Anti-clockwise from left: Elements of CVW-5, based at NAF Atsugi,
Japan, deployed in late February to NAS Fallon, Nevada, to conduct
their three-week Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP).
The ‘Eagles’ of VFA-115 and the ‘Dambusters’ of VFA-195 brought their
respective CAG-birds for the deployment. Seen on February 25, F/A-18E
BuNo 166859/NF-300 of the ‘Eagles’ prepares to lead a ight of four to
the bombing range with live weapons. Jim Dunn
F/A-18E BuNo 166901/400 ‘Chippy Ho’ of VFA-195 ‘Dambusters’ awaits
its next mission. The CVW-5 squadrons will return to Fallon en masse in
August for their full four-week SFARP work-up. Jim Dunn
VFA-25 ‘Fist of the Fleet’ has transitioned to CVW-7. Its F/A-18E CAG-bird
BuNo 166959/AG-400 is seen passing through Ellington Field, Texas, on
February 17 wearing its new ‘AG’ tail code. The squadron was previously
attached to CVW-9 on the USS John C. Stennis, but is now assigned to the
USS Harry S. Truman. Bill HavelCAG BIRD CORNER
T-X update
Although Northrop Grumman recently
announced plans to offer a newly-designed
aircraft in response to the USAF’s T-X T-
trainer replacement program, its partner
BAE Systems will use its company-owned
Hawk AJT demonstrator to test some of the
technology being jointly developed for the
program. The company-owned Hawk (serial
ZJ951) will begin risk reduction testing in
September.
In addition to producing structural
components for the trainer at its UK
facilities at Brough and Warton, BAE
Systems also plans to modify the software
and simulator technology from the Hawk
training system to meet the T-X design.
Northrop Grumman, the team lead for the
project, had originally intended to offer
a variant of the Hawk in response to the
T-X request for proposals (RFP) but later
determined that a major re-design would
be required in order for the type to meet the
USAF’s sustained g, instantaneous g, angle-
of-attack maneuvering and turn rate/turn
radius requirements.
Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace
Industries are sticking with the T-50 Golden
Eagle as their primary offering for T-X,
but Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has
announced that it too has a clean-sheet T-X
design. This would be offered in the event
that the T-50 is unable to meet the T-X
requirements. The USAF has reportedly
fi nalized the requirements for the T-X and
plans to release them to industry by the end
of March. It expects to release a formal RFP
in late fi scal year 2016.Although the USAF has cancelled plans to
install an advanced electronically scanned
array (AESA) radar on its Block 40/42 and
50/52 F-16Cs, Lockheed Martin is moving
ahead with its ambition to provide this
capability on ‘Vipers’ operated by other
nations. The USAF removed all funding for
the Combat Avionics Programmed Extension
Suite (CAPES) from its Fiscal 2015 and 2016
budget requests but still plans to replace the
fi ghter’s mission and display computers and
carry out a service life extension program
(SLEP). A Government Accountability Offi ce
(GAO) report released in late 2012 estimated
that the cost to equip 350 aircraft with the
CAPES radar upgrades would be around
$1.8 billion.
The contractor is currently developing
updates for Taiwan’s F-16s that will result in
a new confi guration, referred to as the F-16V.
The program will provide the fi ghters withmission computer upgrades and structural
modifi cations, and will install the Northrop
Grumman APG-83 scalable agile-beam
radar (SABR) radar. Lockheed Martin is
also conducting stress and fatigue testing
in order to design a SLEP retro-fi t kit that
would extend the service lives of the Block
40/42s and 50/52s, allowing them to fl y up
to 10,000-12,000 hours. That test program is
scheduled for completion in 2015.
Elsewhere, the commander of the USAF’s
First Air Force/Air Forces North (1AF/
AFNORTH), which is responsible for
ensuring air superiority and air sovereignty
of the Continental US, recently fi led an
Urgent Operational Need (UON) request
seeking the installation of the APG-83 on
Air National Guard Block 30 F-16Cs tasked
with the Aerospace Control Alert mission.
The Air Force Requirements Council is
reviewing this request.F-16 upgrades
continue
The Air National Guard has called for the upgrade of its Block 30 F-16C/Ds with the Northrop
Grumman AN/APG-83 AESA radar. Jamie Hunter12 May 2015 http://www.combataircraft.netNEWS United States
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