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We will be holding a hiring board in the spring and are looking to hire 4-6 guys."
Interested applicants can contact me (LtC Mike Brill) at DSN 777-2524/3505 or E-mail me at michael.brill@hill.af.mil
By Doug Simpson
Associated Press , Jan. 2, 2003
NEW ORLEANS — A lawyer for one of two pilots who released a bomb over southern Afghanistan in April, accidentally killing four Canadian soldiers, says the Air Force had pressured the pilots to take amphetamines that may have impaired their judgment during the mission.
Majs. Harry Schmidt and William Umbach face a possible court-martial for dropping the laser-guided bomb near Kandahar on April 17. An Air Force investigation determined the pilots “demonstrated poor airmanship” and ignored standard procedure by not making sure there were no allied troops in the area.
But Umbach’s lawyer, David Beck, said he would show at a Jan. 13 hearing on whether to court-martial the pilots that the Air Force routinely pressures pilots to take dexamphetamine, a prescription drug also known as “go pills.” He said the drug can impair judgment and is not recommended for people operating heavy equipment.
Beck said the Air Force prevents pilots from flying if they refuse to take the pills.
<>Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Jennifer Ferrau acknowledged the pills are used as a “fatigue management tool” to help pilots stay alert through long missions. But she said use of the pills is voluntary, and that their effects have been thoroughly tested.
“There have been decades of study on their efficacy and practicality,” she said. “The surgeon general worked very closely with commanders on this.”
Beck and Charles W. Gittins, Schmidt’s lawyer, said the Air Force’s investigation is full of errors. Beck said the pilots were not told in advance that allies were holding combat exercises, and that Schmidt dropped the bomb in self-defense after seeing gunfire on the ground.
“What happened was a terrible tragedy. You don’t honor (the victims) by wrongfully prosecuting these pilots,” Beck said. “This is political appeasement of Canadians who are angry.”
Ferrau said Air Force officials would not comment on specifics of the case.
On the night of the bombing, 15 Canadian soldiers were practicing anti-tank attacks with live ammunition at Tarnak Farm, a former al-Qaida training camp. A Canadian report said the soldiers were using firearms ranging from sidearms to shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons.
Schmidt and Umbach were flying F-16s toward their base after six hours of a mission in which “no significant events occurred,” the Air Force report said.
Just after midnight, they spotted gunfire on the ground and reported it to flight controllers. One of the pilots asked for permission to fire his 20-mm cannon and was told to wait, according to the Air Force investigators’ report.
Sixteen seconds later, Schmidt reported surface-to-air fire and said he was going to “roll in,” or attack the shooters.
“I’ve got some men on a road and it looks like a piece of artillery firing at us,” Umbach said, according to the report. “I am rolling in, in self-defense.”
Schmidt released the bomb, which landed about three feet from a Canadian machine gun crew. Killed instantly were Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pvt. Richard Green and Pvt. Nathan Smith.
The Air Force report said Schmidt soon asked controllers, “Can you confirm that they were shooting at us?”
The controller did not answer, but said “friendlies” could be on the ground nearby, the report said. The controller told Schmidt and Umbach to return to their base.
Air Force investigators concluded that Schmidt and Umbach should have left the area when they spotted gunfire to allow time to determine its source. Remaining in the area led to the pilots’ misperception that they were under attack, the investigators said.
But the pilots’ lawyers said Schmidt and Umbach had good reason to believe they were being attacked. Beck said it’s unusual for troops to conduct night exercises in a combat zone.
“How dare you do a training exercise at night in a combat zone?” Beck said. “And how dare you not tell the pilots?”
The deaths, Canada’s first combat fatalities since the Korean War, sparked anger among many Canadians, some of whom questioned their country’s role in the American-led war on terrorism.
Beck said Air Force officers should take the blame, because their communications system did not inform the pilots that the gunfire came from allies.
The hearing, to be held at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., is expected to last two weeks. Afterward, a recommendation on whether to court-martial the pilots will be delivered to Lt. Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of the 8th Air Force, who will make the final decision. The 8th Air Force is based at Barksdale.
Schmidt and Umbach face charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty. If convicted of all charges, they face a maximum of 64 years in military prison.
by Maj. James R. Wilson
419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
"I've been fortunate," said Brill. "The fact that I've been able to stay in the cockpit this long really is a case of being in the right place at the right time."
Brill's 5,000 hours in the F-16 is the equivalent of traveling 1,750,000 miles--enough to circle the earth 70 times. The Virginia native surpassed previous thousand-hour milestones in the F-16 in 1985, 1988, and 1993. He was also the first pilot to amass more than 4,000 total flying hours in the F-16 in August 1998.
"It's an extremely durable aircraft with a proven track record in combat operations," said Brill. "Its reliability is a real testament to the quality product Lockheed Martin has provided the Air Force. At the same time, our own maintainers take incredibly good care of the aircraft. "
The planned mission for the milestone sortie included training in high-altitude delivery of laser guided bombs. Such training has prepared him for numerous combat missions during his career. Brill's combat experience includes three tours for Operation Northern Watch, two for Operation Southern Watch and one for Operation Enduring Freedom. He has accumulated 122 combat flight hours in those operations.
"I would rather be flying the F-16 than any other aircraft in the world," said Brill. "I like flying a single seat, single-engine airplane. I like the mission that we've got. I like being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of a few. If I had to choose between the F-16 and one of the other platforms in the inventory, I would opt for the (F-16) hands down."
Brill, a full-time reservist, currently serves as the operations officer for the wing's 466th Fighter Squadron. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in May 1979 and completed undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas in June of the following year. He has been flying the F-16 since November 1980 when he was a member of the 388th FW here.
"The best part is the F-16 continues to get significantly better with each upgrade," he added. "This aircraft has exceeded everyone's high expectations
11/14/02 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot from the Air Force Reserve Command's 419th Fighter Wing here was killed Nov. 13 when his aircraft crashed during a combat training mission.
McFarland was a traditional reservist and a commercial pilot. He joined the 419th FW in 1998 and had more than 3,000 flying hours in the F-16, including 85 combat hours.
A board of officers is investigating the accident.
"Our primary focus now is helping the family through this difficult time," Conroy said. "Our second priority is prevention. The Air Force will conduct a thorough investigation to attempt to determine the cause of the accident and to make recommendations to alleviate future incidents of this type." (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)
Chicago Tribune
October 29, 2002
Proceedings to determine whether two Illinois Air National Guard pilots will be court-martialed for a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan will begin Jan. 13.
Military lawyers and attorneys for Maj. Harry Schmidt and Maj. Bill Umbach agreed in a conference call Monday to set the January date for the Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding.
Schmidt dropped a bomb April 17 that killed four Canadian soldiers and injured eight. Schmidt and Umbach, his flight commander on the sortie, mistook the Canadians' live-fire exercise for enemy fire.
The pilots, both from the Springfield-based 183rd Fighter Wing, face charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty. If the Article 32 hearing results in a court-martial recommendation, they could face up to 64 years in prison if convicted.
The hearing will be held at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
Salt Lake Tribune
October 28, 2002
By The Associated Press
HILL AIR FORCE BASE -- The pilot killed in a midair collision of two F-16s has been identified as 1st Lt. Jorma Huhtala, the Air Force said Sunday. Huhtala's body was found Saturday several miles from where his plane crashed Friday, said Col. Steve Hoog, commander of the 388th Fighter Wing.
"This is a trying time for everyone involved. We ask everyone to remember him and his family in their prayers," Hoog said Sunday.
The other pilot, Capt. David Roszmann, ejected safely from his aircraft and was rescued. The pilots were flying a combat training mission in a four-jet formation over the Utah Test and Training Range in Utah's west desert.
The planes collided about 25 miles southeast of Wendover. None of the jets was carrying weapons. Huhtala's body was found Saturday afternoon after an extensive search.
The Air Force did not release Huhtala's age and hometown, saying that was personal information that needed to be cleared by its judge advocate's office. It did say that Huhtala had been with the 388th's 4th Fighter Squadron since June and before that had been in pilot training courses in Arizona and Texas.
The Buckley ANG has extended its hiring period until the end of the year 2002, according to Col. John Mooney, Operations Group Commander of the Buckley ANG!!
The Colorado Air National Guard at Buckley is hiring both full and part time
F-16 pilots. Resumes should be sent to Buckley by the end of
August and the hiring board will convene on 13 Sep 02 (Friday the 13th).
Resumes can be sent to the following address:
120FS
Attn: LtCol. Curt Hughes
200 S. Aspen ST
Bldg 700, Stop 63
Buckley AFB, CO 80011
DSN: 877-9470
Comm: 303 677-9470
Chicago Tribune
October 27, 2002
By Tim Jones and Flynn McRoberts, Tribune staff reporters
Maj. Harry Schmidt banked sharply to the right, maneuvering his American F-16 into position to drop a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on the flashes of artillery fire that cut through the darkness over southern Afghanistan. Twenty-eight seconds later, he radioed: "Bomb's away."
Several thousand feet below on the desert floor, Canadian Cpl. Rene Paquette, his machine gun resting at his side, had just turned his head toward his unit's anti-tank gunner when a sharp whistle split the night. A flash momentarily blinded the 33-year-old soldier. Suddenly, Paquette was tumbling through the air.
"I remember looking down and seeing the ground and thinking, `Why can't I touch it?'" he recalled.
Paquette didn't know that Schmidt, one of two Illinois Air National Guardsmen on patrol flights, had dropped the bomb, instantly killing four Canadian soldiers and wounding Paquette and seven others. Only seconds later, Schmidt and his flight commander, Maj. William Umbach, in another F-16, would learn that the threat from below was no threat at all. It was a company of Canadian soldiers on a nighttime training exercise a few miles from Kandahar, the Taliban's former spiritual capital.
"Be advised Kandahar has friendlies," came the radio voice of a controller on an AWACS radar plane, referring to Tarnak Farms, a former Al Qaeda training camp being used by the U.S.-led military coalition.
The crucial moments that Schmidt and Umbach, two veteran pilots, spent over Afghanistan late on April 17 quickly gave way to a roiling controversy about what happened, why and who is to blame for what occurred that night.
Now the two--one a farm boy from central Illinois, the other a native of St. Louis--face criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty, and the possibility of 64 years' imprisonment.
With the United States considering deployment of thousands of troops in a war against Iraq, many inside and outside the military fear that the pursuit of charges against the pilots transmits a chilling signal.
"What kind of message does this send?" asked John Russo, a Korean War veteran and commander of a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Springfield, where the two pilots are based. "What if a field artilleryman gets his coordinates off by a decimal point? Are you going to send everyone to jail?"
The case represents a rare instance of the U.S. military recommending criminal charges against service members for a friendly fire incident during wartime. The episode also has drawn renewed attention to how the American military, since the Persian Gulf war, has asked the nation's Guard units to shoulder more and more of the burden of combat. Guard units now make up about half of U.S. forces in overseas engagements.
And it has led to a sophisticated fundraising and public-relations campaign on behalf of the pilots--fueled by allegations that the U.S. military is less concerned about justice and more concerned about appeasing Canada, an important ally.
One of the pilots' most vocal supporters has been Gov. George Ryan, who last week held a $50-a-person benefit at his Springfield mansion for their legal defense fund. The event drew hundreds of people but also complaints from some family members of the dead Canadian soldiers who accused Ryan of belittling their loss.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is on a defense subcommittee, said diplomatic pressures must have been a factor in the charges against Schmidt and Umbach, both members of the 183rd Fighter Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard.
"It is clear that our close friendship with Canada was part of that consideration," Durbin said. "Unless the evidence is clear and overwhelming of wrongdoing, I hope these two pilots will be exonerated."
American and Canadian investigators saw no ambiguity in the pilots' actions. Under the rules of engagement, they said, the pilots should have flown away from the perceived threat. Instead of waiting for command and control to verify that the fire was from the enemy, the pilots "demonstrated poor airmanship and judgment and a fundamental lack of flight discipline," the U.S. report said.
Umbach, the commander of the flight, "failed to take control of the situation" and deferred to Schmidt, according to the U.S. report.
For some though, it's not the alleged crime but the punishment that is at issue. In Canada, where officials loudly protested the bombing, even soldiers and their relatives have questioned the severity of the U.S. military's threatened penalty.
"They may be guilty as sin, but they're getting blackballed because there are other people just as responsible as they are," said Henry Kopp, of Westbourne, Manitoba, whose son Cpl. Chris Kopp escaped injury in the bombing. "The higher-ups will find a fall guy, and these guys are it."
Their ascent
Until that night over Kandahar, the careers of Umbach and Schmidt were marked by a commitment to military discipline--from their appointment to military academies to membership in the tight fraternity of fighter pilots.
In many ways, though, two very different people climbed into those F-16 cockpits last April.
While Umbach, a United Airlines pilot, is recognized for his easygoing nature, Schmidt became known for his intensity even in his earliest days in jet training. On Schmidt's first formation flight, his instructor took note of how aggressively his young student moved his plane into position. The next day, the instructor lightheartedly warned another teacher to "watch out on join up; that guy is psycho."
The name stuck. All fighter pilots get nicknames--known as call signs--and from then on, Schmidt was Psycho.
Before duty with the unit in Afghanistan, Schmidt had flown combat missions over Kosovo and Iraq's no-fly zones.
His resume was impressive. "If we were baseball players," said a fellow pilot with the 183rd, "he'd be one of the nine in the starting lineup at the World Series."
Last year, Schmidt decided to leave active duty and join the Guard unit in Springfield, moving his wife and two young sons within easy driving distance of their grandparents.
The unit's leaders were so eager to recruit Schmidt, 37, that they waited months for him to become available to join as a full-time instructor. Given his qualifications, Guard pilots expected him to have an attitude. Instead they found him amiable but blunt. Schmidt never hesitated to tell his students if they screwed up. "Harry didn't sugarcoat anything," said a fellow pilot in the 183rd who learned from Schmidt.
Umbach, 43, a part-time Guard pilot and squadron commander for nearly four years, is considered far more reserved. His call sign was Guido--a nickname given to him by another pilot who decided he "looked like an Italian pilot."
Umbach was upholding a family tradition when he started flying lessons as a teenager in the farming hamlet of Easton, about 35 miles northwest of Springfield. His late father, Joe, a veteran Korean War pilot, also was a longtime member of the 183rd.
A good athlete and strong student--he was valedictorian of his Easton High class--Umbach was nominated for an appointment to the Air Force Academy by then-U.S. Rep. Robert Michel (R-Ill.).
After serving seven years in the Air Force, he became a pilot for United and joined his father's old Air National Guard unit.
A week before Umbach's unit left for duty in Afghanistan, his family gathered for dinner. "Just in case," said his nephew, Rob, 19, who used to watch his uncle's jet soar above the family's central Illinois farmhouse. "I was scared for him to get hurt. I never thought this would happen."
The night in question
Arriving in Kuwait on March 16, the Illinois unit stepped quickly into a quiet routine, flying missions over Afghanistan as well as the no-fly zones over Iraq. The Afghan sorties were meant to provide coalition ground forces with air support on short notice, if needed.
Most runs were uneventful, as pilots killed time discussing baseball or the latest labor problems at their commercial airline employers.
The moon had set on the night of April 17 when Umbach and Schmidt, known as Coffee 51 and Coffee 52 for this flight, began the return leg of another quiet sortie. The humdrum nature of the flight over southern Afghanistan was interrupted about 9:20 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time when the pilots reported what they thought was surface-to-air fire.
Schmidt, wearing night-vision goggles, swooped down to inspect the activity. Two minutes later, he sought permission "to lay down some 20 mike-mike," meaning to fire on the site with his 20 mm cannon. Seconds later, Umbach cautioned, "Let's just make sure that euh, that it's not friendly, that's all," according to the cockpit transcripts included in the Canadian report.
The patrolling Airborne Warning and Control System plane denied the request at 9:25, telling Umbach: "Hold fire. I need details on SAFIRE [surface-to-air fire]."
Four seconds later, Schmidt radioed that he had spotted "some men on a road and it looks like a piece of artillery firing at us.
"I am rolling in in self-defense," he said as he positioned his F-16 to drop a 500-pound laser-guided bomb.
Half a minute later, Schmidt released the bomb, which took 22 seconds to reach its target. "Shack!" he exclaimed, reporting a direct hit.
Ten seconds later, the warning of friendly forces came from the AWACS, telling Schmidt and Umbach to leave the area "as soon as possible."
In a question that hangs over the controversy, Umbach asked the AWACS controller: "Can you confirm that they were shooting at us?"
"You are cleared self-defense . . . " the AWACS controller replied--reflecting what the Canadian report termed "confusion" in the surveillance plane since Schmidt's initial "self-defense" call.
Returning to their base in Kuwait, Umbach and Schmidt crossed the tarmac with stoic looks on their faces. But their colleagues already knew that something terrible had happened near Kandahar. The two pilots were soon debriefed and made their way to the chow hall.
About 6 a.m., one of their fellow pilots ran into Schmidt and Umbach as they left the cafeteria. Unaware of what had happened, that pilot asked: "Hey, how'd it go last night?" What the pilot thought would be 30 seconds of small talk turned into a somber recitation of a nightmare. At the end of it, Schmidt put it simply: He'd done what he felt he had to do to keep Umbach alive, safe from enemy fire.
Not long after that exchange, the telephone rang in Schmidt's home back in Sherman, just north of Springfield. His wife, Lisa, answered. She later told her mother-in-law that she almost didn't recognize her husband's voice because it was so filled with grief and shock.
"The people I killed were not the enemy," Harry Schmidt told his wife, according to Joan Schmidt, who was helping her daughter-in-law take care of the couple's young sons.
The deaths shook Canada, which hadn't suffered a combat fatality since the Korean War. Initially, many Canadians were furious at President Bush's failure to mention the deaths in several public appearances the day the news was disclosed.
The Bush administration later tried to make up for the perceived slight. Despite Bush's opposition to allowing U.S. soldiers to be judged by international tribunals, the American military signed off on a joint inquiry board with the Canadians to investigate the Tarnak Farms incident.
The U.S. and Canadian reports differ in one fundamental way: The American version downplays any role in command failures while focusing on the responsibility of the pilots. For instance, it suggests that Schmidt felt "peer pressure" to back up his Top Gun reputation and burnish his new squadron's credibility.
His fellow pilots in the 183rd dispute such assertions. "Anyone with [Schmidt's] resume has nothing to prove to anyone," one of them said. "He's settling down, raising a family. He just got a house built. What does he need to prove?"
The U.S. report slammed the leadership of their Guard unit, saying it was "characterized by ineffective leadership and complacency in the enforcement of discipline and standards." Umbach, it stated, was serving as squadron commander even though his superiors believed "his promotion potential was minimal, given that he had not completed professional military education required for officers of his grade."
Umbach's attorney, David Beck, said his client wasn't told the reason he had been passed over for promotion more than a year ago. But Beck noted that an Air Force board recommended Umbach for promotion to lieutenant colonel just days after the April 17 incident; that promotion is on hold while the charges are pending.
The Canadian inquiry gave greater attention to whether the pilots knew about the ground training exercises at Tarnak Farms, which had begun in February. The report found that information was "intentionally removed" from the mission data given to Umbach and Schmidt in order to simplify the briefings and flight maps.
"This fact alone contributed significantly to the lack of knowledge of the Tarnak Farm range," the Canadian report said.
Some pilots also believe that the limitations of night-vision goggles, which both pilots wore, may have played a role. Dan Lohmar, an F-16 pilot in the 183rd who arrived at the Kuwait base shortly after the incident, said the goggles "allow you to see everything."
"Flying over Springfield at 20,000 feet, I can see incoming flights to Chicago and St. Louis clearly. Eighty miles looks like 20 miles . . . and 20 miles can look like 1 mile," Lohmar said.
"I don't question his [Schmidt's] judgment. He perceived they were both being shot at. The rules of engagement say you have the right to defend yourself," Lohmar said.
A recurring question, though, is why the pilots didn't increase their altitude and fly away from the perceived threat, as the rules of engagement require. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves, said the rules of engagement are extremely important because of the "increasing lethality" of U.S. bombs.
"In World War II if you dropped a bomb there was only a 3 percent chance of hitting the target. Today the odds are overwhelming that you will [hit the target], so it had better be a correct decision," Kirk said.
Even those who concede that Schmidt and Umbach acted in error wonder why this incident has attracted such great interest from the military and why the two pilots face the potential of spending the rest of their lives behind bars. Less than three months after the pilots' friendly fire incident, an Air Force AC-130 gunship fired on an Afghan village northwest of Kandahar, killing dozens of women and children at a wedding party where guns were fired in celebration.
A two-page report issued by the U.S. Central Command last month exonerated the gunship pilots, saying the air strike was provoked by hostile anti-aircraft fire, even though the report acknowledged there was no evidence of anti-aircraft weapons at the scene.
Air Force officials insist Umbach and Schmidt are not being treated differently. They reject any suggestion that the charges smack of scapegoating or are an effort to placate a key coalition partner.
"It didn't matter that those were Canadian soldiers or U.S. soldiers," said Col. Richard Harding, staff judge advocate for the 8th Air Force, which is overseeing the proceedings.
`Support, not prosecute'
The campaign to defend Umbach and Schmidt began on the back porch of Umbach's younger brother Bob's farmhouse in Easton.
It was Friday, Sept. 13, and the family had just learned that an Air Force investigator was recommending criminal charges. Bob Umbach and his wife, Patti, sat in stunned silence. Their two teenage children, Rob and Jena, disappeared into the house.
When they came back, Rob was holding a printout of what became the effort's unofficial motto--"Support, Not Prosecute, Our American Pilots."
From there, the effort ballooned. Benefits spring up almost daily at local golf courses and VFW posts, which are filled with men who have had their experiences with friendly fire.
Russo, 71, commander of the VFW post on the north side of Springfield, remembers getting strafed by a Marine plane while serving in the Korean War. Echoing many of the pilots' local supporters, Russo says it's self-serving for the military to place virtually all the blame on Umbach and Schmidt.
"To put it in the vernacular, [it] rolls downhill," he said. "And these guys are at the bottom of the hill right now."
The pilots' backers have mounted an elaborate campaign, including a Web site, that is meant to keep their case in the minds of a public whose attention may turn to war in Iraq just as their legal proceedings begin this winter.
One of Umbach's neighbors, Mike Williams, is the chief policy adviser for Illinois' agriculture director. He has contacted the state's congressional delegation and plans to ask all registered lobbyists in Illinois to publicize the pilots' case in their newsletters.
The other goal is to raise money for the pilots' legal defense. The families have hired attorneys who have represented defendants in some of the highest-profile military cases in recent years.
Schmidt's lawyer, former Marine naval flight officer Charles Gittins, represented one of the officers in the case of an American jet that sliced a gondola's cable in Italy, killing 20 people. Beck, Umbach's attorney, defended the navigator in the gondola case.
The pilots' families estimate that legal expenses could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if the military proceeds with a court-martial and the pilots have to appeal.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Paquette has had time to reflect on that night six months ago and its aftermath.
The concussive wave of the 500-pound bomb ruptured his eardrums, damaged his ribs and filled his lungs with fluid.
Paquette still faces surgery on his ears. But his views on the U.S. military's pursuit of charges against the pilots who caused his injuries are shaped by a soldier's pragmatism and a young father's compassion.
"I don't believe that they should fly again. I think they should lose their commission," he said. "In the end, it was just bad judgment and bad error."
Long jail terms seem "extreme," Paquette said. "It's still wartime, and mistakes are made."
"They're family men," he added, "and I don't want to ruin any more families."
by Elaine M. Grossman, Source: Inside The Pentagon,
February 28, 2002,
Pg. 1
After years of studying options, the Air Force's top leaders decided two weeks ago to simply run a higher level of operational risk when hundreds of F-16 fighters retire from the fleet in coming years, according to Lt. Gen. Joseph Wehrle, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs. Alternatives to mitigate a shrinking combat aircraft fleet -- none of them deemed attractive -- were to buy new aircraft or further extend the lives of planes already in service.
Wehrle told Inside the Pentagon in a Feb. 26 interview that to compensate for a 100-aircraft deficit in about 2010, the Air Force will rely upon the greater capabilities the F-22 fighter offers as it comes into service. Other options included buying new-production aircraft of older models like the F-16 or F-15E, modifying one or both of those models already in the fleet to last longer, or accelerating buys of new F-22 or Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.
The Air Force expects the F-22 to attain initial operational capability in about 2006, but the service cannot ramp up the premier stealth fighter's production to cover the shortage of F-16s aircraft-for-aircraft, Wehrle said. In short, the service hopes the F-22's qualitative improvement over the aircraft it replaces will offset the dip in fighter quantities, which will span at least four years.
"We're trying to get away from [the notion that] you've got to have 'X' number of aircraft," Wehrle said. "We want to be more capability-based."
Asked to characterize how much operational risk the embraced option involves, Wehrle said, "I don't know how you determine [risk level]. All I can tell you is the senior leadership feels it's acceptable risk. I don't know if it's a percentage, or it's high or medium or low. . . . The thing that we've got to do is wait for this [counterterrorism] conflict that we're in, however long it lasts, to settle down so that we can get to a baseline and establish [a requirements level] off of that."
In 2008, when the anticipated shortfall begins, the first F-16Cs off the production line in 1982 will turn 26 years old -- an unprecedented age for fighter retirement. Then, with each passing year, between 120 and 180 more F-16s will turn 26 years old and face retirement. The aircraft's replacement, the Joint Strike Fighter, will just begin introduction into the fleet at that time, attaining initial operational capability in the Air Force in 2011.
F-16 age is more meaningfully measured in service life, and the Air Force has funded an effort to ensure the plane can fly a full 8,000 hours, Wehrle said (ITP, May 20, 1999, p1).
The deficit of fighters the Air Force will face as successive waves of F-16s "age out" in huge blocks is sometimes termed a "bathtub" -- the shape of graphs depicting the drop in fighter fleet quantities, followed by a rise as new aircraft like the F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) enter service in increasing numbers.
Air Combat Command, located at Langley Air Force Base, VA, recently appeared to be pushing for relatively near-term modifications to existing F-16s or F-15s, and may continue that pursuit.
"I've talked to Boeing about the F-15 possibilities," ACC Commander Gen. Hal Hornburg told ITP in a Feb. 15 interview. "I've talked about more F-16s or doing some life-cycle upgrades to F-16s. Right now we're doing the exploratory surgery. We're not ready to make a decision on any of that, [not] by a long shot. But we have to look at mitigation, or in eight to 12 years from now we're going to be in 'Hurtsville.'"
Industry officials said F-16 prime contractor Lockheed Martin and F-15 prime contractor Boeing were expected to provide Hornburg soon with informal proposals on how to resolve the fighter bathtub problem. Options will no doubt include new buys of their respective fighters that utilize advanced avionics and other new technologies, versions of which have been sold overseas.
"Given no change in assumptions," states a background paper on the issue provided by Hornburg's staff, "decisions must be made in the [fiscal year] '04 [budget plan]. Further investment in current generation aircraft will be required to bridge the gap to the F-22 and JSF."
But Wehrle said that in mid-February, he presented the Air Force's top civilians and generals three major approaches for handling the upcoming F-16 shortfalls at a "Corona" meeting at Patrick Air Force Base, FL: buying old-model aircraft; accelerating new aircraft; or essentially riding it out -- and accepting greater risk. They chose the last option.
Riding out the deficit could include modifications to existing aircraft, but that will likely be decided later, Wehrle said. The Air Force leadership has assembled a review team to refine options and report back, likely by June, he said.
"It's a dynamic process that we're in," Wehrle said. "We've looked at those [aircraft modification] options, and right now the decision is, 'Let's take the risk. Let's not do that right now.'"
Under a "dire scenario" in which the threat is greater in coming years than anticipated, "then we'd have to relook at" the amount of risk the service is taking on, he said.
"With some ingenuity, we might be able to cover that bathtub with the quality of the aircraft that we have, as compared to the quantity," Wehrle said. "And the last thing we want to do is buy more older airplanes for a four-year period of time, and then find out right after that that we have more aircraft than we need. It just didn't make sense to us. So we're willing to take the risk during that period of time."
"This is surreal. They're doing best-case threat planning to justify these force structure risks, but worst-case threat planning to justify the F-22's [high-end] capabilities," said Pentagon maverick Franklin Spinney, an expert in fighter and attack aviation, in a Feb. 26 interview.
Spinney has urged the Air Force for years to buy more aircraft in the near term as a way of offsetting the unprecedented aging of the fleet and the impending large-block retirements of the F-16 (ITP, Nov. 26, 1998, p3). Wehrle said it came down to not having the money to "do everything," and it remains difficult to determine what the requirements will be in another decade.
The rejected alternatives offered risks of a different kind. Air Force officials for years have made it their goal to never buy non-stealthy combat aircraft again. Pouring funds into the procurement of F-16s or F-15s -- or the modification of older, in-service aircraft to maintain their utility -- would leave fewer dollars for other high-priority programs, experts say.
Of those, the service's highest priority is Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor. There is a lingering fear in the Air Force that if the service is still buying old-model, non-stealthy aircraft in eight to 10 years, members of Congress may wonder why the F-22 is needed and further cut the program.
Wehrle said the F-22 will offer a higher mission-readiness rate -- presumably spending less time in the depot than the older aircraft it replaces -- as well as sport both an air-to-air and air-to-ground capability. Current plans are for the new fighter to carry internally the Joint Direct Attack Munition and the yet-to-be-fielded Small Diameter Bomb.
But ramping up F-22 production to get greater quantities earlier than anticipated could be quite costly and may not be achievable, Wehrle said. Others say the Air Force has moved in the most recent outyear budget plan to do just the opposite; the F-22 procurement plan was reportedly cut by 15 percent over a three-year period -- fiscal year 2003 to 2005 -- when President Bush's defense budget is compared to the last Clinton administration defense budget.
Similarly, the JSF production schedule cannot be further accelerated, officials say. "JSF has been pushed to the right -- that's the thing that created this" problem, Hornburg said. "JSF was supposed to have been here a lot faster than we're getting it."
As the Air Force's chief planner, Wehrle acknowledged that maintaining minimum quantities of aircraft in the fighter fleet is an issue. But he said he does not expect quantity to become a real concern until a subsequent fighter shortfall begins around 2019 or 2020. That second bathtub will occur when service life runs out of as many as 400 F-16s before sufficient numbers of JSFs can come on line to replace them, Wehrle said.
"When you're flying in combat, you need to have a certain number of aircraft there. . . . You need to have multiple aircraft to be able to accomplish the mission," Wehrle said. But 2020 is so far out in the future that it is impossible to say what the requirement for fighter aircraft will be at that time, he said.
"All I can tell you is whatever number we have out there is probably wrong because we don't know what it's going to be like in 2020," Wehrle said. "The closer we get to it, the more solid it becomes and we'll know exactly what we need to do to cover that requirement."
He said options for resolving the second, larger dip could include buys of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles, space-based attack capabilities, additional F-22s or other systems yet to be developed.
Hornburg supported the notion that additional aircraft procurement is not needed for the first bathtub, but said such buys could be critical for the larger fighter deficit later on.
"We don't think that this first bathtub around four to six years from now is one we have to worry about filling with other airplanes," he said. "We think that we can mitigate the loss of the airplanes through the effects of other airplanes. . . . We don't think we're going to miss these airplanes in a big way.
"Now," he continued, "the long-term problem where you see the hundreds [of aircraft gone] -- that is a problem -- and that's one we're going to have to find solutions to."
Some others regard the fighter deficit around 2010 as more perilous, not only because of its immediacy but also because of its attendant operational and political risks. And not everyone is certain the drop in overall fighter quantities will be limited to just 100 aircraft.
The Air Force faces potentially higher operational risk if current trends for the world's remaining superpower do not abate. Those include periodic major regional wars, ongoing peacekeeping and sanctions enforcement missions around the globe and a growing war against terrorism, all of which have strained unit readiness.
"We're flying our F-16s harder than we thought we'd have to fly them," Hornburg said.
The service also faces the possibility that a future defense secretary or Congress will not allow a buildup in fighter quantities after a several-year period in which the current 2,600-plane fleet of all combat aircraft shrinks.
Wehrle acknowledged the political risk. But, he said, "we're thinking that it's worth it to go ahead and accept that risk in the near term. Then, as JSF comes down the line and we find out its capabilities, we'll adjust from there."
What matters most, he said, is fully equipping 10 Air Expeditionary Forces to perform whatever missions the Defense Policy Guidance lays out. The Air Force uses AEFs to rotate in and out of force deployments.
For his part, Hornburg is beginning to prepare for the possibility that fewer combat aircraft will lead to fewer squadrons. He said that in coming years, selected F-15 or F-16 squadrons may be closed to free up aircraft that can be redistributed to keep remaining squadrons at a level of 24 aircraft each.
"If we don't build more airplanes and we want to plus up [squadrons], that implies that flags will have to come down," Hornburg said at a Feb. 15 press conference in Orlando, FL.
Those specifics have yet to be discussed by the Air Force's top leadership, he said. "But I'm a believer that 24-[aircraft] squadrons are better than 18 . . . in terms of supporting them, employing them and fighting [with] them," Hornburg said. "So if flags have to come down in order to beef up [to] 24, then I'll be a supporter of that."
He added, "Nothing's on the table and nothing's off the table if we're studying this. There's no sacred cows."
Spinney expressed doubt that the Air Force could muddle through the next several years, awaiting the delivery of F-22 and JSF, without a serious crisis. With much of the Air Force fleet at unprecedented age levels, service leaders are entering unknown territory, he said.
Corrosion, metal fatigue and parts obsolescence are among the afflictions seen in aging aircraft, RAND researchers told the service in September 1998. If such problems are seen in one aircraft, they may be duplicated in dozens of the same aircraft built at the same time.
If discovered across a fleet or even just across a block or two of F-16s -- the Air Force's staple combat aircraft -- aging problems could prove devastating.
The Air Force, Spinney said, is banking on the notion that 30-year-old aircraft will perform like they do today. That assumption reflects "unsubstantiated hopes that this will work out fine," he said. "But we've never been there. No one knows how it will turn out."
He is not optimistic, and urges a more activist approach to the problem than the Air Force is taking.
"Rome didn't fall in a day," Spinney said. "But once it started sliding down the downward path, they couldn't muster the will to reverse it by making the hard decisions early. By postponing the hard decisions, the decline became irreversible."
"You can run the [operational] risks going both ways," Wehrle said. "Based on what we know right now -- with the 8,000 hours on [all] the F-16s which we've already funded -- we think the risk is acceptable. Things could change in two years that could cause us to change our minds."
By Bruce Rolfsen, Source: Air Force Times, March 4, 2002, p. 14
The combat readiness of Air Force fighter pilots is falling because many are flying Noble Eagle air patrols instead of training for combat missions, Air Force leaders are warning.
Gen. Hal Hornburg, head of the Air Combat Command, said he’s concerned that some of his pilots may not be fully prepared for future combat operations.
"The troops are flying CAP [combat air patrol] after CAP because right now the national leadership is asking us to do that," Hornburg said in a Feb. 15 interview. "But our readiness is suffering because what these folks are being asked to do doesn’t prepare them for what we may ask them to do tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
"They come back after a Noble Eagle stint less trained and less ready. So if we decide it’s time to kick off another phase of the war, my concern as the force provider is that I won’t have those forces as properly trained as I should to present to Joint Forces Command."
The head of Noble Eagle patrols, North American Aerospace Defense Command chief Gen. Ralph "Ed" Eberhart, offered little prospect of immediate relief when he spoke Feb. 15 at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium.
"When we look at the operations tempo and personnel tempo, it concerns us," said Eberhart, who headed Air Combat Command before taking the NORAD assignment.
"But we need to be very clear, if we make a recommendation to change the status, to change the number of airplanes that are involved ... we make that not based on ops tempo or pers tempo. We’ll base that on the threat," Eberhart added.
F-16s hardest hit
While the Department of Defense and White House look for a durable solution, training challenges for the Air Force grow.
The Air Force pilots taking the hardest hit in lost training are F-16 Fighting Falcon fliers. Domestic patrols offer them no opportunity to train for air-to-ground bombing and missile-attack missions.
One senior Air Force official estimated that 25 percent of U.S.-based F-16 pilots were in danger of losing their combat-mission qualifications because of a lack of practice.
And the outlook is grim, as Fighting Falcons are looking at approximately 13 percent more flight hours this year.
The Air Force said F-16s logged 91,808 hours flying training and combat missions in October, November and December.
That pace puts the jets on track to fly 367,232 hours in fiscal 2002, almost 41,000 hours more than what the jets flew in fiscal 2001.
Every one of those hours is carving into their training time - but the Air Force wouldn’t say how many flight hours F-16s are flying in support of Noble Eagle or how many flight hours they have logged.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, testifying Feb. 5 before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Noble Eagle has included more than 13,000 combat air patrol sorties over the United States. The Air Force, he said, has committed 260 planes and 1,200 airmen, flying almost 57,000 hours.
ACC standards say experienced F-16 pilots - those with more than 500 hours in F-16 cockpits - require at least 96 training sorties a year to be combat mission-ready, or at least 60 training sorties annually to be dubbed basic mission-capable. A typical training sortie lasts about 80 minutes.
Pilots with fewer than 500 hours in fighters need about 120 training sorties annually to achieve the same mission-capable status.
For security reasons, the Air Force won’t disclose servicewide information on F-16 combat mission hours, but officials did provide figures to show how Noble Eagle has affected the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. The 20th Wing flies the F-16CJ, a jet specially equipped to detect hostile radar and anti-aircraft sites and attack them with AIM-88 HARM missiles.
The figures showed that while the wing’s operations tempo has accelerated since Sept. 11, pilots are getting fewer training hours.
During the last three months of 2001, the wing logged 6,570 flying hours, a 468-hour increase over the same months in 2000.
During the same time, training hours dropped by 1,235 hours.
Even without Noble Eagle, the 20th Wing faced a tight training schedule.
In February, 43 percent of the wing’s pilots were serving their first operational F-16 tour. The Air Force’s goal is to have no more than 55 percent of a fighter wing’s pilots on their first tour.
The lack of training sorties means new pilots will have a harder time moving up the skill ladder, another senior Air Force official warned. A newly minted wingman typically ends his first operational tour qualified to lead a four-jet formation. With training flights in short supply, many of these new pilots will leave their first assignment qualified to lead a two-jet formation.
Because F-16 pilots often spend their second assignment flying training aircraft or working desk jobs, these pilots might not earn their four-ship qualification until their third assignments.
Air Force Times requests to interview leaders at active-duty F-16 wings about how they are meeting training challenges were turned down by the wings and Air Force headquarters.
Air National Guard pilots have flown about 85 percent of the Noble Eagle missions. Brig. Gen. Paul Kimmel, who oversees the Guard’s operational readiness, said pilots have met all training requirements for air-to-air and air-ground qualifications, but achieving those goals has been more difficult since Sept. 11.
"Should this continue, it could cause some problems in some units," Kimmel said.
A combat liability?
In a major theater war, such as a renewed air campaign against Iraq, F-16Cs would be expected to fly many of the bombing sorties, while F-16CJs would attack anti-aircraft missile and gun sites.
The lack of training F-16 pilots suffer because of frequent air patrols could have a measurable effect on combat efficiency - something the Air Force has known for several years.
A 1999 study commissioned by the Air Force, "Blunting the Talons," found that F-16 pilots who flew patrols over Iraq lost air-to-ground attack skills. That report, conducted for the Air Force by Rand, a California-based think tank, concluded that Falcon pilots who had been unable to practice low-level bombing missions were at least 25 percent more likely to miss their targets than those whose training wasn’t interrupted.
The report’s author, John Stillion, said that reduced bombing accuracy also signaled losses in other essential skills: reacting to anti-aircraft threats and flying close to the ground.
Stillion’s analysis of F-15E readiness found the two-man crews didn’t suffer the same skill loss as F-16 pilots because the F-15E pilots and weapons systems officers often found ways to practice targeting bombs even when on patrol. They also benefited from having more automated bombing systems than the F-16s Stillion examined.
Today’s Noble Eagle pilots are losing training time in such skills as flying while wearing night-vision goggles and working with LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night) pods that enable fighters to release laser-guided bombs and fly low-level missions, a senior Air Force official said.
Ronald Moore, a retired Air National Guard wing commander and Falcon pilot, said it was a mistake to assume that LANTIRN pods and other innovations made today’s F-16 pilots’ tasks any easier than their 1990s counterparts. When releasing a guided bomb, the pilot still has to focus on setting up the bomb’s targeting information while flying the plane, the retired colonel cautioned.
The lack of training would have its largest impact in the opening days of a war, Stillion said. Pilots would be able to regain their flying skills within a month of returning to air-to-ground missions.
If an F-16 unit flying Noble Eagle patrols did get orders for a deployment overseas, Moore said, the pilots could relearn their bombing skills within two weeks if they were allowed to do nothing but fly bombing sorties.
Fighting Falcon not alone
Noble Eagle also has had a significant impact on the flight and training hours of the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System jets and F-15 Eagles.
"We lost about 80 percent of our continuation training," AWACS wing commander Brig. Gen. Ben Robinson said after three months of flying Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom missions.
While AWACS training time fell, overall flying hours increased.
AWACS officials said that, by Dec. 31, 2001, their planes logged 19,711 flight hours in one year, an increase of 4,457 over 2000. Almost 3,400 hours were spent flying Noble Eagle missions and another 2,500 on Enduring Freedom.
A senior Air Force official said that some veteran AWACS air battle managers are being pulled out of staff assignments so that they can fly AWACS missions. The arrival of new AWACS crew members is being slowed because often, the four AWACS set aside for training are having to fly operational missions. Overall, the AWACS schoolhouse is behind its training schedule by 40 days, the official said.
The loss of training hours also was pronounced at F-15 wings, ACC figures showed.
At Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., the F-15E Strike Eagles from the 4th Fighter Wing spent more time flying Noble Eagle air patrols than practicing their primary combat mission of attacking targets on the ground. The 4th Wing almost doubled its flight hours to 5,014 for the last three months of 2001 compared with the year before, but still saw training time drop by 227 hours.
For the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Force Base, Va., air-to-air combat practice time for F-15C Eagle crews dropped 1,445 hours during the last three months of 2001 compared with the same period in 2000, even though the wing’s total flying time increased 1,200 hours.
Challenge not training, but jets
Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill McPeak said pilot training issues are only part of the fallout from the Air Force’s new commitment to flying domestic air patrols.
Pilot skills can be relearned, he said. But there’s no way to get back all those flight hours, which he said could wear out the F-16 fleet.
One Air Force official concerned about readiness estimated the service would spend 130,000 flying hours in one year maintaining around-the-clock patrols over New York City and Washington, D.C. About 75,000 of those hours would be flown by F-15 and F-16 fighters.
With an F-16 having an expected life span of about 8,000 hours, the Air Force will burn out the equivalent of nearly 10 F-16s protecting the two cities during the course of a year.
The Air Force isn’t asking to buy new F-16s or F-15s in its proposed 2003 budget. The service does want to buy eight F-16s annually in 2004 and 2005, a long-range proposal that was in place before Sept. 11.
The extra flying time also is certain to mean F-16s will be in maintenance hangars more often. One Air Force estimate calculated that F-16s could fly 41,000 additional hours in 2002 because of Noble Eagle. That increase in flying time equals about 200 additional phase inspections that can keep a plane grounded for a week.
Air Force officials are downplaying the toll the higher operations tempo is taking on the jets.
The mission-capable rates for U.S.-based F-16s and F-15s have risen or remained nearly the same since Sept. 11, according to Air Force numbers. For example, the mission-capable rate for Air Force Reserve F-16s increased more than six percentage points, from 69.7 in fiscal 2001 to 76.3 so far in fiscal 2002.
Thomas Keefer, a spokesman for the F-16 Systems Program Office at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, said domestic patrols don’t wear down a jet as quickly as training sorties. The stress a plane goes through in one hour of the straight and level flying typical of a domestic patrol is less than what the plane experiences on an hour-ong training flight, where the jet is flying high-G maneuvers that strain the fuselage.
After Noble Eagle?
NORAD commander Eberhart recognized that the air patrols weren’t a durable solution to keeping American skies free of terrorists.
"In the long run, this is not the way to work this problem," Eberhart said. Improved radar surveillance of commercial flights, tighter airport and aircraft security, and the public’s greater vigilance are among the changes that will work in the long term.
McPeak said the patrols already have outlived their usefulness.
"When the president said we were at war, we needed to be seen as doing something," McPeak said.
Now, Noble Eagle patrols are more symbolic than useful, especially since security has been increased at airports and onboard airplanes, the career fighter pilot said.
Air Force leaders are watching their words when it comes to the usefulness of the Noble Eagle missions or when the pace of operations will slow down.
A senior official said the service hopes to know by early April what the steady-state requirement of Noble Eagle will be. The official hoped that at least airplanes will be allowed to be on a 30-minute or one-hour alert instead of the five-minute alert now maintained at 26 locations.
Another official said that if current Noble Eagle operations tempo continues unabated, then NORAD and the Defense Department would need to look at new ways to manage the workload. Specifically, the Air Force would like to share the Noble Eagle burden with Navy and Marine Corps fighter and reconnaissance squadrons, the official said.
The Air Force is flying the bulk of the Noble Eagle sorties because the mission of the 1st Air Force is supporting NORAD, command spokesman Army Maj. Barry Venable said. NORAD officials offered no word on whether the Navy and Marine role would increase.
Navy spokesmen declined to discuss the service taking on a larger role.
Since Sept. 11, the Navy has had its own operations tempo issues, such as deploying aircraft carriers two months ahead of schedule to support Enduring Freedom missions over Afghanistan.
Compiled in Washington by EMILY WOODWARD
DefenseNews.com Assistant Editor, Jan. 25, 2002
• Lockheed Martin
Aeronautics Co., Fort
Worth, Texas, will
supply upgrade kits for
the F-16A aircraft
fleets of Belgium,
Denmark, the
Netherlands and
Norway under a $142
million contract
awarded by the U.S.
Air Force, the
company said in a Jan.
23 statement.
The contract covers
the delivery of 306 upgrade kits, plus spare parts,
support equipment and technical manuals. Each kit
contains jam-resistant data communications equipment
and an arsenal of so-called smart weapons, including
Joint Direct Attack Munitions, Joint Stand-Off Weapons
and Wind Corrected Munitions. Deliveries of the kits will
begin in mid-2002 and continue through mid-2007.
Though the contract resembles a U.S. Foreign Military
Sales (FMS) arrangement in that it was coordinated by
the U.S. military for foreign governments, it was not
awarded under the FMS program, a spokesman for
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics told DefenseNews.com
Jan. 24. “Technically, it is not called FMS for the
European participating countries in the F-16A
Multinational Fighter Program, but functionally it is a
similar process,” the spokesman said. The contract, he
said, is the latest development in the $1.3 billion
European F-16A midlife upgrade program, which began
in 1990.
Source: Air Force News Service
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah, Jan. 24, 2002
(AFPN) -- The first F-16 Fighting Falcon Block
50 fighter retrofitted in the Common
Configuration Implementation Program roared
back to life recently, increasing pilot training
efficiency and reducing the enemy's ability to
hide.
The CCIP will refit
all the Air Force's
Block-40 and -50
F-16s during the next 10 years, creating
identical cockpits in each fighter and increasing
communication abilities with land, air and sea
forces, Officials said.
"This is the biggest electrical modification ever
performed on the F-16," said Rick Merrill, F-16
CCIP production chief. "It's going to be a
valuable asset to the pilots in the field."
Identical cockpits mean pilots will no longer
have to be trained for different configurations, he
said.
"They'll be able to fly every F-16 that's been
retrofitted," Merrill said.
So far, the program is going smoother than
anticipated, Merrill said.
Crews were prepared for the worst but right now
all of the aircraft that have been inducted are on
or ahead of schedule, he said.
Seven planes have been completed and are
preparing to return to their unit. Entire
squadrons of planes are being sent, causing
affected units to stand down while the retrofitting
is taking place.
Making sure the program stays on track and
units receive their planes ready to fly on time is
essential to success, Merrill said.
"The first couple of planes we produced were
ahead of schedule," he said. "We placed a lot of
emphasis on them to allow our flight test area a
little buffer zone for software glitches and other
complications.
"The credit for our success so far belongs to the
technicians, some of whom have only seen two
planes so far," he said. "Their combined spirit
and ingenuity in what they're doing shows daily
as they find ways to do the job faster and
better."
Merrill went on a "hiring frenzy" a year before
the program started to find the best and
brightest technicians to do the work.
Those chosen have gone through almost a
year's worth of extensive classroom and
hands-on training to do the job and more
technicians are still needed to get the job done,
he said.
Technicians work around-the-clock in three
shifts to get the job done, Merrill said. Two
full-strength crews work day and swing shifts
while a skeleton graveyard shift works critical
paths to make sure contract deadlines will be
met.
Since entire squadrons of planes are sent in
together for retrofitting, Merrill said the
importance of reducing the time it takes to do
the job is a constant concern for him and his
crew.
"Daily, technicians are finding ways to reduce
flow time of the retrofitting," Merrill said. "The
technicians are very innovative on how to reduce
items that come up. As we do more aircraft,
we're looking at ways to reduce the flow and
return the fighters to the field faster." (Courtesy
of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)
For detailed information concerning the schedule, Click HERE!
Col. Bobby Wilkes, "Silver Flag: A Concept for Operational Warfare," Aerospace Power Journal, Winter 2001-02.
LtCol. Phil Haun, "Airpower versus a Fielded Army: A Construct for Air Operations in the Twenty-First Century," Aerospace Power Journal, Winter 2001-02.
Martin Agüera, "ESDP and Missile Defense: European Perspectives for a More Balanced Transatlantic Partnership," Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Carlisle, PA, December 2001
Appeared on AirForceTimes.com Jan. 18, 2002
By Wilson Ring
Associated Press
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Vermont Air National Guard F-16 pilots flying air defense missions over New York City will be getting technology upgrades to make their jobs easier.
The devices, which could be installed by the end of the year, will make it easier for pilots to identify other aircraft and for on-board computers to communicate directly with other air force computers.
The $55 million program will give priority to installing the devices in the Air Guard F-16s patrolling the skies over New York and Washington. After that, if funding allows, the devices will be installed in other air guard F-16s.
“The whole world has changed so much since September 11,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who announced the funding Friday at the Vermont Air National Guard base in South Burlington.
“If the guard is called upon to respond, they’ve got to be better and more capable than anyone else in the air,” Leahy said. “This technology is like walking into a very crowded room and being able to see the one person you want to see.”
The impetus for the upgrade comes from the Vermont Air National Guard, whose pilots flew air defense missions over New York City on 122 consecutive days after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Leahy said.
Leahy said he included the appropriation in the defense authorization bill signed last week by President Bush after speaking with air guard pilots and asking them what they needed most.
“In the overall scheme of the military, the $55 million is not a great deal of money,” Leahy said. “In the overall scheme of the mission here, it makes them far more effective.”
Vermont Adjutant Gen. Martha Rainville said the technicians would begin installing the systems in July.
“The acquisition folks have really jumped on this,” she said.
Of the new money, $35 million will pay to install “advanced friend or foe interrogator” systems for the aircraft that can read the intentions of another aircraft and determine if its identification device is working properly. The other $20 million will go toward “Transparent Multi-Platform Gateway” systems, which allows different types of datalinks to communicate.
Appeared in YAHOO! News Service, Jan. 14, 2002
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The military has flown more than 13,000 fighter-jet
patrols over American cities since Sept. 11 at a cost exceeding $324 million.
Now it wants to cut back.
The round-the-clock patrols designed to deter terrorists may be straining
planes and personnel, the Pentagon (news - web sites) said Monday.
Four months after the airliner attacks, any decision on ending or changing the
patrols may come down to a calculation of how safe Americans would feel
with the change, some officials say.
Part of the homeland defense efforts called Operation Noble Eagle, the flights began after terrorist
hijackers crashed jetliners into the Pentagon and World Trade Center. U.S. fighters have been flying
over New York and Washington since then.
Other patrols fly from time to time over other major metropolitan areas and key sites, and jets are on
alert at 30 bases to scramble if called. The combat air patrols are the first of their kind over the United
States since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
Officials have been looking to cut back on the program for some time, knowing from the outset that
the high-tempo use of manpower and equipment couldn't be kept up with the existing people and
budget, one defense official said, commenting only on condition of anonymity. Now that four months
have passed and aviation security has been improved somewhat, some wonder if it might be time to
start rethinking the patrols, the official said.
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke declined to confirm that Monday, telling a Pentagon press
conference that talking about details of the program could give ``an advantage to those who might
want to do us harm.''
The operation uses 11,000 people and 250 aircraft, another official said. Those figures include
maintenance crews, pilots for 100 F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, crews for tankers needed for midair
refueling and crews for AWACS - Airborne Warning and Control System - planes to provide radar
information.
Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said that AWACS pilots and crews may be operating so intensely that
they are not getting usual training for other missions.
``Maybe we're not getting the training that we need done now for our rotations overseas, so that's
being looked at,'' he said at the press conference with Clarke. Stufflebeem is deputy director of
operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The fighter pilots, mostly from Air National Guard units, do patrols of two to six hours. The jets are
refueled about every two hours, meaning some go through two midair refuelings.
From Sept. 11 to Dec. 10, the operation flew 13,000 sorties. The cost was $324 million, Defense
Department spokeswoman Susan Hansen said.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command, which runs the operation, said periodic review of
missions is standard military procedure.
``We continuously analyze our ongoing operations ... as a matter of prudent military planning,'' said
Maj. Barry Venable, spokesman for NORAD in Colorado Springs, Colo.
NORAD says that through Dec. 10, its jets responded 207 times to problems such as unidentified
aircraft, planes violating restricted air space and in-flight emergencies.
Not included in the figure is the case in which two jets escorted a Paris-to-Miami flight to Boston later
last month after a passenger tried to ignite what authorities said was an explosive hidden in his shoes.
In 92 of the cases, jets on alert on the ground were scrambled to respond.
In the other 115 cases, NORAD diverted jets that already were in the air on patrol.
Pentagon officials said privately that the longer the program continues at its current rate the higher the
stress that could eventually harm readiness for other missions.
While they believe patrols deter would-be attackers and give Americans a greater sense of security,
they also argue that scrambling planes against attacks is a measure of last resort. Security should be
tightened on the ground before problems become airborne in the first place, they maintain.
One alternative to constant patrols would be to keep planes on ground alert.
In addition, airliner and airport security has been tightened in the past few months. Thousands of
National Guard troops are on duty at the nation's airports. Screening of passengers and carryon
baggage has been increased.
Under a new aviation security law, airlines are required starting next weekend to inspect all checked
baggage for explosives.
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 11, 2002; Page A19
Add the Air Force's new Litening II targeting pod to the list of technology upgrades on display in Afghanistan, enabling F-16 pilots to fire laser-guided bombs by locking directly onto a "laser spot" placed on a target by troops on the ground.
The first-generation Lantirn pod that debuted on Air Force fighters a decade ago in Operation Desert Storm has its own laser designator for identifying targets and guiding laser-seeking bombs, but Lantirn cannot employ laser-guided bombs using laser designations by ground forces.
Air Force fighters have played only a limited role in Afghanistan, flying all the way from Kuwait to augment carrier-based Navy strike aircraft. And only older model F-16s flown by National Guard and reserve units rotating through Kuwait -- and seeing limited action in Afghanistan -- have been upgraded with the Litening II pods, which cost about $1.3 million apiece.
But the Litening II pods, manufactured by Northrop Grumman Corp., have demonstrated the effectiveness of "laser spot" tracking in Afghanistan, where laser designation of targets by Special Forces troops on the ground has been a critical factor in the air war's success.
"This is a key attribute of the pod," Col. Dana T. Atkins, deputy director of operational requirements on the Air Force staff, said of Litening II. "It eliminates the potential of misidentifying targets and, in the case of close proximity to friendly forces and discrete infrastructure, eliminates potential for collateral damage, fratricide and unintended casualties."
Litening II, Atkins said, is also able to acquire targets from as high as 40,000 feet -- 15,000 feet higher than the Lantirn pod. And the Air Force is now purchasing 24 Litening II-plus pods that have greater range with infrared capability.
An even more sophisticated system, the Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP), now entering production, features both "laser spot" tracking and the ability to generate the coordinates of ground targets and to feed them directly into "smart" munitions guided by signals from Global Positioning System satellites. Lockheed Martin Corp. manufactures both the Lantirn and the ATP.
With the ATP, soldiers on the ground would no longer have to radio a target's coordinates to a pilot in order to trigger an attack by a GPS-guided bomb, and the pilot would not have to manually enter those coordinates into the weapon's guidance system. The new advanced pod can acquire targets from as high as 50,000 feet.
"This is a unique, transformational capability," said Atkins, himself a former F-16 pilot and squadron commander. "We're being asked by not only our national leadership, but by our public, to be very precise. And this gives us that really precise capability."
FASTER, FASTER: As the war in Afghanistan continues and potential terrorist engagements loom in places such as Somalia, Sudan and the Philippines, the Army is eager to get its new light armored vehicle into service. Built by a General Dynamics-General Motors partnership, each LAV-III weighs about 19 tons -- compared with the 70-ton weight of the M1A2 Abrams tank -- and can carry 11 soldiers from the Army's new medium-weight Interim Brigade Combat Teams.
"We're talking to the president of General Dynamics, now seeing if we can move that schedule up a couple of months," said Gen. John M. Keane, the Army's vice chief of staff. "My appeal to them was to go to more of a war footing, a round-the-clock schedule. But given the realities of production schedules and subcontractors and the rest of it, the most we would ever be able to get out of that is a couple or three months."
Commanders at Fort Lewis in Washington state, where the first two new combat brigades are being formed, now expect to see the first LAV-IIIs roll off the production line in March.
SPECIAL FORCES: In another move triggered by the war in Afghanistan -- and the starring role played there by Army Special Forces troops -- Keane said the Army is making sure that all five of its Special Forces groups are operating at 100 percent strength, not just over 80 percent, as they were at the start of the war.
"So those officers and noncommissioned officers on other assignments throughout the Army who have Special Forces qualifications, who may be teaching or recruiting or doing other Army business, we're bringing those officers and NCOs back to those organizations," Keane said.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
Appeared in: YAHOO! News Service, Jan 10, 2002
By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - An F-16 with the New
Jersey Air National Guard crashed near a busy highway Thursday, and the
pilot ejected safely, officials said.
The pilot, based at the 177th Fighter Wing at Pomona, parachuted into
woods about one-quarter mile east of the Garden State Parkway. He
suffered minor cuts and bruises. His identity was not released.
The jet had been practicing bomb drops at the Warren Grove range and
was returning to base when a malfunction occurred, according to Col.
Michael Cosby, the unit's commander.
Debris from the jet was scattered across the parkway, though no cars were damaged, said John
Hagerty, a state police spokesman. The highway is a major north-south route.
``I heard an explosion and I saw this huge fireball in the sky,'' said Michelle Pace, who was driving on
the parkway. ``I got so shaky, I pulled over and called 911. I thought the plane had exploded in the
sky, because it was just a huge fireball.''
It wasn't clear whether the pilot was able to steer the jet after the malfunction occurred, according to
Cosby. But he said pilots are trained to try to jettison the aircraft in an unpopulated area.
An investigation panel will be convened to determine the cause of the malfunction and evaluate the
pilot's actions, he said.
Since Sept. 11, fighter jets from the 177th have been among those flying combat air patrols over New
York and Washington. F-16s are designed to attack air and ground targets and were used during the
Gulf War (news - web sites) and to patrol no-fly zones in Iraq.
Critics at home rap $550 million deal
By Alistair Bell, Reuters News Agency; Appeared in: Washington Times, Jan. 6, 2002, p. 7
SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile is close to sealing a deal for some of the world's most advanced warplanes in the first major U.S. arms sale since the lifting of a 20-year ban on exporting modern weapons to Latin America.
A $550 million contract for 10 F-16 fighter jets awaits only the signature of President Ricardo Lagos.
It runs out Monday, but government officials says it is unclear whether Mr. Lagos, a Socialist, will sign now or wait until Chile's economy improves before approving the purchase.
"It's a decision that belongs to the president of the republic, and he will take it when he estimates that the moment is opportune," Nelson Haddad, Chile's subsecretary of aviation, said.
The ruling coalition has critics within its ranks who complain that Chile is spending unnecessarily on arms at a time of economic slowdown.
Northern neighbor Peru, which has a claim on mineral-rich land in Chile dating back 120 years, warns that the purchase could set off an arms race in Latin America. But even opponents of the deal say it will probably go ahead soon.
"I don't think anything can really stop this sale at any point any more," said Kate Kaufer of the Council for a Livable World, a Washington-based advocacy group that has tried to halt the sale.
If Mr. Lagos does not sign by Monday, another F-16 contract, known as a letter of offer and acceptance, can be drawn up or the original one can be extended, defense analysts say.
The Clinton administration lifted the Carter-era modern-weapons ban in 1997 to reward Latin America for its swing to democracy and to help U.S. defense companies fend off growing European competition in the region.
F-16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp., based in Bethesda, would welcome the sale, but defense analysts say it should not greatly affect the company's share price. The Chile deal is dwarfed by the recent award to Lockheed of a $200 billion U.S. government contract to make next-generation Joint Strike Fighters.
Chile, a nation of 15 million hemmed in between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, lacks strategic importance and has not fought a war for more than a century.
One of Chile's historic rivals, Argentina, is bankrupt.
So why buy nearly state-of-the art warplanes?
Chilean commentators say successive governments have been politically unable to curb their military's spending plans. The generals cling to vestiges of power dating back to the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
"In 11 years of civilian government there has been no political will by presidents to direct defense policy as presidents of the republic should," Chilean defense analyst Eduardo Santos said.
"This means that without political direction, the armed forces have defined their own objectives according to their own vision," Mr. Santos said.
A law introduced by Gen. Pinochet allows the military to bypass the government for much of its cash needs. Under the so-called "Copper Law," 10 percent of state revenues from Chile's main export, copper, goes directly to the military's.
The military-drafted constitution, which is still in force, forbids Chilean presidents from sacking top force commanders.
It is widely accepted that Chile's current fleet of F-5, Dragonfly and French-made Mirage jets needs upgrading after more than 20 years in service.
The military says it wants the top of the range.
"If you are replacing your car or buying a new computer naturally you want to buy the best, not something that is going to be obsolete in a few years. The same goes for combat aircraft," said a senior military official.
Wright comes to Langley from San Antonio, Texas, where he served as deputy commander for information operations of 8th Air Force. He also commanded the Air Intelligence Agency and the Joint Information Operations Center.
"I'm humbled and honored to be here. This is an awesome opportunity. I look forward to working with the combat warriors in ACC and across the rest of the combat air forces," Wright said.
Cook, who served as vice commander of ACC since June 2000, will take command of Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, in a ceremony Dec. 17. He has been selected for promotion to general.
As ACC’s vice commander, Wright will help the commander in preparing and sustaining combat-ready air forces in support of national security objectives. He will help oversee more than 1,000 aircraft and 100,000 active-duty military and civilian people at 38 major installations in the United States and overseas. When mobilized, more than 700 aircraft and 64,000 Air Force Reservists and Air National Guardsmen join ACC.
Wright entered the Air Force in 1973 as an Air Force Academy graduate. He has commanded a fighter squadron, a composite operations group and a fighter wing. He served as director of operations for U.S. Forces Japan and as deputy director for information operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He has more than 3,000 flying hours in the F-4, F-16, C-21 and T-43, including 47 combat missions in operations Desert Storm and Provide Comfort.
The Air Force today announced the names of the initial cadre of officers who will conduct the Dedicated Initial Operational Testing and Evaluation for the Air Force's newest fighter -- the F-22 Raptor.
A board of senior officers here Thursday selected the first 10 officers and one alternate to be assigned to the new weapon system.
The first team of officers will be Lt. Col. Shugato S. Davis; Lt. Col. Garvin A. McGettrick (F-15); Lt. Col. David G. Rose; Maj. Kevin A. Huyck; Maj. David A. Krumm; Maj. Mark E. Ladtkow; Maj. Michael Shower; Maj. David E. Thole (F-16); Capt. Charles S. Corcoran; Capt. Christopher J. Niemi (F-15); and Capt. Craig R. Baker (F-16), alternate.
These officers will conduct the initial testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., and Nellis AFB, Nev. F-22 pilot training for the initial cadre is scheduled to begin in March.
USAF Weapons School Selectees, Alternates - F-16 Pilots (F-16 VPA members)
Capt. John C. McDaniel
Capt. Keith E. Surowiec
ALTERNATE:
Capt. Nathan E. Graber
CONGRATS; FELLOWS!!
07/06/01 - SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C.
(AFPN) -- An Air Force F-16CJ fighter crashed
about 10:40 a.m. EST on July 6 approximately
40 miles east of Charleston, S.C.
The aircraft,
assigned to the
20th Fighter Wing
here, was in a military training area on an
air-combat training mission. It carried one pilot
who was killed. The pilot's identity has not been
released pending notification of next of kin.
06/13/01 - KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea (AFPN) --
The pilot of an F-16 Fighting Falcon was killed June 12 when his
aircraft crashed about 40 miles southeast of here.
First Lt. Randolph E. Murff, assigned to the 35th Fighter Squadron
here, was on a night training mission.
Murff had 259.5 flying hours in the F-16 C/D model. He was the only
person on board.
The aircraft was not carrying any live munitions.
To ensure the safety of the population around the crash, base officials
have secured the area.
At this time, damage to civilian property is being assessed.
A board of officers will investigate the accident. (Courtesy of Pacific
Air Forces News Service)
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) -- Investigators have determined the midair collision of two F-16 fighter jets near Moapa, Nev., on Aug. 8 was
due to pilot error.
One jet (Viper 4) was destroyed when it hit the ground on the slopes of the Mormon Mountains. The pilot ejected safely and was picked up by search and
rescue forces from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The other jet (Viper 1) landed safely despite sustaining damage from the collision.
The pilots were taking part in a tactical-intercept training mission involving a total of four aircraft, with the two mishap aircraft in opposing two-ship elements. All
aircraft were assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, based at Nellis.
According to the investigation report released Dec. 22 by Air Combat Command, there were two main causes that led to the accident.
First, the two mishap pilots failed to clear their flight paths prior to the collision. Viper 1 had the principal responsibility for ensuring a clear flight path, but Viper 4
also shared this duty, investigators said. Second, investigators determined that Viper 1 violated flight rules by entering his opponent's pre-planned altitude block
and then failing to stop the engagement.
Investigators also pointed out three factors that substantially contributed to the mishap. First, Viper 1 experienced channelized attention while trying to visually
identify his opponent. This channelized attention led to decreased situational awareness. Second, Viper 1 made incorrect assumptions about his wingman's and his
opponent's positions, leading him to misinterpret the situation. Finally, investigators cited inadequate situational awareness on the part of Viper 4 and his wingman
due to poor communication between the two.
November 15, 2000
Web posted at: 6:53 PM HKT (1053 GMT)
TOKYO (AP) -- U.S. and Japanese rescue crews have given up hope of finding
an American pilot missing since two F-16C fighter jets collided over northern
Japan, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
A search that involved about 30 U.S. and Japanese aircraft was called off
Wednesday morning after they swept the waters off the northern island of
Hokkaido for more than 48 hours, the U.S. Air Force's 35th Fighter Wing said in
a statement.
The pilot -- 27-year-old Captain Warren B. Sneed of Circleville, Ohio -- had been
missing since the accident early Monday and was presumed dead.
"Based on the results of the search, the environmental conditions and all available
evidence, I have determined the pilot ... to be lost at sea and deceased," Brig.
Gen. Chip Utterback was quoted as saying.
The pilot of the other jet, Col. Michael Lepper, was rescued shortly after the
crash.
U.S. Air Force spokesman Tech. Sgt. Brad Carder would not release Lepper's
name or hometown.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation, and Wednesday's statement
announcing the end of the search offered no details.
The collision took place about 660 kilometers (410 miles) north of Tokyo over
the Sea of Japan during a joint U.S.-Japanese military exercise. Both pilots were
based at a U.S. Air Force base in the nearby city of Misawa.
The crash was the latest in a string of accidents in recent years involving the
U.S. military in Japan that have raised concerns about the safety of Japanese
living near American bases.
On Monday, the mayor of Misawa questioned the safety of flight training over
his city and demanded reassurances from the U.S. military about future flights.
Misawa is home to about 5,400 U.S. service people and is used by 3,300
members of Japan's air defense forces. Japan is host to about 47,000 U.S.
military service people under a security treaty.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Search continues for missing pilot
11/14/00 - MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) -- The search and rescue
efforts
are continuing for a second day to find the missing pilot, Capt. Warren
Sneed, whose F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft collided midair with another
F-16
Nov. 13.
One person was aboard each aircraft. The pilot of the first aircraft,
Col.
Michael Lepper, 35th Operations Group commander, returned to Misawa Air
Base, Japan, yesterday. He was treated and released from the 35th
Fighter
Wing hospital in good condition.
Both American and Japanese forces are involved in the search to include
people assigned to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy the Japanese Self
Defense
Force.
The two Air Force F-16s crashed over the Sea of Japan, while
participating
in a defensive counter air training mission during the Keen Sword
exercise.
Both aircraft were assigned to the 14th Fighter Squadron, Misawa AB.
A board of officers will investigate the accident. Additional details
will
be provided as soon as they become available.
By Vickie Chachere
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000; 6:53 p.m. EST
SARASOTA, Fla. An Air Force F-16 collided with a small plane
Thursday and
crashed in flames. One person aboard the small plane was killed, while
the
fighter pilot parachuted to safety onto a golf course and walked to
someone's
house to use the phone.
Pieces of the small plane, a Cessna, landed on the golf course. The
wreckage
of the fighter jet started a fire in the woods a few miles away.
No injuries were reported on the ground.
One person aboard the Cessna was killed, said Henry Sheffield, a
district
fire chief. The fighter pilot ejected safely.
Gerald Rivera was working on a construction site nearby. "We asked the
pilot
if he was OK and he said, 'Yeah,'" Rivera told the Sarasota Herald
Tribune.
The Air Force said the jet was from Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta,
Ga.,
but was on a training mission that originated from Florida's MacDill
Air
Force Base, about 20 miles from the crash site.
Sheriff Charles Wells said two F-16s were on the training mission but
only
one was involved in the crash.
Don McIlwain, who lives nearby, said he saw the two military jets and
then
noticed a smaller plane that looked as if it would cross their path.
McIlwain
said he remembered thinking, "I hope it's high enough."
"Just as I said that, he went right through it," McIlwain told the
Tribune.
"The small plane just disintegrated."
In August, there were three U.S. crashes involving an F-16.
© Copyright 2000 The Associated
Sad news reached us by our member LtCol. Terry "Ragin" Bull. Des Moines ANG member, Mike "Redman" O´Grady was killed in a private plane crash. Below are excerpts of Terry Bull´s e-mail:
-----------Terry Bull wrote-----------------
"Not sure how many of you may have known him, but Mike "Redman" O'Grady
was
killed on Friday Nov 3 in a light single-engine airplane crash at the
Des
Moines IA airport. Redman was better known as "Rosie" during his OA-37
&
OV-10 FAC days at Osan AB from 84-87. Since then he was stationed in
the
Viper at Hill, Mt Home, Eilson, and 12 AF Stan Eval before leaving
active
duty for a full-time position with the Des Moines ANG unit. He quickly
moved from Ops Officer to Ops Group Commander (and Air Ops Officer on
the
technician side, for those that speak guardese).
Redman was a FWIC graduate. He unfortunately leaves behind his wife of
13
years Cindy and Julie (6+) and Justin (two-weeks shy of 4).
I've attached some more info regarding a memorial fund they've
established
for Redman's kids.
Cheers;
Ragin'
The funeral was in town Tuesday morning at 1000. It was a very nice
service with a terrific eulogy delivered my Mike's Chief Master Sgt.
Mike
had made a huge impact on their unit in the short 2 1/2 years he was
there,
and he is going to leave very big shoes to fill. His death really hit
the
unit hard. A luncheon followed in the church hall before the
procession
drove about one hour south to bury Mike near the ancestral farm at
Grand
River. Unfortunately we had to get the jet back that afternoon, so
Todd
and I missed the graveside service, but his unit was to make a 4-ship
fly
by. Fortunately the weather cooperated and the ceiling was just high
enough for them to get it done.
Should you not have it, Cindy's address is:
3706 SW 34th Place
Des Moines, IA 85708
515/287-2422
email: ogradyred@aol.com
P.S. Should you not have heard any of the details, it was a nice
afternoon
on Friday, so Mike knocked off work a couple of hours early and decided
to
jump in his airplane for a little bit. (His guard unit was to deploy
to
Tucson for a Snowbird Night Vision Goggle deployment on Tuesday)
According
to the NTSB initial report, upon returning to the pattern at the Des
Moines
Airport, Mike shot an approach to Rwy 23 and directed by tower to
maneuver
to land 31L. As he was maneuvering left, he asked tower if he could
make a
tight base and land 31R instead. Eyewitness saw him tighten up his
right
turn to make the runway and when he was getting close to the runway,
the
angle of right bank increased dramatically and the nose pitched down,
resulting in an impact. A 737 was reported to have landed shortly
before
on 31R. " -----------E-mail END----------------
6. Primary selects:
Capt Beckman, Christopher
Capt Roe, Anthony L
Capt Abramson, Christop
Capt Griffiss, Allen J
Capt McGlade, Patrick E
Capt young, William E
Capt Boulter, Raymond A
Capt Rice, Justin M
Capt Pepper, Daniel A
Capt Chase, John S
Capt Bailey, Charles P
Capt Knight, Eric K
Capt August, Mark R
Capt Zick, Michael P
Capt Minihan, Michael A
Capt McCullough, Brian
Capt Monto, Michael T
Capt Muli, Ralph J
Capt Wilkins, Lance A
Capt Novotny, Robert G
Capt Hurst, Britt K
Capt Luczynski, Steven
Capt Reents, Mark J
Capt Ballek, Michael S
Capt Whitehead, Michael
Capt Bernard, Andrew T
Capt Trychon, Eric J
Capt Toth, Brian E
Capt Henkelman, Michael
Capt Kendall, Joseph P
Capt Plescha, Stephen M (F-16)
Capt Pilch, Lansing R
(Captain Pilch - grandfathered)
Capt Lay, Michael D
(Captain Lay - grandfathered)
Capt Hagan, Thomas M
Capt Gray, Darren P (F-16)
Capt Schnabel, Michael (F-16)
Capt Kuehn, James D
Capt Roberts, Gregory A
Capt Fiorito, Marco P
1st Lt Stilwell, Jan L
Capt Birdwell, Michael
1st Lt Marotta, Nicholas
Capt Atteberry, Kevin T
Capt Frengle, Royce C
Capt Piszkin, John S
1st Lt Luther, Ryan S
Capt Scavitto, Steven D
Capt Hickman, Justin L
Capt Bass, Curtis R
Capt Donahue, Michael D
Capt Diel, Todd L
Capt Reeves, Bob A
Capt Bauer, Kurt P II
Capt Jackson, Michael L
Capt Saltzman, Bradley
Capt Hough, Michael S
Capt Feather, John W
Capt Jones, Carl M
Capt Hokett, Jeffrey A
Capt Zane, Brian F
A: alternates:
Capt Holland, George A
Capt Fager, Chadwick F
Capt Villem, Paul A
Capt Isler, Matthew C
Capt Bartels, Douglas H
Capt Coe, Richard A
Capt Higer, Matthew W
Capt Cluff, James R (F-16)
Capt Bradley, Benjamin
Capt Curry, Mack W II
Capt Smith, Roger K
Capt Ator, William H
Capt Brown, Patrick A
FORT WORTH, Texas (AFPN) -- An Air Force Reserve Command pilot was killed when the single-seat F-16C Fighting Falcon he was flying crashed at about
6 p.m. CDT Aug. 28 near Tulia, Texas.
Maj. Stephen W. Simons, 41, was assigned to the 301st Fighter Wing's 457th Fighter Squadron at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Carswell
Field, Texas. Simons was returning to NAS Fort Worth from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, when the accident occurred.
The aircraft was carrying an inert AIM-9M training missile, but no live munitions or bombs.
A disaster control group from Cannon AFB, N.M., some 90 miles west, went to the scene that night to secure the crash site. A formal board of officers is
investigating the accident. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)
Also read this Associated Press release
August 30, 2000
Web posted at: 8:37 AM EDT (1237 GMT)
TULIA, Texas (AP) -- Pilot Steve Simons always let his family and friends know
when a flight pattern for the Air Force reserves would take him over their tiny
Texas Panhandle town of Tulia.
It didn't happen often, but before he took a solo flight Monday night he called
them to say he'd be guiding his F-16 fighter jet across their piece of sky.
So a few residents of the town halfway between Lubbock and Amarillo,
including Simon's father-in-law, Cletus Dobbs, gathered to watch.
What they saw was horrific: The muscular fighter jet suddenly seemed to lose
power as its pilot tried to turn around for a second pass. Moments later the F-16
plummeted to the ground and burst into flames.
Simons, 41, the father of two girls, died in the crash.
"Me and my wife were out in front of the house and he rode that plane down to
keep from hitting us or the house," Dobbs said. "He gave his life for us."
On Tuesday, most of the debris remained at the crash site, spread out over a
quarter-mile. Disaster crews surrounded the scene as cattle roamed in a nearby
field.
When the jet went down, Dobbs said he couldn't believe what he'd seen. He
rushed to his truck to drive closer, hoping to help his son-in-law. Paramedics
who got to the scene first stopped him nearby.
"I can just imagine how he was sitting in that plane pulling those levers trying to
steer it where he wanted it to go without any power," he said.
Simons flew for Delta Air Lines and spent free time in the Air Force reserves,
after attending the U.S. Air Force Academy. Dobbs said Simons planned to retire
from the Air Force next year, after 20 years of service.
The military said Simons was completing a cross-country solo training mission
Monday by flying from Hill Air Force Base in Utah back to Naval Air Station Fort
Worth.
The F-16C Fighting Falcon is a single-seat, single engine $20 million airplane
used in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. Between January 1999 and
March 2000, 16 have crashed in major accidents.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- A pilot assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB safely ejected from his F-16 aircraft on the Cold
Lake Air Weapons Range at Cold Lake Canada Wednesday.
The pilot is assigned to the 421st Fighter Squadron and was in Canada with his unit to participate in Exercise Maple Flag. He sustained only minor injuries.
The U.S. Air Force is working in conjunction with the Canadian Forces to ensure the safety of everyone involved and to secure the crash site.
A flight safety board of investigations is being convened to determine the cause of the crash. (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service)
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFPN) -- A Luke F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned here crashed June 16 during a combat training mission.
The pilot, 1st Lt. Doyle Pompa, ejected from the aircraft safely and was transported by helicopter to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. for medical
evaluation and treatment. Pompa, who was not injured, is a student pilot assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron.
Pompa was conducting an air-to-air combat training mission near the town of Sells, in the military operations area east of the Barry M. Goldwater Range.
The crash occurred 14 miles southwest of Sells.
A board of Air Force officers will investigate the incident.
To all those that knew Maj. Brison "Moose" Phillips and his family, a memorial trust fund for his 5-weeks old child, Nolan has been established. Checks can be made out to the Phillips Family Account. Help would be greatly appreciated!
SAFE Federal Credit Union
PO Box 2008
Sumter, SC 29151-2008
803-469-8600
Maj. Brison Phillips, a member of the F-16 East Coast Demonstration Team, also known as the Ninth Air Force Demonstration Team, crashed while performing
during an Air Show 2000 at the naval station.
Phillips was an instructor pilot and mission commander with more than 2,600 flying hours, including more than 2,300 in the F-16. A 13-year Air Force veteran,
Phillips received his commission as a distinguished graduate of Texas A&M University Reserve Officers Training Corps Program.
A board of Air Force officers has been appointed to investigate the accident. (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service)
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFPN) -- Air Force Reserve Command instructor pilots are moving into another weapons system -- the F-16 Fighting
Falcon.
The 301st Fighter Squadron was re-activated March 3rd as part of AFRC's 944th Fighter Wing, a Reserve associate unit to Luke's 56th FW -- an Air Education
and Training Command unit.
Reserve instructor pilots from the 301st FS will fly 56th FW F-16s to train active-duty student pilots for their multi-role mission. The Reserve instructor-pilot
associate program is a joint AFRC and AETC initiative, designed to help with the Air Force's current active-duty pilot retention problem.
Luke is not the only base supporting AETC with Reserve instructor pilots to ease the current pilot shortage. The 340th Flying Training Group at Randolph AFB,
Texas, and its five flying training squadrons provide associate instructor pilots on T-1, T-37, AT-38 and T-38 aircraft. At Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., the 94th
Airlift Wing is gearing up to train C-130 aircrews. The wing converted from a tactical airlift mission to a training mission in October.
"Establishing an IP associate program (at Luke) will expand America's total fighter pilot force, capture invested training dollars and help alleviate our active-duty
pilot shortage," said Gen. Lloyd W. Newton, AETC commander. "Additionally, if we are going to fly and fight together, it's logical that we train together."
Luke's IP associate program will be phased in over a two and a half-year period, according to Lt. Col. Pat Shay, 301st FS commander, who is a traditional
reservist and airline pilot.
"We'll be putting approximately 74 pilots into the 56th Fighter Wing -- about 14 into each of Luke's five participating FTU fighter squadrons and four into 301st
Fighter Squadron senior supervisory roles," he said. "The plan is to have full implementation of the Luke AFRC associate unit by July 2002.
"The partnership with the Reserve and active duty is a good way to strike a balance that allows the Air Force to take advantage of the AFRC resident F-16
experience, while trying to bridge the current pilot gap," Shay said.
Col. Craig Ferguson, 944th FW commander, agrees. "The Reserve associate program is a logical extension of the expeditionary aerospace force concept. It gives
the total force the option of capturing experienced fighter pilots who leave active duty but who still want to be a part of the Air Force Reserve. It also allows more
active-duty fighter pilots to fill positions at operational assignments around the world."
Maj. Scott Davis, the first Reserve instructor pilot hired for this program, is attached to the active-duty wing's 63rd FS. "I've been an F-16 instructor pilot for more
than six years," Davis said. "This is a great opportunity for the Reserve and active duty to work side-by-side as part of the total force. We are capturing extremely
experienced instructors, pilots with a wide background and many with recent combat time, and keeping that experience in the F-16 community, where it otherwise
would have been lost once they separated from active duty."
The Reserve will have administrative control of its pilots through the 301st FS commander and the 10th Air Force commander, while operational control will reside
with the 56th FW. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service from a 944th FW news release)
FORT WORTH, Texas (AFPN) -- Air Force Reserve Command F-16 fighter aircraft have always had the capability to be armed and dangerous. Now, they
are even more lethal, with the addition of the Litening II Precision Attack Targeting System.
The 301st Fighter Wing from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base here accepted delivery of the first four Litening II targeting pods in late February.
The pods provide F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft with the most technologically advanced, precision-strike capability. Pilots are able to identify targets at long-range
and drop extremely accurate, laser-guided weapons in a variety of environments.
This technology allows pilots to operate at much higher altitudes, further reducing their exposure to ground threats. Using a forward-looking infrared -- FLIR --
camera, this high-resolution, thermal-imaging system gives Litening II the ability to detect and identify targets night or day. Another camera, the charge couple
device television, enhances the search for targets during daylight operations.
Air Force Reserve Command officials say AFRC is the first Air Force command to own such state of the art technology. The Air National Guard is also purchasing
the pods, which were developed in a collaborative effort with Northrop Grumman Corp. and Rafael. Industry experts recognize the Litening II pods as extremely
reliable with a very low life-cycle cost.
"Last year, Air Force Reserve Command F-16 pilots, participating in Operation Northern Watch with targeting pods (LANTIRN system) borrowed from Air
Combat Command, became the first members of a reserve component to employ precision-guided munitions during contingency operations," said Maj. Gen. John
A. Bradley, who oversees Reserve F-16 units. The commander of 10th Air Force said the need for AFRC to have its own equipment to train with and use in
combat became more significant as operations tempo continued to increase and regional commanders-in-chief required a greater use of precision-guided munitions.
This year, Reserve F-16s will use their own equipment, Litening II pods, during another deployment in support of Operation Northern Watch.
"The entire complement of Litening II pods will be delivered to all four of our F-16 units by this fall," said Lt. Col. Frank Anderson, 10th Air Force project officer.
"We now have and own the finest equipment available for precision-guided munitions delivery," Bradley said. "This greatly improves our combat capability and
survivability for our aviators, which they so deserve. This is a great day for the Air Force and our nation." (Courtesy of AFRC News Service from a 10th Air Force
news release)
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- Air Force Reserve Command F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and Luke
AFB, Ariz., sharpened their air-to-air combat skills against interservice rivals recently.
Five F-16s and 140 reservists from the 419th Fighter Wing left their nest in Utah, commonly known as the Beehive State, looking to put a sting on Marine
Corps F/A-18 Hornets at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, San Diego, Jan. 22 to Feb. 12. Another five jets and 44 reservists from Luke's 944th FW
arrived at Miramar Jan. 31, for two weeks of the same dissimilar air combat training.
The DACT deployments to Miramar provide Reserve pilots an opportunity to further refine their air-to-air combat skills against Marines aviators and their
F/A-18s. More importantly, it gave a preview of the joint force structure under which they will support future aerospace expeditionary force deployments.
"The objective, as outlined under AEF, is to deploy a rapid and responsive capability that can meet very specific needs of theater commanders -- a tailored
force, if you will," said Capt. Tom Klingensmith, a pilot and project officer for the 419th FW deployment. "In essence, this deployment provided us with a
chance to evaluate our 'go to war package' while also enhancing our overall readiness. It was great training and a true learning experience for the pilots -- a
must to keep our skills and minds sharp with AEF on the horizon, and the continued emphasis on managing operations tempo."
The deployment also gave the reservists added insight on the challenges of joint combat operations. The pilots from Hill flew 100 sorties during their
three-week deployment, and Luke crews flew 72 sorties during their two-week stay at Miramar. The VFMA-134th (Smokes) served as hosts, although the
VFMA-323rd (Death Rattlers) and VFMA-242nd (Bats) also served as opposing forces to the Reserve pilots. A VFMA is a Marine Corps fixed-wing
fighter attack squadron.
Overall, the training demonstrated once again how subtle the differences are among aviators in the fighter business, according to one 419th FW pilot.
"As far as aggressiveness and skill, there isn't that much of a difference when flying against pilots in dissimilar fighter aircraft," said Capt. Chris Morgan, 419th
FW pilot. "The challenge is assessing their skill levels and what they can do against the aircraft we're flying. Trying to anticipate each other's next move and
using what each service knows about the other is imperative to success. Whether we're the aggressor or the defender, the bottom line is that you have to use
that knowledge to ensure that you're always one step ahead of your opponent."
These pilots and others like them, who were looking to gain a competitive edge from the aircraft, were probably hard-pressed in finding one.
"There isn't a lot of difference between the F-16 and F/A-18, as far as performance," said Marine Corps Maj. Mark Dahl of the VMFA-134th. "The F-16
has better thrust per weight ratio, and the F/A-18 is less limited in angles of attack."
While their aircraft may have touted similar capabilities, the warfighting doctrine of the two services offered a sharp contrast in philosophy.
"The missions between the Air Force and Marines are different," said Marine Corps Maj. Vince Wawrzynski, VMFA-134th pilot. "The Air Force usually
fights for air supremacy in a broader area. The Marines mission for a fixed-wing squadron is air supremacy for a centralized location, usually over ground
troops who are sometimes guys we know personally. We give close air support for friendly forces, so they may attack and procure specific locations on the
ground."
Wawrzynski added that the unique missions each unit trains for only increases the training value from joint exercises like the one at Miramar.
"Because our primary mission is close-air and ground support, the majority of our training focuses on air-to-ground tactics. Fighting the guys from Air Force
Reserve Command is invaluable for us, as it advances our skills in air-to-air training and in dissimilar air combat tactics," he said.
Another challenge the Reserve pilots faced was adapting to the type of training range at Miramar. Marine pilots use an over-water range located near
Mexico -- approximately 60 miles southwest of Miramar and over the Pacific Ocean. The range is smaller in overall size than the ranges where the pilots
from Hill and Luke routinely train.
"There are no ground references when flying over water; you have to rely on internal navigation systems to pinpoint your location," said Maj. Ed Goggins,
419th FW pilot. "When flying over land such as the Utah Test and Training Range you have terrain landmarks, so you know your exact location.
In the UTTR, those terrain features are often mountains, which allow pilots to 'hide out' until the right time to attack. These terrain features are equally
beneficial in the area of radar deception."
In the words of one 419th FW pilot, the difference in terrain all boils down to a matter of trust. "Sometimes when the sky is clear and the water is calm, you
can't tell the sky from the water," said Klingensmith. "You have to force yourself to trust your altimeter and instruments to know the direction your heading."
The Miramar deployment provided opportunity and experience for non-flyers, too, from administrative specialists to crew chiefs and everyone in-between.
First sergeants made billeting reservations and ensured everyone had a room, transportation and rental cars for the duration of the deployment. Life support
technicians were responsible for the pilot's flying gear, and making sure anti-exposure suits were dry and ready for the pilots to wear for the next day's
mission. Resource managers tracked flying hours and kept pilots informed of weather conditions and alternate airports at which to land in the event of an
emergency.
Maintainers kept pace with the daily flying schedule and helped out in other areas whenever possible. For example, Tech. Sgt. Mel Ahrens, integrated
avionics technician with the 419th FW, contributed by repairing flight controls, radar and communication systems, and internal navigation systems.
"Whether it's Miramar or Turkey, if I'm not repairing a jet, then I'm out helping to (launch the aircraft). In case something does go wrong, I'm there to try and
fix the problem before the pilot has to abort the mission."
The overall success of the deployments was not based on the number of strikes against enemy aircraft. The true success was found in the units' ability to
mobilize aircraft and people from varying backgrounds and specialties to perform their combat mission, something they will get more practice with when they
deploy to support AEF missions. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service from a 419th FW news release)
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- An F-16D Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 347th Wing's 69th Fighter Squadron here, crashed Feb. 16 at
approximately 11:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The accident occurred approximately five miles north of Donalsonville, Ga.
Both pilots, Maj. Charles B. Kearney and 1st Lt. Christopher Hutchins, ejected safely and have returned to Moody AFB clinic for medical evaluation.
At the time of the accident, the F-16D pilots were performing night vision goggle upgrade training.
A board of officers will meet to investigate the accident. Additional details will be provided as soon as they become available. (Courtesy of Air Combat
Command News Service)
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AFPN) -- An F-16C Fighting Falcon assigned to the 63rd Fighter Squadron here crashed on the Barry M. Goldwater
Range at approximately 12:10 p.m., Feb. 16. The pilot, Maj. Anthony Barrell, safely ejected and was transported to the hospital here, where he was
evaluated for medical treatment and released.
At the time of the crash, the aircraft was flying on an air-to-air training mission over the Goldwater Range. Barrell was fourth in a formation of four F-16s.
During maneuvers, prior to the start of the aerial engagement, the pilot stated he had a problem and turned toward Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field to
recover. En route to Gila Bend, he safely ejected.
The aircraft crashed in a remote section of the desert, southwest of Gila Bend, Ariz. The aircraft was configured for an air-to-air training missio
Pilots pressured to take amphetamines, lawyer says
Air Force pilot soars to F-16 milestone
11/22/02 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- A piece of history was carved out Nov. 22 when four F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 419th Fighter Wing here took off on a combat training mission. While four F-16s on a routine training mission is not necessarily historic, one of the pilots, Lt. Col. Michael Brill, earned his place in the record books during the sortie. Brill became the first pilot in the world to log 5,000 flying hours in the F-16 aircraft.
F-16 pilot dies in crash
EMERGENCY LINK by 419FW Fellow Pilots on Dillon McFarland Click here!
Pilots' Afghan Bombing Hearing Set
Pilot Killed In F-16 Crash Is Identified
Buckley GUARD (120FS) UNIT HIRING UNTIL LATE 2002
2 Pilots At Center Of Storm
Supporters rally to defend two Illinois Air National Guard fliers who face stiff prison terms in the friendly fire deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan
Air Force To Accept Greater Risk As F-16 Fleet Shrinks In Coming Years
Ready Or Not
Noble Eagle missions are taxing F-16 pilots so much that 1 in 4 of them may not meet combat qualifications - and they’re not alone
Four European Nations Buying F-16A
Upgrade Kits
Program retrofits F-16s; creates
identical cockpit
Thunderbirds announce 2002 Air Show Schedule
New Publications concerning Aerospace Power by the Air University, and a Study on ESDP and Missile Defense by the F16VPA Vice Chairman, Martin Agüera
Vermont Guard F-16s to get upgrade
Military Looks to Cut Patrols in US
Air Force Targeting Technology on Display
Pilot Ejects From F-16 Over N.J.
F-16 Contract Waits For President's OK
F-16 pilot, General gets ACC Vice Commander Post
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (ACCNS) -- Lt. Gen. Bruce A. Wright replaced Lt. Gen. Donald G. Cook as vice commander of Air Combat Command Dec. 8.
LtGen. Bruce A. "Orville" Wright, his wife Kerri, and another F-16 pilot and General, Gen. Ed Eberhart during the promotion of Lt.Gen. Bruce Wright.Source and Photo: ACC News Service
First F-22 Wing Pilots Selected
, Dec 11, 2001Source: AFPC, Randolph AFB, Texas.
Shaw F16 pilot killed in crash, June 2001
Kunsan F16 pilot killed in crash
F-16 midair-crash investigation results released, Dec. 26, 2000
U.S.-Japan give up search for missing pilot
F-16VPA Member Capt. Warren Sneed Missing After Midair Over Japan Sea, Declared Dead
Military Jet Collides With Plane
F-16 Pilot Mike "Redman" O´Grady Killed in Private Plane Crash
New Weapons School Selectees, as of 16 Aug 2000
F-16 Pilot Killed in Crash, Released: 29 August 2000
Relatives watched as F-16 pilot crashed in
Texas
Hill F16 crashes in Canada, Released: 22 Jun 2000
Luke F16 crashes, Released: 16 Jun 2000
Memorial Trust Fund for Maj. Phillips Family
F16VPA member Maj. Brison "Moose" Phillips dies in F16 crash in Texas, 19 March 2000
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFPN) -- A pilot assigned to the 78th Fighter Squadron here was killed when his F-16 fighter aircraft crashed March 19, in
an area north of Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas. New Reserve unit to train F-16 pilots at Luke, released 6 March 2000
by Maj. Linda McCourt
944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Technology makes Air Force Reserve F-16s deadlier, Released: 1 Mar 2000
F-16 pilots stir up 'Hornets' nest in California
Moody F16 crashes, 17 Feb 2000
Luke F16 crashes