Civilian Cyber Vulnerabilities Threaten Pacific Deployment Plans: Report

March 31, 2025 | By Shaun Waterman

The U.S. military’s ability to deploy troops across the vast Indo-Pacific theater relies on critical civilian infrastructure like airlines, railways, and ports that is vulnerable to disruption by enemy cyber attacks, a new report warns.

In a war with China, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could seek to cripple America’s ability to fight with cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure it relies on to move forces across the continental United States (CONUS) and out into theater, said the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0, a non-profit successor to the original CSC, created by Congress to study how to defend the U.S. against large-scale cyber attacks.

Despite the threat, the Pentagon’s efforts to secure that infrastructure are inadequate and siloed off from the broader efforts of the federal government to protect the nation from cyberattack, the commission declared.

“We use the commercial rail, ports, and aviation system to move our troops, equipment, and supplies forward,” retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, the director of CSC 2.0, told reporters on a conference call last week.

Specific deployments like a Special Forces team going to Yemen might rely exclusively on military transportation like aircraft or naval vessels, Montgomery explained. But in any major mobilization, even troops being taken to the battlefield by military transportation would likely have to rely on civilian infrastructure to get to their port of departure.

“For broadly moving our forces, for generating the forces that we need to fight a major war, we’re going to use our commercial rail, port, and aviation systems 95 to 98 percent,” said Montgomery, a former staffer for Sen. John McCain and executive director of the original CSC.

In a potential major conflict with China, the U.S. would have to move tens of thousands of troops—if not more—in short order. The sheer scale would require the military to rely on civilian transportation.

“U.S. adversaries know that compromising this critical infrastructure through cyber and physical attacks would impede America’s ability to deploy, supply, and sustain large forces,” the commission stated in its report.

What’s more, China appears to be acting on that knowledge. Public reporting from the U.S. intelligence community indicates that a Chinese cyber actor called Volt Typhoon has prepositioned itself within the networks of civilian critical infrastructure providers.

“That’s not espionage,” said Montgomery, “That is operational preparation of the battlefield by the adversary. That is China saying, ‘Not only do you, Mark, now know that your warfighting is enabled by your [civilian] transportation systems, but we, the Chinese, know it too and we’ve done something about it.’”

According to the U.S. intelligence community’s annual threat assessment, in the event of an imminent conflict with the U.S., China would “consider aggressive cyber operations against U.S. critical infrastructure and military assets to impede U.S. decision-making, induce societal panic, and interfere with the deployment of U.S. forces.”

DOD is taking steps to defend against the threat. For years now, Pentagon leaders have considered what it could mean if an adversary hacked into a U.S. base’s energy grid, for example, crippling the military’s ability to do its mission.

And within the fence line, Montgomery said, they are succeeding—he described U.S. military bases as “the Noah’s ark of infrastructure: There’s two of everything.”

But its efforts to work with civilian critical infrastructure owners and operators have not been coordinated with the broader efforts of the federal government to protect critical infrastructure against foreign cyber attacks.

During a conflict with an high-end adversary, it’s “likely to attack U.S. critical infrastructure in an attempt to constrain Washington’s policy options, including its capacity to mobilize the armed forces. Inhibiting the U.S. military’s ability to move troops and materiel from ‘fort to port’ takes a significant capability off America’s chessboard. Ensuring the resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure must be a top priority for the nation as a whole and for DOD in particular,” concludes the report.

Aerial Porters Test New Gear to Load Faster, Reduce Injuries

March 31, 2025 | By David Roza

Aerial porters at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., are trying a new technology meant to reduce strain and injury risk for “port dawgs,” the Airmen who balance math, physics, technique, and elbow grease to move heavy cargo and passengers on and off aircraft, often under difficult conditions and tight deadlines.

The 60th Aerial Port Squadron bought a collapsable conveyor belt that can unfold in the cargo hold of an aircraft. Airmen use a belt loader similar to those used by commercial airport ramp agents to get cargo into a narrow-body aircraft, and then the collapsable belt helps them move it to the proper spot in the hold.

The belt is called TISABAS, short for Tim Saves Backs.

“It operates like an accordion, folding out as you need it and folding back up when you’re done,” Tim Fulton, CEO and founder of Ramper Innovations, which produces TISABAS, said in a Travis Air Force Base press release.

“It keeps everything flowing with less effort,” he added.

TISABAS is the latest technology meant to take some of the load off aerial porters’ shoulders, backs, hips, and knees. In 2021 and 2022, some Airmen tested out a pneumatically-powered exoskeleton to boost leg strength and reduce fatigue. Two port dawgs moved a pallet weighing about 3,500 pounds, which usually takes four or five people to move.

“I can definitely tell a difference; there’s a lot less pressure on my knees and I can feel the assist this system gives,” one of the porters, Chief Master Sgt. Sean Storms, said in a press release at the time.

The idea is that technology can help porters move more cargo faster, get hurt less, and therefore have longer careers and less pain in retirement. The same goes for TISABAS.

“When I started this project, my goal was simple,” Fulton said. “I wanted to create something that would save people’s backs and make their jobs safer and more efficient.”

Airman 1st Class Alejandro Fontanez, 60th Aerial Port Squadron fleet service agent, transfers baggage from an aircraft belt loader to a Ramper Innovations TISABAS conveyor system inside of a Boeing 757-200 jetliner at Travis Air Force Base, California, March 15, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Brian Collett)

Ramper Innovations sells TISABAS as a stronger, more reliable belly-loading machine for cramped narrow-body aircraft cargo holds than what current equipment provides.

Air Force aerial porters often work in large C-17 and C-130 transports with ramps that load into more spacious cargo holds. But a Travis Airman said TISABAS would come in handy.

“Before this system, loading bags meant Airmen were constantly bending down in tight spaces and manually hauling up to 70-pound bags back and forth across the aircraft,” Staff Sgt. Robert J. Thompson, 60th APS fleet operations supervisor, said in the release.

“In the summer months, that confined space gets extremely hot, and we have to rotate Airmen out frequently to avoid heat exhaustion. With TISABAS, we’re skipping those steps, moving bags faster and safer,” he added. “I estimate it triples our loading speed, which tightens our aircraft downtime windows and keeps missions moving.”

As Maryland ANG A-10 Departs for Boneyard, Its Future Flying Mission Is in Doubt

March 30, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The first A-10 “Warthog” departed Warfield Air National Guard Base, Md., last week, the first step in a process that could leave Maryland Air Guard the only one among the 50 states without a flying mission. Negotiations to acquire a follow-on flying mission have stalled.

“Our Airmen—and the state of Maryland— should not be left as the only state without a flying mission,” said Brig. Gen. Drew E. Dougherty, state assistant adjutant general for Air in a release. “It’s more than tradition. It’s a critical component of our national security.”

An F-16 Air National Guard squadron will continue to operate out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, but that unit is actually assigned to the District of Columbia, and is not part of the Maryland Air Guard.

The first of the 21 A-10s from the ANG’s 175th Wing flew off to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on March 26. When the last of the A-10s go, the wing will retain only the 175th Cyberspace Operations Group, pending an environmental analysis this fall. The final decision about the base’s future will be made by the next Secretary of the Air Force.

An A-10 from the 104th Fighter Squadron, departs Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport, Md., on March 26. His A-10C Thunderbolt II, aircraft 705, the first 175th Wing Warthog retired to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Airman 1st Class Sarah Hoover)

Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall approved the transfer of the 121st Fighter Squadron and its Fighting Falcons from the D.C. Air National Guard to Maryland in a bid to preserve the flying mission for the state. The effort, supported by Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and then-Sen. Ben Cardin, was apparently part of a poltitical deal in which the D.C. city government would secure rights to build a new stadium and return the NFL’s Washington Commanders to Washington, D.C., where they played before moving to suburban Maryland.

That decision was never finalized and further comment will be left to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, according to an Air Force spokesperson. Calls to OSD were referred to the White House’s National Security Council. The NSC did not immediately respond to inquiries.

Former President Joe Biden signed the RFK Stadium Revitalization Act, giving Washington, D.C., more control over the site of the former Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, which was recently razed. But Maryland’s apparent payback—the fighter squadron transfer, may not come to be. Asked about the transfer, Moore’s office said March 28 that the governor is “actively working with our Congressional Delegation and the new Administration in Washington to have a long-term flying mission for the Maryland Air National Guard.”

Van Hollen’s office could not immediately provide a comment.

A source familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine that, as of now, there are no plans for the Maryland ANG regarding the squadron transfer.

Maryland Air National Guard Lt. Col. Steven Montalvo, 175th Wing inspector general and an A-10 pilot with the 104th Fighter Squadron, signals farewell before flying his A-10C Thunderbolt II from Warfield Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport, Md., to its resting place in the desert at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Ariz. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Airman 1st Class Sarah Hoover)

Maryland Army National Guard Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, adjutant general of Maryland, said the state is “fully committed to fighting for a future flying mission in Maryland.”

“Our Airmen deserve the opportunity to continue demonstrating their world-class skill in the air, as well as in cyberspace,” Birckhead added.

The Air Force is phasing out the beloved A-10 “tank-killer” jets, with plans to retire some 56 Warthogs in fiscal 2025. The service must find new missions for A-10 bases; some, like Moody Air Force Base, Ga., will get getting new F-35s. Others, like the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing and the Indiana ANG’s 122nd Fighter Wing are getting F-16s. Like Maryland’s 175th, the Ohio ANG’s 179th Airlift Wing is converting to a new mission; it transitioned to become the 179th Cyberspace Wing in 2023.

Maintaining a flying mission is important to elected officials, because aircraft are physical reflections of American power and because having them attracts federal and state investment, bringing jobs and emergency response capabilities to the area. A Purdue University study found that the 122nd Fighter Wing in Indiana contributes $113 million annually to the state’s economy, supporting 1,100 jobs.

The 104th Fighter Squadron has flown the A-10 for over four decades and its Airmen completed nine combat deployments in the past 20 years to Iraq and Afghanistan, striking Taliban and al-Qaida forces. It was the first unit to fly the A-10C variant into combat.

“The 175th Wing has proven time and again that we are capable of adapting, leading, and excelling in every mission we’re given,” Dougherty said.

Experts: US Military Needs ‘Software Literate’ Workforce, Not Just Coders

March 28, 2025 | By Shaun Waterman

To make the best use of the technological advantage offered by America’s economy, the U.S. military doesn’t need squadrons of coders writing programs—it needs a “software literate” workforce that knows the right questions to ask of technology contractors, according to a new report from a blue ribbon commission of current and former government officials and technology executives.

The final report of the Commission on Software-Defined Warfare also recommends that the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) establish an “enterprise data repository” to collate all the data collected by the different military services and agencies and assemble it into sets “readily usable for analysis and refinement for AI training, functional, and operational pipelines.”

Reform of the DOD’s test and evaluation procedures was also among the report’s nine recommendations, commission members said during a launch event March 27.

There was a palpable sense of excitement among commission members at the window of opportunity offered by the new administration, along with an urgency to meet the threat of a rising China.

“Defense tech is the new crypto,” said commission member Tyler Sweatt, CEO of defense tech start-up Second Front. “Everyone wants to get in.”

Although the U.S. remains the most innovative economy of the world, its adversaries may soon outpace America in terms of how quickly they adopt advanced technology, warned commission co-chair and former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. “If we don’t quickly pivot to a new way of acquiring commercial software much more quickly than we do today, we will lose our preeminence,” he said.

As an example, he cited “In Ukraine, the Ukrainians see something happen on the battlefield with the drones they’re making, and they reprogram them. They rewrite the software overnight to adapt to the threat, to defeat it.”

America’s adversaries were watching and learning, he said. “So that is the speed at which we need to be operating.”

Workforce issues will be a key determinant of success in that competition with China, said Tate Nurkin, an Atlantic Council senior fellow and report co-author.

“We need people who are trilingual,” he told Air & Space Forces Magazine after the event. “They need to speak software” to understand the language of coders; but they also have to understand the needs of warfighters in the field and the rules that govern DOD acquisition. “There’s not a huge supply of people with all of those skills,” Nurkin said, and the need was “very urgent.” People with one of them could be quickly trained in the basics of the other two, he said.

Software literate didn’t mean able to code, said Sweatt. “It means knowing the right questions to ask, understanding what the limitations [of a software package] are, the inputs, outputs and dependencies, without needing necessarily to be able to understand the bits and bytes, the 1s and 0s.”

The new administration understands the urgency, commission members said. Several cited a March 6 memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, titled “Directing Modern Software Acquisition to Maximize Lethality.”

It directs “all DOD Components to adopt the Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP),” a new way for planning and executing the department’s software purchases that avoids the clunky and often yearslong traditional process of identifying requirements. It also orders senior military leaders to use new acquisition powers granted by Congress, such as Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) “as the default solicitation and award approaches for acquiring capabilities under the SWP.”

The memo is a “really positive step in the right direction,” director of the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program Clementine Starling-Daniels told Air & Space Forces Magazine after the launch event.

“The secretary is incredibly serious about bringing cultural change to the department, to change the mindset,” she said. If he succeeds, it will be a “game-changer,” she added.

Report co-author Pete Modigliani was a little more cautious, noting that the software acquisition pathway has been around for several years now. “We have about 2,000 acquisition programs, about 85 of them are in the software pathway. … There’s a lot of work still to do to change the culture, the processes,” he said.

As an example, he pointed out that Chapter 10, Section 3453 of the U.S. code, “is the statute that says you have to have a preference for [buying] commercial products and services. The department violates that law daily. ‘We’re special, we’re different. We’ve got to buy customized. We’ve got to spend years developing some one-off solution.’”

Commission member Whitney McNamara warned against unrealistic expectations: “We’re not the first software commission. We’re probably not the fifth software commission,” she said, adding that the commission was “standing on the shoulders of giants,” and leveraging prior studies and recommendations.

She said, in selecting their recommendations, the commission members “thought a lot about what’s actionable, what’s realistic, but also what’s going to move the needle.”

For instance, their call for reform of operational test and evaluation procedures would break through a big logjam which held up software deployment. “There’s a bias to live testing,” she said, which didn’t work for software.

“Renting a field and going out to determine if a drone is behaving as you expect—if it doesn’t, the field doesn’t tell you why, and so it isn’t a productive way to rapidly test and validate capabilities.”

The report “re-emphasizes the need to reinvest in a digital infrastructure that allows us to quickly verify and validate some of these software based capabilities,” she said.

In general, she said, the commission steered away from “thinking that we could throw money at some of these problems,” and had “a sort of unwritten rule … no new organizations. We don’t necessarily believe a new box on the org chart is going to move the needle.”

Space Force Adds 2 New Launch Providers

March 28, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force is adding two new competitors to its National Security Space Launch program, even though neither has so far launched their listed rocket into space.

Rocket Lab and Stoke Space were accepted into “Phase 3 Lane 1” of the launch program, a new option created for commercial-like, lower-risk missions. Rocket Lab is planning the first launch of its new Neutron rocket from Wallops Island, Va., in the second half of this year; Stoke Space is projecting first launch for its Nova rocket sometime before 2026.

“With today’s award, the Space Force expanded our portfolio of launch systems able to deliver critical space capability,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, USSF program executive officer for Assured Access to Space, in a statement. “These new partners bring innovative approaches and increased competition to our mission area. Our Lane 1 goal is to bring in new partners to increase capacity, resiliency, and speed.”

The new entries must complete at least one successful launch before they can receive task orders for NSSL launches, but their inclusion marks a major milestone, said Todd Harrison, a budget and space analyst for the American Enterprise Institute.

“The Space Force is doing the right thing and trying to keep their options open, but it’s ultimately going to be up to the companies to compete,” Harrison told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “It’s essentially the Space Force giving these companies the opportunity to bring their A-game.”

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, dominated the launch business in the mid 2000s, until the rise of SpaceX broke that near monopoly. Now, however, SpaceX accounts for most orbital launches, including more in 2024 than the rest of the world combined. That’s given it a near stranglehold on the U.S. market.

Space Force acquisition officials are set on developing a more robust set of options, and want to ensure they aren’t reliant on a single company to get into orbit. That, plus SpaceX’s success, has helped spur a host of startups to try to break into the launch segment in today’s booming space economy.

Whether any can catch up to SpaceX remains to be seen, Harrison said. For now, they represent “the potential for competition, but not yet real competition, if we’re honest,” Harrison said. “SpaceX has such a huge lead in just the volume of launch. That inherently puts them further down the learning curve, gives them a really big price advantage.”

Space Systems Command is trying to foster space startups with its Orbital Services Program-4 for fast-turnaround launches and small payloads, and the “two-lane” concept for NSSL, with a primary lane for its most critical, risk-averse missions and a secondary lane where more risk can be tolerated.

SpaceX, ULA, and newcomer Blue Origin won entry for the initial Lane 1 award in 2024. Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has since successfully launched its New Glenn vehicle. Of the two new players in Lane 1, Rocket Lab is the more established. Founded in 2006, it has completed about 60 launches with its small-lift Electron rocket, including some for the Space Force. Its medium-lift Neutron rocket is still under development.

Stoke Space, meanwhile, is just five years old and has never put a rocket into space. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, however, to develop a new fully reusable, medium-lift rocket called Nova, which has cleared several test milestones en route to a future launch.

To be eligible for the Space Force NSSL program, offering companies must demonstrate a “credible plan to achieve first launch capability” by Dec. 15, 2025. Harrison had called for continuous assessments instead of yearly on-ramps, but he said that if the Space Force is committed to that approach, it’s the right choice to accept companies that are progressing toward launch even if they haven’t demonstrated a launch yet.

“There’s no real risk to the government, because if these companies fall behind, if they have a launch failure, they’re not qualified to bid on anything yet,” Harrison said. “The government isn’t giving them a lot of money or anything. They’re just letting them put their foot in the door, is all.”

Lt. Col. Douglas Downs, SSC’s materiel leader for Space Launch Procurement, said in a statement that the command will compete more launch orders in fiscal 2026, which could be Rocket Lab and Stoke Space’s first chance to snag their piece of the $5.6 billion available as part of NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1.

Another “on-ramp” for still more providers is also coming in fiscal 2026, Downs said.

While Harrison said he hopes more companies are added in fiscal 2026, he also said he does not believe the Space Force should favor startups over better performance from SpaceX just to encourage diversity in its supply base.

“When you start trying to spread around the money in order to support less performing sectors of the industrial base, that is the definition of not being competitive,” Harrison warned. “You are skewing the market.”

It was a busy week for SSC—on March 26, the command announced it had certified ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket to fulfill its assigned NSSL missions under Phase 2 of the program. The launch vehicle’s certification means ULA is likely to be included in Phase 3 Lane 2, which comprises the most critical national security launch missions.

SECAF Nominee Meink Pledges Support for Sentinel ICBM

March 27, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Troy Meink, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Air Force Secretary, endorsed nuclear modernization at his confirmation hearing March 27.

“Upon confirmation, I intend to conduct a comprehensive review of the Department of the Air Force’s existing nuclear weapon systems and modernization initiatives to identify the best ways to maintain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent, which is essential for our national security,” Meink said in written testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Meink committed to producing the Air Force’s new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, which is over budget and behind schedule. Sentinel’s cost and schedule lapses exceeded statutory limits, triggering a so-called Nunn-McCurdy breach and mandatory review. While the Pentagon declared the program critical to national security in July 2024, allowing it to continue, costs continue to climb and now are estimated at nearly $141 billion. Air Force officials are working to restructure the program, having instituted a pause on design and construction of launch facilities pending further study.

Sentinel’s schedule is now approaching the September 2030 “no-fail” date set by U.S. Strategic Command as its estimated target to transition from Minuteman III ICBM to Sentinel.

“The ground leg of the nuclear triad—Minuteman III and, over time, Sentinel—are foundational to strategic deterrence and defense of the homeland,” Meink’s written testimony states.

An artist’s concept of the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM. Northrop Grumman courtesy image.

Asked by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) if he would commit to “utilizing all available tools to accelerate Sentinel,” Meink said he would—but after “diving into the results of the Nunn-McCurdy [breach].”

Meink’s written testimony said he wants to find “ways in which the program may be able to regain schedule and reduce cost. Ultimately, the success of this program will be a coordinated effort among the whole of government, … industry, and our civil communities, all working together to complete the most massive national-defense modernization effort in this century.”

Air Force officials have said many of Sentinel’s problems stem not from the missile itself but from the extensive civil engineering and military construction costs involved with updating infrastructure built decades ago. Meink said his review would focus on making sure programs have enough funding, not cutting anything back.

“One of the first things I plan to do is take a holistic look at all the modernization and all the readiness bills that we have coming, and then I will put together and advocate for what resources I think are necessary to execute all of those missions, … working both within the administration and with Congress,” Meink said.

Meink shared the witness stand and confirmation hearing with Michael P. Duffey, nominated to be undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment, who also endorsed complete nuclear modernization.

“Nuclear modernization is the backbone of our of our strategic deterrent, and ensuring that we have a modern, capable nuclear enterprise that not only includes the B 21 which is a successful acquisition program by all accounts, but the Columbia class submarine and the Sentinel nuclear ICBM, are critical,” Duffey told Fischer.

New SECAF Nominee Endorses ‘Space Control’ and Counter-Space Weapons

March 27, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Troy Meink, nominee to be Secretary of the Air Force, appeared closely aligned to the Space Force’s vision of “space control” and the need for counter-space weapons to ensure U.S. space superiority in future conflicts.

In written and verbal testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 27, Meink echoed the language of Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, who has increasingly emphasized the need for space control in recent weeks.

Asked by Sen. Deb Fischer what systems he thinks the Space Force needs most, Meink answered: “Some of the space control and counter-space systems are critical.” Though he declined to go into detail because much of space work is classified, he added, “That is probably the area we are being most stressed in from a threat perspective.”

Likewise, in written testimony he also aligned with Saltzman, saying: “USSF investment priorities focus on achieving space superiority through space control.”

Meink is uniquely equipped to understand the issues facing the Space Force, having spent much of his career in the space acquisition world, most recently as principal deputy director at the National Reconnaissance Office. That means he has perhaps the deepest space background of any prior Air Force Secretary nominee.

In written testimony, he said “the Space Force must prioritize space domain awareness, resilience, and capabilities that ‘hold at risk’ adversary spaces assets to protect the Joint Force.” He also argued the Space Force “must reinforce the warrior ethos within our Guardians, providing them with the equipment, the tactics, and the training required to use military force to control the space domain.”

Saltzman uses similar language. In a March 26 visit with AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Saltzman said space control is now “a critical function” for the U.S.

“It used to be OK to take advantage of the benign domain and do ISR and PNT and focus on doing those missions very well, delivering those services to the warfighters,” he said. “It’s just no longer sufficient. Now we have to be able to control the domain.”

Earlier in March, Saltzman opened the 2025 AFA Warfare Symposium pledging that the Space Force “will do whatever it takes” to control the space domain, including destroying adversaries’ satellites when and if necessary.

He later said the Space Force needs offensive weapons to be able to disrupt China’s ability to use space to target U.S. troops and to ensure U.S. access to the domain in order to support the joint force on the ground, at sea, and in the air. Operating “under stressing conditions of crisis and conflict requires a purpose-built organization, tailor-made with the institutions, the equipment, the tactics, the training, the warrior ethos required to use military force to control the space domain,” he said. “In other words, it requires a Space Force.”

The Space Force is military in nature, Saltzman said. “The mix of weapons based on the targets is always a military consideration, and when I look at the space-enabled targeting architecture that [China] has built, it’s pretty impressive,” he said. “It’s in all orbital regimes. It’s in the hundreds of satellites. And to give the president options requires a mix of systems to be able to go across the full spectrum of operations to all orbital regimes. There are some things that are purpose-built for low-Earth orbit effects, others in GEO. And so the more weapons in the mix we have, the more options we can offer.”

Meink echoed those ideas in his testimony, writing that the Space Force “needs to continue developing offensive and defensive space control capabilities to successfully prosecute a war in space and to conduct operations at a time and place of our choosing.”

Talented people is what makes that possible, Meink said. “I think the key to both acquisition and operations is making sure you have the best talented workforce,” he said during the hearing. “These are some of the most complicated systems, and if the U.S. is going to maintain our advantage, which we need to do in space, we need to make sure we have the right workforce.”

Saltzman has argued increasingly strongly that the Space Force is too small, and that it needs both more funding and more people.

Meink agreed. “The Space Force is in the process of growing. I will support that activity, to make sure we have the right numbers and the right skill set, and then make sure that the acquisitions themselves are delivering and that they’re getting into operations.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) questioned Meink about uncertainty surrounding the Space Development Agency since its leader, Derek Tournear was suspended in January. Cramer suggested the agency might be considering canceling plans for more low-Earth orbit satellites in favor of leveraging commercial products from SpaceX—which the senator said would harm industry competition.

“One of the things that I have pushed for, particularly over the last 10 years, is expanded competition and expand the industry base,” Meink replied. “That ends up almost always with the best result, both from a capability and cost to the government. I’m not familiar with those discussions going on within the Pentagon. If confirmed, I look forward to diving into that and assessing where they’re going.”

Air Force Child Care Staff Shortage Getting Worse at Some Bases

March 27, 2025 | By David Roza

Two Air Force Child Development Centers began to turn away some families this month, a move that one military child care expert fears could be a sign of things to come for CDCs across the country.

“What we’re seeing is kind of a perfect storm right now of things not coming together,” Kayla Corbitt, a leading advocate for military child care programs, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

On March 12, Hill Air Force Base in Utah notified 31 families that their children would be disenrolled from the CDCs there starting March 21 and that Hill’s CDC East facility will close. Base officials tied the news in part to a military civilian hiring freeze that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed to take effect on March 2.

“CDCs traditionally face high turnover, and several recent departures in conjunction with the hiring freeze have reduced the number of supervisors and trainers available,” base officials said in a statement. “Maintaining two open CDCs at current personnel levels would pose an unacceptable risk to the 200 children who remain in care at Hill AFB.”

A follow-up memo from the Pentagon on March 18 exempted schools and child care centers from the freeze, but Hill officials said it will take a while to close its staff shortage.

“The Air Force now has an exemption to hire new CDC staff members. However, the hiring, on-boarding, and training process will take time, and there is no set date for when the CDC East will reopen,” the officials said.

Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., faces a similar issue. On March 24, the CDC there sent a memo asking for eight families to volunteer to enroll their infant children at a civilian partner daycare, since the infant classroom at the Peterson Main CDC had to close due to a staff shortage.

The memo was shared on the popular unofficial Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco, and a Space Base Delta 1 spokesperson confirmed its authenticity. The families who volunteer to leave will pay the same rates as the on-base CDC.

“The DOD hiring freeze has slowed caregiver backfill efforts for our Child Development Centers,” the spokesperson said. “The 21st Force Support Squadron will reopen the Peterson SFB infant classroom when staffing levels increase.”

In both cases, the 16-day hiring freeze is just one piece of the puzzle, Corbitt said. The inability to hire staff, however brief, exacerbated a pre-existing staff shortage that CDCs have struggled with for years.

Last May, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), then the chair of the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee, blamed a 12,000-children waitlist at worldwide CDCs in part on a 3,900-caregiver shortage.

“That’s more than 12,000 parents struggling to find out how to meet their military obligations when they have small children at home that need care,” she said at a hearing.

Lt. Gen. Caroline Miller, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, said the Air Force has a 20 percent deficit of child care providers, which affects Airmen’s ability to do their jobs.

“The first thing you do when you get a [permanent change of station] assignment is you look at, if you have children, where are my children going to go? What is the access to child care? How do I get on the list as soon as possible,” she said at the hearing. “I mean, it is mission readiness.”

An Airman and their child attend the ARC Athena event at the Tech. Sgt. Vernon McGarity U.S. Army Reserve Center in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, April 13, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. James Fritz

But solving that staff shortage has proven difficult; military parents work odd hours to meet training requirements, pay is not competitive enough to entice caregivers, and the onboarding process for new child care employees can take months.

Once they’re on staff, caregivers may not stay for long: both Hill and Peterson acknowledged high turnover among CDC staff. Part of that is because many CDC staff are military spouses who have their own children to take care of and who have to move every few years.

“When we talk to spouses or others who have worked at CDCs, they say that it is just too much work, and they’re burning out,” Corbitt said.

Indeed, most CDC, school, and other military youth program directors told the RAND Corporation in a March 20 report that minimal staff support was driving burnout.

The staff shortage may be particularly acute at Peterson and Hill. Thousands of troops and civilians drive high demand at Peterson, which hosts North American Aerospace Command, U.S. Northern Command, Space Base Delta 1, Space Operations Command, and other crucial units.

Hill also hosts a large population as the second-largest Air Force base by population and geographical size, but an abuse scandal at the Hill CDC that first emerged in 2023 has had a chilling effect on hiring, Corbitt said.

CDC hiring freezes are not new, and they often crop up during government shutdowns. But Corbitt pointed to two factors that make hiring CDC staff more difficult this time around. The first is that PCS season, which generally stretches from May to August, is around the corner, which makes it more difficult for spouses to commit to a CDC job.

The second factor is a general lack of confidence in the stability of federal government jobs. The two months since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January saw thousands of federal employees fired, and while a federal judge ordered 17,000 reinstated, other departments plan to lay off thousands more.

“Nobody really knows what direction we’re going when every day you wake up and there’s a headline about 2,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 people being laid off,” Corbitt said.

Corbitt believes other military CDCs will have to let families go too, since many CDCs have barely enough staff to keep the doors open.

The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act passed in December promised full funding for child care assistance for off-base child care; 180 days of child care for spouses seeking employment (up from 90 days); better pay and benefits for caregivers; and other improvements.

Each of those efforts takes money, though, and a 2025 defense appropriations bill never passed. Corbitt says that hurts lower-income military families first, because they are less likely to be able to afford the off-base child care that they could have utilized through the fee assistance program, for example. They have even fewer options when the CDCs themselves can barely stay open. Meanwhile, higher-income families have less incentive to keep using CDCs if they are so short-staffed.

The CDCs themselves are funded in part by parent fees, which vary based on household income and installation needs. Fewer parents mean less funding, which accelerates a downward spiral, Corbitt explained.

Meink: Air Force ‘Probably’ Too Small, F-15Es Still Have Value

March 27, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force needs more fighters and bombers across the entire fleet, Air Force Secretary-nominee Troy Meink told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing March 27.

Advanced aircraft are needed to operate in the most contested airspace, he said, but existing F-15E Strike Eagle and other fourth-generation fighters still have value for operations in less-dense threat areas.

Asked by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) about the recent selection of Boeing to build the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter and the importance of air superiority in general, Meink was supportive of the new jet.

“I think it’s very, very important,” he said. “The sixth-generation capability that NGAD will bring—as well as the B-21 and other systems, the long-range munitions that that we’re developing—all those are going to be extremely important, and probably more so almost than probably since World War II.”

Schmitt’s state is home to Boeing’s military headquarters, where the F-47 will be built.

Meink, currently the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, got into a detailed discussion on fighters with Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who represents Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., where F-15Es are stationed. He asked Meink if the F-15E will still have value in the years to come.

“Is it going to be able to operate in the highest environments? No. Does it have value? Yes,” Meink replied. “I think the question going forward will be, how long do we continue, and how do we best utilize the value from fourth-generation fighters?”

The F-15E “definitely has value today; not in all environments, but it definitely has value today,” Meink said. But Meink confessed to be “a little bit conflicted,” recalling that when he was an Air Force navigator on a KC-135 during the 1991 Gulf War, an F-15 “came to my rescue … and ran off a couple of Iraqi fighters.”

Dr. Troy E. Meink testifies during a Senate hearing for his nomination to be secretary of the Air Force in Washington, D.C., March 27, 2025. DOD photo by EJ Hersom

Asked by Budd if Meink thought the Air Force fleet is too small—a point Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin has made in arguing for “more Air Force”—recently, Meink hedged.

First, the nominee focused on the age of the fleet, noting his own history with Eisenhower-era KC-135. These aircraft are “still very capable,” he said, though he conceded, “They are definitely getting old.”

Meink did not commit to fleet size or numbers, however. Instead, Meink said he needed to see “the detailed analysis that went into the projections on NGAD [the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter] and the other systems.”

Eventually, however, he shared his “sense.”

“It’s probably too small, both on the fighter and the bomber side of the house,” Meink said.

Meink said his priorities will be to ensure the Air Force has the “lethality needed to deter all potential aggressors,” to “innovate faster” by increasing competition and accelerate the acquisition process to deliver new capabilities at lower cost “and deliver on the President’s goal of achieving peace through strength.”

Aircraft is only part of the equation in assuring readiness. Meinke promised Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) that he will look into Air Force pilot production and progress toward alleviating the service’s chronic pilot shortage.

It’s not just about what pilots are paid, Meink said. “It’s … quality of service, quality of life. Pay only goes so far. We need to make sure, not just with pilots, but across our highly skilled areas within our workforce, that they have the opportunity to do what they’ve been trained to do and what they love to do. I think that could be a bigger impact on maintaining some of these highly technical skill sets, like pilots and others.”