Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing tcml-3

by Tom Clancy

  366TH OPERATIONS SUPPORT SQUADRON. The 366th Operations Support Squadron (OSS) is the staff organization that runs the five flying squadrons of the Operations Group for Colonel Scott. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gregg "Tank" Miller, it is the key to the whole 366th CONOPS plan. In addition to interfacing with the other groups of the wing, the 366th OSS provides the wing's ability to generate its own daily Air Tasking Orders (ATOs). ATOs furnish the script for everything that happens in the air, from the time and altitude for a tanker to establish a track to refuel other aircraft, down to whether the Army can fire artillery or guided missiles through a particular chunk of airspace at a particular time. One reason for the success of Operation Desert Storm was the quality of the ATOs built by General Horner's CENTAF staff. But the 366th has to do this job with a lot fewer people (forty-two vs. several hundred for the CENTAF staff), and less equipment. On deployment, the 366th OSS forms what is known as the 366th Air Operations Center (AOC), which brings its own tent city to operate from a "bare bones" base. Some good tools help make up for the lack of personnel. The main tool is the Contingency Tactical Air Control System (TACS) Automated Planning System, or CTAPS. This is a network of computer workstations that ties together a series of databases on intelligence, terrain, known targets, and aircraft capabilities, enabling the 366th AOC staff to rapidly build and distribute ATO plans to everyone in or attached to the wing. Each day's complete ATO (which can be several hundred pages of text) can be transmitted almost instantly via land line, printed hard copy, disk, or even a satellite communications link like the popular suitcase-sized Hammer Rick system. During Desert Storm hard copies had to be hand-carried out to CVWs in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf by airplane each day. Now almost every military air unit in the United States and allied nations has CTAPS-compatible equipment that allows them to receive and use an electronic ATO.

  The process of building a day's ATO begins several days before it is executed. The Air Operations Center team is split into two twelve-hour shifts, with part of each shift working on the ATOs to be executed two and three days later, and the rest working on the ATO to be executed the next day. Once the ATO has been blessed by the AOC chief and the local JFACC (such as General McCloud), it can be distributed to the flying squadrons for execution of the next day's missions.

  The 366th's ability to generate ATOs is limited by the number of personnel that can be dedicated to the task. The estimate is that the 366th AOC staff could churn out ATOs for about five hundred daily sorties — comparable to a major exercise like Red/Green Flag (and about 10 % to 20 % of what the CENTAF staff generated during the 1991 Gulf War); and they could probably sustain this level of output for a week. After that the forty-two people on the team would doubtless be exhausted and require reinforcement. By that time, hopefully, a big, well-equipped CinC staff, like the 9th Air Force/CENTAF from Shaw AFB, South Carolina, would have arrived to relieve the 366th.

  It is important to remember that the 366th Wing is designed as a "fire brigade," to deal with a crisis while more substantial forces are mustered and sent to assist. This tends to draw some grim humor from the members of the wing. They know exactly what the odds might be in a major crisis like Iraq or Iran, and that casualties might be the price of the job.

  389th Fighter Squadron

  The 389th FS, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Wood, is the 366th Wing's F-16 squadron, and they are equipped with brand-new Block 52D F-16C Fighting Falcons. The 389th dates back to May 1943, when it was formed as part of the original 366th Fighter Group. Since that time, a 389th FS has usually been a part of the 366th's complement of units. Aircrews from the 389th were credited with twenty-nine air-to-air kills (twenty-three in World War II, six in Vietnam).

  The official badge of the 389th Fighter Squadron.

  U.S. Air Force

  Currently, the 389th is equipped with eighteen Primary Authorized Aircraft (PAA), which refers to the combat strength of the unit. The actual total of aircraft controlled by the 389th FS (or any other USAF unit) is usually about one third greater than the PAA, and includes a small number of two-seat trainers (to maintain proficiency and certifications), as well as other F-16Cs that are either in the depot/maintenance pipeline or represent spares. In addition, the 366th is staffed at about 1.25 aircrew per flight position per aircraft, meaning that combat missions may have to be flown by wing support staff, who are rated as aircrews.

  The F-16s of the 389th have been greatly "tricked out" with the addition of new systems designed to improve their capabilities over the original F-16s assigned to the 389th when it was formed. These include:

  • The latest Block 50/52 software to allow the full use of the APG-68's radar modes.

  • The capability to fire both the AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-88 HARM missiles.

  • The addition of an ASQ-213 HTS pod for every aircraft in the squadron.

  If you suspect, from this list of capabilities, that the 389th is working hard to get into the business of suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), you would be right on target. With the retirement of the F-4G force, there is no way that ACC can guarantee the commander of the 366th a detachment of Wild Weasels in the event of an emergency deployment. And with the APG-68/ AIM-120 combination, the F-16s of the 389th can also take some of the air-to-air load off the F-15s of the 390th, when barrier combat air patrol (BARCAP) and strike escort missions are required. Of course, the 389th can also do traditional air-to-ground deliveries of iron AGM-65 Maverick missiles, as well as cluster bombs, if required. In short, the 389th FS provides exactly the kind of SEAD, air-to-air, and bombing capabilities the 366th commander will require to react to a fast-changing crisis. It is the wing's utility infielder.

  390th Fighter Squadron (The Wild Boars)

  Formed at the same time (May 1943) as the 389th, the 390th is the 366th's air superiority squadron. Equipped with F-15C Eagles, the 390th, known as "the Wild Boars" (the 390th squadron ready room/bar has to be seen to be believed!), has a long and colorful history. This includes 35.5 air-to-air victories (33.5 in World War II, two in Vietnam) gained by 390th aircrews, as well as the only service in Operations Desert Shield/Storm by a 366th unit.

  The unit was "stood up" as an F-15C squadron in June 1992, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Larry D. New, with twelve PAA aircraft. He was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Peter J. Bunce, on March 28th, 1994, just in time to take the squadron for Green Flag 94-3. Along with the new commander came the news that the 390th, together with its 366th sister F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, the 391st FS, would be enlarged to eighteen PAA aircraft, the same size as the 389th. This enlargement was a result of several exercises such as Bright Star and Northern Edge which indicated that the twelve-aircraft Eagle squadrons just did not have the critical mass to sustain a week of unreinforced operations. By late 1995, the first of the additional aircraft and crews should arrive to join the Wild Boars.

  The official badge of the 390th Fighter Squadron, the "Wild Boars."

  U.S. Air Force

  The Boars are the shield of the 366th Wing. It is a classic air superiority unit, with the range and firepower to clear the skies for the rest of the wing's aircraft. Their basic F-15Cs have been updated to provide improved capabilities, including:

  • The newest models of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, as well as improved PGU-28 20mm cannon ammunition.

  • The full F-15C MSIP improvement package, including the complete APG-70 radar package.

  • The Joint Tactical Information Data System (JTIDS) data-link system.

  The 390th is the only fighter squadron in the USAF that is fully equipped with the first-generation JTIDS terminals, and thus it can rightly claim to have the best "eyes" of any fighter squadron anywhere in the world. With JTIDS, it can work in tactical formations and situations previously unimaginable to fighter commanders. For example, the JTIDS data links allow each Eagle driver to pass along to any other JTIDS-equipped aircraft (E-3 Sentry, F-14D Tomcat, Tornado F-2, etc.) not
only data about the targets detected by the F-15's onboard radar (position, altitude, course, heading, etc.), but also the aircraft's stores information (fuel, missiles, ammunition) and other critical tactical information. This means that a formation as small as two ships can cover a huge volume of airspace. This capability is especially critical for a fire brigade air unit like the 366th Wing, which can ill afford any kind of loss as it hangs on during what may be a week of unreinforced combat operations in a crisis.

  391st Fighter Squadron (The Bold Tigers)

  The "Bold Tigers" of the 391st FS are the heavy war hammer of the 366th Wing. No other strike aircraft in the world today provides an air commander with the power of the F-15E Strike Eagle, and the 391st gives General McCloud and the 366th Wing a weapon with the killing power of Excalibur. Formed by Lieutenant Colonel Robin Scott (now a full colonel and the 366th Operations Group commander) in March 1992, the 391st is now led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank W. "Claw" Clawson, USAF, who took command in June 1993. The 391st is a big squadron from an aircrew standpoint (with two aircrew per aircraft). Like the 389th and 390th FSs, the 391st was formed in mid-1943, and has fought with the 366th through most of its history. Along the way, the aircrews of Bold Tigers have collected some seventeen kills (so far, all in World War II). In the Strike Eagle community, the 391st is the most coveted assignment in the Air Force.

  The official badge of the 391st Fighter Squadron, the "Bold Tigers."

  U.S. Air Force

  "Claw" has a big job managing the most powerful unit in the 366th Wing. The squadron's capabilities include:

  • The AAQ-13/14 LANTIRN FLIR/targeting system.

  • Delivery of Paveway LGBs and GBU-15 E/O guided bombs.

  • Delivery of the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground family of missiles.

  • The same AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and M-61 Vulcan gun air-to-air armament as the F-15Cs of the 390th FS.

  The Bold Tigers may soon gain additional weapons due to the cancellation of the AGM-137 TSSAM missile. These might include the AGM-130 version of the GBU-15, or the folding fin version of the AGM-142 Have Nap. The Strike Eagles of the 391st are also planned to acquire GPS receivers, JTIDS, and possibly satellite communications terminals, allowing commanders to order quick-reaction strikes on unbriefed targets while the planes are already in the air. When these improvements are completed in a few years, the fangs of the Tigers will be sharper still.

  34th Bombardment Squadron (The Thunderbirds)

  When the 366th Wing was put together in 1992, one of the more controversial decisions was inclusion of a small, but powerful, bomber squadron of B-52Gs. The big bombers have traditionally belonged to the Strategic Air Command and trained for global thermonuclear war. But as the nuclear deterrent bomber mission has gradually faded away, the B-52s have acquired more conventional capabilities. The "BUFFs" (the traditional nickname for the B-52; it stands, in polite company, for Big Ugly Fat Fella) of the 34th BS were equipped with "big beam" ordnance racks for carrying the AGM-142 Have Nap, and could launch the AGM-84 Harpoon and mines, as well as the AGM-86C cruise missile.

  The official badge of the 34th Bombardment Squadron, the "Thunderbirds."

  U.S. Air Force

  Originally formed as the 34th Aero Squadron in 1917, and later known as the "Thunderbirds," it brought a rich tradition to the 366th. It was one of the squadrons which supplied aircraft (B-25Bs) and crews for the famous Tokyo Raid by Jimmy Doolittle in 1942. Later, it saw service flying B-26s in the Korean War. It took delivery of its first B-52s and was renamed the 34th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) in 1963 at Castle AFB, California, serving there until its inactivation in 1976. The squadron was reformed in July 1992 as the heavy bomber squadron for the 366th. After the retirement of the B-52G force, the squadron was reformed a few months later in April 1994 at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, as a B-1B Lancer squadron.

  The 34th is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Hopper, a highly professional, intense officer in his late thirties. A career bomber pilot, he has taken the challenge of rebuilding the 34th BS as a personal passion, and it shows. The challenges are many (especially in light of the B-1B's well-reported systems problems); and the 34th is fortunate to have the 28th Bombardment Wing (BW) as its host unit at Ellsworth AFB. Thanks to the leadership of Brigadier J. C. Wilson, Jr., the Bones of the 28th BW have exceeded the demanding performance standards mandated by the Congress in the Dakota Challenge Operational Readiness Inspection. As a unit making a transition to the B-1B, the 34th BS has benefited greatly from a close relationship with the highly experienced people of the 28th BW.

  When they received their allotment of six PAA aircraft (the squadron carries a total of eleven B-1Bs on its balance sheet), they faced some severe challenges: The loss of the BUFFs in the Fall of 1993 eliminated the wing's long-range standoff weapons capability (the AGM-142 Have Nap, etc.). And the B-1B has always had a reputation as a "hangar queen" (an aircraft that spends most of its time indoors, waiting for repairs, spare parts, technical manual revisions, or software bug fixes). Nevertheless, they saw some opportunities in the Bone that the B-52 could not offer. These included:

  • Vastly superior performance, especially in speed, maneuverability, and bomb capacity.

  • Superior low-level penetration capability.

  • Greatly reduced radar and IR signature (about 1/100th as much as the B-52).

  • Excellent avionics, including a Synthetic Aperture Radar, sensitive RWR, and a powerful radar jamming system.

  • The best communications suite in the 366th Wing, including a UHF satellite communications terminal for in-flight target data reception.

  • A precision weapons upgrade plan (CBU-87/89/97 with wind correction kits, GBU-29/30 JDAMS, AGM-145 JSOW, GPS receiver, etc.), which is part of ACC's "Bomber Roadmap."

  The commander of the 366th Wing's 34th Bombardment Squadron, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Hopper (right), on the ramp with one of his line officiers. He has been the driving force behind getting the 34th combat ready in just six months from its reformation.

  John D. Gresham

  With these capabilities, it is easy to see why Lieutenant Colonel Hopper and his squadron like to call their B-1Bs "Mo Bones" or "Mean Bones." In the short run, unfortunately, not all these capabilities will be available. In particular, JDAM and JSOW will slip some years in the future, despite the best efforts of the USAF Materiel Command and ACC. Nevertheless, Tim Hopper has his own ideas about how the wing might use the B-1B in combat. Some of them include:

  • Command and Control—The wing might use the B-1B as a CI platform, using the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capabilities of the Offensive Avionics Suite and the Bone's excellent communications capabilities much like a mini-JSTARS platform.

  • Standoff/Escort Jamming—With the planned retirement of the EF- 111A Raven force scheduled for FY-1997, the B-1B might function as a jamming platform for the 366th Wing, using the Bone's ALQ-161 defensive countermeasures suite. With electronic warfare birds in short supply, the B-1B's RWR system might be able to supply radar targeting data to HARM-carrying F-16s from the 389th FS, if appropriate data links like JTIDS or an Improved Data Modem can be installed.

  • Composite Wing Strike—With all the attention precision-guided weapons receive these days, it is sometimes forgotten that many potential targets for a unit like the 366th are of the "area" type, like troop concentrations, rail yards, truck parks, factories, etc. Area targets require large numbers of relatively small weapons to do significant damage, and the Bone is perfect for the job. With the B-1B capable of carrying up to eighty-four Mk 82 500lb./227.3 kg. bombs or several dozen CBU-87/89/97 cluster bombs, the rest of the wing could use their SEAD and PGM capabilities to neutralize SAMs and AAA, after which the Bones could come in and lay waste to a target area.

  Lieutenant Colonel Hopper and the 34th achieved a major step with the Global Power/Global Reach mission mentioned earlier. Now, they are looking forward to the planned system upgrades that will make them
even more dangerous. When the massive construction project at Mountain Home AFB is completed in a few years, they can join the rest of the wing in Idaho.

  Bridging the gulf between the fighter culture and the bomber culture can be a struggle for both communities. General McCloud told us a story about the first composite strike exercise that the 366th ran with the Bones. Several B-1B crews briefed with a strike force from the four other squadrons and headed down to the Nellis AFB ranges to run the mission. Afterwards, when the mission was debriefed, the pilot from one of the bomber crews confessed, "We did not understand a word you guys said on the radio." They have come a long way from that inauspicious beginning. When you consider what was achieved after just six months of operations, you can understand what Tim Hopper has accomplished.

  22nd Air Refueling Squadron

  The 22nd Air Refueling Squadron (ARS) is the only flying unit in the 366th Wing that does not shoot or drop things that explode. Yet, it is the key to the 366th's ability to instantly deploy and generate combat missions. Dave McCloud and the rest of the wing treasure the 22nd ARS more than diamonds… or even new -229 engines for all the fighters. Only two combat wings within ACC have their own tanker assets, and there is nothing more precious in air warfare than airborne fuel!

  The 22nd ARS was one of the four original flying squadrons at Mountain Home AFB when the wing was reorganized back in 1992. Its first commander is Lieutenant Colonel John F. Gaughan II, whose boyish good looks conceal a razor-sharp mind. Originally formed in 1939 as a heavy bomber unit, the 22nd flew the B-17, B-25, and A-26 during World War II in the Pacific and China before being disestablished in 1945. Reborn in 1952 as an airborne tanker squadron flying KC-97s, it has served with SAC and ACC ever since. Along the way, the 22nd also flew the EC-135 before it was disestablished at the end of the Cold War in 1989. Like the rest of the 366th squadrons, it was reformed in 1992.