Tag Archives: hmmwv

Technology

Cold War & Beyond: Pole Dancing Hummer?

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Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) first entered service in 1983.  The Rome Air Development Center can trace its origins back to 1942, World War Two, when it was first used to test bomb sights for bombers.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

Rome Air Development Center-Newport Measurement Facility (New York), aka Rome Laboratory, aka USAF Super Lab, aka Newport Research Site-Griffiss Institute, aka Griffiss Air Force Base.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

During Spring 1985, when the Cold War was still hot, the U.S. Air Force “directed the development of technical
and functional information systems architectures to
guide development and integration of information systems” for the future Tactical Air Control System (TACS).  This included mounting such systems on ground vehicles.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

These images appear to be recent.  There is almost no information about the pole dancing HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), but a Fiscal Year 2022 publication states it is for the SatCom (Satellite Communications) “High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle mounted Ka-Band Comm-on-the-move Terminal….. for United States Special Operations Command.”

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

The elaborate ‘Newport Antenna Measurement Facility’ uses several different height, 3-axis position, towers.  The site tests new radars, electronic jamming and the effectiveness of experimental electronic countermeasures.  Specifically, the size and shape of a vehicle directly affects electronic signals.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center-Newport Research Site.

The ultimate antenna topper!

Cold War & Beyond: F-15A POLE DANCER, OR WHATEVER HAPPENED TO 72-0113?

Technology

Cold War & Beyond: F-15A Pole Dancer, or whatever happened to 72-0113?

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Eagles like to nest at the top of trees. 14AUG1986.

Rome Air Development Center-Newport Measurement Facility (New York), aka USAF Super Lab, aka Newport Research Site-Griffiss Institute, aka Griffiss Air Force Base.

A pole dancing F-15 Eagle? Researching the tail number I came across info that says it is an F-15A (72-0113). It is mounted upside down on a pedestal at the Rome Air Development Center’s (aka USAF Super Lab) Newport, New York, test site. A radar warning system pod mounted on the fuselage is being compared to the onboard radar warning system, 06OCT1988.

I’ve read the official 1991 “in-house report” on Super Lab activities and it made no mention of the pole dancing F-15A, it talks about the late 1970s pole dancing F-111, and middle 1980s F-16 (which took place at about the same time as the F-15 testing).

Information that was issued with the publicly released photos incorrectly says this Eagle is a F-15C!

Photo via Rome Air Development Center.

F-15A 72-0113 was one of the first production Eagles.  Interestingly it was quickly retired, after only a few years of testing over Edwards Air Force Base in California, to The Bone Yard (Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona) in 1977. Then, in 2005 it was reported as being “preserved on a pole” in Newport, New York!

Photo via ‘USAF Super Lab’.

Supposedly, F-15A tail number 72-0113 was spotted still hanging around the USAF Super Lab, in 2016.  Unfortunately, Newport Research Site-Griffiss Institute’s website doesn’t give any information about the F-15.

U.S. Air Force photo, 24SEP1979.

Photographic evidence shows that #72-0113 was delivered to the Rome Air Development Center in September 1979.

An F-15 Eagle pole dances while a YA-10 waits its turn.

The elaborate ‘antenna test site’ use several different height, 3-axis position, towers.  The site tests the effects of radar, electronic jamming and the effectiveness of experimental electronic countermeasures.

A July 1986 photo showing 72-0113 on top of the Irish Hill tower. The info that came with the photo incorrectly states that it is in Rhode Island!

Photo via ‘USAF Super Lab’.

The aircraft that have been tower mounted, so far, are the YA-10, AC-130, F-4, F-16, F-15, F-18, F-22, F-35, MH 60 SEAHAWK and sections of the B-1B, EC-135 Snoopy, and others.

Photo via Rome Air Development Center.

They even mounted a HMMWV on a pole.

Cold War & Beyond: F-15 EAGLE NOW 50 YEARS OLD

Technology

Vehicle I-D: USMC cannibalizes HMMWV to upgrade brand new JLTV

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The older HMMWV parts are being harvested for use on the brand new Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV).

U.S. Marine Corps photo by Kristen Murphy, 01MAY2018.

The U.S. Marines Corps is cannibalizing older High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles in an attempt to save taxpayers millions of dollars, and “increase the JLTV’s survivability.”

Official video explainer for JLTV: