SECAF, B-21, Budgets: The Top Stories We’re Tracking for 2025

SECAF, B-21, Budgets: The Top Stories We’re Tracking for 2025

Dec. 30, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Air & Space Forces Magazine traveled the the globe in 2024 to cover the biggest stories involving the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, from Ukraine to the Middle East, from Florida to California. Between regional conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific, not to mention budget battles and a major “re-organization” effort, there have been no shortage of storylines to follow.

Now, as we head into 2025, here are some of the stories that we’ll be keeping a close eye on.

Who’s the Boss? 

It’s not just a beloved 1980s sitcom—it’s also the biggest unknown facing the Department of the Air Force as it heads into the new year. President-elect Donald Trump has announced his picks for virtually every other major Pentagon post, including the other service secretaries. But his choice for the Air Force remains unknown. 

The pick could reverse course from outgoing Secretary Frank Kendall, who emphasized the need for modernization with his Operational Imperatives and pushed for a sweeping re-organization. They could try to shepherd those initiatives to completion. They could focus on Trump’s stated desire to “purge” the military of diversity initiatives, or place a greater emphasis on readiness. Until there’s a person tapped to take over as 27th Secretary of the Air Force, we just don’t know. 

What Happens to NGAD and CCA? 

Perhaps the most pressing decision facing whomever Trump picks is what to do about the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter 

NGAD was long seen as the successor to the F-22 as the Air Force’s top air-to-air platform. That was all throw up in the air when Kendall announced a “pause” on the program in July 2024, citing the price of the fighter amid a constrained budget and the emergence of new technologies like Collaborative Combat Aircraft drones. 

A Boeing artist’s concept of a Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter. Mike Tsukamoto/staff; Boeing

Kendall formed a blue-ribbon panel of former Air Chiefs and other experts to review NGAD but after additional study, preliminary media reports indicate minimal changes to the project. Kendall took the input, but deferred a decisions on the program to the new administration, arguing that he wants the new leadership team to “own” the choice and offer a clear path forward to industry. 

The corollary to the NGAD question is CCA—the program to develop autonomous drones that can fly alongside manned platforms. Kendall has said his work pushing forward CCA is likely to be his biggest legacy as secretary, and there seems to be a common consensus on the importance of the program. But just how fast it can move forward remains to be seen. Officials have said they want several hundred drones flying by the end of the decade. 

What’s Next for B-21? 

The B-21 Raider, the Air Force’s stealthy, secretive new bomber, entered flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., at the very beginning of 2024, and little has been said since.  

The service has released a few pictures and a video, aviation enthusiasts have snapped a few photos of their own, and officials have said that generally everything is going well with the new aircraft, which has been described as the world’s first “sixth-generation” aircraft and will eventually comprise one-half of the Air Force bomber fleet alongside the B-52. 

But there are precious few details on its flight testing program besides the fact that it has been flying up to twice a week, and there are no hard timelines set for when the Raider might enter service. 

Of note, B-1 bombers have been relocated from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., to allow for construction on the base’s runway in advance of the first B-21’s arrival. The base has said that is expected in the “mid-2020s.” 

Curious observers will be hungry for more details, however few or vague, in 2025. 

Integrated Capabilities Command 

One of the biggest changes from the re-organization the Air Force announced earlier this year was the creation of a new command to coordinate the service’s requirements process. ICC, as envisioned, would centralize and streamline how the Air Force sets requirements for its future force, while freeing other commands to focus more on current needs. 

In September, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced the standup of a provisional ICC, with the goal of achieving full operational capability in 2025. But he has noted that of all the reorg plans the service announced, this command may be the toughest to drive to completion. 

Part of that challenge is because the new command will require moving personnel and establishing a headquarters, which means it will receive special attention from lawmakers and will need Congressional approval. But there is also the question of how the ICC commander, expected to be a three-star general, will be able to juggle the desires of all the other commands, some led by four-stars, who will likely be advocating for their future needs. A four-star commander might be needed to ensure ICC can take the leadership role it needs.

REFORPAC 

Another initiative announced was a major exercise in the Indo-Pacific in summer 2025. Officials later debuted the name “Resolute Force Pacific,” or REFORPAC, to evoke the annual REFORGER (“Return of Forces to Germany”) exercises the U.S. conducted for years during the Cold War. 

The scale of the exercise is meant to be vast—nearly 300 aircraft spread across 25 locations in the Pacific, outstripping all other major exercises the service has held in recent years. 

U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft line up on the runway during an elephant walk at Kadena Air Base, Japan, Apr. 10, 2024. Directly after, the aircrew launched into a large force exercise to strengthen their readiness to defend Japan. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Alexis Redin)

But leaders have warned that the scale of the exercise may have to be pared back if Congress does not pass a new budget in time. The Pentagon is currently operating on a continuing resolution that freezes funding levels at last year’s levels until March 2025.  

Pacific Air Forces boss Gen. Kevin B. Schneider told Air & Space Forces Magazine in December that planning for REFORPAC is underway, with options in place depending on the funds available. Either way, large-scale exercises are seen as crucial to work out joint operating concepts and command and control kinds for future combat against a peer like China. 

Warrant Officers 

One of the most popular changes the Air Force announced in 2024 was the reintroduction of warrant officers inthe cyber and IT career fields. Warrant officers fill technical rather than leadership functions, and Air Force officials say the cyber and IT fields are so fast-moving, they need experts who are more interested in staying up to date on the latest technical knowledge than climbing a leadership career ladder.  

The first class of warrant officers graduated in December, and another cohort isn’t far behind. But there are still lots of unknowns—how the Air Force will employ these new warrant officers, what the feedback will be on their value to commands, and which other career fields might be added next.  

Space Force Growth 

After explosive growth in its early years, the Space Force faced its first proposed budget cut for 2025, though a final defense spending bill has still yet to be approved.  

Meanwhile, leaders have grown increasingly vocal about the need for more manpower and resources to fulfill all the Space Force’s growing missions, particularly counter-space efforts. 

The service got its start under President Donald Trump, and his return to office could boost its efforts to expand. If the new administration does support a bigger Space Force, the rate at which it grows will be watched closely. It will also be interesting to note if new leaders place more emphasis on the mission of offensive space or discuss it more openly—it has long been considered a taboo topic but has been a key discussion point in Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman’s push for more resources. 

Air Force Growth 

The Air Force has been squeezed by rising costs for nuclear modernization and the need to modernize other parts of the force. That’s driven controversial decisions to retire equipment, particularly fighter aircraft, to free funding to pay for future modernization.

Congress has resisted those cuts, but also shown skepticism about the F-35 fighter and the Air Force’s overall strategy. The only real way to solve the problem is to increase overall spending on the Air Force and to “buy more Air Force,” in the words of Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. The incoming administration will face major decisions about how to pay for more Air Force and what it might be willing to give up to acquire more jets faster.

Airdrops, Port Dawgs, and More: 10 of Our Best Stories from 2024

Airdrops, Port Dawgs, and More: 10 of Our Best Stories from 2024

Dec. 26, 2024 | By David Roza

It’s been another busy year at Air & Space Forces Magazine reporting on the United States Air Force and Space Force, and we could not have done it without you, the readers.

We looked back on the past 12 months to find the stories that resonated the most with you, our audience, and these 10 topped the list. Maybe you missed one the first time around, or perhaps you’d like to revisit a favorite under a warm blanket after a long day of holiday cheer. Either way, enjoy the highlights below. We can’t wait to share more stories with you in 2025. Until then, happy holidays!

Airdrops to Gaza: The Art and Science of One of the Largest Aid Missions Since the Berlin Airlift

The U.S. Air Force and its partners dropped hundreds of thousands of meals to famished Gazans this spring as efforts to bring in humanitarian aid by land and sea were stymied. Airmen try to calculate all the variables, from the altitude, to weight, to the effect of the wind, but it’s obvious looking out the back of this massive jet aircraft that airdrops are as much art as science. 

How the Air Force Flew a 1,000-Mile Open Ocean Rescue

The 129th Rescue Wing is one of few organizations on Earth that can rescue patients hundreds of miles offshore, thanks to its fleet of HC-130J planes and HH-60G helicopters. Aircrews, PJs, and a translator who volunteered at the last minute for a long-range rescue recounted how they made one high-risk, life-saving mission look easy.

‘Masters of the Air’ Nails Many Details, Misses Context

The new nine-part TV series, “Masters of the Air,” masterfully captures the grueling reality of life in the U.S. Army Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group during the daylight bombing campaign over Europe in World War II. But viewers watching the series on Apple TV+ might miss the larger historical context, according to one expert.

Mobility Pilots Prepare to Fight Fatigue in All-Out Pacific Conflict

Fatigue is a common safety hazard in aviation, especially over the vast distances that define the Indo-Pacific theater. Tanker and transport air crews and flight medicine experts shared how they’re using science, hot food, and wearables to prepare for non-stop flying in a war with China. 

David Flosi’s Journey From Broke College Student to New CMSAF

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Flosi shared how mentorship and opportunities transformed him from a junior Airman set on serving four years to pay for college into the service’s senior enlisted leader with the Legion of Merit and 28 years of service.

Sun, Spades, and Forklifts: ‘Port Dawgs’ Run the Show at Bamboo Eagle

While it sounds simple, aerial porting is a delicate balance of math, physics, technique, and elbow grease which, if improperly mixed, can endanger aircrews and slow the movement of war-winning equipment or life-saving supplies by days when every minute counts. This article shows how ‘Port Dawgs’ played a vital role in a massive exercise preparing for a near-peer fight.

Silver Star Airpower: Inside an F-15 Mission to Block an Attack on Israel

In April, Air Force fighters shot down 80 Iranian drones in one of the largest displays of combat airpower in decades. F-15E Strike Eagle crews who received the Distinguished Flying Cross for their efforts shared what it was like flying into the dark, chaotic airspace over the Middle East that night.

Behind the Scenes of a Minuteman ICBM Launch with Three Test Warheads

What does it take to send an aging missile 4,200 miles across an ocean in 30 minutes? Months of preparation, teams of service members across the country, gigabytes of data, diplomatic coordination, and a long night in California, all unpacked play-by-play in this article.

New Report: Wargames Show CCA Could Have Huge Influence in a Pacific War

A series of wargames run by the Mitchell Institute showed that when used by the U.S. Air Force in large numbers, CCAs—autonomous drones meant to supplement the manned fleet—compelled China to expend large numbers of missiles, created beneficial chaos in the battlespace, and overall were a cost-imposing factor on the adversary,

At This Air Force Depot, Advanced Manufacturing Is Cutting Edge No Longer

Air Force leaders have long promised a future where maintainers use 3D-printing technology to manufacture replacement parts faster than they can be shipped across the world. Now, a small group of engineers, technicians, and machinists are moving that additive manufacturing technology out of the future and into the present.

DOD to Track Suicide Deaths By Job Specialty Under New Law

DOD to Track Suicide Deaths By Job Specialty Under New Law

Dec. 23, 2024 | By David Roza

A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.

Section 736 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2025 calls for “the number of suicides … disaggregated by the military occupational specialty (or other similar classification, rating, or specialty code) of the member,” as well as a compilation of such data to determine which career fields have a higher per capita suicide rates compared to other career fields, the overall suicide rate for each service, the Department of Defense, and the national rate.

Congress passed the provision and the rest of the NDAA on Dec. 18, and it is currently awaiting President Joe Biden’s final signature. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) backed the provision, which comes four months after the Defense Department delivered a report breaking down suicide deaths by job specialty since 2011.

That report was mandated by the 2023 NDAA, which tasked the Pentagon with providing a breakdown of military suicides since 2001 by year, military job code, and status (Active-Duty, Reserve, or National Guard).

Advocates hope releasing that data will help officials better understand the stressors affecting specific military jobs, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Chris McGhee told Air & Space Forces Magazine in April.

“Anecdotally we know [suicide rates are] really bad in certain career fields,” said the former F-16 maintainer, who helped champion the NDAA measure to King’s office. “I consider this to be a starting point to investigate what is going on within those career fields that is driving these suicide rates.”

The Pentagon delivered “Report on Incidence of Military Suicides by Military Job Code” several months late in July. The report identified groups of military jobs with the highest rates of suicide, but it did not break the data down by individual career fields. Fields as disparate as special forces, conventional infantry, and military training instructors were lumped together into one category, as were aircraft maintainers from a wide range of types of aircraft and maintenance specialties.

The Pentagon said it lumped fields together because calculating rates when the number of deaths totaled less than 20 would invite statistical instability. The report also did not include data going back to 2001 as directed by the NDAA—the Pentagon said it did not have a system for reliably tracking suicide deaths before 2011. But a 2010 DOD study of military suicides from 2001 to 2009 suggests otherwise, and also lists suicide deaths even when they were fewer than 20.

In September, King told Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III that the data fell short of what was required by law.

“I am concerned that the Department did not fully comply,” the senator wrote. He requested the Pentagon redo the report with the “raw data” going back to 2001, and to include caveats where it might lead to inconsistent data.

“I urge you to include as much information as possible rather than rejecting all data for a given year,” King wrote. “Including the ‘raw data’ with the rates will help to address the challenges you identified with invalid or incorrect conclusions based solely by comparing rates.”

After the letter, the Pentagon and King’s office began working through how to provide that data. A defense official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the department was concerned about privacy.

“DOD must ensure that our publicly reported data does not result in the identification of service members who have died by suicide,” the official said. “We have a responsibility to maintain the privacy of decedents and their loved ones. Moreover, releasing data that has been stratified by numerous categories (i.e., job code, age, duty status, year) introduces serious privacy concerns for our service members and their families.”

McGhee pointed out that the 2023 NDAA technically does not require the report be made public, just as long as it is sent to Congress. But with just a month until President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the discussion is on hold until new Pentagon leadership comes in.

“We have long memories: we know that DOD fell short, and we will raise that with the next group of DOD officials,” a staffer tracking the issue closely with King’s office told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We’re focused on the windshield, but we have an eye on the rearview mirror.”

King’s office has been working on the section in the 2025 NDAA requiring job specialty data in future annual suicide death reports since the start of this year, the staffer said. Frustration with the July 31 report drove language in a joint explanatory statement accompanying the NDAA, which closely echoes King’s letter to Austin.

In instances of incomplete data “we urge the Department to include as much information as possible in the report rather than rejecting all data for such years due to incompleteness,” members of Congress wrote in the statement. “We also urge the Department to include raw data in addition to information about rates of suicide as a way to provide some insight on military suicide, even if the full data for a given year is incomplete.”

However, the bill itself allows the Defense Department to exclude “such specialties that the Secretary determines would not provide statistically valid data” in its breakdown of suicide deaths by job specialty. A King spokesperson did not see a contradiction between that clause and the joint statement.

“It actually shifts the pressure on [the department] to provide as much information as they can justify,” he said. “Because if you were to have somebody say, ‘well, I didn’t think that that was significant,’ that would not be a pleasant exchange in a room full of Senators with long memories.”

The bill does not require the Pentagon to explain what it considers statistically valid. Still, the staffer indicated a collaborative relationship between Congress, the Pentagon officials charged with suicide prevention and data collection efforts, and watchdogs such as the Government Accountability Office.

“My assessment is that the department is not trying to hide something. There is no nefarious activity, and Sen. King has never said they’re hiding something from him,” he said, pointing out that the Defense Department proactively met with members of Congress to discuss its annual suicide report before its release this year.

“That is new behavior from the Department of Defense, engaging members ahead of time and not just sending an email to the committee ‘we’re going to release this report tomorrow. Have a nice day,’” he said. “Our approach is, and Sen. King has said this several times: ‘hey, we are working together with you to address this problem,’ and that is our approach.”

McGhee was skeptical, arguing that the department “willfully ignored” the 2023 NDAA’s mandate and may do the same with the 2025 NDAA.

“While I appreciate any progress, the language deeply concerns me,” he said. “Allowing the DOD to determine what is ‘statistically valid’ undermines the intent of the law. Worse, this provision doubles down on passivity. Congress has shifted from mandating action to ‘urging’ the DOD to comply when possible.”

Service members and veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a service member or veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans/Military Crisis Line for confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 988 and press 1; text 988; or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.

The Hole in Trump’s Defense Team: Next SECAF Is a Mystery

The Hole in Trump’s Defense Team: Next SECAF Is a Mystery

Dec. 23, 2024 | By Tobias Naegele

President-elect Donald Trump announced his choices to fill out the top positions on his Pentagon team Dec. 22, but the next Secretary of the Air Force remains a notable vacancy.  

Trump announced his nominees for a half-dozen key roles in the office of the Secretary of Defense.

Deputy Secretary of Defense

Stephen Feinberg is slated to take on the Pentagon’s No. 2 job, akin to its chief operating officer. Feinberg, 64, is a career financier and the billionaire cofounder of the investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. A donor to all three of Trump’s presidential campaigns, he chaired Trump’s Intelligence Advisory Board from 2018-2020. Like Trump’s nominees for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he is a graduate of Princeton University. 

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Elbridge “Bridge” Colby has been tapped to lead the Pentagon’s policy shop. Colby authored Trump’s 2018 National Defense Strategy, which identified China as the principal threat to U.S. global power and remained largely intact under the Biden administration. A notable China hawk, Colby, 45, was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development from 2017-2019 during the first Trump administration. He is an Ivy Leaguer like Feinberg and Hegseth—Colby graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School—and is a political centrist, having spent eight years as an analyst and senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan thank tank with historic ties to the Obama administration, and founded the Marathon Institute, a think tank created to developing “strategic insights and frameworks needed to deal with the deep and difficult problems of great power competition.” 

Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment

Michael Duffey will be nominated for DOD’s top acquisition job. Duffey held positions in the Pentagon and at the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s first administration. He is not an Ivy Leaguer, having graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. A past executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, he leveraged that role into a series of jobs within the first Trump administration, finishing as program associate director for national security in the Office of Management & Budget. He spent the past few years as a consultant, cofounding Equinox Global Solutions, which describes itself as a market intelligence firm advising businesses with “expertise in defense, energy, the environment, science, technology, intelligence, foreign assistance, and international finance.”

Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering

Emil Michael is set to be the Pentagon’s top technologist. Michael, 51, helped lead Uber as its Chief Business Officer from 2013-2017. Prior to that, he was special assistant to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during the Obama administration. Harvard educated as an undergrad, Michael earned a law degree from Stanford.  

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs

Retired Navy Cmdr. Keith Bass will serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. Bass has led medical departments in the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the White House Medical Unit. Keith will be leading the charge to ensure troops are healthy and receiving the best medical care possible.    

Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary remains Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army National Guard major whose nomination initially looked troubled due to widely published allegations of sexual impropriety, alcohol abuse, and overspending during his time with a pair of non-profit veterans organizations. But Trump has stuck with Hegseth, and resistance in Congress, while still possible, has become more muted in recent weeks.  

Trump also said Joe Kasper will Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Defense. Kasper, a Navy veteran, was special assistant to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Acting Secretary Matt Donovan in 2019-2020. He has a decade of experience as a staff member on Capitol Hill, much of it with former Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter. 

Trump previously named John Phelan, a businessman donor with an MBA from Harvard, to be Navy Secretary and Daniel P. Driscoll, an Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, to lead the Army. Driscoll has been a senior advisor to fellow Yale Law grad Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.

Among the names floated for Air Force Secretary, the most frequently named in media reports has been Andrew McKenna, CEO of investment firm McKenna & Associates and a licensed pilot. He owns and operates a vintage P-51 Mustang and a T-6 Texan, and has flown with the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation.  

DOD, Lockheed Agree on Price for Next 145 F-35s

DOD, Lockheed Agree on Price for Next 145 F-35s

Dec. 23, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The F-35 Joint Program Office has agreed in principal to pay up to $11.8 billion for the next 145 F-35s from manufacturer Lockheed Martin—but final details on the deal won’t be hammered out until the spring. 

The action specifies that the cost will not exceed $11.76 billion for Lot 18 jets, pegging the average price for the three F-35 variants at $81.1 million. Work on the jets is to be completed by June 2027. 

The Department of Defense announced the “undefinitized” deal Dec. 20, saying final details will be worked out in the coming months. The Defense Acquisition University defines an undefinitized contract action as one that has “some aspect that is left open, to be determined prior to the start of contract performance.” Lockheed and the Pentagon previously agreed to an undefinitized contract action for F-35s in 2018, saying then that it allowed the company to receive funds to keep up production while final details were being negotiated. 

Among the 145 jets included are: 

  • 48 F-35As for the Air Force 
  • 16 F-35B and 5 F-35C models for the Marine Corps 
  • 14 F-35C models for the Navy 
  • 15 F-35A and 1 F-35B models for F-35 program partners 
  • 39 F-35A and 7 F-35B models for Foreign Military Sales customers 

Exact costs per type and service were not disclosed. 

Getting the undefinitized action is important for Lockheed; officials said in October that the company was fronting its own money to keep F-35 production up while negotiations dragged on. 

It could also be important given the upcoming change in presidential administrations. While President-elect Donald Trump has been highly complimentary of the F-35 and some Republican leaders want to boost defense spending, other administration insiders have been critical of the jet—most prominently Elon Musk, co-chair of the “Department of Government Efficiency.” Musk’s commission is supposed to advise Trump on cost-saving moves, and Musk has criticized both the F-35 program and the purpose of building crewed aircraft, rather than uninhabited drones. Musk’s comments have drawn sharp rebukes from both sides of the political aisle.

Air Force Reopens Competition for New F-16 Ejection Seats

Air Force Reopens Competition for New F-16 Ejection Seats

Dec. 23, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is reopening the competition for its Next-Generation Ejection Seat program, giving vendors the chance to offer their solutions for a new seat for the F-16 while sticking with its choice for the F-15. 

The service announced the decision Dec. 20, four months after it first cracked the door with a “sources sought synopsis.” Now officials say they will continue work with Collins Aerospace on its new seat for the F-15 while seeking other options for the F-16. Those options could carry over to the F-22 and B-1. 

In October 2019 the Air Force announced its intent to award a sole-source contract to Collins for its new ACES 5 ejection seat, declaring it was the “only company able to meet the Government’s minimum requirements for the NGES program.” 

In 2020, USAF and Collins agreed to a $700 million deal covering the F-15 fleet, planning at the time to also put the ACES 5 the all Air Force fighters—except the F-35—as well as on the B-1.

But now, with “new data, updated market research, and evolving operational demands, the Air Force will issue a revised acquisition strategy for the F-16 and F-22,” the service said in its release. The F-16 will be first. 

“The decision to re-open the competition underscores our commitment to continually assess our strategies to ensure we meet warfighter needs and timelines,” said Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics Andrew Hunter in the statement. “By reassessing market conditions and fostering competition, we ensure industry delivers the best possible solutions for both current and future Air Force requirements.” 

The main competitor for Collins is Martin-Baker, the only other manufacturer of ejection seats for Air Force planes. Its seats are on the F-35, the T-6, the T-38, and the A-29—and most prominently, its newest seat, the US18E, is being installed on new Block 70 F-16 fighters built by Lockheed Martin for foreign partners. As part of that process, the seat was qualified in coordination with the F-16 program office and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. 

A company official confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine that Martin-Baker will pursue the new F-16 opportunity on NGES, offering the US18E.

Collins, meanwhile, has a long history on Air Force programs. Its ACES II ejection seat flies on the F-15, F-16, F-22, and B-1, and the ACES 5 was tapped for the new T-7 Red Hawk trainer. 

ACES II was first developed in the 1970s. Kevin Coyne, a member of the SAFE Association, an organization focused on safety and life support systems, previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that while upgrades and modifications have been incorporated since then, new technology has developed that can reduce injuries and help pilots and aircrew survive the hazards of being hurled from their aircraft in flight—events that can cause all sorts of traumatic injuries. Coyne also said maintenance on ACES II seats can be difficult, requiring the removal of the aircraft canopy and extra equipment. 

ACES 5 makes improvements in those areas, Coyne said. If selected, it would replace the ACES II seats.

Refueling and Maneuvering Satellites in Orbit Is Key to National Security 

Refueling and Maneuvering Satellites in Orbit Is Key to National Security 

Dec. 23, 2024 | By Aidan Poling

Military history shows that the best defense is almost always a maneuvering offense supported by solid logistics. This was true for mechanized land warfare, air combat, and naval operations since World War II. It will also be true as the world veers closer to military conflict in space.  

China and Russia have each demonstrated anti-satellite missiles that can destroy satellites in space. Each has also developed various offensive capabilities that can temporarily or permanently disrupt U.S. satellites on orbit.  

In response, the U.S. Space Force is investing in increased resilience, with a proliferating number of smaller, less costly satellites for communications and missile warning. But resilience can make systems more survivable; it cannot, alone, deter conflict.  

Because orbits are predictable, satellites are relatively easy to attack. The ability to maneuver can mitigate that risk, but that presents another problem: Maneuver requires fuel, and fuel is limited on spacecraft because each additional ounce comes at a cost. Launch costs mean that size and weight are significant limiting factors on any spacecraft. As a result, today’s satellites carry only a limited supply of fuel. Nor are today’s satellites designed to be refueled. Once they deplete their initial reserve, they are all but dead.  

This is an unnecessary design flaw that should be addressed in all future satellites. Mandating that satellites support refueling and developing tanker spacecraft and commercial service providers to deliver fuel can extend lives and revolutionize the way satellites are operated.   

Air Force tanker crews revel in their motto—“Nobody kicks ass without tanker gas”—because they dramatically extend the range and duration of all refuelable aircraft. The ability to refuel in orbit would enable satellite operators to “maneuver without regret,” both to avoid potential conflict with adversary satellites and, when necessary, to hold adversary spacecraft at risk. 

An artist illustration of a Northrop Grumman SpaceLogistics Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV). MEV delivers life-extension services; docking with a client satellite running low on fuel and also take over attitude and orbit maintenance. With two ongoing commercial missions (MEV-1 in 2020 and MEV-2 in 2021), SpaceLogistics is the first and only company to successfully perform on-orbit satellite servicing of commercial geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites. SpaceLogistics

U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command leaders are eager for this capability. U.S. Space Command boss Gen. Stephen Whiting has argued that “it is time to bring dynamic operations and on-orbit logistics and infrastructure to the space domain.” 

Not being able to refuel satellites in orbit severely limits operational flexibility and empowers adversaries. It forces operators to choose between exposing satellites to risk in a game of orbital cat-and-mouse or shortening their lifespans each time they expend precious fuel.   

Satellites should fly “until missions are complete, not until the fuel we launched with is depleted,” notes U.S. Space Command boss Gen. Stephen Whiting. 

To date, however, Whiting’s plea remains unanswered, while China has already begun to develop its own satellite-refueling vehicle and to conduct wide-ranging satellite maneuvers.  

Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, Commander of Space Forces-Space, a key operational command, says he needs spacecraft to be able to “dogfight in space.” 

The Space Force has requested $16 million over five years to research on-orbit servicing and refueling. That’s a start, but it’s too little to achieve the needed results in a timely manner. More must be invested to enable change in a timely manner.  

A robust investment of $200 million each year over three years can put the Space Force on track to develop an initial operational satellite refueling and sustainment capability—setting the stage to change the game in space competition. Doing so is a strategic imperative.  

The Space Force has already identified a “preferred refueling interface standard” but has not yet required all future satellites to be designed for future refueling. Without investment, however, a commercial industry will never develop to do this kind of work.    

Investing in on-orbit refueling capabilities is about maintaining America’s strategic advantage in space. As on land and at sea, the adage that “amateurs talk tactics, but professionals talk logistics” applies in space as well. For decades, the United States has built up logistics advantages in the air, at sea, and on the ground. The ability to maintain and sustain equipment has been among its most important force multipliers. It’s time to do follow that playbook in space, as well.  

How Miss America 2024 Took the Air Force Somewhere New

How Miss America 2024 Took the Air Force Somewhere New

Dec. 20, 2024 | By David Roza

Most second lieutenants don’t work with the highest levels of the Air Force and meet thousands of people in a yearlong coast-to-coast speaking tour. But then again, most second lieutenants are not Miss America. 

When 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh became the first ever Active-Duty service member crowned Miss America on Jan. 14, top Air Force officials recognized an opportunity to reach women and girls who otherwise might not consider military service as an option.

“The Air Force hasn’t seen anything like this before, but also, on the flip side, Miss America hasn’t seen anything like this before,” Marsh told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “This was a collective opportunity on behalf of the Air Force to reach new audiences that we might not necessarily have been able to reach before.”

The need is real: in a 2023 youth poll, just 27 percent of female respondents said they felt confident they could complete boot camp, 29 percent said they could leave family and friends for an extended period of time, and 8 percent say they could fight in a war, compared to 50, 42, and 28 percent of their male peers. Propensity to serve is also consistently lower among women than men.

“Therefore, women who are qualified and capable of military service may not believe they could serve in the military or would be successful,” wrote one group of researchers in 2023.

Marsh sought to offer a different narrative: femininity and military service are not mutually exclusive.

“I was worried that I was going to have to sacrifice parts of my personality or parts of my life in order to put on the uniform,” she said. “And then we had this opportunity this year, collectively, for all women in the military, to show that we don’t have to give up our personalities. And that doesn’t go for just women, that goes for every person that puts on the uniform.”

miss america air force
2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, crowned Miss America 2024, poses with women at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh, WI, on July 24, 2024. Throughout the airshow, Marsh spoke with attendees about aviation and careers in the Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Miriam Thurber)

Marsh emphasized she is not the first woman to spread that message: thousands of others live it every day. But Miss America is a high-profile position, and Marsh spread the message wide: she visited 29 cities, conducted 51 media interviews, and performed 41 speaking engagements in front of hundreds of thousands of people. She drove the pace car at the Daytona 500, threw the opening pitch at a Mets game, and appeared on Good Morning America.

Did it work? Marsh found out at parents’ weekend at her alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, where a freshman shared a personal story.

“She said that she was really on the fence about accepting her appointment to the Air Force Academy,” Marsh recalled. “But when she saw that I won Miss America, she realized she didn’t have to give up who she was to join, and so that was her deciding moment to go through with it.”

Elsewhere, Marsh met a noncommissioned officer who decided to reenlist after speaking with her. Young women in Delaware told Marsh that, before meeting her, they didn’t know women could wear makeup and thought women had to act “more like men” while in uniform, according to a press release. Marsh also saw elementary school children draw two images not often seen together.

“Kids aren’t just drawing me with the Miss America crown and the sash or heels,” she said. “These little kids are drawing me with planes and the Air Force logo and a bald eagle and the American flag.” 

Sitting on Marsh’s desk is a double-image an eighth-grader from Colorado painted of her: from one angle she’s in her crown and sash, while from the other she’s in her uniform.

“Even though to a lot of people, those seem like very different things, at the end of the day, no matter if I’m wearing the uniform or the crown and sash, I’m still me,” Marsh said.

miss america air force
2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, crowned Miss America 2024, met with students and ROTC cadets at Manhattan University in Bronx, NY, on Oct. 17, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Miriam Thurber)

A Full Plate

A big part of being 2nd Lt. Marsh is living a life of service. Marsh was just 17 when her mother passed away from pancreatic cancer. The next year, she co-founded the Whitney Marsh Foundation, which has raised over $250,000 for cancer research so far. Soon after that, Marsh turned to pageantry to help get her through Doolie year at the academy.

“I was struggling—being removed from my family, grieving my mom, and now I’m in a really tough military environment,” she said in a January press release. “I decided to take a stab at pageants to see all the different ways that it could help me.”

Marsh recognized community service, leadership, and public speaking as overlapping values in both the Air Force and pageantry. In her senior year, Marsh was crowned Miss Academy 2023, then Miss Colorado 2023, and then the newly commissioned physics major pinned a new gold bar to go with her crown and sash.

The original plan was to someday become an astronaut. Marsh earned a pilot’s license at age 17 and received a billet for pilot training after graduating from the Academy. But she deferred pilot training for a two-year master’s degree in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School through the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Civilian Institution Programs. She also started an internship researching early pancreatic cancer detection at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, so that her policy studies are informed by science and vice versa. 

Marsh put those studies on hold after winning Miss America. Pentagon officials, the top public affairs leaders in the Air Force, and Marsh’s commanders at AFIT-CI came together to hammer out Marsh’s current public affairs/recruiting role. 

“Basically, anytime I go and do Miss America events, I’m also giving back to the Air Force to ensure people know about the message of what it means to serve as 2nd Lt. Marsh,” she said in the January release.

2nd Lt. Madison Marsh stands with pancreatic cancer survivors at the PanCAN Purple Stride fundraising event in New York City, April 27, 2024. (Photo via Pancreatic Cancer Action Network)

Meanwhile, Marsh still meets with cancer patients and oncologists, and she went to Capitol Hill earlier this fall to advocate with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Pancreatic cancer is difficult to detect early, which lends to its high mortality rate, and pancreatic cancer research funding lags behind that of other forms of cancer. 

Marsh said her cancer advocacy work goes hand-in-hand with serving as the public face of the Air Force, particularly when talking about leadership.

“When I’m in uniform, I can’t go about soliciting funds for my foundation, but I can still talk about my mom’s story. My leadership and the way I live my life is mostly because of the experiences that I’ve had from losing my mom,” Marsh said. “And then when I’m at Miss America events, even if I’m talking about my nonprofit, I’m still talking about the amazing leaders I’ve experienced in the Air Force.”

Marsh’s tenure ends when the next Miss America is crowned Jan. 5, a moment she predicts will be bittersweet.

“I’m really excited to go back to school, serving the Air Force, to do all of these fun and interesting things that I’m passionate about for the rest of my life,” she said. “But I know that I got to meet so many wonderful people this year … I’m always going to remember that.”

For now, Marsh will finish her Harvard degree, where she wants to focus on crafting health care and research policy for underserved communities, such as her home state of Arkansas. What’s next for Marsh’s Air Force career is up in the air, but she’s confident she’ll find a rewarding post.

“Above all else, if I’ve learned anything from this year, it’s that your service isn’t attached to what you wear,” Marsh said. “It’s all about what you do and who you are.”

That’s Not Santa: NORAD Tracks Russian Jets in Alaskan ADIZ

That’s Not Santa: NORAD Tracks Russian Jets in Alaskan ADIZ

Dec. 20, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Four Russian warplanes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone off the coast of Alaska on Dec. 18, North American Aerospace Defense Command announced—the first such incident in three months. 

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on the social media site Telegram that it had sent two Tu-95 Bear-H bombers, accompanied by fighter escorts, on a 15-hour flight “near the western coast of Alaska.” 

NORAD usually makes headlines this time of year for its annual Santa Tracker. But as tensions around the globe rise, NORAD’s attention right now is on Russian Bears, not Santa and his reindeer. 

The Alaska ADIZ is a “buffer zone” of international airspace where aircraft are expected to readily identify themselves. Both NORAD and Russia noted that the aircraft did not enter U.S. or Canadian airspace.

“This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” NORAD said in its release.  On a post on the social media site X, the command praised the Alaskan NORAD region’s response, noting the contributions of multiple units, including: 

  • The 611th Air Operations Center 
  • The 176th Air Defense Squadron, which serves as the regional air operations center 
  • The 211th Rescue Squadron, which flies HC-130J aircraft that can refuel other aircraft 
  • The 962nd Airborne Air Control Squadron, which flies the E-3 AWACS for airborne command and control 
  • The 18th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, which flies the F-16 
  • The 168th Wing 
  • The 22nd Air Refueling Wing, which flies the KC-135 and KC-46 
  • The 348th Reconnaissance Squadron, which flies the RQ-4 drone. 

The incursion into the Alaskan ADIZ was the first NORAD has acknowledged since Sept. 23. As it did this time, NORAD’s release noted that such activity occurs regularly and is not considered a threat. But the command revealed days later that it scrambled an F-16 to conduct a routine intercept of the Russian aircraft. During the intercept, a Russian Su-35 fighter cut across the front of the F-16 in what is known as a “headbutt” maneuver. The U.S. military called the encounter “unsafe,” and criticized the Russian aviator’s actions, saying they were “unprofessional and endangered all.” 

The December incident was the 12th instance of 2024 in which NORAD said Russian aircraft entered air defense identification zones around the U.S. and Canada . In July, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in the Alaskan ADIZ, raising alarms about the two countries’ growing ties and China’s foothold in the Arctic region.