Category Archives: Fighter Pilot

Air Force 747 Shoots Down Missile

The Air Force announced that the YAL-1, or Airborne Laser, had successfully intercepted a representative ballistic missile in the boost phase, proving the concept of an aircraft based, directed energy anti-ballistic missile weapon system.  Pictures and video are available at the official site of the Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency.

Notwithstanding the historic strategic bombers, the YAL-1, which is a highly modified Boeing 747-400, is the largest aircraft to ever demonstrate an offensive “air to air” capability and is the only one to use directed energy to achieve a kinetic purpose.

Fighter pilot perspective:  If it can bring down a missile at range like that, imagine what it could do to bombers, fighters, UAVs, or even a variety of select ground targets…

MWR Facilities Removed from Afghanistan

As reported at the Air Force Times, Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) facilities are being removed from Afghanistan, consistent with General McChrystal’s previous guidance that the facilities–from Pizza Hut to new car sales–are detrimental to the warfighting spirit necessary for the expeditionary mindset:

“This is a war zone — not an amusement park,” [US Army Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall, the top U.S. enlisted man in Afghanistan] wrote.

(Yes, military members can purchase cars while deployed in combat areas, for delivery when they arrive home.  There are often special discounts and tax exemptions included in the deal, though that by no means guarantees a “steal.”)

Many facilities are exempt, as are some that are associated with other units.  The facilities affected by McChrystal’s order have 90 days to close.

Fighter Pilot Reaches 4000 hours

An Air Force article reports that LtCol Gary Middlebrooks has achieved 4,000 flight hours in the F-16 while deployed to Iraq.  Lockheed Martin, the contractor for the F-16, tracks such milestones and says that only 32 other pilots in the world have flown that many hours in the F-16.  (F-16.net also tracks Viper pilot hours.)

“Flight hours” are a fairly routine measure of a fighter pilot’s time in his aircraft.  While they do not directly correlate with maturity or experience, they do let everyone know how long a pilot has been associated with his airframe.  Part of the rarity of such a number Read more

Proposals for Huge Combat Pay, Small Annual Pay Raise

US Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-CA) has proposed increasing the amount of special military pays, most of which are directly related to combat deployments.  When US military members are deployed to combat areas, they receive several financial considerations:

  • Their military pay earned in the AOR is exempt from income taxes
  • They may be entitled to hostile fire pay, imminent danger pay, hazardous duty pay, and a family separation allowance.

Rep. McNerney’s proposal would make the following increases:  Read more

Russia Tests 5th Generation Fighter

Several news reports announced that Russia has tested a fighter intended to be in the class of the F-22. A picture in the Associated Press article published by Fox News shows the Russian T-50 with what is a fairly common Sukhoi profile (elongated fuselage and “goose neck” raised cockpit).  The aircraft appears to be twin-engine and twin-tail.

Oddly, fielding an aircraft that is supposed to rival the F-22 is a poor goal, since the Raptor is more than 20 years old. Skeptics said the T-50 was a pretty airframe with no notable avionics or even significantly updated engines.  Even more ironically, the Russian government is facing the same criticism as the US Defense Department did over the F-22:

“There is no mission and no adversary for such plane,” [Alexander] Konovalov [of the Institute of Strategic Assessment] said.

It would seem the challenges of defense technology and acquisition know no political boundaries.

World War 2 Ace, Fighter Pilot Dies

Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer, one of the original Tuskegee Airman and a fighter pilot, died on Wednesday, 27 January 2010.  The 90 year old was reportedly the “first and only black ace pilot.”  A fellow Tuskegee Airman estimated that 50 to 60 of the nearly 1,000 original pilots remain alive.  (The 332nd Fighter Group, which was composed of the Tuskegee squadrons, was reactivated in 2004 as an Expeditionary Air Wing in Iraq.  The wing held a memorial service in Iraq for LtCol Archer.)

Like the Doolittle Raiders, of whom only 8 survive of the 80 crew members, the original Tuskegee Airmen and their fellow World War Army Air Corps pilots served as inspirations to generations of men and women who would fly and fight for their country.  Though they are increasingly few in number, those who fought to preserve the free world in the early 20th century–many of whom did not return–are an irreplaceable part of the American heritage.  Their legacy, and their legend, should not be forgotten.

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