On p18 of the July issue (Texas
ANG F-16s in Romania) it
is stated that the ‘Texas Air
National Guard’ has deployed
to Câmpia Turzii air base in
Romania as part of a Theater
Security Package in support of
Operation Atlantic Resolve.
My squadron, the 457th Fighter
Squadron ‘Spads’ – and the
parent 301st Fighter Wing – is
an Air Force Reserve Command
(AFRC) organisation based out of
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve
Base Fort Worth. Our next-
door neighbour on the ramp
is the 181st Airlift Squadron
of the Texas Air National
Guard, but they fly C-130s.
Troy QuigleyThoughts on Luftwaffe Tornado replacement
Above: ASSTA 3-upgraded Tornado IDS jets taxi at Overberg in South Africa during the Two Oceans exercise in March- The Luftwaffe’s traditional procurement policy suggests the air force favours a mixed fleet of twin-engined
combat aircraft. Bundeswehr/Andrea Bienert
I have some additions to the
report on Germany’s search
for a new fighter that featured
in the March issue – Finding
Germany’s future fighter, p42-45.
First, all German Tornados
operated by Taktisches
Luftwaffengeschwader 51
(TaktLwG 51, Fighter Wing 51) can
operate the AGM-88 High-speed
Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM),
and not only the Tornado ECR.
While there was an argument in
favour of an F-35A with nuclear
capability, the German Air Force
has an essential policy that made
this option unlikely: no combat
aircraft with a single engine will
ever see service in the Luftwaffe.
One of the reasons can be foundin the ‘Starfighter crisis’ of the
1960s [when a spate of F-104
losses led to a public outcry].
Another fundamental rule
states that it’s critical that two
different fighter jets will operate
at any given time side by side.
Only time will tell if either of these
policies will be scrapped in future.
Marcus Herbote‘Centurion’ clarified
Above: An RAF Typhoon FGR4 from Ämari air base in Estonia intercepts a Russian Aerospace Forces Su-30SM over
the Baltic on June 14. The Typhoon carries Meteor BVRAAMs. Crown Copyright
The story on p7 of the March
issue about initial operating
capability for the RAF’s F-35B and
Typhoon (IOC for UK Lightning
and ‘Centurion’ Typhoon) suggests
the Meteor beyond-visual-range
air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) is
part of Project ‘Centurion’. In
fact, I believe it’s part of the spiralupgrade programme planned
before Centurion and although
software for Meteor is in the
same ‘load’ as that required for
some Centurion upgrades, they
aren’t from the same programme.
Centurion is all about Tornado
GR4 capability, not Meteor!
Second, there’s mention of No206 (Reserve) Squadron as the
final Hawk T1 unit on p13 of
the same issue (RAF will again
train on Hawk T1), but that was
actually No 208(R) Squadron.
No 206 is the Heavy Aircraft
Test & Evaluation Squadron at
RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
Paul E EdenAn F-16C of the 457th FS completes refuelling training behind a KC-135
assigned to the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Wisconsin ANG, while flying over
Romania during Exercise Saber Guardian 19, on June 11. US ANG/Tech Sgt
Daniel Gagnon‘Spads’ in
Romania
http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #378 September 2019 // 85Feedback
Contact the AFM team email at: [email protected]Sécurité Civile
Q400MR update
Further to the news story in the
July issue (New Sécurité Civile
Q400MRs near completion, p14),
the first aircraft of the new batch
has now been delivered. Serial
75 (c/n 4577, test registered as
C-FXFK), landed at the Sécurité
Civile base at Nîmes Garons
Airport on June 18. It was
received by the Direction générale
de l’armement (DGA, the French
defence procurement agency) for
acceptance prior to service entry.
After its initial flight test
programme with Bombardier
(first flight February 22, 2018, as
callsign ‘BBA14’) it was handed
over to Conair on April 24 that
year. Soon after it went to Flying
Colours at St Louis, Missouri, for
interior modifications. It returned
to Conair at Abbotsford in British
Columbia for tanker conversion
on March 1 this year. Serial 75
was delivered to France in full
tanker configuration using its
Canadian registration, departing
Abbotsford on June 16, routing
via Thompson, Manitoba; Iqaluit,
Nunavut; Keflavík, Iceland; and
Jersey in the Channel Islands.
The second aircraft, serial 76
(c/n 4597, F-ZBMI), was assigned
Canadian test registration
C-GFKW on April 23 and made
its first post-production test
flight on May 18. It also features
the brand new factory-painted
livery with sweeping red and
yellow stripes instead of the
original red and black markings
worn by the two original aircraft.
It was handed over to Conair
for mission conversion and
delivered from Downsview,
Ontario to Flying Colours via Port
Huron, Michigan on May 31.
The Sécurité Civile was the
first firefighting agency to use
the Dash 8 in this role. The
first of two former SAS Airlines
Q400s (serial 73, c/n 4040,
F-ZBMC) was delivered in
October 2005 and the second
(serial 74, c/n 4043, F-ZBMD)
followed in November. Both
were converted by Conair.
The six new Q400MRs are
being acquired to compensate
for the pending demise of the
Sécurité Civile fleet of nine
Conair Turbo Firecats, planned
to retire from the end of this year.
Andrew H Cline85 Feedback AFM Sep2019.indd 85 8/2/2019 3:38:02 PM