combat aircraft

T

HE US AIR Force and

Boeing have agreed on

a delivery date for the

service to accept the  rst

of its planned  eet of 179

KC-46A aerial refueling

aircraft. Under the agreement, the

USAF will accept the  rst Pegasus

in October 2018 with 17 additional

aircraft following by April 2019 at a

rate of around three per month. The

initial example will be delivered to the

22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell

AFB, Kansas, which will eventually be

home to 36 of the tankers.

Boeing has more than 36 KC-46As

in production and numerous nearly

complete aircraft are in storage at

its Seattle and Renton, Washington,

facilities. The contractor has already

incurred more than $3 billion in

pre-tax charges against the  xed-

price development contract, which

originally required delivery of 18

aircraft by August 2017. Boeing and

the air force are still resolving several

de ciencies discovered during  ight-

testing that involve the aircraft’s

remote vision system (RVS) and the

centerline drogue refueling system.

Flight-test veri cation of the latest

 xes is now expected to be carried

out this September.

The Pegasus program achieved

an important milestone when the

 nal  ight tests required for the  rst

aircraft delivery were completed at

Boeing Field in Seattle on July 6. The

 nal test points involved certi cations

for the RVS and receiver certi cations

of the F-16 and C-17A.

The test program is now

transitioning to follow-on receiver

aircraft testing and certi cations that

are required before initial operational

test and evaluation can begin in

2019. Those certi cations will be
      carried out with the A-10, F/A-18,
      KC-46, F-15 and B-52. Six KC-46As
      have supported various segments
      of supplemental type certi cate
      (STC) and military type certi cate
      (MTC) testing. They have completed
      3,300  ight hours and o oaded
      two million pounds of fuel to seven
      di erent aircraft types.

SPIRIT TESTS UPGRADED NUKES

THE USAF AND the Department

of Energy’s National Nuclear

Security Administration (DOE/

NNSA) completed two non-

nuclear system quali cation  ight

tests of the B61-12 nuclear gravity

bomb with the B-2A bomber

operated by the 419th Flight

Test Squadron, at the Tonopah

Test Range in Nevada, on June

9. The events marked the  rst
   end-to-end quali cation tests
   for the upgraded nuclear bomb
   to be conducted with the Spirit.
   The NNSA and the USAF are
   upgrading the weapons under
   the B61-12 life extension program
   (LEP) e ort.

DEPLOYMENT NEWS

‘Avengers’ deploy

The F-35B Lightning II has begun

its  rst deployment to the western

Paci c and Middle East aboard the

amphibious assault ship USS Essex

(LHD 2) as part of the 13th Marine

Expeditionary Unit (MEU). The

ship departed San Diego on July

10 along with the amphibious

transport dock USS Anchorage

(LPD 23) and dock landing ship

USS Rushmore (LSD 47), which

make up the Essex Amphibious

Ready Group. The Lightning IIs,

operated by marine  ghter attack

squadron VMFA-211 ‘Avengers’, are

attached to the reinforced Marine

medium tilt-rotor squadron

VMM-166 (R).

‘Swamp Foxes’ hit the road

Personnel and aircraft from

the South Carolina Air National

Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing have

departed from McEntire Joint

National Guard Base at the start

of a scheduled deployment

to Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base,

Kuwait, as part of the 407th Air

Expeditionary Group. In addition

to around 300 airmen, the wing’s

157th Fighter Squadron ‘Swamp

Foxes’ deployed 12 of its Block

52 F-16Cs. The unit will support

US Air Forces Central Command

(AFCENT) as part of Operation

‘Inherent Resolve’ during the

scheduled four-month period of

the deployment.

Also present was E-2C Hawkeye BuNo 165814/600 from

VAW-117 ‘Wallbangers’. Jim Dunn

CAG-BIRD CORNER

The US Navy’s Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) was deployed

to NAS Fallon, Nevada, in June for a work-up prior to its

next cruise aboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). Here.

F/A-18E BuNo 168471/400 from the ‘Vigilantes’ of VFA-

returns to Fallon. Jim Dunn

TRITON SQUADRON FLIES FIRST MISSION

Unmanned Patrol Squadron One Nine (VUP-19) DET Point Mugu launched

its fi rst MQ-4C from Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) Point Mugu on

June 27. US Navy/Vance Vasquez

COMPASS CALL PROGRESS

BAE SYSTEMS HAS begun work to

 eld an upgraded Compass Call

electronic warfare aircraft to the

USAF. The project will cross-deck

systems from the current EC-130H

airframe to new Gulfstream G

conformal airborne early warning

(CAEW) airframes. Moving the

equipment to the Gulfstreams is

designed to signi cantly improve

the system’s mission-e ectiveness

by providing combatant

commanders with improved

stand-o jamming capability and

 exibility to counter sophisticated

communications and radar threats.

Assigned the designation EC-37B,

the Gulfstreams will provide the

capability to  y faster, higher,

and farther than the EC-130H,

enhancing the USAF’s ability to

disrupt enemy command and

control capabilities in denied

environments well into the future.

As the mission integrator BAE

Systems is working with L

Technologies to transition the

Compass Call mission to the

EC-37B. An initial design review

of the weapon system was

completed in 2017 and the  nal

design review will occur this fall.

Initial modi cations of the  rst

G550 are under way, and the  rst

two of the 10-aircraft  eet will be

 elded in 2023.

UNITED STATES [NEWS]

http://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 11

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