- clock
airborne alert, but B-52 squadrons are kept on
instant alert. The B-52G's range and endurance
can be multiplied enormously by using tankers.
Groups make up the remarning operational ele-
ments of this command.
Units to the west of the Mississippi constitute the
somewhat larger '1 Sth Air Force, an organization
with a preponderance of lCBMs, there being five
Minuteman Missile Wings and a single Titan Missile
Wing as well as seven B-52 Bomb Wings, a couple
of tanker units and two Strategic Reconnaissance
Wings, one with the Lockheed SR-71As, Lockheed
U-2Rs and Lockheed TR-1 sat Beale AFB, California,
whilst the other has various marks of Boeing RC-1 35
at Offutt, operating alongside EC-135s and Boeing
E-4s engaged in the airborne command post role. ln
addition, the 15th Air Force is also responsible for
the 6th Strategic Wlng at Eielson AFB, Alaska,
which has a single RC-135 reconnarssance
squadron and also controls the activities of rota-
tional KC-135 Stratotankers assigned to the aerial
refuelling mission.
The US Air Force has now ordered 100 Rockwell
B-lBs, whichwill be able topenetrate presentand
predicted hostile defences until at least the mid-
1990s. The B- I B will carry nuclear air-to-ground
missiles, conventional or nuclear free-fall bombs
and extra fuel.