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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1326.PDF
HEADLINES US Air Force claims AGM430 accuracy is proven in Yugoslavia DEEDEE DOKE/LONDON WITHIN FIVE months of firing for the first time in anger a Boeing AGM-130 preci sion-guided missile, the US Air Force says the weapon's "accuracy has been proven as advertised". First deployed against Iraq and now during Operation Allied force, the retargetable day-or- night AGM-130 is contributing to USAF claims that 99.93% of all weapons are not causing collateral damage. The USAF declines, how ever, to specify the number of AGM-130s dropped, or its precise accuracy rate. Only one 674-missile order has been placed with Boeing, but the weapon remains in production, opening the door for further USAF procurement. Deployed by Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle fighters, the stand-off missile is targeted using global posi tioning system satellite navigation co-ordinates. It can be redirected in inid-course by a weapons systems operator (WSO) via real-time tar geting information uploaded by datalink, until a "terminal phase a long time after launch as features become more apparent", says Frank Robbins, director of the pre cision strike programmes office at Eglin AFB, Florida. "I can't say it's an easy weapon to deploy," says a USAF F-15E WSO. "It takes training, and we practise it regularly. But, if you've got a precision-guided missile, it's easier because you don't have to go back there again." Zl Joint-STARS push begins RAMON LOPEZ/WASHINGTON DC PRESSURE IS mounting to restore the Northrop Grum man E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint- STARS) programme to a 19-air- craft purchase, as two of the four aircraft now in service support the air campaign over Yugoslavia. The Quadrennial Defense Review in 1997 cut six units from US Department of Defense plans, limiting it to 13 aircraft. A four teenth - which tracks moving ground targets - was included in the fiscal year 2 000 budget request. Senior US Air Force officials say they will seek more Joint-STARS until 19 aircraft are in service. Northrop Grumman is already funded for development of updates to the radar. Joint-STARS numbers were cut in response to NATO plans to pur chase six to 12 aircraft to satisfy its Airborne Ground Surveillance (AGS) requirement. The alliance has still to decide on system type and funding. The UK is also close to a deci sion on buying a small number of ground surveillance aircraft. US lawmakers are debating the doubling of the Clinton Admini stration's proposed $6 billion Kosovo emergency supplemental bill to accelerate weapons purchas es, includingJoint-STARS. Meanwhile, nine former senior US military commanders are urg ing defence secretary William Cohen either to promote an AGS solution fully compatible with Joint-STARS or to consider fur ther US production. They note that the Joint-STARS cut assumed a NATO purchase. . "Thirteen Joint-STARS is not enough to support prosecution of two nearly simultaneous major theatre wars in the absence of sim ilar capabilities provided by allies. Moreover, the alternatives being pursued by allies appear unlikely to provide systems fully interoperable with Joint-STARS,"they say. • Allies adapt weapons for Balkan air war GERT KROMHOUT/ISTRANA AB, ITALY T HE YUGOSLAV air war is forcing NATO air forces, such as the Dutch and French, to adapt to new weapons and systems while introducing recently quali fied equipment to combat. The French Ministry of Defence is preparing to send 20 more aircraft to Italy, joining 29 in theatre. These include Dassault Mirage 2000s and Sepecat Jaguars - with laser-designating pods and precision-guided munitions - as well as force multipliers such as tankers and a Boeing E-3 Sentry. Mirage 2000Ds are using for the first time the improved Thomson- Mirage 2()00Ds and Jaguars form the French element CSF PDLCT-S laser designator cleared for operation last year. The French air force mainly uses 400kg (8801b) and 1,000kg Matra BAe Dynamics laser-guided bombs and the US 220kg GBU-12. The Jag uar detachment commander says the French operational test estab lishment is testing the 450kg GBU-16 for use over the Balkans. Netherlands air force Lockheed Martin F-16AMs - aircraft which recently underwent the EuropeanMid Life Update - have started operations with the same manufactur er's LANTIRN targeting pods borrowed from the US Air Force. The pods are used with 900kg GBU-10s and GBU-12s. Ten LANTIRN pods are on order for deliver)' next year. Dutch F-16A(R)s began using Medium Altitude Reconnaissance System and Orpheus reconnais sance pods last month. Belgian F-16s, co-located with the Dutch, used precision-guided weapons in combat for the first time on 11 May. • Kosovo notes • NATO hits the Chinese em bassy in Belgrade .killing tiiree and causing a major diplomatic storm. Incorrect targeting was given as the cause of the attack. • Defence and foreign ministers of Western European Union countries underlined a commit ment to create effective European defence and security policies and forces. Apart from limited UK capabilities, the Yugoslav conflict has exposed the lack of European capability in precision stand-off weapons, large transports and sur veillance/reconnaissance assets. • The campaing passes 50 days of bombing and 20,000 sorties. Mission rate remains high when not hampered by "unfavourable weather". • NATO claims its 100th Yugoslav aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground after hitting five aircraft during attacks on air fields at Bajenica and Obvra. • US Secretary of Defense William Cohen warns the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Com mittee that the military is wearing out its systems and people too quickly, and should be given more people or fewer operations. • 645 US aircraft and 277 from other NATO nations are in-the- atre. Plans will increase that to 1,259 over the "next few weeks". • NATO reports that another unmanned air vehicle has been lost over Yugoslavia. I Unconfirmed reports indicate the Kosovo Liberation Army shot down a Serbian aircraft. • 6 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 19 - 25 May 1999
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