Airmen, bombers fueling the ‘Fury’

  • Published
  • By Capt. David Faggard
  • Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AFPN) --  More than 300 Airmen, Sailors and Marines from around the world began participating in Resultant Fury on Nov. 22. It is a three-day, $10 million demonstration, designed to showcase the first use of satellite guided J-Series weapons to sink multiple moving targets.

"We're matching up advanced weapons with bomber platforms in the Pacific," said Maj. Gen. David Deptula, director of Pacific Air Forces air and space operations. "We'll demonstrate a new capability ... to rapidly conduct maritime interdiction in all weather, day or night, anywhere in the Pacific theater."

B-52 Stratofortress bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, will fly to a range in Hawaii and release multiple 2,000 pound Global Positioning System-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions on moving targets, the general said.

"We're using modified JDAMs that, when released, will rapidly be fed updated coordinates from (E-8C Joint Stars) aircraft ... at such a rate of speed that it doesn't matter how fast the ship is moving," he said. "The bomb will continually be updated with the ship's position."

Resultant Fury is designed to show an improved capability to deter and dissuade potential adversaries, General Deptula said.

"The demonstration shows we have the ability to sink multiple moving ships used by enemy combatants (or) terrorists, or ships used for piracy," said Maj. Mike Eliason, Resultant Fury demonstration director and PACAF chief of weapons and tactics.

This is not the first time Airmen have practiced for the maritime interdiction mission because sea control operations have been a mission conducted by B-52 crews for many years. However, this is the first time the modified JDAMs have been used to attack moving ships, officials said.

"The only sustained capability that Navy and Air Force aircraft currently have to engage multiple moving maritime targets is inhibited by bad weather," General Deptula said. "Using satellite-guided bombs allows the combatant commander the ability to use aircraft to conduct maritime interdiction in all weather environments. When matched with long-range aircraft, like bombers, that gives the (commander) the ability to conduct maritime interdiction with minimum warning anywhere in the Pacific (within) a matter of hours."

The increased capability has the potential to dramatically reduce the time from initial detection of the enemy to weapons on target, he said.

Resultant Fury is a two-phase demonstration. Phase 1 consists of a maritime interdiction mission with B-52s leaving Andersen AFB and a B-1 Lancer flying from Dyess AFB, Texas. The bombers meet over the Pacific along with aircraft like the E-8 and the F-15E Strike Eagle and E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. A unit of F-18 Hornets, from Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., will also participate in the demonstration using a similarly modified joint stand-off weapon against the targets.

During Phase 1, pilots will engage multiple targets that are towed behind radio-controlled tugboats. These targets will represent enemy ships, while the tugboats represent friendly ships.

"Having friendly and enemy targets close together gives us the ability to distinguish between targets and helps reduce potential collateral damage," Maj. Eliason said.

A 522-foot tank landing ship, the former USS Schenectady, will also be used as a moving target. Besides B-52s from Andersen AFB, a B-52 from Barksdale AFB, La., will also target the Schenectady with its own on-board laser-designation pod and laser-guided weapons. This will demonstrate a self-contained capability to use laser guided weapons from a bomber to conduct maritime interdiction.

Phase 2 consists of a large-scale exercise involving B-2 Spirits, F-15Es, E-8s, E-3s, CH-53 helicopters, special operations forces, P-3 Orions, F/A-18s, and mobile ground vehicles. They will be used to exercise the command and control links, networking between sea, air, land and space nodes required to shrink the time between the discovery of time-sensitive targets and the delivery of desired effects.

“This is a great opportunity to practice dynamic command and control fusion throughout the kill chain with assets that don't normally work together ..." General Deptula said. "Demonstrating the capability of warfare in a network-centric air-sea-land-space environment, we will link all these systems together through the Pacific Air Operations Center at Hickam to provide a rapid response against critical targets.

"We're breaking new ground by using specially modified JDAMs to target moving targets and by matching up advanced technology to our bombers," the general said.

For more information, visit http://www2.hickam.af.mil/pacaf/news/rf.htm.