Air Assault Archives
In DC on Thursday, 10 April?
By Pinch
If you are, you may want to cast your eyes to the skies above a little after 1pm up towards the south. You'll see what should be a wonderful collection of historical warbird aircraft flying a tribute to all US airmen who have died fighting for this nation from WW II to the present day.
Boeing is sponsoring this tribute, which was organized by the American Air Museum (AAM) from Duxford, England,
and this particular flight will consist of a B-17 Flying Fortress, a P-51D Mustang, a P-40 Kittyhawk, and a Spitfire.
A qaggle of VIHPs (Very Important Historical Personages - including former British Prime Minister (and honored guest) Sir John Major) will be up at the Air Force Memorial (which we wrote about here, way back in 2006), so if you want to get up close and personal with some Big Wigs, head on up to the AF Memorial in Arlington!
I'd be there, trusty Canon D30 in hand with 300mm zoom zoomin', but I'll be in Norfolk on reserve duty.
More info can be found on Boeing's web page, so if you are able to catch a gander of this special flight, you'll have to drop a note here and let us know how it looked!
Photo of B-17 over Washington DC in late 1930's courtesy of USAAF Archives
There's Something to be said about classics
By John
Forgive the Van Halen Hagar soundtrack, but even the harshest critics have gotta admit... it's kinda appropriate given the content.
Anyway, I love the A-4 Blue Angels --way more than the Hornet-- reminds of the first time I saw 'em as a kid.
Army Aviation Update
By Charlie
Good Article on the current status of all of those helicopters we know and love:
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 18, 2008) - The Army's $14.6-billion aviation modernization program includes fielding the Lakota UH-72A, along with a number of modifications to existing helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.UH-72A Lakota
Since the Army took delivery of its first UH-72A Lakota, a light utility helicopter, in November 2006, its builder, EADS North America, has churned a total of 18 operationally-ready units either on-time or ahead-of-schedule. EADS NA will ramp up production rates from two to three per month by March.
UH-60M Black Hawk
The Sikorsky-built "M" model is the latest of the 20-plus-year-old Black Hawk line of medium-lift helicopters capable of assault, medevac, command and control, aerial sustainment and search and rescue. Delivery of the first of 30 was made to the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell, Ky., beginning last month.
CH-47F Chinook
Since 1961, the Chinook has been the heavy-lift workhorse of the Army and will continue in that capacity until around 2030, officials said, with significant upgrades through the recapitalization of Comanche program money which will make the aircraft more reliable, less costly to operate and open up joint digital connectivity requirements to the future combat force.
AH-64D Apache Longbow
With more than 800 in service, the Army's premiere attack helicopter, the AH-64D Apache Longbow tank-killer will be going through what is referred to as block III improvements in 2008 which includes increasing digitization, incorporation of the joint tactical radio system, enhanced engines and drive systems, a new composite rotor blade and will have the capability to control unmanned aerial vehicles.
OH-58D Kiowa Warrior (Armed Scout Helicopter)"The Kiowa Warrior faces some obsolescence issues and it has some force protection and cost challenges ahead, but the Army made the decision to fund safety enhancements, address obsolescence and keep this aircraft in the fight to 2018 or beyond because the warfighter demands it," said Col. Hayes.
Kiowa will eventually be replaced by the ARH-70A Arapaho which is still being developed. Eventually, there will be 512 ARH-70As in the active Army and in four National Guard battalions currently equipped with the AH-64A.
Good updates, but the only one I've had news on is the Lakota. Blackhawks and Apaches are going to be the mainstays of Army Aviation for a long time. The new choppers, like the Lakota, are the ones that interest me.
Swiss Air Force Redux
By John
Switzerland. It ain't just skiing and skittles.
This clip is a cousin of the one I posted back in July. Some footage repeats, but shit... who cares? These guys look like they train to run close air support missions against the abdominal snowman, so close they fly to the Alpine peaks.
Question: who wins in a dogfight? The Swiss F-5s, or the "new" Iranian Saegehs with their dreaded second dihedral tail?
Read More »
Warning
By John
Totally rad Osprey pictures ahead.
And it looks like we got em to stop crashing!
....
Knock on wood and all that.
What is Wrong with the Air Force?
By John
Buckle up folks, this one is a bear.
JERUSALEM, Oct. 13 — A study of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war commissioned by the United States Air Force and to be published this month concludes that Israel’s use of air power was of diminishing value as the fight dragged on because it was used without enough discrimination.Although the war was widely criticized in Israel and abroad for relying too heavily on the air force, the study argues that air power remains the most flexible tool in fighting groups like Hezbollah, because ground forces alone could not have achieved Israel’s aims. Israel’s error, the study concludes, was insufficient discernment in its airstrikes.
By bombing too many targets of questionable importance for its aims, and not explaining why it bombed what it did, Israel lost the war for public opinion, according to the author of the study, William M. Arkin, an expert in assessing bomb damage. “Israel bombed too much and bombed the wrong targets, falling back upon cookie-cutter conventional targeting in attacking traditional military objects,” Mr. Arkin wrote. “Individual elements of each target group might have been justified, but Israel also undertook an intentionally punishing and destructive air campaign against the people and government of Lebanon.”
If this guy could stick to straight-shooting analysis, I'd have no problem with the Air Force drawing on him as a resource. The problem is, everything that he writes is corrupted by his ideology. His military "analysis" was slanted enough to draw the attention of The Weekly Standard back in 2003:
For starters, he is the scribbler who launched the assault on Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin a week ago by providing NBC with tapes of Boykin speaking in churches, and then followed with a Los Angeles Times op-ed that accused the general of being "an intolerant extremist" and a man "who believes in Christian 'jihad'" (Arkin later admitted on my radio program that Boykin never used the term "jihad").Arkin also wrote that "Boykin has made it clear that he takes his orders not from his Army superiors but from God--which is a worrisome line of command." This statement, like the "jihad" quotation appears to be pure fiction.
ARKIN TOLD ME he got his tip on Boykin's faith talks from a Pentagon source, which suggests that the general has an enemy inside the Pentagon. But if, as most of Boykin's critics have argued, the danger presented by the general's private talks about his faith is their effect on the Islamic world, then why did Arkin rush to publicize these private, little-noticed talks that he believes will hurt the U.S. abroad?
The answer is best found in Arkin's own speech to an audience at the U.S. Naval War College on September 25, 2002. In this lengthy and vitriolic attack on the Bush administration, Arkin admitted to feeling "cynical about the fact that we are going to war to enhance the economic interests of the Enron class," and declared that "the war against terrorism is overstated." Arkin believed, in fact, that the war "is not the core United States national security interest today." He rhetorically asked the audience: "Aren't I just another leftist, self-hating American?" and condemned the administration for taking "enormous liberties with American freedoms." "The war against terrorism," he said, "if it is a war at all, is not World War II or the Cold War, and it is grasping at empty patriotism to claim that it is." He warned of "our tendency to fall back upon secrecy and government control." And he concluded by warning that our foreign policy "convey[s] the wrong message, which is that we have no values, that we are for sale...."
Arkin caused a national uproar earlier this year when he accused American soldiers of being "mercenaries." So yeah, while he's got the cred to talk about the war, it's pretty obvious that his inability to separate factual military analysis from his strong political convictions makes him completely unreliable as an analyst.
So let's analyze his analysis.
“Israel bombed too much and bombed the wrong targets, falling back upon cookie-cutter conventional targeting in attacking traditional military objects,” Mr. Arkin wrote. “Individual elements of each target group might have been justified, but Israel also undertook an intentionally punishing and destructive air campaign against the people and government of Lebanon.”
So if I'm reading this correctly, Israel restricted itself to "cookie-cutter" aim points against strictly military targets, while they waged an unrestricted air war against the Lebanese people.
Yeah, it confused me too.
This is junior high crap, real armchair general stuff. If the US Air Force is "influenced" by Arkin's report, then the Air Force has bigger problems than its budget. Israel's air war was a highly sophisticated, force-centric campaign. Sophisticated enough, the Israelis thought, to do the job of ground troops. Hence the light grunt footprint back in summer 2006. Which, both Arkin and I agree, was foolish..... although for completely different reasons.
Here's a simplified version of the problem:
Arkin is regurgitating a popular meme in anti-war circles, that the Untied States and Israel indiscriminately use air power in their quest to defeat Islamic terrorists, despite the fact that Hezbollah is clearly the one ignoring the established law of armed conflict. It's become a common trademark with Arkin's military analysis. He disguises his opinion pieces by garnishing them with all the right military language, "target sets" and "precision air campaigns," and his only interest seems to be in pushing his ideology.
So that's that. He's a self professed leftist (not that there's anything wrong with that) and his analysis fits a common leftist narrative.
The bigger question is, why did the Air Force hire a used car salesman like Arkin? Or to paraphrase Michael, the OPFOR reader who sent me this link, "What is wrong with the Air Force????"
The New York Times answers:
While critical of how Israel used its air force, Mr. Arkin defends the flexibility of air power in counterterrorism. Although Israel was retaliating for a Hezbollah raid that captured two soldiers and killed others, he considers the war pre-emptive. He said Israel used the raid as a pretext to destroy most of Hezbollah’s longer-range Syrian and Iranian missiles and launchers, which posed the largest threat to Israel.In a post-9/11 world, Mr. Arkin said, the likelihood of the United States’ engaging in another ground war like Iraq is very small. A better model is the fight against the Taliban in 2001, he said, emphasizing air power, special operations and covert action. The 2006 conflict was only the second war of “pure counterterrorism,” he said, which is why the Pentagon wanted to study it.
Why did the Air Force hire Arkin? Because Arkin makes the Air Force relevant again. He writes what they want to hear: that air power is critical to a successful COIN strategy, that properly executed air campaigns can win low-level wars, and that technology -not boots on the ground- is the key to winning to the War on Terrorism.
Think it'd piss off Arkin's buddies at Human Rights Watch and Greenpeace that he's one of the biggest advocates of Secretary Rumsfeld's failed Transformation concept?
This is what the Air Force needs to be told, folks. With the Soviet Union dissolved, they have a dozen secondary missions and no primary one. There's no big bad Bear to fight anymore, just a loosely organized confederation of platoon sized cells..... mosquitoes that the Air Force wants to kill with its cannons. They need someone to say that they're still important, so they hired Arkin to say it.
Unfortunately, despite Arkin's expert "bomb assessment," the Lebanon War proved one thing. This war is a grunt war, it can't be won with the "flexible" employment of air power, or any use of air power for that matter. It takes hearts and minds to win hearts and minds folks, something that a PFC running patrols in Mosul could tell you....but William Arkin and impressive academic resume could not.
Caution: Adult Content
By John
How about a little naughty bird on bird action this morning?
Hawt.
That's a Marine Super Stallion assuming the alpha-male position over a weaker, lesser Blackhawk below.
Establish dominance, dude.
Zoomie Receives Distinguished Flying Cross
By John
Kinda reads like an action novel:
An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot assigned to the 35th Fighter Squadron here was recently awarded the Distinguish Flying Cross for his extraordinary achievement while flying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Capt. David Anderson, a 35th FS flight commander, received the medal from Col. C.Q. Brown, the 8th Fighter Wing commander......
As the enemy fire intensified, the JTAC ordered a strafe pass with the F-16's 20mm cannon. Anderson said his 500-pound bombs were too dangerous to employ due to the enemy's close proximity to the friendly forces.
"I understood the urgency of the request, but was still uncertain of the friendly and enemy positions," he said. "We are trained to be extremely careful when employing any kind of weapon close to friendly forces or civilians due to the risk of fratricide."
Anderson executed a fourth low, fast pass of the target area in an attempt to gain sight of the enemy. Flying over the target area at 300 feet and 500 knots, he was able to catch sight of both the U.S. troops and insurgents just meters apart.
"I received special clearance and I rolled in from the north, identified my target and opened fire with my 20mm cannon," he said. "In three successive strafe passes, I fired all 510 rounds in my gun, silencing the enemy position. Brewmaster 46 said in later conversations that he was so close to the enemy that as my high explosive 20mm rounds impacted, he was showered by dirt and debris."
Anderson said at this point he was low on fuel and needed to be able to get to a tanker to receive fuel or return to base and land.
Following Anderson's last strafe pass Hound 71 came back to the scene and took control of the target area allowing Anderson to depart to the tanker.
At the end of the fight, Anderson said there were six reported enemy fighters killed by 20mm rounds. One of those insurgents was killed in the act of setting up a 60 mm mortar with eight rounds ready to fire.
Fine flyin', boy-o.
Oopsie!
By John
"Hey, so.... does anyone know why these bombs are warm?"
Nuclear warheads mistakenly flown on B-52, landing at Barksdale AFB -
A B-52 bomber mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, resulting in an Air Force-wide investigation, according to three officers who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.The B-52 was loaded with Advanced Cruise Missiles, part of a Defense Department effort to decommission 400 of the ACMs. But the nuclear warheads should have been removed at Minot before being transported to Barksdale, the officers said. The missiles were mounted onto the pylons of the bomber’s wings.
Advanced Cruise Missiles carry a W80-1 warhead with a yield of 5 to 150 kilotons and are specifically designed for delivery by B-52 strategic bombers.Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ed Thomas said the transfer was safely conducted and the weapons were in Air Force custody and control at all times.
However, the mistake was not discovered until the B-52 landed at Barskdale, which left the warheads unaccounted for during the approximately 3-1/2 hour flight between the two bases, the officers said.
Today would be just a super time to go over nuclear incident terminology.
Dull Sword - minor incident involving nukes. Convoy breaks down or something mundane like that....
Bent Spear - DoD directive 5230.16 says "Any nuclear weapon significant incidents other than nuclear weapons accidents or war risk detonations, actual or possible."
Broken Arrow - nuclear accident that results in a radioactive yield, but doesn't risk nuclear war.
Nucflash - Bad News Bears!!! Bomb went off!
Empty Quiver - is what that crappy movie with John Travolta and Christian Slater should have been called. Means someone took off with a bomb.
Shooting from the hip here, but I'm thinking the B-52 incident would be a Bent Spear.
Meanwhile, I like Lex's take.
Today
By John
Is National Airborne! Day. Punch outta here and spend the afternoon at Blackfive, his coverage is awesome.
Thunderbirds in the Backyard
By John
So last month Bullnav was plenty eager to show off his Blue Angels pictures, from their practice demos flown directly over his neighborhood.
Well buddy, I'll see you your pictures and raise you a video.
Here's a quickie clip (six seconds) of the Air Force's fighter demonstration team, The Thunderbirds, buzzing directly over my backyard. I think that the field back behind the house was some sort of ground reference point for the T-birds, they spent the better part of three afternoons zipping around directly overhead. I'll set up with some real camera equipment next year, I think.
This was the perfect Saturday afternoon, by the way. I woke up at 7am and got coals glowing in my smoker, spent the entire, beautiful sunny day on my back porch drinking beer, smoking a Texas style brisket, and enjoying my own private air show overhead.
Yeah, life was pretty freakin' okay.
Air Force to Stand Up SOC COIN Squadron?
By John
Found this interesting bit from the most excellent Captain's Journal:
Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley has told Jane’s he is considering the creation of a new counterinsurgency (COIN) squadron of A-10A Thunderbolt II aircraft for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC).Gen Moseley said he is mulling the possibility of putting a squadron of A-10A close-support aircraft inside AFSOC to serve the Special Operations Command, which has the lead engagement role in the US-declared global war on terrorism.
“There’s a variety of … counterinsurgency aircraft and other things out there that we’ve been looking at that would facilitate AFSOC’s partnership with the Special Operations Command,” Gen Moseley told Jane’s on 12 July.
“I’ve even asked: is it reasonable to put a squadron or so of A-10s into Special Operations Command?”
The A-10 is widely used to provide close air support to coalition and friendly forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, it can be used against all ground targets including armoured platforms.
Gen Moseley’s interest in a new A-10 COIN squadron follows recent reports of a new AFSOC proposal for an “irregular warfare” wing. Possible aircraft being floated to fill a strike role in the wing have ranged from a modified air-to-ground Beechcraft AT-6B to an Embraer Tucano or Super Tucano.
However, Gen Moseley cautioned that he is not yet fully committed to the idea of a COIN air unit but is considering it because he believes the USAF needs to be able to meet the “full spectrum” of threats — from COIN to state-on-state conflict.
“I don’t know if I’m wedded to [the COIN unit] so much as I would like to know the pluses and minuses,” said Gen Moseley.
The A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft — known informally as the Warthog — may offer some key advantages if Gen Moseley decides to establish the COIN squadron. The A-10 was specifically designed to be highly survivable in close air support missions. It is highly maneuverable at low air speeds and altitudes, boasts a long loiter time and also a titanium cockpit and redundant flight controls.
If established, the A-10 COIN squadron would be the first dedicated strike aircraft unit for COIN since the Douglas A-1 Skyraider: a propeller-driven ground-support aircraft used in the Vietnam War. The aircraft made a name for itself carrying large bomb loads, absorbing heavy fire and demonstrating prolonged endurance — traits similar to those possessed by the A-10.
“We fought all the way through Southeast Asia with A-1s living in the special operations world,” noted Gen Moseley.
The Texan has primarily served us as a trainer aircraft, sending a prop driven bird back into the combat Air Force would certainly be interesting. Here's what it'd look like:
I know some South American nations, Columbia is one, have used the Tucano in a CAS role with solid results. In a perfect world, the Army would drop its objection to the Air Force developing offensive helicopters and Congress bumping funding so that we could stand up a few COIN wings armed with a variety of airframes, as opposed to just a single squadron.
But to be honest, I'm just interested in seeing the Air Force find its niche in this new war.
Aussies Brits? <3 American Airpower
By John
Stole another one off of Lt Col Patrick. What can I say? Those sharp pilot eyes of his can spot a great video from a mile away.
Another naughty language warning.
I'm not sure if the grunts were actually calling in the strike or just reporting 'bombs on target," but it'd certainly be interesting if we've blurred the line between nations to the point where Brits, Aussies, and Canadians can tap into America's formidable combat air resources.
Hotel Tango: Duty in the Desert
The New Air Force Gunship
By John
Requirements for the Air Combat Command’s (ACC’s) bomber and the gunship are still being drawn up. But, both commands agree on some key characteristics: a degree of low observability (LO)—not necessarily full stealth—and endurance. The future gunship will look nothing like today’s lumbering platform, and it could actually wind up appearing more like a B-2. “I don’t think the transport next-generation gunship will be on a mobility platform because you are not going to need to carry around all that weight,” says Lt. Gen. Michael Wooley, outgoing Afsoc commander. “If you are not carrying around that big gun and all of that heavy ammunition you don’t need a big [transport] that is in itself vulnerable.” Wooley will be replaced by his current vice commander, Maj. Gen. Donald Wurster, later this year.ACC has announced it will not push the state-of-the-art for its next-generation bomber, which must be fielded beginning in 2018. That time frame and limited funding are prompting the Air Force to scale back earlier aspirations for a highly stealthy platform equipped with exotic directed-energy weapons. Afsoc has traditionally latched onto the Air Force’s larger buys when procuring a platform in order to prevent having to dedicate funding to a separate development project.
Sounds cool. Maybe we'll build more than eight of them this time around.
Worldwide Standard Does Paris
By John
In a manly sort of way, believe it or not.
The City of Lights is several times more expensive than it was back in the late eighties, it is even more overrun with pickpockets, but a 12-year reign by one of the more contrarian European heads of state has come to an end. Everyone asks now if France can restore its former glory, patch up its relations with Washington, and address the social dislocations that cause increasing strains with its Muslim population.But most of these developments pale in comparison to how much the Le Bourget air show has changed since I first saw it twenty years ago. Called simply “the Paris Air Show” by most of those who attend it, the biennial aerospace extravaganza (officially, the Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget) symbolizes the long, distinguished history of aviation in France by being held at the same Le Bourget aerodrome where Charles Lindbergh landed after his 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis.
And so began the WWS Team's painfully awesome coverage of this year's world renowed aviation expo. There's a ton of articles on the various exhibits, so visit their June archives if you're thirsty for the whole shebang.
Here's what caught my eye:
First Impressions (with uber-nerdy Chicom leadership!)
And this interview with Senator James Inhofe was phenomenal:
Inhofe stopped himself as he was about to say that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would allow the United States to maintain its air superiority, instead saying that "a lot of people don't realize, but during the 1990s--the drawdown during the Clinton administration--we cut back on modernization. In fact, I was so proud of [former Air Force chief of staff] General Jumper (VMI class of 1966, sends John), who had the courage to stand up in 1998 and admit that the Su series that the Russians were making were superior to our best strike fighters in some ways...so the F-22 and the Joint Strike Fighter are going to put us back [on top], unquestionably.On F-22: "I think we need to get the numbers up."
Inhofe said that "we do need to have the F-22 [production numbers] enhanced, as well as the Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the C-17--our lift capabilities are more strained than they have been [at any time] in the history of the United States...[when the C-17 program got first started] we never dreamed we'd have Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and all the lift needs that we have today. So our deficiency isn't only in strike vehicles."
Yeah, we need to modernize. And it's hard not to justify the spending when you consider that A) our entire total force strategy is built on the cornerstone of air supremacy and B) our current defense budget is at one of its lowest points in history. Don't believe me? Then take a peek at this important looking graph courtesy of the Standard:
The pictures rock, btw.
Oh and on the topic of booth babes, and how no respectable expo is complete without em? Yeah, the Standard --in all their tireless effeciency-- has that angle covered as well:
Worldwide Standard's June archives is where you'll find the rest.
IMAX's Operation Red Flag
By John
Like most IMAX films, this doc on the supreme logistical and technological achievement involved in running Red Flag is absolutely superb.
The obvious fighter eye-candy aside, what makes these clips particularly choice is their detailed attention to the Air Force's unique (and I do mean unique, no nation on Earth can match) ability to seamlessly integrate fighters, bombers, spy planes, tankers, and C2 aircraft from multiple nations into a single, synergistic strike package.
Brilliantly done, take a look.
...and part II:
You can order the two-disc DVD set here.
Russian Raptor?
By John
Russian engine manufacturer NPO Saturn's website has provided what appears to be a first glimpse of Russia's fifth-generation fighter under development as part of the PAK FA project.And presumably an enclosed weapons bay? Uber-powerful radar? Sounds like they copied everything but the 200 million dollar price tag. In which case, hey...maybe we should buy some.NPO Saturn has been selected to supply engines for the Sukhoi T-50, which won the Russian ministry of defence's tender over a rival submission from RSK MiG. The simplified image of the T-50 shows it to be a twin-engine design with a classic aerodynamic layout resembling the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. However, its smaller horizontal and vertical control surfaces reflect the fact that the aircraft is expected to use vectored thrust for pitch, yaw and roll control.
Still, I hope their fighter plagarizing goes as well as when the Ruskies ripped off our space shuttle design.
Montage of the Day: A-10 Round Up
By John
This year's Red Flag Alaska has just been a treasure trove of great photos. I love faster movers and all, but the Hog...man, as any grunt will tell you, the Hog is special. And hey, they're probably much easier to photograph than the lightning quick Raptor.
Call it Warthog Day here at OPFOR. Click through for the larger pics:
I don't know why they call it search and rescue capability, all the A-10 does is grease bad guys while the choppers pluck the pilots out of the danger zone. Anyway...
Capt. Dustin Ireland fires a missile as his A-10 Thunderbolt II breaks over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex April 24 during live-fire training. The Captain Reynolds is an A-10 pilot from the 355th Fighter Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
A-10 Thunderbolt IIs fly over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex April 24 during live-fire training.
1st Lt. Dale Stark fires an AGM-65 Maverick missile from an A-10 Thunderbolt II April 24 over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex during live-fire training. Lieutenant Stark is an A-10 pilot from the 355th Fighter Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.
A-10 Thunderbolt IIs break over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex and one aircraft drops a flare during live-fire training April 24.
Capt. Will Reynolds drops Mk-82 bombs from an A-10 Thunderbolt II over the Pacific Alaska Range Complex April 24 during live-fire training.
I probably could have rolled Hog Sunset into this post for effeciency's sake, but I'm pretty sure ya'll don't care.
Nobody's First Choice
By John
Mike Goldfarb takes the Air Force to task over our new CSAR bird:
CSAR stands for Combat Search and Rescue. The Air Force currently operates 102 Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters to perform that mission. The HH-60s average 25 years old, and the service is desperate to replace them. Last November, the Air Force announced a winner in the competition to select a replacement: the Boeing HH-47, a new variant of the venerable Chinook.Almost immediately, concerns arose about how the twin-rotor Chinook had beaten out the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland-built US101 and Sikorsky's H-92. Protests from Lockheed and Sikorsky ultimately led the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to side with the losing companies. The GAO reported that "upon our review of the record, including a hearing conducted by our Office, we find that the Air Force's evaluation of O&S [Operations and Support] costs was inconsistent with the RFP [Request for Proposal]."
Yeah, and why on earth would we want a fat-assed bird like the Chinook for a light, fast, and stealthy tactical mission like see-sar? Are they planning on bringing back the downed aircraft too?
There's been corruption issues with Boeing and the Air Force in the past, EELV and Airbus both come to mind. Not implying, mind you, just sayin'.
You know, for all the hootin' and tootin' the Air Force has made about the importance of stealth, I'm kind of curious why they picked a decidedly unstealthy prototype for a mission which -by definition- requires a bird with the smallest footprint available. And look, I'm not deviating from the party line here either. Chief of Staff Michael Mosely (an Aggie, good dude) testified recently that "the Chinook would have not been his first choice, but that the Air Force would make it work."
Not too long ago, the USAF moved from the MH53J Pave Low to Blackhawks called Pave hawks to perform the Combat Search and Rescue missions. This is primarily a Special Operations aircraft, and, if memory serves, the USAF 20th SO Wing flew those missions - a great unit if ever there was one...saved some good people I knew upon occasion.So, now, there's an opportunity to get a really kick ass bird to go in and get our men and women behind the lines undetected, properly ventilate the bad people, and get out of dodge quickly. But, instead, it appears to be a giant freakin' boondoggle.
Whiskey tango foxtrot, over?
But, just to be fair, here's the other side of the argument:
Boeing’s HH-47 Chinook is believed to have won the $10 billion, 141-aircraft CSAR-X combat search-and-rescue competition because the helicopter offered much of the capability the US Air Force was looking for “out of the box”.The competing Lockheed Martin US101 and Sikorsky HH-92 would both have required significant development work to get to the initial Block 0 capability required by the USAF – and more to get to the definitive Block 10 configuration.
Boeing argued during the competition that its HH-47 – based on the MH-47G special-operations Chinook already in service with the US Army – was “Block 0+” because it already had some of the capabilities called for in Block 10, most particularly the multi-mode terrain-following/terrain-avoidance (TF/TA) radar.
The manufacturer argued that clearance of the TF/TA radar – required for covert ingress and egress at low level – would be an expensive and time-consuming process for the competing bidders. Lockheed, however, pointed out that it, and not Boeing, was in fact the company that cleared the TF/TA radar on the MH-47.
But the fact remains the existing MH-47G met a significant number of the USAF’s CSAR-X requirements. Changes required to meet the Block 0 specification include: digital automatic flight controls, which are already fitted to the CH-47F; rotor de-ice, with a heated blade design available from the CH-46E; wirestrike protection; enhanced health and usage monitoring system; dual rescue hoist; and environmentally controlled patient treatment area. The biggest structural change will be a larger, 1.22m (48in)-wide side door. The in-flight refuelling probe required for CSAR-X is already installed on the MH-47G.
Still, that's a pretty expensive buy for a bird that boasts alot of crap that's "already installed." You know?
Someone You Should Know: Steely Eyed Chick Warthog Pilot
By John
Blackfive profiles Major Kimberly Cambell for his weekly Someone You Should Know series with the Pundit Review guys.
Kevin and Greg at WRKO also linked Major Cambell's Distinguished Flying Cross citation:
Captain Campbell’s aviation prowess and coolness under pressure directly contributed to the successful completion of the critical mission and recovery of a valuable combat aircraft. The outstanding heroism and selfless devotion to duty displayed by Captain Campbell reflect great credit upon herself and the United States Air Force.Translating the usual obtuse Air Force-ese into English, Major Cambell's Warthog was seriously damaged by an Iraqi SAM during OIF. She had to first right the thing -the hog was upside down- with Saddam's Republican Guard doing their best to finish her off. Then she had to land the A-10 in manual mode, no hydraulics, a maneuver that has claimed the lives of many an A10 pilot.
Thanks for finally getting around to profiling a
Ospreys Take Flight
By John
I have to admit, I've been a bit of skeptical of the Osprey program since the project was announced in the 90s.
But hey...
Maybe I'm wrong.
Christian Lowe (his video) came away impressed.
I have always been a contrarian when it comes to the Osprey. I do not see any alternative but to make tiltrotor technology work. Helicopters have a physical limit. They can’t go more than a certain speed because of the drag of the rotors. Now I’m sure I’ll get some people much smarter than me to argue this, but when it comes down to it, helicopters are just not going to cut it for much longer. We need the Osprey, and I have always believed the V-22 would revolutionize STOVL flight and be very effective for the Corps.......
On April 13, 20 of us flew off the Pentagon helipad on a Sea Knight that was part of the presidential fleet. While the interior was a lot nicer than the 46s I’d flown in during deployments to Iraq and elsewhere, it still performed like the old phrogs I knew and (grudgingly) loved: slow and low…
We landed on a field at Quantico and watched as our CH-46 departed and two Ospreys came screaming overhead. Their speed and size was jaw-dropping. The rotors are huge and they moved across the sky much quicker than a 46 ever could.
After a short interview with the squadron commander, Lt. Col. Paul Rock, it was time for the ride. We filed onto the aircraft, strapped ourselves in and lifted off. I kept my eyes out the back window and also scanned the small side window to see how the nacelles (the engine and rotor housings at the end of each wing) were oriented. We flew most of the first minutes of the flight with the nacelles at a sort of 45 degree pitch.
Then it all changed.
As soon as the pilot shifted the engines to full forward, transitioning to conventional flight, the Osprey lurched ahead, pulling all of us toward the rear of the aircraft. It was really hard to stay upright the thrust was so dramatic. It reminded me a bit of a catapult shot off an aircraft carrier (notice in the video how fast the ground flows below, and see how hard it is to keep the camera steady when the Osprey banks to the right or left).
We jinked and jived over the rolling woods of Quantico, then evened out and glided in for a quick landing in a pretty large field. I noticed the whiff of burning grass as we settled down, an indication of the intense heat streaming out of the powerful engines in helicopter mode. We hovered a bit more – turning left and right – then lifted out dramatically and sped ahead in conventional flight. After more banking and turning (with a few of my colleagues making use of the airsick bags handed out before the flight) the Osprey alighted once more on the field where we began.
I’ll let you judge for yourself how impressive the Osprey’s flight characteristics are (please forgive how raw the video is). But I’ll tell you something, every single one of us – even the pukers – was beaming when we emerged from the plane. It was one of the most exciting rides I’ve ever taken – and I’ve taken some pretty cool ones.
So there's your explanation as to why -despite an atrocious safety record during trials- the brass insisted on deploying this airframe.
That, and I support any technological advancement that inches us closer to the Pelican Dropship from Halo.
Bouhammer, OUT!
Blue vs. Green
By John
Is the Air Force memorial ugly? Aye, says former F-4 aviator Tantor.
Mixed feelings, I'll get to that in a second. What I was really taken with was Tantor's evaluation of the green vs. blue Air Force:
The Air Force is culturally divided into two camps: The Blue Air Force and The Green Air Force. The Blue Air Force wears the blue uniform to work while the Green Air Force wears fatigues and flight suits. The Blues do essential tasks like stock the warehouses, maintain the motor pool, and push piles of paperwork around base. The Greens take wing in chariots of fire like sky gods. The Greens are shooters, the Blues shoe clerks. The Blues are preoccupied with trivia like stopping people from whizzing in the woods outside the Officer’s Club after Happy Hour and making sure your ribbons are in the right order on your official photo. The Greens are preoccupied with putting bombs on target.There is a clash of cultures within the Air Force, where the Blues impose their spit-shined, regulation-happy, utopian culture on the Green’s realist, pragmatic, quick and dirty combat rules culture. The Air Force Memorial is a monument to the Blue Air Force. I’m surprised they don’t have a bronze statue of a clerk at his desk typing a form in triplicate. That’s what it’s all about for the Blues.
And that post, right there, effectively sums up why I love the Air Force just as much as I hate the Air Force. The blue Air Force is contrary to everything that I learned at VMI. At the Institute, it was adapt, overcome, think outside the box, find solutions, not excuses. Rules and regs are handy, but the mark of a true military man is his ability to quickly evaluate mission necessity vs. military regulation, make a command decision, and live up to the responsibility of that decision for better or worse. That's the stuff leaders are made of.
The blue Air Force is stop, ask permission, form a committee, and never....ever...operate outside the parameters of your squadron policy letters. It's regulation to the point of stupidity. My friends and I have a theory, that in 50 or so years the Air Force will have so choked itself with bureaucracy, unnecessary training (operational risk management and their whole stinking safety program comes to mind), and bottom line stupid bullsh*t that we will cease to be able to perform our function. Which is, as Tantor said, bombs on target.
One higher-up who recognized this cultural failure explained it to me as "command incest," where the Air Force breeds officers who only understand how to push Officer Performance Reports, write official AF memos, and micromanage.. who -in turn- foster that pen and paper style of leadership on the next generation of leaders, and so the problem gets worse and worse.
Now I'm a green suiter, kind of. We're operational but we don't see a whole lot of operations. So I live in a hybrid world in between the laid back, get-it-done mentality of the pilot community and the uptight, pencil pushing blue Air Force. I'll never forget having limited time to study for a major check in our simulator, only to be told that I had to drop the books so that I could make sure that there were no personnel listed in our security binder that had moved on to another assignment. I had to drop my mission, proficiency in the weapon system...my primary reason for being...so that I could spend 5 hours updating a book that is looked over, at most, a half dozen times a year.
The VMI man in me was screaming to tell my Flight Commander to go sit on a stick, but the blue Air Force officer in me trudged off to the binder, putting off the mission so I could further sustain our bloated squadron bureaucracy.
If it sounds like I'm bitter...well, I am. Many of my fellow CGOs have tried to upchannel this cultural plague up the chain in hopes that we start thinking like warfighters and less like accountants. More emphasis on the mission, less on the miles of paperwork that the Air Force creates for itself daily. But it falls on deaf ears...too easy to dismiss us as disgruntled airman than enact a major cultural shift in how we operate.
So y'know, after all that....
I think Tantor might have a point.
The whole design of the Air Force Memorial is inspired by the bomb burst aerial stunt performed by the Thunderbirds, the Air Force demonstration squadron that flies at air shows. The Thunderbirds are also a fine group but the core mission of the Air Force is not to entertain the general public with flying circuses.
Big Hotel Tango to SMASH for the find.
Caught in the Act
By John
Sneaky Brits stealing Air Force gas.
Didn't we go to war for this or something? You know, gas? At least that's what a giant paper mache head of Donald Rumsfeld told me the other day.
However, I digress. The fuel is all theirs if they're helping our Zoomie freedom fighters serve a giant helping of precision guided justice to the Taliban. You know, out there in that other theater.
Israeli Air Force in Action
By John
I'm not sure what to make of this...I think that it's a video game intro? Either way, once they switch to actual footage, the clip is a fine summary of the Israeli Air Force's distinguished history.
Course it's like Moshe Dayan said, "in war, it always helps if one can arrange to fight Arabs." Not to take away from the IAF's accomplishments...just sayin', is all.
Farewell Tommy
By John
F-14 Tomcat backseater and OPFOR guest blogger Pinch Paisley covered the final farewell to one of the prettiest damn fighter jets ever to grace the combat airspace. In his post:
As I tell my students during my Combat Identification lectures, if you see a Tomcat anywhere in the world now, it is Iranian and can be positively identified as a bogey - a hostile - a bad guy. No ifs, ands, buts or maybes about it.
Boeing's New EA-18 Growler: They're Grrrreat!
By John
Boeing Delivers First EA-18 Growler to the Navy (Aero News) --
Just over one month since the aircraft's first flight, representatives with Boeing told ANN Monday the company delivered the first EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack (AEA) aircraft to the US Navy test site at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD.The first EA-18G, known as aircraft EA-1, made the two-hour flight from St. Louis to Maryland with US Navy pilot Lt. Matt Doyle and weapons system operator US Navy Cmdr. Jamie Engdahl on board. EA-1 is the first of two test aircraft built under a System Development and Demonstration contract Boeing signed with the Navy on December 29, 2003.
The Tomcat gets a thousand farewells, but no love for the venerable old EA-6 Prowler? Heh, I'm sure it has nothing to do with Prowler pilots getting a sleek new fighter jet.
She is pretty. And I suppose speed and maneuverability are useful on SEAD missions. Still, the Navy could have learned a thing or two from the Air Force and made their Wild Weasels invisible as opposed to sleek and slippery.
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The Swiss have an Air Force?
By John
Oh yeah. And it looks like they know how to play, too. Thanks to OPFORian Chris T. for sending in this very cool video of the Swiss Air Force getting down and dirty. The footage is superb, the maneuvering spectacular, and the backdrop of the Swiss Alps is absolutely beautiful.
I spy Mirage IIIs and F-18s, but had some trouble identifying the other jets.
Cue Blue Oyster Cult
By John
9/14/2006 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The Air Force chief of staff announced "Reaper" has been chosen as the name for the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle.The Air Force is the Department of Defense's executive agent for designating and naming military aerospace vehicles. In the case of the Reaper, Gen. T. Michael Moseley made the final decision after an extensive nomination and review process, coordinated with the other services. "The name Reaper is one of the suggestions that came from our Airmen in the field. It's fitting as it captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system," General Moseley said.
Hell, beats the Black Mamba.
**Update** Below the fold, OPFORian Mike sends the Saturday Night Live version....
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Picture of the Day: Marine Corps Fedex
By John
When it absolutely has to be destroyed in 30 minutes or less.....
Hook it up to one of the USMC's new V-22s!
And.....
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Rumors of War
By Pinch
Murdoc over in his place posts this tidbit from the McMinnville, OR News-Register about their scheduled F-14D Tomcat museum aircraft (the planned centerpiece of their collection, no doubt):
But the flareup of violence between the Israeli army and Hezbollah and Hamas militias in Lebanon and Gaza led to a change in plans. The Navy, which had been planning to replace the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt's F-14 Tomcats with newer, more multi-dimensional F-18 Hornets, has decided to instead dispatch the carrier to the Middle East with its current squadron of F-14s - including the one promised to the museum.
SOP. Standard Operating Procedure here. My spies down around Oceana say that this is just that, a rumor, and that there is no buzz about any emergency deployment of the USS THODORE ROOSEVELT and its airwing, which would include VF-31, the last Tomcat squadron left in the US Navy.
The Tomcatters are heading to "the Boat" for carrier qualifications in the near future, though, but that has been a scheduled evolution so the aircrew can maintain their required qualifications to land onboard the ship. They need to maintain those quals because it is indeed true that they, and the rest of the airwing and the ship, are one of the "stand-by" carriers in the navy's 6+2 Fleet Response Plan scheme.
Under this schedule, the Navy retains the capability to deploy 6 carriers immediately in a national emergency and then 2 additional carriers within a certain time limit after. Those additional 2 carriers include the one that just returned from deployment, in this case the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
Knowing how wacky this world can be, though, I'll just go on record as saying "Who knows?" and leave it at that.
But hey!.....Any excuse for a Tomcat picture!
Marines Want Space Plane
By John
Is a Space Ship One type space craft destined for military purposes? According to the Marines, aye-sir! Military.com's David Axe writes:
Unlike the Air Force, Navy and Army, all three of which sponsor expensive satellite programs, the cash-strapped Marines are pushing just one space concept. It's called Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion, or SUSTAIN, and it's a reusable spaceplane meant to get a squad of Marines to any hotspot on Earth in two hours -- then get them out. The idea is to reinforce embattled embassies, take out terrorist leaders or defuse hostage situations before it's too late. "The Marine Corps needs [this] capability," Brig. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer told Congress in 2004.
Artist's sketch of SUSTAIN insertion vehicle
The space insertion project, dubbed Hot Eagle, seems a bit far-fetched. Despite the obvious technological obstacles, military and defense contracting officials say that developing a craft that would accomplish the SUSTAIN mission is feasible. According to The Space Review, planners are following:
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Air Assault!
By Charlie
I thought that I would do a post on Air Assault School, to give some insight on current Army training, the National Guard, and the general shape of things on the ground level of the state-side military.
"A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon" -Napoleon Bonaparte, 15 July 1815. To the captain of HMS Bellerophon.…or go through 11 days of training for an Air Assault badge.
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Happy Father's Day- I Have Returned!
By Charlie
Faithful readers, I have returned from the US Army Air Assault Course.
Now, since I’ve been gone, apparently Zarqawi got wacked, In local Virginia politics, James Webb, author of one of my favorite books: Born Fighting How the Scots-Irish Shaped America won the Democratic nomination against sitting Senator George Allen, plus -Taliban have been getting offed at ridiculous proportions.
So I pretty much missed all of the good stuff. A major turning point in Iraq and success looming in Afghanistan. It just goes to show you that when you take a break from the blog, the world keeps on turning without you.
So how was Air Assault School? It was a smoker of a course. I’ll have more to write about it later, when I’m not dead tired and otherwise occupied. The main point of this post is to say: happy father’s day.
My father instilled a sense of perseverance form a very young age: some would classify this as “stubbornness,” or “hard-headedness,” but it has served me well throughout my life. The most recent example of this emerged this week during the Air Assault course. Several times during the course, I questioned the reasons I was there –but there was a central, almost primordial mental block that would not allow me to give up or quit. Because of the way I was raised, I was set up for success later in life.
I know this is a very anecdotal scrap of evidence, but it came to light in a very obvious way this week. Father’s Day is the one day of the year where we can step back and reflect on a great source of inspiration in our lives. Learning to be your own man is a long and complicated road, but the father figure in your life is a significant guidepost along that path. So happy Father’s Day!
I’m glad to be back, folks.
