Combat Aircraft - May 2018 UK.pdf

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EAGLE
THAT REFUSES TO DIE
EVOLVES
THE FIGHTER
Volume
19
• Number 5
DUTCH FIGHTERS
F-35A ON TEST
AMERICA’S BEST SELLING MILITARY AVIATION MAGAZINE
NAVY
‘FLANKER’
Air-to-air with the Su-30SM
AUSSIE GROWLERS
DEBUT ON ‘RED FLAG’
RUSSIAN FIGHTERS
co
m
ba
ta
irc
ra
ft.
ne
t
S
U
-57 ‘FRAZOR’ TESTED IN SYRIAN CAMPAIGN
FLYING WITH THE ANG’S ‘STINGERS’
OHIO ‘VIPERS’
‘WOLFPACK’ TOMCAT
THIS MONTH’S ‘FLASHBACK’ CLASSIC
MAY 2018
UK £4.70
PLUS
SOLVING THE USAF PILOT CRISIS
•
KEEPING THE B-1B LANCER FLYING
SAAB FLIES GLOBALEYE
•
NAS JACKSONVILLE’S VP-30 ‘PRO’S NEST’
IN THE NEWS
6 HEADLINE NEWS
VMFA-121 ‘Green Knights’ deploy with
F-35B, plus B-21 testing to take place at
Edwards AFB
US defense budget explained and
USAF launches Nellis adversary
competition
News from around the globe including
Canada’s announcement of its future
ghter candidates, plus all the latest
military losses
62
‘FLANKERS’ AND TANKERS
INSIDE
May 2018 • Vol 19 • No 5
65
THE ‘RED FLAG’ EVOLUTION
Dmitriy Pichugin had exclusive access to the
recent air-to-air refueling training conducted
by the Russian Navy
Norman Graf attends Exercise ‘Red
Flag’ and nds how planners remain
mindful of national strategies as
this important exercise seeks to stay
relevant
8 US NEWS
68
NEXT-GEN TRAINING
AUSTRALIAN-STYLE
A fresh approach to training centered
around the potent Pilatus PC-21 is
giving the Royal Australian Air Force
the edge it needs to usher in a new
generation of pilots, as Michael
Serenc discovers
20 WORLD NEWS
72
OHIO ‘STINGERS’
The 112th FS has been celebrating its
100th anniversary while maintaining
a busy schedule both at home and
on the road as one of the Air National
Guard’s premier ghter squadrons.
Exclusive photos by Jim Haseltine
16
THE BRIEFING
Combat Aircraft’s
regular column by
Robert Beckhusen, taking a look behind
the headlines — this month detailing
recent aerial intercepts
Joseph Zeman examines the US Air
Force’s pilot retention dilemma, and
provides an opinion on what needs to be
done…
The Royal Netherlands Air Force has been
ying a pair of F-35As from Edwards AFB
since January 2015. Frank Crébas/Bluelife
Aviation nds out how the journey
has been to date and about how the
Lightning II shapes up in dog ghts
At Tinker AFB, Michael Keaveney sees
how the USAF maintains its B-1B Lancer
eet, a type that attracts one of its
biggest servicing bills
Jamie Hunter reviews the status of the
F-15 Eagle and its many operators, and
nds a program that is looking towards
new orders
The Aeronautica Militare has once again
deployed Euro ghters to the Baltic to
cover the enduring air policing mission
in the region amid renewed tensions, as
Giovanni Colla and Remo Guidi report
Often overshadowed by carrier-based
aviation, land-based maritime patrol and
reconnaissance is every bit as important
for the US Navy. Ivan Voukadinov visits
NAS Jacksonville and VP-30 ‘Pro’s Nest’
— a squadron that’s been in the training
business for 58 years
26
THE PILOT CRISIS
82
GAME-CHANGING
COMMAND AND CONTROL?
Saab has own its all-new ‘swing-role
surveillance’ aircraft, the impressive
GlobalEye, as Jamie Hunter reports
from Linköping
30
F-35 — OUT OF THE SHADOWS
80
86
RUSSIAN FIGHTERS
In the nal instalment of our review
of ghter aircraft in Russian service,
we turn to the Su-33, Su-35 and
Su-57
‘STINGERS’ IN THE BALTICS
36
LANCERS IN THE DEPOT
At the beginning of January, a dozen 112th FS F-16s
deployed from Toledo to Ämari Air Base in Estonia
as part of a Theater Security Package in support
of Operation ‘Atlantic Resolve’. Giovanni Colla and
Remo Guidi were granted exclusive access to their
deployment
94
CUTTING EDGE
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column
reporting from the front line of
aerospace technology, by David Axe
40
EAGLE AT FULL THROTTLE
96
FLASHBACK
Our regular feature looking at
squadrons and types that are gone
but not forgotten — this month it’s
the turn of VF-1 ‘Wolfpack’ and the
F-14A Tomcat
54
BACK TO THE BALTICS
COVER STORY PAGE 62
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Combat
Aircraft Monthly
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58
PRO’S ZONE
ON THE COVER:
A rare air-to-air shot of the Russian Navy’s
newest fighter — the Su-30SM. The type was
recently involved in in-flight refueling training
from Yeysk.
Dmitriy Pichugin
COMBAT EDGE
//
FIND US ON
CONTRIBUTOR OF
THE MONTH
GIOVANNI
COLLA
mission. ‘I feel very honored that the
Aeronautica Militare and the Estonian Air
Force gave me an exclusive inside look at
their operations in the region’, he says.
Giovanni Colla has been up close with
military aviation for most of his 33 years,
working as both a photographer and
freelance journalist for the past 15 years.
He is a regular contributor to aviation
magazines around the world, including
as a valued roving reporter for
Combat
Aircraft.
Giovanni recently embedded
with the Aeronautica Militare Euro ghters
as they took on a new Baltic Air Policing
mission, giving him the rare opportunity
to y in an Estonian Air Force An-2 ‘Colt’
during a slow-mover intercept training
VMFA-312 ‘Checkerboards’ is
one of two US Marine Corps
F/A-18C squadrons assigned
to US Navy carrier air wings.
It is currently on cruise with
CVW-17 aboard the USS
Theodore Roosevelt
(CVN 71).
US Navy/MCS3C Alex Perlman
04
May 2018
// www.combataircraft.net
A
LAST CRUISES FOR
CLASSIC HORNETS
S THE US Navy gears up
to mark initial operating
capability (IOC) for the
F-35C Lightning II this year,
it has made plans to end
eet operations with the
‘classic’ F/A-18C. The US Navy is not
replacing these old Hornets with F-35Cs,
instead opting for a lower-risk strategy
of transitioning to additional F/A-18E/
Fs as it looks to divest itself of nearly
136 F/A-18A, B, C and D Hornets from its
front-line inventory by 2020.
Strike ghter squadrons VFA-34, VFA-37,
VFA-83 and VFA-131 will all be ying Super
Hornets by the end of 2019 as the ‘classic’
Hornet is cascaded to reserve adversary
and training roles. It will also help to prop
up weary Marine Corps Hornet squadrons,
which are ultimately set to soldier on for at
least another decade.
The Navy will procure 110 additional
Super Hornets through FY23, bringing
total production to 706 aircraft.
When it comes to eet F-35C squadrons,
it will be Super Hornet units that re-equip.
VFA-147 ‘Argonauts’ has already started
switching its F/A-18Es for F-35Cs at NAS
Lemoore in preparation to support the
rst operational deployment aboard the
USS
Carl Vinson
(CVN 70) in 2021.
Marine ghter attack squadron
VMFA-314 ‘Black Knights’ will start the
trend to remove ‘classic’ Hornets from the
ight deck once and for all. It is scheduled
to become the rst of four Marine Corps
F-35C units assigned to TACAIR integration
(TAI) with navy carrier air wings when it
begins its conversion from the F/A-18
in 2019. The ‘Black Knights’ will be ready
for their rst carrier deployment in 2022
with CVW-11.
Currently, the Marines have two TAI
Hornet squadrons — VMFA-312 and
VMFA-323. VMA-311 ‘Tomcats’ will switch
from the Harrier II to the F-35C at Yuma
from 2022, followed by VMFA-115 and
VMFA-251. Once su cient Marine F-35Cs
are available, probably with the readiness
of VMFA-311 to deploy, it will spell the
end of ‘classic’ Hornet operations aboard
Navy aircraft carriers.
To keep track of the latest breaking
news and analysis in the world of military
air power you can visit our social media
sites and our website,
www.combataircraft.net.
You can also sign up for our free e-mail
newsletter by going to
www.combataircraft.net to register.
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
www.combataircraft.net //
May 2018
05

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