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SUPER HERCULES FOR INDIA SKUNK WORKS UNMANNED PROGRAMS KELLY AVIATION CENTER SUPER HUSTLER
Denny Lombard Steps From Behind The Camera Lockheed Martin photographer—and frequent Code One contributor—Denny Lombard retired at the end of January, closing out a forty-one year career with the company. During his career at the Skunk Works, he produced iconic images of most of the company’s aircraft, including the U-2, SR-71, YF-22, and X-35. At least those are the projects he can talk about. With fellow Lockheed photographer Eric Schulzinger, Lombard documented development of the F-117 Nighthawk while it was still a top secret program. In early 1990, the duo went to Tonopah, Nevada, and took what became the first publicly released photos of the F-117. Those photos immediately graced the covers of aviation and news magazines all over the world. They were just some of many cover shots he took over the span of his career. Lombard started shooting pictures in high school. He then managed his own photography business before coming to Lockheed in the fall of 1969. At Lockheed, he started in the mailroom as a package messenger earning a little over $3 an hour. He spent eleven years working in various capacities in Burbank and Palmdale, California, waiting for a photography position to open. He moved behind the camera in 1981. Some of his all-time favorite shots are shown here.
Denny in the open tail of a B-25 camera ship after filming the U-2S RAMP aircraft delivery on 16 April 2002
He was responsible for all promotional photography for the Lockheed-Boeing-General Dynamics Advanced Tactical Fighter demonstration/validation test program in 1990. He considers this assignment, which included taking air-to-air chase photographs of the YF-22 from the back seat of F-16s and F-15s at Edwards AFB, California, as the highlight of his career. As one of the founding members of the International Society for Aviation Photographers, or ISAP, Lombard served as the organization’s secretary for many years. Through ISAP, he
established lasting friendships with fellow photographers from around the world. Lombard has been married to wife Andie for thirty-nine years. The couple has two daughters and six grandchildren. In retirement, he hopes to spend time with his grandkids, do some traveling, and maybe even take a few pictures once in awhile. Clear skies and tailwinds as you head off for new adventures, Denny.
2 2 F-35 FLIGHT TEST UPDATE
EDITOR
Eric Hehs
Lightning II Testing Highlights Through March
AS SOCIATE EDITOR
Jeff Rhodes ART DIRECTOR
Stan Baggett
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8 Super Hercules For India The First Indian Air Force C-130J Is Delivered
VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS
Joseph LaMarca, Jr. E XECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION PRESIDENT, AERONAUTIC S COMPANY
Ralph D. Heath
10 Unmanned, Virtually Unlimited
PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
Send name, address, and $20 for a one-year subscription (four issues) to PO Box 5189, Brentwood, TN 37024-5189. Foreign subscriptions are $30 (US). Some back issues are available. CONTACT INFORMATION
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Send correspondence to Code One Magazine, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, PO Box 748, Mail Zone 1503, Fort Worth, TX 76101 Editorial office phone number: 817-777-5542 Email: eric.hehs@lmco.com Web address: www.codeonemagazine.com Fax: 817-777-8655 Distribution information: 888-883-3780 This publication is intended for information only. Its contents neither replace nor revise any material in official manuals or publications. Copyright © 2011 Lockheed Martin Corporation. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint articles or photographs must be requested in writing from the editor. Code One is a registered trademark of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Code One is published quarterly by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. ISSN 1071-3816 A11-33920
Back: This unusual view—from the ground looking up— of the radar rotodome mounted on a US Customs and Border Protection P-3 Airborne Warning and Control aircraft was captured during a visit to the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, last fall. Customs flies a total of sixteen P-3s from its bases in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida. Photo by Todd McQueen
16 Aeronautics Does Engines
Kelly Aviation Center Knows Powerplants
20 Meeting Of The Special Mission Minds
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Air Force Reserve Command Hosts C-130 Special Mission Conference
22 Convair Super Hustler
A Look Back At Some Mach 4 Designs From The 1950s
28 F-111 Retires From Service
ABOUT THE COVER Front: The F-35C broke the sound barrier for the first time when it achieved Mach 1.02 at 30,000 feet while on a mission at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 4 March 2011. Four days later, the F-35 flight test program passed 1,000 cumulative flight hours during a formation test flight at Edwards AFB, California. Photo by Andy Wolfe
Skunk Works UAS Programs Range From Small To Really Big
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A Final Landing For Australia’s Last Operational ‘Pigs’
32 News
F-35
FLIGHT TEST UPDATE
BY FRANCESCA DE GIROLAMI PHOTO BY DAVID HENRY
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he previous installment of the F-35 Flight Test Update ended with the ferry of the first carrier variant, F-35C CF-1, to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 6 November 2010. The F-35 Lightning II program completed 410 flights in 2010. As of mid-March 2011, 150 flights have been completed for the year to date. The program has completed a total of 697 flights since first flight in 2006. The fourth production-representative conventional takeoff and landing variant, F-35A AF-4, was flown for the first time 30 December 2010. The aircraft was then ferried to Edwards AFB, California, on 22 January 2011. F-35A AF-4 is the fifth (including AA-1, the first F-35) to be ferried to Edwards for testing. The first production aircraft, F-35A AF-6, completed its inaugural flight on 25 February. It will continue flight
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tests in Fort Worth, Texas, before it is accepted by the US Air Force. The aircraft will then head to Edwards AFB to support developmental testing. F-35B BF-2, the second short takeoff/ vertical landing aircraft, made its first vertical landing on 6 January. F-35B BF-5 was flown for the first time on 27 January and is the last STOVL assigned to developmental flight testing. As of mid-March, the five F-35Bs flying at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, have completed a total of 316 flights and seventy-three vertical landings. Lockheed Martin test pilot Al Norman was named chief test pilot for the F-35 program at the end of February. Norman has more than 6,000 hours of flight time in more than seventy different types of aircraft.
18 November 2010
F-35 Team Logs 500th Flight The F-35 Lightning II program completed its 500th flight when short takeoff/vertical landing variant F-35B BF-4 took off from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on a three-hour test mission to evaluate avionics software. US Navy Lt. Col. Matt Kelly was the test pilot for the flight. Photo By Andy Wolfe
11 December 2010
Avionics-Equipped F-35 At Edwards The third F-35A to join the test fleet at Edwards AFB, California, topped off its fuel tanks while cruising west from Fort Worth, Texas. Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti flew the conventional takeoff and landing variant, called AF-3, on the 1,200-mile ferry flight. Photo By Liz Kaszynski
30 December 2010
AF-4 Makes First Flight The fourth conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, F-35A AF-4, completed its first flight piloted by Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti at NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas. AF-4 is the tenth F-35 to fly and the third test aircraft to fly with the full avionics system that will be installed on all operational F-35s. This flight was the final test mission of 2010. Photo By Liz Kaszynski
6 January 2011
BF-2 Makes Vertical Landing F-35B BF-2 made its first vertical landing at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, piloted by Lt. Col. Fred Schenk of the US Marine Corps. This flight marked the seventy-ninth flight for BF-2. Photo By Phaedra Loftis
6 January 2011
F-35 Captures First SAR Maps Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson, flying F-35B BF-4, took the first synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, maps for an F-35. SAR is a method of ground mapping that uses computer processing to improve radar function. SAR data yields high-resolution, photo-quality images that function as the heart of the F-35 navigation capability. Photo By Andy Wolfe
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19 January 2011
Beesley Completes Vertical Landing F-35 chief test pilot Jon Beesley made a vertical landing in the second F-35B, BF-2, marking the first vertical landing achieved by a non-Harriertrained pilot. The flight, the eighty-fifth for BF-2, involved four sorties that consisted of one conventional takeoff, three short takeoffs, four hovers, one vertical landing, and three slow landings. Photo By Andy Wolfe
22 January 2011
AF-4 Heads To Edwards F-35A AF-4 arrived at Edwards AFB, California, after a 3.2-hour ferry flight from Fort Worth, Texas, piloted by US Air Force Maj. Matt Hayden. The aircraft is the fifth F-35A conventional takeoff and landing aircraft to be ferried to Edwards for testing. The ferry flight was the fifth flight for AF-4. Photo By Liz Kaszynski
27 January 2011
BF-5 Makes First Flight The last F-35B Lightning II assigned to developmental flight testing, BF-5, took off from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas, piloted by Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti. The aircraft will be ferried to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, later this year where it will join the other F-35Bs and one F-35C currently undergoing testing. Photo By Carl Richards
3 February 2011
First Active Duty USN Test Pilot Flies F-35 US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Buus completed his first flight in an F-35 and became the first active duty US Naval Aviator to fly the aircraft. Buus piloted the seventy-seventh flight of F-35B BF-3. The 1.2-hour flight from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, included flying quality and propulsion transient tests. Buus is the sixteenth pilot to fly the F-35. Photo By Michael Jackson
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10 February 2011
Edwards Adds Fifth Test Pilot Lockheed Martin test pilot Mark Ward became the seventeenth pilot to fly the F-35 when he took off from Edwards AFB, California, for the eighty-sixth flight of AF-2. The 1.6-hour mission included testing flying qualities, engine transients, and multiple landings. Photo By Tom Reynolds
11 February 2011
Active Duty USN Pilot Flies CF-1 US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Buus became the first active duty Navy pilot to fly the carrier variant of the F-35. The 2.1-hour mission was the thirtysecond flight for CF-1, the first F-35C test aircraft. “The in-air handling qualities of the F-35C are excellent. They are also very similar to the B variant. I immediately felt right at home in the aircraft,” said Buus. “The Navy should be excited about having an aircraft that will be able to launch from our carriers with enough internal fuel and weapons to project power where we need to while having the stealth characteristics to go in and out of harm’s way unseen. This aircraft will be a great leap in technology and capability for the future of Naval Aviation.” Photo By Andy Wolfe
16 February 2011
BF-1 Completes Longest Hover BAE test pilot Peter Wilson made the longest hover during the ninety-fourth flight of F-35B BF-1. On the final vertical landing, Wilson spent more than five minutes in hover, with almost six minutes elapsing from entering the hover to touching down. The flight consisted of three other vertical landings, five short takeoffs, and one slow landing. Photo By Phaedra Loftis
21 February 2011
New F-35 Chief Test Pilot Veteran Lockheed Martin experimental test pilot Al Norman was named chief test pilot for the F-35 program. Norman replaced former F-35 chief test pilot Jon Beesley, who retired 31 January 2011. Norman served in the US Air Force for twenty-three years as a fighter pilot and a test pilot. After leaving active duty, he became an experimental test pilot for Lockheed Martin on the F-22 program in 1999 at Edwards AFB, California. Norman has more than 6,000 hours of flying time in more than seventy aircraft types. Photo By Angel DelCueto
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25 February 2011
AF-6 Makes First Flight Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti took F-35A AF-6 on its inaugural flight from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas. AF-6 is the first production model of the F-35. During the onehour flight, Gigliotti put the aircraft through basic flight maneuvers and engine tests. AF-6 will continue flight tests in Fort Worth through March before it is accepted by the US Air Force. The aircraft will then head to Edwards AFB, California, to support developmental testing shortly after the US Air Force takes delivery. Photo By David Drais
26 February 2011
BF-2 Makes 100th Flight Lockheed Martin test pilot David Nelson was at the controls as BF-2 completed its 100th flight. The second short takeoff/vertical landing F-35B is the first F-35 to reach this milestone. The 1.1-hour flight from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, included three takeoffs and landings that involved three short takeoffs, two slow landings, and one vertical landing. BF-2 has now accumulated more than 130 flight hours. Photo By Andy Wolfe
28 February 2011
Sixth Test Pilot At Edwards US Air Force Lt. Col. Leonard Kearl became the eighteenth pilot to fly the F-35. Kearl is operations officer of the 461st Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California. The 1.7-hour flight was the tenth for F-35A AF-4. Kearl is the sixth F-35 test pilot flying at Edwards. Photo By Tom Reynolds
3 March 2011
AF-1 Completes 100th Flight US Air Force Lt. Col. Leonard Kearl made the 100th flight of AF-1 at Edwards AFB, California. The 1.3-hour mission of this F-35A included testing weapon bay door flying qualities and conducting 360-degree rolls at various speeds and altitudes. The flight also explored inverted test points at negative g’s to evaluate the fuel system. AF-1 has logged 178 total flight hours in its first 100 flights. Photo By Matt Short
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4 March 2011
AF-7 Makes First Flight The second production aircraft, F-35A AF-7, completed its inaugural flight from NAS Fort Worth JRB, Texas, with Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Gigliotti at the controls. The conventional takeoff and landing aircraft was flown for 1.3 hours. AF-7 is the second and final aircraft from Low-Rate Initial Production, or LRIP, Lot 1. Photo By Randy Crites
4 March 2011
F-35C Makes First Supersonic Flight The F-35C broke the sound barrier for the first time when it achieved Mach 1.02 at 30,000 feet while on a mission from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The flight evaluated the aircraft’s ability to handle structural loads while performing different maneuvers at different speeds. Photo By Michael Jackson
7 March 2011
Pax Adds A Test Pilot Lockheed Martin test pilot Dan Canin became the nineteenth pilot to fly the F-35 when he piloted F-35C CF-1 from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. This flight was the thirty-ninth flight for CF-1. Photo By Phaedra Loftis
7 March 2011
BF-1 Makes 100th Flight BAE test pilot Peter Wilson made the 100th flight of F-35B BF-1 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The 0.7-hour mission included one sortie, one short takeoff, and one vertical landing. Photo by Andy Wolfe
8 March 2011
F-35 Reaches 1,000 Flight Hours The F-35 System Development and Demonstration flight test program reached 1,000 cumulative flight hours. The total was surpassed during a formation flight with AF-1 and AF-4 at Edwards AFB, California. Photo By David Drais
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The Indian Air Force celebrated the service introduction of its first C-130J Super Hercules at Hindon Air Force Station, near Delhi, in February. At the induction event, Defence Minister A. K. Antony handed over the ceremonial keys to the aircraft to Group Capt. Tejbir Singh, commander of 77 Squadron, the unit that will operate the new transports. BY LAURA SIEBERT
INDIA
SUPER H ERCULE S FOR
The Indian Air Force C-130J made its public debut at the Aero India air show in Bangalore after the arrival ceremony. The second and third IAF C-130Js are currently undergoing flight testing.
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Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik and US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz
PHOTO BY WG CDR R. S. CHAUHAN (RET)
“The Indian Air Force is happy to induct the C-130J Super Hercules, the most potent and versatile airlifter in its class,” Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik, the Indian Air Force Chief of Staff, said at the event. “It is an important milestone in the transformation of the IAF. The IAF will fly an American aircraft after a gap of more than two decades since operating the Super Connie.” The IAF operated nine Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation airliners as staff and cargo transports from 1961 until the mid-1980s. Several of the aircraft were later transferred to the Indian Navy and modified for maritime patrol missions. “This is an historic moment for both countries,” continued Naik. The C-130J is t he f irst major US military platform purchased by the IAF in nearly four decades. The significance
THE C-130J IS THE FIRST MAJOR US MILITARY PLATFORM PURCHASED BY THE IAF IN NEARLY FOUR DECADES.
of this purchase is highlighted by the fact that US Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz also attended the del iver y ceremony. T he a i rcra f t is assigned to the newly established 77 Squadron. The squadron, nicknamed Veiled Vipers, use the motto “Kill With Stealth” to signify the capability of the new aircraft to undertake deployment of Specia l Operat ions forces i n a l l weather conditions. The contract, which was signed in 2008, includes six aircraft, spares, forklif ts, cargo pa llets, ser vicing carts, loading vehicles, ground support and test equipment, training aircrew and maintenance technicians, and a team of field support technicians who will be based in India during a three-year initial support period. The remaining five aircraft will be delivered in late 2011. The IAF C-130J Super Hercules is a highly integrated and sophisticated configuration primarily designed to suppor t India’s Specia l Operations requirement. The Hercu les w i l l be equipped with an infrared detection set to allow the crew to perform precision low-level f lying, airdrops, and landings in blackout conditions. Selfprotection systems and other features are included to ensure aircraft survivability in hostile air defense environments. The aircraft also is equipped with a refueling probe for extended range operations. Laura Siebert is a program communicator for Lockheed Martin, primarily covering the F-16.
PHOTO BY WG CDR R. S. CHAUHAN (RET)
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at best, as an adjunct to the combat forces of the United States. Today, the official term is unmanned The Bug aircraft systems, or UAS, and these vehicles are critical, essential components of US operations around the globe. Bu t in many way s, to day ’s unmanned vehicles have come full circle. The ability to cover ground, whether measured by range or by endurance, is a defining characteristic. The exponential leap in computing power, advanced flight controls, and materials over the last twenty years have combined to allow even small unmanned
DarkStar US AIR FORCE PHOTO
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systems to carry a useful payload. Throughout its history, Lockheed Mar tin has been involved with NMUSAF PHOTO unmanned aircraft, starting with the Bug, which was developed by legacy company Dayton-Wright. Four target drone designs were built during World War II. Two small remotely piloted vehicles, including one designed to loiter and then crash into radar sites, came in the early 1970s. The MQM-105 Aquila was developed in the late ’70s to serve as the Army’s first battlefield RPV, although it was ultimately cancelled for budget and technical reasons.
D-21 US AIR FORCE PHOTO
T he ramje t-power ed, highaltitude D-21 reconnaissance drone was developed in the 1960s by the S k un k W o r k s , t h e c o mp an y ’s advanced technology division. In the mid 1990s, the Skunk Works produced the RQ-3 DarkStar, which introduced autonomous operation and stealth into the unmanned world. DarkStar, designed to penetrate defended airspace, was to team with the larger Nor throp Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk in the high-altitude r e connaissance arena. However, budget constraints in the late 1990s forced the US Air Force to choose one platform. The service opted for Global Hawk’s longer endurance. Today, the Skunk Works, based in Palmdale, California, is r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a n u mb e r o f unmanned vehicles that vary in size and mission with capabilities that range from hypersonic speeds to loitering quite literally for years.
ILLUSTRATION BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
he Kettering Aerial Torpedo, the world’s first unmanned aerial vehicle, was a remarkable piece of technology. With a wingspan of nearly fifteen feet and a length of twelve and one-half feet, this UAV, known as the Bug, was guided toward its target by a system of pre-set internal controls. After flying more than seventy-five miles at speeds close to 120 mph, an electrical circuit closed automatically, shutting off the engine. The wings were then released, causing the vehicle to plunge to earth. The Bug’s 180-pound payload of high explosives detonated on impact with the ground. The date: 1918. Unmanned aircraft have come a long way since then. Over the years, several names have been applied to these aircraft—drones; remotely piloted vehicles, RPVs; or unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs. Whatever the aircraft with no people on board were called, these systems were viewed,
LOCKHEED MARTIN PHOTO
In July 2002, only 127 days after contract signing, the first two Force Protection Airborne Surveillance
Stalker is a small UAS developed in response to a request from a US government customer to fill a national need. The vehicle had to have two-hour endurance, be easily maintained, operate on specific communications architecture, and have a zoomable electro-optical sensor or infrared camera. Development took eight weeks. The vehicle, which has a wingspan of ten feet and is six feet long, weighs about sixteen pounds and has the ability to precisely drop a three-pound payload, such as rations, ammunition, or spare batteries. It is kept aloft by an advanced chemistry rechargeable battery. “Stalker is not detectable at its operational altitude of about 1,000 feet,” noted Tom Koonce, the Stalker program manager. “From the ground, it can’t be seen or heard. It can track people or cars or monitor a building with live video in real time.” One Stalker system consists of four air vehicles made of composite materials, two briefcase-sized ground stations, a field support kit that includes spare batteries, a battery charger, a servo repair kit, and voltage converters. The air vehicles operate autonomously. “Duct tape is a repair tool,” said Koonce. “One aircraft fits in a box
System, or FPASS, vehicles and equipment were delivered to the US Air Force. Called Desert Hawk,
this system is an airborne sentry that extends the vision of ground security forces protecting a forward base. Each Desert Hawk system consists of six aircraft, a laptop computer, one remote video terminal, and a support kit. The aerial vehicle, which can be carried in a backpack, is made of a molded, Styrofoam-like material. It has a fifty-two inch wingspan and is thirty-four inches long. It is launched by a bungee cord. The more capable Desert Hawk III configuration is used by US and
ILLUSTRATION BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
that is two feet by two feet by 5.5 feet. A design point was that the entire system could be checked through an airport and could fit in a Humvee.” The imagery kit that is part of the ground station is basically a universal translator. It can take raw imagery
and convert that information—which includes georeference data—to hard video that is usable in a variety of formats or that can be emailed over a secure Ethernet connection. One major improvement to Stalker now being tested is a new type of
British forces today. This version has one-hour endurance and can carry a one-pound payload. After Desert Hawk was fielded, the program transferred to Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors in Eagan, Minnesota. However, with the Eagan facility set to be closed by 2013, Desert Hawk will likely move back to the Skunk Works.
fuel cell. “Propane is available cheaply all over the world,” noted Koonce. “Hydrogen fuel is not that plentiful.” The switch to a fuel cell has an additional benefit—longer endurance. In test flights, a Stalker has been flown for more than eight hours. Stalker has been deployed for three years with hundreds of flights at all altitudes and in rugged terrain and extreme temperatures. A marine version of Stalker can land on the water and float. The Skunk Works recently received US government approval to offer Stalker to Argentina, Brazil, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and NATO.
ILLUSTRATION BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
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ILLUSTRATION BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or just HTV-2, is one of the first programs to attempt to develop technologies to demonstrate critical technologies that enable long-duration, maneuvering hypersonic flight. Funded by the Defense Advanced Re s e ar ch P r oje c ts A genc y, or DARPA, HTV-2 is a rocket-launched, maneuverable lif ting body air vehicle that glides through the a tm o sph e r e a t sp e e ds ab o v e Mach 20, or roughly 15,220 mph. There had been a number of research effor ts—some dating back to the 1950s—to develop vehicles that operate in the low hypersonic range, or Mach 5 and
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above. However, there was no data available for the speeds where HTV-2 flies. Everything about this program had to be developed from scratch—the vehicle, the telemetr y system, and the flight and reaction control systems. The talents of engineers and technicians at several L ockheed Mar tin companie s were critical in the design and development of HTV-2. Ev e n t h e M in o t au r I V L i t e bo oster, a modification of an existing booster, had never been us e d o n a mis si o n that w e n t d o w n r ang e w i t hin t h e a t m o sphere, rather than straight up and outside the atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory. During the first test flight of H T V-2 o n 2 2 A p r il 2 010 , t h e vehicle, which looks somewhat like a cone split lengthwise, separated from the booster and flew
as planned for nearly ten minutes at speeds ranging from Mach 20 down to Mach 10. It then encountered higherthan-predicted adverse yaw conditions that coupled into a roll, which exceeded available control capability. The vehicle, made of a heat shield consisting of hundreds of layers of composite mater i al an d a t i t an i u m i n t e r n al structure, then did what it was designed to do in the event of an anomaly—safely and automatically terminate its flight by spiraling down into the Pacific Ocean. “This was not a low-risk mission,” said Robert Wetherall, the S k u n k W o r k s H T V-2 p r o g r am manager. “And nearly everything went according to plan. We learned so much and dramatically expanded the hypersonic datab a s e . I t w a s t e n mi n u t e s o f hypersonic data we didn’t have.
Everyone agreed the mission was a qualified success.” After a six-month independent engineering review board investigation, DA RPA’s findings concluded that “…no major changes to the HTV-2 vehicle are required to mitigate the first flight anomaly. Engineers will adjust the v e h i c l e ’s c e n t e r o f g r a v i t y , de cr e as e the angle o f at tack flown, and use the onboard reaction control system to augment the vehicle flaps.” Wetherall added, “ The root cause of the anomaly was that our preflight predictions of the aerodynamics weren’t quite right. It’s hard to model an eight-degree angle of attack at 150,000 feet while flying at Mach 20. We have gone back to the wind tunnel, improved the instrumentation and da t a c o ll e c t i o n an d ar e n o w updating the aero database. We want to have the best possible chance to get downrange and complete the second flight.” The second HT V-2 vehicle is now being completed, and the second flight is scheduled for August 2011. If everything goes according to plan, liftoff will come from Vandenberg AFB, California, and the vehicle will fly west to an area about eighty miles north of Kwajalein Atoll in less than thirty minutes. At the end of the flight, H T V-2 w ill plung e n o s e -f ir s t toward ear th much like the Kettering Bug—only at a speed of about Mach 4.
The X-47B, the test vehicle for the US Navy’s Unmanned Combat A ir S y s tem Demonstration, or UCAS-D, program, made its first flight from Edwards AFB, California, on 4 February 2011. UCAS-D is the Navy’s effort to design, develop, and integrate an autonomous, fighter-sized, high subsonic UAS on an aircraft carrier. Skunk Works is a teammatesubcontractor to Northrop Grumman on the X-47B. The vehicle, which has folding wings, has a wingspan of sixty-two feet and a length of thirty-eight feet. It is stealthy in design, although to reduce cost and complexity for the demonstration program, many parts are not made of stealth materials. The Skunk Works workshare includes development and fabrication of the arresting hook, control surfaces, and edges, including the engine inle t lip. Skunk Wor ks
technicians will maintain these components during flight test and carrier operations. The arresting hook system was particularly challenging because it was a cleansheet design concept. Design of the control surfaces and edges capitalized on Skunk Works expertise and experience.
After a series of envelope expansion flights at Edwards, the X-47B will be transported to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in September for additional testing including landb as e d c a t apul t t ak e o f f s and arrested landings. The demonstrator will then go to Lakehurst, New Jersey, for environmental testing PHOTO BY BOBBI ZAPKA
and then back to Pax River. “In 2013, it will be hoisted aboard a carrier,” noted Paul Wieselmann, the program director for the Skunk Works part of the X-47B program. “Once at sea, it will be catapulted off. Thirty minutes later, it will come back and make a fully autonomous, arrested landing.” The second X-47B demonstrator will have both a probe and a receptacle for aerial refueling and will be used in the Navy’s Autonomous Aerial Refueling, or AAR, project in 2014. AAR will demonstrate the ability of a UAS to approach a tanker, make contact, and refuel in midair by itself. The Navy issued a Request for Information in May 2010 for the new Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike, or UCLASS, program. UCLASS calls for the production of a combatready system with early operational capability in FY 2018.
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The US Navy began looking for a vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, unmanned system in 1999. The Marine Corps later became interested in fielding a UAS with higher speeds that could keep up with the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The services today are developing nearterm systems in the Fire Scout and Eagle Eye unmanned vehicles. “Ultimately, the militar y is looking for one vehicle that has both VTOL capability and survivability,” said Kevin Lewelling, the program manager for the Skunk Workssponsored research effort called VA RI O U S , f o r V T O L A dvan c e d Re c o nnais s an c e / I n t e r di c t i o n Organic Unmanned System. ILLUSTRATIONS BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
“A r o und 2 0 0 4 , w e s t ar t e d studies into a vehicle that could accomplish all the basic requirements,” noted Lewelling. “We were looking at several propulsion types that could enable a number of lift concepts. The engine is the heart and soul of a vehicle like this.” An engine partner was found in Teledyne Turbine Engines, which had an in-house technology development effort underway for a convertible engine, or one that operates at higher power for VTOL operations and shifts to lower power output for efficient wingborne operation. VARIOUS is a stealthy, sweptwing design that looks similar to an F-117. The design features two lift fans that produce eighty-five percent of the vertical lift, with the remaining fifteen percent of lift coming from a down-vectored engine nozzle, similar to the F-22. Once in wingborne flight, a part of the convertible engine is shut down, and the engine operates at lower power. The design has an internal payload bay that is eighty-two inches long, sixteen inches deep, and thirty inches wide that can be used for a number of purposes, including launching weapons, conducting surveillance/reconnaissance missions, or hauling high-value cargo. “This UAS can take off and land on any air-capable ship, including littoral combat ships,” said Lewelling. “It will extend the reach of the fleet. The Navy can get planes into combat much more quickly than a carrier battle group can.” In 2007, the team focused on testing a wind tunnel model, developing flight control law technology, and hover rig testing. But government research funding dried up in 2008. “The government has several UAS programs that are not working like they should. The requirements
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for a VTOL UAS still exist. We’ve accomplished what we need to do to make sure the aircraft can fly and operate in all modes. Propulsion development will continue, and the engine will be ready when a formal VTOL UAS program starts,” concluded Lewelling. “In the meantime, we will decide whether to build a demonstrator on our own to prove its viability.”
On 4 December 2009, the US Air Force acknowledged, via a written statement, the existence of a low observable UAS built by Skunk Works called the RQ-170 Sentinel. The official statement says in part, “The RQ-170 provides reconnaissance and surveillance support to forward deployed Combat Forces. The fielding of the RQ-170 aligns with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates’ request for increased intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [ISR]
support to the Combatant Commanders and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Nor ton Schwar tz’s vision for an increased USAF reliance on unmanned aircraft.” The RQ-170 is operated by the 30th Reconnaissance Squadron at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. The 30th RS is assigned to the 432nd Wing at Creech AFB, Nevada. To date, no photographs of the RQ-170 have been officially released.
“Our engineers say this project is as difficult to develop as the SR-71 was in the 1960s,” said Eric Hofstatter, the program director for the Integrated Sensor Is Structure, or ISIS, project. “But like the ‘Blackbird,’ ISIS will be a game-changer.” ISIS began as a DARPA program in 2004. The concept is to place an ultralarge phased-array radar that can track moving air and ground targets day or night over a very large area from an altitude of 70,000 feet, remain motionless, and stay on station for as few as three years or as many as twelve. “The idea is that once ISIS is airborne, it won’t come down,” Hofstatter noted. “From that altitude, it’s possible, for example, to see all of Iraq and Iran. The US Army, Navy, Air Force, and all the three-letter government agencies, such as the CIA, can use this capability. Customs could track everything moving in the Gulf of M e x i c o a t o n e t i m e ,” a d d e d Hofstatter. “And it never blinks. There will be continuous data on who came, where they came from, and where they went.” The ISIS demonstration system will be a 450-foot long, 150-foot diameter, solar- and fuel cell-powered airship. Its Raytheon-built dual band (UHF and X-Band) low-power radar will be housed in a pill-shaped structure the size of a six-story building inside the airship envelope.
it were close, it can see the bad guys coming from a long way off.” The airship features an inflated fixed tail with movable control surfaces. The radar itself is located inside the airship to balance center of gravity and center of buoyancy, so the airship will be extremely stable. Solar cells covering much of the top sur face will provide power during the day and charge the fuel cells that provide power at night. The envelope is made of a flexible composite laminate called Dyneema SK78, which is used to make sails for racing sailboats. This material is lightweight and resists damage. Even the sturdiest of the four grades of the laminate that will be used on
ILLUSTRATION BY WAYNE BEGNAUD
The radar will have an aperture close to 600 square meters in size. Now in Phase III, Skunk Works, with assistance from several other Lockheed Martin companies, will build the demonstrator airship. The demonstrator will be assembled at the historic airship dock in Akron, Ohio. In April 2013, the demonstrator will be flown to the Florida Keys for a ninet y-day trial. “But we’re shooting for a year,” said Hofstatter. “Weather is really not an issue. The radar has very good weather prediction. Besides, the airship can be moved 100 miles away and still be able to see what it needs to see. It’s the same with self-defense. ISIS won’t be on the front lines. Even if
the airship is only about the thickness of a sheet of waxed paper. Electric motors will turn the large maneuvering propellers. “The potential value and the potential savings with ISIS are staggering. ISIS could have an 1,100-to-1 advantage over existing AWACS or JSTARS platforms,” said Hoffstatter. “And it will always be on station.” Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.
Vol. 26 No. 1 2011
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AERONAUTIC 16
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BY ERIC HEHS “It may come as a surprise to some people that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is in the engine business,” admits Chuck Artymovich, vice president and general manager of Kelly Aviation Center, or KAC. The company credited with designing, developing, and manufacturing the U-2 Dragon Lady, C-130 Hercules, C-5 Galaxy, and F-16 Fighting Falcon maintains, repairs, overhauls, and tests the engines that power these military aircraft as well. KAC also repairs engines for some commercial aircraft.
PHOTOS BY JON KING KEISLING
Chuck Artymovich, vice president and general manager of Kelly Aviation Center
TICS DOES ENGINES
Lockheed Martin Kelly Aviation Center In San Antonio, Texas KAC is located at Port San Antonio, a large industrial park on what used to be Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas. About 500-plus Kelly employees and more than 600 subcontractors overhauled 267 engines at this modern facility in 2010. General Electric TF39 turbofan and Rolls-Royce T56 turboprop engines account for the majority of this business. The TF39 powers A, B, and C models of the C-5 Galaxy. The T56 powers legacy C-130 Hercules transport and all P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. KAC employees also maintain, repair, and overhaul the F118 engines in the U-2 and the General Electric CF6-50 series engines. Employees also assemble, inspect, and test new General Electric F110 engines that power the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-15 Eagle. ORIGINS KAC arose from what was the San Antonio Air Logistics Center. This government-operated engine depot was slated to close as par t of t he Base Closure and Rea lignment Commission of 1995. The military engine work done in San Antonio was to be moved to other engine depots.
The US Air Force Propulsion Business Area, or PBA, competition in 1998 gave San Antonio another shot at military engine work. The winner of the competition would receive a fifteen-year contract to maintain Air Force F100, TF39, and T56 engines and related aircraft accessories. Lockheed Martin teamed with Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, or OC-ALC, located at Tinker AFB, to compete for t he cont r ac t . T F39 a nd T56 work wou ld be done by Lockheed Martin at Kelly. F100 work would be done by the existing engine depot in Oklahoma. The only other competitor consisted of a team of three major engine manufacturers—Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and General Electric. Lockheed Martin and OC-ALC won the competition in February 1999. KAC and Port San Antonio were established the same year. PBA SUCCESS The PBA contract runs through 2014 and is reviewed annually by the US Air Force. “The team has received the Air Force’s highest overall rating of excellent for the past ten years,” Artymovich noted. “For 2010, as the most recent Vol. 26 No. 1 2011
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example, we had 100 percent on-time deliveries that have been 99.98 percent defect-free. That performance covers nearly 13,000 items, including engines and engine components.” The center has excelled in other ways as well. “First and foremost, we have succeeded in supporting our warfighters,” Artymovich continued. “We have, for example, doubled the on-wing performance of the TF39.” On-wing performance is the amount of time an engine stays in service before it has to be returned for maintenance, repair, or overhaul—what is termed MRO in the aircraft engine industry. KAC has also handled unexpected, but critical, increases in demand. The US military surge in operations in 2010 put a heavy toll on engine in-service hours. These engines were also operating in severe environments. The TF39 workload increased forty percent as a result. “We handled the surge without a problem,” Artymovich noted. “It’s important to the country that we are equipped to handle increased workloads. We have a flexible workforce and the industrial capacity needed to deal with surges.” CAPACITY AND INVESTMENTS Capacity for engine MRO facilities equates to test cells. Every completed engine must go through a battery of tests before it can be reinstalled on an aircraft. While most facilities may have one or two test cells, KAC has eight—four for testing large turbofan engines and four for testing turboprops. The test cells and a lot of other infrastructure were in place when Lockheed Martin moved to Kelly in 1999. The processes and facilities at KAC, however, have been streamlined and modernized since the PBA contract work began. “We applied best commercial practices and used existing practices where they made sense,” explained Frank Cowan, business development director for KAC. “For example, the average part previously moved twenty-six miles as it went
through the facility. We reduced that distance to three miles. The footprint of the facility consumed 1.8 million square feet of space in twenty-nine buildings. We reduced that footprint to just under one million square feet in five buildings. And we still have additional capacity.” Cowan points to a $5 million Danobat high-speed, computer-controlled grinding machine as another example of the company’s investment at KAC. The machine grinds the blade tips of the rotor while the blades are being rotated at high speed, thereby presenting the blades to the grinding wheel under actual operating conditions. KAC’s investment extends to the local community as well. The company worked with eighteen San Antonio and south Texas independent school districts and with St. Philip’s College to establish an apprenticeship program for area students. Graduates receive a Jet Engine Mechanic Level 1 certification at the end of the eighteen-month program. About ninety percent of graduates remain employed at KAC. “Students begin their career path even earlier, in their junior year in high school, by attending classes at the Alamo Area Aerospace Academy,” explained Joe Wilson, who oversees the program for KAC. “They are assigned a mentor on the production floor. They get to see firsthand what working in industry is all about. Our workday starts at six in the morning. That in itself is a revelation for them.” The program, which graduated its seventh class in December 2010, has been so successful that Toyota has expressed interest in creating a similar apprenticeship program throughout their manufacturing plants in North America. EXPANSION SINCE PBA The PBA contract formed a solid foundation on which KAC immediately started building. In 2003, a joint venture agreement with General Electric brought in MRO work for the F110 and F118 engines as well as assembly work for new F110 engines. (Most F110s for the UAE Air Force Block 60 F-16s were built at KAC.) In 2005, a joint venture agreement with Rolls-Royce solidified engineering support and sourced new parts for the T56. In 2006, General Electric transferred work on KC-10 CF6-50 engines to KAC. In 2007, KAC began working on components for CF6-80 engines, the same engines that power the C-5M Super Galaxy. These engines are also used on a large number of commercial airliners including Boeing 747 and 767 and Airbus A300 series aircraft. In 2009, KAC was certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency to work on CF6-50 engines. The certification opens up new markets for engine work on commercial European engines, including those that power the DC-10, A300, and 747. TOP: KAC has eight test cells—four for testing large turbofan engines and four for testing turboprops. BOTTOM: The Danobat high-speed, computercontrolled grinding machine grinds the blade tips of the rotor while the blades are being rotated at high speed.
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THE FUTURE Commercial engine work represents a bright f uture for K AC. “We are applying the experience we have with the CF6-50 engines from the KC-10 to commercial aircraft, such as Airbus A300Bs and 747s, that use this same engine,” Artymovich said. (KAC is
accumulating the necessary tooling, training, and other assets in 2011 to begin commercial MRO work on CF6-80 later this year.) The company is also targeting potential MRO work for CFM56 commercial engines (related to the CF6 family), of which about 18,000 are in service with more than 450 customers around the world. “The processes for capturing business, contracting, inventorying, auditing, and almost everything else are different for commercial engines and as we find new ways to partner with the military,” Artymovich explained. “We are capitalizing on the best practices learned by working with the military to develop customized solutions for commercial customers.” The obstacles to success, however, are outweighed by KAC’s advantages. The center offers responsiveness that comes from being independent and the volume that comes from extra capacity. “The major airlines have their own engine MRO facilities,” Artymovich said. “But their own fleets set their priorities. Independent companies in the MRO business don’t have the infrastructure needed to overhaul hundreds of engines per year.” As for future military aircraft engine work, the success of the public/private partnership between OC-ALC and KAC makes a strong case for creating new partnerships. “ T he PBA work ha s been ex t remely good for u s ,” Artymovich said. “However, we realize that it will not go on forever. So we have to look for ways to expand our military business. Expansion may involve partnering agreements for offloading work from government depots during future unexpected surges. Our immediate challenge is to get the word out that we can reduce cost and improve schedule performance. We want everyone to know Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is in the engine business.” Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One.
Vol. 26 No. 1 2011
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MEETING OF THE
SPECIAL MISSION
MINDS BY JEFF RHODES
“WE HAVE UNIQUE SKILLS within our command, including some special missions in particular,” explained Maj. Gen. James Rubeor, 22nd A ir For ce com mander. “The special missions are the ones that help bring military suppor t quickly and efficiently to civilian agencies in times of need.”
One of three numbered air forces in Air Force Reserve Command, or AFRC, 22nd Air Force is primarily responsible for supporting air mobility operations. Nine of the thirteen wings in 22nd Air Force fly C-130s. Of those, three units fly the special missions. AFRC contributes 100 percent of the US Air Force weather reconnaissance and aerial spray capabilities and twenty-five percent of the Air Force’s Modular Airborne Firefighting System capabilities. These capabilities represent a significant portion of the support the command provides under its federal Defense Support to Civil Authorities mission. Representatives from the units that fly those special missions met for the first time on 12–13 January 2011 at Peterson AFB, Colorado. Each of the three units had one of its aircraft on static display for other participants and local active duty Air Force personnel to look over. The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, brought one of its WC-130J Weatherbirds, while both the
USAF PHOTO BY TSGT. DANIEL BUTTERFIELD
757th Airlift Squadron at Youngstown ARS, Ohio, and the host 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson displayed one of their C-130Hs with their special mission equipment installed. “This conference sprang from discussions with members from each unit,” noted Lt. Col. Dave Condit, who runs the Modular Aerial Firefighting System, or MAFFS, program with the 302nd AW. Condit also served as the coordinator for the conference. “We looked at these three missions and found that we have a lot in common. The equipment is different. The execution is different. But there was an amazing amount of crossover. “We also discovered we have some overlapping issues,” Condit continued. “The way we do our atypical missions, which tend to support civilian authorities, presents issues we have to deal with on a regular basis. But we found that these issues are ones we can raise to those civilian agencies together. That should generate answers to some operational questions we have. That way, we don’t have to invent what we need to do when we’re responding to a disaster.” “We found that each wing does its mission really well,” said Capt. Travis Adams, one of the aerial spray mission coordinators and a pilot with the 757th AS at Youngstown. “It was very interesting to see how the other units do business.” “From our perspective, the conference was very worthwhile. We learned quite a bit from each other,” noted Condit. “But we also discovered some coordination and operational issues that we need to work on. We’ll work through those issues over the next couple of months and then see if it is worthwhile to get together again in the future. It was a huge benefit just to have everybody together in one place at one time.”
USAF PHOTO BY TSGT. DANIEL BUTTERFIELD
Participants at the conference heard presentations on a variety of topics.
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Each of the three AFRC special missions units had highlights in 2010. 757TH AIRLIFT SQUADRON The 757th AS, the only fixed-wing aerial spray unit in the Department of Defense, has used the Modular Aerial Spray System, or MASS, for decades primarily to spray insecticide over large areas that are either breeding grounds for, or infested with, disease-carrying insects. The system’s spray bars, which protrude from a four-inch hole in the paratroop doors and are attached beneath the wings, can be installed on the C-130 in under thirty minutes. Four of the squadron’s twelve aircraft have been modified for MASS missions. Known as the Blue Tigers, the squadron is usually called in after a hurricane to spray insecticide over areas of standing water to eradicate disease-carrying mosquitoes. Squadron aircrews sprayed more than 700,000 acres after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike struck the Texas and Louisiana coasts in 2008. But last year, 757th AS crews carried out their first-ever operational missions to spray dispersant on oil polluting open water in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. During a six-week operation and ninety-two sorties, squadron crews sprayed 145,000 gallons of dispersant and covered more than 30,000 acres of Gulf waters. “Although we had trained for this mission, we had never done it,” noted Adams. “We found that an actual operation on open water was different from what we had practiced. We’re going to have to make some adjustments to our training.”
302ND AIRLIFT WING “We weren’t tasked to fight any fires last year, but we did qualify crews and flew training sorties,” noted Condit. “The big thing was fully developing the concept of operations for the MAFFS 2 system.” The 302nd AW, which shares the firefighting mission with three Air National Guard units, converted to the more sophisticated MAFFS 2 system in 2009. “MAFFS 2 allows us to use more existing fire tanker bases without the need for additional support equipment like we had with the original MAFFS. Because we can pressurize MAFFS 2 enroute, we can provide a quicker response to the fire incident commander.” The 302nd AW was activated to support firefighting operations in Israel last December, but the two aircraft and crews had only reached the Azores before the fires were brought under control. 53RD WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE SQUADRON “We had an extremely busy year in 2010,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Talbot, the chief meteorologist with the 53rd WRS at Keesler. “We flew more than 100 sorties from various locations into storms during the Atlantic hurricane season totaling more than 1,300 flight hours. We had a better than ninety-nine percent mission accomplishment rate.” After this last hurricane season, which ends every year in November, the squadron began flying into winter storms in the Pacific to collect data to help meteorologists from the National Weather Service improve their forecasting accuracy by ten to fifteen percent. The Hurricane Hunter crews had completed ten winter storm missions by the time the conference started. Jeff Rhodes is the associate editor of Code One.
USAF PHOTO BY TSGT. DANIEL BUTTERFIELD
Conference coordinator Lt. Col. Dave Condit, 302nd Airlift Wing, Peterson AFB, Colorado
USAF PHOTO BY CAPT. MARNEE A.C. LOSURDO
Part of the AFRC Special Missions Conference was the opportunity for crews to see aircraft from the three units with atypical taskings. Parked on the Peterson AFB, Colorado, ramp were an aerial spray-equipped C-130H, a WC-130J Weatherbird, and a firefighting C-130H.
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T PA R
1:
S u ptelre r Hus
A more detailed version of this article appears on www.codeonemagazine.com.
Super Hustler, FISH, Kingfish, And Beyond By Eric Hehs Super Hustler Was The Name Given To A Series Of 1950-era Designs For A Manned Hypersonic Aircraft Designed To Penetrate Into The Soviet Union. This Aircraft Would Have Been Launched From Beneath A B-58 Hustler. The Proposed Parasite Aircraft, One Of Many Design Studies Associated With Convair’s Work On The B-58 Program, Became The Starting Point For The Company’s Contender In A High-Stakes Competition For A High-Altitude, High-Speed, Stealthy Reconnaissance Platform. PAINTING BY DAVID SCHWEITZER
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he competition eventually led to t he Lock heed A-12 and SR-71 ‘Blackbird.’ Super Hustler, in turn, became a starting point for subsequent hypersonic projects at Convair and later General Dynamics, including designs proposed in t he 1960s as a replacement for the SR-71. (General Dynamics Fort Worth later became the headquar ters for Lock heed Mar tin Aeronautics Company.) Super Hust ler began in t he mid1950s as highly classified design studies at the Fort Worth Division of Convair. “I f a nyone a sked u s what we were working on, we’d say that we worked on a special project—nothing else,” said Randy Kent, who was the propulsion lead for Super Hustler as one of his first jobs at the company. The Cold War provided the context for most military projects at the time, and the Super Hustler was no exception. With the threat of nuclear war looming, the United States wanted to develop platforms for delivering weapons over strategic distances while penetrating increasingly complex air defenses. The spectrum of capability and complexity for these platforms was wide. Large conventional propeller-driven manned bombers, like the B-36 ‘Peacemaker’, fell at the less complex end of the spectrum. Smaller, faster jet enginepowered manned bombers, such as the subsonic B-47 Stratojet and supersonic B-58, fell in the middle of the spectrum. Orbital vehicles, still under development, fell at the far end of the spectrum. A high-altitude, high-speed bomber would bridge the gap between existing conventional systems and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The bomber would need to fly much faster than existing bombers while still meeting intercontinental r a n ge re qu i re me nt s . Super Hust ler was Convair’s solution.
PARASITE LEGACY The parasitic approach Convair took for Super Hu st ler c a n be traced to parasite fighter escort projects done for the B-36. The f irst of t hese, conducted by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation i n t he late 194 0 s , i nvolved l au nc h i ng a nd re c ove r i ng t he s p e c i a l l y d e s i g n e d X F - 85 G o b l i n defen sive f ig hter f rom a B -36 bomb bay. Convair was more directly respons i b l e f o r a B -3 6 p a r a s i t e p r o j e c t launched in 1951. The Fighter Conveyor, called FICON, project involved lau nchi ng a nd recovering a lone YRF-84F Thunderjet for reconnaissance from a trapeze mounted in the B-36 bomb bay. The B-36 provided the long range, and the Y R F-84F prov ided t he speed needed to penetrate defenses to collect the imagery. Project Tom-Tom, a mid-1950s Convair project, involved launching and recovering an F-84 f rom t he w ing t ips of t he B -36. Vortices and turbulence near the attach points made such connections very difficult for the pilot of the parasite fighter. The parasite concept even inf luenced the origins of the B-58, what would become the mothership for the Super Hustler. Convair was involved in t he Genera lized Bomber, ca l led GEBO, studies that were conducted by the US Air Force starting in 1946. The studies systematically applied the latest advances in engineering, materials, and aeronautics to the requirements for t he Air Force’s nextgeneration bomber. Ma ny of t he con f ig u r at ions C onv a i r d e ve l o p e d for G E B O studies involved supersonic weapon-delivering parasites launched from the B-36 or B-36 d e r i v a t i ve s . A f t e r t h e s e c ond GEBO study ended in 1951, Conv a i r h a d d e ve lop e d a n i n it i a l design for the world’s first supersonic bomber—t he M X-1626, a sma l l delt a-w i ng a i rcra f t w it h a two-man crew. The design later turned into hardware in the form Top to Bottom: FICON; Project Tom-Tom; MX-1626 of the B-58 Hustler. models; parasite loading, and carriage studies
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SUPER HUSTLER DESIGN EVOLUTION The actual design origins of Super Hustler can be traced to studies for improving B-58 performance. The first of these studies, which began in 1955, addressed ways to increase target range with minimal modifications to the basic B-58 airframe. The study continued into 1957.
Folding Wingtips
A second study, performed simultaneously, looked at ways to create an allsupersonic version of the B-58. The resulting configuration had more extensive changes needed to increase the lift/ drag ratio for supersonic f light. The wing was redesigned, and the canopy was made flush with the fuselage. This design had a Mach 2 radius of 3,000 nautical miles, however, which was considered inadequate.
Redesigned Wing
T he nex t pha se of t hese st ud ies involved greater deviations from the basic B-58 configuration. The cruising speed of an all-supersonic version was increased to Mach 3. The more complex design required exotic high-energy fuel and significant aerodynamic changes that involved expensive construction techniques to deal with the high supersonic temperatures.
All-Supersonic Version
The all-supersonic, Mach 3 design was dropped in favor of a return to a subsonic cruise/supersonic dash design. The new conf ig uration used dua l-c ycle engines in which the turbojet compressors were bypassed for the Mach 4 dash. The afterburners were mechanically transformed into ramjets. The design incorporated a folding ventral fin for high speeds and a fixed canard, called a 24
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linearizer surface, forward of the wing. The overall complexity made this design problematic and led to additional studies.
Subsonic Cruise/ Supersonic Dash
To reduce drag and still take advantage of ramjet performance, the next configuration (circa August 1957) had four turbojet engines—like the B-58. However, two engines were placed above the wing to make room for two expendable ramjets below the wing. The cruise out leg of the mission was at Mach 4 on the ramjets. The return leg was made with the turbojets only. Balance problems and other undesirable features forced designers to abandon this configuration. Expendable Ramjets
The ramjet/turbojet combination was revisited in the next design (circa September 1957), which added expendable rockets that accelerated the aircraft to supersonic speeds then fell away. At this point, four ramjets, also under the wings, accelerated the aircraft to Mach 4 for the cruise out and return legs of the mission. A single turbojet engine on the aircraft’s centerline was used for landing. The configuration was deemed impractical. Expendable Rockets
The B-58 parasite studies that led directly to the Super Hustler began in earnest in October 1957. The B-58 was designed to carry large external stores— including combinations of fuel tanks, free-fall bombs, powered air-to-surface missiles, and reconnaissance pods. A sma ll manned parasitic supersonic bomber was, in some ways, an extension of this payload capability. Several configurations were drawn to fit under a lower cost, stretch fuselage version of
the B-58. The supersonic speed of the B-58 would be used to get to the conditions needed to ignite the ramjets. The latest aerodynamic innovations in w ing pla nform shapes a nd in let designs were incorporated in the configuration studies. All of the initial parasite designs were single-stage vehicles designed for Mach 5 cruise and launched from the B-58 carrier at about 2,000 nautical miles from the takeoff base. The parasite would have the range to return to the takeoff base. Clearing the B-58 landing gear with the parasite’s wing presented a major obstacle for all of the early designs. Gruen Applied Science Laboratory provided a solution to Convair in the form of a two-stage tandem wing configuration. The front stage, called Baby, carried a single pilot and was powered by one ramjet. The rear expendable stage, called Big Brother, was powered by two ramjets and carried a nuclear warhead. Although the Gruen solution furnished part of the design concept for what eventually became the Super Hustler, it was not sufficiently refined to satisfy the mission requirements. The Gruen two-stage solution was fol lowe d by a s e r ie s of nu mb e re d Convair configurations from November through December 1957. The first post-Gruen configuration, labeled Configuration 101, featured a manned stage with a flat top and a 210 square-foot wing. The engine inlet was a scoop type located forward of the pilot, who f lew in a prone position. A small windshield was located just forward and below the pilot’s head position. The expendable stage was little changed from the Gruen design. Configuration 102 involved a variation of the expendable stage to improve aerodynamic performance. Square ramjets were introduced to clean up the intersection of surfaces between the two stages and to minimize base drag. The wing area of the expendable stage was 300 square feet. Parasite Studies
Configuration 103 added a second crewmember in side-by-side position (both still prone) in a crew compartment seventy inches wide and forty inches tall. The wing area remained the same (210 square feet). The upper and lower fuselage was reshaped to take advantage of lift effects. Configuration 104A decreased the fuselage width of the manned stage to sixty-one inches across and forty inches high. The wing area remained the same. Configuration 104G introduced several changes to the manned stage. The ramjet had a squared exhaust nozzle to match the expendable stage. Square ramjets were dropped for the manned stage in Conf iguration 105 because of manufacturing problems. The crew was reduced to one pi lot in a seated position. The increased fuselage depth needed for this new crew position/size was offset by a narrower width. Configuration 106B added drop tanks to the expendable stage. Super Hustler configurations to this point assumed a derivative of the B-58 as a carrier aircraft. The derivative, called B-58B, had an extended fuselage that provided a 100 inch longer wheelbase than a B-58A. Though the Air Force aut horized t he development, design, and testing of the B-58B in October 1958, uncertainty surrounding this model improvement forced the design team to assume the B-58A as the carrier. (The B-58B was subsequently canceled in July 1959.) Gi ven t he d e c re a s e d w he e lb a s e dimensions of the B-58A, clearing the nose la nd ing gea r beca me a n even larger design issue. Configuration 110 addressed the limitation in the front manned stage with twin parallel bodies that straddled the front gear of the B-58A. One crewmember was located in each body. Manned Parasite
Unmanned Parasite
The twin-body approach was deemed impractical. So Convair designers began investigating ways to fold the nose to
fit the space limitations created by the B-58’s extended gear (and gear swing). The nose would be unfolded before the parasite launched and after the B-58’s landing gear retracted. The movable nose would also act as a control surface.
reception as “enthusiastic.” Convair was asked to consider speeds greater than Mach 4 and designs that had a flat bottom. Convair conducted several additional Super Hustler presentations in 1958. T he aud ienc e s , w h ich were at t he highest levels of command, included Gen. Jimmy Doolitt le (then specia l assistant to Air Force Chief of Staff ); G e n . Ja me s D ou g l a s (A i r Forc e Secretary); Dr. Hugh Dryden (director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA); Gen. Curtis LeMay (Air Force Vice Chief of Staff); and Gen. Thomas White (Air Force Chief of Staff). Feedback from the briefings inf luenced the design. Configuration 119, for example, had the requested f lat bottom, which acted as a precompression surface for the engine inlet. The two-person crew compartment measured sixty-four inches wide and forty-four inches high. The crew was seated in a semi-supine position (based on a recommendation by Air Research and Development Command). The manned stage from Configuration 119 carried into Configuration 121, which became a baseline for the program.
Pilot vision over the nose at landing was another issue for the parasite. HighMach f light required a f lush canopy. Slower speeds required for landing ra ised t he a ng le of at tack . Severa l CONFIGURATION 121 REPORT A highly detailed system description approaches for allowing the pilot to see over the nose were studied. Designers was prepared by Convair at this point settled on a pivoting hinge in the middle in the configuration evolution. Dated of the manned stage to provide down- 3 March 1958, the report consisted of ward vision for landing, similar to the seven large individually bound volumes: canting nose later seen on the Concorde. a summary of the weapon system; design The pivot point was placed just behind features and structure; aerodynamics; the crew compartment. The entire for- stability and control; navigation, weapon ward fuselage would pivot down twenty delivery, reconnaissance, and decoy; degrees for landings. propulsion and thermodynamics; and Configuration 118 offered above- and operation and ground support. below-f u selage w i ng Configuration 121 position options for the expendable stage. The high-wing position was chosen in December 1957. Convair first briefed the Super Hustler concept to the Air Force in Ja nua r y 1958 i n Pa l m Springs, Ca lifornia. Meeting notes taken by Bob Widmer, who was chief of design for Convair at the time, label the Vol. 26 No. 1 2011
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Inboard Profile
T he i nt roConfiguration 121 duction listed With B-58 six design requirements for the aircraft: Mach 4 to 6 c r u i s e c a p abi l it y ; 5, 0 0 0 nautical mile operating radius; 1961–1963 operational time frame; Class C warhead delivery (weapon load for the aircraft was listed as 3,400 pounds); two-man, side-by-side crew; and minimum size to fit the B-58 and to a llow mobile launching and economy of production. The manned stage was forty-seven feet long with a D-shaped cross section forty-five inches high and sixty-four inches wide. The gross weight for the manned stage was 20,190 pounds. The two-person crew sat side by side. The forward section of the manned stage contained an electronics bay and a nose gear. The forward section also contained a movable nose used for trim. The nose could be retracted when it was on the B-58. The aft fuselage of the manned section contained an equipment bay, Crew Compartment
The manned stage retained t he t went ydeg ree pivoting nose for la nd i ng. T he hydraulic actuator lowere d t he for ward section for approaches and landings. The ac t u ator a lso f u nc t ioned a s shock absorber for landings. The two-man crew consisted of a pilot and a bombardier/navigator. The crew stations had dual f light controls. Seating position was reclined forty-five deg rees to m i n iLanding Gear mize the height of the compartment. The glass portion of the cockpit enclosure was shielded with metal covers during highspeed f light. Indirect vision was provided by a closed circuit television system. The expendable stage was almost forty-nine feet long with a maximum diameter of forty-six inches. The forward section of the expendable stage contained a fuel tank and a warhead bay with stabilizing skirts that would b e op ene d w hen t he w a rhe ad w a s Expendable Stage EXPENDABLE STAGE
fuel tank, ramjet engine, turbojet engine, and landing skids. The GE J85 turbojet engine, used for landing, was installed in the lower aft section ahead of the Marquardt MA24F ramjet engine. 26
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released from the rest of the expendable sec t ion. T he a f t sec t ion conta i ned another fuel tank, a top-mounted wing, and t wo Marquardt M A24F ra mjet engines snuggled beneath the wing adjacent to the body. The manned stage had hydraulically actuated elevons, control flaps, and rudders for control surfaces. The expendable stage had hydraulically actuated elevons and rudders only. Landing skids were used for the main gear because the temperatures created by Mach 4 to 6 speeds were too high for pneumatic tires. A conventional high-pressure tire was used for t he nose landing gear because it would be stowed in a cooled electronic bay. A standard B-58 carrier mission consisted of releasing from the B-58 at Mach 2 at 36,000 feet. The Super Hustler would quick ly accelerate to Mach 4 and climb to 72,000 feet. The expendable stage would separate about 2,000 nautical miles later at 80,000 feet and deliver the weapon. The manned stage then had a range of about 4,500 nautica l miles to return to t he launching base. It covered this distance in two hours at a Mach 4 cruise speed
and at altitudes ranging from 75,000 to 90,000 feet. Standard approach speed for landing the manned stage was 170 knots with touchdown at 160 knots. The skids, even though assisted by an eight-foot landing chute, still made for ground rolls of 4,000 feet. BEYOND 121 Configurations for the Super Hustler continued to evolve through most of 1958. In February, Configuration 124 added another ramjet engine to the manned stage. In April, Configuration 130, added more headroom to t he cockpit, without increasing frontal area, by putting two curves on the upper surface. A med iu mrange version that replaced t he ex pendable stage with an unpowered external store was also e x plore d i n Apri l. This version offered training missions without the need to drop powered expendable stages. A biplane variant was drawn in June 1958. This design increased the wing area without having to physically expand the planform. Aircraft carrier- and submarinelaunched versions of the Super Hustler became the subject of study af ter a meeting with Electric Boat Company in June. At the same time, Convair committed to a year-long, companys p on s o r e d s e r i e s o f wind tunnel tests for four specific configurat ions of t he ma nned stage: f lat top, f lat bottom, biplane, and extended fuselage. Each design would be tested
with the powered stage and with the unpowered external store that was proposed for a medium-range bomber. In September, Convair proposed using the RS-70 as a carrier aircraft. The RS-70 was to be a strike/reconnaissance version of the North American XB-70 Valkyrie. Shortly after, the company began researching reconnaissance versions of the Super Hustler. Ca l led t he Specia l Purpose Super Hustler, this version of the aircraft was briefed to the US government in November 1958. The response to that brief ing came in the form of a series of
questions. First on that list: What was the effect of the low-radar visibility requirement on the design of the Special Purpose Super Hustler? Original FISH Configuration
Super Hustler was about to become FISH, the subject of the next article in this series. Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One.
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T he operational car eer of the F-111 came to an end o n 3 D e c e m b e r 2 010 a t RAAF Amberley near Brisbane, Australia, as a crew in an F -111C (serial n u m b e r A 8 -12 5 ) o f t h e Royal Australian Air Force touched down for the aircraf t ’s last landing. The RAAF had operated the F -111 since 1973. A8 -125 was the first F-111C to land at Amberley that year. AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE PHOTOS
BY ERIC HEHS
F-111 Retires From Service RAAF COMPLETES THE FINAL CHAPTER FOR THE AARDVARK 28
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A
ustralia ordered twenty-four of the swing-wing F-111s in November 1963, thirteen months before the aircraft was first flown. Picking the F-111 was seen by many as a bold move by the RAAF, but the Australian government viewed the aircraft as the right solution for its need for a long-range strike aircraft. Delivery to the RAAF was delayed by a series of mishaps during the US Air Force’s first combat deployment with the F-111 in Vietnam in 1968. It was also delayed by structural problems. The first six F-111Cs arrived at RAAF A mberley on 1 Ju ne 1973, ma k i ng Austra lia the f irst—and, as histor y showed, the only—international operator to ever f ly the aircraft. The US retired its F-111s in 1996. The Australian F-111Cs were unique to the RAAF. They had the longer wings,
sturdier undercarriage, a nd bigger brakes of the FB-111 nuclear-capable bomber version of the aircraft ordered by the US Air Force. But the F-111C retained the inlets, engines, and avionics installed in the F-111A. The RAAF also opted for the self-protection system equipment of the later F-111Es. Air Combat Off icers—weapons systems officers who sat in the right seat—had a control st ick on t heir side of t he cockpit and were taught to land the aircraft in case of emergency. Fou r F-111As were added to t he RAAF fleet in 1982. These aircraft, all veterans of Vietnam operations, were modified with the longer wingtips and heavier landing gear of the F-111Cs. The RAAF acquired another fifteen US Air Force F-111s beginning in 1993. These aircraft, called F-111Gs, were all
former FB-111s operated by Strategic Air Command and modified in the late 1980s with digital avionics for tactical duties. The aircraft were used by the Aust ra l ia ns most ly for conversion training and spare parts. The F-111Gs were retired by the RAAF in 2007. The F-111—affectionately and universally known in Australia as ‘Pig’ for its ability to conduct missions at night with its nose in the weeds, thanks to the terrain-following radar—was continuously updated during its service. Fou r a i rcra f t were mod i f ied for reconnaissance in the early 1980s. These versions, designated RF-111Cs, used a wet f ilm-based camera suite with high- and low-scanning cameras and an infrared line scanner. The film cameras were later converted to digita l imaging equipment.
No. 6 Squadron Commanding Officer, Wing Commander Michael (Micka) Gray (left) and Flight Lieutenant Andrew Kloden before their final flight
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The crew of A8-126 performs the last dump and burn in history on the final day of flying the F-111. AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE PHOTOS
The Pave Tack infrared and laser targeting systems were added to the aircraft in the mid-1980s, along with the capability of launching the AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship standoff missile. In the mid-1990s, the Avionics Upgrade Program incorporated digital f light controls, digital mission computers, multifunction displays, and a new terrain-following radar. In its last decade, the aircraft received electronic warfare updates, including a new jamming pod. They were also modified for using night-vision goggles and for firing the AGM-142 Popeye TV-guided standoff weapon. The last RAAF unit to operate the F-111 was 6 Squadron at Amberley. The squadron flew the aircraft for the entire thirty-seven years the aircraft served in the RAAF. A large crowd attended the End of Era activities at RAAF Amberley as the F-111 was retired.
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OVERALL HISTORY G e ne r a l D y n a m ic s won t he US Department of Defense contract in 1962 to develop a supersonic aircraft under a program called TFX. This airplane, later designated F-111, would be the first in history to incorporate specific design features to ma ke it capable of performing in multiple roles. The F-111 was flown for the first time on 21 December 1964.
LOCKHEED MARTIN PHOTOS
The F-111 is the first production airplane with a variable sweep wing—a wing configuration that can be changed in flight. The wing provided outstanding aerodynamic efficiency. With wings fully extended, the F-111 could take off and land in as little as 2,000 feet. With wings fully swept back, it could reach supersonic speeds at high or low altitudes. At high altitudes, the F-111 could f ly more than 2.2 times the speed of sound. At low altitudes, the F-111 could f ly supersonic speeds hug g i ng t he ground with its terrain-following radar. The F-111 could also f ly transoceanic distances without refueling. The F-111 set a record for the longest low-level supersonic f light (172 miles at less t ha n 1,0 0 0 feet a lt itude) on 9 November 1966. It was also the first tactical aircraft to cross the Atlantic f rom t he Un ite d St ate s to Eu rop e without refueling (in May 1967). The F-111 first went into combat over Vietnam beginning in the late 1960s, being flown as a penetrating bomber in both high- and low-altitude missions. Nearly two decades later, US Air Force F-111F crews from RAF Lakenheath,
England, used the highly accurate Pave Tack laser-guided bombing system against terrorist targets in Libya during Operation El Dorado Canyon. In January 1991, the F-111 went to combat again, in the initial bombing raids of Operation Desert Storm. A total of 110 F-111s participated in nearly 5,000 sorties in the Gulf War in strategic bombing, ground attack, and electronic warfare missions. With its Pave Tack system, the F-111F attacked factories and other highvalue military targets. F-111s were also credited with destroying more than 1,500 tanks and armored vehicles—operations that were known as “tank plinking.” F-111 crews operated almost exclusively at night in the Gulf War. The aircraft dropped the bombs that stopped the f low of oil into the Gulf after Saddam Hussein opened pipelines to wreak environmental damage during the war. An unarmed EF-111 earned the first aerial victory of Desert Storm when its defensive maneuvering caused a pursuing Iraqi fighter pilot to f ly into the ground. The F-111 was also used to drop the first GBU-28 bunker-busting 5,000 pound bombs. Those weapons had been developed in a matter of weeks to meet a critical need. The F-111 was flown for the first time on 21 December 1964. In October 1967, the first version was delivered to the US Air Force Tactical Air Command at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Two years later, the first production bomber version was turned over to the Strategic Air Command at Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas. A total of 562 F-111s were built. The first rolled off the production line on 15 October 1964. The last was produced in 1976. Eric Hehs is the editor of Code One. Associate Editor Jeff Rhodes contributed to this article.
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Operation Tomodachi The US militar y responded quickly to the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March with a formal relief effort, called Operation Tomodachi, or friend in Japanese. The initial response included several U-2 flights launched from Osan AB, Korea, starting on 12 March, to capture high-resolution, broad-area imagery that was later used to determine locations and extent of damages. An MC-130H Combat Talon II crew with relief supplies landed at Sendai Airport on 16 March, marking the first fixed-wing aircraft to land at the airport of the hardest-hit Japanese city. A P-3 crew from Patrol Squadron 4 (VP-4) took to the air from NAF Misawa to conduct an eight-hour field survey of ports in northern Japan on 22 March. As of 24 March, US service members had delivered 1.7 million gallons of water, 172 tons of food, ten tons of medical supplies, and thirty-four tons of other relief supplies. US military personnel are continuing to work with Japanese emergency responders to search for bodies, clear airports and roads, and deliver humanitarian supplies.
PHOTO BY TSGT. AARON CRAM
PHOTO BY MCS2 DEVON DOW
PHOTO BY MSGT. PAUL HOLCOMB
Operation Odyssey Dawn Coalition forces, with significant help from the United States, launched Operation Odyssey Dawn on 19 March to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973 to prevent further attacks on the people of Libya by forces loyal to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Coalition forces also implemented a no-fly zone. In the initial stages, US military forces took out Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system. A small sample of the US aircraft types involved in the operation includes F-16s, C-130Js, EC-130Js, C-5s, and P-3s. As of 28 March, the US had launched 192 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea and had flown 983 sorties, 370 of which were bombing missions against Gadhafi military sites and forces. The remaining sorties consisted of surveillance and refueling flights.
PHOTO BY SSGT. BENJAMIN WILSON
PHOTO BY SRA BRITTANY PERRY
PHOTO BY SSGT. TIERNEY WILSON
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PHOTO BY A1C MATTHEW FREDERICKS
South Korea Super Hercules The Republic of Korea ordered four C-130J Super Hercules transports on 2 December 2010. South Korea’s new Super Hercules, which will feature the longer, or stretched, fuselage, is the combat delivery variant of the C-130J. All four aircraft will be delivered in 2014. The contract also contains a two-year support program that includes aircrew and maintenance training. South Korea will become the fifteenth country to operate the C-130J. The Republic of Korea Air Force currently operates a total of eight C-130H Hercules and stretched C-130H-30 aircraft, which are assigned to the 251st Tactical Air Support Squadron at Busan-Gimhae AB in Pusan.
SkyTug Floating In Aviation Capital based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, announced on 17 March 2011 that it had teamed with the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to develop, build, test, and certify to US Federal Aviation Administration standards a family of hybrid airships designed for heavy-lift cargo transport. SkyTug, as the first variant is called, will require little infrastructure and will be able to operate on unimproved surfaces or on water using an air cushion landing system. Aviation Capital will market the hybrid airship to the commercial market. Lockheed Martin retains rights to the military market. Three variants of the hybrid airship ranging in size from one that can lift twenty tons of cargo to one that can lift several hundred tons of cargo will be developed. Delivery of the first variant is expected in 2012.
The Shadow Knows
PHOTO BY THINH NGUYEN
The first MC-130J Combat Shadow II special operations airlifter/tanker for US Air Force Special Operations Command was rolled out at the Lockheed Mar tin facility in Marietta, Georgia, on 29 March 2011. A total of fifteen MC-130Js are on order to begin replacing the existing fleet. The new aircraft, based on a KC-130J tanker, will be equipped with the Enhanced Service Life Wing, Enhanced Cargo Handling System, boom refueling receptacle, more powerful electrical generators, a chinmounted electro-optical/infrared sensor, a combat systems operator station on the flight deck, and provisions for the large aircraft infrared countermeasures system. The Combat Shadow II is expected to begin operations in 2012.
F-35C For The Marines Under a memorandum of agreement signed on 14 March 2011 by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos, the two sea services will buy a total of 680 F-35 Lightning II fighters. The Navy will buy 260 F-35C carrier variants, while the Marine Corps will buy 340 F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variants as well as eighty F-35Cs. The Marine Corps, which was originally not planning to buy any F-35Cs, will assign five of its fighter squadrons to fly in the Navy’s carrier air wings. The F-35Bs will be assigned to amphibious assault ships. Training for the aircraft will be completely integrated, and there will be only one training pipeline.
PHOTOS BY ANDY WOLFE
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Shadow Training US Air Force Special Operations Training Center, or AFSOTC, personnel conducted the first MC-130J training program flight class in February. The first MC-130J aircrew practiced airdrops, aerial refueling, and formation flights on EC-130J Commando Solo aircraft operated by the 193rd Special Operations Wing at Harrisburg IAP, Pennsylvania. AFSOTC worked in conjunction with the 193rd SOW, the US Marine Corps, and the US National Guard Bureau to start a training program two years in the making. This first class is a small group tryout designed to validate the instruction syllabus for the remaining classes—essentially training the trainers. The MC-130J is operated by a five-member crew, which is a reduction in size from the standard eight-member MC-130P Combat Shadow crew.
PHOTO BY SSGT. JULIANNE SHOWALTER
Hauling Helos
PHOTO BY SRA WILLARD LEGRANDE
Crews from the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, Delaware, flying two C-5B Galaxy transports and two C-5M Super Galaxys hauled more than 3,300 tons of cargo from Western Europe to Afghanistan in February. The cargo consisted of 170 US Army CH-47 Chinook, UH-60 Black Hawk, and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. During this operation, commercial ships carried equipment and helicopters for the Army’s 159th Combat Aviation Brigade from the United States to Western Europe where C-5s then carried the cargo to Afghanistan. At the same time, equipment and helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade were flown back to Western Europe from Afghanistan and then reloaded on ships to return to the United States.
Fast Green Raptor A US Air Force F-22 Raptor was successfully flown at supercruise speeds on 18 March 2011 fueled by a 50–50 blend of conventional petroleum-based JP-8 and biofuel derived from camelina, a weedlike plant not used for food. The flight occurred at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California. During the flight, the Raptor reached speeds of Mach 1.5 and an altitude of 40,000 feet. The test flight was the capstone of a series of ground and flight te s t event s t hat wer e conduc t e d by memb er s of t he 411th Flight Test Squadron with the Raptor using the biofuel blend. The Air Force selected the F-22 as the pathfinder for the biofuel blend flight test for all fighter aircraft.
PHOTO BY DAVID HENRY
Safe Flying Milestone
PHOTO BY TSGT. SCOTT STURKOL
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The 166th Airlift Wing, the Delaware Air National Guard unit based at New Castle, reached 170,000 accident-free flying hours on 20 January 2011. The 166th AW has not had a Class A, B, or C flying mishap since 1963. During this period, the unit flew the C-97 Stratofreighter and C-130A Hercules, and currently operates the C-130H. The wing has flown nearly twenty continuous years of deployments to Southwest Asia. Over that time, Guardsmen recorded combat flying time in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. The 166th AW reached 100,000 accident-free hours in 1990 and topped 150,000 safe flying hours in 2004.
Get Gas, Finish Tests Development testing of the new HC-130J Combat King II personnel recovery aircraft for the US Air Force was completed on 14 March 2011. The final test point—air-to-air refueling—marked the first refueling of an HC-130J. It also marked the first boom refueling of a C-130 with a refueling receptacle installed during aircraft production, rather than being retrofitted. Because of the similarities between the HC-130J and the new MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft now in production, the data gathered during this test will also apply to the MC-130J. Deliveries of the HC-130Js and MC-130Js will begin in August 2011. Initial operational capability for both aircraft is scheduled for 2012.
Old School Orions
PHOTO BY MARSHA CHILDS
PHOTO BY VIC PITTS
Three US Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft were recently repainted in heritage paint schemes as part of the ongoing Centennial of Naval Aviation. Personnel at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, repainted two of the aircraft. The first is the seaplane gray scheme used on P5M Marlin, P2V Neptune, and on some PBM Mariners from 1957 to 1963. The latest aircraft is painted like a Vietnam-era EP-3B electronic reconnaissance variant used in a classified reconnaissance program called Bat Rack (left). NIPPI Corporation in Atsugi, Japan, painted the other P-3, which replicates the scheme worn by the PBY-5A Catalina flying boats of Patrol Squadron 44 (VP-44), whose crews located the Imperial Japanese Fleet before the 1942 Battle of Midway.
PHOTO BY BILL MICK
General Falcon Pilot US Air Force Brig. Gen. James N. Post III, the commander of the 354th Fighter Wing at Eielson AFB, Alaska, completed his 2,565th sortie in the F-16 on 3 March 2011, which brought his official total flight hours in the F-16 to more than 4,000. Post is the only known general officer to reach the flight hour milestone while still on active duty. He transitioned to the F-16 from the F-4 in 1987. In 1995, he was named Pacific Air Forces Instructor Pilot of the Year and was the winner of the Air Force’s Gunsmoke air-to-ground competition. Post accumulated more than 280 flight hours in support of Operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch, and Iraqi Freedom.
PHOTO BY SSGT. CHRISTOPHER BOITZ
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Fewer Blades
Desert Falcon At Red Flag
A borrowed C-130H was returned to the 153rd Airlift Wing, the Wyoming Air National Guard unit in Cheyenne, on 24 February 2011 after six years of serving as a propeller testbed at Edwards AFB, California. This aircraft’s mechanical propeller control system was first replaced by an electronic system. In 2007, the aluminum four-bladed propellers on the aircraft were removed and replaced with the eight-bladed, composite NP2000 propeller used by the US Navy. The new props added thrust to the existing T56 engines on the Hercules and r e duc e d v ibr a t ion. The original props were PHOTO BY MSGT. PAUL MANN reinstalled, but the electronic propeller control system was retained. The reconfigured aircraft will return to Edwards for additional data collection. The test program concludes in June 2011.
Warlords Fly Falcons
PHOTO BY SSGT. BENJAMIN WILSON
A United Arab Emirates Air Force maintainer signals an F-16F Desert Falcon pilot after a mission during Exercise Red Flag 11-2 at Nellis AFB, Nevada, on 31 January 2011. The UAE Air Force participated in Red Flag with its Block 60 F-16s for the second time. Red Flag is an advanced aerial combat training exercise held several times a year at Nellis AFB to strengthen international relations and training.
Better Box
PHOTO BY SAMUEL KING, JR.
Aviators from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) at Eglin AFB, Florida, completed four sorties in F-16s in mid-March, marking the first time a pilot from the squadron flew from the unit’s new base. VMFAT-501, known as the Warlords, is the F-35B training squadron at the all-service Lightning II schoolhouse at Eglin. The F-16s are on loan from the 419th Fighter Wing, the Air Force Reserve Command unit at Luke AFB, Arizona. These familiarization sorties are doubly beneficial to the Marines. Not only do they experience flying a single-engine aircraft somewhat similar to the F-35, but they also gain experience operating from the Eglin flightline, runway, and airspace.
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The first replacement center wing box for the L-100 civil variant of the Hercules was delivered to Lynden Air Cargo on 25 January 2011. The new wing box is the first of three on order for Lynden, a freight transport firm in Anchorage, Alaska, that operates a fleet of six L-100s. The new structure will give the Lynden L-100s an additional fifteen years of service life. Installation will be performed by Singapore Technologies Aerospace Engineering using Lockheed Martin-designed tooling. Center wing boxes for installation in new C-130J Super Hercules and for retrofit into earlier Hercules models are manufactured at Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Georgia.
CRUZEX V
PHOTO BY SMSGT. JOHN ROHRER
A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the 140th Wing, the Colorado Air National Guard unit at Buckley ANGB near Denver, is flown at the far left of a formation with aircraft from other participating nations in the fifth annual Cruzeiro do Sul, or Southern Cross, exercise on 10 November 2010 over Natal AB, Brazil. The other aircraft in the formation include a French Rafale, a Brazilian AMX, a Chilean F-16, and a Uruguayan A-37 Dragonfly. The ten-day, multinational combined exercise, known as CRUZEX V, included eighty-two military aircraft and nearly 3,000 airmen from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Uruguay, and the US, along with observers from numerous other countries.
Moving Day
PHOTO BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
Fat Albert Delivers A pallet of toys is loaded on Fat Albert, the C-130T support aircraft for the Blue Angels, the US Navy’s Air Demonstration Squadron, after ceremonies at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, on 2 December 2010, as employees and members of the media look on. The Fat Albert crew collected two pallets of toys donated by Marietta employees for the Toys for Tots campaign before flying to Fort Worth, Texas, for another two pallets of toys donated by Lockheed Martin employees there. Fat Albert’s Marine Corps crew landed in New Orleans, where the toys were distributed to less fortunate children along the Gulf Coast. The US Marine Corps began the Toys for Tots campaign in 1947. PHOTO BY DAMIEN GUARNIERI
The Air National Guard’s 176th Wing moved several miles from its former home at Kulis ANGB, in Anchorage, Alaska, to nearby Joint Base ElmendorfRichardson in a flyaway ceremony on 12 February 2011. The 176th Wing’s fleet of five C-130s, two HC-130s, and four HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters took off and circled around for a flyby on the way to Elmendorf. The 176th Wing, which has more than 1,400 assigned personnel, has been at Kulis since 1952. In 2005, the Base Closure and Realignment commission recommended that Kulis be closed and the wing be relocated. The move to Elmendorf is expected to streamline the wing’s support services and capture efficiencies of scale.
Elmo Raptors Deploy Eight F-22 pilots and twenty maintainers from the 477th Fighter Group, the Air Force Reserve Command associate unit at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, deployed in late PHOTO BY SRA LAURA TURNER January to suppor t US Pacific Command’s Theater Security Package program in the Western Pacific. The 477th FG personnel deployed to Kadena AB, Japan, along with their active duty counterparts from the 535th Fighter Squadron. The deployment to the base on the island of Okinawa ran for three months. Deploying to Kadena allows the active duty and Reserve pilots and maintainers to generate sorties without having to fly in the harsh Alaska winter weather. The deployment also allows pilots and maintainers to train with other types of aircraft. This is the fourth Theater Security deployment for the 477th FG.
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