In the late 1960s, submarine ballistic missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles placed in mines became the main means of delivery of American strategic nuclear potential. Due to the fact that the USSR air defense system was guaranteed to destroy most of the enemy bombers on the way to protected targets, the American strategic aviation, which was originally the main striking force, switched to secondary roles.
After the strategic aviation lost the functions of the main carrier and in connection with the prohibition of atmospheric nuclear tests, the subject of research work carried out at the Kirtland airbase in the state of New Mexico has seriously changed. Test air groups that participated in atmospheric tests at the Nevada nuclear test site were disbanded. A significant part of the nuclear and hydrogen aviation bombs from the arsenal of strategic aviation, stored at the Manzano facility, was sent for disposal and recycling. At the same time, the Sandia laboratory has significantly increased the volume of research aimed at designing small-sized and universal charges with a variable explosion power.
A great success achieved at the Los Alamos National Nuclear Laboratory in New Mexico can be considered the creation of the B-61 thermonuclear aviation bomb, in the design of which specialists from the Sandia laboratory located in the vicinity of the Kirtland airbase also took part.
B-61 thermonuclear bomb model
This aviation ammunition, the first modification of which was created back in 1963, is still in service with the US Air Force. Thanks to the proven design, which ensured high reliability, acceptable weight and dimensions and the possibility of stepwise regulation of the explosion power, the B-61, as new modifications were created, displaced all other nuclear bombs in strategic, tactical and naval aviation. In total, 12 modifications of the B-61 are known, of which, until recently, 5 were in service. On modifications 3, 4 and 10, intended mainly for tactical carriers, the power can be set: 0.3, 1.5, 5, 10, 60, 80 or 170 kt. The B-61-7 version for strategic aviation has four installation capacities, with a maximum of 340 kt. At the same time, in the most modern anti-bunker modification of the V-61-11, there is only one version of the 10 kt warhead. This buried bomb has seismic effects on underground bunkers and ICBM mines, which is equivalent to a 9 megaton B-53 when it explodes on the surface. In the future, the adjustable B-61-12, which also has the ability to stepwise change the power, should replace all earlier models except for the B-61-11.
Since the start of production, the arsenals have received more than 3,000 B-61 thermonuclear bombs of various modifications. In the 70s and 90s, it was the B-61 that made up a significant part of the nuclear weapons stored inside Mount Manzano. According to the information published by the US Department of Defense, there are now approximately 550 bombs in service. Of these, approximately 150 are intended for delivery by strategic bombers B-52H and B-2A, another 400 are tactical bombs. Approximately two hundred B-61s are in reserve at long-term storage bases.
At the moment, the Manzano nuclear weapons storage center, which is organizationally part of the Kirtland airbase, is operated by the 498th nuclear wing, which interacts with the Ministry of Energy. The duties of the 498th Wing personnel include the storage, repair and maintenance of nuclear weapons and individual components, as well as ensuring the safe handling of nuclear materials.
In the 70s, the topic of defense research carried out at the airbase expanded significantly. Specialists from the Air Force Special Weapons Center and the Sandia laboratory, taking advantage of the proximity to the Tonopah and White Sands test sites, practiced various nuclear weapons without installing the main charge on them.
Satellite image of Google Earth: nuclear reactor in the vicinity of Kirtland airbase
An underground nuclear research complex operated by Sandia laboratory specialists is located 6 km south of the main runway and hangars of the air base. According to information published in open sources, there is a research reactor designed to simulate the processes occurring during a nuclear explosion and study the radiation resistance of various electronic circuits and devices used in defense and aerospace systems. The facility has a cost of over $ 10 million per year and is undergoing unprecedented security measures.
The protected area within a radius of several kilometers from the nuclear laboratory is scattered with many test facilities, stands and experimental fields. In this area, experiments are being carried out on the effect of high temperatures and explosives on various materials, means of rescue and communication are being tested, there is a pool with a high-altitude crane, where a splashdown of aircraft and spacecraft is being investigated. The vulnerability of military aircraft and helicopters to the attack of various ammunition is being studied on the experimental field fenced off by a six-meter concrete fence.
On two special tracks with a length of 300 and 600 meters, "crash tests" are carried out, in which the consequences of collisions of equipment and weapons with various objects are studied. Test tracks are equipped with high-speed video cameras and laser speed meters. One of the tracks was built on the site where in the past there was a bombing target and craters from large-caliber bombs are still preserved nearby.
In 1992, specialists from the Sandia National Laboratory, in the course of research in the field of ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities, dispersed the decommissioned Phantom fighter on special sleds with jet boosters and smashed it against a concrete wall. The purpose of this experiment was to find out in practice the thickness of the walls of a reinforced concrete shelter capable of withstanding the fall of a jet plane on it.
Outside the protected area of the Sandia facility is a solar energy laboratory. On an area of 300x700 meters, several hundred large-sized parabolic mirrors are installed, concentrating "sunbeams" on the top of a special tower. Here the energy of the sun's rays is used to obtain chemically pure metals and alloys. The temperature of concentrated sunlight is such that birds that accidentally fly into them instantly burn out. For this reason, this object was criticized by conservationists, and subsequently, during experiments around the perimeter of the object, they began to include speakers that scare away birds.
Satellite image of Google Earth: laboratory complex for the study of solar energy
Another area being developed at the Kirtlan branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Research Laboratory, is the creation of combat lasers. Until 1997, the Kirtland branch was an independent research organization known as the Phillips Laboratory. It was named after Samuel Philips, the former director of the manned lunar program.
Aerial view of the Starfire Optical Range in the 90s
AFRL's largest ground-based facility at Kirtland is the Starfire Optical Range (SOR) ground-based laser and optical center, which literally translates as "Starfire Optical Range". In addition to powerful sources of laser radiation, SOR has several telescopes with diameters of 3, 5, 1, 5 and 1 meter. All of them are equipped with adaptive optics and are designed to track satellites. The largest telescope available at the airbase is also one of the largest in the world.
Officially, the SOR is designed to study the atmosphere and study the possibility of transmitting information over long distances using lasers. In fact, the main direction of research is to clarify the degree of absorption of laser radiation in various weather conditions and the possibility of intercepting ballistic and aerodynamic targets by lasers. On May 3, 2007, The New York Times published an article claiming that powerful lasers deployed in the vicinity of Albuquerque were capable of disabling optical reconnaissance satellites. The article also said that such an experiment was successfully carried out on the American KN-11 reconnaissance spacecraft that had exhausted its resources.
Satellite image of Google Earth: laser-optical research center in the vicinity of Kirtland airbase
The laser-optical research center in the vicinity of Kirtland airbase is located about 13 km south of the main airstrip of the airbase, not far from an old ring target used for training bombing during World War II and the Manzano nuclear storage.
In 1970, the 4900th Aviation Flight Test Group was created in Kirtland to develop laser weapons. In the course of the experiments, the tasks were set to destroy unmanned target aircraft and missiles with ground and air lasers. The 4900th group included five F-4Ds, one RF-4C, two NC-135A, five C-130, as well as several light A-37 attack aircraft, F-100 fighters and helicopters.
NKC-135A
The main object of testing in the air group was an aircraft with a "laser cannon" NKC-135A, created under the ALL program. The base for it was the KS-135A tanker. To accommodate the combat laser, the aircraft fuselage was extended by 3 meters, while the weight of the additional installed equipment exceeded 10 tons.
Flying "hyperboloid" NKC-135A, as a rule, operated in tandem with one of the unarmed NC-135A, carrying optoelectronic equipment for target detection and tracking. An aircraft with a combat laser on board, patrolling in the launch zone of tactical missiles, was supposed to hit them in the active phase of the flight shortly after the start. However, the task turned out to be more difficult than it seemed at the beginning of the work. The power of 0.5 MW of the laser was not enough to destroy missiles launched at a distance of several tens of kilometers. After a series of unsuccessful tests, the laser itself, guidance and control systems were refined.
In mid-1983, the first success was achieved. With the help of a laser installed on board the NKC-135A, it was possible to intercept 5 AIM-9 "Sidewinder" missiles. Of course, these were not heavy ballistic missiles, but this success demonstrated the efficiency of the system in principle. In September 1983, a laser with an NKC-135A burned through the skin and disabled the control system of the BQM-34A drone. Tests continued until the end of 1983. In the course of them, it turned out that the flying laser platform is capable of intercepting targets at a distance of no more than 5 km, which in combat conditions was absolutely insufficient. In 1984, the program was closed. Later, the US military repeatedly stated that the NKC-135A aircraft with a combat laser was viewed solely as a "technology demonstrator" and an experimental model.
Satellite image of Google Earth: flying laser platform NKC-135A and attack aircraft A-10A in the exposition of the National Museum of the US Air Force
The NKC-135A aircraft was stored in one of the airbase hangars until 1988, after which secret equipment was dismantled from it and transferred to the National Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio.
YAL-1
In the future, the groundwork obtained during the tests of the NKC-135A was used to create the YAL-1 carrier aircraft based on the Boeing 747-400F, on board which a powerful infrared chemical laser was installed. However, the YAL-1 anti-missile program was finally closed in 2011 due to the excessive cost and uncertain prospects. And in 2014, the only YAL-1 built after three years of storage in the "graveyard of bones" in "Davis-Montan" was disposed of.
In addition to laser systems designed to combat aircraft, ballistic missiles and satellites, the specialists of the AFRL Kirtlad branch were engaged in the creation of laser and microwave "non-lethal" weapons, both for combating riots and blinding combat guidance and control systems. So, within the framework of one of the "anti-terrorist" programs, an automatic suspended laser system for protecting aircraft from MANPADS with IR seeker was created. And during the stay of the American contingent in Somalia, an infrared laser on the Hammer chassis was used to disperse the protesters.
In addition to the ALL program, technicians and specialists of the 4900th aviation group and the Air Force Test and Evaluation Center (AFTEC) - "Air Force Test and Evaluation Center" participated in adaptation to combat service in combat units of various types of aircraft and missile technology. F-16A / B fighters, BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles, GBU-10, GBU-11 and GBU-12 guided bombs, as well as many other models of equipment and weapons.
In 1989, in Kirtland, on a special flyover, the B-1V strategic bomber was tested for electromagnetic compatibility of avionics and protection against electromagnetic impulses. Interestingly, the top of this flyover is constructed of wood to reduce distortion during measurements.
Kirtland AFB is currently used in a number of US Air Force training programs. Thus, on the basis of the 377th Air Wing, which is engaged in the protection and engineering support of the air base, courses were organized to counter illegal intrusion into guarded objects and to neutralize explosive devices. The 498th Air Wing, in charge of nuclear weapons, also trains specialized specialists. The 58th Special Operations Air Wing Training Center prepares military personnel for search and rescue aviation units.
CV-22 Osprey 58th Special Operations Wing
In general, the role of the airbase in New Mexico in improving the American search and rescue service is very great. In addition to training search and rescue crews, in accordance with the requirements of the Air Force, the modernization of existing aircraft and helicopters was carried out, as well as techniques for rescuing pilots in distress, covert disembarkation and emergency evacuation in a combat situation of special-purpose groups were practiced.
Helicopter of special operations forces MH-53J Pave Low III at the memorial site of Kirtland airbase
Before the appearance of specially modified HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and CV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, the main means of delivering special forces groups and searching for downed pilots were heavy MH-53J Pave Low III helicopters, equipped with navigation systems, night vision devices, antiaircraft countermeasures and rapid-fire machine guns. The last MH-53Js served in Kirtland until 2007.
Kirtland is currently the third largest airbase of the US Air Force Strategic Air Command and the sixth largest airbase of the Air Force. After the nuclear laboratory, nuclear weapons storage and other facilities were transferred under the control of the Air Force, the territory of the air base is 205 km². There are four runways with a length of 1800 to 4200 meters. More than 20,000 people serve at the airbase, of which about 4,000 are career military and national guardsmen.
Satellite image of Google Earth: CV-22 tiltrotors at the parking lot of the Kirtland airbase
The 512th Rescue Squadron on HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters, the 505th Special Operations Squadron on the HC-130P / N King and MC-130H Combat Talon II and the 71st Special Operations Squadron on CV -22 Osprey. The infrastructure of the 898th squadron of aviation ammunition is also deployed at the airbase. Air defense of the area is carried out by 22 F-16C / D fighters from the 150th Fighter Wing of the National Guard Air Force. Since the beginning of the 70s, “doomsday planes” have regularly landed at the air base - E-4 air command posts and E-6 communications and control planes from which the strategic nuclear forces of the United States should be led in the event of a global conflict.
Satellite image of Google Earth: communication and control aircraft E-6 Mercury at the parking lot of the Kirtland airbase
On June 4-5, 2016, Kirtland hosted an air show dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the airbase. During the celebrations, demonstration flights of 18 different types of aircraft were carried out, including aircraft that were in service during the Second World War. Modern aircraft also flew into the air: F / A-18 Hornet, B-1B Lancer and CV-22 Osprey.
The highlight of the flight program was the performance of the Thunderbirds aerobatic team - "Petrel" on specially modified F-16C
Aircraft HC-130P / N and MC-130H of the 505th Special Operations Squadron at the parking lot of the Kirtland airbase. The picture was taken through the window of a passenger airliner taking off.
The main runway of the Kirtland Air Force Base is also used to receive and depart passenger and transport aircraft from Albuquerque International Airport - Albuquerque International Airport. It is the largest airport in New Mexico, serving over 4 million passengers a year. Every day, passengers of airliners taking off and landing have the opportunity to contemplate combat aircraft in the parking lots and numerous secret objects in the vicinity of the airbase.
