Special Mission Aircraft
payload of 2500 kg, and can operate from short, unpaved airstrips. Socom acquired eleven M28-05s (which PZL refers to as M28 Alfas) between FY09 and FY11. They were originally purchased by Sierra Nevada and ferried across the North Atlantic to the US under Polish registrations. At Sparks, Nevada, SNC modified them, presumably with equipment for night-time operation, precision navigation and military communications. Ten C-145As were assigned to the 318th SOS of the 27th SOW at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, and the eleventh was reportedly based at Hurlburt Field. The task of the 318th was night-time infiltration, exfiltration and resupply of joint special operations forces. In March 2013 the aircraft were reassigned to the 6th SOS of the 1st SOW, to be based at Duke Field, Florida, an auxiliary airfield of Eglin AFB. The 6th is tasked with training the personnel of foreign air forces. I KING AIR IS KING!
The current Northrop Grumman Guardrail is the end product of a whole family of sigint developments, the earliest of which were conversions of the 4580-kg U-21 Ute, the US Army version of the Beech King Air A90 with 410-kW PT6A-20A turboprops. Guardrail (GR) operations were launched in 1971 with the GR-I, equipping the RU21E. It was used in standoff mode, tracking Warsaw Pact troop movements in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. The RC-21E graduated to the GR-II mission system in 1972 and to the GR-IV in 1974. Operations in Korea began in the mid-1970s, monitoring the demilitarised zone. The GR-V entered
service with the RU-21H in 1978. Beginning in 1984 and while still operating the RU-21, the US Army switched Sigint developments to the 7345-kg C-12 Huron, the military Super King Air, powered by two 635-kW PT6A-41s. The first of these was the RC-12D, equipped with Improved Guardrail V (IGV). The RC-12D was operated from bases in West Germany, by the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion (MI-BN) at Wiesbaden and the 2nd MI-BN at Stuttgart Airport. In December 1990 some German-based RC12Ds were deployed to Al Qaisumah in Saudi Arabia for operations against Iraq. From late 1991, following dissolution of the Soviet Union, most RC-12Ds were withdrawn to Stateside bases. Five RC-12Ds have also been operated (alongside two RC-12Ks) under the name Kokiya (Cuckoo) by the Israeli Air Force No 191 Sqn, No 15 Wing, from Sde Dov Airport (Tel Aviv). Israel also developed its own Sigint C-12, named Tzufit. The next major step was the RC-12H, which entered service in 1988 with the Guardrail Common Sensor (GR/CS) System Three. It was followed by the RC-12K with GR/CS System Four in 1991, and the RC-12N with GR/CS System One in 1995. In 1998 the US Army introduced the heaviest in the series, the 7480-kg RC-12P with GR/CS System Two. This was joined in 2000 by the RC-12Q (distinguished by a dome-shaped dorsal radome), mounting the same system, plus Direct Air Satellite Relay. These two models operate together, the RC-12Q serving as the airborne relay facilities (ARF) ‘mother-ship’ to one or more
This US Army RC-12X is one of 14 that Northrop Grumman produced by converting existing RC-12N/P/Qs under the Guardrail Modernization Program. The RC-12X is to remain in service until 2025. (Northrop Grumman)
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INTERNATIONAL
1/2014
The Boeing Emarss (Enhanced Medium-Altitude Reconnaissance/Surveillance System) Beechcraft SKA-350ER is shown on its first flight, on May 22, 2013. Note the dorsal satcom radome. (Boeing)
IED-related casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan led to multiple airborne sensor platforms being deployed to theatre. One such was the Angel Fire SKA, a US Air Force project used to support Marine Corps operations in Iraq. (US DoD).