From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V2 #20 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Friday, 4 December 1992 Volume 02 : Number 020 In this issue: aircraft display security Re: F117 / B-1B airshow security Horizons RE: F117 / B-1B airshow security B-1B autostart, was:F117 / B-1B airshow security Re: B-1B autostart, was:F117 / B-1B airshow security A/C Security and Dayton Re: B-1B security Re: B-1B security See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: kuryakin@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Rick Pavek) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 09:28:53 PST Subject: aircraft display security My own observation is during an open house at Cannon AFB back in the mid 80's. They had an F111D opened up. I mean, they had every known panel opened or removed and we were not only allowed to see it, but to photograph it as well. I asked the PIO type there about what seemed to be lax security and he explained that yes, there were indeed parts of the aircraft that were secret... the black boxes. But it was the insides that were secret, not the outsides. I took two rolls. :-) Rick ------------------------------ From: tom@gordian.com (Tom Ambrose) Date: Thu, 03 Dec 92 09:52:02 PST Subject: Re: F117 / B-1B airshow security > I was at the CFB Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) airshow this spring. > The F117 was parked on the ramp with a flimsy rope barricade around > it, about 6 ft away from it. I can't remember seeing more than a > couple of guards around the F117 at any one time. Often there > appeared to be only a single guard on duty (although I have a feeling > that if needed, man more would appear at a moments notice :-) It was the same way at Edwards AFB Open House this year. Actually, I can't even remember any _armed_ guards around them. The test pilots from the 117 program were there to answer questions though. > On the other hand, when I was at the Abbotsford (BC, Canada) airshow in > 1991, the F117 was parked well back into an otherwise empty hanger. There > was a rope across the doorway and (my memory may be failing me here) 3 > or 4 guards _with_ M16's and looking anxious to use them :-) The B-2 was set up that way. > There was also a B-1B on static display. No 'guards' per se, just > the regular crew-members answering questions. I would suggest that > there really wasn't that much 'secret' equipment on a B-1B when the > power is off since I managed to get a guided tour of the cockpit and > OSO/DSO positions. Does anybody know anything about this? Does the > equipment become 'secret' (at least not viewable by the general > public) only while it is powered-up? The B-1B I saw at Edwards also had no armed guards, but crew members were around. I don't know about when its powered up, but a lot of the exterior panels were open. You could see some the radar electronics in the nose. Other various things were exposed all they way down the plane. All of the electronic test and repair equipement was out also. Maybe they should let people see more of the plane, someone may find some of the bugs in the low altitude guidence system. ;) - -tom -------------------------------------------------------------- | Thomas P. Ambrose Gordian, Inc., Santa Ana Heights, CA | | tom@gordian.com phone: 714-850-0205 fax: 714-850-0533 | \____________________________________________________________/ | | | "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes | \ a bit longer." -- Henry Kissinger / \------------------------------------------------------------/ ------------------------------ From: kuryakin@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Rick Pavek) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 11:07:29 PST Subject: Horizons When I called (by the way) Tom Goff indicated he didn't have any more of the SR71 issues to give out. I will, however, be calling back later today to find out which ones he has, and to get on the mailing list. I'm even going to offer to send money. I hate to ask for something this good for free. Strange, but true. Rick ------------------------------ From: cimshop!KELLEHER%MTVIEW@uunet.UU.NET Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 09:13:59 PST Subject: RE: F117 / B-1B airshow security Steven Stady writes: > There was also a B-1B on static display. No 'guards' per se, just > the regular crew-members answering questions. I would suggest that > there really wasn't that much 'secret' equipment on a B-1B when the > power is off since I managed to get a guided tour of the cockpit and > OSO/DSO positions. Does anybody know anything about this? Does the > equipment become 'secret' (at least not viewable by the general > public) only while it is powered-up? Good analysis, Steven! During my stint as an intel instructor at Goodfellow AFB, we worked closely with the Dyess AFB B-1 training program. One of the features of the B-1 cockpit layout is its unclassified status. On the switches and dials, there are none of the classified data found inside other strategic platforms. Rotary switches, for example, will have positions 1 thru 5 displayed. Only the system operator knows that position 1 means <<45,000' altitude>> and position 5 means <<10' altitude>>, etc. This significantly reduces the cost of system security when the bird is in a non-nuke-alert status. Once the systems are powered up, of course, there are a few things the average visitor wouldn't be privy to see!! By the way - did you notice the autostart switch on the access ladder? One of the nice B-1 features is the ability for the first crewmember up the ladder to hit the switch and begin powering up the systems. It saves several minutes during an emergency launch procedure. According to B-1 legend, the test aircraft also had this same switch wired into the engines as well as the electronic systems. During a drill, the OSO and DSO hit the switch as they entered the aircraft and proceeded to strap in. For whatever reason, the pilot and copilot were delayed, and the aircraft started rolling down the tarmac with nobody in the driver's seat, two oblivious passengers in back, and two very hyper drivers chasing it across the apron! These days, the switch activates electronic systems only. (Okay - so how did the autostart release the brake? Hey - it's a legend!!) John Kelleher johnk@consilium.com ------------------------------ From: Rick Lafford Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 15:37:27 EST Subject: B-1B autostart, was:F117 / B-1B airshow security John Kelleher writes: > By the way - did you notice the autostart switch on the access ladder? >One of the nice B-1 features is the ability for the first crewmember up the >ladder to hit the switch and begin powering up the systems. It saves Whoa... you mean that the B-1 has enough on board battery power to power up the e-systems without starting either an APU or and engine? Anyone got any hard info on what the alert switch really actuates? >During a drill, the OSO and DSO hit the >switch as they entered the aircraft and proceeded to strap in. For >whatever reason, the pilot and copilot were delayed, and the aircraft >started rolling down the tarmac with nobody in the driver's seat Legends aside, I guess the perp of this one never heard of wheel chocks, a manditory item on every aircraft ramp since the days of wood and fabric. Brakes are often not set on parked aircraft because they can fail and they can lock-up. Imagine a cold-soaked aircraft hits the ramp, sets the brakes and then warms up to the typical 100 degree ramp conditions. Tends to expand the hydraulic fluid a bit and that can stress components. Regards, Rick - ------------------------- Rick Lafford Eastman Kodak Co. lafford@serum.kodak.com =========================== ------------------------------ From: Geoff.Miller@Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 13:47:33 PST Subject: Re: B-1B autostart, was:F117 / B-1B airshow security Rick Lafford writes: >Whoa... you mean that the B-1 has enough on board battery power to power >up the e-systems without starting either an APU or an engine? You wouldn't want to start an engine remotely like that; they require monitoring during the start sequence in case of overtemp, lack of oil pressure, and other such potentially expensive occurrences. On the other hand, APUs are so simple and foolproof that the only instrument most of them have is a tachometer, if that. >Legends aside, I guess the perp of this one never heard of wheel chocks, >manditory item on every aircraft ramp since the days of wood and fabric. Yeah, I was wondering about that myself. :^) >Brakes are often not set on parked aircraft because they can >fail and they can lock-up. Cold-soaking and subsequent thermal expansion aside, they can also sometimes leak simply from the heat accumulated during post-landing deceleration. It was our practice with 130s to insert the chocks between the mains, then release the brakes and leave them that way until the next time the Before Starting Engines checklist was run. - --Geoff ------------------------------ From: rbarton@who.cc.trincoll.edu (Ran Barton, III) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 1992 17:05:04 -0500 Subject: A/C Security and Dayton A few comments about security. I was at Dayton in 86 when the B-1B made it's first appearance there. After a low speed and high speed flyby, it touched down and the CAP folks had a field day roping off creation so that the B-1 could taxi in complete isolation from the thousands of eager photographers. Eventually, after installing the inlet guards and cooling ducts, they allowed people much closer. It was roped off, and more of those ubiquitous M16 toting skycops paced around with a certain offputting intensity. My next trip to Dayton was in 90, when the F-117 made its first public appearance. It too made the standard high speed and low speed pass, then gave us a beautiful view of its planform. After touching down, it popped the crowd pleasing black chute, and waited a _long_ time beofre they brought it up to the flightline. They were trying to get it in the hangar beofre the big storm that turned all of the airport into the mudbath that's been mentioned. As it waited before the hanger, four (my photos show four, at least) of the M16 guys all glared at the throngs pressing up to the ropes. The Stealth was #790, and listed as being Col. Tony Tolin's bird. I mention all of that security, because 150 yards away was a B-1B, unroped and virtually unattended. It had the inlet guards in, but you could walk under it and get a good look at the weapons doors, the works. Odd how one plane can make another seem mundane, isn't it? The RAF bird with the teddy bear was, this is from memory b/c my photos don;t show it, a VC10 tanker. Is that the designation I'm looking for? Four jets in the back, two on each side of the tail; Ilyushin made a copy. Or am I thinking BAC111? No matter. Other notable attendees were the two MiG-29 Fulcrums, Blue 304 and Blue 315, both with tarps over their canopies. There was another 29, which did the aerial demo, including the Pougachev's Cobra move... very slick. Better than an F/A-18 can do, and then some. As their support bird, an Il-76M Candid was there Aeroflot markings, CCCP-78791. It had what looked like flare racks under each wingtip, anybody know what those were exactly? I've always wondered. Finally, my last notes come from a show at Dover AFB, Delaware, on July 7, 1991. Attending were both a B-1B and an F-117. The B-1B was roped off completely, with the crew responsible for security. I asked the Pilot why it should be different now than in 90 at Dayton, and they said that there'd been "some incidents." He would say nothing further. Originally the Stealth was out with two guards well roped off, but as the afternoon progressed, a severe windstorm forced the crowd and the Stealth into the hangers. Dover is home to C-5Bs so its hangars are enormous. As the Stealth was being wheeled in, the atmoshere was near pandemonium, and the guards fell behind the a/c. Yours truly, who'd been tagging along the bird (forget the #, sorry) managed to slip in next to it and get a good feel of the skin near the front, left inlets and underbelly. Felt like what I'd expected, rough, grainy, sort of tacky - there were quite a few of us touching the thing. I was thrilled. Once in the hanger, they moved it behind ropes in a corner, and the M16 guys looked fit to be tied but they never raised their voice or rifles. Sorry for such a long note, thought the comparisons might be useful. Regards, Ran ______________________________________________________________ || Ran Barton, III '93 | A year passes apace || || rbarton@who.trincoll.edu | and proves ever new; || || Trinity College | First things and final || || 300 Summit Street - Box 955 | conform but seldom. || || Hartford, CT 06106-3100 | -The Gawain Poet || ||_______________________________|__________________________|| ------------------------------ From: Rick Lafford Date: Thu, 3 Dec 92 08:52:26 EST Subject: Re: B-1B security Even to an informed observer, determining the capabilities of a particular piece of equipment is difficult when all the evidence you have is a quick look at the panel. Most of the onboard avionics in the B-1 have been hashed over by the press (AW&ST, etc.). Now riding along on a low altitude penetration mission would be something else ;-). Regards, Rick - ---------------------- Rick Lafford Eastman Kodak Co. lafford@serum.kodak.com ===================================== ------------------------------ From: "Philip R. Moyer" Date: Thu, 03 Dec 92 19:58:13 -0500 Subject: Re: B-1B security >Now riding along on a low altitude penetration mission would be >something else ;-). > > Regards, > Rick See AW&ST, July 27, 1992. Our trusty friend, Bill Scott, flew just such a mission, as Defensive Systems Officer, from Grand Forks on April 28th. The article starts on page 40, though there are several other relevant articles. One of the amusing bits of information is that towns or other areas where the AF has had noise complaints are marked as "SAM Sites" on the low level training missions, just to be sure they're religiously avoided. :-) Cheers, Phil ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V2 #20 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "skunk-works-digest" in the commands above with "skunk-works". Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu, in /pub/skunk-works/digest/vNN.nMMM (where "NN" is the volume number, and "MMM" is the issue number).