Carrier (1999) (66 page)

AGM-65 Maverick
Family of air-to-surface missiles, produced since 1971 by Hughes and Raytheon with a variety of guidance and warhead configurations. Range about 14 nm. Navy versions carried by S-3, P-3, F/A-18, and other aircraft use imaging infrared guidance.

AGM-84 Harpoon/SLAM
AGM-84, turbojet powered antiship missile, up to 120 miles range with 488-lb/220-kg explosive warhead. AGM-84E version (“SLAM”) uses Maverick IIR seeker and GPS-aided guidance.

AGM-154 JSOW
Joint Standoff Weapon. Low-cost 1,000-pound glide bomb with 25-mile range, using INS/GPS guidance. Carries 145 BLU-97 bomblets. A version carrying a 1,000-pound unitary warhead is under development.

AH-1W
“Cobra” attack helicopter found in Marine light-attack squadrons. Nicknamed “Whiskey Cobra” or “Snake.”

AIM-9 Sidewinder
Heat-seeking missile family, used by the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, and many export customers. A letter, such as AIM-9M or-9X, designates variants.

AIM-120 AMRAAM
AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM). 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). Currently carried by Navy and Marine F/A-18’s.

ARG
Amphibious Ready Group.

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 ATO 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. A “data bus” or high-speed digital network increasingly interconnects components of an avionics system.

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.

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).

C-130 Hercules
Lockheed medium transport aircraft. Four Allison T56 turboprops. Over 2,000 of these classic aircraft have been built since 1955, and it is still in production.

C
³
I
Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence; the components and targets of information warfare. Pronounced “C-three-I.”

Call Sign
(1). An identifying name and number assigned to an aircraft for a particular mission. Aircraft in the same flight will usually have consecutive numbers. (2). A nickname given to an aviator by his/her squadron mates and retained throughout his/her flying career, often humorous.

Canopy
Transparent bubble that covers the cockpit of an aircraft. Usually made of Plexiglas, or polycarbonate, sometimes with a microscopically thin layer of radar-absorbing material or gold. Easily scratched or abraded by sand or hail. Ejection seats have a means of explosively jettisoning or fracturing the canopy to reduce the chance of injury during ejection.

CAP
Combat Air Patrol, a basic fighter tactic that involves cruising economically at high or medium altitude over a designated area searching for enemy aircraft.

CBU
Cluster Bomb Unit. An aircraft munition that is fused to explode at low altitude, scattering large numbers of “submunitions” over a target area. Submunitions can be explosive grenades, delayed-action mines, antitank warheads, or other specialized devices.

CENTAF
Air Force component of U.S. Central Command, including units deployed to bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other states in the Gulf region. The commander of CENTAF is an Air Force It. general, who typically also commands Ninth Air Force based at Shaw AFB, SC.

CENTCOM
United States Central Command, a unified (joint service) command with an area of responsibility in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Headquartered at McDill AFB, FL, and generally commanded by an Army four-star general. CENTCOM normally commands no major combat units, but in a crisis situation it would rapidly be reinforced by units of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, the U.S. Marine Corps, and allied forces.

Chaff
Bundles of thin strips of aluminum foil or metallized plastic film that are ejected from an aircraft to confuse hostile radar. A chaff cloud creates a temporary “smoke screen” that makes it difficult for radar to pick out real targets. The effectiveness of chaff depends on matching the length of the chaff strips to the wavelength of the radar.

Chine
A sharp-edged projection running along the fuselage of an aircraft, often as an extension of the leading-edge wing root. Particularly prominent on the F/A-18 Homet.

CinC
Commander in Chief. Used to designated the senior officer, typically a four-star general or admiral in charge of a major command, such as CINCPAC (Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command).

CIWS
Mk. 15 “Close-in Weapons System.” Pronounced “Sea-Whiz.” The Phalanx automatic gun and radar system, as installed on Navy ships of many classes.

CONOPS
Concept of Operations. The commander’s guidance to subordinate units on the conduct of a campaign.

CSAR
Combat Search and Rescue. Recovery of downed air crew evading captures in an enemy-held area. Typically a helicopter mission supported by fixed-wing aircraft.

CTAPS
Contingency Tactical Air Control System Automated Planning System. A transportable network of computer workstations, linking various databases required for the generation of an Air Tasking Order.

CVW
Carrier Air Wing; a force of Navy aircraft organized for operation from an aircraft carrier, Typically includes one fighter squadron, two attack squadrons, and small units of helicopters, antisubmarine, electronic warfare, and early warning radar planes.

DoD
Department of Defense. U.S. Government branch created in 1947, responsible for the four armed services and numerous agencies, program offices, and joint projects.

Drag
The force that resists the motion of a vehicle through a gaseous or liquid medium. The opposite force is lift.

E-2C Hawkeye
U.S. Navy carrier-based twin-turboprop airborne early warning aircraft built by Northrop Grumman. Entered service in 1964. Also operated by France, Israel, Egypt, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan.

E-8 JSTARS
Joint Surveillance and Targeting Attack Radar System. An Army/Air Force program to deploy about 20 Boeing E-8C aircraft equipped with powerful side-looking synthetic-aperture radars to detect moving ground targets at long range.

E/O
Electro-optical. A general term for sensors that use video, infrared, or laser technology for assisting navigation or locating, tracking, or designating targets.

ECM
Electronic Countermeasures. Any use of the electromagnetic spectrum to confuse, degrade, or defeat hostile radars, sensors, or radio communications. The term ECCM (electronic counter-countermeasures) is used to describe active or passive defensive measures against enemy ECM, such as frequency-hopping or spread-spectrum waveforms.

ELINT
Electronic Intelligence. Interception and analysis of radar, radio, and other electromagnetic emissions in order to determine enemy location, numbers, and capabilities.

ESM
Electronic Security Measures. Usually refers to systems that monitor the electromagnetic spectrum to detect, localize, and warn of potential threats.

Exocet
French-built antiship missile, widely exported in air-launched (AM-39), ship-launched (MM-38/40), and submarine-launched (SM-39) versions. Two AM-39 Exocets fired by an Iraqi aircraft damaged the U.S. Navy frigate
Stark
(FFG-31) in the Persian Gulf on May 17, 1987.

F/A-18 Hornet
Boeing “Hornet” carrier-capable fighter-bomber, operated by Navy and Marine squadrons, and the Air Forces of Canada, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, and Finland. Improved F/A-18E/F model under development.

FADEC
Full Authority Digital Engine Control, a computer that monitors jet-engine performance and pilot-throttle inputs and regulates fuel supply for maximum efficiency.

Flameout
Unintended loss of combustion inside a jet engine, due to a disruption of airflow. This can be extremely serious if the flight crew is unable to restart the affected engine.

Flap
A hinged control surface, usually on the trailing edge of a wing, commonly used to increase lift during takeoff and drag during landing.

Flare
(1). A pyrotechnic device ejected by an aircraft as a countermeasure to heat-seeking missiles. (2). A pitch-up maneuver to bleed off energy performed during landing, just before touching down.

FLIR
Forward Looking Infrared: an electro-optical device similar to a television camera that “sees” in the infrared spectrum rather than visible light. FLIRs display an image based on minute temperature variations, so that hot engine exhaust ducts, for example, appear as bright spots.

G-Force
One G is the force exerted by Earth’s gravity on stationary objects at sea level. High-energy maneuvers can subject the aircraft and pilot to as much as 9 Gs. Some advanced missiles can pull as much as 60 Gs in a turn.

GBU
Guided Bomb Unit. General U.S. term for precision-guided munitions.

GBU-29/30/31/32 JDAM
Joint Direct Attack Munition. A general-purpose bomb or penetration warhead, with inertial/GPS guidance package in the tail cone. Initial operational capability planned for 1999. Navy requirement is 12,000 bombs; Air Force requirement is for 62,000.

Geosynchronous
Also called “geostationary.” A satellite in equatorial orbit at an altitude of 35,786 km (about 22,230 miles) will take 24 hours to circle the Earth. In 24 hours the Earth rotates once on its axis, so the satellite will appear to be “fixed” over the same point on the earth.

“Glass” Cockpit
Design that replaces individual flight gauges and instruments with multi-function electronic display screens. A few mechanical gauges are usually retained for emergency backup.

Goldwater-Nichols
Common name for the Military Reform Act of 1986, which created a series of Unified Commands cutting across traditional service boundaries and strengthened the power of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

GPS
Global Positioning System. A constellation of 24 satellites in inclined earth orbits, which continuously broadcast navigational signals synchronized by ultra-precise atomic clocks. At least four satellites are usually in transit across the sky visible from any point on Earth outside the Polar Regions. A specialized computer built into a portable receiver can derive highly accurate position and velocity information by correlating data from three or more satellites. An encoded part of the signal is reserved for military use. A similar, incomplete, Russian system is called GLONASS.

HARM
AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile, produced by Texas Instruments. Mach 2+. 146-1b blast-fragmentation warhead. Typically fired 35 to 55 miles from target, but maximum range is greater. First used in combat in April 1986 raid on Libya; 40 missiles fired.

Have Blue
Original Lockheed “Skunk Works” prototype for the F-117 Stealth fighter. Considerably smaller than the production aircraft, and still highly classified.

HEI
High Explosive Incendiary, a type of ammunition commonly used with air-to-air guns.

HOTAS
Hands on Throttle and Stick. A cockpit flight control unit that allows the pilot to regulate engine power settings and steering commands with one hand.

HS
Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron.

HSL
Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron, Light.

HUD
Heads-Up Display: a transparent screen above the cockpit instruments on which critical flight, target, and weapons information is projected, so that the pilot need not look down to read gauges and displays during an engagement. Current HUD technology provides wide-angle display of radar and sensor data.

IIR
Imaging Infrared. An electro-optical device similar to a video camera that “sees” small differences in temperature and displays them as levels of contrast or false colors on a operator’s display screen.

ILS
Instrument Landing System. A radio-frequency device installed at some airfields that assists the pilot of a suitably equipped aircraft in landing during conditions of poor visibility.

INS
Inertial Navigation System. A device that determines location and velocity by sensing the acceleration and direction of every movement since the system was initialized or updated at a known point. Conventional INS systems using mechanical gyroscopes are subject to “drift” after hours of continuous operation. Ring-laser gyros sense motion by measuring the frequency shift of laser pulses in two counter-rotating rings, and are much more accurate. The advantage of an INS is that it requires no external transmission to determine location.

Interdiction
Use of airpower to disrupt or prevent the movement of enemy military units and supplies by attacking transportation routes, vehicles, and bridges deep in the enemy rear.

IOC
Initial Operational Capability. The point in the life cycle of a weapon system when it officially enters service and is considered ready for combat, with all training, spare parts, technical manuals, and software complete. The more complex the system, the greater the chance that the originally scheduled IOC will slip.