UNIT
NEWS
Fighters to Fort Lauderdale
North American Aerospace
Defense Command (NORAD)
is moving forward with
plans to detach ghters to
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood
International Airport, Florida,
whenever President Trump visits
his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm
Beach. The move is intended
to improve response time to
airspace violations over the
property. The Florida Air National
Guard already maintains an alert
facility at Homestead Air Reserve
Base but the Fort Lauderdale
air eld is located just 50 miles
(80km) from the property, which
reduces the transit time from
Homestead, which is some 90
miles (145km) farther south.
During 2017, ghters scrambled
from Homestead intercepted 15
aircraft that violated airspace
restrictions around the estate.
Additionally, US Coast Guard
helicopters detached to Palm
Beach International Airport
intercepted three aircraft.‘Ski-birds’ return
The New York Air National
Guard’s 109th Airlift Wing
completed its 30th season
supporting Operation ‘Deep
Freeze’ from McMurdo Station
in Antarctica on February 16.
The nal Hercules returned to
Stratton Air National Guard Base
at Schenectady County Airport
on March 4. During the 2017-
season the 139th Expeditionary
Airlift Squadron deployed six
LC-130Hs — ve were normally
operated from Antarctica, while a
sixth was rotated to Christchurch,
New Zealand for maintenance.
Crews ew 120 missions within
Antarctica, transporting 2,
researchers and support sta
and carrying around 1,350 tons
of cargo and 135,000 gallons of
fuel to research stations across
the continent in support of the
National Science Foundation. The
109th operates 10 ski-equipped
LC-130Hs that are deployed from
October to March during the
Antarctic summer. During the
northern hemisphere spring and
summer months the wing moves
cargo and researchers to stations
across the Greenland ice cap in
support of the National Science
Foundation.NAWDC NEWCOMER
The Naval Aviation Warfi ghting Development Center (NAWDC) at NAS
Fallon, Nevada, is the center of excellence for naval aviation training and
tactics development. It maintains a number of adversary aircraft that
are fl own by the instructors there. A recent addition is this wonderful
F/A-18C (BuNo 164646/37), which was repainted in these new colours in
February. Tom GibbonsLOW-TONE ‘WARHAWKS’
The 195th Fighter Squadron, the Air National Guard’s formal training
unit at Tucson International Airport, Arizona, has started repainting its
F-16C/Ds in a new low-tone scheme. The new fi n fl ash is seen on F-16C
86-0214/AZ at Tucson in March. Tom GibbonsUSAF LAUNCHES NELLIS ADVERSARY COMPETITION
THE USAF FORMALLY launched
its adversary air (ADAIR) phase II
program on March 3 when the
formal solicitation was released.
The project seeks proposals for
contractor-owned, contractor-
operated aircraft services that
would support the 57th Wing,
Air Force Weapons School and
‘Red Flag’ exercises at Nellis
AFB, Nevada. The solicitation
provided minimum and objective
performance requirements forthe aircraft, including range,
airspeed, operating ceiling, and
equipment t. Proposals for
ADAIR phase II are due by April- Draken International has been
providing the services with radar-
equipped A-4Ks and L-159Es since
September 2015, but several
contractors including Textron
Airborne Solutions Airborne
Tactical Advantage Co (ATAC),
Draken, Tactical Air Support and
Top Aces are expected to respond.
SEARANGER REPLACEMENT GATHERS MOMENTUM
THE US NAVY moved a step closer
with its plans to replace its TH-57B/C
training helicopter eet when it
released a request for information
(RFI) for its advanced helicopter
training system (AHTS) on March 1.
The service’s plans for replacing its
eet of 115 SeaRangers includes
the purchase of a commercialo -the-shelf (COTS) single-engine
IFR-certi ed helicopter. It intends to
release a nal request for proposals
(RFP) in April 2019 and begin
procurement of the rst of 105
aircraft in 2020. Deliveries will start in
Fiscal 2021 and the proposed TH-XX
will completely replace the older
aircraft by the end of Fiscal 2023.WC/OC-135 REPLACEMENTS PLANNED
THE USAF’S FISCAL 2019 budget
request includes $208 million to
begin modifying three KC-135Rs
with a new mission sensor system
that will con gure them as
atmospheric collection aircraft. The
service currently operates single
examples of the WC-135C and
WC-135W ‘Constant Phoenix’ that
are modi ed to collect air samples
and detect residue from nuclear
explosions. The two aircraft have
seen increased use in the wake of
North Korea’s nuclear weapons
tests over the past year. The
WC-135s support the Air Force
Technical Applications Center
(AFTAC) at Patrick AFB, Florida,
which performs nuclear treaty
monitoring and nuclear event
detection.
Along with two OC-135Bs that
support the imposition of the
Open Skies treaty, the WC-135Cand W are the only examples of the
Stratolifter/Stratotanker family that
have not had their Pratt & Whitney
TF33-P-9 or P-5 engines replaced
by more e cient General Electric
F108 (CFM56) high-bypass
turbofans. The service made the
decision after determining that it
was more cost-e ective to convert
KC-135Rs into WC-135Rs than to
upgrade the existing WC-135C and
W airframes. The service
anticipates delivery of the
WC-135Rs late in Fiscal 2020.
The budget also includes funds
for a new-start program known as
the Open Skies Treaty (OST) aircraft
recapitalization. The decision to
replace the OC-135B follows a
capabilities-based assessment
(CBA) that was completed in June- The USAF plans to ‘rehost’ the
capability on two small commercial
o -the-shelf airliners.
[NEWS] UNITED STATES
14 May 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
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