US Air Force News

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Thu Mar 23, 2023 12:49 am

Surprise, surprise - "shortfalls in his personal conduct prior to taking command".

Air Force 1-star general relieved for ‘shortfalls’ in personal conduct
By Jeff Schogol | Published Mar 21, 2023

Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Birch has been relieved as commander of the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, for “shortfalls in his personal conduct prior to taking command,” according to an 11th Air Force news release that did not specify what these shortfalls were.

Birch was relieved on Monday by Air Force Lt. Gen. David Nahom, commander of the 11th Air Force, the news release says.

“I did not make this decision lightly,” Nahom said in a statement. “Commanders must always be held to the highest standards.”

Eleventh Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Lauren Ott told Task & Purpose on Tuesday that she was unable to provide any details about the “shortfalls” in Birch’s personal conduct, but she confirmed that Birch was not the subject of a command directed investigation.

No further information was available on what exactly prompted Nahom to relieve Birch of command. The wording of the 11th Air Force’s news release was unusual. Typically, the military branches announce that commanders have been relieved “due to a loss of confidence” in their ability to lead without giving a specific reason why.

Birch assumed command of the 36th Wing in June 2022, according to his official biography. A 1996 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Birch is a command pilot with more than 2,100 flying hours, including more than 750 combat hours in support of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He served as an F-15 instructor pilot between 2005 and 2008 and he has also flown KC-10 and KC-135 aerial tankers as well as U-2 spy planes and E-3B/G airborne warning and control system aircraft, his biography says.

Some of Birch’s previous assignments include serving as chief of staff at U.S. Air Forces Central, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar; and chief of the Strategic Planning Integration Division at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon, his biography says.

Birch also holds a doctorate degree in philosophy and military strategy from the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

When he took command of the 36th Wing last June, Birch told airmen that they needed to be prepared if China decides to start a war with the United States, Stars and Stripes reported at the time.

“The threat is relentless,” Birch said at the June 10, 2022, ceremony. “We need to enhance our … readiness and lethality in such a way that deters our adversary today and also postures us to fight decisively should that adversary — China — make a strategic miscalculation and elect to take on the United States, its allies or its partners.”

Poohbah · Post by **Poohbah** » Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:46 am

Sounds like a zipper problem.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Mon Mar 27, 2023 11:21 pm

U.S. Begins Air Base Rehab in Philippines as Part of Basing Agreement
By: Rene Acosta
March 20, 2023

MANILA – The United States and the Philippines started rehabilitating the runway of the Basa Air Base in Pampanga on the island of Luzon, one of the five original Philippine military sites identified to host rotating American troops and their equipment under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Rehabilitation of the runway started after eight years of delays and legal challenges to the EDCA, Department of National Defense Officer-in-Charge Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Monday.

“=Today, we laid down the time capsule to signify openly the start of the necessary rehabilitation of the Basa Air Base as one of the EDCA priorities,” Galvez said.

Secretary of the U.S. Air Force Frank Kendall attended the ceremony at the air base.

The rehabilitation of the 2,800-meter runway will cost $25 million, excluding “improvements” and the construction of the wing’s operation center, Galvez said.

“The runway rehabilitation, which is expected to be completed in September 2023, would make Basa Air Base ideal for the efficient conduct of joint task force exercises and as a natural hub for HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster response) operations, especially that we are a disaster-prone country,” he said.

Out of the 15 EDCA projects, five have been completed, five are still ongoing and the remaining five are up for implementation, Galvez said.

Aside from Basa, the four other original sites that will host American forces and their equipment are Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu and Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila said that $11.4 million has been allocated for EDCA works at Fort Magsaysay, $1.8 million for Antonio Bautista; $2.7 million for the Benito Ebuen and $3.7 million for the Lumbia Air Base.

Late last year, Philippine military officials disclosed that the U.S. asked for four additional sites for the EDCA, and these camps are located in the provinces of Palawan, Zambales, Cagayan and Isabela.

Officials of Cagayan, led by Governor Manuel Mamba, however, are not amenable to hosting American forces in the province, but Galvez said Monday that Mamba has already withdrawn his opposition.

Local reports said the U.S. and Philippines were close to announcing two of the sites.

“The two countries will announce as soon as they can,” Kendall said during a press conference.

The EDCA was originally drafted in 2014 following the departure of the U.S. military in 1991. The agreement allows for U.S. forces to stage material and rotate forces throughout sites in the country. In February, during a visit by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the agreement added five more additional sites for use by U.S. forces. Manila and Washington also have a 1951 mutual defense pact.

The public ceremony comes as tensions between Beijing and Manilla have been on the rise over Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia ships operating near Philippine holdings.

clancyphile · Post by **clancyphile** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 4:45 pm

A nice start. What they really needed was to get a permanently-deployed composite fighter wing (F-15E/F-15EX/F-22s/F-16 or F-35) there, and on Palawan, permanently deploy a Marine Defense Battalion, and have the ability to move a MEB and/or a couple of light infantry brigades to the Philippines.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:25 am

Air Force ICBM Boss Says Cancer Study Now Underway, First Phase Expected to Take 6-10 Months
March 28, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force’s study of possible links to elevated rates of cancer among personnel who worked on intercontinental continental ballistic missiles has begun, the commander in charge of the U.S. ICBM fleet confirmed March 28.

The initial phase of that study will mine cancer registries for information and compile a database, Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, said in testimony to Congress. The data collection phase began in the past two weeks, and the entire study will take six to 10 months to complete, according to Bussiere. Members of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, which is leading the study, began visiting ICBM bases in early March.

“But we’re not going to wait until that’s done,” Bussiere told members of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee. “If we find something, then we’re going to drill down into that causal area.”

A presentation detailing cancers among missileers who served at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., was posted on social media in January, sparking renewed concern among crews who have worked on the nation’s ICBMs, which are spread across Malmstorm, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

Air Force Global Strike Command commissioned the “Missile Community Cancer Study” in February to examine all intercontinental ballistic missile wings and personnel who support the Air Force’s ICBM mission. Bussiere told Congress the Air Force would act quickly if it finds red flags early in the data collection phase.

“We started our efforts,” Bussiere said. “The first phase is to look at all the cancer registries in the Department of Defense as well as those that are available from the state level and see if we have higher incident rates within the areas that we do missile field operations.”

The presentation looking at Malmstrom missileers indicated that at least nine service members from the base had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Lt. Col. Daniel Sebeck, a former missileer and now a Space Force Guardian, created the presentation; it was subsequently posted to the popular, unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page, which led to renewed focus and reporting on the issue.

“There are indications of a possible association between cancer and missile combat crew service at Malmstrom AFB,” Sebeck wrote.

Many missileers have long worried that their job exposes them to aging equipment, bunkers, and silos that can cause health problems—Sebeck cited “known hazards” such as chemicals, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, and other materials associated with the older facilities and equipment.

When asked about the modernization of the IBCM fleet during the hearing, Bussiere noted the Air Force needs the new Sentinel ICBM to replace increasingly antiquated elements of the current Minuteman III fleet.

“We struggle with our current maintenance and sustainment of the Minuteman III,” Bussiere said. “It’s a very old weapon system. In the last five years, we’ve had 2.5 million maintenance man-hours, which is a 30 percent increase over the previous five years, and we’re anticipating a 25 percent increase in the next five years, so the solution to that aging weapons system is the Sentinel.”

Maintenance crews are among those who also have concerns about the dangers their work may have exposed them to.

The Air Force conducted two previous studies into cancer concerns in 2001 and 2005. But the latest developments “illuminated” the issue once again, Bussiere said.

“Although there had been previous studies specific to Malmstrom, I asked the Air Force Surgeon General and the Chief and Secretary if I could do a more comprehensive study that looked across all of our AFSC—Air Force Specialty Codes—that serve in the missile field operations, and all three of our bases to make sure we have a deep understanding if we’re putting our Airmen at risk and if we are we’re going to mitigate it,” Bussiere told the subcommittee.

AFGSC has also encouraged former service members to come forward. It established a website with resources on non-Hodgkin lymphoma and pledged to keep former Airmen and the public updated.

“We are responding with both urgency and transparency to compile comprehensive data to understand the risk to our Airmen and their families,” Bussiere wrote in his opening statement.

As the presentation made by Sebeck highlighted, health concerns among ICBM crews are not limited to current members of the Air Force. Over 400 members of the Space Force, including Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, are former missileers.

“If you think you need help, go get help and go get screened. Go see a health professional and ask all your questions, and get the help that you need,” Saltzman said at the AFA Warfare Symposium. “I think that’s the most important thing. We don’t need to wait for a study to emphasize that.”

During his opening statement, Bussiere noted that investing billions in modernizing the nation’s nuclear arsenal must go hand-in-hand with looking after the welfare of those who work with those weapons.

“The U.S. must ensure our weapons are capable and ready, our Airmen are empowered and equipped,” Bussiere said. “The Airmen of Air Force Global Strike Command continue to fulfill our mission with discipline, excellence, and pride. However, a number of our Airmen also face personal challenges, including health concerns, housing, and childcare availability. And we are working to develop prompt and comprehensive solutions to ensure our Airmen are getting the care they need and deserve.”

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:27 am

US Air Force wants money to speed E-7 purchases in FY24 wish list
By Stephen Losey
March 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force wants to speed up its procurement of Boeing E-7A battlefield management and command-and-control aircraft, as part of the service’s so-called wish list for the fiscal 2024 budget.

The nearly $2.5 billion unfunded priorities list, obtained by Defense News, includes more than $633 million for accelerating the delivery of the E-7, which the Air Force plans to eventually replace the E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control, or AWACS, aircraft.

The Air Force earlier this month released a $185.1 billion budget request for 2024, which would be a $5.4 billion raise over the current year.

The service wants to field a fleet of 26 E-7s by 2032, and in February awarded Boeing a contract worth up to $1.2 billion to start building them.

The service first plans to buy two rapid prototype E-7s, with the first being delivered in fiscal 2027. And the Air Force aims to make a decision in fiscal 2025 on fielding the remaining 24 aircraft.

With the Air Force in the midst of retiring nearly half of its aging AWACS fleet, which at one point numbered 31, and the first E-7 about four years away from delivery, some lawmakers have expressed concern that the service could face an airborne battle management capability gap.

The additional funding the Air Force is asking for aims to speed up the process. The more than $596 million in procurement funds requested for the E-7 would help Boeing and its suppliers buy parts in advance to build the first two E-7s.

One of those suppliers that would be able to buy the “long lead item” parts with the additional funding is Northrop Grumman, which is making the massive multirole electronically scanned array, or MESA, sensor that will be mounted on top of the E-7.

The advance funding would also help Boeing procure the 737-700 aircraft that it will then heavily modify into the E-7.

The added procurement funding also aims to speed up the process of procuring the second E-7, and beginning that in 2025 alongside the first aircraft.

And $37 million in requested research and development funds would help pay for rapid prototyping aircraft, to reduce the risk to the program’s acquisition schedule, the Air Force said.

The air forces of Australia, Turkey and South Korea already fly the E-7, and the United Kingdom is buying its own fleet.

The U.S. Air Force’s unfunded priorities list also requests nearly $64 million to buy a dozen conformal fuel tanks for the F-15EX Eagle II fighter aircraft, which now lack the added fuel tanks. Adding these tanks will increase the amount of fuel the fighters can carry and their range, as well as giving the Air Force more places to add weapons on the fighters that could handle advanced smart munitions.

By being able to patrol longer and farther and carry more weapons, the Air Force said, the F-15EX will be better able to defend the U.S. and deter China.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:05 pm

F-35s Arrive at Kadena as F-15 Withdrawl Continues
March 30, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

F-35 Lightning II fighters arrived on Okinawa this month as the Air Force continues to swap out its permanently deployed F-15 Eagles at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

The 18th Wing at Kadena said the 355th Fighter Squadron from Eielson Air Base, Alaska began the deployment on March 28. It is unclear how many F-35s are now operating there. Air Force officials declined to provide the exact number of F-35s at Kadena or say when more F-15s would depart, citing operational security. However, officials said the F-35 deployment was temporary as part of the DOD’s plan to place more advanced fighters at Kadena on a rotational basis as the old F-15s head out.

“The next batch of F-15s will depart Kadena in phased movements over the coming months,” a spokesperson for Pacific Air Forces told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Departures will occur once sufficient deployed forces are in place and operational to ensure no gap in steady-state fighter presence.”

Kadena is a strategic location for the Air Force, around 450 miles from Taiwan. The base bills itself as the “Keystone of the Pacific.”

After more than 40 years of Eagle operations, Kadena has had nearly every aircraft type in the Air Force’s fighter fleet cycle through the island in recent months: F-35s, F-22s, F-16s, and the original F-15s.

The Air Force promised to replace the old Eagles with newer and more capable aircraft, starting with F-22 Raptors from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska and F-16CMs from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The F-35s of the 355th FS mark the third squadron to head to Kadena as part of the F-15 replacement plan. The F-22s and F-16s remain deployed at Kadena.

F-15s leaving Kadena are destined for the Boneyard or Air National Guard service. Air National Guard director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh told reporters at the AFA Warfare Symposium March 8 the ANG had some F-15s from Kadena undergoing extensive depot tear-downs.

F-35s from the 355th Fighter Squadron deployed to Kadena as early as March 4, according to photo captions of F-35 operations in the Pacific released by the Air Force. It is unclear if the aircraft in those photos returned to Alaska or stayed at Kadena. The spokesperson for Pacific Air Forces said all of Kadena’s F-35s “scheduled to arrive have done so.” A spokesperson for the 354th Fighter Wing, the parent unit of the 355th, noted the arrival of the aircraft March 28 but added, “to protect operational security, exact details on flight and arrival times cannot be provided.”

Despite the island’s strategic importance and proximity to the possible flashpoint of Taiwan, the Air Force must remove the permanently deployed F-15s from Kadena because they are simply too old, service officials say.

“F-15Cs: last year when we were here, there were two aircraft at Kadena that were grounded and would never fly again, and two more that could only fly a one-time flight to the Boneyard,” Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore, Jr., deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told a House Armed Service subcommittee March 29. “Now it’s three that are grounded forever and four that can only that are only capable of one-time flight to the Boneyard. Of every 10 aircraft in the F-15C fleet that we put into depot, only two of them come out.”

The Air Force has used its newer fighter aircraft at Kadena to hop around the Pacific for various Agile Combat Employment exercises, including deployments of F-22s to Tinian and the Philippines—the first time fifth-generation fighters deployed to those locations. The Pentagon wants to invest $88 million in upgrades to Kadena as part of its fiscal 2024 budget request.

The F-35s look set to continue the trend of Kadena’s fifth-generation aircraft being used as a flexible force. The 18th Wing said in a news release that “the F-35 squadron plans to rotate personnel and equipment to multiple operating locations in order to support the Theater Joint Force Air Component Commander and the 18th Wing while maintaining readiness for the high-end fight.”

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:07 pm

Collaborative Combat Aircraft Will Join the Air Force Before NGAD
March 29, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The first iterations of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the drones that will pair with manned platforms, will join the Air Force’s fighter fleet in “the later 2020s,” several years before the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Armed Services tactical aviation panel on March 29.

Hunter also emphasized that CCAs will augment all types of tactical aircraft, not just the NGAD system.

Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore Jr., deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, also set the top three missions of the CCAs, in order, as:

* shooters
* electronic warfare platforms
* sensor-carrying aircraft

The NGAD and CCAs are “on different timelines,” Hunter said, although they are “obviously closely related to one another as part of a family of systems.”

NGAD, he said, is a “very high-end capability” geared to the threat environment of the 2030s, and “we are working very hard to deliver [it] …in the early 2030s.” CCAs, meanwhile, are slated to join the force later this decade. Hunter also said the notional number of CCAs will be between 1,000 and 1,500 aircraft.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the House Appropriations defense panel on March 28 that CCAs could cost between one-half and one-quarter as much as an F-35. Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt, F-35 program executive officer, quoted the price of an F-35A as $82.5 million in the March 29 hearing, which would put CCAs between $41.3 million and $20.6 million.

For the CCA program, “we are very much focused on speed-to-ramp, so we are looking to field that capability as rapidly as possible,” Hunter said. The Air Force’s approach in seeking proposals from industry for the autonomous, uncrewed aircraft will put a priority on contractors’ ability to “perform as quickly as possible,” Hunter said.

Moore, echoing previous Air Force officials, emphasized that CCAs are intended to build up the Air Force’s fleet of combat aircraft at an affordable price, providing the “amount of iron that needs to be in the air to confront an adversary like China.”

“The way that we can do that affordably is by buying CCAs, and by creating mass with CCAs,” he said.

The task now will be to define the tactics, techniques, and procedures needed to employ this new kind of weapon, and answer questions like whether CCAs will be part of manned fighter squadrons or “a separate entity,” and whether they will fly alongside crewed aircraft or “come together on the battlefield” from different places.

“Ordinarily we provide a requirement to industry, they come back with what we’ve asked for, and we know that it does exactly what we asked. In this case, we’ve asked a question to industry to see what’s possible rather than tell them exactly what we want,” Moore said.

The 2024 budget includes a request to create an experimental operations squadron which will explore and answer these questions, Moore said.

Asked what the CCAs will be counted on most to do, Moore laid out three basic mission sets.

First and foremost, he said, is “the ability to augment the combat force as shooters.” Second is “the ability to conduct electronic warfare” and the third is “the ability to be sensors in the battlespace.”

Pressed by lawmakers as to whether the Air Force needs seven additional fighter squadrons, as the service stated in the 2018 white paper, “The Force We Need,” Moore said it will depend on the success of the CCA concept.

“But certainly, capacity is an issue and the mass that it takes to confront an adversary like China is intense,” Moore said.

Both Hunter and Moore emphasized that CCAs are being procured in addition to all the crewed fighters the Air Force plans to acquire, not in lieu of any of them. They will “augment” the manned fighter force, not replace it, Hunter said.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Fri Apr 07, 2023 1:20 am

US Air Force plans to request 72 fighters every year
By Stephen Losey
April 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — For the first time in recent history, the U.S. Air Force this year directly asked Congress for the full complement of 72 fighters it says it needs in its next budget request. And the general in charge of planning for the service’s future said Thursday this won’t be the last time.

Top Air Force leaders have said for years that it needs to buy at least 72 new fighters each year to both modernize its fighter fleet and lower the age of the average plane. If it doesn’t bring on that many new fighters annually, generals warn, the service won’t have enough new aircraft to replace aging and retiring fighters, such as the F-15C.

But that goal has long been out of reach. For years, Congress has approved fighter procurements that are below the Air Force’s desired goal, sometimes significantly so, and the service hasn’t asked for everything its leaders say it needs.

The fiscal 2024 budget proposal released in March broke that trend by directly asking for money to buy 48 new F-35As and 24 F-15EX Eagle IIs.

And in an online forum hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Lt. Gen. Richard Moore, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said that won’t be “a one-time thing” — a sign of how the service is changing its strategy for budget planning.

“This year, for the first time since I’ve been in this business, there are 72 new fighters in the Air Force’s budget,” Moore said. “We’re super excited about that. … I certainly think you’ll see it again.”

Expectation vs. reality

Typically in recent years, the Air Force has not asked for everything it wants in its base budget request and included some desired items in an unfunded priorities list.

For example, the FY23 budget request originally asked for 33 new F-35As and 24 F-15EXs — 57 in all. The service asked for seven additional F-35As as part of its $4.6 billion wish list that year.

Congress eventually approved a total of 43 F-35As, along with 24 F-15EXs, for a total of 67 fighters.

But the Air Force is shifting away from that approach as it tries to more reliably plan for future needs, Moore said.

“Some of the things we’ve talked about over the last several budget cycles are now a part of the base budget,” Moore explained. “They’re not a part of the unfunded priorities list, they’re not a wish list. Seventy-two fighters is a great example.”

The Air Force’s $2.5 billion wish list for FY24 was a little more than half the size of the previous fiscal year’s list, and did not ask for any additional fighters.

It asked for more than $633 million to accelerate the delivery of the Boeing E-7A aircraft that will replace the E-3 Sentry, and nearly $64 million to buy a dozen conformal fuel tanks for the F-15EX, which will extend their range and weapons capacity.

But while the Air Force wants to make it a trend to ask for 72 fighter, Moore said some of this depends on Lockheed Martin’s ability to build F-35s.

“As we reach what we believe is a sustainable fleet size in what we need in the F-15EX, we’ll have to see what capacity is available in the F-35 world, or whatever else it may be that we look at,” Moore said. “Right now, it’s predicated on the fact that we have two hot fighter production lines, and that will be the case by the middle or the end of the” Air Force’s spending plan over the next five years.

The service now plans to buy a total of 104 F-15EXs, with the final 24 scheduled to be requested in FY25. Air Force budget documents show the service expects to request 48 new F-35s each year through FY28.

Moore said the defense-industrial base also has limitations, including lingering supply chain and workforce issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, that would make it hard to bring on more than 72 fighters per year.

“We will bring on advanced capabilities at the max rate we can,” Moore said. But “the defense-industrial base can only support so much procurement.”

Moore also said the budget proposal shows how the Air Force intends to update its fighter fleet with future capabilities — some of which are still being designed — to be able to counter China in a possible future war.

Moore said the Air Force’s plan to retire 32 block 20 F-22A Raptor fighters would save roughly $2.5 billion over five years, which would be steered toward the sixth-generation Next Generation Air Dominance platform.

“It is crystal clear to us that in order to get into the early to mid-[20]30s with a force that can win, we have to get to a sixth-gen fighter, and that’s NGAD,” Moore added.

While those F-22s earmarked for retirement are fifth-generation fighters, Moore said, they aren’t combat-capable and never will be without a significant investment. Updating them with modern communications systems, electronic warfare capabilities and weapons would take about a decade to get started, cost about $3.5 billion and take Lockheed Martin’s already short-staffed engineers away from the F-35 program’s block 4 modernization effort.

“That is a trade to us that doesn’t make any sense at all: to upgrade aircraft a decade from now at great expense, while impacting the F-35 block 4 at the same time,” Moore said. “We don’t think that’s a viable course of action.”

Moore also said focusing on research and development investments is a top priority for Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

In a sign of how important Kendall sees this effort, the Department of the Air Force’s proposed budget for research, development, test and evaluation would rise nearly $5 billion to $55.4 billion in its FY24 budget proposal — a nearly 10% increase, and most of the department’s proposed total budget increase of $9.3 billion.

That wave of R&D is crucial, even if some of those programs don’t end up going into procurement.

“The secretary actually is fine with that,” Moore said. “He believes that if we don’t do the research and development now while we have time on our side, when the time comes that we need to put things into procurement, there’ll be nothing to procure because the research and development won’t have been done yet.”

Anyone else wondering why it would take a decade to start an upgrade for the Block 20 Raptors?
I get wanting to pump money into NGAD, but a decade for a fighter upgrade!

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Fri Apr 07, 2023 1:24 am

Fingers crossed we make the 2029 IOC.

DoD rejiggers $96 billion Sentinel ICBM program to minimize delay
By Theresa Hitchens
March 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department and the Air Force have taken actions to minimize a delay in $96 billion Sentinel ICBM acquisition program caused by supply chain and workforce issues at prime contractor Northrop Grumman, a senior DoD official said today.

“This remains absolutely one of the department’s top priorities, so that we have a sustainable ICBM leg [of the nuclear triad],” Deborah Rosenblum, assistant secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, told the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. “As of now, we believe we’re still aiming for this threshold objective date of 2030, but it would be premature to let you know the degree to which these particular actions will move the schedule further to the left.”

The Air Force’s previous “threshold objective” (read: timeline with wiggle room) for declaring initial operating capability with nine missiles on alert was 2029.

Rosenblum elaborated that there “have been a number of constructive recommendations” made by the Air Force to Pentagon acquisition czar Bill LaPlante “by way of buying things [as] long lead items, and a variety of different acquisition mechanisms that he has approved last night.”

In addition, she said, DoD has “used to full effect the Defense Production Act in giving the Sentinel program the DX rating, which means, with suppliers, it will be preferrenced. And we are also working hard along with the Air Force with regards to some of the workforce challenges. So, it is really a combined OSD and Air Force effort to make sure that this program remains on track.”

The LGM-35A Sentinel is being developed to replace the US fleet of 400 aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, a high priority for the Pentagon — with strong bipartisan backing in Congress — because of China’s rapid modernization of its own nuclear arsenal. US Strategic Command in February revealed that China now has more ICBM launchers than the US military, although not as many actual missiles or warheads.

“China is engaged in a significant, fast-paced expansion and modernization of its nuclear forces,” John Plumb, DoD assistant secretary for space policy, told the subcommittee today.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2024 budget request includes $4.3 billion for Sentinel research, development and procurement, about $700 million more than the sum enacted in the FY23 defense appropriation.

The spending on Sentinel is part of a package of $37.7 billion DoD intends to spend on modernizing nuclear delivery systems and infrastructure across the board, about $3.3 billion more than the department’s FY23 request, Plumb explained.

“These investments will ensure that each leg of the triad is modernized and has the needed adaptability and flexibility to address a changing threat environment for the coming decades,” he said.

It also includes, according to Plumb:
* “More than $7 billion to sustain and recapitalize the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications architecture, NC3″;
* $6.2 billion for the Navy’s Columbia class ballistic missile submarine, with the service hoping to buy in FY24 the second of a planned 12 subs;
* $5.3 billion for the Air Force’s B-21 Raider stealth bomber;
* $1 billion for the Air Force’s Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) cruise missile; and
* $456 million for “the life extension” of the Trident II D-5 submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department has asked for another $23.8 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Jill Hruby, NNSA administrator told the subcommittee. This is an increase of $1.7 billion over last year’s appropriation, she said, and “reflects current national security priorities and remains consistent with the Nuclear Posture Review and other administration policies and strategies.”

NNSA funds development and stockpiling of nuclear warheads, and maintains the US nuclear weapons laboratories. It also works on technologies for verifying arms control agreements and keeping tabs on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

“The budget request supports the five ongoing weapon modernization programs, two Phase One exploratory efforts, and enhances cybersecurity for our networks and digital assurance of our weapons and enterprise,” Hruby explained.

These include B61-12 gravity bomb for the Air Force, and the W88 Alt 370 warhead for the Trident II D5 missile, which she noted are “in full scale production and are achieving planned deployment schedules.”

It also includes the W80-4 warhead for the LRSO, the W87-1, which will replace the legacy W78 on the ICBM fleet, and the W-93 for the Navy’s ballistic missile submarine force — all of which Hruby said “are making significant progress.”

Finally, she said, NNSA’s “investments in pit production have advanced the ability to produce 80 pits per year as close to 2030 as possible.”

However, a number of lawmakers raised serious concerns about the pace of both DoD and NNSA nuclear weapon activities, including subcommittee ranking member Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif.

Moulton fretted that the NNSA’s uranium processing facility is “$2 billion over cost” and delayed by “up to two years.” Further, he added, plans for plutonium pit production “at the rate DoD requires have been delayed again by years until the mid- to late-2030s. And we won’t know how much it will realistically cost until 2025.”

Garamendi had even harsher criticism, noting that all of the programs across the DoD and NNSA nuclear enterprise have been plagued with delays and cost overruns.

“I’m just trying to get my head around all the happy talk that I’ve heard. The fact of the matter is every single one of these systems are behind schedule and over budget, every single one of them,” he said emphatically.

“The happy talk from each and every one of you doesn’t get down to the detail. I’m going to delay my questions until we can get into a classified session when we can get past the happy talk and get down to details,” Garamendi concluded.

Lordroel · Post by **Lordroel** » Fri Apr 07, 2023 7:13 am

The Re-Engined B-52 Will be the B-52J

Once they receive their new Rolls Royce F130 engines, B-52Hs will become B-52Js, according to the Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget documents.

The designation resolves a question that had been debated for several years, as the B-52 undergoes some of the most significant improvements in the H model’s 61-year service life.

“Any B-52H aircraft modified with the new commercial engines and associated subsystems are designated as B-52J,” the Air Force said in justification documents for its 2024 budget request.

The service had been considering various designations for the improved Stratofortress, because in addition to new engines, the B-52 will also be receiving a new radar, as well as new communications and navigation equipment and weapons, among other improvements intended to keep it credible and capable through the 2050s.

Given the number of major changes, Global Strike Command had considered using interim designations—“J” model aircraft would have then become B-52Ks.

One of the improved weapons the B-52 was supposed to get was the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), but in the 2024 budget, the Air Force said it’s moving to “close out” the program after a couple more tests and shift its emphasis to the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM).

The B-52 re-engining project name has also evolved from the Commercial Engine Replacement Program (CERP) to CERP RVP, for Rapid Virtual Prototyping, the Air Force said in its budget request.

The re-engining effort was launched as a mid-tier acquisition in order to save time and get capability sooner. The program will become a Major Capability Acquisition at the end of the RVP effort, the Air Force said.

The upgrades will also open the door to other changes, USAF noted.

“As B-52 CERP brings additional capability to the B-52, emerging security/certification requirements (nuclear hardening, cyber security, program protection, etc.) will also need to be addressed. Several concurrent aircraft upgrades during the B-52 CERP may necessitate temporary facilities or facility upgrades/ modifications.”

The Air Force is asking for nearly $3 billion in B-52 procurement across the future years defense plan, starting with a modest $65.82 million in 2024 but ramping up to over $1.1 billion each in 2027 and 2028.

Of the overall amount, the Radar Modernization Program alone claims $845.9 million, peaking in ’27 at $271.95 million. Separately—not included in the procurement account—research, development, test, and evaluation associated with the Radar Modernization Program is requested at $371 million, ending in 2026. The RMP procurement funding is to procure 74 radar kits, three training systems kits, and two engineering and manufacturing development kits.

The new radar is a variant of the Raytheon AN/APG-79, an active, electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar used on the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter. It replaces the APG-166, which the Air Force says suffers from severe “vanishing vendor” issues and parts problems that will make the radar “unsupportable” before 2030.

Besides a dramatic improvement in maintainability, the AESA will add significant new capabilities in search, ground mapping, and electronic warfare. The new radar’s physical footprint is also much smaller than the system it replaces, creating growth capacity in the front of the aircraft. The B-52’s nose-mounted electro-optical blisters will be removed and a new radome installed with the new radar.

The re-engining program is funded for $2.56 billion, all in the RDT&E budget, peaking at $650.5 million in 2025. The program seeks to replace the original-equipment Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines with Rolls Royce F130s. The change is expected to eventually pay for itself through 30 percent better fuel efficiency and elimination of engine overhauls, as the F130 will not need an overhaul for the duration of its expected life on the B-52 wing.

“Along with the new engines, CERP will replace associated subsystems, such as engine struts and nacelles, the electrical power generation system, and cockpit displays,” the Air Force said. “The development, production and installation of new engines and related subsystems will replace the legacy equipment on all 76 B-52H aircraft.”

Including monies expended so far, the total cost of the B-52 CERP Middle Tier of Acquisition effort will be $1.32 billion, including RDT&E, the Air Force said.

The Air Force expects B-52Js with both new engines and new radars to be available for operational use before the end of the decade.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:37 am

The Future Force
13 programs that offer a glimpse at what the Air Force’s drive to modernize could yield.
By John A. Tirpak
March 31, 2023

After a prolonged period of anemic aircraft recapitalization, the Air Force is launching a robust and fast-paced program of modernization. At least 20 new airplane programs—including a handful that are variants—are in some stage of planning or development. If sustained, this airplane-building campaign will lower the average age of the fleet, increase its size, and enhance its ability to be upgraded rapidly. But with so many new efforts underway, and the never-ending competition from funding “fight tonight” readiness and force structure demands, trade-offs and choices will have to be made.

For this summary, we have listed only programs that have been announced by Air Force leaders, or which have appeared in budget documents, been announced through industry solicitations, or otherwise disclosed through open sources. Programs already in series production—such as the F-35 and T-7A trainer—are not included. This list is not comprehensive, as many programs have changed names or concept, may have been submerged in a new level of classification, or may not have been revealed publicly. Not all of these programs are likely to make it into production.

Mobility Aircraft

Program: Advanced Aerial Refueling Family of Systems/ “Bridge Tanker”
Target Service Date: 2032
User: Air Mobility Command

The Air Force has dropped its decade-long, three-phase plan to recapitalize its KC-135 and KC-10 tanker fleets: known as the KC-X, Y, and Z. The KC-X, meant to recapitalize much of the KC-135 fleet, became the KC-46, and is delivering 179 aircraft through 2029. Its follow-on, the KC-Y, was to have been a 150-airplane program to complete replacement of the KC-135 and the KC-10. However, the Air Force has trimmed that phase to 75 “traditional” tankers—modified commercial airliners or cargo jets—and moved on to a stealthy, survivable future tanker known as the Next-Generation Air refueling System (or NGAS, see below) in the third phase. Although no longer called the “bridge tanker,” the Advanced Aerial Refueling Family of Systems is essentially that. The service will decide mid-2024 whether to hold a competition for the interim tanker or simply award Boeing a sole-source contract for more KC-46s with some additional communications and possibly command and control capability. Some members of Congress, unhappy with Boeing’s KC-46 performance, will push for a new competition. Lockheed Martin has put forward its larger LMXT tanker based on the Airbus A330 Mult-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) for the bridge tanker.

Program: Next-Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS, formerly KC-Z)
Target Service Date: 2040
User: Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command needs a stealthy tanker able to survive in contested airspace, in order to expand the fleet’s range and allow other aircraft to operate closer to well-defended targets. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said USAF can no longer simply convert civilian airliners or freighters for tanking duty, but must have purpose-built aircraft that put a “high premium on survivability.” The Air Force asked industry for NGAS information in a Jan. 31, 2023, announcement, saying it’s open to a wide variety of operational concepts and aircraft designs, but the Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit are already studying blended wing body (BWB) concepts, able to achieve at least a 30 percent efficiency improvement over the existing KC-135/KC-10 fleet. An NGAS Analysis of Alternatives will get underway in October. Formerly the “KC-Z” phase of a three-stage tanker recapitalization effort, the program is now known as “increment three.” USAF will entertain any ideas that can reach a Technology Readiness Level of 6—ready for a prototype—by 2032.

Program: C-X Strategic Transport
Target Service Date: 2045+
User: Air Mobility Command

The C-5 Galaxy received a major upgrade in the 2010s, which should extend its life into the 2040s, but the C-17 has not yet had a service life extension program (SLEP). Even if it does, the Air Force believes that more survivable aircraft, able to operate from areas without a large runway—perhaps without any runway—are its future. The “C-X” is a placeholder for a future strategic transport to succeed the C-5 and the C-17, likely having stealth and globe-girdling ranges, but the requirements are still being hashed out and will depend on many other choices made in the interim. With new tankers the focus in the near-term, and a reasonably healthy fleet of strategic lifters in hand—the C-17 fleet averages just 14.1 years old—the Air Force has time to decide what it really needs in a follow-on heavy lifter. Kendall has established a “cross-cutting capability task force” for airlift and tanking charged with developing a comprehensive mobility roadmap that meshes with his “operational imperatives.”

Tactical Combat Aviation

Program: Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)
Target Service Date: 2030
User: Air Combat Command

The Air Force describes the highly classified NGAD as not a single, crewed fighter but a family of platforms intended to collectively gain air superiority at a time and place “of our choosing.” The NGAD is needed because adversary aircraft, particularly those of China, are gaining in stealth and have long-range air-to-air missiles, driving USAF to seek a new fighter-like capability an order of magnitude stealthier than the F-22. Meant to succeed the F-22 circa 2030, the NGAD will comprise one crewed airplane and up to five Collaborative Combat Aircraft that will act as its wingmen and protect it from air, electronic/cyber, and surface threats. The Air Force will have invested more than $9 billion in NGAD by 2025. Former USAF acquisition executive Will Roper in 2020 revealed that an NGAD “full-scale demonstrator” prototype had already flown and “broken a lot of records,” although he did not say whether those had to do with physical performance or speed of prototyping. Further, Roper’s vision was for a fresh NGAD design to become operational every five years, to keep up with rapidly advancing technology. Roper’s vision called for 50 to100 NGADs that would be flown up to 15 years, then either moderately updated, retired or used in one-way missions, eliminating long-term sustainment costs. The NGAD is not meant to replace the F-22 on a one-for-one basis. At least one variant of NGAD will have sufficient range to operate in the Pacific with far less tanker support than today’s fighters. While the Air Force and Navy are comparing notes on NGAD technologies and seeking some commonalities, they are not pursuing a joint program. Kendall has mentioned a “notional” inventory of 200 NGADs, but has not offered a definitive fleet size.

Program: Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Target Service Date: 2030
User: Air Combat Command

The Air Force envisions Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) as uncrewed, autonomous escorts for crewed airplanes, with an ultimate ratio as high as five CCAs to each fighter or bomber. They will perform missions such as Suppression/Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD); intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR); Electronic Attack/Electronic Warfare (EA/EW), secure communications, and potentially as battle management nodes, and provide “affordable mass” for the combat air forces. Air Combat Command requirements chief Maj. Gen. R. Scott Jobe said in March 2023 that it’s a “misconception” that CCAs will be “attritable,” saying they are meant to be capable platforms that will have years of service, though some will not be “unpacked” until they’re needed for combat. Kendall said in March he has tasked staff to examine how a 1,000-CCA force—with two each to accompany 200 NGADs and 300 F-35s—would be equipped, and how ACC would be organized to operate them. Kendall described the CCAs as analogous to flying, independent versions of the pods fighters carry for sensing and targeting, and wants them at a “fraction” to “half” of the price of the F-35, which costs about $80 million each. Early versions are likely to be used as stealthy threat simulators in live-fly wargames. The service expects that a majority of CCAs will be of modular design, with payloads or even whole sections of the aircraft able to be changed out to fit required missions.

Program: Penetrating Electronic Attack (PEA) aircraft
Target Service Date: 2030-2032
User: Air Combat Command

In the mid-2010s, the Air Force was working on two aircraft meant to carry the air-superiority fight inside contested enemy air defense zones: the Penetrating Combat Aircraft (PCA) and Penetrating Electronic Attack (PEA) aircraft. The PEA was described as a “stand-in jammer,” replacing and expanding on capabilities lost when the Navy/Marine Corps retired the EA-6B Prowler and curtailed their EA-18 Growler program, on which the Air Force relied. Former Air Combat Command chief retired Gen. Herbert J. Carlisle said in 2017 that he though the PEA would beat the PCA into service, as the need for it is greater, given China’s heavy investment in spectrum warfare. He also said the PEA was likely to be “autonomous” or “semi-autonomous.” While the PCA is likely to have evolved into the crewed centerpiece of the NGAD program, the PEA may now be one of the CCA platforms in the NGAD family. ACC Commander Gen. Mark Kelly said in March that electronic warfare is the No. 1 function needed of CCAs.

Program: MR-F or MR-X
Target Service Date: Mid-2030s
User: Air Combat Command

When the Air Force’s F-16s reach the end of their already-extended service lives, circa 2035, the service will need a successor: a relatively low-cost aircraft able to act as a force-builder, as well as an aircraft the U.S. can use to partner with countries lacking the funds or sophistication to operate a high-end combat aircraft fleet. Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has described this aircraft, known in USAF planning documents as “MR-F” or “MR-X,” as a “fifth-gen-minus” aircraft, meaning it has more survivability than a fourth-generation F-16 but somewhat less complexity and cost than a fifth-generation F-35. First revealed in 2021 in tactical aviation planning documents, the MR-F/MR-X is not yet a program of record, and Air Combat Command has not signed out a requirement for it. Air Force Program Executive Officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, Brig. Gen. Dale White, said in August 2022 that “the MR-F piece is going to continue to be looked at, because at some point we’ll have to have a replacement” for the F-16. One potential option for MR-F/MR-X is a weaponized T-7A RedHawk trainer, built by Boeing, which could be fitted with hardpoints and sensors to provide a low-cost, easily maintained light strike and air defense capability.

Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance

Program: E-7 Wedgetail
Target Service Date: 2027
User: Air Combat Command

With USAF’s E-3 AWACS fleet mission capable only half the time—mainly due to obsolescing systems and a nearly-extinct 707 parts pipeline—the service moved in late winter to acquire the E-7A Wedgetail, an AWACS built by Boeing (originally for Australia) that has now been adopted by a number of U.S. allies. The E-7 is already in production, and the investments made in it by allies can be leveraged by the Air Force. After preliminary studies last fall, in March USAF awarded Boeing a $1.2 billion contract to get underway and build two prototypes starting in 2025, which should be available for operational use in 2027. A total of 26 E-7s is planned, with the last one delivered circa 2032. Beyond that, the Air Force expects to conduct the future Air Moving Target Indicator mission with space-based assets. The E-7 will also have a Battle Management, Command and Control mission. It will be inherently interoperable with the air forces of allies who have already bought it, but USAF will be adding its own unique capabilities. The E-3 will be retained and upgraded until the E-7 can take the mission over.

Program: RQ-180
Target Service Date: Imminent or Already Operational
User: Air Combat Command

The Air Force’s gradual phase-out of the RQ-4 Global Hawk and U-2 Dragon Lady with no apparent successor suggests a classified program is well in hand. While satellites have tremendous ISR capability, they lack the flexibility for quick repositioning to observe fast-developing events. The existence of the RQ-180—said to be a high-altitude, stealthy flying wing for penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance work—is something of an open secret, but the Air Force has not officially revealed the aircraft. Budget documents, comments from senior USAF leaders and unexplained classified work with Northrop Grumman points to the RQ-180 as a possible technological pathfinder for the B-21 Raider, both programmatically and as part of “family of systems” that helps the bomber prosecute its targets. Northrop had a seven-year relationship with the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office before the B-21 contract was awarded, and this work likely focused on the RQ-180.

Long-Range Strike

Program: Uncrewed B-21 “Raider” Bomber
Target Service Date: Mid-2020s to 2035
User: Global Strike Command

The B-21 program is expected to produce “usable assets” in the mid-2020s, and become the backbone of USAF’s bomber force in the early 2030s, as the B-1B and B-2 retire. While the Air Force still quotes a figure of “at least 100” B-21s as its buy objective, service leaders have quoted requirements of up to 150 of the aircraft, and outside experts say the service needs more than 200. Extremely stealthy, the B-21 has been designed with an open architecture to allow its many systems to be upgraded continuously in response to an evolving threat. The B-21 contract calls for the bomber to be “optionally manned,” and service leaders have been coy in discussing whether and when that capability will be demonstrated, but there have been no statements suggesting the requirement has been dropped. Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said at the aircraft’s rollout only that the crewed version is “clearly the focus” of the program right now. Not widely discussed by the Air Force, the B-2 will also have advanced sensors and ways to stealthily share the information it collects from deep inside enemy airspace. Its uncrewed capability may have been required in order to keep B-21s in heavily defended airspace for long periods of time for that purpose. Described as a “family of systems,” the B-21 also likely will rely on satellites for real-time targeting information and other “enabling” capabilities the Air Force has not discussed. The first B-21 rolled out in December 2022, and USAF leaders say five more are in work at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., factory. It is expected to make its first flight in the next few months, delayed about a year from initial predictions. The B-21 has been managed by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office. [See “The Case for the B-21 Raider,” on p. 44 for more information]

Program: Long-Range Bomber Collaborative Aircraft
Target Service Date: No Earlier than 2040
User: Global Strike Command

Among Kendall’s “operational imperatives”—seven hardware capabilities demanded by the evolving threat—is “defining the B-21 family of long-range strike systems,” and among those initially described were autonomous aircraft that could fly along with the B-21. These robotic wingmen could potentially provide fighter cover or electronic support for the bomber, or perhaps carry their own nuclear weapons. However, at the 2022 Royal International Air Tattoo in the U.K., Kendall admitted to reporters that such an idea is not proving “cost-effective,” and the idea had been tabled for now. Service officials have since said that the idea is not dead, but will depend on progress in CCAs developed for the NGAD program. If the technology takes off, bomber escorts could return, especially if adversary air defenses demand it. Air Force leaders say they are not contemplating CCA-like aircraft equipped with nuclear weapons, but that may change, as the status of strategic arms agreements with Russia are in flux, and no such agreements are in place with China.

Special Operations and Combat Rescue

Program: Advanced Tactical Transport
Target Service Date: ~2030
User: Special Operations Command

Under many names, and for at least 30 years, the Air Force has explored the idea of a stealthy special operations aircraft that could infiltrate and exfiltrate special operators in well-defended enemy territory, applying short takeoff/vertical landing concepts without the need to use prepared airfields. Early concepts explored rocket-assisted takeoffs and landings in special operations C-130 aircraft for STOVL capability, but the need for a dedicated low-observable craft in this role has only increased. In recent years, the Air Force has focused on improving its C-130-based special operations fleet, but an advanced tactical transport for SOF has recently been mentioned in the same breath with an advanced, small, stealth tanker with possible overlap between the two designs. In the 2000s, Lockheed Martin pushed a concept called VARIOUS, which featured a fan-in-wing concept, and could be scaled from small unmanned aircraft up to medium-size transports. VARIOUS or something like it could at first supplement and later succeed the CV-22 tilt-rotor used for infil/exfil of SOF, being inherently more survivable, and with a reduced crew. The program appears to be an outgrowth of a 2020s program called Project IX, and may be in the prototype stage.

Program: Future Combat Rescue Aircraft / Agility Prime Variant
Target Service Date: 2028 or Later
User: Air Combat Command

The Air Force announced in 2022 that it would stop buying HH-60 Jolly Green II Combat Rescue Helicopters after acquiring the 75th aircraft, well short of the program objective of 113. The service said that in the Pacific theater and elsewhere, downed Airmen are likely to be beyond the practical range of the HH-60 or other protective force elements, and Air Combat Command is studying how it will reimagine and conduct the combat search and rescue mission. While the CV-22 has been suggested as an alternative—given its greater speed and range versus the HH-60—it lacks the stealth and survivability ACC will likely require in the future. For the last few years, USAF has been working on “Agility Prime,” meant to explore “flying car” concepts that could rapidly find a commercial market while potentially fill military needs as well. In a report to Congress last summer, Kendall said Agility Prime could be an “advanced air mobility” craft incorporating electric or hybrid propulsion, and perform “optionally crewed missions with onboard pilot, remote pilot or autonomous control.” ACC is said to be looking at options wherein a small Agility Prime-like craft could retrieve a downed Airmen while placing no other aircrew at risk. Undetermined at this point is how first aid could be rendered without a rescue operator onboard. As a nearer-term measure, the Air Force is evaluating the concept of C-130s equipped with floats for water landings and takeoffs, to reach Airmen at longer ranges in the Pacific.

Does anyone else think 2030 seems a little optimistic for some of these programs? I'm just hoping there is a WHOLE LOT going on in the Black if we're going to meet those timelines.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 11:51 pm

US Air Base in Greenland Gets New, Inuit Name
10 April 2023
By Thomas Novelly

Thule Air Base in Greenland, the Pentagon's northernmost military installation, has been renamed to better reflect the culture of the region, as well as its affiliation with the Space Force.

During an April 6 ceremony in Greenland, officials unveiled a new sign renaming Thule as Pituffik Space Base. Pituffik is the traditional Greenlandic name for the former settlement where the base was built.

"This renaming represents our wish to celebrate and acknowledge the rich cultural heritage of Greenland and its people and how important they are to the sustainment of this installation against the harsh environment north of the Arctic Circle," Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said during the ceremony.

In the early 1900s, explorers named a trading post in the area Thule, a reference to Ultima Thule -- the ancient Roman and Greek term for the northernmost location in existence.

The base's renaming comes after a history of major disturbances connected to the base.

Pituffik is the name of the Greenland settlement, located approximately 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the northwestern coast, where native inhabitants lived. They were forced to relocate to another area when the air base was being built on their ground in 1951.

The base's new name also shows that the Space Force will likely mirror the Air Force tradition of calling overseas locations "air bases" instead of "Air Force bases," as it does domestic installations.

In 1968, a B-52 Stratofortress carrying four thermonuclear bombs crashed, and the detonation of the payload widely contaminated large areas of sea ice.

Of the some 56,000 people who call Greenland home, approximately 88% identify as Greenlandic Inuit or Kalaallit, according to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.

Renaming the base appears to be an effort to restore goodwill with the community.

"May this base renaming serve as an opportunity for us here at Pituffik Space Base to reaffirm our commitment to that friendship and serve as a reminder of our special bond for many years to come," Col. Brian Capps, Pituffik Space Base and 821st Space Base Group commander, said during the ceremony.

In 2020, Thule Air Base, as it was known then, was placed under the command of the newly created Space Force. It supports missile warning and defense, as well as space surveillance missions with the 12th Space Warning Squadron and the 23rd Space Operations Squadron.

Last December, late night talk show host and comedian Stephen Colbert visited the installation for a series called "Red, White & Greenland." He spoke with Space Force leaders, took questions from Guardians and even sang karaoke alongside country artist Sturgill Simpson at a bar near the base.

The pivot to the new Pituffik moniker comes amid a Pentagon-wide effort to rename bases, ships and buildings that honor the Confederacy. The Army has started renaming bases that for decades have honored Confederate rebels. It most recently renamed Virginia's Fort Pickett to Fort Barfoot, and Alabama's Fort Rucker to Fort Novosel.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Wed Apr 12, 2023 11:54 pm

Keeping the F-22 Credible Through 2030 Will Cost At Least $9 Billion, USAF Leaders Say
April 4, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Preserving the F-22 Raptor‘s ability to prevail in air combat through the end of the decade will cost more than $9 billion, and that figure depends on lawmakers allowing the Air Force to divest 32 of the oldest fighters, according to budget documents, service spokespersons and USAF leadership’s Congressional testimony.

But if Congress doesn’t allow the retirements—an action taken in last year’s budget—the Air Force will have to rethink not only its F-22 plans but the Next-Generation Air Dominance program as well, since all the savings the service expects to reap from not operating, maintaining, or upgrading those 32 aircraft went into the NGAD account, senior officials said.

“Our budget assumes the success of that proposal” to retire the oldest F-22s, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter told the House Armed Services Committee’s tactical aviation panel in March 29 testimony.

The Air Force’s proposed fiscal year 2024-2028 spending on the F-22 amounts to $4.2 billion in procurement—with another $1.74 billion “to completion,” circa 2030—and $3.2 billion in research, development, test, and evaluation, for a total of $9.06 billion through the end of the decade. That figure doesn’t include operations and maintenance.

The biggest items are for “sensor enhancement”—requested at $4.13 billion—and reliability and maintainability upgrades, requested at $2.43 billion.

Other major procurement efforts include Link 16 modifications, identification, friend or foe systems, trainer and simulator modifications, anti-jam/anti-spoofing position, navigation, and timing enhancements and modifications to the F-22’s Pratt & Whitney F119 engines.

The Air Force also wants to spend $553 million on stealthy long-range fuel tanks and pylons. Budget documents call for 326 tanks and 286 pylons, which would give each aircraft at least two full sets of each. The F-22 can fly at speeds up to Mach 1.2 with the tanks and pylons, budget documents say.

The tanks and pylons, as well as stealthy-looking pods with an apparent dielectric front-end aperture, have been seen in flight test photos of F-22s captured around Lockheed’s Palmdale, Calif., facilities. They were also shown in an artist’s concept released by Air Combat Command last year, without an explanation of what the underwing stores are.

Aviation experts speculate that the slender pods contain infrared search-and-track systems (IRST) and may have other sensors, as well. A former Lockheed program official has previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that there is insufficient “real estate” within the F-22’s fuselage to host an IRST, an alternative method of detecting an adversary aircraft built with low radar cross section, like China’s J-20 fighter.

USAF spending plans would see F-22 procurement funding ramp up to over $1 billion a year in fiscal 2026 and 2027, dropping off sharply in 2028 to $426.8 billion. RDT&E on the fighter ends in 2028.

Counting previous spending going back to fiscal 2018, the Air Force is projecting the total cost of keeping the F-22 capable against current and future threats at $16.2 billion, according to an Air Force spokesperson. That comes to more than $100 million for each of the 148 or so F-22s the Air Force plans to retain.

The jets the Air Force wants to divest have been used for basic skills training and not been kept to the same configuration as the frontline fleet. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said he estimates it would cost $50 million apiece to upgrade the them to the current operational fleet configuration, and considerably more to keep them consistent with the rest of the fleet on top of the cost of flying and maintaining them.

Though Air Combat Command has considered requesting funding to upgrade the old F-22s every year for at least eight years, the proposal has always lost out to higher priorities, former ACC commanders have said.

The Air Force asked Congress last year to retire the same 32 F-22s but was rebuffed. It’s asking again this year not only because those aircraft are “no longer operationally representative,” but the cost to bring them up to full capability would be “prohibitive,” Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore, deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told the HASC tactical aviation panel. They are also no longer competitive with China’s best stealth fighters, he said.

“Upgrading the Block 20s to a combat configuration is cost-prohibitive and very time intensive,” Moore testified. “Based on the most advanced weapons that an F-22 Block 20 can carry now, it is not competitive with the [Shenyang] J-20, with the most advanced weapons the Chinese can put on it.”

And while the Air Force typically does not specify which cost-saving moves pay for which new programs, “in this case, all of the resources that came from the Block 20 went directly to NGAD, and we believe that we must get to NGAD in order to be able to continue confronting Chinese aggression into the ‘30s,” Moore said. “And so that, to us, was a trade that was worth making.”

Opponents of the F-22 divestment argue the Air Force can continue to use the jets for training, but Moore said the configuration of the cockpit is so different from that of frontline aircraft that “there’s negative learning that occurs.” Pilots have to “unlearn some of the things that they learned in the Block 20 when they go to an operational aircraft.”

Pressed by panel members on what the Air Force will do if not permitted to retire the oldest F-22s, Moore said the answer will depend on the level of funding appropriated for the F-22 program

As for what would happen to the NGAD account—since that is where the F-22 savings are supposed to go—Moore replied, “I couldn’t say. … We’ll have to work with the Congress and determine how we’ll make the F-22 program make it to the end of the year, in the event that divestiture is prohibited but continued operations are not appropriated.”

In any event, an Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine the service “does not plan to modernize these aircraft to a comparable configuration to receive the majority of the planned F-22 upgrades.”

Neither the F-22 nor NGAD accounts include funding for the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), which is to be their primary weapon.

Belushi TD · Post by **Belushi TD** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 11:06 am

Is this the same sort of thing where the air force proposes to retire the A-10 every few years to get more money in the budget?

It seems.... odd to me that they are proposing to retire jets used for (apparently) training purposes because it will cost too much to bring them up to current warfighting standards. Why not just leave them as training aircraft?

Belushi TD

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:49 am

Boeing Eyes Summer Flight Tests for Delayed Training Jet, Citing ‘Progress’ on Ejection-Seat Woes
The company says it’s almost ready to test-fly the Air Force’s T-7A Red Hawk, but lawmakers are impatient.

By Audrey Decker
April 12, 2023

Boeing says it has made progress on fixing an ejection seat problem that has delayed the U.S. Air Force’s new T-7A pilot training jet, and hopes to begin developmental flight testing this summer.

Lawmakers have urged the Air Force to move faster to replace its half-century-old T-38 trainers, which have been involved in several accidents in recent years.

“The T-38 has killed too many people, and whatever we can do to accelerate the production of T-7 to replace the T-38 is absolutely critical to our nation's future, especially the Air Force pilot force,” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said during a House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing in March.

Boeing, which has built five test aircraft and two flying prototypes for its T-7A Red Hawk, anticipates more rigorous flight testing beginning this summer after it receives “military flight release,” which essentially clears the aircraft for flight, a company representative said.

The company “continues to progress” on T-7 escape system testing and has compiled “a lot of data,” the representative said.

Delays in T-7 production have largely stemmed from problems with the aircraft’s emergency escape system. In light of the ejection seat problem, Air Force leaders want to delay the service’s first purchase of operational jets until 2025. The Air Force plans to buy a total of 351 T-7 jets, but did not request money to buy T-7s in the 2024 budget request it sent to Congress last month.

Boeing has reported about $1 billion in losses on the program. The company originally underbid the T-7 competition, and delays and new charges have added additional pressures.

However, the company remains “committed” to the program and sees the “T-7 as a future franchise program with potential opportunities around the globe,” the representative said. “Our priority currently is executing for the U.S. Air Force.”

To mitigate the delay, Boeing will start building operational T-7s on its own dime, Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said during a March 29 House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee hearing. Since the company does not have a formal contract, if any part of the aircraft doesn't meet the service’s requirements, Boeing will have to pay for corrections. The Air Force did not provide an immediate answer on when it will execute the contract with Boeing.

However, Hunter said in March that the Air Force has been working with Defense Contract Management Agency officials at industry plants to observe the production process so that “when we get to the point of accepting aircraft, we will know that it in fact meets our requirements.”

Officials are encouraged by some recent test accomplishments. Hunter said that the Air Force had “a substantial achievement in February of getting through performing a sled test, dealing with some of the issues with the escape system that we were hung up on that will allow us to get to military flight release and begin the developmental tests so we are now moving forward from areas where the program had gotten stalled.”

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., chairman of HASC’s tactical air and land forces subcommittee, said he appreciates Boeing’s desire to get underway with production, but warns there’s potential for the Air Force and the company to end up in a “back and forth.”

“Unless you have a formal written agreement, those things are going to be an allegation about who said what, when, and where,” Wittman told Defense One during a March 31 interview. “I just don't think that's a good place for the Air Force to be and for the United States military to be.”

Wittman pointed to the refueling camera system on Boeing’s KC-46 tanker, which has been plagued with problems, as an example of what happens when questions aren’t answered early on.

“I think it's incumbent upon the Air Force to get a contract going forward on this as quickly as possible. This has already moved two years to the right. I just don't see how we can delay this any more,” he said.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:52 am

B-1 and B-2 Bomber Spending to Dwindle as Focus Shifts to B-21, B-52
April 11, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force budget documents show B-1 and B-2 bomber spending dwindling through the end of the 2020s, as the service puts priority on the new B-21 and the upgraded B-52. Though the B-1 and B-2 potentially have additional years of service, the near-cutoff in spending in the next five years could make it difficult to keep them credible into the 2030s, should Congress direct that they be retained.

Global Strike Command has said in the last few years it intends to devote its finite manpower and fiscal resources to a two-bomber force—the B-21 and B-52—and retire the B-1 and B-2, which have recorded middling mission capability rates in recent years.

From the small B-2 fleet of just 20 aircraft, GSC can muster about 14 for operations at any given time, the remainder either being in test, depot, or down for maintenance. The B-2’s stealth systems, though improved over the last decade, remain challenging and a voracious consumer of maintenance man-hours. The B-21 is expected to offer a sharp improvement in availability—a “daily flyer” as Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said at the aircraft’s December 2022 rollout—and require a smaller manpower footprint.

The B-1 fleet was reduced to 45 aircraft less than two years ago, although the maintenance manpower and funding for the 17 retired airplanes was retained to boost the mission capability of those that remain.

The Air Force is requesting $284.9 million for B-2 procurement over the Future Years Defense Plan, running from fiscal year 2024-28. Funding would start at $107.9 million in FY ’24, drop by almost half to $57.16 million in 2025, fall slightly in each of the next two years, and then plummet to $15.78 million in 2028. The “to completion” line in the B-2 procurement account is zero, meaning no further funding is expected to be requested beyond that point.

Research, development, test, and evaluation for the B-2 shows an even more stark dropoff, starting with $87.6 million in 2024, but again falling by more than half to $33.14 million in 2025, followed by just a few thousand dollars a year until 2028, and nothing after that.

Much of the money requested for the B-2 is to upgrade its avionics, communications systems, cockpit displays, weapons, stealth capabilities, training gear, support equipment, and supportability initiatives.

Aircraft that were modified to test the canceled Defensive Management System will be de-modified to make them consistent with the other aircraft in the fleet.

The Air Force will also “study multiple structural, avionics, and engine modifications, as well as advanced weapons integration and advanced communications, that could improve the performance of the aircraft and engines and reduce maintenance man-hours and the logistics footprint of the fleet,” the service said in its budget justification. The B-2 will also receive a cryptological upgrade.

Supportability funding will go toward identifying and fixing specific issues that “drive” non-mission capable rates, USAF said. This will help improve the availability rates for the in-demand bomber.

Funding also supports stealth improvement, called the Low Observable Signature and Supportability Modifications (LOSSM) program. These include improved a broad range of low-observable materials and structures, as well as “radio frequency (RF) diagnostic tools, evaluation systems, and other key support equipment,” the Air Force said. These investments tend to yield a high rate of return on B-2 operating costs and availability, the service noted.

Other improvements include an upgraded identification, friend or foe (IFF) system, training systems and simulator upgrades, and initiatives to address “Diminishing Manufacturing Sources” issues, where parts are hard to get because they are no longer made, or, in the case of software, where systems are at ”end of life” and no longer supportable. The Air Force wants to move toward “a modular, common open system architecture that is sustainable and cyber-resilient.”

Money that was added by Congress in fiscal year 2023 will be used to explore “commercial technologies to include autonomous robotics perimeter defense system, 5G testing support, and advanced software tools.”

The Air Force’s B-1 procurement funding request is $12.8 million in fiscal 2024, falling to $3.31 million in 2025, $4.74 million in 2027, and to around $1 million a year in 2027-28. Over the same period, more was programmed for RDT&E, with $32.68 million across the entire FYDP, but that total is front-loaded to 2024 and 2025, with only a few thousand dollars a year each in 2027 and 2028.

Budget justifications describe the B-1 as an aircraft “with an expected service life beyond 2037.”

The Air Force is constructing a “digital twin” of the B-1B to explore new sustainment technologies developed using digital methods.

Funding items include urgent radio upgrades to prevent the B-1B from losing “secure line of sight, beyond line of sight, and anti-jam communication with ground and air forces,” due to decommissioning of some forms of satellite support and other time-critical changes. Other improvements are being made to cryptological systems and, generally to address Diminishing Manufacturing Sources. Other improvements will require “significant hardware and software development and testing.”

The B-1 will also be provided with gear to carry new weapon systems—particularly, hardware and software for external carriage of hypersonic weapons, although Air Force budget documents did not specify whether those would be the AGM-183 Air-Launch Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), which the Air Force has since said it will not pursue into production, or the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile being developed by Raytheon and Northrop Grumman.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:55 am

Boneyard-Bound: USAF Retires First of 13 AWACS
April 12, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The aging E-3 AWACS fleet got a little smaller last week, as the first of 13 E-3s tp be retired this year took off from Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., for the last time.

E-3 Tail Number 0560 departed for the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on April 6, a week after the 552nd Air Control Wing hosted a retirement celebration with retired and Active-Duty Airmen getting a chance to sign their names to the airframe, an Air Force tradition.

“It’s sad. It means a new way is coming, but it’s still sad because we have a lot of great memories,” a former Airman told local television station KOLO. “We had a great mission back 20, 25 years ago.”

With the retirement, the Air Force’s AWACS fleet shrunk to 30 aircraft, on its way to under 18. Based on the commercially defunct 707 airframe, E-3s are expensive to maintain, their mission-capable rates plunging below 65 percent in recent years.

Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly called the E-3s “unsustainable without a Herculean effort” last year, praising “miracle worker” maintainers for getting the aircraft to fly at all. Averaging over 40 years old, the AWACS fleet is among the oldest in the Air Force.

The Air Force first announced plans to retire 15 E-3s from Tinker in April 2022, but Congress paused the push with a provision in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act approving retirements only if USAF demonstrated progress acquiring its replacement, the E-7 Wedgetail.

The Air Force had to submit an acquisition strategy for the Wedgetail before it could retire 10 E-3s, and must award a contract for the procurement of E-7s before it can retire three more.

The Air Force formally awarded a contract to Boeing for the E-7 Wedgetail in late February, clearing the way for the AWACS retirements to begin.

“While some may see the divestment as the end of an era, the retirement of this aircraft marks the beginning of modernization for the 552nd,” Col. Keven Coyle, 552nd ACW commander, said in a statement. “Despite a fleet reduction the mission will remain the same, providing worldwide management as well as command and control operations as required.”

In a release, the Air Force said divesting the 13 E-3s will allow it to focus on maintaining the remaining airplanes. And parts harvested from the retired aircraft at the Boneyard will be recirculated, “providing a temporary improvement for aircraft availability.”

The Air Force is hoping to have its first E-7 ready for operational duty by 2027 and is undertaking a rapid prototyping effort to make that happen, hoping to limit any gaps in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance/command and control. All told, the service wants to buy 25 Wedgetails by 2032.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:12 am

MH-139A Grey Wolf Moves Into Production Phase
Guy Norris
March 09, 2023

ATLANTA—Boeing plans to deliver the final pair of developmental MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to the U.S. Air Force in July-August as program partner Leonardo gears up to produce the initial set of 13 production aircraft ordered under a newly awarded $285 million Defense Department contract.

“The Air Force is in deep developmental testing and they plan to go to initial operational test and evaluation testing at the end of the year,” says Azeem Khan, Boeing MH-139A program director. “Right now we’re closing up on remaining certification activities. We’re planning to get those done by the end of the middle to end of the summer time frame,” he adds.

Kahn spoke at this week’s Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo here.

The Air Force selected the MH-139, a derivative of the civil AW139 medium-twin, in 2018 to replace a fleet of aging Bell UH-1N Hueys which provide security for nuclear launch sites and air evacuation for government VIPs in Washington. The operational test phase will evaluate new tactics and procedures developed to optimize MH-139 performance. A provisional MH-139A helicopter squadron, the 550th, will be stood up in Malmstrom AFB, Montana, to focus on preparing flight crews and maintainers.

Leonardo will produce the helicopter at its plant in northeast Philadelphia, while Boeing will be responsible for military equipment procurement and installation and post-delivery support of the aircraft. Four developmental aircraft were delivered in 2022 to the Air Force, which eventually plans to acquire a fleet of 84. The MH-139 has 50% greater speed and range and a 5,000 lb. higher gross weight than the UH-1N it will replace.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:15 am

After Years of Trying, Air Force Retires First A-10 to the Boneyard
April 14, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

It’s finally happening—the Air Force has begun to retire its A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. An A-10 from the 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., arrived at the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. on April 5, the service said. The aircraft is the first of 21 A-10s that will be leaving service by the end of September.

“Air Combat Command is prioritizing the A-10s with the least combat effectiveness for retirement first to ensure the most combat capable airframes remain in service,” the Air Force said in a news release. The remaining 20 aircraft “will retire from various bases” by the end of the fiscal year.

The Air Force has sought to retire some of the close air support aircraft for years but was blocked by Congress. The service finally got its way in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and was OK’d to divest 21 A-10s this year. The service is seeking to retire another 42 A-10s as part of its fiscal 2024 budget. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has said the service wants to rid itself of the A-10 entirely by the end of the decade.

While the aircraft that arrived at the Boneyard left the 74th Fighter Squadron after 43 years of service in the Air Force, the Active-Duty unit is not winding down its A-10 operations. Instead, the retired A-10 Boneyard is being replaced by an Indiana Air National Guard A-10. The Indiana ANG A-10 unit, the 122nd Fighter Wing, also known as the Blacksnakes, is transitioning to F-16s. The unit’s nickname has led their A-10s to sport unique nose art, even by A-10 standards.

Aircraft at the Boneyard are preserved in the dry desert of Arizona and often cannibalized for parts. The A-10 that landed Davis-Monthan on April 5, tail number 80-149, is now in the hands of 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Squadron, which will “get to work preserving as much of it as possible while removing parts that can be used for replacements in other A-10s,” the Air Force said.

The Air Force’s planned divesture of 21 A-10s in the fiscal year 2023 will leave the service with around 260 aircraft by September. Brown said the service is ditching its 4+1 fighter model—with the A-10 as the outlier—and plans to sunset all A-10s by 2029.

“We’re retiring A-10s faster than we originally thought”, Brown said at the annual McAleese defense conference March 15. “I think that’s probably the right answer.”

But concerns over capacity persist, leading to high-profile A-10 deployments. While the Air Force argues that the four-decade-old A-10s—which have been upgraded over the years—are not survivable against an advanced adversary, U.S. Central Command is using them to fill out its fighter squadron requirements in the Middle East.

A planned deployment of A-10s to CENTCOM was accelerated in the wake of attacks from Iranian-backed militias on U.S. bases in Syria. The command produced a slick video noting their arrival at the end of March and has continued to publicize recent A-10 operations in the region.

“The A-10s remain the most effective close air support platform in the world today even after 45 years,” Capt. Kevin Domingue, the pilot from the 74th Fighter Squadron who flew the now-retired A-10 to the Boneyard, said in the news release. “As long as the Air Force allows the aircraft to fly and be properly maintained, this community is ready to provide that expertise anywhere in the world against any adversary.”

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