Happy Thursday, FighterSweep Fans! We wanted to take the opportunity to catch you up on a few happenings in a community we’ve been working with a lot this year.
As you all know, we have very strong ties to the Wild Weasel community. Although we were not able to attend the event in person, we have heard fantastic things about the Wild Weasel 50th Anniversary Reunion, which took place from 8-11 October at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Nearly 160 Weasels attended the event and there probably would have been more, were it not for the insane weather and flooding that happened near Shaw AFB around the same time. There were men with experience in the heady days of the F-100 and F-105, all the way up to F-4G crews of Desert Storm and the present day’s F-16CJ pilots.
The 20th Fighter Wing Commander’s jet, “Slapshot,” sits on taxiway Echo at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina during sunset. (Photo by Scott Wolff)
We’re also pleased to know “Slapshot” was able to make the trip out to Wright-Pat, and those who hadn’t seen the tail flash in person were wowed by it, as well as the awesome offering from the Swamp Fox down the road from Shaw at JNGB McEntire.
The old guard Wild Weasels were treated by a CAPES (CAPabilitiES) briefing on the F-16CJ “Super Weasel” by a member of the 77th Fighter Squadron (Double Down!), as well as a similar briefing by a U.S. Commander involved with the immensely-capable Growler, the Navy’s escort SEAD platform that has replaced the venerable EA-6B. All in all, it sounds like the guys and gals had a spectacular time, and hopefully we’ll be able to make the next one!
Interestingly enough, this week–yesterday, in fact–marked the anniversary of the first time an F-16 fired the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM), utilizing a mechanism known as the ALIC. That acronym stands for Air Launcher Interface Computer, which itself is mounted to the pylon the HARM hangs on beneath the Viper’s wing. The ALIC, in essence, feeds pertinent data from the jet to the missile prior to launch.
A four-ship of F-16CJ “Super Weasels” from the 55th Fighter Squadron prowl the sky in northern Georgia, loaded with the AGM-88 HARM. (Photo by Scott Wolff)
Also noteworthy is this update on the Bremont “Wild Weasel” watch. We are very pleased to announce the F-16CJ version will be pressing ahead with production, and we’re just three orders shy of everyone who places an order for the watch–regardless of platform–getting the legacy rotor on the back with all the historic Wild Weasel jets. So if any of you CeeJay drivers are on the fence about getting one, now is the time to press!
So there you have the latest from the land of SEAD. We’ve got great content ahead for you, FighterSweep Fans, so stay tuned for more!