by Tom Clancy
It was originally equipped with noisy, smoky, fuel-guzzling 1950s-era turbojets, but the 22nd's aircraft have now been refitted with modern CFM- 56 turbofans to improve fuel economy and offload capacity. They are surprisingly young, at only about thirteen thousand hours of flight time average per airframe. Since the tankers have so little flight time, they avoided many of the stresses of repeated takeoff, pressurization, and landing cycles that eventually wear out an airframe. The USAF is currently planning to fly the KC- 135s until roughly the year 2020, a career of almost sixty years!
The official badge of the 22nd Aerial Refueling Squadron.
U.S. Air Force
As for the 22nd ARS itself, because there is a lot of room in the KC-135, even when it is full of fuel, there is a lot more to their mission than just the complex aerial dance that allows fuel to pass to other aircraft. Still, the 22nd ARS is quite skilled at its primary job. For example, in fourteen days of operations at Green Flag 94-3 with just four aircraft, the 22nd flew ninety-seven sorties, refueling several hundred tactical sorties. Meanwhile, the big, open main compartment in the fuselage of the tanker can hold a lot of stuff. This includes:
• Personnel Transport—Each KC-135 can transport up to eighty passengers with their personal gear. This is enough to establish a small air-base cadre at their destination, as well as helping to relieve the burden on the limited resources of the Air Mobility Command (AMC).
• Cargo Transport—While they are currently limited to cargo which can be carried onboard by human muscle power, the aircraft of the 22nd ARS can help out in the transport mission by taking on bulk cargo and lashing it carefully to the existing plywood floors.
• Mission Planning/C3I—During the hours the wing staff is in the air deploying to a crisis, these very people need to be getting ready to launch the first air strikes. In particular, the strike-planning staff needs to be close to its CTAPS terminals, taking in the latest intelligence and targeting data and generating the Air Tasking and Fragmentary Orders that must be finished before the first airplane can be loaded and fueled. Thus, Colonel Scott and the Operations Group staff came up with the "FAST CONOPS" plan. Four of the 22nd's tankers, loaded with personnel and equipment, fly ahead to make the host site ready to start operations as soon as the combat aircraft arrive. As quickly as possible after an alert order, the first KC-135, known as FAST-1, would fly to the crisis area with a site survey team to evaluate exactly what the wing will need to deploy. Shortly after this, FAST-2 arrives with an Air Operations Center (AOC) team and the WICP (Wing Initial Communications Package) satellite communications equipment aboard. FAST-3 would carry the CI element, with their CTAPS gear set up to work while in flight. Finally, FAST-4 would carry a staff of maintenance personnel and aircrews (in crew rest) to ready the aircraft and fly the first mission when they arrive in the crisis zone. In this way, the wing could fly its first mission within a few hours of arriving at the host airfield.
This capability is vitally important to the wing's planned CONOPS scheme, and could make all the difference in a crisis.
The 22nd ARS is working hard to improve its capabilities to support the wing. Although times are tough, and money for upgrades of support aircraft are short, there are continuing efforts to make the 22nd's aircraft more capable, which include:
• Communications—Provisions are being made to install a UHF satellite communications terminal aboard each of the tankers. This will allow transmission of high-quality intelligence data, images, and teleconferencing to and from the FAST aircraft while in flight.
• Cargo Handling—One of the really big improvements is replacement of the KC-135s' original plywood floors with special fixtures, called Roll On/Roll Off (Ro/Ro) aluminum alloy floors, which will allow them to carry palletized cargo. This will greatly expand the variety of cargo the 22nd's tankers can carry, and help out a bit with the transportation crunch of getting the wing and all its stuff to the operating theater.
• Navigational Systems—A NAVSTAR GPS receiver is being installed to help with navigation and planning, as well as improving the accuracy of the autopilot. This should help in easing the aircrew workload, reducing fatigue on trans-oceanic flights when the 366th deploys.
These improvements will enhance the capabilities of the 22nd, though Lieutenant Colonel Gaughan and the rest of the wing's leadership still have a long wish list. At the top of the list is trading in the KC-135s for bigger, more modern KC-10 tankers, which can both pass and receive fuel in-flight and carry a large load of palletized cargo and personnel. This would allow the 22nd to both deploy and refuel while traveling overseas. Right now, it can only do one at a time. Unfortunately, these aircraft are closely held by the Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, Illinois. Another item on the wish list is the installation of a refueling receptacle on the squadron's aircraft, a modification known as the "T-mod," which would make them into KC-135RTs. Again, though, money is the limiting factor in all of this, and the wing will probably have to make do with what it already has for the next few years, at least.
392nd Electronic Combat Range Squadron
The 392nd Electronic Combat Range Squadron was formed in 1985 to provide realistic electronic range training to the EF-111s of the 366th Wing when it had the standoff jamming mission within the USAF. Today, under its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Lynn B. Wheeless, USAF, it runs the facilities at Saylor Creek weapons training range.
366th Logistics Group
Combat units eat up a lot of supplies. Just one mission by the six B-1Bs of the 34th BS would use up 117 tons of bombs and over 148,250 gallons/551,886 liters of jet fuel. That is one mission by just one of the squadrons that might be controlled by the 366th Wing, and it in no way includes food, water, spare parts, black boxes, and all the other supplies that make a modern combat unit work. In high-intensity combat operations, the full 366th would consume several thousand tons of supplies a day, every day. Without a proper flow of supplies, the Gunfighters are just ground targets for some other air force to kill.
Commanded by Colonel Lee Hart, the 366th Logistics Support Group is composed of four squadrons responsible for supply, maintenance, and transportation. Without ground support personnel, there would not be anyone to load the bombs, fuel the planes, turn the wrenches, and move the cargo.
366TH LOGISTICS SUPPORT SQUADRON. Originally known as the 366th Sub Depot when it was formed in November 1942, the 366th Logistics Support Squadron is commanded by Major Louis M. Johnson, Jr. Redesignated in 1992, it has a mission to provide the wing with a steady supply of spare parts, tools, and equipment to help keep the 366th's aircraft in the air. As such, it handles ordering, storing, and distribution of thousands of items that go on or into the wing's airplanes.
366TH MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT SQUADRON. First activated in 1953, the 366th Maintenance and Supply Squadron is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Ward E. Tyler III. Its mission, as you might guess, is to repair, test, and maintain all of the aircraft and other equipment that the wing carries on its books. This is a huge task, partly because the 366th has five different aircraft types, not to mention the variety of computers, generators, ramp service carts, test equipment, etc.
366TH SUPPLY SQUADRON. First stood up in 1953 with the other units of the Logistics Group, the 366th Supply Squadron is currently commanded by Major Jerry W. Pagett. Major Pagett and his team are tasked with maintaining the thousands of inventory items a combat unit like the 366th requires to keep moving. Like any other unit, this covers everything that would be needed by a small town, from food and fuel to soap and toilet paper. One of the big efforts of the folks in this unit is to combine, wherever possible, supply line items, so that the wing has fewer different things to take with it when it deploys.
366TH TRANSPORTATION SQUADRON. Commanded by Major William K. Bass, the 366th Transportation Squadron is a combination of a truck dispatch office, a passenger and cargo airline, and a warehousing and trucking company. Centered in a small cluster of offices and spaces in a hangar next to the
flight line at Mountain Home, the Transportation Squadron is in charge of getting the wing and all its "stuff" from one place to another in a minimum of time, and with the least demand on AMC's limited airlift capacity. Heavy airlifters are scarce national assets, and they are spread very thin by the need to respond to multiple crises around the world.
Major Bass and his staff are constantly developing and refining contingency plans in their small hangar offices. Around the walls of their conference room are thirty small "white" boards, each representing a numbered load of equipment, cargo, and personnel to be loaded aboard a C-141B Starlifter, to support an "A" Package (the smallest force deployed by the Wing) of aircraft, equipment, and personnel. Now, this represents an ideal situation, with the wing deploying to an excellent host facility (like the Saudi bases used during Desert Shield and Desert Storm), with AMC standing by to send three dozen C-141s and some KC-10s to deploy the unit to the crisis area ASAP. In actuality, what will probably arrive, with only an hour or two of notice from AMC at Scott AFB, is a varied mix of heavy airlift aircraft. These may range from C-17s and C-5s, which carry a lot more than a C-141, to chartered civilian 747s and MD-11 freighters, which carry less and are limited to palletized cargo and perhaps small carts and vehicles. Since it is vital that certain loads and personnel arrive in a particular order, the unpredictability of airlift in a crisis sends the normally calm personnel under Major Bass into a frenzy, as they fire up laptop computers and check specifications to recalculate what and who will go onto a particular aircraft. Then they have to call homes and squadrons to order 366th wing personnel on standby to get themselves and their personal gear to the mobility office now! Although their job is to move the wing in a crisis, most of Major Bass's personnel will never leave Mountain Home AFB. Their lot in life is to push people, planes, and equipment forward to wherever the 366th is sent, but to stay home in the anxiety and emptiness that is a home base during a crisis.
366th Medical Group
The morale and quality of life on an Air Force base depend greatly on a well-managed, well-staffed medical group. This is not only to provide flight surgeons for the aircrews and combat medics for the ground personnel, but also general medical care for the families and dependents of the wing and base personnel. The geographic isolation of Mountain Home AFB makes this particularly important — the nearest major metropolitan hospital is more than fifty miles away.
Commanded by Colonel C. Bruce Green, MD, the 366th Medical Group provides medical services across the full range of missions. In addition, they are capable of deploying a field hospital with the wing, to provide medical services for the 366th and its attached units in the field.
366th Combat Support Group
The 366th Combat Support Group covers many specialized tasks and services such as engineering, communications, base security, and law enforcement, as well as food and sales services. Commanded by Colonel Robert G. Priest, the 366th Combat Support Group is the final slice in the 366th pie, and while its functions may seem secondary to the combat functions of the wing, rest assured that the quality-of-life issues faced by Colonel Priest's personnel are just as important to the success of the 366th's mission as the skills of the combat aviators in the flying squadrons.
366TH CIVIL ENGINEERING SQUADRON. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Carmody, this unit allows the 366th to move into an unknown host airfield and make it fully operable. Doing this ranges from supplying and guaranteeing potable water and pure jet fuel to assuring the quality of the electrical power. On some deployments (such as to Saudi Arabia), this may be easy. But in other places, all the engineers can do is survey a bare bones base and transmit their construction requirements to an Air Force "Red Horse" airbase construction battalion. In a time that would amaze you, these units can take a patch of desert or jungle, add concrete and water, and build one of the world's busiest airports. The 366th engineers also oversee quality assurance on construction projects back at Mountain Home AFB.
366TH COMMUNICATIONS SQUADRON. Headed by Lieutenant Colonel Dennis J. Damiens, the 366th Communications Squadron is more than just a miniature phone company. It is a state-of-the-art organization that is absolutely vital if the Operations Squadron is to have anything to plug their CTAPS system terminals into. Colonel Damiens's crew can plug into virtually any kind of voice, data, or satellite system, ranging from commercial phone companies to the new MILSTAR system that is just coming on-line. In addition, they provide local communications support around Mountain Home AFB, and maintain all of the secure communications systems of the wing.
366TH SECURITY POLICE SQUADRON. Even the most law-abiding small town needs a police force. Mountain Home AFB is a small town with zero tolerance for drug and alcohol abuse, along with several billion dollars of irreplaceable assets that require extremely dependable protection. The Security Police Squadron, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James E. Leist, serves the functions of that local police force. Additional duties include anti-terrorist intelligence while at home, and airbase defense when the wing is deployed overseas. If the wing were to deploy to an area with a serious local security threat, the Security Police Squadron would coordinate overall airbase defense, and any reinforcing units would plug in to them. This might include anything from an allied/host nation military police unit to Special Forces units specializing in anti-terrorist activities.
366TH SERVICES SQUADRON. The 366th Services Squadron, commanded by Major Timothy P. Fletcher, runs the mess halls, the officers/enlisted clubs, the base commissary, and a host of other activities that make life bearable for military personnel. A good Services Squadron can make even the most desolate base into a duty station to remember. In the words of one young pilot, "They make Mountain Home a great place to come home to."
OUTSIDE HELP: OTHER ATTACHED UNITS
Despite the variety and capability of the units in the 366th Wing, there is no way they could go off to war all by themselves. While the Gunfighters can deal out death in several dozen interesting and creative ways, they are a bit shorthanded when it comes to finding and identifying the targets to be terminated. This is not a flaw or weakness in the structure of the wing, because the Air Force generally guards reconnaisance and target intelligence assets quite closely, and parcels them out carefully. Since the 366th is solidly backed by the senior leadership at ACC, the wing is near the top of the priority list for reconnaisance and intelligence support of all kinds.
552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma
When ACC decided to set up the 366th as a composite wing, one idea they seriously considered was to give the wing its own small (three-aircraft) squadron of E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft. Unfortunately, these aircraft are extremely scarce; only thirty-four were built for USAF service. Nevertheless, no significant force would normally deploy without AWACS support, and the 366th is high on the list of favored users. Thus, a standing arrangement has been made between the 366th Wing and ACC headquarters that in the event of a deployment, the parent unit for all USAF AWACS aircraft, the 552nd Air Control Wing (ACW), will supply a few of the precious eyes in the skies.
Based at Tinker AFB just east of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the 552nd is the sole operator of the big radar planes in U.S. service (in four Airborne Air Control Squadrons: the 463rd, 464th, 465th, and 466th). The 552nd maintains detachments all over the world, from Alaska to Turkey, and has become an important airborne tool of American diplomacy. But this has come at a high price for the overworked crews, who are routinely away from their homes and families for months at a time. The operational tempo has always been high for the crews of the 552nd Wing, probably too high. By the beginning of 1994, an average AWACS crew was spending over 180 days a year on temporary duty (TDY) assignments overseas. In mid-1994, Brigadier General Silas R. "Si" Johnson arrived at Tinker AFB to take over command of the wing. Si Johnson is a career multi-engine combat pilot, with thousands of hours in KC-135s and B-52s. Right now, the officers and enlisted personnel of the 552nd already
feel the confidence of a strong hand on the reins of their wing and their community. They will need it too, because the demand for their unique capabilities continues unabated.
In order to keep a single AWACS aircraft airborne twenty-four hours a day, the 366th plans to deploy with a three-aircraft AWACS detachment in the event of a crisis. The trick is to integrate the Sentry aircraft of the 552nd wing into the operations of the 366th wing, a task the two units have practiced extensively. This practice has included exercises to develop tactical procedures for the use of the 390th FS's F-15Cs with their new JTIDS data links, which makes them even more deadly, thanks to the "God's-eye view" of the E-3 radar and other sensors.
27th Fighter Wing, Cannon AFB, New Mexico
Another planned reinforcement for the 366th in a crisis deployment would be a detachment of four EF-111A Raven standoff jamming aircraft, currently based with the 27th Fighter Wing at Cannon AFB, Oklahoma. These powerful EW aircraft (using versions of the Hughes ALQ-99 jamming system) are the most capable tactical jamming aircraft in the USAF inventory. The USAF has used standoff jamming aircraft in raid packages since World War II, and no sane American strike force would care to enter hostile airspace without them. Unfortunately, the current Administration is planning to retire the Spark 'Varks (as they are called), along with the remaining force of F-111F fighter bombers, in FY-1997 and -98, with no planned replacement. This leaves ACC and the 366th in a world of hurt, and still requiring a standoff jammer of some kind. As an interim and very imperfect solution to this problem, Colonel Hopper and his creative folks at the 34th BS are working out tactics and techniques for using the B1-B as a standoff jammer. Meanwhile, the Ravens of the 27th FW are still available for deployments, and continue to support operations overseas in Iraq, Bosnia, and Haiti.