Joe Weber
Shadow Flight
Glossary
ACM — Air Combat Maneuvering; dog-fighting.
ACO — Air Control Officer.
ADIZ — Air Defense Identification Zone.
ADVCAP — Advanced Capability.
AEGIS — Air Defense System on Ticonderoga Class Cruisers.
ALCM — Air Launched Cruise Missiles.
Alpha Strike — All-out carrier air wing attack.
ASW — Antisubmarine Warfare.
AWACS — Airborne Warning And Control System.
Ball — The optical landing device on an aircraft carrier. Also referred to as "meatball."
BARCAP — Barrier Combat Air Patrol, used to protect vessels at sea.
Blue Water Operations — Carrier flight operations beyond the range of land bases.
Bogie — Unidentified or enemy aircraft.
Bolter — Carrier landing attempt in which the tail hook misses the arresting wire, necessitating a go-around.
Bow — Front end of ship.
Bridge — Command post in a ship superstructure.
CAG — Commander of the Air Group; oversees all squadrons embarked on a carrier.
CAP — Combat Air Patrol.
CATCC — Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (Cat-see).
Check Six — Refers to visual observation behind an aircraft. Fighter pilots must check behind them constantly to ensure that enemy aircraft are not in an attack position.
CIC — Combat Information Center — central battle management post in naval surface combat.
CINCLANT — Commander In Chief of Atlantic Fleet.
CINCPAC — Commander In Chief of Pacific Fleet.
CNO — Chief of Naval Operations.
Dash Two — Second plane in a two-aircraft section; the wingman.
Departure — Refers to an aircraft departing from controlled flight.
DME — Distance Measuring Equipment. Distance provided to a pilot in nautical miles from a known point.
ELINT — Electronic Intelligence.
Feet Dry / Wet — Pilot radio call indicating a position over land/water.
FOD — Foreign Object Damage to a jet engine.
Fox One/Two/Three — Pilot radio calls indicating the firing of a Sparrow, Sidewinder, or Phoenix missile.
Furball — Multiaircraft fighter engagement.
G-force — Force pressed on a body by changes in velocity, measured in increments of earth gravity.
G-LOC — G-induced Loss of Consciousness.
Gomers — Air combat adversaries.
Hawkeye — E-2C early warning and control aircraft; radar eyes of the fleet.
Hornet — F/A-18 fighter/attack aircraft.
Hot pump — Refueling aircraft while engine is running.
ICS Intercom — System in cockpits of multiseat aircraft.
IFF — Military transponder used to identify aircraft (Identification Friend or Foe).
IFR — Instrument Flight Rules.
Intruder — A-6 attack aircraft.
Knot — One nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile equals 1.1 statute miles.
LAMPS — Light Airborne Multipurpose System; shipborne helicopter used for antisubmarine warfare.
LCAC — Air-cushioned landing craft.
Loose Deuce — Navy and Marine Corps tactical fighter formation.
LSO — Landing Signal Officer. Squadron pilot responsible for assisting other aviators onto flight deck of aircraft carrier; also called Paddles.
Mach — Term, named for physicist Ernst Mach, used to describe speed of an object in relation to the speed of sound.
MAD — Magnetic Anomaly Detector, used to locate submerged submarines.
Main mount — Aircraft main landing gear.
Marshall — Aircraft holding pattern behind aircraft carrier.
MILSTAR — Advanced military satellite communications system.
NATOPS — Naval Aviation Training and Operations manual. Provides rules and regulations for safe and proper operation of all navy and marine corps aircraft and helicopters.
NEACP — National Emergency Airborne Command Post (KNEECAP).
Nugget — Rookie naval aviator.
PRI-FLY — Control tower on aircraft carrier.
Phoenix — AIM-54 long-range air-to-air missile.
Plane Guard — Helicopter assigned to search and rescue during carrier flight operations.
Push Time — Designated time for aircraft to start approach to carrier.
RAM — Radar-Absorbent Material.
Ramp — Aft end of flight deck; rounddown.
RCS — Radar Cross Section.
RIO — Radar Intercept Officer; naval flight officer in backseat of F-14 Tomcat and F-4 Phantom aircraft.
ROE — Rules Of Engagement.
SAC — Strategic Air Command.
SAM — Surface-to-Air Missile.
SAR — Search And Rescue.
Section takeoff — Two aircraft taking off in formation.
Sidewinder — AIM-9 heat-seeking air-to-air missile.
Sparrow — AIM-7 radar-guided air-to-air missile.
SUCAP — Surface Combat Air Patrol.
Tally — Derivative of tallyho; target in sight.
Tomcat — F-14 fighter aircraft; also called "turkey."
Trap — Arrested landing on aircraft carrier.
Unload — Release pressure on aircraft control stick to ease g load.
VFR — Visual Flight Rules.
V/STOL — Very Short Takeoff and Landing aircraft.
Viking — S-3 ASW aircraft; also called Hoover.
Vulture's Row — Observation deck on superstructure (island) of carrier.
Introduction
The Soviet economy had been disintegrating in the ruins of perestroika and glasnost.
Industrial growth had mired at less than 1 percent, and food production had fallen 32 percent short of the nation's needs. Absenteeism had become rampant as thousands of workers abandoned their jobs, shouting, "We pretend to work while they pretend to pay US."
National polls conducted during January 1990 had indicated that 97 percent of the Soviet citizens felt that the economic situation was critical, if not completely out of control. The nation's patience, after years of perestroika, had run short. The domestic crisis threatened both the integrity and the political stability of the state.
The president of the USSR, beset with national animosities and Kremlin challenges, had become desperate in his attempt to hold the disintegrating Communist system together. Mikhail Gorbachev, when faced with increasing pressure to revive the moribund economy, had called a plenary session of the Communist party's Central Committee during February 1990. The 249-member committee had agreed to the president's plan to discard the Communist party's seven decades of monopoly on power. Gorbachev, arguing persuasively for a step toward democracy, had opened the door to political competition.