Allvin: ‘Built to Adapt’ Is the New Model for Air Force Programs

Aug. 21, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force has committed to major programs over the past several years: the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, and the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter and associated Collaborative Combat Aircraft

Sentinel has run massively over its initial cost projection. CCA—autonomous, loyal wingman drones—seems to be on track. But while the budgetary profiles of the two programs stand in stark contrast, they each have a concept of modularity built in; they are intended to be relatively easy to upgrade, Air Force officials say.

Now, the Air Force wants to push that concept of adaptability even further.

During a recent wide-ranging interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David W. Allvin explained his view of how the Air Force should think about new programs in the future.

“Think systems over platforms,” Allvin said during an Aug. 14 interview. “That’s the environment we’re adapting to. So a systems-first approach, against which platforms who do things can maybe come and go. So that way, maybe those platforms can solve for agility and pop that one out, put another one in, and you’ve better enabled.”

Allvin’s watchword in his first year as Chief has been “agility,” arguing that the technological change is rapid, the character of war is changing, and the service needs to keep pace.

In July, Allvin floated the idea of “built to adapt” over “built to last,” underscoring the importance of not being committed to a single design for decades. That did not refer to any specific program, but rather to the concept of developing manned and unmanned platforms that are built to rapidly and quickly adopt new technology.

It is an approach he expanded on during an Aug. 21 media roundtable.

“I’m not saying it is ubiquitous across everything, but as a general proposition, it is a methodology that allows you to adapt to technology faster,” Allvin said. “If one is going to build something that is going to be crewed—with however many crew members in it—if you build in the modularity toward it, it continues to have the ability to ingest new technology and stay as part of the overall system, ‘Giddy up. We’ll keep that.’”

Allvin said he would not completely rule out a future low-cost crewed fighter—a notional image of one appeared during one of his recent presentations—in keeping with his overall philosophy of being open to new technology. He has previously said the Air Force is committed to buying at least 100 B-21s but will not foreclose a change in long-term plans if technological progress leads to something more capable.

“Whatever platform you’re going to build, it’s got to integrate,” Allvin said in his Aug. 14 interview. “That way, when the system gets upgraded, it’s at the speed of software, and everything gets upgraded with it because you’ve built the platform to build into the system rather than building platform-unique things. … Why? The pace of change. That’s the environment we’re adapting to.”

Allvin has previously said that the service learned lessons from Collaborative Combat Aircraft about adapting to new technology that could be used for anything, not just iterations of new drones.

“It’s not just the attritable or expendable” systems that can benefit the Air Force as technology changes, Allvin said Aug. 21. “I’m happy if it’s built to last if it adapts to what the technology does … and helps you employ new technology faster. That becomes the coin of the realm for all the platforms, whether they last for five years or 50.”

F-16 Ground Emergency Sends 13 Airmen at Luke for Brief Hospital Visit

Aug. 21, 2024 | By David Roza

Thirteen Airmen at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., made a brief visit to a nearby hospital on Aug. 20 amid concerns that the emergency power unit of the F-16 fighter jet they were working on had accidentally activated.

According to a base release, the emergency power unit (EPU) did not activate, and all 13 Airmen were evaluated and released.

Had the EPU activated, it would have been serious cause for concern—the F-16 unit is powered by hydrazine, a “corrosive, toxic, and highly flammable” chemical compound that is also highly carcinogenic, according to the Department of Defense and the Air Force.

Airmen were conducting routine maintenance checks on an F-16 at about 4:40 p.m. when they declared a ground emergency over concerns that the jet’s EPU was activated, according to a base release.

The EPU provides emergency power for F-16 flight controls so pilots can land the aircraft safely if the jet’s other systems fail midflight. The EPU and the hydrazine fuel tank are located aft of the cockpit, so pilots are relatively isolated from the system, but ground maintenance requires extensive safety measures.

“If you touch it, it absorbs very quickly and it’s very cancerous,” Staff Sgt. Christopher Glover of the 49th Component Maintenance Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., said in a 2023 press release. “That’s why we wear our protective gear such as gloves, boots, a full suit, FireHawk mask, and air bottle.”

Air Force aircraft fuel systems journeymen assigned to the 378th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron, signal mission completion in front of an F-16CJ Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 79th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, after a hydrazine response training at Prince Sultan Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Aug. 25, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo Staff Sgt. Noah J. Tancer)

Emergency teams determined there was no activation of the EPU at Luke, but 10 Airmen were taken to a local hospital as a precaution, the base explained. The ground emergency ended at about 5:22 p.m. after responders determined no hydrazine had been released, despite social media speculation to the contrary.

But just four hours later, at about 9:45 p.m., base personnel declared a second ground emergency, concerned again that the EPU for the same F-16 may have activated. This time three Airmen were taken to a local hospital out of an abundance of caution. They were also evaluated and released. The response team again determined there was no release of hydrazine and the emergency ended at about 10:30 p.m.

“The aircraft will not return to service until further testing has been conducted,” the base said in its statement.

A training base, Luke is where thousands of Air Force pilots first learn to fly the F-16 and F-35 fighter jets. The 56th Operations Group, which runs the fighter training mission, is the largest fighter group in the Air Force, according to the base website.

An infographic shows the emergency power unit systems in an F-16 fighter jet. (Image via Strategic Enviromental Research and Development Program / Environmental Security Technology Certification Program)

US and South Korean Fighters Will Fly 2,000 Sorties in Five Days for Latest Exercise

Aug. 21, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

U.S. and South Korean fighters are flying sorties at a breakneck pace this week in their Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise meant to prepare for potential missile attacks by North Korea.

Over 200 aircraft, including F-16s and A-10s from the 8th Fighter Wing and 51st Fighter Wing and F-15K, FA-50, and KF-16 jets from the Republic of Korea Air Force, are conducting 2,000 sorties together from Aug. 19 to Aug. 23, according to the ROKAF.

In a release, the South Koreans said flight operations would continue nonstop for five consecutive days, generating the “largest” number of sorties in a joint U.S.-ROK exercise. It will also mark the first time multiple squadrons from both countries are engaging in nonstop operations.

“Conducting exercises of this scale and nature is a necessary part of our readiness posture here in the Republic of Korea,” U.S. Air Force Col. William McKibban, 51st Fighter Wing commander, said in a release.

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, assigned to the 80th Fighter Squadron, taxis after landing at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Aug. 19, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nicholas Ross

The 51st Fighter Wing release noted that the U.S. fighters will carry out local flights and combat drills to improve teamwork with the ROK Air Force in “realistic combat scenarios,” designed to counter weapons of mass destruction.

“We must continue to improve, innovate and optimize our processes to generate lethal combat power,” Col. Peter Kasarskis, 8th Fighter Wing commander, said in a statement. “Our participation in these exercises builds a more combat-ready force, better able to meet any challenge in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Both USAF units are assessing their readiness by deploying the fighters to a partner base on the peninsula, to quickly adapt and perform in a new environment. Such drills demonstrate that the wing is “ready to fight tonight when needed, from the tactical level all the way up to the operational,” added McKibban.

Both the scale of the exercise and the focus on Agile Combat Employment mirror the U.S. Air Force’s growing emphasis on large-scale exercises in the Indo-Pacific.

As a whole, Ulchi Freedom Shield which spans 11 days across land, air, and sea. This year’s iteration features over 19,000 troops from the two allies and various United Nations Command member states. The training will include rehearsal scenarios aimed for potential attacks from Pyongyang.

“Exercise USF will reflect realistic threats across all domains, such as the DPRK’s missile threats,” Ryan Donald, spokesperson for the U.S. Forces Korea said in a press conference. “We’ll take lessons learned from recent armed conflicts. This is all designed, so we don’t have a failure of imagination.”

The South Korean Defense Ministry has also stated that the exercise will include “responses to North Korean nuclear threats.”

Just hours before the training kicked off on Aug. 19, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry labeled it as “the most aggressive and provocative invasion rehearsal in the world” in its state-run newspaper. The Pentagon has dismissed the claim.

“These exercises are defensive in nature,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Patick Ryder said on Aug 20. “They’re also longstanding, and these are opportunities for our forces to work together on interoperability and to learn how to operate in dissimilar environments.”

Additionally, the U.S. military will support “the ROK government’s wartime preparation for defensive operations, offensive operations, stability operations and defense support to civil authorities,” Donald said.

During the exercise, the two nations will conduct live-fire exercises and comprehensive field drills to enhance interoperability. The exercise will also incorporate space-related elements, such as “GPS jamming and cyber attacks,” according to Donald.

Last year’s iteration saw a B-1 bomber joined by both nations’ fighters for training before the exercise concluded, but whether any U.S. strategic assets will be featured in this year’s edition remains murky.

“With regards to strategic assets, it’s premature (to discuss), and also a violation of policy to disclose that information at this time,” said Donald.

In a First, Air Guardsmen and Reservists Take on JROTC Instructor Duty

Aug. 21, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

As schools come back into session for the fall, drilling Guardsmen and Reservists will take up Air Force JROTC instructor duty for the first time ever.

“I’m not really done with my uniform,” explained Maj. Dawn Longfellow, an intelligence analyst in the Air National Guard who will be a JROTC instructor at Effingham County High School near Savannah, Ga. “I can add more to … my points for retirement. I can finish [Air Command and Staff College]. I can promote to lieutenant colonel if I find a position. And to tell you the truth, all of that advanced professional military education and training is so relevant to leading in the classroom—you’re a great role model because of all that.”

Longfellow, who just completed a tour as an AFJROTC instructor recruiter, said her experience has made her helpful to potential applicants trying to navigate the system. She identified issues and emailed applicants to share insights. Having also completed a tour at Officer Training School, she hopes that experience will prove valuable in the high school environment.

Col. Johnny R. McGonigal, director for Air Force JROTC, said having instructors with recent military experience will make JROTC more relatable to students.

Air Force Reserve Master Sgt. Cynthia Webster, the Reserve’s first drilling JROTC instructor, also agreed.

“I think it’s a win-win for everyone involved,” Webster said in a release. “Serving as a JROTC Instructor while simultaneously serving in the reserves helps senior NCOs relate to the junior members of their units. This will benefit the integration and fit of newly assigned personnel and allow unit leaders to develop deeper, more effective relationships with their workforce. It’s a win for currently serving reservists like me because it broadened the range of opportunities available in the area.”

Webster started as an aerospace science instructor at Mae Jemison High School in Huntsville, Ala., in July.

MSgt Cynthia Webster, the Senior Air Reserve Technician with the 908th Aerospace Staging Squadron, poses for a portrait at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Webster is the first drilling reservist to serve as an Air Force Junior ROTC instructor. (Courtesy photo)

Instructor Shortage

If Webster, Longfellow, and their cohort are successful, the Guard and Reserve could be the answer to the long-term instructor shortage plaguing JROTC. While every AFROTC unit is supposed to have two instructors—one officer and one enlisted—close to one in five jobs is empty. Last spring, McGonigal told Air & Space Forces Magazine that 160 of 870 units had just one or no instructors.

“We are at all-time lows right now,” he said.

One year later the problem is worse: Some 240 billets are still vacant, according to the Air Force JROTC website. Vacancies run the gamut, from Alaska to Florida.

The pipeline for Guardsmen and Reservists is still new. Congress included a provision in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Ac, but it took the Pentagon until until April of this year to finalize pay tables and other details.

Since then, 84 Guard and Reserve members have applied, with nine accepted so far, an Air Force spokesperson said. Even more have expressed interest, the spokesperson added, “but we typically don’t start formally tracking them until they’ve initiated the application process.” In addition, nine veterans have applied. Under the new rules, veterans are also now eligible, while in the past, only retired members could get these jobs.

Pay and Eligibility

Junior ROTC started in 1911, and the first Air Force units stood up in 1966. Envisioned as a voluntary youth citizenship and self-discipline program, JROTC is not a recruiting program. But it does expose youth to the Air Force. In recent years, the program has been roiled by controversy, however, with reports of some schools automatically enrolling students, and also a few cases of sexual assault and abuse.

Meanwhile, stagnating pay and the demographics of military retirees has also changed the applicant pool and with fewer applicants, some locations are at risk of shutting down. Congress authorized expansion of eligibility for instructors to include any Guardsman, Reservist, or veteran with at least eight years of service.

The Air Force implementation of those rules is even stricter. Air Force JROTC instructor requirements call for:

At least 10 years of military service

Enlisted members at the rank of technical sergeant or higher

Officers at the rank of captain through colonel or prior enlisted officers at any rank

At least an associate’s degree (no exceptions allowed)

Pay is now more complicated. Under the old system, JROTC instructors were paid what they would earn if still on Active duty, including housing and subsistence allowances, with DOD and the local school splitting the cost. Now there is a Standardized Instructor Pay Scale, with set minimums baed on location, rank, and educational attainment.The school pays the salary, and the Air Force reimburses the school for half the pay. Schools are not limited to paying the minimum; instructors can negotiate beyond that with the school.

Longfellow said the pay will be less than she made before, but the duty makes that worthwhile, she said. “It’s super rewarding,” she said. “And I don’t have to deal quite so much with the layers of bureaucracy that are in the military.”

The Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps patch at Salisbury, Maryland, August 10, 2022. Cadets have the opportunity to take an eight week course where they earn their private pilots license. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Greydon Furstenau)

Northrop Finishes Round of Flight Tests on New Sensor That Can Do Radar, Comms, and EW

Aug. 20, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Northrop Grumman has completed “dozens” of flight tests in a “first flight campaign” with its new Electronically-Scanned Multifunction Reconfigurable Integrated Sensor, which it wants to field on multiple platforms to include Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones and potentially the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, the company said Aug. 20.

The company announced EMRIS in February 2023, saying the technology could simultaneously conduct radar operations, communications, and electronic warfare, and would be small enough to be applicable to a wide range of airborne systems. An ultra-wideband system, it is intended to be rapidly reconfigurable, and employ software updates inflight, Northrop said.

“These flights, completed in partnership with government partners and on a government-provided aircraft, are the next stage of technology maturation for EMRIS,” Northrop said. The flight demonstrated “the open architecture nature of EMRIS by using third-party integration and operation.” The company could not immediately identify the test aircraft.

New software “was rapidly deployed during flights, demonstrating the reconfigurable nature of the sensor,” Northrop added. Northrop developed the technology in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The company has previously said the aperture and related hardware is compact enough to be mounted in the nose or on the wings of an aircraft or even a munition.

Krys Moen, Northrop’s vice president for advanced mission capabilities, said the “dozens of successful flights with EMRIS demonstrated the ability to reduce development timelines and lower program costs” by leveraging the company’s partnerships with all the U.S. military services. The applications include “crewed and uncrewed platforms.”

The radar sensor in the system is an active, electronically-scanned array radar developed under DARPA’s “Arrays on Commercial Timescales” program, combined with government open architecture standards. This allows it to perform multiple radio frequency (RF) functions simultaneously. Northrop said it was designed using “common building blocks and software containerization” which will allow for “rapid, cost-effective production.”

AESA radars are already fielded on several kinds of U.S. Air Force aircraft, including the F-35, F-22, and F-16. Northrop also builds the Multirole Electronically Scanned Array radar that goes on the back of the E-7 Wedgetail, which will become the Air Force’s new airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The company said it is proceeding with testing on a second EMRIS array, and this phase will “demonstrate its scalable nature by fabricating two smaller EMRIS apertures for lower cost and size-constrained application demonstrations.” It was not immediately able to say whether a further flight test campaign is planned or whether the system is being configured for a particular platform or launch customer.

“As part of EMRIS’ flights, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the ability to quickly leverage technologies developed for other programs to adapt multiple fielded capabilities into EMRIS,” the company said, but it did not disclose what those adapted systems were.

Northrop said EMRIS demonstrates “the value of a product line designed from the beginning to leverage open, scalable software along with modular digital building blocks to enable a common sensor baseline.” The technology is applicable to “a wide range of existing platform upgrades as well as new, emerging opportunities.”

Do Air Task Force Leaders Need a Language and Culture Expert?

Aug. 20, 2024 | By David Roza

As the Air Force prepares the first six versions of its Air Task Forces, the head of the Air Force Culture and Language Center is pitching an idea that he believes will help ATFs be ready to generate sorties as soon as they deploy: a dedicated expert to help each ATF learn how to work with its host nation long before they arrive there.

“No one is better than our Air Force at generating sorties and prosecuting targets,” said AFCLC head and retired Air Force Col. Walter Ward. “But there’s vulnerabilities and host nation dependencies when it comes to operating a base, which is our core power projection platform.”

Those vulnerabilities and dependencies include infrastructure, utilities, logistics, security, local acquisition, air traffic control, and other factors which may vary wildly between deployment locations and “can easily degrade sortie production and tempo” if interrupted, Ward pointed out.

But if an Air Task Force can sort out those details and begin integrating with the host nation beforehand, it can hit the ground running when it’s finally time to deploy.

“The ATF construct provides an opportunity to build partnerships and address those types of things before deployments, so when it’s time to go, you’re at 100 percent,” Ward said. “You put the learning curve behind you.”

The Air Task Force is a new deployment model that the Air Force believes is a more efficient and effective way of going to war. Each ATF is commanded by an A-Staff, made up of department heads who oversee personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, and other areas.

Under them falls the combat air base squadron, which covers base protection, engineering, airfield management, and other support functions. The pointy end of the ATF is handled by the mission generation force elements, which may consist of a fighter squadron or special warfare squadron, for example. Maintaining the MGFE aircraft falls to the ATF’s mission sustainment teams.

In May, the Air Force announced the first six locations where ATFs will be headquartered:

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Joint Base San Antonio, Texas

Dyess Air Force Base, Texas

Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

The ATF pairs with an overhaul of the Air Force’s deployment schedule, where units train, deploy, and return home together under a new concept called Air Force Force Generation. AFFORGEN creates a 24-month cycle broken into four six-month segments: prepare, certify, available (meaning available to deploy), and reset.

Ward thinks the prepare stage could be the perfect time for a dedicated A-staff position to begin helping the unit integrate with its host nation-to-be. AFCLC has a long history of achieving such integration through its Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP), where Airmen and Guardians with significant experience in a foreign language serve as cultural and linguistic experts for their fellow service members.

LEAP scholars bridge the culture and language gap between American troops and their foreign counterparts, and they also translate military jargon so the two camps can work more closely together. Many LEAP scholars work in the maintenance, aviation, intelligence, or whatever career field they are translating about, which gives them an edge over civilian or non-specialized translators.

“I will never do another bilateral exercise without requesting the language and cultural expertise that LEAP was able to provide,” U.S. Marine Corps Col. Thomas Siverts said in a press release after an exercise with Philippine Marines in 2022.

The Air Force should use that expertise to get ATFs and their host nations on the same page early, Ward suggested. It could be particularly useful under Agile Combat Employment, an Air Force strategy where small groups of Airmen launch sorties from smaller, more spread-out locations to avoid being targeted by enemy missiles. As a result, they may have to operate out of unfamiliar airfields run by unfamiliar partners.

“There’s an opportunity in that prepare phase to bring in LEAP talent on the Air Staff to really start to build that partner integration, particularly when it comes to operating the base, on all the things that we would have to learn on the fly otherwise,” he said.

Beyond LEAP scholars, ATFs could also consult AFCLC’s academic faculty or its free mobile app, which offers culture briefings for more than 80 countries. That kind of background knowledge can help with the non-technical aspects of integration: for example, what an American might consider acceptable forms of humor, gift-giving, and etiquette may not work in a host nation’s culture.

“There are many different languages and cultures that are not ‘plug and play,’” Ward said. “We have to know the languages, we have to understand where the flashpoints between cultures of our partners and allies are, in order to multiply the number of credible teams that can operate at a greater speed and without loss of capability.”

That understanding is not just a nice-to-have, the director said, it’s a key part of the U.S. National Defense Strategy, which calls on integrating with partners and allies as a means to deter rivals such as Russia and China from the Arctic to the western Pacific, while still fighting extremism in the Middle East.

“The only way that math works is through highly-effective partner integration,” Ward said.

In October 2025, two of the six ATFs will deploy to the Middle East, while a third will deploy to the Pacific. The other three ATFs will replace the first batch in April 2026. Ward said the response has been favorable in the two ATFs his team has briefed so far, with another one scheduled in September.

“The message on incorporating LEAP scholars into the A-Staffs and using AFCLC content to enhance readiness, mitigate risk in coalition operations, and increase operating tempo has been very well received and more importantly, being put into action,” he said. “It’s resonating loud and clear to our tip-of-the-spear commanders that culture plus language equals speed.”

REFORPAC: Allvin Details New Indo-Pacific Exercise Debuting in 2025

Aug. 20, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force will flood Airmen and aircraft into the Indo-Pacific next summer for a major two-week exercise that will coincide with the multinational Talisman Sabre training event, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said last week.

Dubbed REFORPAC, short for Return of Forces to the Pacific, the exercise draws its name from the Cold War REFORGER wargames, named for Return of Forces to Germany. Just as REFORGER was designed to prepare for combat with USSR pouring across the German border, REFORPAC seeks to better prepare the Air Forcefor the “galvanizing threat” of war against the People’s Republic of China.

The summer 2025 exercise was first announced in February as part of the Department of the Air Force’s re-optimization for great power competition projecdt. But few details were known then. Speaking Aug. 16 The summer 2025 exercise was first announced in February as part of the Department of the Air Force’s re-optimization for great power competition projecdt. But few details were known then. Speaking Aug. 16 at the Hudson Institute, Allvin shared the exercise’s name and intent.

“We’re integrating it into INDOPACOM’s campaign plans and our Pacific Air Forces’ approach to supporting those,” Allvin said. “And so we’re integrating it into the combatant commander’s piece. But we’re doing it in a way that’s more robust and it’s for a longer period of time. So we’ll be deploying from Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the continental U.S., and it’s going to be for about 14 days overall.”

Leaders previously said the exercise would involve multiple combatant commands and Air Force components, including elements from U.S. Strategic Command; U.S. Northern Command; U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and Air Mobility Command, which hosted its massive Mobility Guardian exercise last summer in the Pacific.

“One of the issues that will be addressed—that we’re starting to address, we saw a little bit of this most recent Bamboo Eagle—is how mission-ready are we to deploy in a complex environment and sustain operations and be able to do logistics under attack?” Allvin said. “To be able to generate and maneuver within the environment, to sustain the mobility fleet that can get around, make sure the munitions and fuel and everything gets to the right place.”

As with last summer’s Mobility Guardian, allies will be key participants. “We’re rolling it in with Talisman Sabre, because we understand we’re going to fight with allies and partners,” Allvin said. That makes it “more of an international exercise,” he added.

Talisman Sabre started as a joint U.S-Australia exercise but now includes about a dozen countries and 30,000 service members, and is expected to be even bigger in 2025. In 2023, USAF F-22s, KC-46s, and C-17s all participated.

Officials have said REFORPAC will not be a one-off, but rather the start of a renewed focus on large-scale exercises that has seen numerous Air Force organizations expand exercises to be more “combat representative.”

Mobility Guardian 23 set the tone, bringing together 70 aircraft and 3,000 personnel and tying the exercise’s operations into Air Force and international exercises in the Pacific. Allvin praised the effort for highlighting and testing the complexities of surging forces to the Indo-Pacific for a future fight.

REFORPAC will similarly seek to expose seams and challenges to ensure greater preparedness in advance of a real conflict.

“Until you’re there, doing it over a period of time, you’re not really going to uncover the warts that you might not have discovered by doing it in pieces,” Allvin said. That’s the purpose of large-scale exercises. “You have to do in a realistic scenario.”

Part of that realism is finding a way to replicate the sheer size and difficulty of a potential fight with China in the largest geographic combatant command.

“When it gets really complex and you have different injects into the exercises, that’s where you can really test it. It just really is the scale of it, because there are things that you can’t really pick out until you have a longer sustained agitation, if you will, or something where you can’t really replicate on a small scale,” he said.

USAF Plans to Relocate B-1 Bombers from Ellsworth to Grand Forks in 2025

Aug. 19, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Air Force is planning to relocate 17 B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., to Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., for 10 months starting early next year, as Ellsworth gears up to host the incoming B-21 Raider.

Air Force Global Strike Command is proposing the move from February to November 2025, a spokesman said in an email statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine on Aug 19.

The final relocation decision hinges on an ongoing environmental review that is evaluating the impact of moving the aircraft and personnel to Grand Forks. If the review is favorable, Elllsworth plans to send around 800 Airmen along with the Lancers to Grand Forks to provide maintenance and support for the bomber operations.

“The B-1s will continue to fill their operational requirements to the President and the Secretary of Defense while at Grand Forks,” the spokesman noted in the statement.

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, sits on the flightline at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 21, 2024, in support of a Bomber Task Force mission. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jake Jacobsen

The proposal hints at progress in the Air Force’s plan to start fielding the new B-21 Raider. After Ellsworth was selected as the initial operating base and training unit for the new stealthy bombers, the base began construction on a new 95,000-square-foot Low Observable Restoration Facility in 2022 to support the bomber. According to budget documents, additional facilities at the base are expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, confirmed that B-21s are coming to Ellsworth “very soon” and that the program remains on schedule.

“The good news is the B-21 is succeeding, it’s in flight test,” Gebara said during an event with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on July 15. “I always caution people to say it’s early in flight test, so I will be happy when I see it flying into Ellsworth for the first time. I have these visions in my head of B-21 flying over Mount Rushmore and circling to land, and I can see it happening. It’s going to happen before we know it, very soon, but it isn’t there yet.”

The B-21 Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations. The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the U.S. Air Force bomber fleet. **Edwards Air Force Base/Facebook**

In May, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman unveiled new photos of the B-21, providing the first official images of the highly secretive bomber in flight. These photos, offering some new detail about the aircraft, show the bomber at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Since its initial flight at the manufacturer’s California facility in November, the bomber has been conducting test flights from the base.

The service recently told Air and Space Forces Magazine that the new bomber aircraft will not necessarily replace the B-1 and B-2 on a one-for-one basis as new bombers become available. However, Global Strike Command has indicated it does not expect to have the resources to field four different types of bombers simultaneously. The goal is to narrow down to a fleet of only B-21s and B-52Js after the B-1s and B-2s retire.

Grand Forks has previously served as a cornerstone of U.S. bomber operations. Beginning in 1963, the base housed B-52 bombers under the 319th Bomb Wing until it transitioned to B-1 missions in 1986. It played a key role in the nation’s nuclear deterrent until 1994, when the last B-1s departed and the wing was re-designated as the 319th Reconnaissance Wing. The base today focuses on ISR missions with unmanned aerial vehicle operations including the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

NATO Signs First Contract for Its Largest Space Program Ever

Aug. 19, 2024

NATO and satellite imagery firm Planet Labs have signed a contract for a “virtual” constellation of surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance space assets—the latest sign of NATO’s growing reliance on commercial space capabilities.

The contract is the first under the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) program, launched by NATO early in 2023, in which 17 member states including the U.S. agreed to pool and distribute intelligence and surveillance data culled from both from national and commercial satellites. Described by NATO officials as as the largest space project in its history, APSS will be worth a combined $1 billion over the next five years.

But APSS includes no NATO-owned or -operated space assets. Rather, it is a gathering operation, combining data from existing and future space sensors to create a common operating picture allies can use for “persistent surveillance … on any location at any given time,” according to a NATO fact sheet. The so-called virtual constellation has been dubbed “Aquila.”

The Planet Labs deal is the first publicly known contract to emerge from the program.

“Planet’s tasking capabilities will empower NATO decision-makers by providing imagery for use with detailed tracking and analysis of foreign military capabilities and activities, monitoring of military infrastructure, detecting movements, assessing threats effectively, filling missing intelligence gaps and helping provide an unclassified common operating picture between allies,” the company said in a release.

Planet has around 200 active satellites, among the largest constellations in orbit.

“Planet’s sub-daily tasking brings new capabilities which enable monitoring of large areas of NATO interest, bolstering our technological advantage, and fulfilling our mission of preserving peace and security for nearly one billion people,” said Laryssa Patten, head of space technology adoption and resilience at NATO’s Communications and Information Agency, in a statement.

NATO published an “overarching” space policy in January 2022, expressing its intent not to become an autonomous space actor, but that it would seek instead to integrate space into its core functions and facilitate interoperability among allies. Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing ambitions in the arctic and Pacific have since led NATO to warn of risks in space—and to consider how member states can bolster their capabilities in space.

Planet Labs, meanwhile, is slowly growing its defense portfolio. The firm has already signed contracts with the U.S. Navy and the National Reconnaissance Office for imaging data. The U.S. Space Force released its commercial space strategy earlier this year in which it detailed its interest in leveraging commercial capabilities wherever that made sense. Planet Labs hosted a government-focused space event with USSF speakers earlier this summer, but has not yet inked a deal with the U.S. Space Force.

Tactical ISR and environmental monitoring, missions where Planet Lab’s satellites could prove useful, are among the missions the Space Force strategy cites where “hybrid architectures” combining military, allied, and commercial satellites could prove useful.