Military Aviation
Thesis: Military aircraft has become more
sophisticated in variety,
effectiveness in war situations, and special
maneuvering techniques in recent
years. Military aircraft has become more
sophisticated in variety, effectiveness
in war situations, and special
maneuvering techniques in recent years. With the
advance of stealth
technology, many new and very effective aircraft have been
developed. The
F-117A was used during Operation Dessert Storm and every plane
came back
without a scratch. The very expensive B-2 stealth bomber has never
been used
in actual war, but during testing it was a success. The Advanced
Tactical
Fighter program was started to make an aircraft that could supercruise,
the
ability to cruise at supersonic speeds, and didn't cost very much. The
YF-22
and YF-23 were the first planes to accomplish this. With all the planes
we know
of, there are also top secret programs probably going on right now. A
new
fighter that has never been heard of before has been spotted. As John
Welch, the
assistant secretary of Air Force said, "Stealth gives us back
that
fundamental element of war called surprise" (Goodall 9). After it was
found
that aircraft could be very useful in war, it was used for large
scale
reconnaissance. Then people started to add bombs to aircraft and then
airplanes
started to become an essence of war. After World War 2, new bombers
were
developed with fast speed, and could travel far distances. They could
also carry
nuclear bombs and missiles. The use of the bomber aircraft then
led to the
fighter, which was equipped with guns and missiles. Helicopters
were also found
to be good strike aircraft. They were armed with cannons,
machine guns, rockets,
torpedoes, and a variety of missiles. Vertical takeoff
made the helicopter an
advantage. The first flight of the F-117A was in June
of 1981 in Groom Lake test
facility. The total cost for the development of
the F-117A was just under two
billion dollars, but it only cost $43 million
to make each plane. It became
operational in October of 1983 and was the
first operational stealth aircraft
ever built. The F-117A is a night attack
plane powered by two, nonafterburning
General Electric engines. F-117As
were designed for first-strike capabilities
and to be able to fly into any
countries airspace undetected. The primary task
of the F-117A is to break
through enemy airspace, destroy high value targets,
and return back unharmed.
They were considered to first be used in several
different tasks, but weren't
used until Operation Dessert Storm where they did
an excellent job. As Donald
Rice, Secretary of the Air Force, said,
"Everyone now agrees the F-117 was a
real bargain" (9). During
Operation Dessert Storm the F-117As were found
out to be very successful. The
war began on January 16, 1991 when the F-117A
fighters entered the Iraqi
airspace on their way to downtown Baghdad. There
were 43 of them over the skies
of Iraq and not one was lost even though they
went against one of the most
modern air-defense systems in the world.
Operation Dessert Storm was the largest
aerial bombing attack in war history.
It was also the first time a stealth
aircraft was used as a main weapon. On
the first day of Dessert Storm the
Lockheed F-117As dropped sixty-two
2,000 pound bombs on Baghdad destroying the
most critical targets of the
Iraqi military, including the headquarters of the
Iraqi air force. "We've
seen that not only does stealth work, but that it
puts fewer assets at risk
and saves lives" (9), as Donald Rice said. The
pilots of those F-117As flew
through the hardest anti-aircraft missiles any
pilot has ever flown through.
When you think of stealth, most people probably
think of B-2 stealth bomber,
but most people don't realize that it hasn't even
been used in a real war
situation yet. In November of 1987 the Pentagon ordered
the first four B-2s
to be built for $2 billion. Each B-2 cost $437.4 million to
build. After the
military liked the bomber, they originally ordered 133 of them,
then they cut
back to 75 because of the deficit-reduction bill. Then, in 1992,
the House of
Representatives voted to buy only twenty, and later only 15 saying
that 10
would be enough. With four General Electric engines with 19,000 pounds
of
thrust each, the B-2s were made to carry a lot of weight. The
Advanced
Technology Bomber, as it was called, was made so it couldn't be
spotted by enemy
radar. After testing it was found out that it is almost
impossible to track it
constantly using radar. The B-2s were designed to be
an all-flying wing and it
is made up of over eighty percent of composite
materials. The B-2 is 69 feet
long, has a wingspan of 172 feet, and 17 feet
in height. They also can carry a
payload of 40,000 pounds and can travel at
mach 0.85 (Jones 86). The B- 2 can
carry 80 bombs, including nuclear bombs.
All fifteen of the B-2s are assigned to
Whiteman Air Force Base in
Missouri and await to be used in actual combat. In
1983 the Advanced
Tactical Fighter program office was formed at Wright-
Patterson Air Force
Base, Ohio. The Air Force wanted to build an aircraft that
had the ability to
supercruise without the use of afterburners or running out of
fuel in a
couple of minutes. It should be able to cruise at mach 1.4 or 1.5 and
be able
to take off on runways less then 2,000 feet long. Since the money
was
starting to get tight, the Advanced Tactical Fighter should cost under
$40
million each to build. To come up with this aircraft, the Military gave
a
contract to both Northrop and Lockheed to each build it with
these
specifications. The Air Force wanted an air-superiority fighter to
replace the
Douglass F-15 Eagle. In 1986 the Air Force gave a contract to
Northrop and
Lockheed who would each build two Advanced Tactical Fighter
prototypes. The
Northrop YF-23 made its first flight in August 1990. It
was powered by a Pratt
and Witney F-119-PW engine. The YF-23 can hold four
AIM-120 missiles. The YF-22
prototype made its first flight in September of
1990 and became the first to
pass the Air Force's supercruise specification.
It could reach mach 1.58 and
faster. The YF-22 has three weapon bays that can
each carry two air-to-air
missiles. Both fighters can supercruise at speeds
of Mach 1.5 to 1.7. Their top
speeds are classified but they can most likely
go over Mach 2. In April of 1991
the Air Force had to decide which plane they
wanted, they chose the Lockheed
YF-22 even though the YF-23 was more
stealthy and could go faster. A new
swing-wing stealth aircraft has been
spotted undergoing test. In September of
1994 it was seen circling high
over Anarillo, Texas. While it was circling, a
radio scanner picked up a
military UHF channel with the call sign Omega. This
call sign has never been
heard before. The pilot was talking about a hydraulic
malfunction and was
saying he was dumping fuel to prepare for an emergency
landing. If there is a
new plane like this, it will probably be called the A-17
and will replace the
F-111 which has been in service since 1967. Recently there
have been millions
of dollars spent expanding the Cannon Air Force Base and a
new plane might be
undergoing testing there. It has also been said that high
ranking officials
have gathered there to look at the new aircraft. The Pentagon
has announced
that the F-111 will be retired by the end of 1995. The new
swing-wing
aircraft spotted will most likely replace it. Swing-wing aircraft add
weight
and make a plane more complex, but give many advantages. When the wing
is
swung forward the plane can travel farther and can land and takeoff on
shorter
runways. When swung forward it can reach supersonic speeds. It was
noticed that
the new airplane spotted was armed with bombs and self-defense
missiles. The
A-17 has many things in common with the YF-23 like the air
inlets and the humps
on top of the fuselage that hide its engines. The
engines on it are probably
General Electric YF-120 turbo fan-turbojet
engines which can reach speeds up to
Mach 2. One of the best recent
advances has been in the area of flight guidance
and control such as the
pilotless plane or drone. The Firebee is a pilotless
plane that can be
controlled by ground, plane, or by a computer. It can fly
following a preset
course and return. Another advance is vertical takeoff. It is
a big advantage
when an airplane can land and takeoff almost anywhere. The
British were
the first to design it, but we built prototypes right away. With
the advance
of stealth technology, radar avoidance has become very important. If
the
enemy doesn't know you are coming then they won't even know what hit them
if
we want to attack them. When Donald Rice said, "Stealth saves lives,
money,
and does the job better" (Goodall 10), he was right. Operation
Dessert
Storm showed us that. With the many advances of military
aircraft, it has become
a main and effective part of war in recent years.