In World War II, it could take up to 30,000 bombing runs over a period of weeks to destroy a thousand ground targets. On Monday in North Carolina, the U.S. Air Force’s 4th Fighter Wing hit 1,000 targets in a single sweep, using just 70 or so Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles capable of dropping large numbers of small, smart munitions. Estimated time of destruction: a couple hours.
The F-15s’ mass takeoff, depicted above, was itself an impressive feat. The fighters packed the runway and tarmac at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in eastern North Carolina. Wing commander Col. Patrick Doherty took off first, followed by the other aircrews at intervals of just a few seconds.
The mock bombing campaign, which apparently saw the Strike Eagles lob 25-pound practice bombs on weapons ranges across the southern state, was meant to commemorate the wing’s World War II combat record, which included an official tally of more than 1,000 enemy planes destroyed. But the so-called Turkey Shoot exercise also signaled the Air Force’s accelerating shift from the low-intensity wars of the past decade towards a future that could require massive aerial campaigns against an industrialized enemy.
The practice bomb runs are also a reminder of America’s overwhelming aerial advantage over other nations. The 4th Fighter Wing sortied more fighters on Monday than most countries’ entire air forces possess. And those 70 F-15Es represent just a third of the Air Force’s Strike Eagle fleet, to say nothing of all its F-16s and F-22s or all its bombers and armed drones.
In all, the Pentagon can deploy more than 3,000 modern Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fighters and bombers, which is around 20 percent of the world total. The Air Force reckons it takes the destruction of 30,000 targets to knock most countries out of a fight. If 70 F-15s can destroy 1,000 of those targets in just one sweep, imagine how fast the combined American aerial arsenal could devastate an enemy’s army and infrastructure.
Upgrades to the F-15′s systems since 2006 allow the twin-engine fighter to carry up to a dozen GPS-guided Small-Diameter Bombs, each weighing 250 pounds and capable of punching through a reinforced aircraft shelter. “We could hit the ‘pickle’ button once and all 12 would drop — and hit 12 different targets,” Capt. Matt Hund said.
Huge air power exercises are becoming more common as the Pentagon pivots towards the Western Pacific, which is increasingly contested by America’s biggest strategic rival, China. In early March, U.S. and South Korean F-16s practiced a mass take-off involving no fewer than 60 of the single-engine jets. Last week, Air Force F-22 stealth fighters and B-1 bombers flew a mock air raid on central Alaska, testing out a new radar-evading strike force concept meant for defeating Chinese air defenses.
The U.S. is not alone in its increasing emphasis on heavy air power. Russia has begun working up its own Pacific air arsenal, too. The Kremlin announced yesterday that 40 Bear and Backfire bombers would fly practice air raids near Japan. America might be the world’s dominant air power, but its dominance is not uncontested.
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