Radar Bomb Scoring

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Radar Bomb Scoring [1] is a combat aviation ground support operation used to evaluate Cold War aircrews' effectiveness with simulated unguided bomb drops near radar stations of the United States Navy, the USAF Strategic Air Command, and Army Project Nike units. USAF RBS used various ground radar, computers, and other electronic equipment such as jammers to disrupt operations of the bomber's radar navigator, [2] AAA/SAM simulators to require countermeasures from the bomber, and Radar Bomb Scoring Centrals for estimating accuracy of simulated bombings. [3] Scores for accuracy and electronic warfare effectiveness were transmitted from radar sites such as those at Strategic Range Training Complexes [3] (e.g., from Detachment 1 at the "La Junta Bomb Plot").

Contents

Most of the SAC sites were in the continental US with units (detachments) manned by technicians and operators of the Automatic Tracking Radar Specialist career field (AutoTrack). Radar Bomb Scoring and the Autotrack specialty were discontinued shortly after the end of the Cold War when increased munitions accuracy (e.g., GPS-guided JDAMs 1st used in 1993) reduced the need for scoring of simulated bomb runs, and GPS avionics allow onboard tracking for "no-drop bomb scoring" of unguided bombs.

History

World War II included Army Air Forces Bombardier Schools' scoring of trainee's proficiency at the "West Texas Bombardier Triangle" [4] and other USAAF ranges (e.g., observers on Range Towers), [5] and ground-directed bombing for combat guided by automatic tracking radars was used in the Mediterranean Theatre's Po Valley. On 6 June 1945 "the 206th Army Air Force Base Unit (RBS) (206th AAFBU), was activated at Colorado Springs, Colorado under the command of Colonel Robert W. Burns [with] operational control of the two SCR-584 radar detachments located at Kansas City and Fort Worth Army Airfield (Det B), [6] :3199 and dets were later "established at Denver, Chicago, Omaha, Albuquerque and [c.1952 at] Los Angeles." [7] USAF RBS units were at MacDill AFB in 1947, [8] in Phoenix in 1952, [9] and Guam in 1954. [10]

Strategic Air Command

RBS by Strategic Air Command began with the last of 888 simulated bomb runs against San Diego [11] scored in 1946 as well as 2,499 runs scored in 1947. [7] The 1948 increase to 12,084 [7] was the result of a "scathing" Lindbergh review of SAC in the Spring of 1948 (SAC's commanding general was replaced 15 October, and January 1949 simulated raids by Curtis LeMay's "entire command" on Wright-Patt AFB "were appalling"). [12] On 21 July 1948, the 263rd AAFBU (RBS) had been renamed the 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron (SAC), [13] and early RBS detachments were designated by letters, e.g., Detachment D at Fort George Wright WA in 1950. [14] Three detachments of the 3903rd RBS deployed for ground directed bombing in Korea [15] at "Tactical Air Direction Posts" (colloq. TADPOLE sites). [16] (10 August 1954, the 3933rd Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron was redesignated the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron.)[ citation needed ] In 1955, RBS bomb runs for the SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition were on Amarillo, Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and San Antonio [17] (Phoenix also had runs) [18] and in 1957, SAC installed RBS sites for the competition (named "Operation Longshot") [19] which had 3 targets: Atlanta, Kansas City, and St. Louis. [20] The c.1963 "Goldwater congressional investigation" investigated working and travel conditions at the Lynchburg, Virginia, detachment, which was a mobile unit that had temporary radar stations at "Blackstone, Staunton and Farmville before [being] shut ... down". [6] c.1960, Det 3 at Heston Aerodrome, England, moved to the Fairey Aviation Plant at Langley. [14]

Army & Navy RBS

By 1960, USAF RBS equipment had been incorporated in US Army Course Directing Centrals for Project Nike (i.e., receivers for telecommunicated tones to indicate the aircraft's bomb release on the Nike radar plotting boards). [21] Nike RBS of SAC/ADCOM bombers used USAF personnel on temporary duty to calculate the simulated bomb run score from the track by a Nike missile crew/radar (e.g., at the Chicago-Gary Defense Area). [22] In 1961, Nike units "scored 1,890 practice bomb runs" and in 1962 the NIKE site at Maitland/Lake Park in Milwaukee was RBSing. [23] Four Navy Radar Bomb Scoring Units during the Cold War included those near Spokane, Washington, and at the Pachino Radar Bomb Scoring Range near Naples, Italy. After the 10th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron's RBS Express train had been used in 1961 near the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant, [24] SAC's Hawthorne Bomb Plot in nearby Babbitt also scored bomb runs of US Navy aircraft (e.g., out of Naval Air Station Fallon).

On 1 August 1961, SAC's 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group at Carswell AFB merged with the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group to form the 1st Combat Evaluation Group at Barksdale AFB. [14] Manual RBS "bomb scoring projector" computation of "the bomb problem" [25] with scale, protractor, [26] E6B computer, and bombing tables" [14] was replaced with computerized bomb trajectory integration by the 1965 Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central developed for Vietnam War Combat Skyspot bombing. The Bayshore Bomb Plot in Michigan (formerly located in Ironwood, Michigan) was destroyed by a television fire on 26 December 1967, [27] and in 1969, the Combat Skyspot Trophy was first "awarded annually to the most outstanding [RBS] detachment in the 1st Combat Evaluation Group". [28]

At least 1 of the SAC RBS sites was operating until mid-1994 when Wilder Radar Bomb Scoring Site closed after the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. [29] In 2005, USAF RBS records were designated for destruction "10 years after inactivation of site". [30]

Post-Cold War bomb scoring

The Northrop T-38C was upgraded to have no-drop bomb scoring capability in 2007 [31] by estimating the impact from the onboard GPS-calculated position of release, [32] and the United States Marine Corps had no-drop bomb scoring at Yuma Proving Ground in 2010. [33] At least 1 Strategic Air Command RBS site continues as an electronic warfare range—the Belle Fourche Electronic Scoring Site in Powder River Military Operations Area with Infrared Enhance Targets and Unmanned Threat Emitters (the site's call sign remains "Belle Fourche Bomb Plot"). [34]

USAF Equipment

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strategic Air Command</span> 1946–1992 US Air Force major command; predecessor of USAF Global Strike Command

Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM), responsible for Cold War command and control of two of the three components of the U.S. military's strategic nuclear strike forces, the so-called "nuclear triad", with SAC having control of land-based strategic bomber aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles or ICBMs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rome Laboratory</span>

Rome Laboratory is the US "Air Force 'superlab' for command, control, and communications" research and development and is responsible for planning and executing the USAF science and technology program.

Ground-directed bombing (GDB) is a military tactic for airstrikes by ground-attack aircraft, strategic bombers, and other equipped air vehicles under command guidance from aviation ground support equipment and/or ground personnel. Often used in poor weather and at night, the tactic was superseded by an airborne computer predicting unguided bomb impact from data provided by precision avionics Equipment for radar GDB generally included a combination ground radar/computer/communication system and aircraft avionics for processing radioed commands.

1st Combat Evaluation Group Military unit

The 1st Combat Evaluation Group was a Strategic Air Command (SAC) unit. It was formed on 1 August 1961 to merge the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group for SAC aircrew evaluation with the 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group that had originated from the 263rd Army Air Force Base Unit which transferred from 15th AF to directly under Strategic Air Command c. 1946. The 1CEVG formed after SAC switched to low-level tactics to counter Soviet surface-to-air missiles and SAC had "developed a Radar Bomb Scoring field kit for use in NIKE Systems" in early 1960 for scoring SAC training missions against US Hercules SAM sites. The 1CEVG headquarters included an Office of History and a "standardization and evaluation school" for command examiners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central</span>

The Reeves AN/MSQ-77 Bomb Directing Central, Radar was a USAF automatic tracking radar/computer system for command guidance of military aircraft during Vietnam War bomb runs at nighttime and during bad weather. Developed from the Reeves AN/MSQ-35, the AN/MSQ-77 reversed the process of Radar Bomb Scoring by continually estimating the bomb impact point before bomb release with a vacuum tube ballistic computer. Unlike "Course Directing Centrals" which guided aircraft to a predetermined release point, the AN/MSQ-77 algorithm continuously predicted bomb impact points during the radar track while the AN/MSQ-77's control commands adjusted the aircraft course. A close air support regulation prohibited AN/MSQ-77 Combat Skyspot bombing within 1,000 yd (910 m) of friendly forces unless authorized by a Forward Air Controller, and "on several occasions" strikes were as close as 273 yd (250 m).

Cheli Air Force Station, formerly located within Bell in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, was a United States Air Force installation and a Cold War Radar Bomb Scoring site of the Strategic Air Command, from 1947 to 1961.

RBS Express railroad trains were 3 mobile United States Air Force radar stations for 1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) of Strategic Air Command bomber crews beginning in March 1961. Electronic equipment included the "MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39" along with support railcars, and the trains were temporarily used at various rail sites with the radar antennas emplaced using hoists built onto flatcars. Pulled by a "contracted locomotive" that left the train at the site, and a North American B-25 Mitchell was used for calibration of the radar station.

The Reeves AN/MSQ-35 Bomb Scoring Central was a United States Air Force dual radar system with computerized plotting board for evaluating the accuracy of Strategic Air Command bomber crews by the 1st Combat Evaluation Group.

Combat Skyspot was the ground-directed bombing (GDB) operation of the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force using Bomb Directing Centrals and by the United States Marine Corps using Course Directing Centrals. Combat Skyspot's command guidance of B-52s and tactical fighters and bombers—"chiefly flown by F-100's"—at night and poor weather was used for aerial bombing of strategic, close air support, interdiction, and other targets. Using a combination radar/computer/communications system at operating location in Southeast Asia, a typical bombing mission had an air command post turn over control of the mission to the radar station, and the station provided bomb run corrections and designated when to release bombs.

The AN/MPQ-2 Close Cooperation Control Unit was a truck-mounted post-World War II automatic tracking radar/computer/communication system for aircraft command guidance, e.g., missile tracking, and for Radar Bomb Scoring. For ground directed bombing (GDB), an operator would manually plot a target on the "Blind Bombing Plotting Sheet", then use the manual "E6B computer and bombing tables" to plot the release point for striking the target, after which a radar operator used the MPQ to acquire a track of the bomber near an initial point during which allowed ground control of the bomb run to the release point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">99th Range Group</span> Military unit

The 99th Range Group is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) unit. It was last stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada, where it was responsible for the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

The Stockton Ordance Depot was a World War II vehicle repair facility, supply depot, and camp for German and Italian prisoners of war. The installation was also used as a USAF radar station and a DLA Defense Distribution Center.

Hawthorne Bomb Plot Formerly Used Defense Site in Nevada

Hawthorne Bomb Plot is a Formerly Used Defense Site that had a Strategic Air Command (SAC) AUTOTRACK radar station during the Cold War. Operations began at a temporary RBS train site for RBS Express #2 was at the Hawthorne area in December 1961, and the 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron subsequently established the fixed military installation for Radar Bomb Scoring in Babbitt, Nevada, the military housing community near the local Navy/Army depot.

The Interior Radar Bomb Scoring Site opened in August 1960 on Hurley Butte, adjacent to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and a few miles from Interior, South Dakota. The Interior RBSS is a Formerly Used Defense Site, that closed in 1968.

The 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group was a military evaluation unit under direct command of Strategic Air Command (SAC) headquarters for scoring simulated bomb runs using automatic tracking radar stations. Initially an Army Air Forces Base Unit (AAFBU) and then a squadron, the 3903rd RBS Group was personnel, assets, and detachments were redesignated the 1st Radar Bomb Scoring Group and then the 1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring Division when the RBS Group merged with the 3908th Strategic Standardization Group in 1961, the year RBS Express trains began to be used for low-altitude Boeing B-52 Stratofortress operations..

The Louis Blotner Radar Site was a tracking site site in Connor, Maine at the former NIKE missile launch site. Activated in June 1963 and operational until after 1979, The Ashland site was an AUTOTRACK radar site operated by Detachment 7 of the 1st Combat Evaluation Group. The station simulated Electronic Countermeasures and Radar Bomb Scoring for the Ashland Training Range's low-level training route "over Bangor north to Houlton, Maine.

McClellan Air Force Base Annex #1 was a military installation near McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento County, California, that was active from 28 November 1951 to 2 July 1956. Strategic Air Command operated an automatic tracking radar station just outside the base at Whitney and Eastern Avenues.

The Reeves AN/MSQ-1 Close Support Control Set produced by Reeves Instrument Corporation was a trailer-mounted combination radar/computer/communication developed under a Rome Air Development Center program office for Cold War command guidance of manned aircraft Developed for Korean War ground-directed bombing, one detachment of the 3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron bombed itself with an MSQ-1 because it mistakenly used procedures for the earlier SCR-584/OA-294 system The MSQ-1 was subsequently used for nuclear testing during Operation Argus and during Operation Teapot, and for aircraft tests such as for "MSQ-1 controlled pinpoint photography" in 1954.

Genesee Mountain Park Training Annex (1955–70) was a U.S. Air Force radar station, an outstation of Lowry Air Force Base. It is a Formerly Used Defense Site of 3 acres (1.2 ha) at Genesee Park (Colorado)

Havre Electronic Bomb Scoring Site is a Formerly Used Defense Site for USAF evaluation of aircrews on training missions. The site was initially established for the 1965 Fairchild Trophy, the Strategic Air Command Bombing and Navigation Competition. ; the RBS Express was stationed at a siding near Chinook, Montana; and a new "temporary mobile radar site" 35 mi (56 km) northeast of Havre, Montana, was announced in 1982. The 1983 site was in Hill County, Montana, with seven semi-trailers, and a new permanent site was approved by 1984 for also north of Havre "Upon decommissioning of [the mobile site at] Havre, MT Serial Number 7 went to Detachment 18, Forsyth, Montana for SAC Bomb-Comp 1987 and then to Detachment 20, 1 CEVG in early 1988."

References

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