Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing

result was two aircraft lost, another damaged, one pilot killed, and another captured by the Syrians, requiring the intervention of the Reverend Jesse Jackson to obtain his release. A lousy trade for a few AAA guns!

Ironically, naval and land power can serve as limited political tools where airpower cannot, because an airplane does not establish presence. For decades, the presence of the U.S. Army in Europe and Korea deterred Communist attack, even when that Army turned into a hollow shell in the post-Vietnam period. The presence of the U.S. Navy in the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean has a similar stabilizing geopolitical influence.

Consider the current attempts of the Western powers to influence events in the former Yugoslavia. NATO combat air patrols (Operation Deny Flight), airstrikes on Bosnian Serb military positions, and a multinational naval blockade in the Adriatic have failed to change the behavior of the Bosnian Serbs in any significant way, because they do not reach the Serbian center of gravity in Belgrade. But the token presence of a few hundred U.S. paratroops as a UN peacekeeping force in Macedonia has preserved the existence of that fragile republic. Even Serbs are not crazy enough to directly challenge United States ground forces. Symbolically speaking, when you shoot down my airplane, that is an unfortunate incident, but when you kill my soldiers or sink my ship, that is an act of war.

Perhaps airpower will never conquer ground. Perhaps airpower cannot linger in place as long as ships. But airpower can take the fight to the enemy's heart and brain in a way and with a speed impossible for the more traditional fighting arms. It is, moreover, almost entirely an American invention which, like democracy, has changed the face of the world, and, as shown in Operation Iraqi Freedom, continues to shape and define the tactics and execution of modern warfare.

GLOSSARY

A-12 Lockheed high-altitude, high-speed, low-observable interceptor developed in the 1960s. Never went into service, but served as the basis for the development of the SR-71 Blackbird. Not to be confused with McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger, a 1990s Navy program for a stealthy carrier strike aircraft, canceled due to cost overruns and program mismanagement.

AAA Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), also called 'triple-A' or 'flak.'

Aardvark Nickname for the F-111 fighter bomber, derived from its large nose and ungainly appearance. The F-111 never received an official name.

ABCCC Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center. An EC-130E aircraft equipped with communications equipment and staff.

ACC Air Combat Command. Major command of the USAF formed in 1992 by the merger of the Strategic Air Command (bombers and tankers) and the Tactical Air Command (fighters).

ACES II Standard USAF ejection seat built by McDonnell Douglas based on an original design by the Weber Corporation. ACES II is a 'zero-zero' seat, which means that it can save the crew person's life (at the risk of some injury) down to zero airspeed and zero altitude, as long as the aircraft is not inverted.

ACM Air Combat Maneuvering. The art of getting into position to shoot the other guy, preferably from behind, before he can shoot you.

AFB Air Force Base. NATO or Allied bases are usually identified simply as AB (air base). The Royal Air Force designates its bases by place-name, i.e., RAF Lakenheath.

Afterburner Device that injects fuel into the exhaust nozzle of a jet engine, boosting thrust at the cost of greater fuel consumption. Called 'Reheat' by the British.

AGL Above Ground Level. A practical way of measuring altitude for pilots, even though engineers prefer the more absolute measure ASL, 'Above Sea Level.'

AI Airborne Intercept; usually used to describe a type of radar or missile.

AIM-9 Sidewinder Heat-seeking missile family, used by the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and many export customers. Variants are designated by a letter, such as AIM-9L or AIM-9X.

AMC Air Mobility Command. Major USAF command that controls most transports and tankers. Based at Scott AFB, Illinois.

AMRAAM AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. First modern air-to-air missile to use programmable microprocessors with active radar homing (missile has its own radar transmitter, allowing 'fire and forget' tactics).

ANG Air National Guard. Air Force reserve units nominally under the control of and partially funded by state governments. Many ANG flight crews and ground crews work in the airline or aviation industries.

Angels Altitude in thousands of feet. 'Angels fifteen' means 15,000 feet.

AOC Air Operations Center.

API Armor-Piercing Incendiary. A type of ammunition favored for use against armored ground vehicles.

Aspect The angle from which a target is seen. From the front an aircraft presents a relatively small target; from above or below it presents a comparatively large target.

ATF Advanced Tactical Fighter. Original program name for the F-22.

ATO Air Tasking Order. A planning document that lists every aircraft sortie and target for a given day's operations. Preparation of the ATO requires careful 'deconfliction' to ensure the safety of friendly aircraft. During Desert Storm the ATOs ran to thousands of pages each day.

Avionics General term for all the electronic systems on an aircraft, including radar, communications, flight control, navigation, identification, and fire control computers. Components of an avionics system are increasingly interconnected by a 'data bus' or high-speed digital network.

AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System. Specifically used to describe the Boeing E-3 Sentry family, but also used generically to describe similar types used by other Air Forces.

Bandit Fighter pilot jargon for a confirmed enemy aircraft. An older term, still used by some English-speaking air forces, is 'Bogey.'

Bar One sweep of a radar beam, typically a few degrees in altitude and 60 to 120 degrees in width.

BARCAP Barrier Combat Air Patrol. A fighter operation intended to prevent enemy aircraft from passing through a defined airspace. A BARCAP is typically established along the most likely enemy area of approach, involving relays of fighters that are continuously relieved in place.

BDA Bomb Damage Assessment. The controversial art of determining from fuzzy imagery and contradictory intelligence whether or not a particular target has been destroyed or rendered inoperative.

Bingo The point when an aircraft has just enough fuel remaining to return safely to a friendly base. At this point, a rational pilot will attempt to disengage, unless there is an extremely compelling reason to put the aircraft at risk.

BLU Air Force nomenclature for a 'bomb' or 'munition.'

Boresight Mode When a radar beam or electro-optical device is pointed straight ahead (12 o'clock).

BVR Beyond Visual Range; usually used in reference to radar-guided air-to-air missiles. 'Visual range' depends on the weather, how recently the windscreen was cleaned and polished, and the pilot's visual acuity, but against a fighter-sized target rarely exceeds 10 miles (16 km.).

BW Bomber Wing (traditionally Bombardment Wing).

C-130 Hercules Lockheed tactical transport. Four Allison T56 turboprops. Over two thousand of these classic aircraft have been built since 1955 and it is still in production. Hero of 1976 Israeli hostage rescue mission to Entebbe, Uganda. Many models and variants, including AC-130U gunship and EC-130H communications jammer. New C-130J under development has advanced avionics and new Allison T406 engine with six-bladed propellers. Standard transport has maximum takeoff weight of 175,000 lb./80,000 kg.

C-141 Starlifter Long-range heavy lift transport, built by Lockheed, entered service in