On October 30, 2014 in the "News" section of the "Military Review" there was a publication about the disaster in the USA, in Ventura County, California, of the Hawker Hunter MK.58 jet fighter. Taking off from the Point Mugu Air Force Base, the plane crashed to the ground at about 5:15 p.m. during the landing approach. As a result of the disaster, a plume of black smoke was seen in the sky about 100 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles. The pilot, the only person on board, was pronounced dead.
The reaction to this news in the comments among the site visitors was very diverse. For example, "MIKHAN" writes: "Another minus one …!" Or "The giant of thought": "The junk is out of order, did not have time to write off in time, you will get the result." Or "Gluxar_": "But the event itself suggests that the US Air Force is beginning to look for an alternative to the F-35 as a failed aircraft …"
In fact, the British-made "Hunter", whose age was about 40 years, of course, in no way can be considered as an alternative to the F-35. In addition, these combat aircraft, popular in the 60s and 80s in the air forces of the third world countries, have never been in service with the United States.
Hawker Hunter MK.58
The crashed Hunter was the property of the American private company Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC, or ATAK in Russian).
This organization is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia. There, at the Williamsburg International Airport, aircraft owned by the company is based and serviced.
Google Earth image: ATAK Kfir, Hunter and J-35 Draken aircraft at Williamsburg International Airport
As follows from the information posted on the official website of ATAK, the company's fleet includes the following aircraft: Hawker Hunter MK.58, F-21 KFIR, L-39 ALBATROS, A-4N Skyhawk. However, in the Google Earth image taken at the end of April 2014, next to ATAK's Kfir and Hunter, one can also observe the SAAB J-35 Draken.
Google Earth snapshot: ATAK aircraft at US Navy Point Mugu Air Force Base
The main field of activity of the company founded by the American retired military in 1996 is the provision of services for simulating enemy combat aircraft in the framework of air combat training and for training ground and naval air defense systems within the framework of outsourcing to the US armed forces.
Of course, the US Air Force and Navy have special units and training centers, all kinds of Top-Ghans, Red Eagles and Aggressors, equipped with special aviation equipment, which should simulate the combat aircraft of a potential enemy during training air battles, in the first turn of Russian and Chinese production. These are both specially modernized and lightweight American fighters: F-5N, F-16N, F / A-18F, and those received from the countries of the former "eastern bloc" MiG and Su.
F / A-18F in the paint of the Russian Air Force
However, American-made fighters have similar characteristics to those in service with combat vehicles, and this does not give an idea of enemy aircraft in training battles, although this, of course, does not apply to the old F-5N. And the regular and long-term use of Soviet-made fighters is difficult due to the lack of factory support and guaranteed supplies of air-conditioned spare parts. In addition, the maintenance of non-combat aircraft, which are used only for training missions, in the air force and navy fleet is quite expensive.
Therefore, the attention of the US military was attracted by private companies providing services in the field of training and education of military personnel. This approach allows you to significantly save budget funds. After all, the personnel of private companies working under an agreement with the Ministry of Defense do not need to pay pensions, medical insurance and severance pay from the state budget. In addition, all the costs of maintaining and repairing aircraft participating in the training flights are borne by private contractors.
Thus, according to the information contained on the official website of the company, the cost of one flight hour of an aircraft belonging to "ATAK", on average, costs the Pentagon only $ 6,000. The cost of a flight hour of combat aircraft used in the Air Force is several times higher.
The backbone of ATAK's employees are highly qualified specialists. Most of the pilots employed by the company are former military fighter pilots with extensive flying experience. When recruiting pilots, preference is given to experienced pilot-instructors or pilots who have served in the Aggressors. These people are real enthusiasts in their field, and working for ATAK gives them the opportunity to enjoy flying after leaving the military.
The skills and knowledge of the ground (technical) personnel are also at a very high level. The personnel policy of the company is to constantly search for and attract highly qualified employees. On the company's website on the Internet, anyone with the appropriate qualifications can fill out a questionnaire and apply for a job.
The company currently employs 22 pilots and more than 50 support personnel. At the same time, the aircraft fleet in mid-2014 consisted of 25 units.
The refusal to use "ATAK" for training flights in the interests of the US Department of Defense of Soviet-made combat aircraft is largely due to the fact that the intensity of such flights is quite high. The total flight time of the company's aircraft, carried out in the interests of the American military, exceeded 34,000 hours.
The ATAK aircraft fleet is based in various regions where there are US military bases. Being at the same airfields with American combat aircraft in service, they work out a variety of flight training missions. On a permanent basis, aircraft belonging to ATAK are located at air bases: Point Mugu (California), Fallon (Nevada), Kaneohe Bay (Hawaii), Zweibruecken (Germany) and Atsugi (Japan).
Geography of use of aircraft belonging to ATAK in various regions.
Most of the company's fleet includes aircraft manufactured in the late 70s and mid 80s. Aircraft purchased in different countries for a reasonable price, despite their decent age, are in good technical condition and, as a rule, have a large residual resource.
The painstaking work of technicians and mechanics serving these aircraft plays the main role in maintaining the aircraft in proper condition. In addition, together with the aircraft, a set of certified spare parts is purchased at the same time, which allows them to be maintained in flight condition for a long time.
Different aircraft in the ATAK fleet are "sharpened" for different tasks. "Hunters" in training flights usually depict enemy attack aircraft trying to break through to a protected object at a low altitude or conducting electronic suppression of air defense systems. In addition, the Hunters are used as aerial target towing vehicles.
A-4N
In addition to shock training missions, Skyhawks in the past have often imitated Soviet anti-ship missiles of the P-15 family in attacks on US Navy warships. When flying at maximum speed and the corresponding RCS parameters, these small maneuverable attack aircraft were most similar in their characteristics to Soviet anti-ship missiles. To create an appropriate jamming environment, the Hunter or Albatross covering the Skyhawks carried containers with electronic warfare equipment.
L-39
For training air battles, most often used are Kfir fighters, produced in Israel in the mid-80s and modernized in the 90s. In the United States, these aircraft received the designation F-21. According to the US Air Force specialists, the modernized "Kfirs" in their combat capabilities are located between the Soviet MiG-21bis and the Chinese J-10.
F-21 KFIR
Despite the seeming technical lag behind modern fighters, the Kfirov pilots very often managed to put American pilots on the F / A-18F and F-15C in a difficult position in close maneuvering combat. Even the superiority of the newest F-22A in training air battles was not always unconditional. Some flight modes of Kfir fighters, built according to the tailless scheme with PGO, turned out to be unavailable for American aircraft. According to the results of battles in 2012 with the F-35В fighter from an experimental batch supplied by the US ILC, it was recognized: "The promising fighter supplied by Lockheed Martin needs further improvement and refinement of the aerial combat technique."
Such results of training battles are largely due to the high qualifications and vast experience of the ATAK pilots, who themselves used to fly many fighters themselves, which now oppose them in training battles. Naturally, the Kfir pilots were well aware of the capabilities of most types of fighter aircraft in service in the United States. At the same time, for the bulk of American combat pilots, the capabilities and characteristics of the "Kfirs" were not known. In addition, unlike Air Force and Navy combat pilots, ATAK pilots are not bound by so many rules and restrictions. In total, the pilots flying the Kfirs flew more than 2000 hours during training missions, which indicates a high intensity of flights and a large number of training battles.
To record the results of training air battles on the ATAK aircraft, special control and fixing equipment was installed, which subsequently allows a detailed debriefing of flights. To fully simulate a combat situation, ATAK aircraft carry electronic warfare equipment and suspended simulators of melee missiles with TGS. This allows for a real grip with the homing head, which increases the realism and reliability of the results of the fight.
ATAK's technical specialists, according to the terms of reference received from the US Navy, together with partners from the Israeli aerospace company NAVAIR and the American Martin-Baker, have developed and installed several options for equipment in overhead containers. This equipment reproduces radio-frequency radiation of on-board navigation and radar systems of Soviet and Russian combat aircraft and anti-ship missiles. Also, a replaceable set of container-type equipment has been developed, which allows jamming in the frequency spectrum at which the Patriot and Standard air defense missile systems' detection and guidance systems operate.
Together with French specialists from MBDA, an outboard simulator of the Exocet AM39 anti-ship missile system was created, which reproduces the operation of a radio altimeter and an active radar impulse homing head. RCC "Exocet" is widespread in the world and, in the opinion of American sailors, poses a great threat to the ships of the US Navy.
The presence of equipment in removable overhead containers on ATAK aircraft with the ability to bring the situation at the exercises as close as possible to a real combat one and create a complex jamming background gives invaluable experience to radar operators and air defense calculations. Major exercises using aircraft and equipment belonging to the ATAK company are regularly conducted with ships and aircraft of the US Navy both on the west and on the east coast.
Technicians and specialists of "ATAK", in addition to playing for the "bad guys" (in American terminology), also participate in various test and test flights conducted as part of the creation and modernization of missile and aircraft systems and weapons.
Today ATAK is the leader in the US in providing outsourcing services for tactical training, threat modeling, research and development of airborne electronic simulators. Over 17 years of activity in this area, the company's personnel have accumulated vast experience and are able to reproduce numerous options that may develop in a real combat situation. This ultimately helps to improve professional skills, as well as the adaptability of military personnel in extreme situations. The activities of the ATAK company and its training programs in the context of austerity of the budget have saved hundreds of millions of dollars and the resource of combat aircraft in service with the US Air Force and Navy.
In conclusion, I would like to add that one can only regret the absence in Russia of such companies capable of raising the level of training of the armed forces and saving budget money at the same time. Undoubtedly, in our country there are many strong, still full of strength professionals who have left the armed forces who are able to realize themselves in this area. But under the conditions of our reality, is it possible to imagine that some private organization or a group of persons acquired a MiG-23 or Su-17, removed from service, but in a flying state?
The activities of the former Minister of Defense (who ultimately went unpunished) led to the fact that, as a result of the activities of organizations such as Slavyanka or Oboronservis, the very word “outsourcing” has actually become a dirty word in our country.
