Press Releases

Squadron Commander Relieved
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Lt. Col. Carsten Stahr, commander of the 28th Force Support Squadron here, was relieved of command Sept. 11 by Col. Derek Oakley, 28th Bomb Wing commander, due to loss of trust and confidence in Stahr's ability to lead the squadron. 
 
Base Conducting Raider Reach Exercise Sept. 9-23
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Ellsworth personnel are scheduled to participate in a base-wide exercise Sept. 9-23 intended to assess the ability of the 28th Bomb Wing to respond, react, and adapt in various scenarios.
During the exercise, residents on or near the installation may hear announcements over the base’s “giant voice” system, sirens, simulated gunfire, explosions, and see smoke and response vehicles.
The exercise may impact traffic entering and exiting the installation. Individuals are encouraged to plan to arrive early for appointments and call in advance to ensure services are not impacted.
For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or by emailing 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.

Base Conducting Raider Reach Exercise Sept. 9-23
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Ellsworth personnel are scheduled to participate in a base-wide exercise Sept. 9-23 intended to assess the ability of the 28th Bomb Wing to respond, react, and adapt in various scenarios.
During the exercise, residents on or near the installation may hear announcements over the base’s “giant voice” system, sirens, simulated gunfire, explosions, and see smoke and response vehicles.
The exercise may impact traffic entering and exiting the installation. Individuals are encouraged to plan to arrive early for appointments and call in advance to ensure services are not impacted.
For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or by emailing 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.

B-1B Flyover Part of Days of 76 Celebration
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – The 28th Bomb Wing is scheduled to conduct a B-1B flyover in support of the Days of 76 Rodeo in Deadwood. The flyover is scheduled, weather permitting, on July 24 at 7 p.m.B-1 flyovers are part of an approved training missions. Residents living near the event and the surrounding community could experience an increased noise level related to the flyover. Individuals who witness the flyover are encouraged to share their photos and videos on Ellsworth Air Force Base’s official Facebook and Instagram pages available at: www.Facebook.com/ellsworthairforcebase and @ellsworthafb on Instagram. For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or via email at 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.

Base Conducting Exercise July 24 - 25
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Ellsworth security personnel are scheduled to conduct an exercise July 24-25 intended to evaluate the ability of the 28th Bomb Wing to respond to a variety of situations. During the exercise, residents on or near the installation may hear announcements over the base’s “giant voice” system, sirens, simulated gunfire, explosions and see smoke and response vehicles. The exercise is not expected to impact traffic entering and exiting the installation. However, individuals are encouraged to plan to arrive early for appointments and call in advance to ensure appointments and services are not impacted. For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or via email at 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.

Base Conducting Exercise July 16-18
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – Ellsworth security personnel are scheduled to conduct an exercise July 16-18 intended to evaluate the ability of the 28th Bomb Wing to respond to a variety of situations. During the exercise, residents on or near the installation may hear announcements over the base’s “giant voice” system, sirens, simulated gunfire, explosions and see smoke and response vehicles. The exercise is not expected to impact traffic entering and exiting the installation. However, individuals are encouraged to plan to arrive early for appointments and call in advance to ensure appointments and services are not impacted. For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or via email at 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.

Ellsworth conducting response exercise Apr 17
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – The 28th Bomb Wing will be conducting an active shooter response exercise today, Apr. 17, intended to evaluate the ability of the 28th Bomb Wing to respond to an emergency situation on the installation. During the exercise, residents on or near the installation may hear announcements over the base’s “giant voice” system and sirens, and see response vehicles. All assigned personnel, family members and visitors are required to take appropriate actions. No interference in traffic is expected. For more information, contact the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs office at (605) 385-5056, or via email at 28bw.public.affairs@us.af.mil.



Press Releases

B-1 aircrews drop the hammer during exercise

  • Published
  • By 021011
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  Aircrews from the 37th Bomb Squadron "Tigers" thundered into the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Oct. 25 and employed two Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles from a pair of B-1 bombers as part of the Air Force's air to ground Weapon System Evaluation Program known as Combat Hammer.

The goal of the exercise, managed by the 86th Fighter Weapons Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is to evaluate the effectiveness, maintainability, suitability, and accuracy of precision guided munitions and other advanced air to ground weapons. The entire process of weapons handling is evaluated from start to finish during Combat Hammer.

"Combat Hammer is the only training opportunity available to operational B-1 squadrons to employ the AGM-158 (JASSM), so it is an invaluable opportunity for our crews," said Lt. Col. Brian Mead, 37th BS commander. "We continually train to employ the AGM-158 on a regular basis ... but nothing can replace an opportunity to load and shoot an actual missile."

The JASSM is a 2,000-pound conventional, precision, standoff missile with a lethal penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead, JASSMs cruise autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker and anti-jam global positioning satellite-aided technology to find a specific point on a target. A single B-1B can carry 24 JASSMs.

One of the purposes of the WSEP is to evaluate the ability of a baseline operational aircrew to successfully employ a given weapon in an operationally representative environment as a means of validating current tactics, techniques, and procedures, according to Mead. The 37th BS Tigers chose a mix of experienced instructors and younger aircrew with more retainability - all of whom are experienced combat aviators - to not only meet the intent of the WSEP, but also to ensure the squadron is able to retain the experience and lessons learned by the aircrew for as long as possible.

"It was definitely a rush," said Maj. David Bennett, 37th BS B-1 pilot. "It all went as planned and briefed, but you always get that nervous energy when you are doing something as big as this for the first time. We've simulated employing these weapons since receiving the Block E software upgrade, but it is definitely one of the first times we've employed it live, so it's quite an honor."

The last time the Tigers fired an actual JASSM was in 2006. Operational squadrons aren't provided a training allocation of the JASSM due to their cost and limited numbers.

"The vast majority of B-1 aircrews will go their entire career without shooting an actual AGM-158. That said, we regularly train on AGM-158 employment in SIM mode on the aircraft as well as in the WST (B-1 simulator)," Mead added. "Every lesson we learn from valuable, realistic scenarios provided during exercises like Combat Hammer is shared with every aviator in the B-1 community to ensure they are prepared for any type of situation they may face in combat."

In addition to providing valuable training for B-1 aircrews and ensuring the munitions operated correctly, Combat Hammer provided base munitions specialists the chance to work with the JASSM and aircraft maintainers the opportunity to hone their ability to prepare bombers and load munitions.

"Our Airmen assisted Lockheed-Martin engineers while they performed pre-flight inspections on the JASSM telemetry kit and the flight termination system, supported the assembly of the test munitions, assisted with munitions preparation before the WSEP evaluators arrived at Ellsworth, and delivered the munitions to the flightline," said Lt. Col. Carlos Dalmau, 28th MUNS commander. "The evaluators inspected the munitions to ensure they were correctly assembled and evaluated each step of the process."

Dalmau added the information isn't gathered to better prepare his Airmen for assembling munitions, but to protect forces on the ground by improving the accuracy and reliability of the weapon.

More than 60 Airmen from the 28th AMXS worked tirelessly to ensure the aircraft were ready for the live fire exercise, refueling three aircraft with more than one million pounds of fuel (149,253 gallons), providing 84 hours of pre- and post-flight inspections, conducting nearly 95 hours of unscheduled maintenance and uploading the munitions.

"Our crew chiefs, weapons loaders and specialists readied the aircraft five hours prior to launch, enabling effortless aircrew pre-flights, with zero maintenance late takeoffs," said Lt. Col. Brian Sitler, 28th AMXS commander. "Our Airmen were evaluated during the aircraft preparation and weapons loading procedures to ensure each person was qualified to perform the required tasks, and did each step correctly."

Sitler added that his Airmen are proud to be part of the exercise, and that the skills gained handling the live weapons will further build on their experiences gained while deployed.

According to Maj. Michael Ballard, 86th FWS lead bomber evaluator for Combat Hammer, the data gathered during the live weapons drops is not only crucial to maintaining the long term effectiveness of the American arsenal, but is immediately applicable to current and future conflicts around the world.