Combat Aircraft – August 2019

‘BLACK KNIGHTS’ GO F-35C

EUROPEAN EXERCISES AND NEW CAPABILITIES FOR THE LIGHTNING II

V

MFA314 ‘BLACK

KNIGHTS’ will be the

 rst of four US Marine

Corps squadrons to

operate the carrier

variant of the F-35. It

will be the second US front-line

squadron to transition to the F-35C

and will also make the second

deployment with a carrier air wing

(CVW). Although VMFA-314 is still

operating the F/A-18C, several of its

pilots are already in training with

VFA-125 ‘Rough Raiders’ at NAS

Lemoore, California. According to

the 2019 Marine Corps Aviation

Plan, VMFA-314 is scheduled to be

certi ed as ‘safe-for- ight’ by the

beginning of  scal year 2020, which

begins on October 1, 2019. It will

initially operate six F-35Cs but will

have a full complement of 10 by

mid-2021.

Meanwhile, F-35As from the

388th Fighter Wing’s 421st Fighter

Squadron arrived at Aviano Air

Base, Italy on May 23. The total

force deployment also involved

Air Force Reserve Command

personnel from the 419th Fighter

Wing’s 466th Fighter Squadron.

The Theater Security Package (TSP)

deployment will see the F-35s in

Europe throughout the summer.

The aircraft initially participated

in the ‘Astral Knight 2019’ exercise

at Aviano, before relocating to

Spangdahlem, Germany, on June

11. While deployed, the  ghters
    are participating in numerous

exercises including Fighter Weapons

Instructor Training (FWIT) 2019 at

Leeuwarden in the Netherlands

and the NATO Tactical Leadership

Program (TLP) at Albacete, Spain.

Lockheed Martin has been

detailing plans for increasing the

range and weapons loads of F-35s.

At the Paris Air Show in June, Greg

Ulmer, Lockheed Martin’s vice-

president and general manager of

the F-35 program said the company

is looking at the possibility of

equipping the F-35A with a pair of

600-gallon (2,271-liter) underwing

drop tanks for missions that do

not require the aircraft’s stealth

capabilities. Installing the tanks

would increase the Lightning II’s

fuel capacity by 40 per cent and

greatly improve its loiter time.

The tank was developed by Israel

Aerospace Industries (IAI) and a

subsidiary of Elbit Systems. Plans

that originally called for installing

460-gallon (1,741-liter) tanks on the

 ghter’s inboard stores stations were

dropped but the hardpoints are still

plumbed for fuel.

Ulmer said plans for increasing

the capacity of the F-35A/C’s

internal weapons bay — known as

‘Sidekick’ — were also progressing.

Bulkhead modi cations would

increase internal carriage of AIM-

Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air

Missiles from four to six. He said the

modi cations were likely to become

production standard in the Lot 15

manufacturing batch.

‘SEAHAWKS’ SPECIAL

Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) is reportedly almost devoid of CAG-birds at

the current time. VAW-126 ‘Seahawks’ E-2D BuNo 168275/600 was the

only specially-marked aircraft during the air wing’s deployment to NAS

Fallon, Nevada, in May for a three-week refresher between deployments.

Jim Dunn

US NAVY SEEKS AIR-

LAUNCHED ANTI-

SUBMARINE SENSOR

THE DEPARTMENT OF Defense

hopes to develop a sensor-

equipped unmanned aircraft

system (UAS) that can be

deployed from the US Navy’s

P-8A multi-mission maritime

aircraft. The US Strategic

Capabilities O ce (SCO) has

released a request for information

for Phase 1 of the Magnetic

Anomaly Detector (MAD) UAS

program. The system is designed

to detect the magnetic  eld

around a submerged submarine.

The winner of the 24-month

$2-3-million demonstration

program will deliver 75 MAD

UASs that will support tests.

The requirements for the UAS

include a maximum weight of

36lb (16.3kg) and the ability to

be deployed from the Poseidon’s

sonobuoy launch tubes. It must

also be capable of searching at

least 4 sq nm (12 sq km) per hour

and have an individual cost of

$10-12,000.

Unlike the P-3C Orion, the P-8A

was designed without a MAD,

which was then thought to be

obsolete. The navy intended to

rely instead on multi-static active

coherent sensor technology that

would allow the P-8A to detect

and track submarines on the

surface from higher altitudes

than a MAD required. India’s

P-8I variants as well as the Japan

Maritime Self-Defense Force’s

P-1s are both equipped with

the CAE ASQ-508 MAD. The US

Navy is also looking at equipping

its MH-60R helicopters with a

digital MAD.

‘CHECKERBOARDS’ VISIT OKLAHOMA

F/A-18C BuNo 164889 operated by Marine fi ghter attack squadron

VMFA-312 ‘Checkerboards’ touches down at Tulsa International Airport,

Oklahoma, at the conclusion of a training mission on June 12. The

‘Checkerboards’ deployed six Hornets from MCAS Beaufort, North Carolina

to Tulsa to conduct training with F-16Cs operated by the Oklahoma Air

National Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing. The two-week deployment began on

June 6. Ralph Duenas

[NEWS] US NEWS

10 August 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

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