Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing

The 366th Operations Group runs the flying squadrons of the wing. In April 1994, this unit was led by Colonel Robin E. Scott. A big man with a broad face and a marvelous sense of fun, he had his first job in the wing as commander of the 391st FS, the 366th's F-15E Strike Eagle squadron. Behind Scott's jolly smile is a mind that thinks all the time about getting the wing into combat faster. Every military unit has a mission briefing that is routinely delivered to visiting VIPs. When Scott gives the briefing on the 366th Wing concept of operations, he does it with passion and lots of direct answers to questions. The big question is how the wing would get to where it might have to fight in a crisis. The answer involves a lot of packaging and planning. Another question for the Operations Group is how the wing will fly and fight when it gets to the location of the crisis. The 366th may have to fight for up to a week without reinforcement or outside support. This is a tall order for only a handful of aircraft and aircrews, and it will require the wing leadership to make all the right decisions at the right time, and in the right order.

366TH OPERATIONS SUPPORT SQUADRON. The 366th Operations Support Squadron (OSS) is the staff organization that runs the five flying squadrons of the Operations Group for Colonel Scott. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gregg "Tank" Miller, it is the key to the whole 366th CONOPS plan. In addition to interfacing with the other groups of the wing, the 366th OSS provides the wing's ability to generate its own daily Air Tasking Orders (ATOs). ATOs furnish the script for everything that happens in the air, from the time and altitude for a tanker to establish a track to refuel other aircraft, down to whether the Army can fire artillery or guided missiles through a particular chunk of airspace at a particular time. One reason for the success of Operation Desert Storm was the quality of the ATOs built by General Horner's CENTAF staff. But the 366th has to do this job with a lot fewer people (forty-two vs. several hundred for the CENTAF staff), and less equipment. On deployment, the 366th OSS forms what is known as the 366th Air Operations Center (AOC), which brings its own tent city to operate from a "bare bones" base. Some good tools help make up for the lack of personnel. The main tool is the Contingency Tactical Air Control System (TACS) Automated Planning System, or CTAPS. This is a network of computer workstations that ties together a series of databases on intelligence, terrain, known targets, and aircraft capabilities, enabling the 366th AOC staff to rapidly build and distribute ATO plans to everyone in or attached to the wing. Each day's complete ATO (which can be several hundred pages of text) can be transmitted almost instantly via land line, printed hard copy, disk, or even a satellite communications link like the popular suitcase-sized Hammer Rick system. During Desert Storm hard copies had to be hand-carried out to CVWs in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf by airplane each day. Now almost every military air unit in the United States and allied nations has CTAPS-compatible equipment that allows them to receive and use an electronic ATO.

The process of building a day's ATO begins several days before it is executed. The Air Operations Center team is split into two twelve-hour shifts, with part of each shift working on the ATOs to be executed two and three days later, and the rest working on the ATO to be executed the next day. Once the ATO has been blessed by the AOC chief and the local JFACC (such as General McCloud), it can be distributed to the flying squadrons for execution of the next day's missions.

The 366th's ability to generate ATOs is limited by the number of personnel that can be dedicated to the task. The estimate is that the 366th AOC staff could churn out ATOs for about five hundred daily sorties — comparable to a major exercise like Red/Green Flag (and about 10 % to 20 % of what the CENTAF staff generated during the 1991 Gulf War); and they could probably sustain this level of output for a week. After that the forty-two people on the team would doubtless be exhausted and require reinforcement. By that time, hopefully, a big, well-equipped CinC staff, like the 9th Air Force/CENTAF from Shaw AFB, South Carolina, would have arrived to relieve the 366th.

It is important to remember that the 366th Wing is designed as a "fire brigade," to deal with a crisis while more substantial forces are mustered and sent to assist. This tends to draw some grim humor from the members of the wing. They know exactly what the odds might be in a major crisis like Iraq or Iran, and that casualties might be the price of the job.

389th Fighter Squadron

The 389th FS, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Wood, is the 366th Wing's F-16 squadron, and they are equipped with brand-new Block 52D F-16C Fighting Falcons. The 389th dates back to May 1943, when it was formed as part of the original 366th Fighter Group. Since that time, a 389th FS has usually been a part of the 366th's complement of units. Aircrews from the 389th were credited with twenty-nine air-to-air kills (twenty-three in World War II, six in Vietnam).

Currently, the 389th is equipped with eighteen Primary Authorized Aircraft (PAA), which refers to the combat strength of the unit. The actual total of aircraft controlled by the 389th FS (or any other USAF unit) is usually about one third greater than the PAA, and includes a small number of two-seat trainers (to maintain proficiency and certifications), as well as other F-16Cs that are either in the depot/maintenance pipeline or represent spares. In addition, the 366th is staffed at about 1.25 aircrew per flight position per aircraft, meaning that combat missions may have to be flown by wing support staff, who are rated as aircrews.

The F-16s of the 389th have been greatly "tricked out" with the addition of new systems designed to improve their capabilities over the original F-16s assigned to the 389th when it was formed. These include:

• The latest Block 50/52 software to allow the full use of the APG-68's radar modes.

• The capability to fire both the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-88 HARM missiles.

• The addition of an ASQ-213 HTS pod for every aircraft in the squadron.

If you suspect, from this list of capabilities, that the 389th is working hard to get into the business of suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), you would be right on target. With the retirement of the F-4G force, there is no way that ACC can guarantee the commander of the 366th a detachment of Wild Weasels in the event of an emergency deployment. And with the APG-68/ AIM-120 combination, the F-16s of the 389th can also take some of the air-to-air load off the F-15s of the 390th, when barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) and strike escort missions are required. Of course, the 389th can also do traditional air-to-ground deliveries of iron AGM-65 Maverick missiles, as well as cluster bombs, if required. In short, the 389th FS provides exactly the kind of SEAD, air-to-air, and bombing capabilities the 366th commander will require to react to a fast-changing crisis. It is the wing's utility infielder.

390th Fighter Squadron (The Wild Boars)

Formed at the same time (May 1943) as the 389th, the 390th is the 366th's air superiority squadron. Equipped with F-15C Eagles, the 390th, known as "the Wild Boars" (the 390th squadron ready room/bar has to be seen to be believed!), has a long and colorful history. This includes 35.5 air-to-air victories (33.5 in World War II, two in Vietnam) gained by 390th aircrews, as well as the only service in Operations Desert Shield/Storm by a 366th unit.

The unit was "stood up" as an F-15C squadron in June 1992, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Larry D. New, with twelve PAA aircraft. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Peter J. Bunce, on March 28th, 1994, just in time to take the squadron for Green Flag 94-3. Along with the new commander came the news that the 390th, together with its 366th sister F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, the 391st FS, would be enlarged to eighteen PAA aircraft, the same size as the 389th. This enlargement was a result of several exercises such as Bright Star and Northern Edge which indicated that the twelve-aircraft Eagle squadrons just did not have the critical mass to sustain a week of unreinforced operations. By late 1995, the first of the additional aircraft and crews should arrive to join the Wild Boars.

The Boars are the shield of the 366th Wing. It is a classic air superiority unit, with the range and firepower to clear the skies for the rest of the wing's aircraft. Their basic F-15Cs have been updated to provide improved capabilities, including:

• The newest models of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, as well as improved PGU-28 20mm cannon ammunition.

• The full F-15C MSIP improvement package, including the complete APG-70 radar package.

• The Joint Tactical Information Data System (JTIDS) data-link system.

The 390th is the only fighter squadron in the USAF that is fully equipped with the first-generation JTIDS terminals, and thus it can rightly claim to have the best "eyes" of any fighter squadron anywhere in the world. With JTIDS, it can work in tactical formations and situations previously unimaginable to fighter commanders. For example, the JTIDS data links allow each Eagle driver to pass along to any other JTIDS-equipped aircraft (E-3 Sentry, F-14D Tomcat, Tornado F-2, etc.) not only data about the targets detected by the F-15's onboard radar (position, altitude, course, heading, etc.), but also the aircraft's stores information (fuel, missiles, ammunition) and other critical tactical information. This means that a formation as small as two ships can cover a huge volume of airspace. This capability is especially critical for a fire brigade air unit like the 366th Wing, which can ill afford any kind of loss as it hangs on during what may be a week of unreinforced combat operations in a crisis.

391st Fighter Squadron (The Bold Tigers)

The "Bold Tigers" of the 391st FS are the heavy war hammer of the 366th Wing. No other strike aircraft in the world today provides an air commander with the power of the F-15E Strike Eagle, and the 391st gives General McCloud and the 366th Wing a weapon with the killing power of Excalibur. Formed by Lieutenant Colonel Robin Scott (now a full colonel and the 366th Operations Group commander) in March 1992, the 391st is now led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank W. "Claw" Clawson, USAF, who took command in June 1993. The 391st is a big squadron from an aircrew standpoint (with two aircrew per aircraft). Like the 389th and 390th FSs, the 391st was formed in mid-1943, and has fought with the 366th through most of its history. Along the way, the aircrews of Bold Tigers have collected some seventeen kills (so far, all in World War II). In the Strike Eagle community, the 391st is the most coveted assignment in the Air Force.

"Claw" has a big job managing the most powerful unit in the 366th Wing. The squadron's capabilities include:

• The AAQ-13/14 LANTIRN FLIR/targeting system.

• Delivery of Paveway LGBs and GBU-15 E/O guided bombs.

• Delivery of the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground family of missiles.

• The same AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and M-61 Vulcan gun air-to-air armament as the F-15Cs of the 390th FS.

The Bold Tigers may soon gain additional weapons due to the cancellation of the AGM-137 TSSAM missile. These might include the AGM-130 version of the GBU-15, or the folding fin version of the AGM-142 Have Nap. The Strike Eagles of the 391st are also planned to acquire GPS receivers, JTIDS, and possibly satellite communications terminals, allowing commanders to order quick-reaction strikes on unbriefed targets while the planes are already in the air. When these improvements are completed in a few years, the fangs of the Tigers will be sharper still.

34th Bombardment Squadron (The Thunderbirds)

When the 366th Wing was put together in 1992, one of the more controversial decisions was inclusion of a small, but powerful, bomber squadron of B-52Gs. The big bombers have traditionally belonged to the Strategic Air Command and trained for global thermonuclear war. But as the nuclear deterrent bomber mission has gradually faded away, the B-52s have acquired more conventional capabilities. The "BUFFs" (the traditional nickname for the B-52; it stands, in polite company, for Big Ugly Fat Fella) of the 34th BS were equipped with "big beam" ordnance racks for carrying the AGM-142 Have Nap, and could launch the AGM-84 Harpoon and mines, as well as the AGM-86C cruise missile.

Originally formed as the 34th Aero Squadron in 1917, and later known as the "Thunderbirds," it brought a rich tradition to the 366th. It was one of the squadrons which supplied aircraft (B-25Bs) and crews for the famous Tokyo Raid by Jimmy Doolittle in 1942. Later, it saw service flying B-26s in the Korean War. It took delivery of its first B-52s and was renamed the 34th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) in 1963 at Castle AFB, California, serving there until its inactivation in 1976. The squadron was reformed in July 1992 as the heavy bomber squadron for the 366th. After the retirement of the B-52G force, the squadron was reformed a few months later in April 1994 at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, as a B-1B Lancer squadron.

The 34th is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Hopper, a highly professional, intense officer in his late thirties. A career bomber pilot, he has taken the challenge of rebuilding the 34th BS as a personal passion, and it shows. The challenges are many (especially in light of the B-1B's well-reported systems problems); and the 34th is fortunate to have the 28th Bombardment Wing (BW) as its host unit at Ellsworth AFB. Thanks to the leadership of Brigadier J. C. Wilson, Jr., the Bones of the 28th BW have exceeded the demanding performance standards mandated by the Congress in the Dakota Challenge Operational Readiness Inspection. As a unit making a transition to the B-1B, the 34th BS has benefited greatly from a close relationship with the highly experienced people of the 28th BW.

When they received their allotment of six PAA aircraft (the squadron carries a total of eleven B-1Bs on its balance sheet), they faced some severe challenges: The loss of the BUFFs in the Fall of 1993 eliminated the wing's long-range standoff weapons capability (the AGM-142 Have Nap, etc.). And the B-1B has always had a reputation as a "hangar queen" (an aircraft that spends most of its time indoors, waiting for repairs, spare parts, technical manual revisions, or software bug fixes). Nevertheless, they saw some opportunities in the Bone that the B-52 could not offer. These included:

• Vastly superior performance, especially in speed, maneuverability, and bomb capacity.

• Superior low-level penetration capability.

• Greatly reduced radar and IR signature (about 1/100th as much as the B-52).

• Excellent avionics, including a Synthetic Aperture Radar, sensitive RWR, and a powerful radar jamming system.

• The best communications suite in the 366th Wing, including a UHF satellite communications terminal for in-flight target data reception.

• A precision weapons upgrade plan (CBU-87/89/97 with wind correction kits, GBU-29/30 JDAMS, AGM-145 JSOW, GPS receiver, etc.), which is part of ACC's "Bomber Roadmap."

With these capabilities, it is easy to see why Lieutenant Colonel Hopper and his squadron like to call their B-1Bs "Mo Bones" or "Mean Bones." In the short run, unfortunately, not all these capabilities will be available. In particular, JDAM and JSOW will slip some years in the future, despite the best efforts of the USAF Materiel Command and ACC. Nevertheless, Tim Hopper has his own ideas about how the wing might use the B-1B in combat. Some of them include:

• Command and Control—The wing might use the B-1B as a CI platform, using the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capabilities of the Offensive Avionics Suite and the Bone's excellent communications capabilities much like a mini-JSTARS platform.

• Standoff/Escort Jamming—With the planned retirement of the EF- 111A Raven force scheduled for FY-1997, the B-1B might function as a jamming platform for the 366th Wing, using the Bone's ALQ-161 defensive countermeasures suite. With electronic warfare birds in short supply, the B-1B's RWR system might be able to supply radar targeting data to HARM-carrying F-16s from the 389th FS, if appropriate data links like JTIDS or an Improved Data Modem can be installed.

• Composite Wing Strike—With all the attention precision-guided weapons receive these days, it is sometimes forgotten that many potential targets for a unit like the 366th are of the "area" type, like troop concentrations, rail yards, truck parks, factories, etc. Area targets require large numbers of relatively small weapons to do significant damage, and the Bone is perfect for the job. With the B-1B capable of carrying up to eighty-four Mk 82 500lb./227.3 kg. bombs or several dozen CBU-87/89/97 cluster bombs, the rest of the wing could use their SEAD and PGM capabilities to neutralize SAMs and AAA, after which the Bones could come in and lay waste to a target area.

Lieutenant Colonel Hopper and the 34th achieved a major step with the Global Power/Global Reach mission mentioned earlier. Now, they are looking forward to the planned system upgrades that will make them even more dangerous. When the massive construction project at Mountain Home AFB is completed in a few years, they can join the rest of the wing in Idaho.

Bridging the gulf between the fighter culture and the bomber culture can be a struggle for both communities. General McCloud told us a story about the first composite strike exercise that the 366th ran with the Bones. Several B-1B crews briefed with a strike force from the four other squadrons and headed down to the Nellis AFB ranges to run the mission. Afterwards, when the mission was debriefed, the pilot from one of the bomber crews confessed, "We did not understand a word you guys said on the radio." They have come a long way from that inauspicious beginning. When you consider what was achieved after just six months of operations, you can understand what Tim Hopper has accomplished.

22nd Air Refueling Squadron

The 22nd Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) is the only flying unit in the 366th Wing that does not shoot or drop things that explode. Yet, it is the key to the 366th's ability to instantly deploy and generate combat missions. Dave McCloud and the rest of the wing treasure the 22nd ARS more than diamonds… or even new -229 engines for all the fighters. Only two combat wings within ACC have their own tanker assets, and there is nothing more precious in air warfare than airborne fuel!

The 22nd ARS was one of the four original flying squadrons at Mountain Home AFB when the wing was reorganized back in 1992. Its first commander is Lieutenant Colonel John F. Gaughan II, whose boyish good looks conceal a razor-sharp mind. Originally formed in 1939 as a heavy bomber unit, the 22nd flew the B-17, B-25, and A-26 during World War II in the Pacific and China before being disestablished in 1945. Reborn in 1952 as an airborne tanker squadron flying KC-97s, it has served with SAC and ACC ever since. Along the way, the 22nd also flew the EC-135 before it was disestablished at the end of the Cold War in 1989. Like the rest of the 366th squadrons, it was reformed in 1992.

It was originally equipped with noisy, smoky, fuel-guzzling 1950s-era turbojets, but the 22nd's aircraft have now been refitted with modern CFM- 56 turbofans to improve fuel economy and offload capacity. They are surprisingly young, at only about thirteen thousand hours of flight time average per airframe. Since the tankers have so little flight time, they avoided many of the stresses of repeated takeoff, pressurization, and landing cycles that eventually wear out an airframe. The USAF is currently planning to fly the KC- 135s until roughly the year 2020, a career of almost sixty years!

As for the 22nd ARS itself, because there is a lot of room in the KC-135, even when it is full of fuel, there is a lot more to their mission than just the complex aerial dance that allows fuel to pass to other aircraft. Still, the 22nd ARS is quite skilled at its primary job. For example, in fourteen days of operations at Green Flag 94-3 with just four aircraft, the 22nd flew ninety-seven sorties, refueling several hundred tactical sorties. Meanwhile, the big, open main compartment in the fuselage of the tanker can hold a lot of stuff. This includes:

• Personnel Transport—Each KC-135 can transport up to eighty passengers with their personal gear. This is enough to establish a small air-base cadre at their destination, as well as helping to relieve the burden on the limited resources of the Air Mobility Command (AMC).

• Cargo Transport—While they are currently limited to cargo which can be carried onboard by human muscle power, the aircraft of the 22nd ARS can help out in the transport mission by taking on bulk cargo and lashing it carefully to the existing plywood floors.

• Mission Planning/C³I—During the hours the wing staff is in the air deploying to a crisis, these very people need to be getting ready to launch the first air strikes. In particular, the strike-planning staff needs to be close to its CTAPS terminals, taking in the latest intelligence and targeting data and generating the Air Tasking and Fragmentary Orders that must be finished before the first airplane can be loaded and fueled. Thus, Colonel Scott and the Operations Group staff came up with the "FAST CONOPS" plan. Four of the 22nd's tankers, loaded with personnel and equipment, fly ahead to make the host site ready to start operations as soon as the combat aircraft arrive. As quickly as possible after an alert order, the first KC-135, known as FAST-1, would fly to the crisis area with a site survey team to evaluate exactly what the wing will need to deploy. Shortly after this, FAST-2 arrives with an Air Operations Center (AOC) team and the WICP (Wing Initial Communications Package) satellite communications equipment aboard. FAST-3 would carry the CI element, with their CTAPS gear set up to work while in flight. Finally, FAST-4 would carry a staff of maintenance personnel and aircrews (in crew rest) to ready the aircraft and fly the first mission when they arrive in the crisis zone. In this way, the wing could fly its first mission within a few hours of arriving at the host airfield.

This capability is vitally important to the wing's planned CONOPS scheme, and could make all the difference in a crisis.

The 22nd ARS is working hard to improve its capabilities to support the wing. Although times are tough, and money for upgrades of support aircraft are short, there are continuing efforts to make the 22nd's aircraft more capable, which include:

• Communications—Provisions are being made to install a UHF satellite communications terminal aboard each of the tankers. This will allow transmission of high-quality intelligence data, images, and teleconferencing to and from the FAST aircraft while in flight.

• Cargo Handling—One of the really big improvements is replacement of the KC-135s' original plywood floors with special fixtures, called Roll On/Roll Off (Ro/Ro) aluminum alloy floors, which will allow them to carry palletized cargo. This will greatly expand the variety of cargo the 22nd's tankers can carry, and help out a bit with the transportation crunch of getting the wing and all its stuff to the operating theater.

• Navigational Systems—A NAVSTAR GPS receiver is being installed to help with navigation and planning, as well as improving the accuracy of the autopilot. This should help in easing the aircrew workload, reducing fatigue on trans-oceanic flights when the 366th deploys.

These improvements will enhance the capabilities of the 22nd, though Lieutenant Colonel Gaughan and the rest of the wing's leadership still have a long wish list. At the top of the list is trading in the KC-135s for bigger, more modern KC-10 tankers, which can both pass and receive fuel in-flight and carry a large load of palletized cargo and personnel. This would allow the 22nd to both deploy and refuel while traveling overseas. Right now, it can only do one at a time. Unfortunately, these aircraft are closely held by the Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Illinois. Another item on the wish list is the installation of a refueling receptacle on the squadron's aircraft, a modification known as the "T-mod," which would make them into KC-135RTs. Again, though, money is the limiting factor in all of this, and the wing will probably have to make do with what it already has for the next few years, at least.

392nd Electronic Combat Range Squadron

The 392nd Electronic Combat Range Squadron was formed in 1985 to provide realistic electronic range training to the EF-111s of the 366th Wing when it had the standoff jamming mission within the USAF. Today, under its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lynn B. Wheeless, USAF, it runs the facilities at Saylor Creek weapons training range.

Despite the variety and capability of the units in the 366th Wing, there is no way they could go off to war all by themselves. While the Gunfighters can deal out death in several dozen interesting and creative ways, they are a bit shorthanded when it comes to finding and identifying the targets to be terminated. This is not a flaw or weakness in the structure of the wing, because the Air Force generally guards reconnaisance and target intelligence assets quite closely, and parcels them out carefully. Since the 366th is solidly backed by the senior leadership at ACC, the wing is near the top of the priority list for reconnaisance and intelligence support of all kinds.

552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma

When ACC decided to set up the 366th as a composite wing, one idea they seriously considered was to give the wing its own small (three-aircraft) squadron of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft. Unfortunately, these aircraft are extremely scarce; only thirty-four were built for USAF service. Nevertheless, no significant force would normally deploy without AWACS support, and the 366th is high on the list of favored users. Thus, a standing arrangement has been made between the 366th Wing and ACC headquarters that in the event of a deployment, the parent unit for all USAF AWACS aircraft, the 552nd Air Control Wing (ACW), will supply a few of the precious eyes in the skies.

Based at Tinker AFB just east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the 552nd is the sole operator of the big radar planes in U.S. service (in four Airborne Air Control Squadrons: the 463rd, 464th, 465th, and 466th). The 552nd maintains detachments all over the world, from Alaska to Turkey, and has become an important airborne tool of American diplomacy. But this has come at a high price for the overworked crews, who are routinely away from their homes and families for months at a time. The operational tempo has always been high for the crews of the 552nd Wing, probably too high. By the beginning of 1994, an average AWACS crew was spending over 180 days a year on temporary duty (TDY) assignments overseas. In mid-1994, Brigadier General Silas R. "Si" Johnson arrived at Tinker AFB to take over command of the wing. Si Johnson is a career multi-engine combat pilot, with thousands of hours in KC-135s and B-52s. Right now, the officers and enlisted personnel of the 552nd already feel the confidence of a strong hand on the reins of their wing and their community. They will need it too, because the demand for their unique capabilities continues unabated.

In order to keep a single AWACS aircraft airborne twenty-four hours a day, the 366th plans to deploy with a three-aircraft AWACS detachment in the event of a crisis. The trick is to integrate the Sentry aircraft of the 552nd wing into the operations of the 366th wing, a task the two units have practiced extensively. This practice has included exercises to develop tactical procedures for the use of the 390th FS's F-15Cs with their new JTIDS data links, which makes them even more deadly, thanks to the "God's-eye view" of the E-3 radar and other sensors.

27th Fighter Wing, Cannon AFB, New Mexico

Another planned reinforcement for the 366th in a crisis deployment would be a detachment of four EF-111A Raven standoff jamming aircraft, currently based with the 27th Fighter Wing at Cannon AFB, Oklahoma. These powerful EW aircraft (using versions of the Hughes ALQ-99 jamming system) are the most capable tactical jamming aircraft in the USAF inventory. The USAF has used standoff jamming aircraft in raid packages since World War II, and no sane American strike force would care to enter hostile airspace without them. Unfortunately, the current Administration is planning to retire the Spark 'Varks (as they are called), along with the remaining force of F-111F fighter bombers, in FY-1997 and -98, with no planned replacement. This leaves ACC and the 366th in a world of hurt, and still requiring a standoff jammer of some kind. As an interim and very imperfect solution to this problem, Colonel Hopper and his creative folks at the 34th BS are working out tactics and techniques for using the B1-B as a standoff jammer. Meanwhile, the Ravens of the 27th FW are still available for deployments, and continue to support operations overseas in Iraq, Bosnia, and Haiti.

355th Electronic Combat Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona

Buried in the depths of Colonel Scott's briefing charts on the 366th CONOPS plan is a note about a pair of aircraft known as EC-130H Compass Calls that will deploy with the Gunfighters. Festooned with an array of antennas, these odd-looking variants of the Lockheed Hercules are Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) platforms, with powerful jamming packages aboard. They act as virtual electronic vacuum cleaners, sucking up almost everything in the electromagnetic spectrum. After analyzing it to provide real-time targeting data on enemy command posts, SAM and AAA radar sites, and other electronic emitters, they pass them along via a JTIDS data link to other aircraft. They can also conduct standoff jamming of SAM and AAA radars, as well as communications jamming. Though there are only a handful of these valuable birds (residing in two squadrons, the 41st ECS and 43rd ECS of the 355th Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB near Tucson, Arizona) and their availability will always be limited, several of them with their highly skilled technicians would be assigned to the 366th in the event of an overseas deployment. Should the entire fleet be unavailable, ACC can also turn to a clip-on system known as Senior Scout, which can be installed as a package in any C-130 transport.

Joint Surveillance and Targeting System (Joint STARS)

While there is no active unit currently flying the E-8C Joint Surveillance and Targeting System (Joint STARS) radar aircraft, such a wing of these aircraft will be formed in the next few years with about two dozen planes assigned. It is likely that the new unit will be based at Tinker AFB, since so much work is done there on the old reliable 707-series airframes. Based around an SAR radar system with the ability to detect and identify moving and stationary ground targets, Joint STARS is probably the most important new aircraft being acquired by the USAF today. Given the fantastic performance of the two E-8A Joint STARS prototypes in locating and tracking Iraqi ground forces during Desert Storm, it is unlikely that the 366th would ever be sent into a crisis without this far-seeing eye in the sky. As soon as enough E-8Cs become operational in the late 1990s, ACC will probably provide a three aircraft detachment so that the 366th Wing will be able to monitor ground space as well as airspace.

Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO)

When armies finally began to operate aircraft in the early 1900s, the first mission important to ground commanders was taking photos of enemy positions. Reconnaissance imagery is vital to a JFACC staff, because you have to be able to see a target before you can hit it. Then you need more pictures of the targets you have hit so that you can evaluate the damage. Unless a JFACC has photo-reconnaissance assets under his direct control, the whole process of planning, striking, and bomb damage assessment (BDA) starts breaking down. The bad news is that the USAF has just a few dozen aging RF-4C Phantom II tactical photo-reconnaissance aircraft in two Air National Guard squadrons. During Desert Storm, the lack of U.S. military tactical photo-reconnaissance forced the CENTAF staff to improvise, with a combination of aircraft and satellite systems controlled by different agencies, making effective BDA almost impossible. Following the war, Secretary of Defense William Perry took the lesson to heart, and created the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) to coordinate all reconnaissance within the earth's atmosphere. DARO shares space in the Pentagon with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO — the agency that controls the Earth-orbiting reconnaissance satellites), and is run by Major General Kenneth Israel. DA-RO'S charter is to take over all U.S. aerial recon programs and bring some order out of the chaos.

While many programs run by DARO remain highly classified, we do know that the staff in the Pentagon has initiated a series of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or pilotless drone) programs designed to replace or augment existing manned tactical systems. Since they are unencumbered by the weight and life-support requirements of a crew, or the need to return them safely in the event of a hostile response, UAVs will be more effective than manned aircraft in acquiring photo-reconnaissance data. UAVs can also loiter over an area of interest and study it, instead of just flying by at "the speed of heat" and snapping a single picture. At the same time, users of imagery products will need to develop some new attitudes and techniques. For example, rather than taking pictures of a particular target or Direct Mean Point of Impact (DMPI or "dimpy," as it is called), UAVs will monitor large areas, such as all of Kuwait or Bosnia, updating the situation map several times a day (and night). This means that while a JFACC staff may not see specific targets right before or right after a strike, they will be obtaining more and better information over time. In the long run, this big picture will provide better data for operational-level planning, especially when combined with high-quality post-strike videotape from FLIR systems. During Desert Storm, these short video clips, when properly cross-referenced with other data, proved to be invaluable for BDA.

So far, none of the new UAV systems are operational, and only a few flying prototypes have seen any action. One of these, the Predator-series UAV manufactured by General Atomics Corporation of San Diego, California, is reported to have flown CIA-sponsored surveillance missions over Bosnia from a base in Albania and the Predators appear to have done well. These new systems, as well as the remnants of our older capabilities, should provide strike planners with adequate targeting data, as long as the satellite systems hold up. Nevertheless, airborne reconnaissance assets are going to be thin for at least a decade.

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

Though there are a number of intelligence-gathering shortcomings at the tactical and theater levels of the American military, the United States has fortunately built an extremely robust capability for intelligence gathering from space. While it is no secret that America uses satellites for strategic-level intelligence gathering, the details of specific programs have until recently been closely held secrets. The first orbital photo reconnaissance satellites began operations in the 1960s under a covert CIA program called Corona, which had a NASA cover story as part of an orbital research program called Discoverer.

Luckily, the end of the Cold War has made available for wider use some space-based assets previously dedicated to watching the former Soviet Union. NRO has made an exceptional effort in the last few years to provide their "product" to a wider base of users within the U.S. military services. Today, the folks at the Central Imagery Office (CIO), the agency which handles and interprets imagery from both DARO and the NRO, are busy developing tactical systems to obtain and distribute satellite reconnaissance "products."

50th Space Wing/U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM)

Coordinating America's military space activities is a major unified command, the U.S. Space Command based at Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and commanded by General Joe Ashey. He also commands the USAF Space Command, and the North American Defense Command (NORAD), also based in the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area. Currently, those activities and their products include:

• Ballistic Missile Warning—Under a program known as the Project 647/Defense Support Program (DSP), several geosynchronous Earth-orbiting satellites with IR telescopes have the job of providing the National Command Authorities with warning of ballistic missile launches and prediction of their probable targets. Originally designed to provide warning against attacks by Soviet ICBMs and SLBMs, the latest models of the DSP birds provided warning during Desert Storm of SCUD launches out of Iraq. Since then, they have been modified under a program called Talon Shield to provide warning and targeting for theater-level commanders to alert air defense warning and engagement systems (like the Patriot PAC-3/ERINT missile system).

• Weather Data—Pilots are very concerned with the weather they must fly through to reach their targets. For over three decades, the key element in military weather prediction has been a program called the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which is designed to provide weather data of interest to military planners.

• Communications—Without question, the modern communications relay satellite, along with micro-electronics and computers, is one of the wonders of the modern world. Currently, the military operates at least four types of communications satellites, with a fifth coming on-line. The first four are the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS)-II and — III-series relay vehicles, as well as the NATO-III and Fleet Satellite (FLTSAT) communication birds which have been in use for some time.

In 1995, the first of DoD's new secure communications relay systems named MILSTAR is coming on-line. One low-data-rate satellite is currently being checked out in orbit and five more are on order, the last four greatly enhanced with medium-data-rate payloads. Hardened against anything an enemy might throw at it except a direct hit, it was designed for great resistance to enemy interception and jamming at the cost of limited (low) data rates and a limited number of channels. The program is therefore being restructured to provide much greater tactical utility to a wider community of users than just the National Command Authorities and strategic deterrent forces. One of the more interesting ideas being kicked around these days is that tactical aircraft like the F-15E Strike Eagle or F-16C Fighting Falcon might be fitted with MILSTAR-compatible communications terminals to receive targeting coordinates while in flight.

• Navigational Support—I have often sung the praises of the NAVI-STAR GPS program every chance I can, for good reason. More than any other space-based system, this one will soon touch the life of almost every person on Earth. The system is based around twenty-four satellites in six circular orbits. Aboard each bird is a series of highly accurate atomic clocks, which are calibrated daily from the control center on the ground. Each satellite transmits synchronized timing pulses from the clocks, and a highly accurate receiver measures the differences between the arrival times of signals from different satellites. The receiver does some fancy trigonometry and develops a highly accurate positional fix, as well as other data. The real beauty of the system is that it places the burden of "smarts" on the receiver system, which can be engineered into packages of amazing compactness and utility.GPS is set up to provide two different levels of precision: super-precise for military users with the appropriate code key, and less precise for everyone else, including the enemy. This means that civilian receivers are accurate to within about 100 meters/330 feet, and military receivers can generate 3-D positions to within 16 meters/52.8 feet, while also providing an anti-spoofing/anti-jamming capability. In addition, the receivers can generate time readings accurate to within 100 Ns, and velocity readings accurate to within.1 meter per second/4 inches per second, which translates to errors of less than.2 knots/.37 kph! GPS receiver designers have found many uses for the system, from basic flight navigation to guiding weapons like cruise missiles and bombs. All this is possible in virtually any weather conditions, anywhere on Earth, or even in orbit around the Earth. Current DoD plans envision acquiring over eighty thousand GPS receivers, with over two thousand aircraft being built or modified to use the system.

While the systems mentioned above are owned by a variety of federal and military agencies, the operations of the birds are mostly controlled by a single organization, the 50th Space Wing (SW), based at Falcon AFB, Colorado, just down the street from NORAD and USSPACECOM headquarters. Currently commanded by Colonel Gregory L. Gilles, the 50th SW is something new in the space community, an operationally oriented unit designed to get the products of space into the hands of "real" users in the field. Broken into squadrons, it controls the operations and uses of literally tens of billions of dollars of orbital hardware. Yet when you look at the young men and women of the 50th SW, you see a lot of thick glasses and laptop computers, along with more than a few science fiction novels. Don't be fooled, though, because these young space warriors are every bit as professional and dedicated to their tasks as are the aircrews in the ejection seats. In fact, their prideful motto, "In your face from outer space," says volumes about how they feel.

Each of the 50th SW's Space Operations Squadrons (SOSs) controls the satellites of a particular program or function. Some of the units of the 50th SW include:

• 1st SOS—Provides support during launch and checkout of a variety of different satellite programs. For example, they are currently heavily tasked with checkout of the first MILSTAR orbital vehicles.

• 2nd SOS—Is responsible for day-to-day operations, calibration, and maintenance of the GPS satellite constellation. Every day, they check and adjust, if required, the accuracy and timing of the onboard systems for every one of the GPS satellites.

• 3rd SOS—Responsible for the operations and maintenance of the twenty-two operational DSCS-II and — III, NATO-III, and FLT-SAT communications satellites.

• 4th SOS—Will, when it comes on-line, conduct the operations and maintenance of the constellation of MILSTAR communications satellites.

• 6th SOS—Located at Offut AFB, Nebraska (adjacent to STRATCOM headquarters), this squadron controls the DMSP-series of meteorological satellites for USSPACECOM.

There are undoubtedly other SOS-type units assigned to control of "black" programs like the imaging and ELINT/SIGINT programs, but their story will have to wait for a future telling, after it has been declassified.

Space-based systems can be extremely valuable to a force going into combat. While many of these systems were directly tied to strategic missions during the Cold War, and thus closely held by the National Command Authorities, the end of that conflict has allowed almost every military commander to have some use for space. For many it will be the beautiful simplicity of things like the hand-held GPS receivers used during Desert Storm. For the 366th Wing, it will be the vital data flow delivered by the satellite dishes of the 366th Communications Squadron, which will distribute the products of the space infrastructure to the wing's users.