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Scramble 467
asset to the Air Force Global Strike Command’s fleet. The
choice to keep the B-52 Stratofortress alive, is because of
the aircraft’s versatile conventional payload, with even
the possibility to drop leaflets as a psychological operation
asset, the comparatively lower maintenance needs and the
ability to carry the new Long-Range Standoff cruise missile
(LRSO). Meanwhile, the 62 B-1B Lancers are labour-intensive
and treaty-prohibited from carrying cruise missiles. The
B-2A Spirit fleet, which comprise only twenty aircraft, is
considered too expensive per airplane to retain beyond the
early 2030s.
During the recent period a lot has been said about a new
proposed Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System
(JSTARS) airborne command and surveillance aircraft for
the USAF. Back in December 2016, the USAF launched a
request for proposal for the engineering, manufacturing
and development of a fleet of seventeen new aircraft with
an estimated price tag of at least USD 6.9 billion. The funding
for the JSTARS recapitalisation was not included in the 2019
Pentagon budget request. For now, it looks like there will
not be a successor, once the E-8C JSTARS currently in USAF
service, have been retired. Although multiple countries are
currently investing in JSTARS and Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft like modified G-550
Gulfstream and Boeing 737, the USAF has the opinion that
due to changing operational circumstances and developing
technologies, there will probably no longer be a viable
requirement for a JSTARS-like aircraft. The USAF has
currently sixteen E-8C JSTARS and one TE-8A JSTARS trainer
aircraft in operational service with the 128th Airborne
Command and Control Squadron and 330th Combat Training
Squadron, both part of the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th
Air Control Wing.
Good news for the USAF CSAR community. Sikorsky
Helicopters, a Lockheed Martin company, announced on 20
February 2018, the beginning of the final assembly, of the
first HH-60W Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) helicopter
at their plant in Stratford (CT). The timing of final assembly
supports the programmes accelerated schedule and positions
the aircraft’s first flight for the end of 2018, two months
ahead of schedule.
The final assembly process includes installation of the new
Tactical Mission Kit (TMK) and also involves installation of a
new fuel system that features dual internal fuel tanks totalling
660-gallons, nearly doubling the capacity of the internal tank
on a standard UH-60M Black Hawk. This enhanced capability
gives the USAF crew greater range and more capability to
rescue those injured on the battlefield.
The first HH-60W Engineering Manufacturing Development
(EMD) helicopter will be assembled at the Sikorsky
headquarters in Stratford. A total of nine aircraft will be built
in Connecticut during the EMD phase of the programme; four
EMD aircraft and five System Demonstration Test Articles
(SDTA). The programme will provide for 112 helicopters, to
replace the ageing 100 HH-60G Pave Hawks, that are still in
operational service with the USAF.
It is anticipated that the newly built HH-60Ws will operate
alongside the recently acquired US Army UH-60Ms that were
converted (Or are awaiting conversion) to the HH-60U. With
the given fact that the HH-60W project is ahead of schedule,
Sikorsky has a little head start with their HH-60U, which is
still amongst the competitors to replace the obsolete UH-1N
Huey. The USAF already announced that they would make a
decision, before the end of May 2018, on a replacement for
the UH-1N, concerning 84 new helicopters.
The USAF announced on 21 February 2018, that the Advanced
Pilot Trainer (T-X), that is intended to replace the Northrop
T-38C Talon trainers at the existing undergraduate pilot
training bases, will most probably initially arrive at Joint Base
San Antonio-Randolph (TX). Randolph houses the 12th Fighter
Wing, that commands two RA tail coded T-38C squadrons, the
435th FTS Black Eagles and 560th FTS Chargin Cheetahs. Both
squadrons still have strong ties with the USAF’s history in
Vietnam. It has been stated that the future T-X, an aircraft
that the USAF still has to choose from a running competition,
will be arriving at Randolph, as the preferred first base from
- The other possible USAF locations for future T-X basing
USS Carl Vinson is currently patrolling in the South China Sea. Amongst its embarked air assets is VFA-34, whose “boss bird” is seen here blast-
ing off the deck. (13 March 2018, MCS 3rd Class Elton Charles Wheeler/USN)
