combat aircraft

locations throughout the US. The

multi-award contract, now expected in

mid-2019, recognizes how a single

contractor is unlikely to possess the mass

and footprint to win outright — this is

most likely going to be shared between

the various big players in the market.

Gustafson says, ‘Our Cheetahs and Mirage

F1s will provide us the additional capacity

to support additional USAF locations,

including Luke AFB, Klamath Falls and Hill

AFB as well as bases on the east coast.’

Draken’s expanding fleet

Draken’s new ighters are being

upgraded and readied for light at the

company’s Lakeland, Florida, facility with

the support of Paramount Aerospace

Systems. These purchases increase

Draken’s leet to more than 150 ighters,

but some of its older types haven’t lown

for some time, including 27 MiG-21s that

are now in storage. ‘The MiG-21 is a great

airplane, but you have to match the

aircraft to the mission and see if you get

a return on your invested money,’ says

Kerby. ‘Companies that have aircraft with

a range time of only 20 minutes are not

going to compete for the ADAIR II

contract. We can ly up to two hours with

the A-4s and L-159s. We can even refuel

our A-4s air-to-air if we want to. This also

minutes. As soon as the company signed
the contract it was obliged to execute at
least 22 missions per day within the irst
month of operations. Gustafson says,
‘When the contract started [this summer]
Draken immediately lexed to an
expanded schedule.’ Demand from Nellis
was so high that only a few irms were
expected to be able to meet the
requirement. Combat Aircraft
understands that only two bidders came
forward for ADAIR II.
The USAF released its wider adversary
air support solicitation to industry on
August 24, which is a whole diferent ball
game. It calls for contracted aggressors in
the continental US as well as in Alaska
and Hawaii to support aircrew combat
readiness as well as joint terminal attack
controller training. Responses were due
by September 7. Several contractors have
been building up capabilities to be in a
position to respond, including Draken, as
well as competitors Tactical Air Support
(TacAir), Top Aces, and ATAC. The
requirement looks set to start in 2019.
The total value of the adversary air
contract could be more than $7.5 billion
over 10 years.
Draken bought 20 single-seat Mirage
F1Ms and a pair of two-seat F1BMs
retired by the Spanish Air Force in
February 2013. It also acquired 12 Denel
Cheetahs from South Africa: nine
single-seat Cheetah Cs and three
two-seat Ds that are being upgraded.
ATAC has purchased 63 ex-French Air
Force Dassault Mirage F1s that are
undergoing upgrades at the company’s
Fort Worth Alliance Adversary Center of
Excellence and TacAir is updating and
ielding its 21 F-5E/Fs procured from the
Royal Jordanian Air Force.
The adversary air support requirement
needs almost 150 aircraft to fulil the
USAF’s aggressor training needs, with
37,000 light hours and 12 operating

Above: Increasing

numbers of

fifth-generation

fighters are

pushing the

need for more

contracted

aggressors. Frank

Visser/Northern

Skies Aviation

Below: During the

FWIT course in

2017, four Draken

L-159E ALCAs

were flown to

Leeuwarden in

the Netherlands.

Frank Visser/

Northern Skies

Aviation

http://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 35