Combat Aircraft Monthly 2015-01 (Vol.16 No.01).pdf

(22124 KB) Pobierz
US MARINE CORPS IN ACTION
F-35B
•
KC-130J
•
WTI EXERCISE
SPECIAL REPORT
US NAVY F-35C CARRIER TRIALS
Vol 16, No 1 | www.combataircraft.net
NORTH AMERICA’S BEST SELLING MILITARY AVIATION MAGAZINE
GES
EXCLUSIVE IMA
F-35
FORCE
IN THE
NEWS:
NATO AIR
POLICING UPDATE
OPERATION ‘INHERENT
RESOLVE’ LATEST
CANADA TO BUY F-35?
MARINE CORPS AND BRITISH TRAINING AT MCAS BEAUFORT
FIGHTER FOCUS
‘OTIS’
IN ACTION
KC-130J
S
M
I
G-31’Foxhound’
defenders of the East
S
U
-25 ‘FROGFOOT’
PROJECT LIBERTY
MC-12W
JANUARY 2015
UK £4.40
975/14
SUBSCRIBERS CALL FOR YOUR £1.00 DISCOUNT! SUBSCRIBERS CALL FOR YOUR £1.00 DISCOUNT!
EW•
NEW
•
NE
2015
Produced by Key Publishing with exclusive
access to the Royal Air Force, and featuring
articles written with and by RAF personnel,
The O cial RAF Annual Review 2015
is a
132-page special magazine that provides
behind the scenes insight into the aircraft,
equipment and people of one of the
world’s premier air forces.
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
TYPHOON FORCE: READY FOR
TODAY AND TOMORROW
Typhoon Force Commander Air
Commodore Philip Beach provides an
update on RAF Typhoon capability and
details his vision for the aircraft’s future
AVAILABLE
NOW FROM
Free P&P
*
when you order online at
www.keypublishing.com/shop
W•N
MARHAM MATTERS: TORNADO
AT THE HEART OF OPERATIONS
Group Captain Harvey Smyth, RAF
Marham Station Commander looks
back on a busy year of operations
over Afghanistan, Africa and Iraq, with
exclusive 40th anniversary Tornado
air-to-air photography
TIW: THE EYES THAT GUIDE THE
TALONS
.99
£5
JUST
A rare glimpse inside the Tactical
Imagery Intelligence Wing, the RAF’s
premier reconnaissance imagery analysis
and dissemination unit
AND MUCH MORE!
AND ALL OTHER LEADING NEWSAGENTS
JUST
£5.99 FREE
P
&
P
*
*Free 2nd class P&P on all UK & BFPO orders. Overseas charges apply.
ORDER DIRECT
OR
Call UK: 01780 480404
Overseas: +44 1780 480404
Monday to Friday 9am-5:30pm
30 UNIT REVIEW:
What’s inside
60 EXERCISE REPORT:
RAMSTEIN GUARD
Krasimir Grozev and Alexander Mladenov
attend ‘Ramstein Guard’, an exercise to train
air defense operators
Vol 16, No 1 January 2015
JACK OF ALL TRADES
MASTERS OF EVERYTHING!
One-size- ts-all solutions are rare, but the
KC-130J Hercules II comes close, especially
in the hands of the US Marine Corps’
VMGR-252 ‘Otis’. Jamie Hunter and
Jamie Deboer visited MCAS Cherry Point to
see the unit at work
news
HEADLINE NEWS
US NEWS
WORLD NEWS
64 INDUSTRY REPORT:
LATIN AMERICAN
FIGHTERS
40 PROJECT LIBERTY
Although at rst glance the MC-12W
appears an unassuming aircraft, looks can
be deceptive. While the last deployed US
Air Force unit de-activated in October,
this intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance platform looks set to
remain one of the most highly regarded
and sought-after assets to patrol the skies,
as Dr Séan Wilson reports
Santiago Rivas reviews the combat
aviation eets of Latin America and reveals
how some have undergone a process of
modernization, while other air arms still
struggle to replace obsolete aircraft
70 EXERCISE REPORT:
EAATTC 2014
72 FIGHTER FOCUS:
21ST CENTURY
FROGFOOT
6
8
18
24
F-35C completes rst carrier trials
and latest news from Iraq and Syria
air operations
F-35 latest news includes latest
production batch order, Marine
Corps aviation plan unveiled, and
will the A-10 be saved?
Alexander Klingelhöller joins tactical
transport ying training at Zaragoza
46 BROTHERS IN ARMS
EXCLUSIVE
South Carolina is the epicenter of the US
Marine Corps’ F-35 training community.
Working hand in hand with the Marine
Corps, the UK is also bedding-in its F-35
force at MCAS Beaufort, the new home of
the British F-35 connection. Jamie Hunter
went to nd out more
First images from China’s Zhuhai air
show, KJ-500 prototype breaks cover
and Korea cancels F-16 upgrade
The Su-25 continues to be the mainstay
attack aircraft of the Russian Air Force, as
Alexander Mladenov outlines
EUROPE NEWS
Euro ghter signs E-Scan radar deal, rst
British A400M delivered and Discovery
Air takes over Luftwa e training role
82 SAAF AT A CROSSROADS
56 FAR EAST FOXHOUNDS
Since the era of the Cold War, Russian
armed forces stationed in the Kamchatka
Peninsula have had an important role
protecting the country’s eastern borders.
Babak Taghvaee reviews the work of the
MiG-31 in this desolate location
Dr Andreas Zeitler reports from Africa
Aerospace and Defence 2014 (AAD), where
the current strength of the South African
Air Force was on show
88 EXERCISE REPORT:
DESERT DUELS WTI
PLUS:
Robert F. Dorr’s Front Line column, a special
report on the F-35C carrier trials and all the latest
military Losses
8
SPECIAL REPORT:
The US Navy
and Lockheed
Martin have for
the rst time
deployed
the F-35C
aboard
an aircraft
carrier.
Lockheed
Martin/
Andy Wolfe
F-35C GOES TO THE BOAT
Ted Carlson joins the Weapons and Tactics
Instructor (WTI) course at MCAS Yuma,
where the US Marine Corps is pushed to
the limits in the sweltering Arizona desert.
Additional material by Jamie Deboer
Subscribe to
Combat Aircraft Monthly
and make great
savings on cover price. See pages 86 and 87 for details.
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
96 CUTTING EDGE
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column
reporting from the front line of aerospace
technology, by David Axe
Lightning strike — two F-35Bs from
VMFAT-501 ‘Warlords’ break for the camera of
Combat Aircraft
editor Jamie Hunter during a
photo shoot for this issue.
COMBAT
EDGE
In this issue
Combat Aircraft
evaluates the joint US Marine
Corps and UK F-35B operations
that are becoming established at
MCAS Beaufort.
Jamie Hunter
BEAUFORT’S
BRITISH
CONNECTION
4
January 2015
www.combataircraft.net
LIGHTNING UP CLOSE
or this month’s issue I traveled
to South Carolina to visit the
impressive new US Marine
Corps F-35B facilities now
established at MCAS Beaufort.
VMFAT-501’s new hangar at the
south-eastern end of the airfield even comes
complete with its own lake out front and a
resident alligator!
I had never seen an F-35B hovering before,
let alone photographed one in the air, so to
view this at close quarters was impressive to
say the least.
It wasn’t as noisy in the hover as I’d been
warned it was, and it didn’t appear to be
as fragile as many have speculated. In fact,
maintainers were crawling over the jets
without having to treat them with kid gloves
and the pilots slotted swiftly into close
formation with the KC-130J cameraship.
Clearly there is still some considerable way
to go before these jets are mature, or before
the ‘blueprint for affordability’ achieves what
it aims to do, but actually seeing the F-35 up
close made it all seem much more real and
viable; more operational and usable.
Talking to the engineers, walking out to
the flight line with the pilots, chatting
about the aircraft — it all helps to get a
balanced message, as opposed to the
polarized opinions, be those staunch
F
criticism or, at the other end of the spectrum,
the glossy brochure promises. It is, after all,
the men and women of the armed forces
that will have to deal day-in, day-out with
these aircraft. They are the ones facing the
real consequences of normal operations with
this hugely significant defense procurement
project.
It is interesting to see that amid the media
gaze of the recent carrier trials with the
F-35C, the aircraft performed impeccably.
The new hook design worked as planned and
the new carrier approach procedures of the
Navy’s Lightning II functioned ‘as fragged’.
In recent issues we have been covering
concerns over the F-35 in the wake of the
engine problems of the summer. In this issue,
however, we are reporting an altogether
much more positive message. It’s good to be
objective and balanced.
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
CONTRIBUTOR
PROFILE TED CARLSON
ed Carlson is one of the
most renowned and
respected professional
aviation photo-journalists
whose work graces the pages
of this magazine. With over
1,700 hours of flight time
performing air-to-air
photography, Ted has been a
T
long-time contributor and valued
supporter of
Combat Aircraft.
His
work can be found worldwide in
magazines, books, calendars,
Department of Defense
publications and glossy posters.
Ted has flown with all branches
of the US military and in just
about every type of aircraft.
www.combataircraft.net
January 2015
5

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin