AIRCRAFT AND WEAPONS OF THE USAF Two fighters, the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, make up the backbone of the U.S. Air Force’s attack force. The Air Force uses modified versions of these planes to maintain control of the air by attacking and destroying enemy fighters and enemy antiaircraft capabilities, and for ground attack duties. The Air Force also has a much smaller number of the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters, designed to elude enemy radar and air defences. The Air Force assigns its top pilots to fly its fighters. The Air Force is overseeing the development of a new airplane, the F-22, to replace the F-15 and F-16. The F-22 was expected to perform both air superiority and ground attack missions and was scheduled to begin replacing the F-15 and F-16 in 2005. The Air Force maintains a fleet of about 180 long-range bombers. Eighty-five of the bombers are the aging H model of the B-52 Stratofortress, a plane first introduced in 1961. The Air Force also has 75 of the more modern B-1 Lancer and 21 of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Air Force bombers can carry nuclear or conventional air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM) and a wide variety of other weapons, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a satellite-guided precision bomb. The Air Force has a large fleet of planes for strategic airlift (carrying troops, equipment, and supplies thousands of kilometres without landing or refuelling). The newest strategic airlift plane is the C-17 Globe master, which can carry about 70,000 kg (about 160,000 lb). In 2004 the Air Force had 120 of these planes and planned to expand the fleet to 180 C-17s. The Air Force also maintains a fleet of about 50 C-5 Galaxies, which can carry more than 90,000 kg (about 200,000 lb) of cargo, and about 80 C-141 Star lifters, which can carry about 30,900 kg (about 68,100 lb) or 200 passengers. The Star lifter can also be reconfigured to carry more than 100 wounded soldiers. For carrying cargo and troops shorter distances, the Air Force relies primarily on the C-130 Hercules, which can carry a cargo of about 20,000 kg (about 44,000 lb) over a distance of more than 3,600 km (more than 2,200 mi). The Air Force also has deployed and begun to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Predator UAV can linger over a designated geographic area for many hours to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance, and to direct other forces to strike targets; it also can carry the Hellfire laser-guided precision missile. The larger Global Hawk UAV can fly higher and longer than the Predator and cover more territory. The Air Force maintains a large arsenal of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). About 500 of the missiles in this inventory are LGM-30 Minuteman missiles, which can carry up to three warheads (the explosive core of a missile). When fully armed with three warheads, the Minuteman has a total destructive force of about 1 megaton (the equivalent of 1 million U.S. tons of TNT) and is more than 60 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Japan, in 1945. The Air Force also has about 50 LGM-118 Peacekeeper (MX missiles), which can carry up to ten warheads, with a total destructive force of about 3 megatons. Under the START II (second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) arms control agreement of 1993, the United States was required to arm the Minuteman with only one 300-kiloton warhead per missile—equal to about 300,000 U.S. tons of TNT. The treaty also required the United States to retire the Peacekeeper (MX missile) system completely by 2004. The U.S. Senate ratified START II in 1996, but the Russian Duma (national legislature) did not approve the treaty. In 2002 the United States and the Russian Federation agreed to the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Moscow, which requires a reduction in the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons on each side from about 6,000 each to a level between 1,700 and 2,200 weapons each by 2012. |
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