Combat Aircraft Monthly 2014-12.pdf

(19333 KB) Pobierz
NORTH AMERICA’S BEST SELLING MILITARY AVIATION MAGAZINE
FREE
CALENDAR
AIR POWER 2015
THE BEST IMAGES FROM
COMBAT AIRCRAFT
Vol 15, No 12 | www.combataircraft.net
RAPTOR’S
F-22 MAKES ITS COMBAT DEBUT
FIRST STRIKE
NEWS:
F-35C TO BE BASED AT
NAS LEMOORE
RAF retains
TORNADO SQUADRON
FIRST AUSTRALIAN F-35 FLIES
IN THE
Glory Days
Marine
Harriers
over
Afghanistan
TANKER TRANSPORTS
DECEMBER 2014
UK £4.40
RAF VOYAGER
COMBAT REPORT
AIR OPERATIONS OVER IRAQ AND SYRIA
AUSTRIAN
EUROFIGHTERS
ON ALPINE PATROL
What’s inside
28
COMBAT REPORT:
OPERATION ‘INHERENT
RESOLVE’
64
EXERCISE REPORT:
‘TOP END’ WARRIORS
As President Obama vowed to ‘go after’
Islamic State (IS), an air coalition was formed
to strike from above.
Combat Aircraft
analyses how much can air power alone can
achieve in the ght against the jihadists
Mike Yeo heads to the clear blue skies
and wide expanses of Australia’s Northern
Territory as a variety of nations participate in
the multi-national Exercise ‘Pitch Black’
Vol 15, No 12 December 2014
news
HEADLINE NEWS
US NEWS
72
ALPINE ALERT
38
COMBAT REPORT:
RAPTOR STRIKES!
In the early hours of September 23 over
Syria, the US Air Force’s ‘super ghter’, the
Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, made its
combat debut. Jamie Hunter evaluates the
signi cance of these missions
Seven years since it rst arrived at Zeltweg,
the Euro ghter Typhoon is now very much
at home in Austrian skies, and 2014 has been
an important year. Frank Crébas reports
6
8
16
22
The latest news from the Iraqi air
operation, plus F-35 engine latest
and RAF retains three Tornado GR4
squadrons
78
EXERCISE REPORT:
HIGHWAY PATROL
42
VOYAGER:
A NEW ERA FOR THE
ROYAL AIR FORCE
Gordon Arthur attends the Republic of
China Air Force (ROCAF)’s exercises on public
highways
First Super Tucanos form the 81st
Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB,
and all the latest news from the
F-35 program, plus all the latest
deployment and unit news
When the UK called for a new tanker/
transport aircraft, a novel solution was
sought. Jamie Hunter looks at how the
Voyager is today producing impressive
results
80
GLORY DAYS: DEVIL DOGS
OVER AFGHANISTAN
WORLD NEWS
First Royal Australian Air Force F-35A
ies and Embraer KC-390 is rolled out
46
CANADA’S EASTERN
EXPEDITION
Tensions around Ukraine have seen the
entire NATO partnership being mobilized
while quick-response forces deploy to the
region for multi-national exercises and
shows of force. As part of the Canadian
contribution, a ‘six-pack’ of CF-188s is now
on the Baltic Air Policing mission, as Frank
Crébas reports
One year into the coalition campaign
launched against the Taliban in Afghanistan,
the US Marines Corps sent six of its AV-8B
Harrier IIs from MCAS Yuma to Bagram
Air eld. Warren E. Thompson presents
a compelling story from the aircrews of
VMA-513 ‘Flying Nightmares’ as they recall an
eventful, and challenging, deployment
EUROPE NEWS
Belgium ends Afghan role for F-16s
and Bulgaria eyes second-hand F-16s
from Greece
88
SO LONG ‘SLUF’
PLUS:
Robert F. Dorr’s Front Line column and all
the latest military Losses
52
AIR POWER
REVIEW: JAPAN
A return towards Cold War levels
of air interceptions of Chinese
and Russian intruders is just one
challenge that faces the Japan Air
Self-Defense Force today. Sérgio
Santana and Rich Cooper review
the Japanese air arms
The last operational Vought A-7 Corsair
IIs have been retired from service. For the
nal time, Ioannis Lekkas had the chance
to experience operations within the world’s
last remaining A-7 squadron, talking to the
Hellenic Air Force’s Corsair personnel and
assessing their important work as the type
headed for retirement
Subscribe to
Combat Aircraft Monthly
and make great
savings on cover price. See pages 86 and 87 for details.
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
96
CUTTING EDGE
FREE
2015 CALENDAR
INSIDE
AIR POWER
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column reporting
from the front line of aerospace technology,
by David Axe
An F-22 Raptor of the 1st Fighter Wing —
in this issue we review the type’s combat
debut over Syria.
Jamie Hunter
Combat Edge
I
RAPTOR DETRACTORS
N A MONTH when the F-22 Raptor
made its combat debut, it was ironic
that new reports surfaced of F-117s
flying over Nevada. When the F-117
was officially retired in April 2008,
the US Air Force line was that the
F-22 could replace the role filled by the
popular and potent Nighthawk.
Indeed, we saw the Holloman AFB
‘canyon’ hangars being emptied of F-117s
and filled with F-22s as the curtain fell on
the Nighthawk’s career. However, Raptor
skeptics questioned the type’s ability
effectively to replace the F-117.
At that time, the F-22 was only just finding
its way in the air-to-ground role, having
proved its mettle as a fine air dominance
fighter. In 2008 it only possessed the ability
to drop the 1,000lb GBU-32 GPS-guided
JDAM. This has now been supplemented by
the 250lb Small Diameter Bomb, but again
this is GPS-guided. The F-22 cannot guide or
drop laser-guided weapons. It doesn’t have a
targeting pod.
The F-117, of course, could self-designate
its own laser-guided weapons with its
forward and downward-looking FLIR
and DLIR sensors, and it could carry the
bunker-busting GBU-27, as well as a host
of laser-guided and latterly GPS-guided
weapons. Furthermore, when coupled with
its masterful mission planning software, the
F-117 was very stealthy.
However, the Nighthawk was a little
vulnerable. One was claimed by a SAM
during Operation ‘Allied Force’ in 1999,
and the F-117 had no air-to-air capability
to defend itself. It was a good single-role
aircraft.
Short of not being able effectively to target
moving vehicles (arguably the F-117 couldn’t
do this either) or penetrate a deep bunker,
the F-22 has a few more ‘clubs in the bag’
than the F-117s had. It too is ‘very’ stealthy.
It has a vastly superior avionics suite and
incredible electronic warfare prowess. It is
the master of the air-to-air mission.
In short, it is truly ‘multi-role’.
Despite the cost of the Raptor program,
and the fact that it has taken nearly a
decade since service entry to see combat
operations, the F-22 has proved the theory.
It has taken out a target in hostile territory
with seemingly surgical precision, and it
has lurked on high ready to pounce on any
would-be maruading hostile fighters.
For F-117 fans (myself included), while it
is possible that Nevada’s secretive
Nighthawks are being kept ‘in flyable storage’
as a ‘silver bullet’ combat force, it is more
likely that they are test support assets.
As someone who wasn’t sure the F-22
could replace the F-117, I am now a little
more convinced.
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
4
December 2014
www.combataircraft.net
THIS
MONTH
COMBAT
DEBUT
In this issue
Combat Aircraft
reviews the rst combat
action for the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, illustrated
here by Hawaii ANG examples. It may have been a low-
key kill, but it marks an important milestone for the US
Air Force.
Lockheed Martin/Liz Kaszynski
CONTRIBUTOR
PROFILE
FRANK CRÉBAS
F
rank Crébas is a Netherlands-
based contributor to
Combat
Aircraft Monthly.
In this issue,
Frank is in Austria to discover how
this Alpine nation has adapted to
patroling its skies with the Eurofighter
while fighting budget woes. In
addition, he traveled to report on the
Canadian Baltic Air Policing
detachment as part of NATO’s
reassurance measures in eastern
Europe.
www.combataircraft.net
December 2014
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin