XBradTC

…Ummmm, no. Let me explain.

Once upon a time, there was an organization known as the Strategic Air Command. It was responsible for the ICBM and bomber forces of the US Air Force. For roughly forty-five years, it’s insignia – a mailed fist clutching olive branches and lightning bolts – let our enemies know what they had to choose from. And aside from a very bad stretch at its inception, SAC did its job magnificently. And it was led by a four-star general for most of its history.

via Meet the new CINC USAFGSC, same as the old CINC USAFGSC | Trust Me, I’m an NCO.

Mike’s new to blogging, but an old hand at the Air Force.

And he’s got quite a bit to say about the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, and the issues it has had, almost from its inception.

The great post-Cold War restructuring that led to the disestablishment of Strategic Air Command had one effect that quite a few people anticipated- that is, the use of dedicated nuclear assets to non-nuclear missions to the detriment of their ability to perform their prime mission.

You may not know this, but the B-1 bomber fleet does NOT have a nuclear mission. But the B-52 and the B-2 fleets do. But given that both have been used quite a bit in the conventional role (particularly the B-52s), it’s not unreasonable to see that they lack the focus needed under the old school nuclear surety rules.

And of course, the Minuteman III missile community has fared even worse, if for different reasons. Sitting in a nuclear launch complex has never been seen as particularly desirable duty, especially not in the Air Force, where if you weren’t a pilot, you were by definition a second class citizen. At least under SAC, the four star generals who ran the command always knew that the missile community was, really, the heart of the command, and went to considerable effort to make it a rewarding career path. Now, missile duty is seen almost as punishment.

Can the Air Force address these issues? They’ve been trying to for six years. That was the whole point of Global Strike Command.

But simply bumping the boss up a pay grade isn’t enough.

Lots of readers and commentors here make mention about the Air Force not wanting to do Close Air Support. But in fact, that’s virtually all they’ve done for almost a generation. What they really seem to lack interest in is Mission Number One, nuclear deterrence.

Click on through, and help Mike get used to being a blogger.

And a minor nit to pick, Mike- they aren’t CINCs anymore. Rumsfeld took away that title.

Via Funkers 350.

I’ve seen armored vehicles such as MTLBs used as SVBIEDs in Syria. This looks like a truck with home made armor plate to deflect small arms. What looks like an RPG hit appears to disable the vehicle well short of Peshmerga lines, and eventually the vehicle detonates, apparently to no effect on the Peshmerga.

For most of us, the sight of blue lights and yellow lines outside an airplane’s window is the cue to turn our phones back on. For pilots, it’s more like a secret language—a language that is vitally important to safety and, increasingly, embedded with emerging technology.

I was very recently on a plane circling over LGA when I realized I had no idea what any of the patterns, colors, or letters on the runway really meant. Take the lighting, for example. In Dubai this month, Honeywell finished up installing what it describes as the very first all-LED runway lighting system; like the rest of the world, airports are giving up their inefficient lightbulbs. Meanwhile, I—the average clueless and/or terrified passenger—couldn’t tell you whether a light on the runway was LED or incandescent.

I wanted to know more about the mysterious language. A Wired article from last year gave a few hints, along with the amazing Tumblr Holding Pattern. And it turns out that the Federal Aviation Administration keeps public guidelines for all of these design elements online. After digging into the FAA’s list of documents and exploring in Google Earth, this is what I found.

via A Beginner’s Guide to the Secret Language of Airport Runways.

Pilots at airports have all sorts of approach and departure diagrams. And of course, one of the handiest chart is the actual airport diagram. As big as some airports are, you really DO need a map to find your way to the gate.
I’m also surprised an article on runways and lighting didn’t touch on VASI.

Still trying to catch my breath after a busy (but great fun) weekend in San Diego. I’ll share some pics later, dear reader. For now…

Loren Thompson has some informed speculation on the Air Force’s future Long Range Strike-Bomber program, already colloquially known as the B-3.

———–

I’m not going to name names on who mistook a picture of an RAF Jaguar for an F-4 Phantom, but I will share a couple Jag vids, including the sea trials with the French Navy. Suffice to say, that small wing wasn’t happy to be around the boat.

———-

Carl Forsling looks at morale issues in the service. And I tend to agree with him.

———–

Like to hear about MiGs getting shot down? Here’s the audio of a division of A-1 Skyraiders taking out one or two MiG-17s over Vietnam.

I’m busy with social obligations today. So here’s a video. The AIM-120 AMRAAM entered service just too late for use in Desert Storm. But it didn’t take long before it made its combat debut, in use over Iraq enforcing the No Fly Zone imposed by the cease fire terms. An Iraqi MiG-25 darted across the line, and was rather promptly smacked by an F-16.

The Iwo Jima class LPH amphibious helicopter carriers were the first ships built from the keel up to support Marine amphibious assault via vertical envelopment (that’s helicopters). They were derived from a merchant design, as far as hull shape and propulsion. Their aviation facilities were, obviously, not civilian derived.

As I was walking Cabrillo National Monument this morning, I spied a large vessel under tow heading out from San Diego harbor.

That’s definitely an Iwo Jima class ship. Sorry for the poor picture quality, but the range was rather extreme, several miles at least, and my p-shop skills to enhance it are poor at best.

I think it’s probably the former USS Tripoli, but really don’t know. At any event, she’s on her last trip, all the way around the cape, and then to the breakers yard.