combat aircraft

UNIT NEWS

‘Grim Reapers’ to stand down

The US Navy plans to stand down

strike  ghter squadron VFA-101,

which was the service’s  rst F-35C

unit. Reactivated on October

1, 2010, the ‘Grim Reapers’ was

the  rst F-35C  eet replacement

squadron, based at Eglin AFB,

Florida, and began  ying the F-35C

in 2013. It has most recently been

tasked with training instructor and

test pilots. The unit’s personnel

and aircraft will be transferred

to other units including VFA-

at NAS Lemoore, California. The

‘Rough Raiders’ will assume the full

responsibility as the F-35C FRS.

Poseidon to assume

special mission role

Fleet Support Unit One

(FSU-1) was established at

NAS Jacksonville, Florida, on

September 10, 2018. Reporting to

commander, patrol wing PW-

at NAS Jacksonville, the unit is

tasked with con guring and

operating P-8A aircraft to provide

a follow-on special mission

capability in place of patrol

squadron (special project) VPU-

which  ies specially con gured

P-3C. The Orions are scheduled for

retirement during 2019.

New Reaper unit activated

The 25th Attack Group was

activated at Shaw AFB, South

Carolina on October 2. The unit is

a geographically separated unit

of the 432nd Wing at Creech AFB,

Nevada. The group is responsible

for the 50th and 482nd Attack

Squadrons (ATKS), which operate

remotely based MQ-9A ground

control stations. Whereas the 50th

ATKS was activated in February

2018, the latter squadron was

stood up on October 3. The

group will also be responsible

for the 25th Operational

Support Squadron, which will be

established later this year at Shaw.

Since its activation in February the

50th ATKS has  own more than

400 Reaper missions, recorded

over 7,000  ight hours and

conducted in excess of 75

air strikes.

Holloman AFB realigned

The 49th Wing at Holloman AFB,

New Mexico and its assigned units

were realigned from Air Combat

Command to Air Education and

Training Command on October

1. In addition to its assigned
   MQ-9A Reaper squadrons, the
   wing assumed control of the 54th
   Fighter Group, which is tasked as
   an F-16 formal training unit (FTU).
   The group and its three training
   squadrons had previously been
   assigned to AETC’s 56th Fighter
   Wing at Luke AFB, Arizona, as a
   geographically separated unit.

Rescue groups reassigned

The 563rd Rescue Group and its

seven subordinate squadrons,

which are based at Davis-

Monthan AFB, Arizona and Nellis

AFB, Nevada, were realigned

from the 23rd Wing at Moody

AFB, Georgia, to the 355th

Fighter Wing on October 1.

Additionally, the 823rd and 923rd

Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons

at Nellis and Davis-Monthan

were reassigned from the 23rd

Maintenance Group (MXG) to the

355th MXG. The 563rd had been

assigned to the 23rd Wing as a

geographically separated unit

since 2006.

C-130 test force designated

as detachment

The 413th Flight Test Squadron’s

C-130 combined test force was

designated as Detachment 1,

96th Operations Group at Eglin

AFB, Florida, on September

10. The unit, which is tasked
    with conducting specialized
    developmental tests associated
    with the US Air Force Hercules
    community, had been a
    component of the 413th FLTS,
    which was activated in 2005. It
    performed developmental test
    and evaluation for Air Force
    Special Operations Command
    aircraft and US Air Force rotary-
    wing machines. The unit has
    recently been heavily involved
    in testing the USAF’s AC-130J
    ‘Ghostrider’ and MC-130J special
    operations aircraft.

‘AVIATION DETACHMENT 18-5’

DURING THIS YEAR’S ‘Aviation

Detachment 18-5’ rotation, the

126th Air Refueling Wing provided

refueling for both Polish and US Air

Force F-16Cs from the 115th Fighter

Wing as they trained together in

September. The periodic Aviation

Detachment rotation exercises

are implemented by a small team

managing the Poland detachments.

During the two weeks of the AvDet

crews  ew in the bilateral ‘One Sky’

exercises related to the defense of

Polish airspace. Krzysztof Kuska

The Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) formally unveiled its

fi rst two former French Air Force Dassault Mirage F1s that have been

refurbished for aggressor services at Alliance Airport, Fort Worth,

Texas, on October 12. The two aircraft carried registrations N609AX and

N602AX. Henry B. Ham

The fi rst of two C-31As operated by the US Army Parachute Team was

retired to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, when serial 85-01607 arrived on

September 23. The Fokker F27-400M had supported around 525,

jumps by the Golden Knights since entering service in 1985. 309th AMARG

EXTENDED-RANGE GRAY EAGLE SERVICE APPROVED

THE EXTENDEDRANGE VERSION of

the US Army’s MQ-1C unmanned air

system has completed follow-on test

and evaluation (FOT&E), clearing the

way for initial  elding to begin. Testing

began at Air Force Plant 42 in June

2018 and included 644  ight hours

that evaluated the MQ-1C’s ability to

support long-range and persistent

reconnaissance. The MQ-1C ER o ers a

signi cant increase in endurance and

payload capacity to support mission

tasking, as well as improved reliability

and maintainability.

Wisconsin Air National Guard

F-16Cs deployed to Poznañ/

Krzesiny for ‘AvDet 18-5’.

Piotr Łysakowski

ATAC’S MIRAGES ON SHOW

GOLDEN KNIGHTS RETIREMENT

[NEWS] UNITED STATES

12 December 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net