AirForces Monthly – July 2018

reportedly covered from Diego Garcia. A further

complication is the ongoing deep maintenance

schedule for the RC-135S fleet. During 2016 and

2017, the third Cobra Ball – 62-4128 – underwent

overhaul and upgrade at L3 Aerospace Systems

in Greenville, Texas. Even with its return to

service late last year, maintaining and deploying

the Cobra Ball fleet is a constant juggling act.

The nuclear tests

North Korea has conducted six atomic

detonations at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site,

the first on October 9, 2006 and the most

recent on September 3 last year. Surprisingly,

there is a lesser sense of urgency in having the

WC-135 Constant Phoenix assets in place for

each test than the need for the Cobra Ball to

observe the missile launch. This is because

the WC-135 collects particulate matter released

into the atmosphere during a nuclear test, even

when it is conducted underground. Moreover,

the ‘atomic debris’ plume is dispersed by

prevailing winds, allowing the Constant Phoenix

to collect material hundreds – even thousands –

of miles away from Punggye-ri for days – even

weeks – after the explosion. (For the 2009

test, the DPRK warned officials in Beijing and

Washington DC approximately one hour before

the actual detonation. It is not clear if this

‘courtesy’ has been extended to other tests.)

The much-hyped North Korean plan to close

part of the Punggye-ri test site has not eliminated

the need for future Constant Phoenix missions.

In the best case, the WC-135s can detect leaks

of radioactivity from the collapsed tunnels,

endangering downwind populations. In the

worst case, they can detect any North Korean

deviance from claims of abstention from nuclear

testing or the production of highly enriched

uranium and other nuclear components.

Information collected by WC-135s is critical

to understanding the technical nature of each

explosion and contributes to determining

yield and sophistication of the device. For

example, immediate analysis by officials in

South Korea, Japan and China raised doubts

about the nature of the February 12, 2013 blast

because they could not detect radionuclides,

suggesting that it was merely a conventional

explosion that mimicked the seismic signature

of an atomic detonation. WC-135W 61-2667

was airborne from Kadena AB the next day,

with follow-up sampling two weeks later by

WC-135C 62-3582. These collected the

trademark radioactive ‘signatures’ which, in

conjunction with other methods and sources,

verified that an atomic detonation had in fact

taken place. Similar missions by 62-3582 on

September 13, 2016 and again on September

28 collected samples following the fifth atomic

test on September 9. The WC-135C is also

known to have flown sampling missions on

September 11, September 20 and September

24 after the sixth test on September 3 last

year of a ‘thermonuclear hydrogen bomb’.

Despite the genuinely heroic efforts of 55th

Wing maintenance personnel, the two Constant

Phoenix jets have one of the worst maintenance

records in the USAF. These aircraft were not

reconfigured with F108 (CFM56) engines and

retain their original TF33-P-5 engines. On March

24 last year, while on a flight from Diego Garcia

to Kadena, WC-135C 63-3582 experienced a

fire in its number 4 engine and loss of its right-

side hydraulic system, forcing it to land at Sultan

Iskandar Muda airport in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

By April 13 the aircraft had been repaired and

continued to Kadena. At the time, WC-135W

61-2667 had been undergoing programmed

depot maintenance since 2016 and was not

available to replace the broken WC-135C. When

61-2667 finally returned to service in the middle

of last year, it was substantially damaged by

a tornado while parked in a hangar at Offutt

on June 16. Repairs to 61-2667 delayed its

resumption of global sampling operations.

Mixed implications

The proposed 2019 US defence budget

includes funds to modify four KC-135Rs into

a pair of Constant Phoenix samplers and

two Open Skies aircraft, but it is unclear if

these will come from the operational fleet or

from storage. More ominously, there are no

plans to replace the 57-year-old Cobra Ball

aircraft until at least 2032 – after 71 years of

operations! Any considerations to do so are held

hostage by protracted debates over manned

versus unmanned strategic reconnaissance

assets, aircraft size, and stealthy versus

non-stealthy airframes operating in highly

contested airspace. Such debates, while

crucial to defining long-term service goals,

offer little immediate hope to replace collection

platforms that provide ongoing intelligence

about the status of missile programmes under

way by North Korea and other nations.

Acknowledgements:

The author wishes to express thanks for

the gracious assistance of Dr Jeffrey Lewis

and Shea Cotton of the James Martin

Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #364 JULY 2018 // 55

55th Wing reconnaissance ’135s

Rivet Joint (RJ) RC-135V/W

Aircraft Serial

RJ 1 64-14848

RJ 2 64-14842

RJ 3 64-14843

RJ 4 64-14844

RJ 5 64-14845

RJ 6 64-14846

RJ 7 64-14841

RJ 8 63-9792

RJ 9 62-4135

RJ 10 62-4131

RJ 11 62-4138

RJ 12 62-4134

RJ 13 62-4132

RJ 14 62-4139

RJ 15 62-4125

RJ 16 62-4130

RJ 17 62-4126

Cobra Ball (CB) RC-135S

Aircraft Serial

CB 1 61-2663

CB 3 61-2662

CB 4 61-4128

Constant Phoenix (CP) WC-135C/W

Aircraft Serial

WC-135W 61-2667

WC-135C 62-3582

Combat Sent (CS) RC-135U

Aircraft Serial

CS 1 64-14847

CS 2 64-14849

AFM

Above: WC-135C 62-3582 of the 45th
Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Wing based at
Offutt AFB, Nebraska, touches down at Kadena.
This aircraft fl ew sampling missions following
North Korea’s test of a ‘thermonuclear hydrogen
bomb’ on September 3 last year. Author’s collection

Above: James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies