Air Force General Cleared of Sexual Assault, Guilty of Other Charges

June 29, 2024 | By David Roza

Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart, the first general in Air Force history to face a court-martial by jury, was found not guilty of sexual assault but convicted of other charges on June 29.

The eight-general panel—the military term for a jury—found Stewart not guilty of two counts of Article 120, which forbids sexual assault. The panel did convict him on one count of Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly inviting a subordinate to spend the night with him; and a count of Article 92, for allegedly controlling an aircraft within 12 hours after consuming alcohol.

Earlier this week, on June 24, Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of dereliction of duty under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for pursuing an unprofessional relationship, and to one count of violating UCMJ Article 134, for having an extramarital affair.

The court-martial now moves into the sentencing phase, which is expected to start June 29 and will be overseen by the judge, a spokesperson for Air Education and Training Command said in a statement.

“Presentation of evidence, and matters in aggravation and mitigation will be offered by counsel,” explained Capt. Scarlett Trujillo. “Frequently victim impact statements are made as well.”

A spokesperson for Stewart’s defense team said the team would have a statement after sentencing.

The maximum punishment for willful dereliction of duty not resulting in death or grievous bodily harm is a bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 6 months, according to the 2024 Manual for Courts-Martial. The maximum punishment for extramarital conduct is dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for 1 year.

Back in December, the presiding officer at Stewart’s preliminary hearing recommended the case not proceed to court-martial. Retired Col. Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor of the Air Force, described the officer, Col. Brian Thompson, as a highly-experienced former prosecutor, so he was unsurprised that Stewart was found not guilty of sexual assault. Still, he said the finding does not diminish the gravity of the other charges.

“The remaining crimes he was found guilty of committing are serious and his sentence should reflect that,” Christensen said. “As general officer, he let down the troops he led as well as the Air Force.”

The trial began June 17 with administrative proceedings followed by nearly a week of jury selection where more than 13 general officers—all of whom had to outrank Stewart or have pinned on a second star before him—traveled to the courtroom at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Selection ended with eight members on June 22, followed by presentation of evidence and witness testimony starting June 24, including testimony from the alleged sexual assault victim. Stewart declined to testify, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

The only other Air Force general to have been court-martialed, Maj. Gen. William Cooley, was convicted of abusive sexual contact in 2022 by military judge alone. Stewart was relieved as the head of the 19th Air Force, by Lt. Gen. Brian Robinson, the head of Air Education and Training Command (AETC), on May 9, 2023.

PHOTOS: On ‘I-Day’ at Air Force Academy, Class of 2028 Becomes Basic Cadets

June 28, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Class of 2028 at the U.S. Air Force Academy arrived at the school for in-processing day, known as ‘I-Day’ on June 26. The appointees checked in to commence administrative records processing, receive uniforms and equipment, and take the oath of office.

Selected from more than of 10,099 applicants, the Class of 2028 includes 1,132 attendees, with approximately 29.7 percent being women. The class included some 215 appointees arriving with a private pilot’s license, including 50 women, Academy spokesperson Dean Milller told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Another 4.3 percent of the class are prior enlisted Airmen.

Also among the new cadets on I-Day were 437 appointees of color, 38 percent of the class. The list included 16 international students, each hailing from a different country: Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Moldova, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Tunisia.

“It’s a key to how we build partnerships with our allies overseas,” Miller said about the Academy’s international student program. “You can imagine the impact of going into a theater and having our officers work with someone they went to school with.”

By law, the Academy can have a maximum of 60 international students at any given time, allowing for about 15 new admissions per year. Prospective international students must secure a nomination through their government, typically facilitated by their defense ministry. Miller added that the Academy works with the embassies and the host nations throughout the application process.

All attendees on I-Day were issued “Contrails,” a little blue handbook that contains all the information a new cadet needs to know, according to Miller. The new cadets will have some pop quizzes throughout their Basic Cadet Training period based on the material in the booklet.

I-Day also includes the Oath of Office, marking the appointees’ transition to the title of Basic Cadet. They commence training with an introduction to Air Force customs, courtesies, dress, and appearance standards, including haircuts for men and hairstyle instruction and haircuts for women. This is also when the new cadets receive uniforms and necessary equipment before progressing to Basic Cadet Training.

This intensive six-week regimen serves as the Academy’s inaugural trial, initiating transformation from civilian to future officer. Basic Cadet Training concludes in early August as the Class of 2028 is formally welcomed into the Cadet Wing during the Acceptance Day Parade.

Last month, at the Academy’s Class of 2024 graduation ceremony, 974 cadets joined the Air Force’s ranks, with 93 entering the Space Force as second lieutenants. The event also saw 15 international cadets graduate alongside their U.S. classmates. The graduating class was 69 percent men and 31 percent women.

Since the first class commissioned in 1959, 54,883 Academy graduates have commissioned into the Air Force, and 485 have commissioned into the Space Force.

Generals Start Deliberating as Arguments End in Stewart Court-Martial

June 28, 2024 | By David Roza

The first panel in history to sit for the court-martial of an Air Force general entered deliberations June 28. Eight general officers will now consider the fate of the defendant, Maj. Gen. Phillip Stewart. The former head of the 19th Air Force, which is responsible for pilot training, faces charges of sexual assault, conduct unbecoming an officer, and controlling an aircraft within 12 hours of consuming alcohol.

A spokesperson for Air Education and Training Command said the jury began deliberations at about 1:05 p.m. Central Time at the courtroom at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, following closing arguments from government prosecutors and the defense counsel. Six of the eight members of the jury, called a panel in a military court-martial, must vote that Stewart is guilty in order for him to be convicted.

The maximum punishment for sexual assault, a charge for which Stewart faces two specifications, is forfeiture of all pay and allowances and confinement for 30 years, with a mandatory minimum of dismissal or dishonorable discharge.

“We won’t speculate on how much time deliberations will take,” Marilyn Holliday, chief of operations for AETC public affairs, said in a statement. “The next step following the announcement of the verdicts is the determination of punishment, if any guilty verdicts are determined.”

Earlier this week, on June 24, Stewart pleaded guilty to one count of dereliction of duty under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for pursuing an unprofessional relationship. He also pleaded guilty to one count of violating UCMJ Article 134, for having an extramarital affair.

Stewart has pleaded not guilty to three other charges: two counts of violating Article 120, which forbids sexual assault; one count of Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer for allegedly inviting a subordinate to spend the night with him; and a second count of Article 92, for allegedly controlling an aircraft within 12 hours after consuming alcohol.

The trial began June 17 with administrative proceedings followed by nearly a week of jury selection where more than 13 general officers—all of whom had to outrank Stewart or have pinned on a second star before him—traveled to the courtroom at San Antonio. Selection ended with eight members on June 22, followed by presentation of evidence and witness testimony starting June 24, including testimony from the alleged sexual assault victim. Stewart declined to testify, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Stewart’s charges include six specifications:

Two specifications of violating Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, failing to obey a lawful order or regulation, first for allegedly failing “to refrain from pursuing an unprofessional relationship” and second for allegedly controlling an aircraft within 12 hours after consuming alcohol. The first specification allegedly dates to March 6 and May 9, while the second allegedly dates to on or about April 14 at or near Altus Air Force Base, Okla.

Two specifications of violating Article 120 of the UCMJ, which covers rape and sexual assault, for alleged nonconsensual sexual contact, dated on or about April 13 and 14 at Altus.

One specification of violating Article 133 of the UCMJ, conduct unbecoming an officer, at or near Denver, Colo., on or about March 6 and March 8, where it alleges that Stewart, “while on official travel, wrongfully invite [redacted] to spend the night alone with him in his private hotel room[.]”

And one specification of violating UCMJ Article 134, which refers to “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces,” for allegedly engaging “in extramarital conduct” on or about April 13 and 14 at or near Altus.

Air Force Vet Indicted for Leaking Secrets on Weapons ‘Vulnerabilities’

June 28, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

An Air Force veteran and former civilian employee was indicted this week for leaking classified information on USAF aircraft and weapons.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced the grand jury indictment of Paul J. Freeman on June 27, after Freeman had been arrested and made his initial appearance in federal court.

Federal officials allege Freeman “transmitted classified national defense information about United States Air Force aircraft and weapons to people not authorized to access the information” repeatedly in 2020 and 2021. A nine-count indictment states Freeman shared information “related to the vulnerabilities” of U.S. Air Force aircraft and weapons.

Freeman is scheduled for a detention hearing on July 1 at the United States Courthouse in Pensacola, Fla.

An Air Force spokesperson identified Freeman as a retired lieutenant colonel and developmental engineer who entered service in 1975 as an enlisted Airman, was commissioned an officer in 1984, and retired in 2003. His last active duty station and title was operations officer with the 46th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is nearby his listed residence Niceville, Fla.

Freeman appears to have rejoined the service as a civilian after retiring. Records from a separate court case in 2019 indicate an individual identified as Paul J. Freeman of Niceville, Fla., was hired as a civilian in 2003 as an engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The Air Force could not confirm if the two cases involve the same individual. The Department of Justice declined to release any further information beyond its release and indictment.

According to court records of the 2019 case, Freeman sought court relief after the Air Force fired him from his job in AFRL’s munitions directorate. The records show Freeman was involved with a Special Access Program, meaning it fell into a class of highly classified programs with extra safeguards and controls. Working on that program from 2007 to 2012, the records say, Freeman “sent two emails with classified information from his personal computer … to unauthorized recipients, including several news outlets, government agencies, public officials, and military commanders who were not cleared to receive such information.” The records say Freeman refused to report to his worksite following a 10-day suspension.

Special Access Programs require individuals to sign nondisclosure agreements and follow other protocols.

Freeman did not contest that he sent the emails, according to court records, but argued in his appeal that his disclosures were covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, and said he refrained from returning to work because he feared for his safety. A panel of judges from the federal circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals denied his appeal, ruling that Freeman neither qualified for whistleblower protections nor faced any danger in returning to work.

The unauthorized disclosure of classified information remains a major concern among military and national security leaders. Just this week, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command, Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, raised alarms about China’s continued efforts to exfiltrate technological secrets from U.S. defense contractors, for example. And the ongoing case of Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman alleged to have shared hundreds of top secret and classified documents to online chatrooms via his Discord screen name and persona, prompted the Pentagon to undertake several reviews of its security programs and how it tracks insider threats.

At the same time, officials have warned that China is seeking to recruit U.S. military pilots and operators to train their own aviators and to gain insights into American tactics, techniques, and procedures. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a bulletin earlier this month warning of such moves, and in February the Air Force warned that the Chinese are recruiting U.S. “pilots, maintainers, air operations center personnel, and a variety of other technical experts” to build up their expertise.

‘A Chunk Taken Out of His Spine’: F-16, KC-46 in Refueling Incident over Europe

June 28, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter and a KC-46 Pegasus tanker were involved in an aerial refueling incident off the coast of the Netherlands on June 27, service officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The incident was first noticed by a user on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, who posted audio from the aircraft radio and air traffic control. Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed the recording is authentic.

A KC-46, callsign “Kanza 91” was refueling an F-16 with a “Warhawk” callsign when problems erupted. Someone on the radio frequency says an F-16, “Warhawk 3,” has aerial refueling “door damage” and “a chunk taken out of his spine due to a too close breakaway incident” between the fighter and the tanker. The person later indicates the damage to the spine of the aircraft is aft of the aerial refueling door. An Airman aboard Kanza 91 then says their aircraft was “damaged and unable to refuel” and asked another aircraft to see if there were cables flying from the back of the aircraft. The response was not recorded.

The aircraft involved were an F-16 was assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, and a KC-46A from the 931st Air Refueling Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit based at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., that is forward deployed to Europe, a spokesperson for the 52nd Fighter Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“The incident is currently under investigation. Pilots and aircrew returned safely,” the spokesperson said.

The Air Force did not address questions regarding possible damage to either the KC-46 or the F-16.

The 480th Fighter Squadron, nicknamed the Warhawks, is the only fighter unit stationed at Spangdahlem. Open-source flight tracking data reviewed by Air & Space Forces Magazine shows that the KC-46 also took off and landed at Spangdahlem, which often acts as spillover base for airlift and tanker aircraft.

🇺🇸USAF Boeing KC-46A Pegasus 15-46009 as flight #KANZA91

🇺🇸USAF SP F16A as flight #WARHAWK3 (2 ship with WARHAWK2)

Issue during AAR : to close break away incident -> damage #WARHAWK3 & boom #KANZA91 #NLspot #USAF pic.twitter.com/0kTRQrHnhP
— ''The Lazy 🌴 Garden 🌴'' Eindhoven Spotter 🇳🇱 (@EHEH_Spotter) June 27, 2024

Flight tracking data shows the KC-46 circled near Spangdahlem at roughly 8,000 feet for just short of an hour before landing around four hours after it took off. The aircraft were flying over the Netherlands to participate in an exercise with the Dutch Air Force.

“The aircraft incident did not affect Exercise Turbo Weasel, an incredible training opportunity between the United States and Dutch Air Forces, which occurred during the week of 24-28 June,” the 52nd Fighter Wing spokesperson said.

The KC-46, made by Boeing, has been plagued by problems with its refueling system. The Air Force and Boeing are currently working to resolve multiple Category I deficiencies, including a “stiff” boom and the Remote Vision System (RVS), a setup of cameras and monitors the boom operator uses to connect the tanker to the refueling aircraft. The system washes out or blacks out in certain conditions, such as in direct sunlight. The RVS system can also cause issues with boom operator’s depth perception, which creates the risk of the boom operator accidentally hitting the aircraft the KC-46 is refueling.

However, the cause of the incident on June 27 is unclear.

China ‘Actively’ Working to Disrupt U.S. Defense Industry

June 27, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

China and other adversaries are actively seeking to disrupt the U.S. defense industrial base, the head of U.S. Cyber Command warned June 25.

Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh said the People’s Republic of China is “engaging thousands of intelligence, military, and commercial personnel” to steal U.S. intellectual property and disrupt defense firms business processes. Speaking at the 2024 AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference, Haugh cited Volt Typhoon, a Chinese hacking enterprise, for moves to infiltrate critical industries.

The Department of Defense released its first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy in January, and followed up with a Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity Strategy in March. That strategy noted that China is “conducting a focused campaign to undermine the nation’s operational effectiveness and obtain information on sensitive DIB acquisition programs in technology.”

China has long sought to harvest U.S. defense companies’ expertise. In 2019, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper accused China of “perpetrating the greatest intellectual property theft in human histor,” while other experts have long suggested that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s premier J-20 fighter jet incorporates numerous stolen design secrets.

Today, however, “adversaries are operating with greater scope, scale and sophistication,” Haugh said, and the threat is not limited to intellectual property theft, but now encompasses efforts to disrupt supply chains and critical infrastructure.

“The PRC is engaged in deliberate and sustained campaign to challenge the United States and our allies technologically, while holding our critical systems and national infrastructure at risk, posing a threat to our defense industrial base,” he said.

Asked to describe what kinds of increased cyber activity aimed at the U.S. he has seen, Haugh cited Volt Typhoon as “the most concerning area.”

“Our concern has been that these targeted operations have gone at critical infrastructure and have been viewed as holding that critical infrastructure at risk,” Haugh said. “So that’s a serious concern, not just to the United States, but also to our allies.”

U.S. Air Force Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, U.S. Cyber Command commander and director of the National Security Agency/chief, Central Security Service said China seeks to exploit vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrical base, June 25, 2024. Photo by David Marin/Defense Information Systems Agency

For the most part, concern around Volt Typhoon has centered on how the group has penetrated civilian infrastructure networks like energy, water, and communications. Other officials have said hackers penetrate military networks and regularly target areas around U.S. military bases and nearby industrial base facilities.

“Cybersecurity is not the top priority for many of the companies within the defense industrial base,” Haugh lamented. “It’s just not their primary focus. These companies and entities focus on manufacturing, innovating and developing the tools that win this country’s wars.”

Closer partnerships between the industrial base and CYBERCOM and NSA could ease the risk, he suggested.

“U.S. Cyber Command has been delegated the authority to enter into arrangements with private sector entities to share threat information,” Haugh noted. “One such industry collaboration occurs through an effort called ‘Under Advisement.’ With Under Advisement. U.S. Cyber Command maintains ongoing relationships with cybersecurity firms, researchers, and individuals across the cyber ecosystem and the defense industrial base by exchanging information and working collaboratively.”

NSA, meanwhile, has started providing cybersecurity support to industry through its Cyber Collaboration Center, which Haugh called “a pretty radical change” from past practice. Still, cyberattacks and intrusions will continue. It will take a dynamic, responsive defense—built on the industry- and growing defense standard known as “zero trust,” an approach that demands networks continually verify users and devices to ensure appropriate access and to protect vital data. The defense industrial base will have to follow those same best practices, he said, in order to ensure a robust and resilient defense.

New Training Program Gives One MQ-9 Maintainer the Skills of Three

June 27, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

A new training initiative at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., is helping MQ-9 maintainers expand their specialties, essentially giving one Airman the skills of three to be able to generate sorties with minimal crews.

The program helps maintainers learn how to handle avionics, weapon systems, and aircraft power generation (crew chief work) for the hunter-killer drones. It is set to graduate its first cohort of Multi-Capable Airmen (MCA) next month.

“This program was born from the idea of potential combat in the Pacific theater in future conflicts, where we would need to island hop to propel the flying mission forward,” Tech Sgt. Cory Westerfield, 29th Aircraft Maintenance Unit aircraft section noncommissioned officer in charge, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We have already had success in sending MCA-qualified individuals on temporary duty and being able to send smaller teams since skill sets now overlap, especially for avionics and crew chief specialties.”

The Air Force has used the terms Multi-Capable Airmen and Mission-Ready Airmen to describe its push for service members to learn skills outside their main speciality, allowing the service to generate more airpower with smaller teams.

Holloman’s MQ-9 program kicked off in March, featuring four cycles each lasting 4 weeks. During each cycle, members from avionics, aircraft power generation, and weapons specialties in each unit rotate through training in each other’s specialties.

“An avionics technician who specializes in electronic systems used on aircraft would normally not be a part of airframe and engine maintenance,” Master Sgt. Michael Nistler, 29th AMU section chief, said in a release. “The MCA program allows them to learn launch and recovery procedures, tire and brake assembly replacements, engine theory of operation, and component replacements in addition to weapons systems.”

On July 3, by the end of the fourth cycle, the program expects to produce 33 MCA-qualified Airmen, adept in avionics systems operations, communication tasks, launch and recovery procedures, engine theory, and more. The training prepares physically separated aircrew and maintainers to collaborate effectively for unified combat and ISR operations.

“You get the overall knowledge about how the aircraft functions and how other sections work together and communicate with each other,” said Airman 1st Class Kennedy Richardson, 29th AMU avionics technician, who is currently undergoing the training.

The long-term goal is to “minimize the number of maintainers” required for deployment, Westerfield explained. Such a move fits with the service’s Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept, emphasizing rapid deployment of small teams to adapt quickly in challenging environments.

“ACE and MCA can go hand-in-hand with smaller, cross-section teams able to perform required maintenance,” said Nistler.

Reaper operations used to require launch and recovery aircrews at each location. Recent upgrades to the aircraft include Automatic Takeoff & Landing Control (ATLC) and Satellite Launch & Recovery (SLR), reducing the number of on-site Airmen needed.

Westerfield added that starting last fall, Holloman has exclusively used Satellite Launch & Recovery for daily operations to train Airmen in this capability.

“SLR removes the need for launch and recovery aircrews at deployed locations, as maintainers can now set up the aircraft to connect to the satellite network in coordination with the MCE (Mission Control Element) aircrew that will be piloting the aircraft during the mission,” said Westerfield. “Moving locations quickly without having to move a lot of equipment infrastructure is beneficial to the efficiency of the mission, saving man hours, refueling trucks and equipment.”

Maintainers prepare the aircraft for satellite connectivity, then hand control over to Mission Control Element crew for piloting. Using Automatic Takeoff & Landing Control (ATLC), the MQ-9 drones can autonomously take off and land based on pre-defined or newly scanned airfield waypoints.

“Our unit has become capable of upholding the Agile Combat Employment initiative, both with the execution of satellite launch and recovery of aircraft and the MCA concept,” said Nistler.

The MQ-9, a long-endurance drone, is designed for reconnaissance and strike missions, primarily targeting time-critical and high-value targets in various environments. The U.S. has deployed a number of Reapers to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war to gather information about hostages held by militants, and for combat operations.

Air Force Confirms Its F-35As Were Mission Capable About Half the Time in 2023

June 27, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The F-35A mission capable rate for fiscal 2023 was 51.9 percent, with the Air Force blaming spare parts availability for the decline from the previous year’s figure of 56 percent.

Mission capable rates measure the percentage of time an aircraft is able to perform at least one of its core missions.

The service previously reported the fiscal 2022 MC rate as 65.4 percent, a figure Air & Space Forces Magazine included in its annual almanac. Now, however, officials say that figure was inaccurate.

Asked about the significant discrepancy and the reason for the error, a service spokesperson said “the reason for the inaccurate number last year isn’t immediately available, but we shared a correction as soon as we realized the error. In order to be consistent, the MC capable rates we report each year measure the same criteria.”

The new figures match those published in an April audit of F-35 sustainment costs from the Government Accountability Office. In that report, the GAO said the F-35A’s mission capable rate peaked in 2020 at 71.4 percent, then declining to 68.8 percent in 2021, 56 percent in 2022, and 51.9 percent in 2023, as the Air Force brought on more jets at the rate of about 40 per year. The GAO quoted the Air Force’s “minimum performance target” MC rate for the F-35A at 80 percent, and its “objective performance target” as 90 percent.

In the audit, the GAO noted that “none of the variants of the aircraft (i.e., the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C) are meeting availability goals,” but allowed that the services “have made progress in meeting their affordability targets (i.e., the amount of money they project they can afford to spend per aircraft per year for operating the aircraft). … This is due in part to the reduction in planned flight hours, and because the Air Force increased the amount of money it projects it can afford to spend” on its F-35As.

The GAO report states the Air Force now expects to pay $6.6 million annually per tail to operate and sustain the F-35A, a roughly 34 percent increase over the figure it cited in June 2023 of $4.1 million per airplane. The service also told the watchdog agency it would continue to operate the F-35 about eight years longer than originally planned but fly each aircraft less often. The service expects to fly each F-35A about 187 hours per year, versus the original plan of 230 hours per year.

While the Air Force has in previous years stated an MC goal rate of between 75 and 80 percent for most its aircraft types, it has abandoned that practice, a service spokesperson said.

“The Air Force does not have an overall [MC] goal or standard,” she said.

Mission capable rate “‘goals’ are specific to the wing/unit flying the aircraft, derived from either syllabus sortie requirements (training) or home-station training and real-world operation requirements (ops bases),” the spokesperson added.

The service has said the way it measures mission capability rates has changed in recent years, with more focus on readiness of aircraft either already deployed or about to deploy and less on stateside aircraft. The spokesperson reiterated that stance, claiming MC rates “do not equate to Air Force readiness rates.”

“They are just one component assessed at the unit level to help determine how ready a squadron is to meet the threat,” the spokesperson said. Instead, the service measures readiness “by how well the Air Force can carry out its missions, which requires more than mission-capable aircraft. It also requires trained and ready air crew, maintainers and other airmen, as well as enough spare parts and resources.”

The Air Force declined to offer explanations for significant declines in mission capable rates for various fleets, such as the C-5 Galaxy, B-1 Lancer, and other platforms where huge resource investments in maintainability and reliability have not paid off in aircraft availability. Overall, MC rates for most Air Force fleets—44 of 64 types—declined in fiscal 2023 over 2022.

Air Force Releases First Video of XQ-67 Drone, a CCA Prototype, in Flight

June 27, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force released the first video of a new experimental drone in flight on June 26, offering a potential preview of the service’s future fleet of autonomous collaborative combat aircraft.

Air Force Research Laboratory published a 90-second clip of General Atomics XQ-67A’s inaugural flight, which occurred in February at the company’s Gray Butte facility in Palmdale, Calif. General Atomics, the Air Force’s main drone manufacturer for the past 30 years, was awarded one of two design contracts for the first autonomous collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) in April. The company called the XQ-67A a “CCA prototype” when it won the contract.

The XQ-67A is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Platform Sharing (LCAAPS) program to test a so-called Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), which is exploring data-sharing technologies hosted on an autonomous drone. The aircraft is piloted remotely but capable of autonomous flight. It is the Air Force’s follow-up to Kratos’s XQ-58A Valkyrie, which was originally developed under the USAF’s Skyborg autonomous aircraft program and is now being tested by the U.S. Marine Corps.

General Atomics said in a release April 24 that the XQ-67A had completed three test flights since its first takeoff on Feb. 28. The company has trumped the aircraft as a preliminary version of a CCA.

“This program focused on building several aircraft variants from a common core chassis,” General Atomics, also known as GA-ASI, said in a release after being awarded the CCA Increment 1 design contract. “Since then, this prototype for CCA has successfully completed two additional test flights, laying the groundwork for a successful production and flight test program. GA-ASI’s CCA production representative design is based upon the XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station developed by GA-ASI for the AFRL.”

The Air Force is also testing out its autonomous technology, in part, on the X-62 VISTA, a modified F-16. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall rode in an AI-piloted VISTA last month in simulated dogfights against a human pilot.

“Designed, built, ground tested, and flown in just over two years, AFRL’s XQ-67A builds on the success of the XQ-58A Valkyrie and complements the Air Force Test Center’s X-62 VISTA and F-16 VENOM efforts to speed fielding of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA,” ARFL said in its release.

The Air Force leaders say their intent is to move at the pace of technology and not fall behind by developing CCAs as traditional aircraft programs.

“As we’re looking at leaning into human-machine teaming and developing these collaborative combat aircraft, we’re trying to do three things in parallel, which sometimes we had done serially,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in May. “We developed a platform … and then afterwards, we’ll figure out how we’re going to do the rest of DOTMLPF [doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities] spectrum, and how we’re going to actually employ it and how we’re going to base it, etcetera. We’re doing those all at once now.”

Allvin doubled down on those comments earlier this month at an AFA Warfighters in Action event, noting the Air Force is making “big bets” on human-machine teaming, which was informing how the service thought other types of aircraft, not just drones. He said the service was thinking through how it might use and perhaps discard particular CCA technologies in as little as a decade rather than follow a model based on traditional aircraft programs that span may span 30 years or more.

The XQ-67 is based on a similar philosophy.

“This provides an alternate acquisition approach for ACP [autonomous collaborative platforms] aircraft using a product line philosophy that enables faster development, lower costs, and opportunities for frequent technology refreshes,” AFRL said in its release.