Combat Aircraft Monthly - January 2016.pdf

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Volume
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LONG-RANGE STRIKE – BOMBER
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NEWS:
FRANCE STRIKES BACK
Russia’s ‘Blackjack’ attack
RUSSIA’S STEALTH FIGHTER
SUKHOI T-50 IN DETAIL
JANUARY 2016
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ISRAEL’S F-15 EAGLE force • KIRTLAND’S SPECIAL MISSION HERCs • F-8 CRUSADERS IN VIETNAM
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air power YEARBOOK 2016
Produced by the
Combat Aircraft
team;
the US Air Force Air Power Yearbook is the
ultimate guide to the world’s most powerful
air arm. Packed with features on latest aircraft
capabilities, famous squadrons and the
personnel that fly and maintain the various
types, plus a detailed unit and aircraft air
power review. This 100-page publication is a
must-have for USAF aviation fans.
FEATURING:
F-22 on the front line
A review of the Raptor’s combat debut over Syria
and recent deployment to Europe.
40 Years of exercise’ Red Flag’
A review and tribute to the world’s most famous
exercise.
Bayou Militia
A unit review of the F-15Cs of the 122nd Fighter
Squadron Louisiana ANG
F-35 training
Behind the scenes at Eglin and Luke AFB as the
F-35 training squadrons get up to full speed.
B-1 today
Exclusive interviews with B-1 senior officers as
we detail recent combat operations and latest
upgrades for the B-1 Lancer.
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January 2016
• Vol 17 • No 1
44
GOING LIVE!
CA
looks ahead to the USAF declaring initial
operating capability with the F-35A Lightning II.
IN THE NEWS
06 Headline News
Long-Range Strike — Bomber
competition award, France targets
Syria and latest developments with
Euro ghter Typhoon
Lakenheath Eagles target Islamic
State, F-35A res its gun and CH-53K
makes maiden ight
News from Europe and around the
globe including Norwegian F-35s
arriving at Luke AFB, plus all the
latest military losses
52
FIGHTER FOCUS:
RUSSIAN RAPTOR?
Once billed as Russia’s rival to the F-22 Raptor,
the Sukhoi T-50 has run into trouble of late.
Piotr Butowski covers this program, plus the
two advanced ‘Flanker’ variants that are now
entering service with the Russian Air Force
80 ‘SPOOKIES’ STILL
GOING STRONG
Santiago Rivas ventures into the world
of the Colombian Air Force’s Fantasmas,
the AC-47T gunships that continue to
see action against local guerrillas as
well as acting as command posts for
anti-criminal operations
08 US News
88 GLORY DAYS: LAST OF
THE GUNFIGHTERS
18 World News
‘When you’re out of F-8s, you’re out of
ghters’. Warren E. Thompson talks to
pilots about their most memorable
experiences of taking the Crusader into
combat in South-east Asia
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column
reporting from the front line of
aerospace technology, by David Axe
96 CUTTING EDGE
26 BUZZARD AND THUNDER
86
The Eagle remains the backbone of the
Israeli Air Force, and the multi-role F-15I is at
the heart of Israel’s long-range combat
operations. As a future Eagle order becomes
a possibility, Ofer Zidon pro les the F-15 in
Israeli service
‘SCRAMBLE!’
34 UNIT REPORT:
KINGS AND COMMANDOS
Rich Cooper ies with the four
59th Tactical Fighter Wing
JAS 39C Gripens from
Kecskemét air base that are for
the rst time ying the Baltic
Air Policing mission out of the
Lithuanian base of Šiauliai
Jake Melampy joins the ‘Nightstalkers’ of the
415th Special Operations Squadron at
Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
38 EXERCISE REPORT:
‘TRIDENT JUNCTURE’
NATO’s ‘Trident Juncture’ exercise
demonstrated the alliance’s increased
emphasis on joint modern warfare and
interoperability. Giovanni Colla and
Remo Guidi report
62 THE WESTERN
WEIGHTLIFTER
Tom Kaminski details the C-17 Globemaster
III, which combines both strategic and
tactical capabilities in a single airframe
70 UNIT REPORT:
DRAGONS VERSUS MINES
Hans Drost visits Naval Station Norfolk,
Virginia to learn how the US Navy’s MH-53E
Sea Dragon aircrews go about their
hazardous work countering sea mines
Once threatened with the axe, the fate of
the Bombardier Sentinel intelligence,
surveillance, target acquisition and
reconnaissance aircraft of the Royal Air
Force’s No V(AC) Squadron has taken a
dramatic turn, as Angus Batey discovers
PLUS
Our Under the Radar column analyzes
the Long-Range Strike — Bomber news
74 SENTINEL SURVIVAL
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ON THE COVER:
F-35A pilot Maj Michael Emerson of
the 58th Fighter Squadron breaks for
action with his wingman near Eglin
AFB, Florida.
Jamie Hunter
COMBAT EDGE |
FIND US ON
04
B
RUSSIA FLEXES ITS MUSCLES
round-trip missions from Russian
territory. The Tu-95MS and Tu-160
aircraft launched 34 ALCMs against
additional targets in Aleppo and Idlib.
The wreckage of one or two Kh-555
ALCMs was discovered in open ground
in Syria and images on social media
rst alerted observers to the strikes.
Those missiles appear to have missed
their targets.
While this operation marked a
signi cant show of force by the
Russian Air Force, it will be instructive
to discover just how accurate and
successful it was. The sheer weight of
repower that was brought to bear will
have a signi cant psychological e ect
in terms of demonstrating willingness
and the resources available to the
Russian military, and may well have
caused severe damage on the ground,
but its precision might be more
questionable.
It is therefore notable how the US
has been unwilling to compromise
when it comes to collateral damage.
This is endorsed by the nervousness
over targeting IS-sponsored tanker
trucks that smuggle oil out of Syria’s
eastern oil elds. Indeed, the US Air
Force dropped lea ets to warn tanker
drivers ahead of the rst strike by four
A-10Cs and two AC-130U gunships that
targeted 100 trucks the day before the
Russian bomber raid.
Russia may not be quite so willing to
compromise its operations, and seems
to have rolled up its sleeves and set to
work with the full might of its available
forces. It has also gone so far as to say
that ground troops may have to get
involved in the longer term…
EGINNING IN THE early
hours of November
17, Russia’s air strikes
on Syria by strategic
bombers were a key
moment in the history
of modern military air power. The co-
ordinated strike by some ve Tu-160
‘Blackjack’, 14 Tu-22M3 ‘Back re-C’ and
six Tu-95MS ‘Bear-H’ strategic bombers
demonstrated a signi cant e ort from
the Russian Air Force to assault so-
called Islamic State (IS) militants inside
Syria. It marked the combat debut of
the ‘Bear’ and the ‘Blackjack’ and also
saw the possible rst use of the new
Kh-101 stealthy air-launched cruise
missile (ALCM).
Russian o cials reportedly contacted
the US in advance of this huge mission,
which was a major step up in terms of
aircraft involved and the co-ordination
needed with the ongoing Operation
‘Inherent Resolve’ being conducted in
the same airspace.
The mission also seems to have
demonstrated a shift in tactics away
from supporting the regime of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, and toward
targeting IS militants. However, it also
raises some interesting points.
Despite recent modest upgrades, the
‘Back res’ appear to have gone in rst
and carpet-bombed targets around
Raqqa and Dayr al-Zawr provinces,
dropping ‘iron’ bombs during their
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
CONTRIBUTOR
PROFILE JAKE MELAMPY
ake Melampy
is an aviation
photojournalist
from Dayton,
Ohio. Growing up near
Wright-Patterson AFB
inspired his love of all
things aviation. As well
as photography at the
J
annual Dayton airshow, Jake’s full-time
career as a corporate pilot by age 25
led to him ying numerous types of
business jets around North America.
Since his rst photo was published in
this magazine over 10 years ago, his
images have graced the pages and
covers of numerous aviation periodicals
and books.
A ight of
Tu-22M3
‘Back re-Cs’, like
this example
photographed
last year,
dropped free-fall
bombs during
the November
raid on Syria.
Yevgeni Kazhenov
www.combataircraft.net
January 2016
JANUARY 2016
| COMBAT EDGE
05
January 2016
www.combataircraft.net

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