Page 9 - Combat Aircraft (January 2020)

[NEWS]

UPGRADED B-2A
PREPARED FOR
FLIGHT TESTS

NORTHROP GRUMMAN RECENTLY
completed hardware installations
associated with the B-2 defensive
management system modernization
(DMS-M) upgrade on an initial test
aircraft. Ground testing in advance
of flight tests is already under way,
with work being carried out at the
contractor’s facility at Air Force
Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.
The upgrade package includes a
digital electronic support measures
(ESM) subsystem, new antennas
and updated cockpit displays and
With a large F-35A deployment, upwards of 30 F-15Es, processing units that improve threat
a full squadron of F-22A Raptors and F-16s, the USAF radar detection and crew situational
is maintaining a formidable presence in the Gulf awareness. The DMS-M also includes
region. USAF/TSgt Joshua Williams
a new open mission software
architecture that will provide the
battlefield assets’. USAF Chief of Staff arriving at Al Dhafra on October the Saudi base and returned to system with the flexibility to meet
Gen David Goldfein elaborated: 18 to join a mix of 4th FW F-15Es Ellsworth at the conclusion of an future threats. The system had been
‘The F-35A provides our nation air from Seymour Johnson AFB, North undisclosed mission. PSAB already scheduled to begin developmental
dominance in any threat. When it Carolina. In addition, the 389th FS supports F-22As deployed from flight tests in 2018, but due to delays
comes to having a ‘quarterback’ ‘Thunderbolts’ have 18 F-15Es at the Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, the engineering and manufacturing
for the coalition joint force, the enduring (undisclosed) operating from the 27th Expeditionary Fighter development phase for the $3-billion
interoperable F-35A is clearly the location in CENTCOM under the Squadron (EFS) and US Navy program was extended through
aircraft for the leadership role.’ 332nd AEW. EA-18Gs from electronic attack mid-2022. The system has initially
Underscoring the importance of squadron VAQ-134 ‘Garudas’ at NAS been installed in B-2A serial 93-1087
the F-35 in CENTCOM, the returning LANCERS IN SAUDI ARABIA Whidbey island, Washington. Spirit of Pennsylvania, which serves as
aircraft were almost immediately Meanwhile, an undisclosed number The 31st Fighter Wing’s 555th the prototype. Once certification of
replaced by a new contingent of 18 of B-1B Lancers touched down FS is also getting involved in the the final DMS-M flight-test software
jets from Hill’s 34th FS ‘Rude Rams’ at Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), CENTCOM action, having deployed load and ground checks have been
and 421st FS ‘Black Widows’, which Saudi Arabia, on October 25. The F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, completed, flights will start. The
arrived at Al Dhafra via Morón event marked the Lancer’s first to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, on DMS-M program is described as the
Air Base in southern Spain on return to the region since the October 28 and it is now assigned single-largest modification effort
November 16. last bombers left in March 2019. to the 379th AEW. Although the undertaken to date on the B-2A.
They joined an impressive The B-1Bs, which were operated squadron has made numerous visits
armada of combat air power in by the 28th Bomb Wing’s 34th to Afghanistan, this deployment NIGERIEN BASE
the region, with F-15Es from RAF Bomb Squadron, flew direct from to Middle East is the first for ‘Triple
Lakenheath’s 494th FS ‘Panthers’ Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, to Nickel’ since 2006. OPERATIONAL
THE USAF HAS begun intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)
operations from Nigerien Air Base
201 in Agadez, Niger. The Nigerien
Air Force and the USAF began flying
limited Visual Flight Rules (VFR)
operations into the base on August
1. The flights included USAF C-130s
that carried out resupply missions.
Nigerien Air Base 201 was originally
scheduled to be operational by the
end of 2018, but weather-related
issues delayed its completion. Its
location in central Niger was selected
because of its geographic advantage
in combating threats from violent
extremist organizations in the area.
This image from October shows a 335th FS ‘Chiefs’ The USAF had previously conducted
F-15E at Al Dhafra returning from a mission with a mix of
GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs) and GBU-54 laser operations from another base near
JDAMs. USAF/TSgt Kat Justen Niger’s capital, Niamey.

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