Portland, Oregon, National Guard To Receive First Operational F-15EX; Top Speed Just Under Mach 3; Fast, But Not Stealthy -- June 2, 2024

Locator: 48026USAF.

Portland link here.

First USAF base to receive the brand new fighter was Eglin AFB in Florida, but they were for final testing. First operational F-15EX fighters are arriving at Portland, Oregon. I think I can see China from Portland.

The first operational F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets will be assigned to the 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard, the unit that intercepts hostile aircraft over the northwest United States. 

The initial instructor pilots from the Portland-based wing were at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to fly training versions of the jet, which the Air Force said can exceed twice the speed of sound. 

“The first two will arrive this summer (2024),” said Lt. Col. Joel Thesing, the 142nd Wing’s safety officer who was among the pilots. 

In St. Louis, the first F-15EX bound for the Oregon wing rolled off the Boeing assembly line earlier this month (March, 2024). 

The Air Force has slated 18 F-15EX to be operational at the 142nd Wing by the end of 2025. 

Thesing said the exterior profile of the aircraft resembles the F-15C jets now flown by the wing, but the new jets are nimbler to maneuver and the large-area display for avionics improves a pilot’s ability to process what was going on inside and outside the aircraft. “It’s a generational leap,” he said. 

Boeing said in February the top speed for the F-15EX is 2,225 miles per hour – more than Mach 2.7 at sea level (where air is densest.)

Wiki.  

Forbes. 

Qatar.

Despite the Justice Department's concern with monopolies -- especially in the oil patch -- the department seems to have no problem with monopolies in the a/c manufacturing industries. Quick: name two other American a/c manufacturers that build planes for the US Air Force.

The first operational F-15EX Eagle II fighter jets will be assigned to the 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard, the unit that intercepts hostile aircraft over the northwest United States, the Air Force said. The initial instructor pilots from the Portland-based wing were at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to fly training versions of the jet, which the Air Force said can exceed twice the speed of sound. “The first two will arrive this summer,” said Lt. Col. Joel Thesing, the 142nd Wing’s safety officer who was among the pilots. In St. Louis, the first F-15EX bound for the Oregon wing rolled off the Boeing assembly line earlier this month. The Air Force has slated 18 F-15EX to be operational at the 142nd Wing by the end of 2025. Thesing said the exterior profile of the aircraft resembles the F-15C jets now flown by the wing, but the new jets are nimbler to maneuver and the large-area display for avionics improves a pilot’s ability to process what was going on inside and outside the aircraft. “It’s a generational leap,” he said. Boeing said in February the top speed for the F-15EX is 2,225 miles per hour – more than Mach 2.7 at sea level.

Despit
Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-03-27/f15ex-fighter-jet-oregon-guard-air-force-13441327.html
Source - Stars and Stripes

The United States Air Force 69th Birthday -- September 18, 2016

A reader reminded me this was the 69th birthday for the United States Air Force. I had forgotten. I was wondering what was subconsciously encouraging me to bake chocolate chip cookies this fine Sunday morning, but there you have it.

Three photos of photographs that I have in our small hovel.

These are the three patches worn on my flight uniform when assigned to the 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Stingers, back in 1984 - 1986. They are on my silk flying scarf. The "bumblebee" patch was designed by Walt Disney during WWII (at least that's what I was told when assigned to the squadron).

The three patches: the top one is the USAFE (USAF in Europe) patch; the middle patch is the wing patch, the 36th Fighter Wing, Bitburg Air Base, Germany; and, the bottom patch is the squadron patch. The patches also came in "subdued" (camouflaged) colors. The only patch missing is my name patch.

While assigned to the 22nd TFS in Bitburg, I participated in various overseas training deployments. This is a montage of photos taken in 1985 when the squadron was deployed to a bare-base air strip in Morocco. Two medical technicians and one flight surgeon manned the medical tent. Prime BEEF (wiki, GlobalSecurity) provided outstanding support but what I remember most was the incredible food.

Prime BEEF provided outstanding meals every day, but most memorable was the second to last day of the deployment.

The deployment forces are rotated out over the course of three days. The fighters depart first. On the second day, most of the rest of the force -- mostly maintenance personnel -- fly out on C-130s. Finally, at the end of the second day or the third day, the medics and the security forces are the last to leave, along with Prime BEEF.

The Prime BEEF kitchen personnel kept inquiring how far out the fighters were on the day they departed. Once the fighters had passed the half-way mark home, I assume somewhere over the Mediterranean, the kitchen personnel brought out steak and lobster. They had to make sure the fighters had passed the half-way mark home: if any of the F-15s had a problem, they would head home rather than turn back to Sidi Slimane.

I recall very vividly our departure from Morocco in 1985. I remarked to the pilot on the C-130 we were flying out on that while loading, he had not turned off the engines. Usually they turn off all props or at least the two on the side of the plane on which we were boarding. He said that one of the engines would not re-start if he turned it off. In addition, a fourth engine was leaking "oil". He did not want to take the chance of turning off the engines and not having at least three for take-off.

The third photo is a going-away gift from the folks at the surgeon's office of Air Combat Command, back in 2000, or thereabouts. One of the new missions at Langley Air Force Base, VA, at this time was flying drones over Afghanistan. It was amazing to see what 19-year-old men and women could do over Afghanistan half-way around the world from "trailers" across the street from our hospital.

The biggest regret I have to this day is the fact that I did not generate a 3" x 5" index card on each individual in the Air Force that crossed my path that had at least more than a casual acquaintance. The index cards would have exceeded 2,000 in number, I am quite convinced. Thirty years in the service, and I assume 100 new individuals each year, some years 250 or more x 30 = maybe as many as 6,000 index cards. And that's probably a conservative number.

Random Update on Economic Impact to Local Economy -- Minot AFB, North Dakota

Link to Minot Press story here.

The base has had a steady growth in population since 2007, mainly due to the addition of the 69th Bomb Squadron, the base's second B-52 squadron.

Economic impact to local economy:

• 2011: $493 million
• 2010: $514 million

• 2011: 5,232 lived-base (base's family housing project completed)
• 2010: 5,885 lived off-base

B-52: maiden flight - 1952 -- celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Note to My Granddaughters

I can't recall the language requirements any more, but suffice it to say I took one or two years (I forget) of Latin in middle school and two years of German in high school. In college I took two years of German. I signed up for and started first year French after the second year of German. Both Latin and German "made sense." Latin was a "dead language" so we didn't have to learn to speak it; that knocked off about half the challenge, for me. German was easy in that one pronounced words pretty much like they appeared. But, wow, French. It seemed like half the letters weren't pronounced. I never got it. On top of that my instructor was a mousy little Frenchman with a speech impediment. French was his native language but teaching was not his forte. I dropped out before three weeks was up to prevent from getting an incomplete (or worse) if I dropped out later.

And that is what led me to post this little note and embed. Had Marie Laforet been my French instructor I might be fluent in French today. Or not. Her enthusiasm would have been contagious. And no speech impediment.

Viens, Viens, Marie Laforet

The Global Hawk At Grand Forks AFB, ND -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With the Bakken

The Global Hawk at Grand Forks AFB, ND

Some things stick in my craw.

One of those things is when someone tells me that North Dakota doesn't have a diverse enough economy to stay relevant going forward. I've discussed this at length on two recent postings, so I won't go through the litany again.

But, in the process of checking out some of the things going on in North Dakota, I came across the USAF Global Hawk program. Back in the recesses of my mind I was aware of this, I suppose, but I had completely forgotten about it.

The Global Hawk program is perhaps one of the biggest projects in America's surveillance toolbox -- at least of those projects that one can talk about.

According to wiki:

In role and operational design, the Global Hawk is similar to the Lockheed U-2, the venerable 1950s spy plane. It is a theater commander's asset to provide a broad overview and systematic target surveillance. For this purpose, the Global Hawk is able to provide high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)—that can penetrate cloud-cover and sandstorms— and Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) imagery at long range with long loiter times over target areas. It can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (103,600 square kilometers) of terrain a day.

It is used as a high-altitude platform for surveillance and security. Missions for the Global Hawk cover the spectrum of intelligence collection capability to support forces in worldwide military operations. According to the Air Force, the capabilities of the aircraft allow more precise targeting of weapons and better protection of forces through superior surveillance capabilities.

It is an incredible aerial platform to say the least.

As noted earlier, I was assigned to Air Combat Command when this platform was being designed, tested, and employed.

In an unusual move, the aircraft entered initial low-rate production concurrently while still in engineering and manufacturing development. Nine production Block 10 aircraft (sometimes referred to as RQ-4A configuration) were produced, two of which were sold to the US Navy. Two more were sent to Iraq to support operations there. The final Block 10 aircraft was delivered on June 26, 2006.

Note: those were Block 10 (first version).

The most recent version is Block 40:

In order to increase the aircraft's capabilities, the airframe was redesigned, with the nose section and wings being stretched. The changes, with the designation RQ-4B Block 20, allow the aircraft to carry up to 3,000 pounds of internal payload. These changes were introduced with the first Block 20 aircraft, the 17th Global Hawk produced, which was rolled out in a ceremony on August 25, 2006. First flight of the Block 20 from the USAF Plant 42 in Palmdale, California to Edwards Air Force Base took place on March 1, 2007. Developmental testing of Block 20 took place in 2008. Future Block 30 and 40 aircraft, similar in size to the Block 20, are scheduled for development from 2008 to 2010. When the Global Hawk was produced it was in a sale plan for more than 5 countries including USA and Germany.

Incredibly, Grand Forks AFB was selected to be one of the very few US bases to take on the Global Hawk mission. That is huge. Absolutely huge.

Data points, records:

• Official world endurance record for unmanned aerial vehicles, at 30 hours, 24 minutes
• Absolute altitude record of 65,381 feet (still holds the record in its class)
• Non-stop flight from Edwards AFB, California, to RAAF Base Edinburgh, Australia: the first pilotless aircraft to crss the Pacific Ocean; 22 hours; record for absolute distance: 8,200 miles)
• Through February, 2010: 1,500 sorties, 30,000 combat hours in Central Command (Mideast)

Back in June, 2011, "Grand Forks AFB Airmen Welcome Global Hawk."

Airmen celebrated the arrival of the RQ-4 Global Hawk during a ceremony here June 1.

The ceremony highlighted the beginning of a new era of remotely piloted aircraft here.

This brings back some great memories. Except when I was on leave (vacation), I was at work seven days/week without fail when in the USAF, for 30 years, and not once did I feel like it was work. Yes, there were days that I did not enjoy, and a few days I did not look forward to, but looking back, it never felt like work. The camaraderie was awesome. The missions were outstanding. I envy the folks that are part of the Global Hawk mission at Grand Forks AFB.

Media gallery for the Grand Forks AFB Global Hawk.