Air International 2017-08
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M.Ayton - Synchronised, Symbiotic and Synergistic /Military/
An F-15C Eagle equipped with the Talon Hate system lands back at Elmendorf after a morning mission. Note the fancy antenna fitted on the top of the fuselage adjacent the air brake, and the large pod housing an IRST on the fuselage centreline pylon.
Exempt of markings and a bureau number, a special mission P-3C Orion assigned to the special projects patrol squadron on take-off from Elmendorf. The aircraft is notable because of its payload; a near 40 feet long APS-149 Littoral Radar Surveillance System radome.
Northrop Grumman’s OpenPod, a system billed with IRST and fifth to fourth-generation connectivity capabilities, also participated in Northern Edge carried by the company’s test bed CRJ700 registration N804X.
Flight International's Learjet 36 N12FN loaded with two ALQ-167 electronic countermeasures threat simulation pods. During Northern Edge Flight International flew daily missions in support of the Red air force using the pods as part of the robust threat laydown presented to the Blue air force.
Northrop Grumman’s airborne laboratory, BAC 111 N162W, flew daily missions from Elmendorf.
Northrop Grumman’s airborne laboratory has a highly-modified nose radome housing an APG-81 advanced electronically scanned array radar. The chin-mounted assembly is part of the AAQ-37 distributed aperture system. Both systems are integrated on the 1966 British jet to enable flight-test support to the F-35 Lightning II programme.
Based at Elmendorf for Northern Edge 2017, Lockheed Martin’s Gulfstream III Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory now includes a cognitive processing capability that enables rapid adaptation to a changing target environment.
Air Combat Command deployed this EC-130H Compass Call offensive counter-information and electronic attack aircraft to Northern Edge. This aircraft might be configured to a standard called Baseline 2 with the latest electronic attack capability, satellite communications providing connectivity to the latest architectures, increased multi-asset coordination nets and upgraded datalink terminals.
Phoenix Air’s Gulfstream I N192PA was based at Eielson Air Force Base during Northern Edge and was likely to have been used to provide threat presentations for the Red air force.
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) 'Green Knights’ based at Iwakuni, Japan, was the first unit to participate in a Northern Edge exercise with the F-35 Lightning II.
A U-2S Dragon Lady high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft made its first deployment to Northern Edge this year. It flew missions fitted with networked sensors housed in an under­fuselage pod, probably the fitting seen under the white payload bay door, linked to the Enterprise Mission Computer 2.0 (EMC2), developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works.