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World Spaceflight News

U. S. Air Force (USAF)

45th Space Wing History Office

This study addresses ATLAS V and DELTA IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) operations at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It features all the EELV missions launched from the Cape through the end of Calendar Year (CY) 2009. In addition, the first chapter provides an overview of the EELV effort in the 1990s, summaries of EELV contracts and requests for facilities at Cape Canaveral, deactivation and/or reconstruction of launch complexes 37 and 41 to support EELV operations, typical EELV flight profiles, and military supervision of EELV space operations. The lion's share of this work highlights EELV launch campaigns and the outcome of each flight through the end of 2009. To avoid confusion, ATLAS V missions are presented in Chapter II, and DELTA IV missions appear in Chapter III. Furthermore, missions are placed in three categories within each chapter: 1) commercial, 2) civilian agency, and 3) military space operations. All EELV customers employ commercial launch contractors to put their respective payloads into orbit. Consequently, the type of agency sponsoring a payload (the Air Force, NASA, NOAA or a commercial satellite company) determines where its mission summary is placed. CHAPTER I - EELV PROGRAM OVERVIEW * Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Contracts and Requests for Facilities * Deactivation of Complex 41 and Construction for ATLAS V * DELTA IV Program Developments on Complex 37 and Related Sites * ATLAS V and DELTA IV Flight Profiles * Military Supervision of ATLAS V and DELTA IV Space Operations * CHAPTER II - ATLAS V LAUNCH OPERATIONS * ATLAS V Commercial Space Operations * ATLAS V (EUTELSAT HOT BIRD 6), AV-001, 21 August 2002 * ATLAS V (HELLAS-SAT), AV-002, 13 May 2003 * ATLAS V (RAINBOW-1), AV-003, 17 July 2003 * ATLAS V (AMC-16), AV-005, 17 December 2004 * ATLAS V (INMARSAT-4), AV-004, 11 March 2005 * ATLAS V (ASTRA 1KR), AV-008, 20 April 2006 * ATLAS V (ICO-G1), AV-014, 14 April 2008 * ATLAS V (INTELSAT-14), AV-024, 23 November 2009 * ATLAS V Civil Space Operations * ATLAS V (MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER), AV-007, 12 August 2005 * ATLAS V (PLUTO NEW HORIZONS), AV-010, 19 January 2006 * ATLAS V (LRO/LCROSS), AV-020, 18 June 2009 * ATLAS V Military Space Operations * ATLAS V (STP-1), AV-013, 9 March 2007 * ATLAS V (NROL-30), AV-009, 15 June 2007 * ATLAS V (WGS-2 [F1]), AV-011, 11 October 2007 * ATLAS V (NROL-24), AV-015, 10 December 2007 * ATLAS V (WGS-2), AV-016, 4 April 2009 * An Additional U.S. Government ATLAS V Mission * ATLAS V (PAN), AV-018, 8 September 2009 * CHAPTER III - DELTA IV LAUNCH OPERATIONS * DELTA IV Commercial Space Operations * DELTA IV Medium-Plus (4,2) [EUTELSAT W5], 20 November 2002 * DELTA IV Civil Space Operations * DELTA IV Medium-Plus (4,2) [GOES-N], 24 May 2006 * DELTA IV Medium-Plus (4,2) [GOES-O], 27 June 2009 * DELTA IV Military Space Operations * DELTA IV Medium (DSCS III-A3), 11 March 2003 * DELTA IV Medium (DSCS III-B6), 29 August 2003 * DELTA IV Heavy Demo, 21 December 2004 * DELTA IV Heavy (DSP-23), 11 November 2007 * DELTA IV Heavy (NROL-26), 18 January 2009 * DELTA IV Medium-Plus (5,4) [WGS-3], 6 December 2009

Evolved Expendable Launch Operations at Cape Canaveral 2002-2009 - EELV Atlas V and Delta IV Rockets, Launch Operations, Commercial, Civil, and Military Space Operations, Complex 41

Department of Defense (DoD)

The F/A-22 Raptor is a new weapons system replacing the F-15C Eagle. Its operational debut in 2005 comes at a time of constrained budgets, a changing global threat environment, and the ongoing global war on terrorism (GWOT). Because of the current security environment, the aircraft's more than 15 years of development, and the close scrutiny of the F/A-22's test and evaluation (T&E) program, the US Air Force needs the Raptor's initial operational capability (IOC) status to be successful. One means of achieving this is to recognize and implement the lessons learned from America's current air superiority fighter, the F-15 Eagle. And just perhaps the overall effect might be to challenge the US Air Force's approach to major weapons-system development. The F/A-22's development, testing, and IOC declaration at Langley AFB, Virginia, in December 2005 closely parallels the F-15A's experience of 29 years ago. This paper provides background information on both aircraft, their T&E processes, and their first operational assignments to Langley AFB. Comparisons are made, differences highlighted, and recommendations offered. While it may appear that everything about the F/A-22 is new, the path to its IOC is well worn. A fresh look at F-15A development yields valuable insights for emerging twenty-first-century USAF weapons systems. Surprisingly, the overall lessons of the F-15A in 1976 still apply to the F/A-22 of 2005.

A Case for Transformation - Test and Evaluation Process, Critical Issues, Key Performance Parameters, Langley Air Force Base

F-15A Versus F/A-22 Fighter Aircraft Initial Operational Capability (IOC)

This Air Force publication documents the advent of an American squadron, or "escadrille" within the French Air Force during World War I. French leaders initially held the belief, common at the time, that the war begun in 1914 would be a short one. The potential value of American volunteers fighting for France both for propaganda purposes and for helping bring the power of the New World into the war on the side of the Allies was thus irrelevant at first. By early 1915, however, the French began to accept American volunteers and assign them to escadrilles. In early 1916, the Service Aeronautique united several of these men in an elite chasse unit, which quickly earned an enviable reputation for audacity, bravery, and elan. Success of this unit, the Lafayette Escadrille, had three consequences. First, its existence encouraged a large number of Americans, far more than needed in one escadrille, to volunteer for French aviation. These individuals, identified unofficially as members of a "Lafayette Flying Corps," served in numerous French air units. Second, the publicity surrounding the Lafayette Escadrille contributed favorable press for the Allied cause, strengthened ties between France and the U.S., and ultimately helped prepare the U.S. to participate on the Allied side of the conflict. Third, the existence of a large body of experienced American pilots provided combat veterans for the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France when the U.S. ultimately entered the war. These veterans helped instill in the U.S. Air Service the attitudes and practices of the Service Aeronautique, an infusion especially reflected in two U.S. pursuit squadrons, the 103rd Aero Squadron, made up of Lafayette Escadrille pilots, and the 94th Aero Squadron, the most famous American combat squadron of the war. Further, this body of veterans influenced all U.S. pursuit units as Lafayette personnel spread throughout the Air Service. This was not the whole story, though. In early 1918, two pursuit units, the 27th and 147th Aero Squadrons, joined with the 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons to form the 1st Pursuit Group, the U.S. Air Service's first and most famous combat group and forerunner of the U.S. Air Force's present-day wings. These, however, were British-trained squadrons commanded by Royal Flying Corps (RFC) veterans, and they contributed a British ethos to the American pursuit force, an ethos characterized by emphasis on the offensive at all hazards. Finally, and perhaps most important, the U.S. Army officers who created and commanded the U.S. Air Service had their own shared identity and sense of professionalism, that of the regular U.S. Army and of the Military Academy at West Point. Introduction * The Air War * Origin of the Lafayette Escadrille * N 124 Goes to War * Lafayette Pilots Transfer to the U.S. Air Service * The 1st Pursuit Group * Conclusion * Epilogue * Notes * Recommended Readings * Appendixes * I. American Pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille * II. Aces of the Lafayette Escadrille * III. Air Fields of the Lafayette Escadrille and 103rd Aero Squadron * IV. Lafayette Escadrille Memorial * V. Lafayette Flying Corps Personnel Interred in the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial * VI. The French Lafayette Escadrilles

The Lafayette Escadrille and the Advent of American Pursuit in World War I - Sopwith Camel, American Pilots, Aces, William Thaw, Foulois

Like a Thunderbolt

U. S. Air Force (USAF)

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