Old dog given new lease on life

I wonder whose ships they want to target..? :rolleyes:

Must be the Al-Qaeda Navy.

Date Posted: 12-Nov-2004

JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – NOVEMBER 17, 2004

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USAF wants bombers to provide Pacific punch
Michael Sirak JDW Staff Reporter
Washington, DC

The US Air Force (USAF) says its bomber aircraft, coupled with technology innovations in weapons, data links and targeting systems, could provide a potent, near-term maritime-interdiction capability in the vast Pacific Ocean area, according to service officials.

It intends to demonstrate the ability of B-52H Stratofortress bombers based on the island of Guam to attack moving ships, including smaller-sized vessels that potential adversaries like terrorists could employ, using modified 2,000 lb (909 kg) GPS-guidance-aided GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) during a joint USAF-US Navy exercise later this month dubbed ‘Resultant Fury’, said USAF officials.

“Maritime control is of significant importance to the commander of Pacific Command as well as our friends and allies in the Pacific,” said Major General David Deptula, director of Air and Space Operations for US Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), which is leading the exercise. “Long-range, high-pay- load aircraft – our bomber force – have the potential for providing the commander the most responsive capability to conduct counter- sea operations and maritime interdiction.”

Gen Deptula told JDW that while the capacity for bombers to carry out these missions has been resident for years, it “atrophied” due to military reductions after the end of the Cold War. The advent of the modified JDAMs allows the service to resurrect the mission readily and provide a reliable, all-weather, day/night pecision anti-ship capability, he said.

‘Resultant Fury’ will take place from 19 to 23 November, with live-fire activities on the final two days, according to a PACAF spokesman. The JDAMs will be modified with a data link so they can work with Northrop Grumman’s prototype Affordable Moving Surface Target Engagement (AMSTE) system. It consists of data-fusion technologies and communications links that allow seekerless weapons like the JDAM to engage moving targets via constant updates on the target’s position.

While the air force has already shown AMSTE’s effectiveness against targets on land, ‘Resultant Fury’ will be the first attempt to demonstrate its value in attacking objects at sea.

Day one of the live firing will feature two B-52Hs from Guam with AMSTE-capable JDAMs attacking three 25 ft (7.6 m)-long moving vessels that are towed by remotely piloted boats. The vessels are representative of small multipurpose boats that terrorists could employ to move personnel or attack larger US ships. They also could represent boats used by pirates, smugglers and other potential adversaries, said Gen Deptula.

Two air force AMSTE-equipped E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack System aircraft, which carry powerful radars to detect and track surface objects, will provide data on the targets’ locations to the weapons.

In addition to the B-52Hs, two navy F/A-18 aircraft armed with similarly modified AMSTE-capable AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons will also bomb the vessels, as will a B-1B Lancer bomber aircraft flying in from Dyess Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, using the aircraft’s moving target tracking radar and free-fall gravity bombs.

Live-fire drills on day two will be focused on hitting the 522 ft (159 m)-long 5,000 ton-class decommissioned Tank Landing Ship USS Schenectady using a B-52H that drops 2,000 lb (907 kg) GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bombs and guides them to impact using its onboard Litening targeting pod.

A navy P-3 Orion aircraft will also fire AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles at the Schenectady.

A US industry official said the day-two bombing runs will ascertain how precisely the munitions can hit multiple locations on the ship to disable its rudder and otherwise degrade its performance.

Gen Deptula said a key aspect of the exercise is to demonstrate the ability of the Air and Space Operations Center at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to process all of the information on the targets from a multitude of ship-based, airborne and space sensors and execute all of the commands in attacking them in less than 15 minutes.

Using air force munitions to attack moving, small-sized vessels is uncharted territory for the air force. Although there is not a formal requirement yet for emerging weapons like the Small Diameter Bomb, this topic does appear to be an area of growing interest in US defence circles, said Steven Butler, director of the Engineering and Technical Management Directorate in the Air Armaments Centre at Eglin AFB, Florida.

“In the case of the Small Diameter Bomb, I can look at the requirements and nowhere does it say little rubber dinghy,” he told JDW. “This is kind of a requirement that hasn’t floated up to the surface yet, but there does seem to be significant discussion that this is a target of growing interest and, therefore, as we do [phase II of the] Small Diameter Bomb, that is probably something that we are going to take into account.”

Attacking small boats moving up and down on waves and obscured by fog and mist will present challenges for weapons designers, he noted.

From the navy’s perspective, ‘Resultant Fury’ is important because it will allow “co-ordination with the air force on operations that we normally accomplish on our own,” said a Pacific Fleet spokesman. The exercise will promote joint training and proficiency, he added, noting that it fits into the service’s concept of “training as we fight”.

The name ‘Resultant Fury’ derives from a statement made by US Army Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, an advocate of air power in the early days of military aviation, who showed its effectiveness by sinking a number of decommissioned battleships in a well-publicised display in 1921.

The air force began basing B-52Hs on Guam on a 120-day rotational basis in March 2004 to provide more long-range muscle in the region.

Related Articles:
US considers bomber presence on Guam (JDW 21 January 2004)
AMSTE moves ahead after successful tests (Jane’s International Defence Review 1 November 2001)

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