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Karo-Aviation visit VFC-13 at NAS Fallon 2015-3
Article and pictures by Ronald de Roij


NAS Fallon and the Fallon Range Training Complex are the Navy's premier integrated strike warfare training facilities. Its mission is to support carrier air wings preparing for deployment and to host joint and multinational training and exercises.

 

Naval Air Station Fallon traces its origins to 1942, As part of the Western Defence Program, initiated to repel an expected Japanese attack on the west coast. As the war progressed and the possibility off on invasion dropped, it became a base to train pilots in a realistic environment which included the construction off target ranges. In the years that followed the training facility’s where expanded to their present form . In the early 90’s a new hangar, ramp and academic building were built in 1995 to accommodate the arrival of Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (Top Dome) from San Diego to Fallon in early 1996. With the transfer off NAS Miramar to the USMC the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Centre (NSAWC) was commissioned at Fallon NAS. Combining the functions of TOPGUN, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School and the Naval Strike Warfare Centre into one command. At the same time VFC-13 moved to Fallon replacing VFA-127 in the adversary role.

"VFC-13 is no exception when it comes to non-standard camouflage schemes for aggressor aircraft. The squadron's F-5s wear a variety of colour schemes to represent a foreign adversary."

 

 

 
 
 
 

The concept of aggressor units started as a direct result of the high air combat loss rate experienced in the Vietnam War. The air-to-air kill ratio had fallen from 10 to 1 in the Korean War to almost 1 to 1 at a low point of the Vietnam War.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. To take a group of crack fighter pilots, weapons school graduates, and guys who flew in combat in Vietnam. Give them free access to intelligence sources so they know exactly what the enemy's doing. Give theme some airplanes that look and act like enemy airplanes. Then let them go out and fly against our own pilots and show them what the enemy might look like in a real war.

This Concept was first adopted by US Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as ‘Top Gun’. They employed the venerable Douglas A-4 Skyhawk in the role of enemy aircraft, simulating aircraft like the Mig-19 to give navy pilots a first taste of the real action. The success of formalized Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) led to transition of Navy Instrument Training Squadrons equipped with the A-4 into Adversary Squadrons at each master jet base

As real enemy aircraft were not “available” for the adversary task so readily available service aircraft were used as surrogate airframes, but presented in such a manner as to imitate an enemy aircraft. Wearing distinctly different camouflage markings and adorned with large RED aircraft numbers.

Units tasked with providing this type of training took great pride in studying the tactics, operational idiosyncrasies and military procedures of the enemy they were trying to emulate. These processes go so far that when entering the squadron building you can compare it with a “Russian” squadron, something the squadrons take great pride in.

From the beginning of the program the Navy has used the Northrop F-5 Tiger as its main aggressor aircraft next to the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. While aircraft used for the aggressor role are usually older jet fighters, this has not always been the case.

During the mid-1980s, the US Navy determined that the A-4s and F-5s flown at Top Gun were not adequate in simulating the air-to-air capabilities of the newest Russian fighters such as the MiG-29 and Su27. At this point, the most agile American fighter was arguably the F-16, but this land-based jet was not flown by the US Navy.

The Navy thus asked General Dynamics to design and build a variant of the F-16 specifically for the Navy Adversary role. Any equipment not necessary for visual-range aerial combat was removed enhancing their agility and dog fighting abilities.

These F-16s were designated F-16N, and twenty-two were built for the US Navy and flown at its famous “TOPGUN” Navy Fighter Weapons School starting in 1987 as well as with VF-43, VF-45 and VF-126, which were still active duty Adversary squadrons at the time.

However, due to the unusually frequent high loads imposed on these aircraft, cracks were detected on the wings after only a few years of operation, leading to the retirement of the F-16N in 1994. In 2002 the Navy began to receive fourteen F-16 A and B models from AMARC that were brand new aircraft originally intended for Pakistan, but had been embargoed. All 14 are operated by NSAWC for use by TOPGUN in addition to the F/A-18A aircraft already in operation at Fallon.

 

 

"Aggressor squadrons in the US Navy include VFC-12 (NAS Oceana), VFC-13 (NAS Fallon) and VFC-111 (NAS Key West) as well as the famous “TOPGUN” Naval Fighter Weapons School (US Navy) which is not a squadron per se, but operates F-16A aircraft as part of the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at NAS Fallon."



Fighter Squadron Composite 13

VFC-13 provides adversary training for regular Navy fleet and replacement squadrons and air wings, reserve fighter and attack squadrons, USAF and USMC units, and Canadian forces.

The "Fighting Saints" of VFC-13 can trace their origins back to 1946, when VF-753 was commissioned flying F6F-5 "Hellcats." Today's squadron was formed on Sept. 1, 1973, at NAS. New Orleans during the reorganization of the U.S. Naval Reserve.
 

 

 

 
 
 

Initially, the squadron operated the Chance Vought F-8H "Crusader" with a complement of 17 officers and 127 enlisted men, former members of VSF-76 and VSF-86. In April 1974, the "Saints" made the transition to the single-seat A-4L "Skyhawk."

As the demand for west coast adversary services and other fleet support missions increased, the squadron was permanently transferred to NAS Miramar, arriving there in February 1976. That summer, a transition was made from the A-4L to the more reliable two-seat TA-4J. The year 1983 marked the return of the single seat aircraft to VFC-13 and the arrival of the A-4E.

October 1993 marked the end of an era when VFC-13 made the transition to the single-seat, two engine F/A-18 "Hornet." This change further enhanced the squadron's ability to perform its adversary mission by providing an even more capable and realistic threat aircraft. In April 1996, the command relocated to NAS Fallon and made the transition to the F-5E/F Tiger II.

The U.S. Navy and Marine F-5 fleet was modernized with the purchased 44 low-hour F-5E's from Switzerland. The Swiss F-5Es averaged only about 2,500 hours on the airframe, while the U.S. Navy's Tiger IIs averaged about 7,000 flight hours. The Swiss aircraft also were built with Improved Handling Quality systems, sharper noses, and improved leading edge roots on the wings and automatic flaps, giving them better performance than the U.S. Navy's F-5Es. Deliveries of the Swiss F-5Es commenced in 2003 at the rate of about one per month.

Each conversion took about 5  months. During the upgrade structural elements where replaced when needed and Fatigue critical components were replaced, and areas of the aft fuselage subject to high fatigue were refurbished. Newly designed uppercockpit longerons were installed, increasing the airframe's integrity. The aircraft also were given an avionics upgrade, bringing them into the twenty-first century.

A navigation/radar display kit replaced five legacy components - the inertial navigation system, inertial navigation display system (INDS) adapter, magnetic azimuth indicator, radar video indicator, and radar control - with two state-of-the-art line replaceable units (LRUs). The kit includes the LN-260, Northrup Grumman's new inertial navigation system. Completely integrated with a twenty-four-channel, selective availability/anti-spoofing modulecompliant embedded GPS receiver, the LN-260 uses an advanced fiber optic gyroscope-based inertial sensor assembly.

Its open-system architecture is designed to be readily adaptable to new applications and new system  requirements that improve performance of mission equipment and flight control systems. A new integrated control display  unit and radar display were part of the panel upgrade.

The aircraft also were completely rewired. A new gaseous oxygensystem replaced the legacy liquid oxygen system to reduce costs, and an anti-skid braking system was added to help bring the aircraft to a safe stop on wet runways. The resulting variant of the single-seat F-5E is the F-5N. Forty-one were created, along with three two-seat trainers, which retain the two-seater's designation as the F-5F. Also known as F-5F "FrankenTiger", the product of grafting the older front-half fuselage of an F-5F into the back-half fuselage of a newer low-hours F-5E acquired from the Swiss Air Force. A total of three "FrankenTigers" were made

"The F-5 Tiger II was originally chosen by the US military for this role as a result of its similarity to the abundant MiG-21 Fishbed. Even though many of today's potential threats come from the more capable MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-27 Flanker, the F-5 is still seen as a valuable tool "

In January 2006, VFC-13 established a permanent detachment of 12 aircraft at NAS Key West, Florida for East Coast training. Subsequently, in the fall of 2006, the VFC-13 Key West detachment was re-designated as a separate squadron, VFC-111, with an assignment of one F-5F and 10 F-5N. In parallel, the eleven aircraft strength of VFC-13 at NAS Fallon was increased to 17 F-5s.

 
           

We thank PAO Zip Upham for arranging our visit to VFC-13 and the staff off VFC-13 for their hospitality and help during our visit.

 
 
 

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