New Aircraft Types to Enter Service

Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James G. Roche revealed a list of new focus areas, as well as planned changes to existing systems and proposals for new aircraft that could significantly increase the service’s lethality and effectiveness.

The secretary laid out plans to improve special operations, close-air support and battlefield management systems and recommended a trio of new battle management aircraft. Dr. Roche made his remarks Feb. 12 at the Air Force Association’s 2004 Air Warfare Symposium in Lake Buena Vista (FL). Dr. Roche opened the symposium by explaining what direction he recommends the service takes regarding mission systems.

The first area the secretary said demanded increased investments and attention is special operations. He cited Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz who said the real success in Afghanistan was not limited to the Air Force’s ability to fly bombers halfway around the world, but that we had "brave men on the ground to direct that airpower."

"Wherever we fight in the future, the capabilities of our special operators will be integral to our success," Dr. Roche said. "As such, our special operators deserve Air Force focus and attention."

The special operations investments Dr. Roche recommended were:

• A new, medium lift personnel recovery vehicle to replace the aging HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter fleet.
• Replace the MH-35 Pave Low with the CV-22 Osprey.
• Replace the seven variants of the aging C-130 Hercules with a new aircraft, perhaps bridging the transformation with a new C-130.

"We also envision a future that includes unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely piloted aircraft playing an expanded role in special operations," Dr. Roche said. "The next gunship capability may work out to be a family of platforms that fuse manned and unmanned, lethal and non-lethal fires and state of the art intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies."

Another mission deserving special attention is close-air support, which, according to Dr. Roche, "reflects our desire for full integration with land forces, to include special forces, Army, Marines and coalition forces."

The battlefield air operations kit under development, and partially deployed, has reduced gear weight by 50 percent. Machine-to-machine equipment interfaces reduce the time it takes to link sensors to shooters by 40 percent. The Air Force is also investigating a portable unmanned aerial vehicle to extend sphere of influence and greatly increase situational awareness.

"We see a near-term future where they can designate a target up to 10 kilometers away, automatically communicate precise targeting coordinates to our aircraft, and receive an expected time of ‘weapons arrival’ in a conformation message," Dr. Roche said.

The secretary also wants to place these battlefield airmen into a family of warfare specializations.

"It is a new way of thinking," Dr. Roche said. “Just as we have a family of airmen we call ‘pilots’ with a variety of specialties -- helicopter, fighter, tanker, airlift, bomber -- we need to start thinking about these specialized warriors, these ‘battlefield airmen,’ in similar terms. We need to consolidate our battlefield airmen -- combat controllers, pararescue personell, combat weather, special tactics, and tactical air controllers -- under a common organizational and training structure, and strengthen the combat power they bring to the battlefield, whether it be in Air Combat Command or in Air Force Special Operations Command. Among other reasons, we should do this to provide career-based, tailored force development for each of them.”

The secretary also announced study teams that would consider options for systems that support those battlefield airmen, including:

• An initiative to create families of unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely piloted aircraft to support land combat.
• Improve a number of A-10 Thunderbolt IIs with sensor system upgrades, new engines and service-life extensions.
• A short take-off, vertical landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, with emphasis on short take-off and landing capability.

Dr. Roche then laid out a strategy to improve battle management using a trio of wide-body aircraft equipped with sensor technology and advanced command and control functions.

FMI: www.af.mil