1.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
2.
Ryan Firebee
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The Ryan Firebee was a series of target drones developed by the Ryan Aeronautical Company beginning in 1951. It was one of the first jet-propelled drones, and one of the most widely used target drones ever built, the Firebee I was the result of a 1948 US Air Force request and contract to Ryan for a jet-powered gunnery target. The first flight of the XQ-2 Firebee prototype took place in early 1951, the drone featured swept flight surfaces and a circular nose inlet. The initial models had distinctive arrowhead shaped endplates on the tailplane, the Firebee could be air-launched, specially modified Douglas A-26 Invader bombers being first used for this, or ground-launched with a single RATO booster. Following successful evaluation, the target was ordered into production for the USAF as the Q-2A, powered by a Continental J69-T-19B turbojet engine, the Air Force then obtained small numbers of a Q-2B with a more powerful engine for high-altitude performance. The US Navy bought the Firebee as the KDA-1, with much the appearance as the Q-2A, differing mainly in that the powerplant was a Fairchild J44-R-20B turbojet. The KDA-1 could be distinguished from the Q-2A from the fact that the KDA-1 had an inlet centerbody, the US Army also obtained a version designated the XM21 that differed from the KDA-1 only in minor details. The Navy obtained several improved variants zob of the KDA-1, including the XKDA-2 and XKDA-3, which were not built in quantity, and the KDA-4 and these variants were hard to distinguish from the KDA-1, differing mainly in successively uprated J44 engines and minor changes. In the late 1950s, the USAF awarded Ryan a contract for an improved second generation Firebee. The initial prototype performed its first flight in late 1958 and went into production in 1960, in 1963, it was redesignated the BQM-34A. The old first-generation KDA-1 and KDA-4 targets that were flying with the Navy were then, somewhat confusingly, given the designations AQM-34B. It was powered by a Continental J69-T-29A turbojet, a copy of the improved Turbomeca Gourdon derivative of the Marbore, the Navy also adopted the BQM-34A, while the Army obtained a ground-launched version designated MQM-34D, with longer wings and a heavier JATO booster. Since most modern pictures of Firebees show the ventral fin, this may have due to production changes of some sort. Sources are not clear on the issue, in 1960, the first stealth technology development program was initiated by USAF, by reducing the radar cross-section of a Q-2C drone. This was achieved through specially designed screens over the air intake, radar-absorbent material on the fuselage, in the meantime, the Navy upgraded their BQM-34As with improved avionics, which were then designated BQM-34S. In the early 1980s, the Navy also began to refit these with the uprated J69-T-41A engine, the Air Force began to update their BQM-34As with improved avionics, and fitted them with the J85-GE-7 engine. The new engine was fitted without major changes in the airframe. BQM-34A production ended in 1982, but the line was reopened in 1986 to produce more BQM-34S targets
3.
Target drone
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A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee and its name led to the present term drone. In their simplest form, target drones often resemble radio-controlled model aircraft, more modern drones may use countermeasures, radar, and similar systems to mimic manned aircraft. More advanced drones are made large, older missiles which have had their warheads removed. In the United Kingdom, obsolete Royal Air Force and Royal Navy jet and propeller-powered aircraft have also modified into remote controlled drones
4.
Aircraft
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An aircraft is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the lift of an airfoil. The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation, crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as type, aircraft propulsion, usage. Each of the two World Wars led to technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras, Pioneers of flight, first World War,1914 to 1918. Aviation between the World Wars,1918 to 1939, Second World War,1939 to 1945. Postwar era, also called the jet age,1945 to the present day, aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, a balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – usually fixed-wing. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. – though none had yet been built, the advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by an outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a balloon is an aerostat and an airship is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible, sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship. Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back and these soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was adopted for tethered balloons, in windy weather
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Lockheed Corporation
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The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995, the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in San Francisco in 1912 by the brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead. Following the Model F-1, the company invested heavily in the design, however, the asking price of $2500 could not compete in a market that was saturated with post World War 1 $350 Curtiss JN-4s and De Haviland trainers. The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1921, in 1926, Allan Loughead, Jack Northrop, and Kenneth Jay secured funding to form the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Hollywood. This new company utilized some of the technology originally developed for the Model S-1 to design the Vega Model. In March 1928, the relocated to Burbank, California. From 1926-28 the company produced over 80 aircraft and employed more than 300 workers who by April 1929 were building five aircraft per week, in July 1929, majority shareholder Fred Keeler sold 87% of the Lockheed Aircraft Company to Detroit Aircraft Corporation. In August 1929, Allan Lockheed resigned, the Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000, ironically, Allan Lockheed himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised only $50,000, which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid. In 1934, Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and his brother Courtlandt S. Gross was a co-founder and executive, succeeding Robert as Chairman following his death in 1961. The company was named the Lockheed Corporation in 1977, in the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 to develop the Model 10 Electra, a small twin-engined transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production, amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew it in their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in 1937. Subsequent designs, the Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior and the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra expanded their market. The Lockheed Model 14 formed the basis for the Hudson bomber and its primary role was submarine hunting. The Model 14 Super Electra were sold abroad, and more than 100 were license-built in Japan for use by the Imperial Japanese Army, the P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day. It filled ground-attack, air-to-air, and even strategic bombing roles in all theaters of the war in which the United States operated, the Lockheed Vega factory was located next to Burbanks Union Airport which it had purchased in 1940. During the war, the area was camouflaged to fool enemy aerial reconnaissance
7.
United States Air Force
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The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947. It is the most recent branch of the U. S. military to be formed, the U. S. Air Force is a military service organized within the Department of the Air Force, one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Air Force is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the Secretary of Defense, the U. S. Air Force provides air support for surface forces and aids in the recovery of troops in the field. As of 2015, the service more than 5,137 military aircraft,406 ICBMs and 63 military satellites. It has a $161 billion budget with 313,242 active duty personnel,141,197 civilian employees,69,200 Air Force Reserve personnel, and 105,500 Air National Guard personnel. According to the National Security Act of 1947, which created the USAF and it shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air operations. The stated mission of the USAF today is to fly, fight, and win in air, space and we will provide compelling air, space, and cyber capabilities for use by the combatant commanders. We will excel as stewards of all Air Force resources in service to the American people, while providing precise and reliable Global Vigilance, Reach and it should be emphasized that the core functions, by themselves, are not doctrinal constructs. The purpose of Nuclear Deterrence Operations is to operate, maintain, in the event deterrence fails, the US should be able to appropriately respond with nuclear options. Dissuading others from acquiring or proliferating WMD, and the means to deliver them, moreover, different deterrence strategies are required to deter various adversaries, whether they are a nation state, or non-state/transnational actor. Nuclear strike is the ability of forces to rapidly and accurately strike targets which the enemy holds dear in a devastating manner. Should deterrence fail, the President may authorize a precise, tailored response to terminate the conflict at the lowest possible level, post-conflict, regeneration of a credible nuclear deterrent capability will deter further aggression. Finally, the Air Force regularly exercises and evaluates all aspects of operations to ensure high levels of performance. Nuclear surety ensures the safety, security and effectiveness of nuclear operations, the Air Force, in conjunction with other entities within the Departments of Defense or Energy, achieves a high standard of protection through a stringent nuclear surety program. The Air Force continues to pursue safe, secure and effective nuclear weapons consistent with operational requirements, adversaries, allies, and the American people must be highly confident of the Air Forces ability to secure nuclear weapons from accidents, theft, loss, and accidental or unauthorized use. This day-to-day commitment to precise and reliable nuclear operations is the cornerstone of the credibility of the NDO mission, positive nuclear command, control, communications, effective nuclear weapons security, and robust combat support are essential to the overall NDO function. OCA is the method of countering air and missile threats, since it attempts to defeat the enemy closer to its source
8.
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
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The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac and it is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over forty variants and versions of the Hercules, including a civilian one marketed as the Lockheed L-100, the C-130 entered service with the U. S. in the 1950s, followed by Australia and others. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in numerous military, the C-130 Hercules is the longest continuously produced military aircraft at over 60 years, with the updated Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules currently being produced. The new transport would have a capacity of 92 passengers,72 combat troops or 64 paratroopers in a compartment that was approximately 41 feet long,9 feet high. Unlike transports derived from passenger airliners, it was to be designed from the ground-up as a transport with loading from a hinged loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage. A key feature was the introduction of the Allison T56 turboprop powerplant, as was the case on helicopters of that era, such as the UH-1 Huey, turboshafts produced much more power for their weight than piston engines. Lockheed would subsequently use the engines and technology in the Lockheed L-188 Electra. The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter also had a ramp, which made it possible to drive vehicles onto the plane. The ramp on the Hercules was also used to airdrop cargo, the new Lockheed cargo plane design possessed a range of 1,100 nmi, takeoff capability from short and unprepared strips, and the ability to fly with one engine shut down. Fairchild, North American, Martin, and Northrop declined to participate, the remaining five companies tendered a total of ten designs, Lockheed two, Boeing one, Chase three, Douglas three, and Airlifts Inc. one. The contest was an affair between the lighter of the two Lockheed proposals and a four-turboprop Douglas design. The Lockheed design team was led by Willis Hawkins, starting with a 130-page proposal for the Lockheed L-206, both Hibbard and Johnson signed the proposal and the company won the contract for the now-designated Model 82 on 2 July 1951. The first flight of the YC-130 prototype was made on 23 August 1954 from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, the aircraft, serial number 53-3397, was the second prototype, but the first of the two to fly. The YC-130 was piloted by Stanley Beltz and Roy Wimmer on its 61-minute flight to Edwards Air Force Base, Jack Real, kelly Johnson flew chase in a Lockheed P2V Neptune. After the two prototypes were completed, production began in Marietta, Georgia, where over 2,300 C-130s have been built through 2009. The initial production model, the C-130A, was powered by Allison T56-A-9 turboprops with three-blade propellers, deliveries began in December 1956, continuing until the introduction of the C-130B model in 1959. Some A-models were equipped with skis and re-designated C-130D, four-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers replaced the Aeroproducts three-blade propellers that distinguished the earlier A-models
9.
Unmanned aerial vehicle
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An unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system, which include a UAV, a controller. The flight of UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy, either under control by a human operator, or fully or intermittently autonomously. Compared to manned aircraft, UAVs are often preferred for missions too dull, civilian drones now vastly outnumber military drones, with estimates of over a million sold by 2015. Multiple terms are used for unmanned vehicles, which generally refer to the same concept. The term drone, more used by the public, was coined in reference to the resemblance of navigation. The term has encountered opposition from aviation professionals and government regulators. This term emphasizes the importance of other than the aircraft. It includes elements such as ground stations, data links. A similar term is a vehicle system remotely piloted aerial vehicle. Many similar terms are in use, therefore, missiles are not considered UAVs because the vehicle itself is a weapon that is not reused, though it is also unmanned and in some cases remotely guided. The relation of UAVs to remote controlled model aircraft is unclear, UAVs may or may not include model aircraft. Some jurisdictions base their definition on size or weight, however, a radio-controlled aircraft becomes a drone with the addition of an autopilot artificial intelligence, and ceases to be a drone when an AI is removed. In 1849 Austria sent unmanned, bomb-filled balloons to attack Venice, UAV innovations started in the early 1900s and originally focused on providing practice targets for training military personnel. UAV development continued during World War I, when the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company invented a pilotless aerial torpedo that would explode at a preset time, the earliest attempt at a powered UAV was A. M. Lows Aerial Target in 1916. Nikola Tesla described a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles in 1915. Advances followed during and after World War I, including the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane, the first scaled remote piloted vehicle was developed by film star and model-airplane enthusiast Reginald Denny in 1935. More emerged during World War II – used both to train gunners and to fly attack missions
10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
11.
1960 U-2 incident
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Powers parachuted safely and was captured. The U-2 flew at altitudes that could not be reached by Soviet fighter jets of the era, a facility established in Badaber,10 miles from Peshawar, was a cover for a major communications intercept operation run by the United States National Security Agency. Badaber was an excellent location because of its proximity to Soviet central Asia and this enabled the monitoring of missile test sites, key infrastructure and communications. The U-2 spy-in-the-sky was allowed to use the Pakistan Air Force portion of Peshawar Airport to gain photo intelligence in an era before satellite observation. At a time like the Cold War, any act of aggression could spark open conflict between the two countries, with the United Kingdom still reeling from the aftermath of the Suez Crisis and in no position to snub American requests, the British government was amenable to the proposal. The final two missions before the summit were to be flown by American pilots, the U-2 left Soviet air space and landed at an Iranian airstrip at Zahedan. It was clear that the U. S, Central Intelligence Agency had successfully performed an extraordinary intelligence operation. The next flight of the U-2 spyplane from Peshawar airport was planned for late April, Lockheed U-2C spy plane, Article 358, was ferried from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to the US base at Peshawar airport by pilot Glen Dunaway. Fuel for the aircraft had been ferried to Peshawar the previous day in a US Air Force C-124 transport, a US Air Force C-130 followed, carrying the ground crew, mission pilot Francis Gary Powers, and the back up pilot, Bob Ericson. On the morning of 29 April, the crew in Badaber was informed that the mission had been delayed one day, as a result, Bob Ericson flew Article 358 back to Incirlik and John Shinn ferried another U-2C, Article 360, from Incirlik to Peshawar. On 30 April, the mission was delayed one day further because of bad weather over the Soviet Union, at the time, the USSR had six ICBM launch pads, two at Baikonur and four at Plesetsk. Mayak, then named Chelyabinsk-65, an important industrial center of plutonium processing, was another of the targets that Powers was to photograph. A close study of Powerss account of the shows that one of the last targets he overflew. Because of the U-2s extreme operating altitude, Soviet attempts to intercept the plane using fighter aircraft failed. The U-2s course was out of range of several of the nearest SAM sites, the U-2 was eventually brought down near Kosulino, Ural Region, by the first of three SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missiles fired by a battery commanded by Mikhail Voronov. The SA-2 site had previously identified by the CIA, using photos taken during Vice President Richard Nixons visit to Sverdlovsk the previous summer. Powers bailed out but neglected to disconnect his oxygen hose first and struggled with it until it broke, Powers was captured soon after parachuting safely down onto Russian soil. Powers carried with him a silver dollar which contained a lethal, shellfish-derived saxitoxin-tipped needle
12.
S-75 Dvina
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The S-75 Dvina is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Since its first deployment in 1957 it has become the most widely deployed air defence system in history and this success was attributed to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time in order to keep the S-75 program secret. The system was deployed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. North Vietnamese forces used the S-75 extensively during the Vietnam War to defend Hanoi and it has also been locally produced in the Peoples Republic of China using the names HQ-1 and HQ-2. In the early 1950s, the United States Air Force rapidly accelerated its development of jet bombers carrying nuclear weapons. The USAF program led to the deployment of Boeing B-47 Stratojet supported by aerial refueling aircraft to extend its range deep into the Soviet Union, the USAF quickly followed the B-47 with the development of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which had greater range and payload than the B-47. The range, speed, and payload of these U. S. bombers posed a significant threat to the Soviet Union in the event of a war between the two countries, consequently, the Soviets initiated the development of improved air defence systems. Although the Soviet Air Defence Forces had large numbers of artillery, including radar-directed batteries. Therefore, the Soviet Air Defence Forces began the development of systems to replace the World War II-vintage gun defences. In 1953, KB-2 began the development of what became the S-75 under the direction of Pyotr Grushin and this program focused on producing a missile which could bring down a large, non-maneuvering, high-altitude aircraft. As such it did not need to be maneuverable, merely fast. For such a system, development proceeded rapidly, and testing began a few years later. In 1957, the public first became aware of the S-75 when the missile was shown at that years May Day parade in Moscow. Wide-scale deployment started in 1957, with various upgrades following over the few years. The S-75 was never meant to replace the S-25 Berkut surface-to-air missile sites around Moscow, between mid-1958 and 1964, U. S. intelligence assets located more than 600 S-75 sites in the USSR. These sites tended to cluster around population centers, industrial complexes, a ring of sites was also located around likely bomber routes into the Soviet heartland. By the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union had ended the deployment of the S-75 with perhaps 1,000 operational sites, in addition to the Soviet Union, several S-75 batteries were deployed during the 1960s in East Germany to protect Soviet forces stationed in that country. Later the system was sold to most Warsaw Pact countries and was provided to China, North Korea, the aircraft was hit by a Chinese-operated S-75 site near Beijing on October 7,1959
13.
Surface-to-air missile
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A surface-to-air missile, or ground-to-air missile, is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of system, in modern armed forces, missiles have replaced most other forms of dedicated antiaircraft weapons. The first serious attempts at SAM development took place during World War II, further development in the 1940s and 1950s led to the first operational systems being introduced by most major forces during the second half of the 1950s. Smaller systems, suitable for work, evolved through the 1960s and 1970s. The American Nike Ajax was the first operational guided missile SAM system, widely used modern examples include the Patriot and S-300 wide-area systems, SM-6 naval missiles, and short-range man-portable systems like the Stinger and Strela-3. The first known idea for a guided missile was in 1925. A selenium cell was mounted on the tip of each of the rockets four tail fins, when one selenium cell was no longer in the light beam, it would be steered in the opposite direction back into the beam. During World War II, efforts were started to develop surface-to-air missiles as it was considered that flak was of little use against bombers of ever-increasing performance. The lethal radius of a shell is fairly small. Against the Boeing B-17, which operated just within the range of the numerous German eighty-eights flak guns, bombers flying at higher altitudes require larger guns and shells to reach them. This greatly increases the cost of the system, and slows the rate of fire, faster aircraft fly out of range more quickly, reducing the number of rounds fired against them. Against late-war designs like the Boeing B-29 Superfortress or jet-powered designs like the Arado Ar 234, the first serious consideration of a SAM development project was a series of conversations that took place in Germany during 1941. Von Braun became convinced a better solution was a manned rocket interceptor, the directors of the Luftwaffe flak arm were not interested in manned aircraft, and the resulting disagreements between the teams delayed serious consideration of a SAM for two years. None of these saw any real development until 1943, when the first large-scale raids by the Allied air forces started. As the urgency of the problem grew, new designs were added, including Enzian and Rheintochter, in general, these designs could be split into two groups. One set of designs would be boosted to altitude in front of the bombers and these designs included the Feuerlilie, Schmetterling and Enzian. The second group were high-speed missiles, typically supersonic, that flew directly towards their targets from below, both types used radio control for guidance, either by eye, or by comparing the returns of the missile and target on a single radar screen. Development of all systems was carried out at the same time
14.
Aerial reconnaissance
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Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. This role can fulfil a variety of requirements, including the collection of intelligence, observation of enemy maneuvers. The balloon found its first use in the 1794 conflict with Austria, moreover, the presence of the balloon had a demoralizing effect on the Austrian troops which improved the likelihood of victory for the French troops. After the invention of photography, primitive aerial photographs were made of the ground from manned and unmanned balloons, starting in the 1860s, an example was Arthur Batuts kite-borne camera photographs of Labruguière starting from 1889. In the early 20th century, Julius Neubronner experimented with pigeon photography, the pigeons carried small cameras with timers. Ludwig Rahrmann in 1891 patented a means of attaching a camera to a large calibre artillery projectile or rocket, Alfred Nobel in 1896 had already built the first rocket carrying a camera, which took photographs of the Swedish landscape during its flights. The first use of airplanes in combat missions was by the Italian Air Force during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912, on 23 October 1911, an Italian pilot, Capt. The use of aerial photography rapidly matured during the First World War, as used for reconnaissance purposes were outfitted with cameras to record enemy movements. At the start of the conflict, the usefulness of aerial photography was not fully appreciated, frederick Charles Victor Laws started experiments in aerial photography in 1912 with No.1 Squadron RAF using the British dirigible Beta. The dirigibles were eventually allocated to the Royal Navy, so Laws formed the first aerial unit of fixed-wing aircraft. Germany was one of the first countries to adopt the use of a camera for aerial reconnaissance, opting for a Görz, French Military Aviation began the war with several squadrons of Bleriot observation planes, equipped with cameras for reconnaissance. The French Army developed procedures for getting prints into the hands of field commanders in record time, the camera was inserted into the floor of the aircraft and could be triggered by the pilot at intervals. In 1916, the Austro-Hungarian Empire made vertical camera axis aerial photos above Italy for map-making. In January 1918, General Allenby used five Australian pilots from No.1 Squadron AFC to photograph a 624 square miles area in Palestine as an aid to correcting and improving maps of the Turkish front and this was a pioneering use of aerial photography as an aid for cartography. Beginning 5 January, they flew with an escort to ward off enemy fighters. In 1928, the RAF developed a heating system for the aerial camera. This allowed reconnaissance aircraft to take pictures from very high altitudes without the camera parts freezing, although this seems obvious now, with modern reconnaissance tasks performed by fast, high flying aircraft, at the time it was radical thinking. They proposed the use of Spitfires with their armament and radios removed and replaced with extra fuel and this led to the development of the Spitfire PR variants
15.
Ryan Model 147
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The Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug was a drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle, developed from the earlier Ryan Firebee target drone series. In 1959, Ryan Aeronautical performed a study to investigate how the companys Firebee target drone could be used for reconnaissance missions. Ryan engineers concluded they could increase the Firebees range to allow it to fly south over the Soviet Union after launch from the Barents Sea, the Firebee has a low radar cross-section, making it hard to detect. With lengthened wings, the drone would also be able to fly at high altitude and it could be launched by a Lockheed DC-130 Hercules, or JATO-boosted from a land site or ship. Ryan presented its report on the studies to the US Air Force in mid-April 1960, meanwhile, on 1 May 1960, an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR, and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, captured. On 1 July, a Boeing RB-47 reconnaissance aircraft flying an electronic intelligence mission in international airspace near the Soviet border was shot down, four of its crew were killed and the other two captured. A few days later, the Air Force awarded Ryan a $200,000 USD contract to further studies. Test flights of the modified Firebees were performed in September and October 1961, the flights were given a cover story, describing the drones as high-altitude targets for surface-to-air missiles, in case one of them came down in a public area. The flights demonstrated that the modifications did not compromise the Firebees performance, Ryan actually wanted to build a completely new drone, the Ryan Model 136, for the reconnaissance mission. The incoming Kennedy Administration was certain to reassess many military projects, Ryan then proposed another drone named Lucy Lee, which was a highly modified Firebee intended to perform photographic and signals intelligence reconnaissance from outside Soviet airspace. Lucy Lee seemed to be on track, but was abruptly cancelled in January 1962. The whole idea of reconnaissance drones seemed to be completely dead, the Air Force went for the cheapest option, a reconnaissance drone based on a Firebee with minimal changes. A $1.1 million USD contract was issued on 2 February 1962, the modified Firebees were funded from a program named Big Safari, established in the 1950s to fund fast-track conversions of existing aircraft for the reconnaissance mission. Big Safari would continue to work on reconnaissance drones during the Vietnam War, the new reconnaissance drones were designated Model 147A and codenamed Fire Fly. Specifications dictated a 1,200 mile range and an altitude of 55,000 feet. The first Model 147A was a standard Firebee with a new system, consisting of no more than a timer-programmer, a gyrocompass. The Fire Fly could be programmed to fly in a direction at a certain altitude for a certain time. This aircraft was intended only as a demonstrator, to evaluate the new guidance system, the second Model 147A had an 35-inch plug inserted into the fuselage to carry an additional 68 US gallons of fuel, increasing the length from 22 to 25 feet
16.
North Korea
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North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang is both the capital as well as its largest city. To the north and northwest the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok, the country is bordered to the south by South Korea, with the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone separating the two. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948 two separate governments were formed, the communist Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in the north, an invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, and no peace treaty was ever signed. North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state and formally holds elections, critics regard it as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various outlets have called it Stalinist, particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung, International organizations have assessed human rights violations in North Korea as belonging to a category of their own, with no parallel in the contemporary world. Over time, North Korea has gradually distanced itself from the world communist movement, Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution as a creative application of Marxism–Leninism in 1972. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises, most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production are subsidized or state-funded. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered from a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 0.24 and 3.5 million people, and the continues to struggle with food production. North Korea follows Songun, or military-first policy and it is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. Its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, North Korea is an atheist state with no official religion and where public religion is discouraged. The name Korea derives from the name Goryeo, the name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a shortened form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea, Chosun or Joseon in North Korea, in 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as its new legal name. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was occupied by Japan, Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy primarily for its own benefit. Korean resistance groups known as Dongnipgun operated along the Sino-Korean border, some of them took part in allied action in China and parts of South East Asia. One of the leaders was the communist Kim Il-sung, who later became the leader of North Korea
17.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
18.
Gulf of Tonkin incident
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The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, drew the U. S. more directly into the Vietnam War. It involved two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, the original U. S. Maddox fired three warning shots and the North Vietnamese boats then attacked with torpedoes and machine gun fire. Maddox expended over 280 3-inch and 5-inch shells in what was claimed to be a sea battle. One U. S. aircraft was damaged, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were said to have been killed. Maddox was unscathed except for a bullet hole from a Vietnamese machine gun round. The resolution served as Johnsons legal justification for deploying U. S. conventional forces, in 1995, former Secretary of Defense McNamara met with former Vietnam Peoples Army General Võ Nguyên Giáp to ask what happened on August 4,1964 in the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Giáp claimed that the attack had been imaginary, the report stated, regarding the first incident on August 2, that at 1500G, Captain Herrick ordered Ogiers gun crews to open fire if the boats approached within ten thousand yards. At about 1505G, Maddox fired three rounds to warn off the communist boats and this initial action was never reported by the Johnson administration, which insisted that the Vietnamese boats fired first. It also forbade the political interference of other countries in the area, the creation of new governments without the stipulated elections, and foreign military presence. By 1961, President Ngo Dinh Diem faced significant discontent among some quarters of the southern population, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurred during the first year of the Johnson administration. Shortly before his assassination, in November 1963, Kennedy had begun a limited recall of U. S. forces, Johnsons views were likewise complex, but he had supported military escalation as a means of challenging what was perceived to be the Soviet Unions expansionist policies. The Cold War policy of containment was to be applied to prevent the fall of Southeast Asia to communism under the precepts of the domino theory. After Kennedys assassination, Johnson ordered in more U. S. forces to support the Saigon government, in 1964 the program was transferred to the Defense Department and conducted by the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group. For the maritime portion of the operation, a set of fast patrol boats had been purchased quietly from Norway. In 1963 three young Norwegian skippers traveled on a mission in South Vietnam and they were recruited for the job by the Norwegian intelligence officer Alf Martens Meyer. Martens Meyer, who was head of department at the intelligence staff. The three skippers did not know who Meyer really was when they agreed to a job that involved them in missions against North Vietnam. Four years later, Secretary McNamara admitted to Congress that the U. S. ships had in fact been cooperating in the South Vietnamese attacks against North Vietnam, Maddox, although aware of the operations, was not directly involved
19.
Strategic Air Command
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At a lower echelon, headquarters divisions included Aircraft Engineering, Missile Concept, and Strategic Communications. In 1992, as part of an overall post-Cold War reorganization of the U. S. Planning to reorganize for a separate and independent postwar U. S. Air Force had begun by the fall of 1945, with the Simpson Board tasked to plan. the reorganization of the Army, SAC initially totaled 37,000 USAAF personnel. S. Air Force as an independent service, kenney, initial units reporting to the Strategic Air Command headquarters on 21 March 1946 included the Second Air Force, the IX Troop Carrier Command and the 73d Air Division. In addition to the bombing mission, SAC also devoted significant resources to aerial reconnaissance. An F-13 squadron, the F-13 later re-designated as the RB-29 Superfortress, was also established, SAC conducted routine aerial reconnaissance missions near the Soviet borders or near the 12-mile international waters limit, although some missions actually penetrated into Soviet airspace. The flight profiles of these missions—above 30,000 feet and in excess of 300 knots—made interception by Soviet air forces difficult until the Soviets 1948 introduction of the MiG-15 jet fighter. Project Nanook, the Cold War’s first Top Secret reconnaissance effort, used the first RB-29 missions for mapping and visual reconnaissance in the Arctic, later missions were Project LEOPARD along the Chukchi Peninsula, followed by Projects RICKRACK, STONEWORK, and COVERALLS. In 1946, the US possessed only nine atomic bombs and twenty-seven B-29s capable at any one time of delivering them, unfortunately, postwar budget and personnel cuts had had an insidious effect on SAC as its Deputy Commander, Major General Clements McMullen, implemented mandated force reductions. This continued to wear down SAC as a command and morale plummeted, as a result, by the end of 1947, only two of SACs eleven groups were combat ready. In terms of overall Air Force basing and infrastructure, SAC continued to acquire a share of USAF infrastructure. In 1947, before the USAF was established as an independent service, construction commenced on Limestone AAF, Maine, fort Dix AAF, New Jersey, Spokane AAF, Washington, and Wendover Field, Utah were also transferred to SAC between 30 April and 1 September 1947. Following establishment of the USAF as a service, SAC bases in the United States consisted of
20.
100th Air Refueling Wing
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The 100th Air Refueling Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Third Air Force, United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa. It is stationed at RAF Mildenhall, England and it is also the host wing at RAF Mildenhall. The 100 ARW is the only permanent U. S. air refueling wing in the European theater, during World War II, its predecessor unit, the 100th Bombardment Group, was an Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England, stationed at RAF Thorpe Abbotts. Flying over 300 combat missions, the group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations, the group suffered tremendous losses in combat, with 177 Aircraft MIA, flying its last mission on 20 April 1945. One of the wings honors is that it is the only modern USAF operational wing allowed to display on its aircraft the tail code of its World War II predecessor. USAFEs only KC-135 air refueling wing, it is responsible for U. S. aerial refueling operations conducted throughout the European theater, the unit supports some 16,000 personnel, including Third Air Force, four geographically separated units, and 15 associated units. The group remained unmanned until 27 October 1942, when a number of men transferred from the 29th Bombardment Group to Gowen Field, Idaho. Following receipt of crews and aircraft, the 100th BG relocated to Wendover Field, Utah, on 30 November where it added additional personnel, aircraft, crews, in both instances, members of the 100th BG assisted in air and ground training for other groups bound for overseas. In mid-April, the aircrew element joined its ground echelon at Kearney, after additional training, the groups aircrews departed Kearney on 25 May 1943, flying the North Atlantic route to England and into the war in Europe. Prior to the departure of aircraft and aircrews from Kearney, the 100 BGs ground echelon departed for the East Coast on 2 May 1943, on 27 May 1943, the ground personnel set sail aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth bound for Podington, England from New York. On 25 June 1943, the 100 BG flew its first Eighth Air Force combat mission in a bombing of the Bremen U-boat yards – the beginning of the Bloody Hundredths legacy. The group inherited the Bloody Hundredth nickname from other groups due to the amount of losses it took. From January–May 1944, the 100th BG regularly bombed airfields, industries, marshaling yards, the group participated in the Allied campaign against German aircraft factories, Operation Argument, during Big Week in the last week of February 1944. In March 1944, aircrews completed a succession of attacks on Berlin, the next month aircrews bombed enemy positions at Saint-Lô, followed by similar campaigns at Brest in August and September. The 100 BG flew its last combat mission of World War II on 20 April 1945, the following month the units aircrews dropped food to the people in the west of the Netherlands, and in June transported French Allied former prisoners of war from Austria to France. In December 1945, the returned to the U. S. where it inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. On 29 May 1947, Headquarters Army Air Forces reactivated the 100 BG at Miami Army Air Field, from the time of its activation the group trained and operated as a reserve B-29 Superfortress unit being attached to the 49th Bombardment Wing. It is not clear whether or not the unit was manned or equipped
21.
432d Wing
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The 432d Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command, stationed at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada. The group operates unmanned reconnaissance aircraft which provide real-time reconnaissance, surveillance, the 432d Wing is the first United States Air Force wing dedicated to unmanned aircraft systems. The wing stood up 1 May 2007 at Creech Air Force Base, the 432d is the first wing totally dedicated to operating remotely piloted aircraft, the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, and RQ-170 Sentinel. The wing has flown aircraft in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom for intelligence surveillance reconnaissance and tactical missions, flown by pilots, the 432d is authorized 160 Predator and 60 Reapers. As of May 2007,6 Reapers and about 85 Predators have been delivered with half of the Predators deployed forward in the United States Central Command area of operations, the wing is expected to fly 12 combat air mission in Iraq and Afghanistan each day. The wing includes several operational squadrons and a maintenance squadron, there are 440 aircrew members, about half of whom are pilots and the other half sensor operators. There are also 450 maintenance personnel, half of whom are contractors and it served as the operational training unit of the USAAF School of Applied Tactics at Keystone Army Air Field, Florida. The group trained and provided reconnaissance to assist fighter, bombardment, Aircraft included Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter and Aeronca L-3 Grasshopper light observation aircraft. The group was disbanded on 1 November 1943, on 23 March 1953, the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Group was activated at Shaw Air Force Base]], South Carolina. The 432ds mission at Shaw was to assume the reconnaissance training mission that was handled previously by the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, the group initially conducted training with two squadrons flying the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash and two squadrons flying the Martin RB-57A Canberra. In 1957, the group upgraded the 20th and 29th to the McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo, when elevated to the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing on 8 February 1958, the wing operated the USAF Advanced Flying Training School, Tactical Reconnaissance. With the elevation to wing status, the 432d TFW was realigned to a four squadron RF-101C wing, from 8 February 1958 to 18 June 1959 the wing was supervised by the 837th Air Division. In a budgetary move, the 432d TRW was inactivated on 8 April 1959, on 18 September 1966, the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing was activated at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand as an Douglas RF-4C Phantom II wing. The wing assumed the personnel, aircraft and equipment of the 6234th Tactical Fighter Wing, at Udon, it became one of the most diversified units of its size in the Air Force. The wing had numerous missions in the support area, the 432d TRW accounted for more than 80 percent of all reconnaissance activity over North Vietnam. In addition to the mission, the 432d also had a tactical fighter squadron component. The squadrons flew missions over North Vietnam and the pilots. In 1968, the 7th Airborne Command and Control Squadron, flying specialized Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft, the squadron had been attached to the wing as a temporary duty unit from Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam
22.
Tactical Air Command
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Tactical Air Command is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base and it was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command. Tactical Air Command was established to provide a balance between strategic, air defense, and tactical forces of the post–World War II U. S. Army Air Forces followed by, in 1947, the U. S. Air Force. In 1948, the Continental Air Command assumed control over air defense, tactical air, after two years in a subordinate role, Tactical Air Command was established as a major command. World War II showed the effectiveness of air power in supporting army ground forces. However, the demobilization in late 1945 meant that the huge air armada that had brought Germany to her knees. Following the end of World War II, Headquarters United States Army Air Forces had little funding and most wartime personnel had been released from active duty and returned to civilian life. Many USAAF aircraft were being sent to storage or scrapyards, although the tension with the Soviet Union meant that combat military air forces were still needed. The big questions were how large and what kind of forces, a major realignment of the USAAF was undertaken in early 1946. As part of the realignment, three major divisions within the Continental United States were formed, Strategic Air Command, Tactical Air Command. Each was given a specific responsibility, using assets prescribed to accomplish the assigned mission, Tactical Air Command was formed to command, organize, equip, train and administer assigned or attached forces. It was to plan for and participate in tactics for fighter, light bombardment and these included tactical fighters, tactical bombers, tactical missiles, troop carrier aircraft, assault, reconnaissance, and support units. TAC also planned for and developed the capability to deploy tactical striking forces anywhere in the world, during its existence, Tactical Air Command deployed personnel, material and/or aircraft to Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Australia in support of its prescribed mission. TACs original authorization was 25,500 officers and enlisted men, aircraft assets available consisted of propeller-driven North American P-51 Mustangs, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and a handful of the new jet-powered Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars. TAC was also given control of the Third Air Force, Ninth Air Force, on 18 September 1947, the United States Air Force was established as a separate military force, with TAC as one of its major commands. At the time, there was only one U. S. Air Forces in Europe tactical air unit available in Europe, TAC was called upon to send additional units and aircraft to Europe to reinforce the 86 FG. The 36th Fighter Group, flying Lockheed F-80B Shooting Stars, was transferred from Howard AFB in the Panama Canal Zone to Furstenfeldbruck Air Base near Munich. In addition to fighter aircraft, TAC also deployed available C-47 Skytrain transports to Europe, transferring them to USAFE
23.
Lockheed U-2
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It provides day and night, high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering. The U-2 has also used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration. Early versions of the U-2 were involved in several events through the Cold War, being flown over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, in 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2A over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile. Another U-2, piloted by Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr. was lost in a fashion during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The U-2 is one of a handful of types to have served the USAF for over 50 years. The newest models entered service in the 1980s, the current model, the U-2S, received its most recent technical upgrade in 2012. They have taken part in post–Cold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, after World War II, the U. S. military desired better strategic aerial reconnaissance to help determine Soviet capabilities and intentions. Richard Leghorn of the USAF suggested that an aircraft that could fly at 60,000 feet should be safe from the MiG-17, the Soviet Unions best interceptor, which could barely reach 45,000 feet. He and others believed that Soviet radar, which used American equipment provided during the war, the highest-flying aircraft available to America and its allies at the time was the English Electric Canberra, which could reach 48,000 feet. Air Research and Development Command mandated design changes made the aircraft more durable for combat. The Soviet Union, unlike the United States and Britain, had improved radar technology after the war and it was thought that an aircraft that could fly at 70,000 feet would be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and radar. Another USAF officer, John Seaberg, wrote a request for proposal in 1953 for an aircraft that could reach 70,000 feet over a target with 1,500 nmi of operational radius. The USAF decided to solicit designs only from smaller companies that could give the project more attention. Under the code name Bald Eagle, it contracts to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and decided to submit an unsolicited proposal, to save weight and increase altitude, Lockheed executive John Carter suggested that the design eliminate landing gear and avoid attempting to meet combat load factors for the airframe. The company asked Clarence Kelly Johnson to come up such a design. Johnson was Lockheeds best aeronautical engineer, responsible for the P-38 and he was also known for completing projects ahead of schedule, working in a separate division of the company, informally called the Skunk Works. Johnsons design, named CL-282, was based on the Lockheed XF-104 with long, slender wings, the design was powered by the General Electric J73 engine and took off from a special cart and landed on its belly
24.
9th Reconnaissance Wing
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The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Twenty-Fifth Air Force. It is stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California, the wing is also the host unit at Beale. It is also assigned T-38 Talons for U-2 pilots to maintain flight hours due to limited U-2 aircraft and its 9th Operations Group is a descendant organization of the 9th Group, one of the 13 original combat air groups formed by the Army before World War II. During World War II, the 9th Bombardment Group was an air unit of the United States Army Air Forces. Active for over 60 years, the 9 RW was a component wing of Strategic Air Commands deterrent force throughout the Cold War, the 9 RW is commanded by Colonel Phillip A. Stewart. Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant Leslie Gould, the 9 RW is responsible for providing national and theater command authorities with timely, reliable, high-quality, high-altitude reconnaissance products. To accomplish this mission, the wing is equipped with the fleet of U-2, RQ-4 and MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft. The wing also maintains a state of readiness in its expeditionary combat support forces for potential deployment in response to theater contingencies. Travis On 1 May 1949 the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was activated at Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base, California, the Air Force also activated the re-designated 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Group and the 1st, 5th, and 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadrons. The 9th SRWs mission was to obtain data through visual, photographic, electronic. To carry out this mission, the wing flew RB-29 Superfortresses, the 9th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron also joined the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing on 1 May 1949. It also performed its mission with components of 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, the reconnaissance mission continued for only eleven months. On 1 April 1950, the Air Force redesignated the 9th SRW as the 9th Bombardment Wing, Heavy, with similar redesignations of the 9th Group and the 1st, 5th, and 99th Squadrons. Seven months later, on 2 November, the wing and subordinate units were again re-designated to Bombardment, Medium with the transfer of the RB-36s, in early February 1951, the Air Force realigned its flying operation and placed the flying squadrons directly under control of the wings. The Air Force, therefore, placed the 9th Bombardment Group in Records Unit status, on 4 January 1955, the Air Force bestowed upon the 9th Wing the honors of the inactive 9th Group, the operational headquarters unit before and during World War II. The 9th Bombardment Wing remained at Fairfield-Suisun AFB flying B-29s until 1 May 1953, on 1 May, the Strategic Air Command assumed jurisdiction of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, from the Military Air Transport Service and transferred the 9th Bomb Wing to the base. Developed for bomber training during the war, Mountain Home AFB had recently been an Air Resupply And Communications Service special operations base for MATS, MATS wanted to use Fairfield-Suisun as a West Coast aerial port. Although some personnel began arriving at Mountain Home early in April, simultaneously, the 2d Air Refueling Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, became the 9th Air Refueling Squadron and transferred to the 9th Bombardment Wing at Mountain Home AFB
25.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
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The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force. It was developed as a project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by Lockheed. American aerospace engineer Clarence Kelly Johnson was responsible for many of the innovative concepts. During aerial reconnaissance missions, the SR-71 operated at high speeds, if a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile. The SR-71 was designed with a reduced radar cross-section, the SR-71 served with the U. S. Air Force from 1964 to 1998. A total of 32 aircraft were built,12 were lost in accidents, the SR-71 has been given several nicknames, including Blackbird and Habu. It has held the record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft since 1976. Lockheeds previous reconnaissance aircraft was the relatively slow U-2, designed for the Central Intelligence Agency, in late 1957, the CIA approached the defense contractor Lockheed to build an undetectable spy plane. The project, named Archangel, was led by Kelly Johnson, head of Lockheeds Skunk Works unit in Burbank, the work on project Archangel began in the second quarter of 1958, with aim of flying higher and faster than the U-2. Out of 11 successive designs drafted in a span of 10 months, despite this, however, its shape made it vulnerable to radar detection. After a meeting with the CIA in March 1959, the design was modified to have a 90% reduction in radar cross-section, the CIA approved a US$96 million contract for Skunk Works to build a dozen spy planes, named A-12 on 11 February 1960. The 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powerss U-2 underscored its vulnerability, the A-12 first flew at Groom Lake, Nevada, on 25 April 1962. Thirteen were built, two variants were developed, including three of the YF-12 interceptor prototype, and two of the M-21 drone carrier. The aircraft was meant to be powered by the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine, but development ran over schedule, the J58s were retrofitted as they became available, and became the standard powerplant for all subsequent aircraft in the series as well as the SR-71. The A-12 flew missions over Vietnam and North Korea before its retirement in 1968, the programs cancellation was announced on 28 December 1966, due both to budget concerns and because of the forthcoming SR-71, a derivative of the A-12. During the later period of its testing, the B-70 was proposed for a reconnaissance/strike role, when it was clear that the A-12 performance potential was much greater, the Air Force ordered a variant of the A-12 in December 1962. Originally named R-12 by Lockheed, the Air Force version was longer and heavier than the A-12, with a longer fuselage to hold more fuel, Reconnaissance equipment included signals intelligence sensors, a side looking airborne radar and a photo camera. Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay preferred the SR designation, before the July speech, LeMay lobbied to modify Johnsons speech to read SR-71 instead of RS-71
26.
Beale Air Force Base
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Beale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 8 miles east of Marysville, California. The host unit at Beale is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command, the 9 RW collects intelligence essential for Presidential and Congressional decisions critical to the national defense. The wing also maintains a state of readiness in its combat support. The 940th Air Refueling Wing is a tenant Air Force Reserve Command wing at Beale AFB flying the KC-135 Stratotanker, Camp Beale became a United States Air Force installation on 1 April 1951 and was renamed Beale Air Force Base. Beale AFB is the home of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, which serves as the host wing for the base. The installation is located outside of Linda, about 10 miles east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, Beale is a large base in terms of land and has five gates providing access on all sides of the base. Visitors enter the base through a gate that local merchants, individuals. The base is home for approximately 4,000 military personnel, Beale Air Force Base covers nearly 23,000 acres of rolling hills in northern California. The bases natural resources are as rich as its significant cultural and historical heritage, Native Americans lived on this land, the mortar bowls they carved into the bedrock lie embedded in a shallow stream. To preserve these and other areas, the base proudly maintains 38 Native American sites,45 homestead sites. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is composed of four groups at Beale AFB, 9th Operations Group Consists of multiple squadrons and detachments. 9th Maintenance Group Consists of the 9th Maintenance Operations Squadron, the 9th Maintenance Squadron, the 9th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the group is responsible for a $5.8 million annual budget. The group is also the Air Forces single focal point for providing mass ammunition production training, 9th Mission Support Group Provides trained combat support forces to theater commanders- in-chief worldwide. 9th Medical Group Consists of three squadrons, 9th Medical Operations, 9th Medical Support and 9th Physiological Support Squadrons and they provide for the medical needs of Beale AFB beneficiaries and support Beales high-altitude flyers in the U-2 aircraft. The Beale Clinic is located at 15301 Warren Shingle Road on a hillside near base housing. The clinics primary mission is to support the operational readiness. They provide comprehensive care, physiological and environmental support and promote health education. This outpatient clinic consists of both the 9th Medical Operations and 9th Medical Support Squadrons that provide primary care services with aerospace medicine, no inpatient or emergency services are available and minimal specialty services exist
27.
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker
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The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is a military aerial refueling aircraft. It and the Boeing 707 airliner were developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype and it is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transport aircraft. The KC-135 was the US Air Forces first jet-powered refueling tanker, the KC-135 entered service with the United States Air Force in 1957, it is one of six military fixed-wing aircraft with over 50 years of continuous service with its original operator. The KC-135 is supplemented by the larger KC-10, studies have concluded that many of the aircraft could be flown until 2040, although maintenance costs have greatly increased. The aircraft will eventually be replaced by the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, like its sibling, the commercial Boeing 707 jet airliner, the KC-135 was derived from the Boeing 367-80 jet transport proof of concept demonstrator, which was commonly called the Dash-80. The KC-135 is similar in appearance to the 707, but has a fuselage and is shorter than the 707. The KC-135 predates the 707, and is quite different from the civilian airliner. Boeing gave the future KC-135 tanker the initial designation Model 717, in 1954 USAFs Strategic Air Command held a competition for a jet-powered aerial refueling tanker. Lockheeds tanker version of the proposed Lockheed L-193 airliner with rear fuselage-mounted engines was declared the winner in 1955, in the end, orders for the Lockheed tanker were dropped rather than supporting two tanker designs. Lockheed never produced its jet airliner, while Boeing would eventually dominate the market with a family of airliners based on the 707. In 1954, the Air Force placed an order for 29 KC-135As. The first aircraft flew in August 1956 and the initial production Stratotanker was delivered to Castle Air Force Base, California, the last KC-135 was delivered to the Air Force in 1965. These basic features make it resemble the commercial Boeing 707 and 720 aircraft. The USAF EC-135 Looking Glass was subsequently replaced in its role by the U. S. Navy E-6 Mercury aircraft, the KC-135Q variant was modified to carry JP-7 fuel necessary for the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, segregating the JP-7 from the KC-135s own fuel supply. The tanker also had special fuel systems for moving the different fuels between different tanks, the only external difference between a KC-135R and a KC-135T is the presence of a clear window on the underside of the empennage of the KC-135T where a remote controlled searchlight is mounted. It also has two ground refueling ports, located in rear wheel well so ground crews can fuel both the body tanks and wing tanks separately. Eight KC-135R aircraft are receiver-capable tankers, commonly referred to as KC-135R, All eight aircraft were with the 22d Air Refueling Wing at McConnell AFB, Kansas, in 1994. They are primarily used for extension and Special Operations missions
28.
RAF Mildenhall
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Royal Air Force Mildenhall, more commonly known as RAF Mildenhall, is a Royal Air Force station located near Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a Royal Air Force station, it primarily supports United States Air Force operations, on 8 January 2015, the United States Department of Defense announced that operations at RAF Mildenhall would end, and be relocated to Germany and also within the UK. On 18 January 2016, the British Ministry of Defence announced that the site is to be sold and it is the only permanent USAF air refuelling wing in the European theatre, activated at RAF Mildenhall on 1 February 1992. The wing provides the critical air refuelling bridge that allows the Expeditionary Air Force to deploy around the globe with the appropriate urgency, the tactical component of the 100 ARW is the 351st Air Refueling Squadron, flying the Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker. The 501st Combat Support Wing was activated at RAF Mildenhall on 21 May 2005, the 352d Special Operations Wing is the Air Force component for Special Operations Command Europe, a sub-unified command of the US European Command. It transferred to RAF Mildenhall on 17 February 1995, from RAF Alconbury, the 352 SOW has two flying squadrons, a maintenance squadron, an operations support squadron and a special tactics squadron. The mission of the 352 SOW is to serve as the point for all US Air Force special operations activities throughout the European theatre, including Africa. The 352d SOW develops and implements peacetime and wartime contingency plans and it effectively uses fixed-wing and personnel assets in infiltration by, exfiltration by and resupplying of US and allied special operations forces. It was activated at RAF Mildenhall on 1 July 1994, having been assigned to RAF Alconbury. The 95 RS supports RC-135, OC-135, and E-4 missions when theatre deployed, the 488th Intelligence Squadron is a component of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency. The units primary mission is the collection, analysis, and reporting of signals intelligence about foreign command and control, communications, currently assigned to the 488th Intelligence Squadron for administrative purposes is Operating Location Souda Bay, Crete. The unit was transferred to RAF Mildenhall, England, and in August 1970, in August 1979, the 6954th Security Squadron was re-designated as the 6988th Electronic Security Squadron in honour of the unit that operated out of Yokota, Japan, for nearly 20 years. On 9 January 1981, the 6988th ESS received the first operational deployment of the Block III electronically modernised RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, until Hellenikon operations ceased in March 1991, they were conducted through the units OL-RH detachment. In October 1991, the 6988th ESS became part of the Air Force Intelligence Command, a consolidation of the Air Forces intelligence operations, on 1 October 1993, the unit was re-designated the 488th Intelligence Squadron. In February 2000, the 488th IS operated the first Baseline 8 RC-135W reconnaissance aircraft which was a major reconfiguration of that platform. On 1 October 2002, the 488th IS was re-aligned from the 67th Information Operations Wing to the 55th Wing to consolidate all operations of the different RC-135 platforms, the unit is now part of the AFISRA, which became the successor of the AIA in June 2008. The 488th Intelligence Squadron, under its different unit designations, has received nine Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards, the 727th Air Mobility Squadron is a unit of the 721st Air Mobility Operations Group, based at Ramstein AB, Germany. The 727 AMS is part of AMCs en-route system that provides fixed and deployed maintenance, aerial port, the squadron was redesignated as the 727 AMS on 15 March 2001
29.
Ryan AQM-91 Firefly
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The Ryan AQM-91 Firefly was a developmental drone developed during the Vietnam War to perform long-range reconnaissance, especially into China. The Ryan Model 147 Lightning Bug reconnaissance drone was enjoying success in Vietnam in the early 1960s, US intelligence thus needed a long-range drone with a high degree of survivability. Such requirements spelled out a new design, not a modification of a target drone. Ryan pursued advanced drone concepts on a part-time basis, after discussions with the CIA that went nowhere, Ryan pitched their advanced reconnaissance drone concepts to the Air Force in early 1966. The USAF was interested, and opened up a design competition, Ryan won the competition in June 1966, and the new design was designated the Model 154 / AQM-91A Firefly. The basic design concept resembled that of the Model 136 Red Wagon drone that Ryan had proposed earlier in the decade, the name Firefly was resurrected from the early Model 147 program for the new drone, though it was also referred to as Compass Arrow after the program name. The test flights were conducted over the US Southwest, the project was highly secret, but on 4 August 1969 one of the prototypes failed and parachuted to ground inside the Los Alamos nuclear research complex during lunch hour. Unfortunately, it didnt land in an area, and local newspeople were able to take. The Air Force released a statement that the aircraft was a high altitude target, test flights were halted for a few weeks while procedures were reviewed. The flights then resumed, culminating in long-range evaluations in late 1971, the Model 154 passed with flying colors, exceeding its altitude requirements by a good margin, and proving almost invisible to radar. However, by time the need for the Model 154 had vanished. In July 1971, President Richard Nixon began an effort to build ties with China. The Model 154 program lingered on for a few years, but the drones were finally put into mothballs in 1973. 28 had been built, including 20 production machines and it had sloped flat sides to deflect radar signals, and was built using a high percentage of plastic composite materials, which had a lower radar reflectivity than metal. The aircraft was powered by a General Electric YJ97-GE-3 turbojet providing 4,000 pounds thrust, the YJ97 was derived from a General Electric demonstrator engine designated the GE1. The Model 154 was to be launched by a DC-130 Hercules director aircraft, the primary reconnaissance payload was an Itek panoramic camera, but in principle it could also carry thermographic camera or a Signals intelligence payload. The guidance system was designed to provide navigation accuracies with an error of no more than half a percent, the guidance system proved to be very tricky, and first powered flight of a Model 154 did not take place until September 1968. Teledyne Ryan AQM-91 Firefly Teledyne-Ryan AQM-91A Compass Arrow – National Museum of the United States Air Force Stealth, did We Say This Was In 1970
30.
Cruise missile
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A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a warhead over long distances with high precision. Modern cruise missiles are capable of travelling at supersonic or high speeds, are self-navigating. The idea of a torpedo was shown in the British 1909 film The Airship Destroyer. In 1916, Lawrence Sperry built and patented an aerial torpedo, a small biplane carrying a TNT charge, a Sperry autopilot, inspired by these experiments, the United States Army developed a similar flying bomb called the Kettering Bug. Germany had also flown trials with remote-controlled aerial gliders built by Siemens-Schuckert beginning in 1916, in the period between the World Wars the United Kingdom developed the Larynx, which underwent a few flight tests in the 1920s. In the Soviet Union, Sergei Korolev headed the GIRD-06 cruise missile project from 1932 to 1939, the 06/III and 06/IV contained gyroscopic guidance systems. The vehicle was designed to boost to 28 km altitude and glide a distance of 280 km, in 1944, Germany deployed the first operational cruise missiles in World War II. The V-1, often called a bomb, contained a gyroscope guidance system and was propelled by a simple pulsejet engine. Accuracy was sufficient only for use against very large targets, while the range of 250 km was significantly lower than that of a bomber carrying the same payload, the main advantages were speed and expendability. The production cost of a V-1 was only a fraction of that of a V-2 supersonic ballistic missile. Unlike the V-2, however, the deployments of the V-1 required stationary launch ramps which were susceptible to bombardment. Immediately after the war the United States Air Force had 21 different guided missile projects, all were cancelled by 1948, except four — the Air Materiel Command BANSHEE, the SM-62 Snark, the SM-64 Navaho, and the MGM-1 Matador. The BANSHEE design was similar to Operation Aphrodite, like Aphrodite, it failed, during the Cold War period both the United States and the Soviet Union experimented further with the concept, deploying early cruise missiles from land, submarines and aircraft. The main outcome of the United States Navy submarine missile project was the SSM-N-8 Regulus missile, the United States Air Forces first operational surface-to-surface missile was the winged, mobile, nuclear-capable MGM-1 Matador, also similar in concept to the V-1. Deployment overseas began in 1954, first to West Germany and later to the Republic of China and this alert was in response to the crisis posed by the Soviet attack on Hungary which suppressed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Between 1957 and 1961 the United States followed an ambitious and well-funded program to develop a nuclear-powered cruise missile and it was designed to fly below the enemys radar at speeds above Mach 3 and carry a number of hydrogen bombs that it would drop along its path over enemy territory. Although the concept was sound and the 500 megawatt engine finished a successful test run in 1961
31.
Naval Air Station North Island
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Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island is located at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay and is the home port of several aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. It is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy, Naval Base Coronado in San Diego County, the Commanding Officer of NAS North Island is also the Commanding Officer, Naval Base Coronado. NASNI, with only its commands in the metropolitan San Diego Area, NAS North Island itself is host to 23 aviation squadrons and 80 additional tenant commands and activities, one of which, the Naval Aviation Depot, is the largest aerospace employer in San Diego. NAS North Island also operates two other airfields in the Southern California region, one is Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility San Clemente Island, located approximately 70 miles northwest of San Diego in the Channel Islands. The other is Outlying Field Imperial Beach, formerly an independent naval air station, OLF Imperial Beach is located in the city of Imperial Beach, on the U. S. -Mexico border,10 miles south of NAS North Island. The air station was known as Ream Field in 1950s and 1960s. NAS North Island resembles a city in its facility content. It has its own police and fire departments, as well as advanced military security stations and it has large factory-type buildings which comprise the Naval Aviation Depot, employing 3,300 civilians, and its own commissary, Navy Exchange, and housing units. Recreation facilities include officer, chief petty officer and enlisted clubs, movie theater, golf course, tennis courts, bowling alley, parks and beaches. Its airfield has over 230 stationed aircraft, and its wall is homeport to two aircraft carriers, USS Carl Vinson and USS Theodore Roosevelt. Additionally, the base is home to the Navys only Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles, Mystic, the DSRV motor vessel support ships are also homeported here. S. Pacific Fleet, responsible for maintenance and training of all aircraft and aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet. DOD Contractors perform transportation flights from the air station to NALF San Clemente Island and these DOD Contractors also provide tactical training warfare for the United States Defense Department in joint efforts with the U. S. Navy and U. S. Marine Corps. Some of these aircraft include C-26 Metroliner, Learjet, and Gulfstream aircraft, North Island was commissioned a Naval Air Station in 1917, called Naval Air Station San Diego until 1955. On August 15,1963, the station was granted recognition as the Birthplace of Naval Aviation by resolution of the House Armed Services Committee. The Navys first aviator, Lieutenant Theodore Ellyson, and many of his colleagues were trained at North Island starting as early as 1911 and this was just eight years after Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first manned aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At that time, North Island was a sand flat. It had been used in the late 19th century for horseback riding and hunting by guests of J. D. Spreckelss resort hotel, North Island derived its name from the original geography
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Naval Air Station Point Mugu
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Naval Air Station Point Mugu is a former United States Navy air station that operated from 1942 to 2000 in California. In 2000, it merged with nearby Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme to form Naval Base Ventura County, at Point Mugu, NBVC operates two runways and encompasses a 36,000 square mile sea test range, anchored by San Nicolas Island. The range allows the military to test and track weapons systems in restricted air-, the range can be expanded through interagency coordination between the U. S. Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Telemetry data can be tracked and recorded using technology housed at San Nicolas Island, Point Mugu and Laguna Peak, pt. Mugu has dominated the area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs, in 1963 the U. S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego, Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was used during the funeral in 2004, as the place where the former Presidents body was flown to Washington. The body was flown to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM28000 two days later, until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX, the squadron of LC-130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guards 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility, on 16 August 1956, a F6F-5K drone was launched from NAS Point Mugu and quickly went out of control heading toward Los Angeles. US Air Force interceptors failed to shoot it down leading to The Battle of Palmdale incident, on 4 August 1972, Douglas DC-3 N31538 of Mercer Airlines suffered an in-flight engine fire shortly after take-off on a cargo flight to Hollywood-Burbank Airport. The aircraft departed the runway in the landing and was destroyed by the subsequent fire. All three people on board survived, on 20 April 2002, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II BuNo 155749 of US Navy crashed at the Point Mugu airshow. The cause of the accident was cited as pilot error, on 18 May 2011, a Boeing 707 belonging to Omega Aerial Refueling Services and chartered to the U. S. Navy skidded off the runway and burst into flames shortly after landing. A reported amount of approximately 150,000 pounds of jet fuel was on board when the plane crashed, all three personnel aboard the aircraft survived with non life-threatening injuries. On 7th Nov 2015, a rocket launched from Point Mugu caused a momentary Frenzy of confusion amongst south Californian locals, another other source says the Trident II test missile was launched from a submarine NAS Point Mugu was the setting for the 1950 film, The Flying Missile. The film tells the story of the first firing of a missile from the deck of a submarine. Naval Base Ventura County, official site Point Mugu Air Station, GlobalSecurity. org FAA Airport Master Record for NTD Resources for this U. S
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Hill Air Force Base
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Hill Air Force Base is a major U. S. Air Force base located in northern Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and near the towns of Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, Sunset, and Layton. It is about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City, the base was named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill of the U. S. Army Air Corps, who died test-flying a prototype of the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. In this decade Hill AFB is still the sixth-largest employer in the state of Utah, the commander of the Air Logistics Complex is Brigadier General H. Brent Baker Sr. The Ogden Air Logistics Complex is part of the Air Force Sustainment Center, the host unit at Hill AFB is the Air Force Material Commands 75th Air Base Wing, which provides services and support for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex and its subordinate organizations. The Wing and Installation Commander of Hill Air Force Base is Colonel Ronald Jolly, additional tenant units at Hill AFB include operational fighter wings of the Air Combat Command and the Air Force Reserve Command. Ogden Air Logistics Complex Provides worldwide engineering and logistics management for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt II, 75th Air Base Wing Responsible for the base operating support of all units at Hill AFB. S. Air Force training ranges within the United States and it is located in far western Utah, close to the Nevada border, and it extends both north and south of Interstate Highway 80, with several miles of separation on each side of the Interstate Highway. The portion of the range that lies north of Interstate 80 is also west of the Great Salt Lake. The Utah Test and Training Range lies in Tooele County, and the land is owned by the state of Utah, but the use of the airspace and training exercises are scheduled by Hill AFB. On September 8,2004, the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations Genesis space probe crash-landed on the nearby U. S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, as planned. Hill Air Force Base is named in honor of Major Ployer Peter Hill, Hill Air Force Base traces its origins back to the ill-fated U. S. Armys Air Mail experiment of 1934, when the idea originated for a permanent air depot in the Salt Lake City area. In the following years, the U. S. Army Air Corps surveyed the region for a location for the permanent western terminus of the air mail. Several sites in Utah were considered, and the present site near Ogden emerged as the clear favorite, in July 1939, Congress appropriated $8.0 million for the establishment and construction of the Ogden Air Depot. Hill Field officially opened on 7 November 1940, following American entry into World War II in December 1941, Hill Field quickly became an important maintenance and supply base, with round-the-clock operations geared to supporting the war effort. Battle-worn warplanes like the A-26, B-17, B-24, B-29, P-40, P-47, P-61, were sent to Hill Field for structural repairs, engine overhauls, and spare parts. The peak wartime employment at Hill Field was reached in 1943 with a total of just over 22,000 military, men and women at the depot rehabilitated and returned thousands of warplanes to combat. P-47 Thunderbolts, B-24 Liberators, B-29 Superfortresses, and many types of aircraft were also prepared for. Hill Field became the Hill Air Force Base on 5 February 1948, during the Korean War, Hill AFB was assigned a major share of the Air Materiel Commands logistical effort to support the combat in Korea
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Utah
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Utah is a state in the western United States. It became the 45th state admitted to the U. S. on January 4,1896, Utah is the 13th-largest by area, 31st-most-populous, and 10th-least-densely populated of the 50 United States. Utah has a population of more than 3 million, approximately 80% of whom live along the Wasatch Front, Utah is bordered by Colorado to the east, Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. It also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast, approximately 62% of Utahns are reported to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS, which greatly influences Utahn culture and daily life. The LDS Churchs world headquarters is located in Salt Lake City, Utah is the only state with a majority population belonging to a single church. The state is a center of transportation, education, information technology and research, government services, mining, in 2013, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated that Utah had the second fastest-growing population of any state. St. George was the metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah also has the 14th highest median income and the least income inequality of any U. S. state. A2012 Gallup national survey found Utah overall to be the best state to live in based on 13 forward-looking measurements including various economic, lifestyle, the name Utah is derived from the name of the Ute tribe. It means people of the mountains in the Ute language, according to other sources Utah is derived from the Apache name Yudah which means Tall. These Native American tribes are subgroups of the Ute-Aztec Native American ethnicity and were sedentary, the Ancestral Pueblo people built their homes through excavations in mountains, and the Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo, settled in the region around the 18th century, in the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived, the southern Utah region was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, while looking for the legendary Cíbola. A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition—left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California, the expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in the region, but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature, in 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California. European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada, the city of Provo, Utah was named for one, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah was named after Peter Skene Ogden, in late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake. Due to the salinity of its waters, Bridger thought he had found the Pacific Ocean
35.
514th Flight Test Squadron
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The 514th Flight Test Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron. It is assigned to the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Air Force Materiel Command, stationed at Hill Air Force Base, the 514th FLTS current mission is to accomplish high-risk acceptance flights on F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt II and C-130 Hercules aircraft following depot level maintenance. 514th FLTS aircrews provide the quality control checks to ensure aircraft are airworthy. As the OO-ALC Center Test Authority, the 514th FLTS is the point for managing and providing test process expertise and support for all test. Established in the Middle East during late 1942 to aid British Forces during the Western Desert Campaign, initially equipped with obsolete B-17C/D Flying Fortresses transferred from Tenth Air Force. Replaced with B-24 Liberators flown from Florida via South America, over to then across Central Africa then north to Egypt in early 1943, became part of United States Middle East Air Forces, later Ninth Air Force. Struck airdromes, marshalling yards, and other objectives in Sicily and Italy after the fall of Tunisia in May 1943, reassigned to Fifteenth Air Force in late 1943, and moved to southern Italy. After the German Capitulation in May 1945, returned to the United States, was re-equipped with B-29 Superfortress bombers, however, with the Japanese Capitulation in August, the training ended and most personnel demobilized by the end of October. Remained in active status but not fully manned or equipped, the squadron was not fully manned or equipped between 10 November 1945 and 26 March 1946 and was unmanned from,23 May 1947 –20 September 1948. In the early days of the conflict, the squadron dropped leaflets. Initially unarmed, and later only lightly armed with two. 50-caliber machine guns in the turret, the WB-29s flew daily missions over enemy-held territory. During 27 June through 27 December 1950, the squadron flew over 200 combat missions and these missions were exceptionally hazardous because of extremely varying weather conditions and exposure to attack over enemy territory. Practiced electronic countermeasures with B-29 aircraft from c.1952 until conversion to B-47 Stratojet jet medium bombers in 1954, inactivated in 1965 with the retirement of the B-47. Reactivated in 1970 as the 6514th Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, moved to Hill AFB, Utah in 1973 and became a geographically-separated component of the Air Force Flight Test Center. From the late 1970s, the 6514th operated a DC-130H Hercules drone launch/control airplane along with an HC-130H, added two C-130B and a DC-130A in the 1980s. The squadron also used a few HH-53C and CH-3E helicopters which were used to retrieve drones and missiles and transport people to, by the mid-1980s, the heavy helicopters gave way to HH-1H helicopters. Absorbed the AFRES 15th Flight Test Squadron in 1993 and began flight testing C-130, A-10. Completed the AFFTC drone and range mission and realigned under Ogden ALC on 30 September 1995, currently, the 514th quality-control checks involve performing flight checks, which means strapping themselves into planes that have usually been stripped to the bone and put back together again
36.
Wingspan
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The wingspan of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about 60 metres, and a wandering albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of 3.63 metres, the official record for a living bird. The term wingspan, more technically extent, is used for other winged animals such as pterosaurs, bats, insects, etc. In humans, the term also refers to the distance between the length from one end of an individuals arms to the other when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at a 90º angle. Former professional basketball player Manute Bol stands at 77 and owns one of the largest wingspans at 86, the wingspan of an aircraft is always measured in a straight line, from wingtip to wingtip, independently of wing shape or sweep. The lift from wings is proportional to their area, so the heavier the animal or aircraft the bigger that area must be. The area is the product of the times the width of the wing, so either a long. For efficient steady flight, the ratio of span to chord, long-ranging birds, like albatrosses, and most commercial aircraft maximize aspect ratio. Alternatively, animals and aircraft which depend on maneuverability need to be able to roll fast to turn, for them, short-span, broad wings are preferred. The highest aspect ratio wings are aircraft propellers, in their most extreme form as helicopter rotors. In basketball and gridiron football, a measurement is used to determine the players wingspan. This is called reach in boxing terminology, the wingspan of Manute Bol, at 8 feet 6 inches, is the longest in NBA history, and his vertical reach was 10 feet 5 inches
37.
Newton (unit)
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The newton is the International System of Units derived unit of force. It is named after Isaac Newton in recognition of his work on classical mechanics, see below for the conversion factors. One newton is the force needed to one kilogram of mass at the rate of one metre per second squared in direction of the applied force. In 1948, the 9th CGPM resolution 7 adopted the name newton for this force, the MKS system then became the blueprint for todays SI system of units. The newton thus became the unit of force in le Système International dUnités. This SI unit is named after Isaac Newton, as with every International System of Units unit named for a person, the first letter of its symbol is upper case. Note that degree Celsius conforms to this rule because the d is lowercase. — Based on The International System of Units, section 5.2. Newtons second law of motion states that F = ma, where F is the applied, m is the mass of the object receiving the force. The newton is therefore, where the symbols are used for the units, N for newton, kg for kilogram, m for metre. In dimensional analysis, F = M L T2 where F is force, M is mass, L is length, at average gravity on earth, a kilogram mass exerts a force of about 9.8 newtons. An average-sized apple exerts about one newton of force, which we measure as the apples weight, for example, the tractive effort of a Class Y steam train and the thrust of an F100 fighter jet engine are both around 130 kN. One kilonewton,1 kN, is 102.0 kgf,1 kN =102 kg ×9.81 m/s2 So for example, a platform rated at 321 kilonewtons will safely support a 32,100 kilograms load. Specifications in kilonewtons are common in safety specifications for, the values of fasteners, Earth anchors. Working loads in tension and in shear, thrust of rocket engines and launch vehicles clamping forces of the various moulds in injection moulding machines used to manufacture plastic parts
38.
Inertial navigation system
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It is used on vehicles such as ships, aircraft, submarines, guided missiles, and spacecraft. Other terms used to refer to inertial navigation systems or closely related devices include inertial guidance system, inertial instrument, inertial measurement units, older INS systems generally used an inertial platform as their mounting point to the vehicle, and the terms are sometimes considered synonymous. Inertial measurement units typically contain three orthogonal rate-gyroscopes and three accelerometers, measuring angular velocity and linear acceleration respectively. By processing signals from these devices it is possible to track the position and orientation of a device, Inertial navigation is used in a wide range of applications including the navigation of aircraft, tactical and strategic missiles, spacecraft, submarines and ships. Recent advances in the construction of systems have made it possible to manufacture small. These advances have widened the range of applications to include areas such as human. An inertial navigation system includes at least a computer and a platform or module containing accelerometers, gyroscopes, the advantage of an INS is that it requires no external references in order to determine its position, orientation, or velocity once it has been initialized. An INS can detect a change in its position, a change in its velocity. It does this by measuring the acceleration and angular velocity applied to the system. Since it requires no external reference, it is immune to jamming, Inertial navigation systems are used in many different moving objects, including vehicles—such as aircraft, submarines, spacecraft—and guided missiles. However, their cost and complexity place constraints on the environments in which they are practical for use, Gyroscopes measure the angular velocity of the sensor frame with respect to the inertial reference frame. By using the orientation of the system in the inertial reference frame as the initial condition and integrating the angular velocity. This can be thought of as the ability of a passenger in a car to feel the car turn left and right or tilt up. Based on this alone, the passenger knows what direction the car is facing but not how fast or slow it is moving. Accelerometers measure the acceleration of the moving vehicle in the sensor or body frame. Performing integration on the inertial accelerations using the correct kinematic equations yields the inertial velocities of the system, therefore, the position must be periodically corrected by input from some other type of navigation system. The inaccuracy of a good-quality navigational system is less than 0.6 nautical miles per hour in position and on the order of tenths of a degree per hour in orientation. Accordingly, inertial navigation is used to supplement other navigation systems
39.
LORAN
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LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UKs Gee system but operated at frequencies in order to provide improved range up to 1,500 miles with accuracy of tens of miles. It was first used for ship convoys crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and then by long-range patrol aircraft, LORAN, in its original form, was an expensive system to implement, requiring a cathode ray tube display. This limited use to the military and large commercial users, use was never widespread, and by the time new receivers were available in the 1950s, the same improved electronics led to new systems with higher accuracy. The US Navy began development of Loran-B, which offered accuracy on the order of a few tens of feet, the US Air Force had worked on a different concept, known as Cyclan, which the Navy took over as Loran-C. Loran-C offered longer range than LORAN and accuracy of hundreds of feet, the US Coast Guard took over operations of both systems in 1958. In spite of the improved performance of Loran-C, LORAN, now known as Loran-A. This was due largely to the numbers of surplus Loran-A units released from the Navy as ships. The widespread introduction of inexpensive microelectronics during the 1980s caused Loran-C receivers to drop in price dramatically, Loran-A was dismantled starting in the 1970s, it remained active in North America until 1980 and the rest of the world until 1985. A Japanese chain remained on the air until 9 May 1997, at a 1 October 1940 meeting of the US Army Signal Corps Technical Committee, Alfred Loomis, chair of the Microwave Committee, proposed building a hyperbolic navigation system. He predicted that such a system could provide an accuracy of at least 1,000 feet at a range of 200 miles, and this led to the Precision Navigational Equipment for Guiding Airplanes specification, which was sent back to the Microwave Committee and formed up as Project 3. Orders for initial systems were sent out at a meeting on 20 December 1940. Project 3 moved to the newly formed Radiation Laboratorys Navigation Group in 1941, early systems operated around 30 MHz, but it was later decided to try experiments with different equipment that could be tuned from 3 to 8 MHz. These lower frequency systems were found to be more stable electronically. After first considering setting up transmitters on mountain peaks, the team settled on two abandoned Coast Guard stations at Montauk Point, New York, and Fenwick Island, Delaware. On the receiving end, a wagon was fitted with a simple receiver and sent around the country looking for solid signals. For a production system, the team working with a system using a circular J-scope display for improved accuracy. A J-scope presents time differences not as a linear displacement across the tube, as in the more common A-scope, times differences could be represented with a longer length for a given display size, improving accuracy
40.
Traveling-wave tube
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A traveling-wave tube or traveling-wave tube amplifier is a specialized vacuum tube that is used in electronics to amplify radio frequency signals in the microwave range. The TWT belongs to a category of linear beam tubes, such as the klystron, although there are various types of TWT, two major categories are, Helix TWT In which the radio waves interact with the electron beam while traveling down a wire helix which surrounds the beam. These have wide bandwidth, but output power is limited to a few hundred watts, coupled cavity TWT In which the radio wave interacts with the beam in a series of cavity resonators through which the beam passes. These function as narrowband power amplifiers, a major advantage of the TWT over some other microwave tubes is its ability to amplify a wide range of frequencies, a wide bandwidth. The bandwidth of the helix TWT can be as high as two octaves, while the cavity versions have bandwidths of 10–20%, operating frequencies range from 300 MHz to 50 GHz. The power gain of the tube is on the order of 40 to 70 decibels, TWTs account for over 50% of the sales volume of all microwave vacuum tubes. They are widely used as the power amplifiers and oscillators in radar systems, communication satellite and spacecraft transmitters, the TWT is an elongated vacuum tube with an electron gun at one end. A voltage applied across the cathode and anode accelerates the electrons towards the far end of the tube, at the other end of the tube the electrons strike the collector, which returns them to the circuit. Wrapped around the inside of the tube, just outside the path, is a helix of wire. The RF signal to be amplified is fed into the helix at a point near the end of the tube. The signal is fed into the helix via a waveguide or electromagnetic coil placed at one end, forming a one-way signal path. By controlling the voltage, the speed of the electrons flowing down the tube is set to be similar to the speed of the RF signal running down the helix. The signal in the causes an magnetic field to be induced in the center of the helix. Depending on the phase of the signal, the electrons will either be sped up or slowed down as they pass the windings and this causes the electron beam to bunch up, known technically as velocity modulation. The resulting pattern of electron density in the beam is an analog of the original RF signal, because the beam is passing the helix as it travels, and that signal varies, it causes induction in the helix, amplifying the original signal. By the time it reaches the end of the tube. A second directional coupler, positioned near the collector, receives an amplified version of the signal from the far end of the RF circuit. Attenuators placed along the RF circuit prevent the wave from traveling back to the cathode
41.
Radar cross-section
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Radar cross-section is a measure of how detectable an object is with a radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected, an object reflects a limited amount of radar energy back to the source. Radar cross-section is used to detect planes in a variation of ranges. For example, an aircraft will have design features that give it a low RCS. RCS is integral to the development of stealth technology, particularly in applications involving aircraft. RCS data for current military aircraft is most highly classified, in some cases, it is of interest to look at an area on the ground that includes many objects. Informally, the RCS of an object is the area of a perfectly reflecting sphere that would produce the same strength reflection as would the object in question. Somewhat less informally, the RCS of a target is an effective area that intercepts the transmitted radar power. This power density is intercepted by the target with radar cross-section σ, thus, the product P t G t 4 π r 2 σ has the dimensions of power, and represents a hypothetical total power intercepted by the radar target. The second 14 π r 2 term represents isotropic spreading of this power from the target back to the radar receiver. Thus, the product P t G t 4 π r 2 σ14 π r 2 represents the power density at the radar receiver. The receiver antenna then collects this power density with effective area A e f f, the scattering of incident radar power by a radar target is never isotropic, and the RCS is a hypothetical area. In this light, RCS can be viewed simply as a factor that makes the radar equation work out right for the experimentally observed ratio of P r / P t. However, RCS is an extremely valuable concept because it is a property of the target alone, thus, RCS allows the performance of a radar system with a given target to be analysed independent of the radar and engagement parameters. In general, RCS is a function of the orientation of the radar and target, or, for the bistatic. A targets RCS depends on its size, reflectivity of its surface, as a rule, the larger an object, the stronger its radar reflection and thus the greater its RCS. Also, radar of one band may not even detect certain size objects, for example,10 cm can detect rain drops but not clouds whose droplets are too small. Materials such as metal are strongly radar reflective and tend to produce strong signals, wood and cloth or plastic and fibreglass are less reflective or indeed transparent to radar making them suitable for radomes
42.
Contrail
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Contrails are line-shaped clouds sometimes produced by aircraft engine exhaust, typically at aircraft cruise altitudes several miles above the Earths surface. Contrails are composed primarily of water, in the form of ice crystals, the combination of water vapor in aircraft engine exhaust and the low ambient temperatures that often exist at these high altitudes allows the formation of the trails. Their formation can also be triggered by changes in air pressure in wingtip vortices or in the air over the wing surface. Contrails, and other clouds directly resulting from human activity, are collectively named homogenitus, persistent contrails are of particular interest to scientists because they increase the cloudiness of the atmosphere. The resulting cloud forms are described as homomutatus, and may resemble cirrus, cirrocumulus, or cirrostratus. Persistent spreading contrails are suspected to have an effect on global climate, the main products of hydrocarbon fuel combustion are carbon dioxide and water vapor. At high altitudes this water vapor emerges into an environment. The vapor then condenses into water droplets which freeze if the temperature is low enough. These millions of tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals form the contrails, the time taken for the vapor to cool enough to condense accounts for the contrail forming some distance behind the aircraft. At high altitudes, supercooled water vapor requires a trigger to encourage deposition or condensation, the exhaust particles in the aircrafts exhaust act as this trigger, causing the trapped vapor to condense rapidly. Exhaust contrails usually form at altitudes, usually above 8,000 m. They can also form closer to the ground when the air is cold, a 2013-2014 study jointly hosted by NASA, German aerospace center DLR, and Canadas National Research Council NRC, determined that biofuels could reduce contrail generation. This reduction was explained by demonstrating that biofuels produce fewer soot particles, the tests were performed by flying a DC-8 at cruising altitude with a sample-gathering aircraft flying in trail. In these samples, the contrail-producing soot particle count was reduced by 50 to 70 percent, using a 50% blend of conventional Jet A1 fuel and HEFA biofuel produced from camelina. As a wing generates lift, it causes a vortex to form at the wingtip, the reduction in pressure and temperature across each vortex can cause water to condense and make the cores of the wingtip vortices visible. This effect is common on humid days. Wingtip vortices can sometimes be seen behind the wing flaps of airliners during takeoff and landing, the visible cores of wingtip vortices contrast with the other major type of contrails which are caused by the combustion of fuel. Contrails produced from jet engine exhaust are seen at high altitude and they trail behind the wingtips and wing flaps rather than behind the engines
43.
Fighter aircraft
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A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat against other aircraft, as opposed to bombers and attack aircraft, whose main mission is to attack ground targets. The hallmarks of a fighter are its speed, maneuverability, many fighters have secondary ground-attack capabilities, and some are designed as dual-purpose fighter-bombers, often aircraft that do not fulfill the standard definition are called fighters. This may be for political or national security reasons, for advertising purposes, a fighters main purpose is to establish air superiority over a battlefield. Since World War I, achieving and maintaining air superiority has been considered essential for victory in conventional warfare, the word fighter did not become the official English-language term for such aircraft until after World War I. In the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force these aircraft were referred to as scouts into the early 1920s, the U. S. Army called their fighters pursuit aircraft from 1916 until the late 1940s. In most languages a fighter aircraft is known as a hunter, exceptions include Russian, where a fighter is an истребитель, meaning exterminator, and Hebrew where it is matose krav. As a part of nomenclature, a letter is often assigned to various types of aircraft to indicate their use. In Russia I was used, while the French continue to use C and this has always been the case, for instance the Sopwith Camel and other fighting scouts of World War I performed a great deal of ground-attack work. Several aircraft, such as the F-111 and F-117, have received fighter designations but had no fighter capability due to political or other reasons, the F-111B variant was originally intended for a fighter role with the U. S. Navy, but it was cancelled. This blurring follows the use of fighters from their earliest days for attack or strike operations against ground targets by means of strafing or dropping small bombs, versatile multirole fighter-bombers such as the F/A-18 Hornet are a less expensive option than having a range of specialized aircraft types. An interceptor is generally an aircraft intended to target bombers and so often trades maneuverability for climb rate, fighters were developed in World War I to deny enemy aircraft and dirigibles the ability to gather information by reconnaissance. Early fighters were very small and lightly armed by later standards, and most were built with a wooden frame, covered with fabric. As control of the airspace over armies became increasingly important all of the major powers developed fighters to support their military operations, between the wars, wood was largely replaced by steel tubing, then aluminium tubing, and finally aluminium stressed skin structures began to predominate. By World War II, most fighters were all-metal monoplanes armed with batteries of guns or cannons. By the end of the war, turbojet engines were replacing piston engines as the means of propulsion, further increasing aircraft speed. Since the weight of the engine was so less than on piston engined fighters. This in turn required the development of ejection seats so the pilot could escape, in the 1950s, radar was fitted to day fighters, since pilots could no longer see far enough ahead to prepare for any opposition. Since then, radar capabilities have grown enormously and are now the method of target acquisition
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Professional video camera
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A professional video camera is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images. Originally developed for use in studios, they are now also used for music videos, direct-to-video movies, corporate and educational videos. Since the 2010s, most of the video cameras are digital professional video cameras. With the advent of video capture in the 2000s, the distinction between professional video cameras and movie cameras disappeared as the intermittent mechanism became the same. Nowadays, mid-range cameras exclusively used for television and other works are termed as professional video cameras, the earliest video cameras were mechanical flying-spot scanners which were in use in the 1920s and 1930s during the period of mechanical television. Improvements in video camera tubes in the 1930s ushered in the era of electronic television, earlier, cameras were very large devices, almost always in two sections. The camera head could not generate a picture signal on its own. The video signal was output to the studio for switching and transmission, by the fifties, electronic miniaturization had progressed to the point where some monochrome cameras could operate stand alone and even be handheld. But the studio configuration remained, with the cable bundle transmitting the signals back to the camera control unit. The CCU in turn was used to align and operate the functions, such as exposure, system timing, video. The first color cameras, notably the RCA TK-40/41 series, were more complex with their three pickup tubes, and their size and weight drastically increased. Handheld color cameras did not come into use until the early 1970s - the first generation of cameras were split into a camera head unit connected via a cable bundle to a backpack CCU. The Ikegami HL-33, the RCA TK45 and the Thomson Microcam were portable two piece color cameras introduced in the early 1970s, for field work a separate VTR was still required to record the cameras video output. Typically this was either a portable 1 reel to reel VTR, typically, the two camera units would be carried by the camera operator, while a tape operator would carry the portable recorder. A separate videotape recording unit was still required, portable video tape production also enabled much faster turnaround time for the quick completion of news stories, compared to the need to chemically process film before it could be shown or edited. However some news stories for weekly news magazine shows continued to use 16mm film cameras until the 1990s. At first all these cameras used tube based sensors, but Charge-Coupled Device imagers came on the scene in the mid-80s, eventually, cameras with the recorder permanently mated to the camera head became the norm for ENG. In studio cameras, the electronics shrank, and CCD imagers replaced the pickup tubes
45.
Electronic warfare
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Electronic warfare is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack of an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly unimpeded access to. EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems, Military operations are executed in an information environment increasingly complicated by the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum portion of the environment is referred to as the electromagnetic environment. Within the information operations construct, EW is an element of warfare, more specifically. NATO has a different and arguably more encompassing and comprehensive approach to EW, a Military Committee conceptual document from 2007 recognised the EME as an operational manoeuvre space and warfighting environment/domain. In NATO, EW is considered to be warfare in the EME, NATO has adopted simplified language which parallel those used in the other warfighting environments like maritime, land and air/space. For example, Electronic Attack is offensive use of EM energy, ED is electronic defence and ES electronic surveillance. The use of the traditional NATO EW measures has been retained as they contribute to and support EA, ED, besides EW, other EM operations include ISTAR and SIGINT. Subsequently NATO has issued EW Policy and Doctrine and is addressing the other NATO defence lines of development, Electronic warfare is any military action involving the use of the EM spectrum to include directed energy to control the EM spectrum or to attack an enemy. This is not limited to radio or radar frequencies but includes IR, visible, ultraviolet and this includes self-protection, standoff, and escort jamming, and antiradiation attacks. EW is a tool that enhances many air and space functions at multiple levels of conflict. The purpose of EW is to deny the opponent an advantage in the EM spectrum, EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems. EW is employed to support operations involving various levels of detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, protection. Expanding reliance on the EM spectrum increases both the potential and the challenges of EW in information operations, all of the core, supporting, and related information operations capabilities either directly use EW or indirectly benefit from EW. The principal EW activities have developed over time to exploit the opportunities and vulnerabilities that are inherent in the physics of EM energy. Electronic warfare includes three major subdivisions, electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare support, in the case of EM energy, this action is referred to as jamming and can be performed on communications systems or radar systems. Jamming is not part of EP, it is an EA measure, the use of flare rejection logic on an Infrared homing missile to counter an adversary’s use of flares is EP
Media related to DC-130 Hercules drone control aircraft at Wikimedia Commons