C-17 Flies Last US Troops out of Air Base in Niger

July 8, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The last few U.S. troops departed Air Base 101 in Niger on July 7, flying on an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III.

The moment marks a milestone in the ongoing effort to withdraw American forces from Niger, where they have conducted key counterterrorism missions from two air bases.

After Niger’s ruling junta scrapped a military cooperation pact with the U.S. in March, the military rulers ordered all American forces—nearly 1,000 military personnel—to leave the country no later than Sept. 15. Starting last month, U.S. troops and essential assets from Air Base 101 have been moved out, with the control of the installation area now returned to the Nigerien government.

“Today we reflect positively on the past 15 years of security cooperation and shared sacrifice by U.S. forces and Nigerien forces,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman, U.S. Africa Command Director of Strategy, Engagement, and Programs, said in a statement. “I am grateful for the close collaboration with our Nigerien hosts to support the safe, orderly, and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces commemorated today at Air Base 101.”

U.S. military personnel work side by side to oversee the loading of equipment onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, underscoring the collaborative effort in executing the withdrawal plan. This operation reflects the commitment to a safe, orderly, and responsible transition.

The two U.S. air bases in Niger have been key locations for Washington’s counterterrorism missions for more than a decade. With the closure of the base in the country’s capital of Niamey, the focus shifts to finalizing the withdrawal from Air Base 201 in central Niger, which the U.S. spent over $100 million to build only a few years ago. The base enabled the U.S. to fly drones, such as Air Force MQ-9s, to gather intelligence on militant groups in the region, including al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates.

Ekman told the Associated Press fewer than 500 remaining personnel in Air Base 201 will exit the nation in August, ahead of the September deadline. A small number of U.S. military personnel have already been relocated to other countries in West Africa, but the majority will be initially relocated to Europe.

“Both U.S. and Nigerien officials are dedicated to completing a safe, orderly, and responsible withdrawal by Sept. 15,” a joint statement from the Pentagon and the Department of National Defense of the Republic of Niger noted, highlighting their commitment to the protection of the American troops.

Since Niger’s elected government was overthrown by a military junta in a coup in July 2023, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) was installed to take control of the nation. Pentagon officials say they remain hopeful they can continue their anti-extremist mission in the Sahel nations of West Africa. In May, a senior military official, citing Nigerians, clarified that this move does not signify the end of relations, but rather the need to renegotiate.

U.S. officials also have emphasized that despite the withdrawal, the relationship between American forces and the Nigerien military “remains strong,” adding that the withdrawal of forces comes on the heels of “working against the backdrop of much more challenging political situation.” The officials have reiterated the two nations will continue to work together regarding issues of mutual interest.

Still, concerns linger as to how Russia and Iran may potentially exploit Niger’s unrest. Experts highlighted that other recent coups in West Africa in Mali and Burkina Faso were followed by a further rise in jihadist violence, geopolitical tensions with Western security allies, and, notably in Mali, the arrival of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group. Observers also note widespread anti-Western sentiment and public weariness with current governments across the violence-stricken Sahel nations.

U.S. officials have also raised concerns about the Nigerien junta’s potential decision to grant Iran access to Niger’s uranium reserves for its nuclear program. The Pentagon said American officials have held direct discussions with the junta regarding their intentions to foster relationships with Moscow and Tehran, although no agreements have been finalized.

How USSF Is Building Better Space Operators

July 8, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Space Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. said more advanced, integrated training for space operators is coming and will result in a readier, more combat-attuned force.

Creating Space Forces-Space, the new operational component under U.S. Space Command, has freed SpOC to put more emphasis on generating and sustaining ready combat forces, Miller said July 8 at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies Schriever Spacepower talk.

“The task is to improve it now based off the capabilities we have and rapidly spiral in as much as much capability as we can get,” Miller said.

Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. speaks at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in Arlington, Va., on July 8, 2024. Amy Hudson/Air & Space Forces Magazine

The establishment of Space Forces-Space (S4S) last December as the organization responsible for presenting forces to U.S. Space Command, enabled SpOC to better focus its efforts. Prior to S4S standing up, SpOC was pulled in two directions, presenting forces to SPACECOM and training Guardians to support all the other combatant commands. Now that the duties are split, Space Operations Command can better focus on how “to provide that spacepower to all the combatant commands, not just U.S. Space Command,” Miller said.

At the same time, SpOC is changing how it presents that spacepower. The new Space Force Generation Model defines periods of focus, so that units and the Guardians assigned to them get a break from day-to-day operations to train, regenerate readiness through high-end training and exercises, and then stand ready for full-time operational duty.

That high-end training—part of the six-week “ready” phase—is the key to improving, Miller said

“In the past, you might see an individual unit focus their training model on executing a mission-essential task list that was fundamentally about baselining their capability to operate a system,” Miller said. “That’s no more. It is primarily focused on the threat.”

To meet the threat, Miller added, Deltas will train together across a mission area, focusing less on specific systems and more on how to accomplish an objective.

“I was just at Buckley last week visiting Delta 4, which has the missile warning and tracking mission area,” Miller said. “The commander there is a guy named Col. Bobby Schmitt. He now trains, it’s not just SBIRS training … he’s training across the formation, across their ground-based radars, to track things like hypersonic vehicles better, to focus on potential fractional orbital bombardment system capabilities like the PRC had been building, better. So he’s training as a mission area.”

Following that, Miller added, Deltas will train for “planning across formations,” figuring out ways for different units to support each other and emulating how the joint force would operate in a fight.

To make that happen, SpOC had to synchronize the force generation model across units, a process that culminated July 1.

“Every unit went in together, they trained together, they were prepared together,” Miller said.

More modernization is needed, as Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman has noted in the past, and Miller echoed that sentiment.

“Right now we don’t have the emulation capability for the threat and the simulation capability across units to allow us to train at the high-fidelity levels that we will need to,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you, much of that training will likely be very sensitive and we would not want to expose that in a live-fly arena. So it’s going to probably have to be virtual.”

While past training simulations and software focused on particular weapons systems, Miller wants future systems to emphasize integration. Miller said he is working with his counterpart at Space Training and Readiness Command, Maj. Gen. Timothy A. Sejba, to create more training opportunities and tabletop exercises—highlighted by the service’s premier Space Flag exercise, which currently runs twice annually for three weeks.

“We’re trying to build those into a more rapid pace,” Miller said.

Sentinel ICBM Survives Pentagon Review, But Cost Jumps 81%

July 8, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The cost overrun on the Air Force’s LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile is more than twice what was anticipated early this year—81 percent compared to 37 percent—but Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante has certified that the program must continue, the Department of Defense announced July 8.

The Pentagon also indicated the program will be delayed at least three years, instead of the two previously predicted, and the Air Force alone seemingly must bear the cost of the overrun.

If the program was to continue as it had been previously structured, it would cost $140.9 billion, LaPlante said in a press conference to announce the results of a six-month, statutorily mandated review of the Sentinel he conducted after the Air Force revealed it was in breach of the Nunn-McCurdy Act in January.

The Nunn-McCurdy Act requires the Pentagon to inform lawmakers if a program incurs a cost or schedule overrun of more than 15 percent. Any breach over 15 percent is considered “significant,” while a breach of 30 percent is considered “critical.” For critical breaches, the Secretary of Defense must either cancel the program or certify it to continue as necessary for national security. A Pentagon official said the certification function was delegated by Austin to LaPlante.

The Sentinel program will be “reasonably modified,” LaPlante said, to take out some of the cost overage, but Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the final cost will still be similar to the new estimate for the existing program.

“Along with this certification to Congress, I am rescinding the program’s Milestone B and directing the Air Force to come back to me with a plan to restructure the program,” LaPlante said. “Preserving schedule will be a key consideration during this restructuring, but a delay of several years is currently estimated.” He offered no more specific prediction of the delay, previously estimated at two years.

It will take about 18 months to two years to restructure, Hunter said, but work on Sentinel will continue in the meantime.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for designing, developing, integrating, and testing the Sentinel missile, as well as the basing infrastructure that goes with it.

LaPlante said he certified the program is necessary and should continue because it is:

Essential to national security

There are no alternative programs that can achieve the requirement at less cost

The director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation agrees that the new costs estimates are reasonable

The program is “a higher priority than programs whose funding must be reduced to accommodate the growth in cost”

The program’s management structure is adequate to manage and control the program acquisition unit cost

Asked about alternatives considered, LaPlante said the review team examined “about four to five different options,” including extending the aging Minuteman III missiles until 2070, “hybrid options of different ground facilities, mobile versus fixed,” and others.

In every case, either the cost was “prohibitive” versus restructuring the Sentinel “or it didn’t meet the operational requirements that the warfighter had levied on us,” he said.

As for the “root cause” of the problem and whether the program should have advanced to the engineering and manufacturing development phase in 2020, LaPlante said “it’s clear, certainly for the ground segment, that … the department was not at a Preliminary Design Review—PDR—level of maturity at the Milestone B, which was in September of 2020.” The plan for the “ground segment” and “launch element” was lacking key information because building a new ICBM is something the Pentagon hasn’t done in 50 years, he said.

“The knowledge that we have today is much better than [we had] even have four years ago,” LaPlante asserted.

“It is important to note that this certification does not indicate business as usual,” he added. “The program will be restructured to address the root causes of the breach and ensure an appropriate management structure is in place to control costs.” He said there are “reasons” for the cost growth but “no excuses.”

“We fully appreciate the magnitude of the cost, but we also understand the risks of not modernizing our nuclear forces and of not addressing the very real threats we confront,” LaPlante said.

Hunter indicated the Air Force will be solely responsible for finding the roughly $45.3 billion in additional funds the Sentinel will require, but said the overages will not start kicking in for another five budget years. That means the Air Force has time to restructure its budget to adjust for the ICBM’s higher cost, he said.

Asked what might be cut to pay for the Sentinel, Hunter said “our current cost profile does not suggest that any of the cost growth in the Sentinel program will be realized over the course of the next five years or so—inside the Future Years Defense Program” and it will be “a decision far down the road to decide what trade-offs we’re going to need to make in order to be able to continue to pursue the Sentinel program.”

Those decisions won’t be made until the program reaches the Milestone B decision again, he added.

Hunter also said the cost growth on Sentinel is all still projected at this point.

“So this is future cost growth that we’re projecting and estimating,” he said. “And the reason why we now know about this projected cost growth is because we’ve dramatically accelerated the maturity of the design of the ground segment. That’s where the vast majority of this cost growth resides and is being driven by.”

While Sentinel is being restructured, “we’ll do what it takes to sustain Minuteman III to meet warfighter requirements,” Hunter said.

LaPlante noted that the plan that was reviewed is not the one which will govern the Sentinel from here on out.

“What is going forward in this certification is not that plan, but a modification of that plan, with some changes made to the launch facility to make it more cost effective, as well as less complex,” and to adjust the schedule.

He explained that the baseline launch facility “had a size and a complexity that when we looked at it carefully … could be scaled back.” By reducing the size and complexity, “it also reduces the timeline of doing the transition between the existing system—Minuteman III—and the new system. So both of those were where the changes that are being recommended for the modification.”

When the program is overhauled, Hunter said, “we will bring a new program baseline to Dr. LaPlante for approval, and those numbers may vary slightly from the numbers that we’re discussing today, but that’ll be the new program baseline, and we expect that process to take on the order of 18 to 24 months to complete.”

The Air Force has already taken “proactive steps” to correct the program while the review has been underway, Hunter said.

“Last fall, the Department of the Air Force established a Nuclear Oversight Committee, which is co-chaired by the most senior leaders of the Department of the Air Force,” he said. The committee is responsible for providing oversight of the Air Force’s nuclear enterprise, “including strategic bombers, land-based ICBMs, and nuclear command and control.” The Department of the Air Force also established “a dedicated program executive officer, or PEO, for ICBMs, and are in the process of elevating the commander of the Air Force nuclear weapons center to a three-star,” up from a two-star billet, and “established the Nuclear System Center.”

These steps “demonstrate our dedication to bringing the critically important Sentinel program to full mission capability,” he said.

Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James C. Slife said the ICBM leg of the nuclear triad is essential to complementing the air- and sea-based legs “amidst an increasingly complex and dynamic security environment, which for the first time includes the People’s Republic of China as a major nuclear armed power and strategic competitor.”

The land leg’s “geographic dispersal creates targeting problems for our adversaries,” Slife said. “Transitioning from the Minuteman III to the Sentinel system through a restructure program is the best way to continue providing these capabilities.” He said the Air Force will “continue working closely with the Department of Defense and other stakeholders to mitigate risk and minimize gaps as we field modernized systems for the future.” The service will continue to “sustain and defend the Minuteman III as [we] have for more than 50 years, while we field a new Sentinel ICBM weapon system.”

Sentinel is a massive program to replace the Minuteman III ICBM deterrent force. It will replace 400 missiles in silos, plus additional missiles for spares and test, and radically overhaul the silos themselves, as well as the launch capsules, communication systems, utilities and civil engineering for the ICBM enterprise.

The Air Force “fully supports the decision to restructure the Sentinel program and is committed to restructuring in a manner that provides robust nuclear deterrent into the future, promotes the most effective acquisition of this critical capability that controls cost and delivers weapons system on a schedule that ensures our ability to sustain the nuclear deterrent,” Hunter said.

The Department of the Air Force’s leaders are “acutely aware that we can and must do more to improve program management and oversight of this vital project. We do not take lightly the once-in-a-generation responsibility to modernize the ground leg of the nuclear triad, and are mindful of the scope and scale of this undertaking, which is unprecedented in contemporary times.”

LaPlante emphasized that the Sentinel is “a historic, multi-generational program to modernize this nation’s nuclear posture. The Nunn-McCurdy review we just completed was of the highest priority. It was detailed, comprehensive and objective. We’ve identified the root causes of the increased costs, and we are already working to . ..move forward. But most importantly, we believe we are on the right path, moving together and forward, and despite the historic scale and complexity, we can do this. We know we have to get this right, and we will.”

CCA Contract Expected in Fall; First Versions Under Construction

July 6, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will likely award a contract or contracts for the first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft in late September or early October, sources familiar with the program said. It’s not yet been decided if the Air Force will carry one or both of its Increment 1 competitors—Anduril and General Atomics—into the next phase of development.

Prior to contract award, both companies will have to pass “a CDR-like review,” an industry source said, referring to Critical Design Review, a benchmark that typically takes place after a program has been underway and under contract for two or more years. With CCA, though, the goal is to put actual operational examples into the hands of operators within two years of contract award.

Anduril and General Atomics were picked for the CCA Increment 1 phase in April. Unlike previous awards, the service said it will allow non-selected competitors to vie for production of the ultimately selected airplane.

The Air Force’s goal is to quickly produce 100 of the autonomous aircraft and begin experimenting with them operationally, using lessons learned to refine their design and capabilities. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said he sees an Air Force requirement for at least 1,000 and as many as 2,000 CCAs by the mid-2030s. He also sees the unit cost of CCA coming in at around a third of the cost of an F-35—about $27 million.

On the June 29 edition of “The Merge” podcast, Anduril and General Atomics executives discussed the state of their entries and both said numerous times they view the two offerings as “complementary,” so it is possible that both are expected to advance to the next phase, which may or may not carry the traditional description “engineering and manufacturing development.”

Much of the CCA effort is geared to “what’s available now, and what can we get now, instead of highly optimizing a platform that’s going to take us 10 years,” said Anduril vice president for air dominance Diem Salmon.

The Air Force is going to get “two very complimentary capabilities that they’ll be able to kind of procure and scale, and everybody wins,” she said.

Anduril’s offering is based on its “Fury” design, which started out as being targeted toward a stealthy sparring partner for F-35s and F-22s in live-fly mock dogfights; Anduril acquired the design when it bought Blue Force Technologies.

General Atomics’ CCA is based closely on its XQ-67A Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), being developed for the Air Force Research Laboratory. That aircraft flew for the first time this spring, and sources said it very closely resembles what GA will offer for the CCA.

An industry source said AFRL also planned an Off Board Weapon Station (OBWS) program that would partner with the OBSS as a hunter-killer two-aircraft system—but that has been subsumed into the CCA effort.

Mike Atwood, General Atomics vice president for advanced programs, said on The Merge podcast that his company’s CCA is already well under construction. Salmon said the program requires some “up-front risk” in terms of spending company funds to develop prototypes before a contract is awarded.

Both companies are privately held, giving each some flexibility to invest in independent R&D that publicly-held major primes may not have.

General Atomics is also working on the “LongShot” program, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency effort to obtain extended range for air-to-air missiles by launching a pod that can carry them closer to airborne enemies before release.

The Air Force and industry sources have confirmed that Increment 1 will be focused on an air-to-air capability, equipped with AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles the Air Force would buy in atypically large numbers in the fiscal 2025 budget request.

Sources said the Air Force envisions CCAs fanned out on a wide front, as many as six each controlled by a single crewed fifth-generation F-22 or F-35. The dispersed formation will create a large synthetic aperture radar net which can more precisely spot and target an adversary’s fifth-generation aircraft, allowing friendly forces to more quickly engage them and buy back some of the “first-look, first-shot” capability lost in recent years. It isn’t clear what kind of radar or shared radar the aircraft could use, as high-end Active Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) radars are expensive and might break the cost ceiling for a CCA.

Atwood said part of the program requires a plan for quickly fabricating aircraft at scale, something he said can be accomplished at GA’s San Diego-area facilities where production of MQ-9s is winding down. The GA version of CCA will also re-use some parts of the Reaper, further accelerating production. He said GA could deliver the first CCA inside of 24 months, “if not a year.”

Salmon said Anduril is similarly able to move quickly, having an “in-house composites shop,” although Atwood said CCAs may use more metal than composites, to ease production and reduce cost.

“We’re actually falling back on … hybrid structures: metal frames with composite skins,” Atwood said on The Merge.

Both executives said a major element of CCA Increment 1 will be developing trust among fighter pilots that the CCAs will go where they are meant to and do what the pilots tell them to.

Atwood said General Atomics is flying a number of its MQ-20 Avenger stealthy, jet-powered aircraft that are a step up from the MQ-9 Reaper, and “it’s time to get off the … Nevada Test and Training Range” and into the hands of operators.

An industry source said General Atomics has built seven Avengers, of which two are owned by the company and five are being used experimentally by other government entities. The Avenger has over 38,000 flight hours across 5,000 missions. Avenger has become “the surrogate CCA for autonomy testing,” the source said, having flown with “every autonomous software out there.”

“The technology is here,” Atwood said, that CCAs can be trusted, and Salmon said human aircrews just need “experience with it.”

Atwood said the Air Force has “honed in” on the appropriate size and capability of the CCA over many years, saying the X-45 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle was too big, while the Kratos XQ-58 proved too small.

Planning for a future autonomous aircraft beyond CCA is well underway, Atwood said. The next generation will be “much more survivable, autonomous, … cognitive.” He described it as being developed under DARPA’s LongShot program.

The Air Force funds the CCA in the same line item as the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, and in recent weeks, senior service leaders have voiced concern that NGAD may not survive as it is now structured: a multi-hundred million dollar, crewed successor to the frontline F-22. It may be that CCA is moving so rapidly that an autonomous version of NGAD—which would likely be far less costly than a piloted version—could be possible on the timelines required by the Air Force.

General Atomics is also looking toward future CCAs with its Gambit program, wherein various planforms could ride on a single common chassis and offer modular capability and modular construction. The high end of the Gambit line is envisioned as a hybrid-engined, high-altitude flying wing with 60 hours of endurance; roughly double that which can be achieved with the Reaper. GA is developing the engine for this variant, but DARPA is also funding Northrop Grumman to build a similar experimental aircraft, the XRQ-73 SHEPARD, for Series Hybrid Electric Propulsion AiR Demonstration, which would also have a hybrid electric powerplant.

European Nations Deploy Fighters to Indo-Pacific, Joined by USAF

July 5, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Nearly 50 aircraft from the German, French, and Spanish air forces are embarking on a series of exercises across the Indo-Pacific region from June to August, with the U.S. Air Force jumping in on several as well.

Dubbed ‘Pacific Skies,’ the massive deployment highlights Europe’s growing interest in the region, even as the war in Ukraine continues to dominate the continent.

The European aircraft, accompanied by over 1,800 military personnel from the three nations, will conduct exercises across Alaska, Australia, Japan, Hawaii, and India. The air forces of the three partners are already collaborating on the Future Combat Air System, an in-development, sixth-generation fighter aircraft.

“With Pacific Skies 24, we as Europeans show our face in a part of the world that is so important to all of us,” Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, the German Air Force service chief, said in a release. “Together with Spain and France, we are deploying to the Indo-Pacific region and taking part in five different exercises.”

A dozen German Tornados will be joined by eight German and four Spanish Typhoons, four French Rafales, four German H145M helicopters, four German, two Spanish, and three French A400M transport aircraft, as well as seven A330 MRTT multi-role tankers, totaling 48 aircraft from the three countries.

The ‘Arctic Defender‘ exercise launched in Alaska as the first event in the series. Aircraft from the three nations are engaging in joint tactics and techniques to improve interoperability with U.S. Airmen from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, incorporating F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing. Led by Germany, the exercise aims to train fighters to NATO standards, focusing on primary flight operations and simulated air combat conditions until July 18.

Next on the itinerary is ‘Pitch Black,’ an annual exercise hosted by Australia, running from July 12 to Aug. 2. The U.S. is deploying six F-22s to that exercise as well. This year’s iteration will be the largest in Pitch Black’s 43-year history, featuring over 140 aircraft and a total of 20 participating nations including Singapore, Italy, India, the U.K., and the Philippines.

A German Air Force PA-200 Tornado taxis during German Air Force-led deployment Pacific Skies 24 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 2, 2024. Aircraft and personnel have been conducting low-level flying training as part of the deployment. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Shelimar Rivera Rosado

These exercises underscore Europe’s concerns over China’s increasing military capabilities. During a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III in May, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized Germany’s commitment to promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Over the last few years, France and the U.K. have also expanded their regional deployments to bolster regional deterrence missions. Spain has encouraged the European Union to focus on security in the Indo-Pacific, stressing that the region is a “key interest.”

Pacific Skies is a significant milestone for the German Air Force, as it will be the final global appearance of their Tornado aircraft. The fighters have been in operation for the nation since the 1980s and carried combat missions during Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf War. As the last European nation to hold on to these jets, Germany is finally phasing out the fleet between 2025 and 2030.

After Arctic Defender and Pitch Black, some of the aircraft from France, Germany, and Spain will head to Japan for joint training with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, marking the first simultaneous deployment of air force units from the three countries in the nation. The Japanese defense ministry highlighted that this also marks the first training collaboration between Japanese Airmen and the Spanish Air Force in Japan, and only the second with the German and French air forces. Scheduled from July 19-20 and 22-25, the training will feature combat and tactical missions with Japan’s four F-15 fighters and two F-2 jets.

After completing training in Japan, three German Typhoons will participate in the latter part of the ‘Rimpac’ (Rim of the Pacific) exercise in Hawaii, the world’s largest international maritime exercise organized by the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Then, the Airmen from Germany, France, and Spain will join the ‘Tarang Shakti’ exercise in August, the Indian Air Force’s first multinational aerial exercise, inspired by the USAF’s Red Flag exercise.

Space Force Adds Two New Launch Providers

July 5, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Space Systems Command is adding to its roster of small launch providers, the Space Force’s latest move to fuel increased industry competition.

Blue Origin and Stoke Space are now authorized to compete for launches under USSF’s Orbital Services Program-4. OSP-4 is for fast-turnaround launches and small payloads, with launch contracts awarded 12-24 months in advance and mission requirements starting at 400-pound payloads. It was the vehicle used to award the launch contract for the Space Force’s “VICTUS NOX” mission, which moved a satellite from warehouse to orbit in five days last year. Firefly Aerospace, the launch company, got the contract 12 months in advance.

All told, there are now a dozen companies in approved for OSP-4: Blue Origin, Stoke Space, ABL Space Systems, Aevum, Astra, Firefly Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and X-Bow. One previous participant, Virgin Orbit subsidiary VOX Space, has dissolved.

Seven launches have been awarded through OSP-4 so far: three to Northrop Grumman and one each to Firefly Aerospace, Astra Space, Rocket Lab, and VOX Space. The program, which has a $986 maximum spend for an estimated 20 launches, must wrap up by October 2028.

SpaceX and ULA are members of both the OSP-4 and larger National Security Space Launch programs, and remain the dominant players in the launch industry. ULA held a virtual monopoly on national security launches for years, but SpaceX has surged ahead, accounting for 90 percent of U.S. launches in 2023.

Other companies, like ABL Space Systems, Relativity Space, and X-Bow, have yet to launch a military satellite. Some have yet to even put a spacecraft in orbit.

The two newcomers have vastly different backgrounds and experience with DOD. Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has already secured a place in NSSL Phase 3 and is gearing up to unveil its New Glenn rocket, an upgraded, larger version of its New Shepard rockets, by September.

Stoke Space only recently test-fired its first-stage rocket engine and is still working on its Nova rocket. Recently retired Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw, former deputy commander of U.S. Space Command, joined the company’s board of directors in April.

More Competition

Space Force officials want increased competition as a lever for driving down the price of launch. It split NSSL Phase 3 into two “lanes:” Lane 1 to prioritize commercial-like missions, where USSF expect to muster a higher tolerance for risk, and Lane 2 for no-fail missions.

When the service announced contracts for Lane 1 in June, Blue Origin was selected alongside SpaceX and ULA. But enabling new competitors to join OSP-4 offers a glimpse at what’s to come for NSSL, which might also add other authorized bidders to the program.

“As we anticipated, the pool of awardees is small this year because many companies are still maturing their launch capabilities,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for assured access to space, in a statement. “We expect increasing competition and diversity as new providers and systems complete development.”

OSP-4 could be a proving ground for start-ups like Astra and Rocket Lab, which are scheduled to launch missions in the next few years. Rocket Lab is also on contract to launch a satellite for VICTUS HAZE, the follow-up to VICTUS NOX, though that contract was awarded through the Defense Innovation Unit and is not part of OSP-4.

‘The Black Jet’: F-16 Squadron Gives Its Flagship an F-117 Paint Scheme

July 5, 2024 | By David Roza

The 8th Fighter Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., took a page out of the history books last month when it unveiled its F-16 flagship painted in a black and grey color scheme honoring the squadron’s past life flying the F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first operational stealth aircraft.

“We decided to highlight a unique facet of our history which aligns perfectly with the identity of our unit,” instructor pilot Maj. Daniel Thompson said in a July 1 press release.

Though the unit is now a training squadron for F-16 pilots, from 1992 to 2008 the 8th Fighter Squadron flew the F-117, an arrowhead-shaped jet designed to sneak past radar systems and strike targets deep in enemy territory. Development first began in 1978, with a first flight in 1981, but it was not until 1988 that the Pentagon acknowledged the existence of “the Black Jet.”

f-16 black — U.S. Air Force Maj. Colton Steen, 8th Fighter Squadron chief of weapons prepares for take-off at Holloman Air Force Base, June 25, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michelle Ferrari)

The F-117 debuted in the 1989 invasion of Panama and flew more than 1,000 sorties dropping precision-guided munitions in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. In 1992, the Black Jet joined “The Black Sheep” of the 8th Fighter Squadron, which earned its nickname flying P-40, P-47, P-38, and P-51 fighters over the Pacific Theater in World War II. To this day, the squadron emblem is a black sheep standing on a lightning bolt.

“Symbolic of the ‘daredevil’ qualities of fearlessness and boldness, he characterizes the squadron and its personnel,” according to one squadron history. “The lightning upon which he stands indicates the unit’s striking power.”

The F-117 greatly enhanced that striking power when the 8th deployed to the Middle East in the 1990s as part of Operation Southern Watch and to Europe in 1999 as part of Operation Allied Force, NATO’s effort to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. That March, the 8th’s Lt. Col. Darrell P. Zelko was shot down by a Yugoslavian surface-to-air missile but was picked up by Air Force rescue teams later that night.

Several F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters assigned to the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, launch on a mission from Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH 1998. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. James D. Mossman)

The 8th and its Nighthawks returned to Iraq in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom, where F-117 pilots struck targets where Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was suspected to be hiding.

By the time Iraqi forces responded to explosions in Baghdad, “I was already gone,” one Nighthawk pilot told Air Force historian Brian Laslie in a recent book.

Pilots from the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, brief prior to launching a mission in their F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, in support of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH 1998. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. James D. Mossman)

The Black Sheep continued to fly the Black Jet until 2008, when the squadron inactivated and the Nighthawk retired to climate-controlled storage facilities at Tonopah Test Range, Nev. But both the squadron and the F-117 have enjoyed a busy afterlife. The 8th returned in 2009 as an F-22 fighter squadron, then inactivated again in 2011 before reactivating a second time in 2017 as an F-16 training squadron.

Meanwhile, the F-117 reemerged at least as early as 2020 to serve as aggressor aircraft against U.S. fighter pilots in large scale exercises such as Red Flag and Sentry Savannah. There are about 45 Nighthawks that can fly or be brought back to flight, and the Air Force expects to keep the F-117 flying for test and training purposes through at least 2034.

An F-117 Nighthawk flies over the Nevada desert. Air Force photo by SSgt. Aaron Allmon II.

All of that legacy was painted onto the 8th’s flagship F-16 with the help of the fighter maintenance depot at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

“The F-117 paint scheme preserves and honors the legacy of the 8th Fighter Squadron from 1992 to 2008 and fosters a sense of pride continuity, reinforcing the unit’s identity and traditions,” Martha Whipple, historian for Holloman’s 49th Wing, said in a release. “This paint scheme bridges the past and present, educating the new generations of maintainers and pilots about the history of the Black Sheep.”

The F-16 flies as a daily trainer aircraft and represents the squadron at air shows.

“We were striving for a design that allowed the jet to perform in training and look good from all angles,” said Thompson, the instructor pilot. The paint job “never fails to make me smile whenever I catch a glimpse of it.”

Former USAF European Commanders: Let Ukraine Take the Fight to Russia

July 3, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

If Ukraine is to make strides in retaking its territory, the U.S. must stop being deterred by concerns about a broader conflict with Russia, and give the green light to use American weapons that can strike Russian staging areas, former Air Force European commanders said.

“This is bigger than airpower,” retired Gen. Phillip Breedlove, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command said during an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“We are nearly completely deterred right now,” Breedlove said of U.S. reluctance to take actions or provide Ukraine with weapons that could strike inside Russia.

“There are a myriad of options that I think could be considered and used,” he added, including ATACMs and air-delivered weapons that could strike Russian staging areas and air bases in far eastern Ukraine or inside Russia itself.

Basic military doctrine advises: “Seek the initiative and maintain the initiative, and we have blown both of those. We are deterred, and we are reactive,” Breedlove said. “We need to step up, and have the courage to address this.“

The event was to roll out a new paper from the Mitchell Institute, co-authored by retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute, and Christopher Bowie, airpower analyst and historian, on the significance of airpower for the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Retired Gen. Tod Wolters, also a former SACEUR and EUCOM commander and retired Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, former commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, also participated in the discussion.

Deptula recently returned from a visit to Ukraine, during which he conferred with and advised the country’s military leaders, offered suggestions about steps the U.S., NATO, and Ukraine should take to regain the initiative in the war, the beginnings of which date back to 2014 but devolved into an all-out conflict in 2022.

Wolters pointed out that it takes unanimous agreement on the part of all NATO allies—now numbering 32 members—to take offensive action, or actions that could be perceived as offensive. He said the U.S. is succeeding in making the case with its allies for a more proactive approach in Ukraine.

“We are in a position, after two years of great coaching in all domains to where we can take advantage of offensive capabilities,” Wolters said. “I believe that we’re getting closer and closer to be able to do that.”

Once momentum is regained by Ukraine, NATO should be “in a position to where, irreversibly, Ukraine becomes a member of NATO in six months [to] two years or three years from now. And those are the kinds of campaign momentum items that we have to be prepared to do,” Wolters said.

“We need to continue to put pressure on it to get those policy shifts to where we can begin to strike targets at range that are critical infrastructure that Russia possesses, that they are using against Ukraine to strike Ukrainian sovereign soil, and those are certainly justifiable targets in anybody’s observation,” he noted.

Wolters also noted that wars can last longer than expected and it is necessary to act now to achieve results down the road.

“You better have a steady, positive military campaign momentum, so that you can be the strategic victor,” he said.

Deptula said the war has devolved to a “ground-centric, attrition-focused grind,” which ultimately favors Russia. To break out of that rut and restore Ukrainian momentum, he offered a number of suggestions, which he said he discussed with Ukrainian officials.

“If Ukraine is to have a shot at victory, then we need to empower them to break out of this stalemate, and that requires effective air power, plus rules of engagement allow them to use it decisively,” Deptula said.

Air superiority “can provide Ukrainian forces the freedom from attack and the freedom to attack that’s absolutely necessary for them to achieve advantages relative to the larger and stronger Russian forces,” Deptula said. Western limits on how Ukraine can use weapons provided to it have given Russian forces “a sanctuary.” Those limits on long-ranged weapons must be “completely removed” he said, and Ukraine freed to attack “any Russian forces, materiel, or infrastructure that could be potentially used against Ukraine.”

To gain air superiority, Ukraine needs to discard its old, Soviet-style methods of using airpower purely to support ground operations.

“Only with the kind of integration that creates a synergy between surface and air operations can Ukraine further its military momentum on the battlefield,” Deptula said.

Ukraine must also be provided with the right weapons “in numbers sufficient to achieve strategic gains in the battlespace,” he said. These include both crewed and uncrewed aircraft, precision weapons, cyber and electronic capabilities, and intelligence and special operations which can all “play a significant role if coordinated in an integrated campaign.”

By integrating low-cost drone use with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), ATACMS, and cruise missiles, Ukraine can “suppress enemy air defenses. In this way, they can help establish air dominance in times and places of Ukraine’s choosing,” Deptula said.

Harrigian noted, however, that suppression of enemy air defenses is a skill gained through experience and practice and will not materialize quickly for Ukraine.

The F-16s that Ukraine will get from NATO donors “can create effects across a much broader and strategic target set,” Deptula said. They will expand radar detection range, expand threat warning and situational awareness through Link 16 and, along with Mirage 2000s being donated by France, “also deliver heavy weapons in mass that, with their superiority, can disrupt Russian ground forces and pave the way for Ukrainian army progress and breakthroughs.”

Deptula and Bowie’s recipe for success requires the U.S. and NATO no longer deter themselves with “escalation management” and allow Ukraine to shoot ATACMS against Russian air bases that generate sorties against Ukraine.

They also urge greater provision of timely intelligence for Ukraine “to make quick and decisive determinations on when and where to employ its forces to achieve windows of air dominance.” Ukraine must stop treating aviation “as extension of ground forces,” and Deptula urged Ukraine to incorporate air leadership on its general staff “to foster and facilitate integrated, all-domain concepts, planning and employment.”

Breedlove argued that “we are not giving Ukraine everything they need.” Rather than a “silver bullet” in the form of F-16s, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or any other particular system, “what we need is the ability to broadly use those tools that we bring to the to the fight that are an integrated ability to hold Russian targets at risk before the Russian forces can be brought to bear on Ukraine.”

As it now stands, “We have to wait for them to come across the border, except for a couple areas that we’ve authorized, we have to wait for Russia to fire or strike before we respond, and we need to break out of that and use all the tools” in the Air Force’s toolbox and “would hold targets much deeper in Russia at risk.”

Air Force Will Swap in F-15EX and F-35 Fighters on Japan

July 3, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S. Air Force will shift and upgrade its fighter presence in Japan, placing F-15EXs at Kadena Air Base and F-35s at Misawa Air Base, the Pentagon announced July 3.

The announcement comes more than a year and a half after the Air Force announced it would start bringing home the 48 F-15C/D Eagles at Kadena Air Base, without naming a permanent replacement.

The F-15EX, a much upgraded version of the F-15, was long seen as the likely replacement at Kadena but had not been confirmed to this point.

Misawa, which currently hosts F-16s, is the first announced foreign air base in the Indo-Pacific to host USAF F-35 fighters, and just the second overall, after RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom.

The number of fighter aircraft at each base will shift. Kadena will go from 48 to 36, while Misawa will go from 36 to 48.

A Department of Defense release did not specify a timeline for either base’s transition. The Air Force has already announced several planned locations for the F-15EX and F-35, and it is unclear if the Japanese bases will jump them in line to get new aircraft.

In the interim, fourth- and fifth-generation fighters will continue to rotate through Kadena. Located just 400 miles from Taiwan, Kadena is a key strategic location and can swiftly deploy fighters for Pacific Air Forces exercises. F-15s have been at the base, on the island of Okinawa, since the 1980s.

Most recently, the base has hosted F-22s from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., as well as F-16s from the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing and from the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing.

Misawa, by contrast, is located at the far north end of Honshu, Japan’s main island, and is closer to North Korea and Russia than China. It is more than 1,500 miles from Taiwan.

The Pentagon also announced that the Marine Corps will adjust the number of F-35Bs it hosts at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.

“The Department’s plan to station the Joint Force’s most advanced tactical aircraft in Japan demonstrates the ironclad U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan and both countries’ shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the Pentagon said in a release.

F-15EX Locations

Portland Air National Guard Base, Ore.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, La. (planned)

Fresno Air National Guard Base, Calif. (planned)

F-35 Locations

Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska

Hill Air Force Base, Utah

Luke Air Force Base, Ariz.

Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

RAF Lakenheath, U.K.

Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

Truax Field, Wisc.

Dannelly Field, Ala.

Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Burlington Air National Guard Base, Vt.

Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas (planned)

Jacksonville Air National Guard Base, Fla. (planned)

Kingsley Field, Ore. (planned)

Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass. (planned)

Moody Air Force Base, Ga. (planned)