Combat Aircraft Monthly 2015-05.pdf

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CHINESE
FIGHTER PROGRAMS
Volume
16
• Number
5
NORTH AMERICA’S BEST SELLING MILITARY AVIATION MAGAZINE
1
COMMAND
PART
AIR MOBILITY
FORCE
REPORT
THE
SUNDOWNERS
Navy Adversaries in Florida
Combat Report
co
m
ba
ta
irc
ra
ft.
ne
t
MAY
UK £4.40
IN THE
NEWS:
USAF outlines possible
close air support plan
NEW CHINESE
AWACS IN SERVICE
USS
Carl Vinson
in the Gulf
UNDER PRESSURE
A-10 COULD BE RETIRED
DESPITE IRAQ MISSION
MONTANA VIGILANTES
Air National Guard Hercules action
ISRAEL’S M-346 LAVI IN service • US NAVY FIREFIGHTERS • croatian M
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www.jetstreamaviationmodelsandtoys.com
May 2015
• Vol 16 • No 5
Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye
08
Northropon its maiden cruise
embarks
28
GUNNING FOR THE A 10
The US Air Force leadership says it no longer
needs the A-10 Thunderbolt II. It wants to strip
A-10 funding to help it fully support the newer
F-35 Lightning II. But have they all got it all
wrong, asks Ken Neubeck?
Undisputed experts in the arena of US Navy air-to-air
training, José M. Ramos straps in with the ‘Sundowners’
of Fighter Composite Squadron One Eleven (VFC-111)
THE ‘SUNDOWNERS’
42
34
SAVE THE A 10…
WHY BOTHER?
Jon Lake questions whether sentiment, misty-
eyed nostalgia and innate conservatism have
generated the storm of outrage at the US Air
Force’s plan to withdraw the A-10C Thunderbolt
II from service early
40
INDUSTRY REPORT: NEW
LIFE FOR CROATIA’S MIGS
Despite the receipt of additional ex-Algerian
aircraft and an avionics upgrade in Ukraine,
the Croatian Air Force has struggled to extend
the life of its venerable Soviet-era MiG-21s as
Antonio Prlenda reports
Although certain elements of its ghter force
remain dated in comparison to other modern
air arms, China has introduced an impressive
number of new types, with the next generation
already under test. Andreas Rupprecht reviews
the Chinese ghter force
With the arrival of the rst pair of Alenia
Aermacchi M-346 Master jet trainers (named Lavi
in Israeli service) the nal phase in the renewal of
the Israeli Air Force’s training eet began.
Ofer Zidon reports
AIR MOBILITY COMMAND: PART 1
VIGILANTE
TRANSFORMERS
62
Tom Kaminski reviews the status of Air
Mobility Command’s mighty C-5 Galaxy and its
latest upgrade program
52
DRAGON FIGHTERS
THE STELLAR PERFORMER
70
78
THE LAVI ARRIVES
Jamie Hunter meets
the ‘Vigilantes’ of
the Montana ANG,
and looks at their new
mission, with exclusive
images by Jim Haseltine
86
INDUSTRY REPORT: THE
DELTA MONGOOSE
82
In its latest guise the A129 Mangusta is a
formidable performer. Massimo Baldassini and
Daniele Mattiuzzo detail the type’s upgrades that
provide continued relevance on the battle eld
90
COMBAT REPORT:
STARSHIP VINSON
IN THE NEWS
06 Headline News
08 US News
A-10 on the chopping block as USAF looks
at lower cost options
E-2D makes maiden cruise, Air National
Guard seeks F-16 radar upgrade and new
F-35 basing plans outlined
New Chinese AWACS breaks cover, Libya
receives additional MiG-21s and rare
‘Frogfoot’ photographed
Typhoon tests aerodynamic enhancements,
rst Italian F-35 rolled out and upgraded
NATO AWACS ies
Barry D. Smith discovers
how the US Navy is now on
call and able to assist local
authorities when wild res
get out of hand
NAVY
FIREFIGHTERS
A photo report from Mathias Leischner and
Ralf Peter Walter aboard USS
Carl Vinson
in
the waters of the Persian Gulf as the carrier’s
embarked Carrier Air Wing 17 takes the ght
to Islamic State
Combat Aircraft’s
monthly column reporting
from the front line of aerospace technology,
by David Axe
96
CUTTING EDGE
PLUS
Special Report on latest developments for UK
helicopters, Robert F. Dorr’s Front Line column
and all the latest military Losses
16 World News
SAVE
Subscribe to
Combat
Aircraft Monthly
and
make great savings on
cover price.
See pages
38
and
39
for details.
3
SUBSCRIBE AND
22 Europe News
A day with The Fighter Collection plus
Flying Legends air show tickets.
See page 27
WIN!
A VFC-111 ‘Sundowners’ F-5N streaks over
the Florida clouds near NAS Key West.
José M. Ramos
ON THE COVER:
www.combataircraft.net
May 2015
COMBAT
EDGE
Could USAF buy a light strike platform?
UST A FEW months ago most
experts would have said that it was
inconceivable that the US Air Force
would spend a single dollar on a
new light attack platform. Surely that
would risk draining money from its
key F-35, KC-46 tanker, Long Range Strike
— Bomber and T-X trainer programs? Yet in
March two senior air force officers hinted
that this might just be on the cards.
It may be the only way that they can push
through the controversial proposal to chop
the A-10C Thunderbolt II fleet.
Opponents of the ‘Warthog’ retirement
plan claim that no other type in the
inventory possesses the A-10’s prowess over
the battlefield, supporting troops on the
ground. Plus, they say that the F-35A — the
USAF’s stated A-10 replacement — is too
sophisticated a platform to be down low
in the weeds swooping over the heads of
soldiers and too big a hammer to crack small
nuts when needed.
So when Gen Mark Welsh told Congress
that the USAF needs to ‘look at how we
transition to a future capability for
low and high threat battlefields’,
and when Gen ‘Hawk’ Carlisle
told reporters at the Pentagon
J
that ‘there may be an inflection point where
we need more capacity at a lower cost’, were
they hinting at the possible purchase of
something like an Beechcraft AT-6, Textron
AirLand Scorpion or Embraer A-29 Super
Tucano for the USAF?
The only way this would make any
financial sense would be to replace the entire
A-10C fleet with a small, expertly-trained,
fleet of these newer battlefield support
aircraft, able to ply their trade in low-end
threat conflicts where an expensive F-35
was not deemed essential. The USAF is
already operating A-29s with the 81st Fighter
Squadron at Moody AFB to train pilots from
Afghanistan.
Although budgets are tight, and more cuts
are looming, the USAF may be forced into
spending money in order to save money.
Jamie Hunter,
Editor
E-mail: jamie.hunter@keypublishing.com
CONTRIBUTOR
PROFILE
JOSÉ M. RAMOS
J
osé M. Ramos is an
award-winning
aviation
photographer based in
central Florida. He has
been documenting US
naval aviation since
the age of 18 and, as a
qualified select
passenger, he has
flown in almost every
tactical aircraft in the Navy inventory from
1997. He attributes his passion for
photography and aviation to his father,
who gave him his first camera and raised
him on stories of flying with the Cuban
Army Air Corps as an observer. José is also
a contract representative for Nikon
Professional Services and has spoken on
aviation photography subjects for Nikon
USA at a variety of venues.
Could the US Air Force
be moving towards the
procurement of a low-end
close air support platform
such as these depicted
here: the Beechcraft AT-6
and Textron AirLand
Scorpion, or the Embraer
A-29 Super Tucano?
Beechcraft/Jim Haseltine
and Neil Dunridge
4
May 2015
www.combataircraft.net
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT
CONUNDRUM...
www.combataircraft.net
May 2015
5

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