News from the Air Force

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Racking up the Flight Hours:

The F-35 strike fighter program surpassed 5,000 flight hours in late November, announced the F-35 program office. All three variants of the stealth fighter—the Air Force's F-35A, Marine Corps' F-35B, and Navy's F-35C—contributed to those flight hours, according to the office's Nov. 30 release. That includes F-35s, both developmental test aircraft and production airframes, flying from Lockheed Martin's production facility in Fort Worth, Tex., as well as at Edwards AFB, Calif., Eglin AFB, Fla., and NAS Patuxent River, Md. The first flight of an F-35 occurred in December 2006. Since then, F-35s have flown more than 3,464 times, according to the program office.

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Boneyard Surgery:

The Air Force is slowly reducing the number of out-of-service B-52G bombers that still count as nuclear delivery platforms under the rules of the New START agreement with Russia by cutting up these airframes. There were 30 B-52Gs in the Air Force's aircraft boneyard in the Arizona desert still considered as "deployed heavy bombers" under New START's counting rules, according to the State Department's fact sheet, issued on Nov. 30, but reflecting the size of the US strategic nuclear arsenal on Sept. 1. That total was down by six airframes compared to the data in the previous fact sheet from June 1 detailing the arsenal's composition on March 1. The Air Force is separating the tail from each B-52G fuselage in a way that eliminates them from the nuclear-capable inventory for the purposes of the treaty. The service still had more than 140 B-2A, B-52G (all retired), and B-52H nuclear-capable bombers, according to the most recent fact sheet. The Air Force intends to draw down to a total of no more than 60 deployable B-2As and B-52Hs as part of the United States' overall reductions to meet New START's ceilings on strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems by February 2018. Plans are in place to convert some B-52Hs to platforms capable of carrying only conventional munitions to meet that number

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Air Force Seeks Airdrop Kit for Afghan Cessnas:

The Air Force is looking to modify Afghan air force Cessna C-208 light airlifters with specialized equipment for cargo airdrop, according to a solicitation to industry. Under the Afghanistan C-208 Airdrop Program, contractors would initially ferry two Afghan C-208s from Shindand AB, Afghanistan, for testing of the airdrop modifications in the United States, according to Air Force Material Command's request for information, posted on Dec. 3 at the Federal Business Opportunities website. Modifications would include fitting the aircraft with midair-operable cargo doors, pallet floor rollers, parachute static lines, slipstream fairings, airdrop signal lights, and a cockpit operator's panel, states the RFI. Upon successful completion of flight testing at Eglin AFB, Fla., and Peterson AFB, Colo., the contractor would retrofit the AAF's Caravan fleet with the airdrop kits. Service officials would like industry feedback by Dec. 17.

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Reaper Crashes in Nevada Desert:

An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB, Nev., crashed on Wednesday on the Nevada Test and Training Range during a combat training mission, announced Nellis officials. The mishap occurred at approximately 7:14 p.m. Nevada time in a remote location west of Hiko, according to Nellis' Dec. 6 release. No one was injured in the incident. The officials said they would release additional details as they became available. A board of officers will investigate the accident to determine the cause. The training mission was part of the Air Force Weapons School's mission employment phase, according to the release. That's the school's capstone graduation exercise.

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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Again:

The House Democratic Caucus on Wednesday selected Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.) to continue to serve as ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee in the 113th Congress that begins in January. "Is has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and represent the Democratic Caucus on matters relating to national security," said Smith, who has led committee Democrats during the 112th Congress since 2011, in a Dec. 5 release. He added, "I am pleased that my colleagues selected me to serve another term, and as our country continues to face great challenges, I am committed to standing up and fighting for the national security goals and principles of our caucus." Smith said HASC Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) "has been a great partner to work with on the committee," and thanked him for his leadership and commitment to maintaining the committee's "bipartisan tradition." The House Republican Conference last month decided that McKeon would retain the committee's leadership reins in the next Congress

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Korean War Double Ace Ralph S. Parr Dies:

Retired Col. Ralph S. Parr, one of the top aces of the Korean War and the only American aviator to receive both the Distinguished Service Cross and Air Force Cross, died on Dec. 7 in New Braunfels, Tex., northeast of San Antonio, at age 88, reported the San Antonio Express-News. He died in an assisted living facility; he had undergone recent cancer treatment, according to the newspaper. Born in Portsmouth, Va., on July 1, 1924, Parr was commissioned in the Army Air Forces in February 1944 and flew the P-38 in the Pacific theater during the last year of World War II, states his Air Force biography. He flew the F-80 and F-86 during the Korean War, scoring 10 confirmed kills and receiving the DSC for a mission on June 30, 1953, during which he escorted his commander to safety after an intensive dogfight with enemy MiGs. He received the Air Force Cross during the Vietnam War for a mission on March 16, 1968, during the Battle of Khe Sanh for his extraordinary valor in his F-4C in blunting a North Vietnamese ground assault on besieged US forces. In all, Parr flew 641 combat missions in three wars and received more than 60 citations. In October, Parr's longtime friend retired Maj. Gen. Frederick "Boots" Blesse, another top Korean War ace, died.

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Alaska Raptors Return from Guam:

An expeditionary squadron of F-22s began returning to JB Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, last week after nearly three months of operating out of Andersen AFB, Guam, as part of a rotational theater security package in the Pacific. The F-22 deployment "was a typical movement testing the squadron's capability to rapidly respond and deploy to any environment with minimal notice and full combat capability," Elmendorf spokeswoman Capt. Ashley Connor told the Daily Report. While in the Pacific, the Elmendorf F-22 pilots—from the Active Duty 90th Fighter Squadron and Air Force Reserve Command's 302nd FS—flew just shy of 500 sorties totaling some 800 flight hours, said Conner. The Elmendorf F-22s took advantage of the rotation to exercise with the USS George Washington carrier strike group during Valiant Shield, a joint air and sea exercise. More than 250 personnel and 12 jets deployed from Elmendorf in September. As these airmen and their F-22s began arriving back home, members of Elmendorf's 525th FS left with their F-22s for weapons training at Tyndall AFB, Fla., noted Connor.

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Peterson Remembered:

Thursday marks the 70 anniversary of the establishment of Peterson Army Air Force Base, a precursor of modern-day Peterson AFB, Colo. It was on Dec. 13, 1942, when officials gathered at Colorado Springs Army Air Base to rename it in honor of 25-year-old Army Air Corps 1st Lt. Edward Peterson, who was killed there in a flying accident in an F-4 Photo-Lightning—a recce version of the P-38 Lightning—on Aug. 8, 1942. He was the first Coloradan to die in a flying accident there, according to the air base's official fact sheet. "Courage, determination, and devotion to duty characterized Lieutenant Peterson. He was an officer of fine character and high ideals who commanded the affectionate respect of all his associates," wrote Army Air Forces chief Gen. Hap Arnold to Peterson's wife Ruth, according to a Dec. 10 base release. The Peterson Air and Space Museum has an exhibit dedicated to this airman's memory.

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Huddling Closer in the Arctic:

US Northern Command boss Army. Gen. Charles Jacoby signed two agreements with his Canadian counterpart, Army Lt. Gen. Stuart Beare, strengthening Arctic security and bilateral training arrangements, announced the Pentagon. Beare heads the Canadian Joint Operations Command, Canada's counterpart to NORTHCOM within NORAD. "With an opening Arctic, we see more vessel traffic, and obviously see a greater need for a deeper understanding of the domain there," said Royal Canadian Air Force Brig. Gen. A.D. Meinzinger, NORAD's strategy director, during the Dec. 11 meeting of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense in Colorado Springs, Colo., during which the agreements were signed. Under the Tri Command Framework for Arctic Cooperation, the US and Canadian militaries agreed to boost joint research, intelligence sharing, and combined operations, according to the Pentagon's release. The second document, the Tri Command Training and Exercise Statement, "postures us so we can both work together for the safety, security, and defense of both our nations' populations," stressed Royal Canadian Navy Cmdr. Darren Rich of CJOC.

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AirSea Battle in Practice:

The 563rd Rescue Group at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., recently deployed some 153 personnel and five HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters to NAS North Island, Calif., to participate, along with rescue airmen from other units, in the Navy's Third Fleet Joint Task Force Exercise. Conducted in November, the pre-deployment exercise for the USS Nimitz carrier strike group served as a blending of Air Force and Navy rescue capabilities to further the AirSea Battle concept, according to Davis-Monthan's Dec. 13 release. "The exercise provided an opportunity to work with the Navy to pioneer how to most effectively execute personnel recovery operations under the umbrella of ASB," said Col. Jason Hanover, 563rd RQG commander. The Davis-Monthan airmen got to experience strike-group integration, ASB operations, and maritime rescue tactics, techniques, and procedures, said Capt. Scott Rein, the group's chief of weapons and tactics. Among their activities, airmen recovered personnel during a simulated attack on the carrier group, conducted a maritime gunnery drill to validate new tactics for opposed, overwater survivor recovery, and practiced with one of the Air Force's new HC-130J personnel recovery airplanes, states the release.

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Detachment Dry Run:

F-16s from the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke AFB, Ariz., deployed for a week to Holloman AFB, N.M., to test Holloman's ability to support the F-16 formal training unit that is relocating there from Luke. "The F-16s will eventually be based here, training both pilots and maintainers," explained Col. Rodney Petitehomme, commander of the 56th FW's Operation Location-Alpha detachment. "This training gives us the opportunity to find problems now and gives us time to fix them before they arrive permanently," he added in Holloman's Dec. 13 release. Luke's 309th Fighter Squadron sent 18 F-16s and 190 personnel to Holloman for this evaluation. The F-16s were scheduled to fly an average of 24 sorties each day—both instructor upgrade and weapons qualification flights—during their one-week stay, which began on Dec. 7, according to the release. The Air Force is shifting two F-16 training squadrons from Luke to offset Holloman's forthcoming loss of the F-22 flying mission.

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Eglin Cleared to Start F-35 Training:

The 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., is ready to conduct F-35A pilot training beginning in January, announced Air Education and Training Command on Monday. Some 36 Air Force pilots are expected to go through the training program next year, according to Eglin's Dec. 17 release. AETC Commander Gen. Edward Rice made the decision following his review of the results of an independent operational utility evaluation that gauged the wing's ability to execute the training mission. "The OUE showed the men and women at Eglin are ready" and "can conduct safe and effective flying operations in addition to academic training," said Rice. He added, "I'm very proud of both those in uniform and the contracted support who put in years of hard work." The OUE included classroom and simulator training, along with six flights, for four primary and two backup student pilots transitioning from the A-10 and F-16, according to the release. The student pilots' performances "were superb," said Lt. Col. Lee Kloos, commander of Eglin's 58th Fighter Squadron. At full capacity, Eglin's training operations are expected to support 100 student pilots a year, along with 2,100 maintenance students, states the release.

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Air Frame:

A forklift off-loads supply pallets from the back of a C-130 Hercules at Cape Newenham in northern Alaska, Dec. 4, 2012. Cape Newenham is a remote radar site that is part of the North Warning System, a string of aircraft-detection sensors stretching from northern Alaska across upper Canada to the Canadian Atlantic coast. Sites like Cape Newham are dependent upon air-delivered resupply.

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Airmen Conclude This Year's Christmas Airdrops:

C-130 crews from Yokota AB, Japan, operating from Andersen AFB, Guam, delivered more than 39,000 pounds of humanitarian supplies—and holiday cheer—to Pacific islanders during this year's Operation Christmas Drop, the Pentagon's longest running humanitarian effort. Between Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, the Yokota airmen dropped bundles of goods, including toys, clothing, fishing equipment, sporting goods, food items, and tools, to the inhabitants of 54 islands, among them: Chuuk, Palau, Yap, the Marshall Islands, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to Andersen's Dec. 19 release. OCD began in December 1952 and has been an annual undertaking ever since, bringing together airmen and civilian volunteers for the benefit of the islanders. "When we all signed up to join the military, it was about service, not only service to our country, but service to the world," said Col. David Gould, Yokota's 374th Operations Group commander. "There are few operations on this planet that demonstrates as much commitment to service as Operation Christmas Drop," he added.

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C-5A Retirements OK, but with Caveats:

The Air Force may go ahead and retire its remaining C-5A transports—leaving the service with a planned fleet of 275 strategic airlifters—but only after the Pentagon completes its ongoing mobility capabilities assessment, decided Congressional overseers of defense policy. Further, the Air Force must preserve these C-5As "in flyable condition" once out of service and not use them to supply parts to other aircraft as long as the total number of strategic airlifters in the operational fleet is less than 301 tails, according to the language in the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization conference report. Only the Defense Secretary may authorize the Air Force to cannibalize these C-5As for parts, states the report, which House and Senate defense authorizers released on Dec. 18. The lawmakers also want the Defense Secretary to maintain a strategic airlift fleet of "not less than 275 aircraft," states the report. The Air Force leadership proposed retiring the service's 27 remaining C-27As in the service's Fiscal 2013 budget proposal. That would leave 223 C-17s and 52 newly upgraded C-5Ms for strategic airlift, which the leadership maintains is sufficient to satisfy the demand. The full House and full Senate still need to approve the conference version of the defense authorization bill before it goes to President Obama for his signature.

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Proposed Global Hawk Block 30 Cuts Nixed:

The conference report for the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill tosses one of the Air Force's more prominent proposed cuts to its force structure: the retirement of the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 fleet. The Senate version of the bill acceded to the Air Force's request to phase out these remotely piloted aircraft, but the Senate's position did not win out in the conference negotiations with the House. Citing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance requirements from combatant commanders, the conference report states that the Air Force Secretary could obligate no funds in Fiscal 2013 "to retire, prepare to retire, or place in storage" any Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft. Instead, the Secretary "shall maintain the operational capability" of each Block 30 airplane out to Dec. 31, 2014, states the report. This includes the airframes already in the fleet and those that will enter the inventory by then. This amounts to some 18 aircraft, Air Force officials have stated. Lawmakers provided $155 million to keep these Global Hawks flying in Fiscal 2013, including $133 million for operations and maintenance and $22 million for personnel expenditures, according to the report.

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Warthog Pilot Hits Combat Milestone:

Lt. Col. James Roy, an A-10 pilot from Moody AFB, Ga., recently reached 1,000 combat flying hours in the cockpit of the A-10 ground-attack aircraft, according to officials at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, where Roy is currently deployed. "It is a very rare accomplishment to hit 1,000 hours in a career, period, let alone in one [area of responsibility] and on the same platform," said Lt. Col. Marty Garrett, commander of Bagram's 455th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, in the base's Dec. 20 release. "In comparing this to a 40-hour-a-week job, essentially, I've worked six months in the air over Afghanistan," noted Roy, who is director of operations for the 455th EOSS. He has flown more than 250 missions; all of his 1,000 hours of combat time resulted from sorties launched from Bagram, according to the release. "Close air support is very gratifying," said Roy. "You get to directly help somebody on the ground and you directly affect the battle," he added.

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Congress Approves Final Version of Defense Policy Bill:

The Senate passed the conference version of the Fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, clearing the legislation for President Obama's desk and his signature. Senators approved the bill on Dec. 21 by a vote of 81 to14. Their action came one day after the House voted 315 to 107 in favor of the bill, which authorizes $633.3 billion in this fiscal year for national security activities of the Defense Department and Energy Department.

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Academy firefighters recognized for Waldo Canyon Fire efforts

by Don Branum
Air Force Academy Public Affairs

12/20/2012 - U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- More than 50 firefighters with the 10th Civil Engineer Squadron here received Air Force Achievement Medals and Air Force Civilian Achievement Awards in a pair of ceremonies Dec. 19-20 for their efforts in containing the Waldo Canyon Fire, which burned 12 acres on the Air Force Academy in June but did not destroy any structures on base.

The 18,247-acre fire was the most destructive in Colorado history, killing two and destroying nearly 350 homes in the city of Colorado Springs while damaging more than 450 others.

Firefighters' heroic efforts kept the fire from breaking through containment lines on several occasions, said 10th Mission Support Group Commander Col. Michael Addison.

"That fire was a pretty close-run thing," Addison said. "It was a real battle." Ground crews directed airdrops of fire retardant from C-130 aircraft equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems.

Had the Waldo Canyon Fire broken through containment lines, "it would almost certainly have consumed everything in Pine Valley," Addison said. "But no structures were destroyed, no one got hurt, and that was due to the courage and skill of our firefighters.

"I'm very proud of them. They prove day in and day out why they are the best fire department in the Air Force," Addison added.

Andrea Caraway, a civilian firefighter, said she's proud of the entire department.

"I'm proud that we were able to help our local community," she said.

Airman 1st Class Taylor King, a military firefighter, said he was grateful for the support firefighters received in turn from the local community, which donated food, clothing and other items.

"It was very generous," he said. "Everywhere I went, everyone was crazy about firefighters. There was overwhelming support."

The Waldo Canyon Fire started in the Pike National Forest June 23. By June 24, the 306th Flying Training Group had converted part of the airfield into a staging area for helicopters helping fight the fire. MAFFS-equipped C-130s with the 302nd Airlift Wing were brought in June 25 to assist.

The following day was the most destructive, as 65-mph winds and hot, dry weather created a horizontal "fire vortex" that rolled through Queens Canyon on the west side of Colorado Springs and into Mountain Shadows. That evening, 10th Air Base Commander Col. Tim Gibson evacuated base housing residents.

The Academy reached out to help the community after the fire. Cadets, some of whom had arrived for inprocessing even as smoke from the still-active fire billowed over the Colorado Springs, helped clear burned and dead wood from affected areas in August.

Investigators revealed in September that the fire was human-caused but that they had no information regarding the intent. The fire remains under investigation.

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Congress Champions the Direct Approach:

Lawmakers told the Air Force to maintain 40 tactical airlifters in Fiscal 2013 to meet the Army's time-sensitive, direct-support delivery needs, according to language they included in the conference report for this fiscal year's defense authorization bill. They also want the Air Force to ensure that the employment concept for this direct support is "wholly incorporated" into the Air Force's doctrine, strategy, and tactics by June 2013, states the report, released on Dec. 18. Among the 40 airlifters will be eight C-130s that the Air Force leadership identified for this purpose in the revised force structure proposal that it put forth to Congress in November, states the report. They remaining 32 aircraft—either C-130s, or C-27Js, or a combination of both—will come from the pool of airframes that the leadership had identified for retirement in that proposal, according to the report. The lawmakers gave the Air Force Secretary the discretion to decide upon the mix. The Air Force's revised proposal was less severe than the service's original force structure plan, which Congress did not embrace