PAUL LEWIS / WHITEMAN AFB
Operational success in Afghanistan may lead to a significant boost in funding for the US Air Force's strike force
The US Air Force's bomber force is enjoying a new sense of purpose after spearheading the airborne offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan over the last year. With no replacement system in sight, the air force is hoping recent operational successes will boost funding to enhance its Boeing B-52Hs, Northrop Grumman B-2s and Rockwell B-1Bs, offsetting the decline in bomber numbers as well as the increasing age of the aircraft.
Statistics emerging from Operation Enduring Freedom highlight the heavy load placed on the bombers during the Afghan conflict. The three types flew 20% of the combat missions and dropped more than 76% of the ordnance tonnage in the first three weeks of the war. Eight B-1Bs operating from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, while accounting for only 4% of the total sorties, dropped 2,800 Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) - more than all other platforms combined. The B-1s were supplemented by 10 B-52Hs, which flew 584 sorties and dropped 5,900,000kg (13,000,000lb) of weaponry in the first 80 days.
Operating from Whiteman AFB, Missouri, the six B-2s employed on operations flew to Afghanistan and returned home via a refuelling stop and crew change in Diego Garcia - a 70h trip and validation of the USAF's "Global Strike Task Force" concept. The stealth bomber flew only 12 missions, but had the critical first day of war job of "kicking down the door to all targets", says Col Douglas Raaberg, commander 509th Bomb Wing. The roles and capabilities of the USAF's bomber troika are thus considered essentially as complementary rather than overlapping.
The USAF's 94 B-52Hs are more than 40 years old, but boast the most diverse arsenal. As a result of arms-limitation agreements with Russia, they are the only aircraft equipped to carry the Boeing AGM-86C/D Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile, used extensively during the 1999 Kosovo conflict. Other weapons unique to the B-52 include the Lockheed Martin/ Rafael AGM-142 Have Nap air-to-surface missile, at least two of which were fired during Enduring Freedom. The B-52 is the first bomber to be armed with the Lockheed Martin Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser, which made its operational debut in Afghanistan.
Cuts will reduce the B-1 fleet from 93 to 60 aircraft by next year, eliminating two Air National Guard bomber wings at McConnell AFB, Kansas and Robins AFB, Georgia. This has proven politically controversial, with critics of the plan pointing to figures that suggest the swing-wing bomber was the most efficient platform per target destroyed during Enduring Freedom. The B-1's three weapons bays can hold 24 910kg JDAMs, compared to the B-2's 16, or 12 externally on the B-52. With recent software updates it can carry a mixed internal load, such as eight JDAMs, eight Lockheed Martin AGM-158 JASSM powered stand-off missiles and 24 Mk82 bombs. The B-1 is the USAF's only supersonic bomber, and because of its terrain following/terrain avoidance radar retains a low-level strike role.
With talk of reopening the B-2 line all but evaporated, the USAF looks set to soldier on with the 21 aircraft in the inventory, of which 16 are combat coded. This makes the B-2 very much a silver bullet bomber despite a relatively slow speed and small, 18,200kg weapon load. The combination of a low- observable (LO) design and precision-guided weapons enable a two-man crew to perform what would otherwise require a 132-man conventional strike package of bombers, fighter escorts, jammer and tanker aircraft, the USAF says. Unique to the B-2 is the 2,270kg GBU-37 bunker buster, soon to be succeeded by the EGBU-28.
Annual expenditure on bomber improvements is planned to more than double to $1.3 billion by 2007-08. Upgrades to the B-52, which the air force hopes to keep for another 40 years, have focused on improving the crew's situation awareness, including a significant improvement to the Dalmo Victor ALR-46 radar warning receiver (RWR). The Avionics Midlife Improvement targets navigation, computer processor and data storage/transfer enhancements. The USAF has also recently revisited the proposal to re-engine the B-52 with more fuel-efficient, higher bypass commercial powerplants.
The reduction in the B-1B fleet is intended to secure funding for the planned Block F defensive system update programme at the heart of which are the BAE Systems ALE-55 fibre-optic towed decoy, ALQ-214 radio-frequency countermeasures system and Lockheed Martin ALR-56M RWR. However, development and test delays have pushed back a full-rate production decision to 2005. The B-1's cockpit is fitted with 1970s instrumentation, but the only improvement planned is an integrated situation awareness display with moving map, plus the addition of a Link 16 datalink.
The bulk of expenditure is earmarked for B-2 improvements, some of which are already beginning to manifest themselves such as five deployable shelters to enable the bomber to deploy to RAF Fairford in the UK, and Diego Garcia. These ensure a climatically controlled environment for LO maintenance. Around $1 billion will be spent over the next eight years on upgrading the Raytheon APQ-181 Ku-band radar.
Also in the pipeline is Link 16 for in-flight retargeting and smart bomb racks capable of handling the new 225kg JDAM and 115kg Small Diameter Bomb. The B-2, like the B-52 and B-1B, will also receive JASSM and the Raytheon AGM-154 JSOW stand-off glide weapon.
Source: Flight International
