Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing

by Tom Clancy

  UPT Undergraduate Pilot Training.

  Variable Geometry Ability of an aircraft to change the sweep of its wings in flight, to optimize performance for a given speed and altitude.

  Viewgraph An overhead-projector transparency or slide used in briefings or presentations. Sometimes used as a term of derision for a project that is incompletely developed, as: “His plan was nothing but a set of viewgraphs.”

  Warthog Nickname for the A-10 Thunderbolt.

  Waypoint Pre-set navigational reference point on an aircraft’s flight plan. May include geographical coordinates, plus altitude, speed, and time-of-arrival data.

  WCMD Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser. A cluster bomb with an inertial-guidance system and GPS receiver, allowing accurate delivery from high altitudes. Intended for use on the B-1B, beginning around 2002.

  WICP Wing Initial Communications Package. A set of radios, satellite communications antennas, portable electric power generators, and related equipment maintained by selected Air Force wings for rapid emergency deployment to remote locations.

  Wild Weasel An aircraft configured with Radar Homing and Warning (RHAW) gear and Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARMs) operated to suppress enemy surface-to-air missile sites. Originally performed by F-100F, F-105F, and F-4G Phantom II aircraft, this mission will increasingly be borne by specially trained and equipped F-16Cs.

  William Tell An air-superiority competition held every other year at Tyndall AFB, Florida. Live-fire missions are conducted over the Gulf of Mexico.

  WSO Weapons System Officer. The backseater in an F-15E or F-111. Pronounced “wizzo.” Although not specifically trained as a pilot, the WSO usually acquires basic flying skills.

  XO Executive Officer. Second in command of a squadron or equivalent unit.

  Yaw Change of an aircraft’s attitude relative to its vertical axis (a line drawn from top to bottom through the center of gravity). Yaw to port and the nose points further to the left; yaw to starboard and the nose points further to the right.

  ZSU-23-4 Soviet four-barreled 23mm anti-aircraft gun on light tank chassis with radar and optical fire control. Deadly against unarmored low-altitude aircraft. Usually employed together with mobile SAM launchers. Russian nickname is Shilka.

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