Bold Tigers: The next generation

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Brian S. Orban
  • Gunfighter Public Affairs
MOUNTAIN HOME AFB, Idaho --  It reads like something ripped from today's news headlines: Enemy forces plan to attack an American military convoy. They scheme to use improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, along the convoy's planned route.

But as the insurgents plant their bombs, their actions are captured by an optical camera on an F-15E Strike Eagle thousands of feet overhead. Looking through the jet's advanced targeting pod, the F-15E weapons systems officer confirms the target and receives clearance from an Air Force tactical air controller to neutralize it. The weapons officer puts the cross hairs on the insurgents and releases a 250-pound satellite-guided bomb. The insurgents die but a nearby school remains untouched.

Science fiction?

Try science fact.

It's a scenario currently taught to members of the 391st Fighter Squadron here. It's helping them learn how to use the next generation weapons, sensors and computers their F-15E Strike Eagles started to carry this fall.

The squadron was the Air Force's second Strike Eagle unit to start these upgrades, following the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England.

"It's a completely different aircraft," said Capt. Drew Perry, combat plans chief with the 391st Fighter Squadron, as he described the differences between the current and upgraded F-15Es. "It's a whole new world for the Strike Eagle and for the Air Force in terms of combat capability."

SMALL DIAMETER, BIG PUNCH

In September, the 391st became the Air Force's second Strike Eagle squadron to carry GBU-39 small diameter bombs, or SDB. At 250 pounds -- half the weight of its closest cousin -- these weapons might carry a smaller explosive punch but they give commanders the option to hit the enemy while significantly cutting the risk of collateral damage, according to Captain Perry.

"It's a very precise, surgical weapon," the captain said. "It's a much smaller signature weapon in terms of how much damage is done around it. It'll hit the target and destroy say, a room, but it'll leave other rooms intact."

In comparison, the destructive power of a standard 500-pound Mark 82 bomb can level an entire building and throw debris over a much larger area, increasing the risk of "spillover" damage to surrounding buildings.

The SDB also represents a "whole different ballgame" for the men and women responsible for loading them onto the squadron's jets, said Tech. Sgt. Anthony Mathews, 391st Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons section expediter. Unlike larger bombs, which are loaded one at a time, SDBs are either loaded individually on the flightline or pre-loaded onto a BRU-61 bomb rack in the base's munitions storage area. The pre-loaded bomb racks cut weapon load times by nearly half, Sergeant Mathews said.

A 'SUITE' UPGRADE

A key change to the Strike Eagle's battlefield flexibility started Sept. 1 when the first jets here received new onboard hardware and software packages known as Suite 5.

The modification increases weapon precision, allows aircrews to receive time-sensitive target images from commanders near or far from the battlefield, and allows jets to carry a full complement of weapons guided by Global Positioning System satellite-based technology.

"I can designate with my targeting pod, transfer those coordinates direct into the weapon, and whatever ... I put into the cross hairs is where that weapon is going," the captain said.

To hit time-sensitive targets in year's past, aircrews needed information fed to them by the Combined Air Operations Center. A controller would "talk on" the aircraft to the target by reading off coordinates and giving the aircrew a rough idea what to look for as they searched for the target.

Suite 5 changed that. Commanders can now feed images of targets or the battlefield directly into the F-15E's cockpit while the jets wait overhead. This is especially important if the battlefield changes and the aircraft need to strike targets previously unmarked, according to the captain.

"The ability to confirm targets is incredible," Captain Perry said. "While we're overhead or en-route to a target, they can shoot us a couple of pieces of imagery of the target we want to hit. When I look for the target in the targeting pod, I have the imagery up on one screen, and I have the targeting pod on the other. I can then compare them and say 'Yup, that's what the target is supposed to be.' "

'PEEK A BOO ... I SEE YOU'

Linked to the Suite 5 computer is the aircraft's Sniper advanced targeting pod. Snipers carry electro-optical television and infrared cameras, allowing aircrews to spot targets during the day and night. It significantly improves the ability of crews flying more than 25,000 feet to identify targets on the battlefield.

Previously, positively identifying objects on the ground was difficult and sometimes impossible, but now crews see a highly detailed video of the target from miles away, according to the captain. The pod also allows crews in the air to track and lock onto targets identified by laser designators carried by combat controllers on the ground.

"I have instant feedback that what I am looking at is the correct target," Captain Perry said.

An infrared marker in the pod allows aircrews to confirm with ground controllers whether or not the jet has the correct target in its cross hairs before weapons drop.

"The pod is generations ahead and gives us a tremendous amount of capability that we did not have with LANTIRN," said Captain Perry regarding the older generation Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night pods.

PUT TO THE TEST

With the 494th FS already using these next generation systems while deployed in support of operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, the 391st stepped up efforts to train its crew not only to use these weapons and gear but how to use them in unconventional roles.

"The Air Force wants to make sure that all Strike Eagle squadrons that deploy have these new capabilities for the combatant commanders," Captain Perry said.

This week, joint terminal attack controllers from the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron at Wheeler Army Air Field, Hawaii, along with their Army and Marine counterparts and members of the Idaho National Guard met here to train ground forces and aircrews to put the upgraded jets to the test.

"What we decided was to do some things that were out of the ordinary, so instead of just having JTACs out on our ranges, we came up with some ideas that provide more realistic training for aircrews, intel and JTACs," the captain said. "We said, 'How can we make the spin up training more realistic, other than just showing up at the range and seeing the same things over and over again?' "

The scenarios were based on actual missions flown by aircrews currently serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

In an exercise Nov. 14, F-15Es provided airborne protection for a U.S. military convoy driving through hostile territory. The Strike Eagle crews were tasked with spotting suspicious activity along the convoy route. Army and Air Force troops posing as enemy troops ambushed the vehicle convoy as it rolled through the training range. The Strike Eagles remained overhead to spot and engage the enemy before they ambushed the American troops.

In another exercise, F-15Es escorted a group of U.S. helicopters carrying special forces troops to raid an enemy compound and rescue a hostage. As ground forces conducted the raid and climbed back onto the waiting transports, the Strike Eagles orbited overhead ready to strike the enemy if they tried to escape or engage the U.S. forces.

This dynamic training is something never done at Mountain Home in year's past by the 391st FS, according to Captain Perry. However, as aircraft capabilities improve, units like the 391st will take on more of these unconventional missions.

"This mirrors exactly what we're going to be doing in theater," said Staff Sgt. Jeanette Johnson from the 391st FS intelligence office.

"Our aircrews will get to see this type of scenarios at least once before they deploy, so when they actually see this in the AOR, they'll be better trained on how to respond," Captain Perry added. "The ground situation is very fluid. If we don't know where our ground forces are, what their scheme of maneuver is, if we don't go out there with high situational awareness of what's going on in the battlefield, it increases the probability of fratricide."

The next generation of Strike Eagles will ensure this doesn't happen.