Combat aircraft

WRONG TOOLS

FOR THE JOB?

A

NEW MILITARY

OFFENSIVE against

the Taliban in

Afghanistan saw

US Air Force B-52Hs

and F-22A Raptors

striking opium production facilities

on November 19. It was apparently

the  rst time the USAF had employed

Raptors in Afghanistan and was part

of a new push to impede Taliban

funding streams.

US Central Command said that on

November 18, Afghan Air Force A-

Super Tucanos struck two opium

production facilities in northern

Helmand Province, after which the B-52s

and F-22s performed similar strikes the

following day in Musa Qala.

US Forces — Afghanistan Commander

Gen John Nicholson said the move was

linked to new authorities that enable

US forces to hunt down Taliban activity

rather that just acting in self-defense of

US ground forces.

Signi cantly, this was the  rst time

the US has publicly acknowledged F-

missions over Afghanistan, with Gen

Nicholson saying they were selected

because of their ability to use the 250lb

GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb.

It also provides a classic illustration of

how current disquiet within the USAF

hierarchy is playing out. We know that

the USAF is deeply concerned over the

deployment cycles of its squadrons

and the age and wear of its aircraft.

Exhaustive, back-to-back deployments

are one of the main reasons the USAF is

nearly 2,000 pilots short and help explain

why experienced personnel are leaving

in droves.

So why are Raptors, which are currently

permanently deployed to CENTCOM,

racking up  ight hours striking opium

production facilities? After all, the

Afghan Air Force successfully executed

similar missions with Super Tucanos.

It underscores how the USAF’s reliance

on high-end aircraft  eets is simply

unsustainable. After 26 years, the

mission in the Middle East’s uncontested

airspace shows no sign of fading away.

The USAF desperately needs to pass the

torch to local forces or it needs to press

ahead with its own OA-X light attack

aircraft for this kind of mission.

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January 2018 http://www.combataircraft.net

05

JANUARY 2018 | COMBAT EDGE

J

ames Deboer is a military

photojournalist based

in New York City and

has covered several

squadrons and exercises during

his 10-year career. Having

accumulated over 250 hours in

various military aircraft, James

strapped into an F-15E Strike

Eagle for the  rst time recently

for the feature story in this issue

on the 4th Fighter Wing.

CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH

JAMES DEBOER

Jamie Hunter,

Editor

E-mail: [email protected]

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