WB-57 missions

I got into a discussion in another thread about the WB-57 flying over Nellis Range recently. It turns out that they have been flying some interesting missions.

They both have had the BACN system installed, and have been flying missions for the military, including in Afghanistan. NASA 926 is supposed to be deployed in Afghanistan until early December, flying missions with the communications system installed.

NASA 928 has been flying out of MCAS Miramar for BACN JUON 2012 I&T, which ended on September 15th. It's currently (10/3 1721CDT) flying out of Ellington Field, heading to Florida, with a return to Ellington at 2230CDT. It's scheduled to deploy to an undisclosed location, outside the US carrying an unknown payload.

Both aircraft have been seen flying out of Nellis AFB, with different payloads on board. NASA 926 was seen flying in restricted airspace near Creech AFB, carrying an odd set of pods under the aircraft. It's believed that they were carrying a comm system, testing how well it will work in Afghanistan, as the terrain in that region is very similar to the terrain there. The flight tests were all flown at FL490, which means it could be something for either the U-2, or the Global Hawk was being tested.



theaviationist.com...
theaviationist.com...
theaviationist.com...
theaviationist.com...
www.strategypage.com...
www.irconnect.com...
www.wired.com...

The question is: why is it testing the new sensors at MCAS Miramar?

What is the importance of MCAS and why is there questioning as to why this specific location?

So they're testing communication devices used in mountainous regions... to be expected. I might be failing to understand the importance of this article...

reply to post by FractalChaos13242017


MCAS is Marine Corps Air Station. The question is why test this system there, instead of any of the other installations they could test it at.

Perhaps the answer is this reply to one of your links:

3. Uniform Delta - September 6, 2012

It may be because BACN program is based out of the Northrop Grumman facility right down the road. These aircraft are actually rented by the programs from NASA. The BACN project is purely a communication capability (filling the gap left by the retirement of ABCCC and other assets), it has no organic sensor capability.

So het a/c is rented to NG, and NG are just down the road from Miramar.

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


Yes, but the thing is that the Miramar mission just ended, where the aircraft have been flying as BACN relays for several years now.

Most likely they were working with NG, and with some ships off shore. I've been by that NG facility, and they have their own airfield there that they could fly out of if necessary.

Now this is interesting, apparently there has been a schedule change to 928's deployments. BACN JUON 2012 I&T went until the 19th of September. Immediately afterward, it went into a Payload and Comm Systems check, until October 8th. From the 9th of October, until the 30th of October, it goes into minor maintenance/engineering mods. Then a week of I&T, from the 31st, until November 6th. From November 7th, until January 4th it's deployed. It comes back on the 4th, goes into predeployment, and deploys again on the 7th, until September.

At the same time 926 is deployed until December 7th, comes home, and goes into PDM until March. It comes out of PDM on March 3rd, and deploys March 4th until September 30th.

What NG airfield is ther near San Diego???

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


They had(?) a factory in the LA area (I know, it's a little ways from San Diego, but not so much by air). They were supposed to move their headquarters last year, but I don't know if they still have the facility there. My brother and I drove past their facility in the 1990s, and it had a big long runway there.

There's also the Redondo Beach facility for NG Aerospace. They're right near a military base, and LAX airport. Again, a little distance from San Diego, but a short hop by air.