Data Integrity, Not Cyber Attacks, Are What Most Worry Space Command’s Cyber Boss

Data Integrity, Not Cyber Attacks, Are What Most Worry Space Command’s Cyber Boss

Oct. 24, 2024 | By Shaun Waterman

What keeps the digital warriors charged with fighting America’s wars in space awake at night isn’t cyber attacks per se, but more nebulous threats to the integrity of their data, the chief information officer of U.S. Space Command told an industry conference. 

“The cyber threat is known to everyone,” Tse-Horng “Richard” Yu explained in a keynote address to AFCEA’s TechNet Indo-Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, calling the threat “serious, very important, and dangerous, real. I’m concerned about that.” 

But he added, “that’s a known-known. It’s when we start exploring the unknown unknowns that I have a hard time sleeping at night.” Chief among these are threats to the integrity of data, he said. 

For instance, if an enemy could invisibly alter the timing element of the position, navigation, and timing (PNT) service provided by GPS, even to a minuscule degree, the effects could be devestating to the Space Command mission—SPACECOM’s strategic missile defense capability depends on absolute precision, Yu said. 

“When there’s an ICBM coming this way, and we have to shoot it down with an interceptor, [that’s like trying to shoot] a bullet with a bullet. Not only do we need to know the x, y, z of that location, but timing is very important, because it’s flying in excess of 10 kilometers per second. So if our timing is off by even a fraction of a second, you can see that we’ll miss the target,” he said. 

There are many different ways U.S. adversaries might try to get the access they’d need for that kind of mischief. 

“I’m concerned about our supply chain, for example, where things can get through into our network and disrupt—without me knowing—my data set,” Yu said. 

Being able to rely on the integrity of data is critical but complicated, he said. “How do we, for example, know our timing is being spoofed? How do we know if our data is being spoofed?” he asked. 

Conventional cybersecurity is all well and good, he said, but it has its limits.

“In your house, you have perimeter defense on your doors and windows, so if somebody opens or breaks the door or the window, you’ll know about it. In the cybersecurity world, what if they got into my house? I have no way of finding out what they’re doing. That is scary,” Yu said. 

Yu acknowledged that there are technologies already available, and employed by Space Command, to check data set integrity. “I would love to have more capability to check the authenticity of data so that we don’t have the PNT, for instance, drifting off by fractions of a second all the time and causing havoc for our precision capability that our joint forces use,” he said. 

He called this approach to ensuring data integrity “zero trust at the data level,” riffing off the Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity, now being imposed across the military. In Zero Trust networks, all users and connections are considered suspect, their access and authorities reduced to the bare minimum needed to do their job. 

Reestablished five years ago (an earlier iteration was stood down in 2002), Space Command is a combatant command, one of the 11 organizations that actually plan and fight America’s wars. Like Strategic Command or Transportation Command, it’s a functional command, managing the satellite communications (SATCOM) and other spaced-based capabilities like GPS that are so vital to the modern military. But, uniquely, it’s also a geographical command, like Africa Command or Central Command, with an area of responsibility (AOR) that starts 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.  

That unique AOR is part of the reason why data integrity and cybersecurity are so important for Space Command, said Yu. 

“Our mission happens in the digital terrain. We fly the satellites through the digital terrain. We send the information from our functional services, like PNT, SATCOM, those kind of functional services through the digital cyber terrain. So everything we do is in that digital terrain,” he said.

Even the name of the chief information officer’s organization reflects the key role of the cyber domain for Space Command. In most military organizations, the J6 is named for some variation of Command and Control, Communications, Computers and Cyber. But at Space Command, the J6 organization is called the digital superiority directorate. 

“The forefathers of the U.S. Space Command understood that in order for us to deliver our space capability to the joint forces, we must first attain digital superiority,” Yu explained. 

But digital superiority isn’t an end in itself, he added: “In my mind, digital superiority is a way to get to decision dominance for our joint forces.” Decision dominance means being able to collect and process data faster than the enemy so that commanders can make better and faster decisions than their enemy counterparts. It means “we can see, we can think, we can analyze, we can act, all faster than the enemy, so that we can kill them or avoid them faster than they can even see us,” Yu said. 

Lockheed Working on Tech to Integrate F-35 with CCAs

Lockheed Working on Tech to Integrate F-35 with CCAs

Oct. 24, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Lockheed Martin is investing in new technologies to enable its F-35 fighters to easily control and interact with up to eight autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft—and planning to bid in the next-round of the Air Force’s autonomous drone program, company officials told investors during an Oct. 22 earnings call. 

The Air Force bypassed Lockheed in the first increment of CCA development, contracting with drone leader General Atomics and startup Anduril instead. The defense giant sees Increment 2 as a viable opportunity and the ability of future drones to collaborate with the Lockheed-built F-35 and F-22 as crucial to their success. The two fifth-generation jets are the Air Force’s most advanced fighter aircraft.

The Air Force wants to start fielding CCAs by the end of this decade. Lockheed officials say they’re already working on integration. 

“We’ve developed a pod that will enable the F-35 to control even today the CCAs,” CEO Jim Taiclet told analysts during a third quarter earnings call. “And we have a flight control system and a communication system in development that will enable that as well. And that could be converted, I think, to F-22 as well.” 

A Lockheed spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that Taiclet was referring to “internal investments we’ve been making that enable a single fifth-gen pilot to operate multiple uncrewed systems (or CCAs) from the cockpit of a fifth-gen aircraft. This work is focused on ensuring that our fifth-gen aircraft stay ahead of future capability integrations, like CCA control.” 

Exactly why an external pod is needed is unclear. It’s possible the pod has other purposes, or that it is a testbed for proving technology that, eventually, would be integrated into the existing F-35 through software or hardware updates. Lockheed announced two years ago it would invest $100 million in its own “Project Carrera” to develop manned-unmanned teaming technology. That plan included $20 million in F-35 development work.  

Lockheed’s Skunk Works division showed reporters a control station at at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September. General Manager John Clark said the station was for linking fifth-gen aircraft to CCAs, “and how all of this autonomy infrastructure and all this collaboration software helps facilitate the ability for a fifth-gen operator that’s got to fly his or her own airplane, and still interact with four to eight CCAs, and do so in an effective fashion,” said Clark. 

The Lockheed spokesperson added that the system “makes the control of multiple CCAs possible from a simple pad/tablet configuration.” 

The Air Force has said little in public about how manned fighters and CCAs will communicate and the interface pilots will use to manage their robotic wingmen. The F-35 can use both Link 16, the widespread tactical datalink, and its own stealthy Multifunction Advanced Data Link. 

Last month, the Marine Corps announced it had conducted a test flight in which an XQ-58A drone “demonstrated newly added Link 16 capabilities … marking the first time the Department of Defense controlled an air vehicle using offboard expeditionary methods.” The release did not specify those methods. 

Establishing a datalink between a manned and unmanned aircraft is just one part of the challenge. Officials must also figure out how to synthesize sensor data gathered by CCAs and integrate that into what a human pilot sees, optimized for relatively simple decision-making. 

Lockheed has already unveiled a Sniper Networked Targeting Pod for the F-35, with an advanced datalink allowing fourth-generation fighters to communicate securely with the F-35 and a new radio allowing the fighter to form a mesh network with other aircraft and ground and sea assets. 

A company official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that Taiclet was not referring to that pod in his comments. 

An F-35 can also be fitted with an external gun pod, but that compromises the aircraft’s low-observable characteristics. Lockheed did not offer further insight about the CCA pod.  

CCA Increment 2 

While Lockheed whiffed on CCA Increment 1, the company remains in the hunt for “Increment 2.” 

In September, Clark told reporters that the company overshot its target with a “gold-plated” CCA for starters, exceeding Air Force requirements. This time, the company is focusing on a lower-cost design. Taiclet said Oct. 23 Lockheed anticipates the Air Force will be looking for scale in Increment 2, which would seem to favor cheaper drones. 

“The way it’s been described to us is Increment 1 was proof of concept, more of an experimental kind of approach,” Taiclet said. “Increment 2 is going to be targeted to be fieldable, combat-ready, scalable design and production of the uncrewed teaming half of the system. So we are fully dedicated to that.” 

Quantity is an important factor, Taiclet argued.   

“We have to be able to meet the J-20, which is the Chinese [fifth-generation] combat tactical aircraft, with enough numbers in the Pacific,” he said. “The F-35 and F-22 now are the only really competitive jets against the J-20 one-to one. We have to field enough of those aircraft in a short enough timeframe to maintain an effective deterrent in the Pacific.”  

Taken together, Lockheed believes it can demonstrate the scale needed for Increment 2. 

“We have Skunk Works working on both the parent and the child, if you will, when it comes to all CCA concepts, Increment 2 is going to be really where we’re, I think, most competitive, because we can show that we can control these vehicles with today’s technology already at scale,” Taiclet said. 

NGAD 

The question of scale and speed may take on greater immediacy given that the Air Force has chosen to pause the Next-Generation Air Dominance program. Requirements for the planned sixth-gen fighter are again under review as the Air Force worries that initial designs were too costly to make them affordable in any kind of mass. The introduction of CCAs and the potential to introduce a stealthy tanker aircraft, dubbed Next-Generation Air Refueling System (NGAS) could alter the development picture, Secretary Frank Kendall has said. 

Taiclet said Lockheed continues to pursue sixth-generation combat aircraft concepts and will keep its options open. But advances in autonomy suggest a manned NGAD fighter may not be necessary.  

“We need to be able to bring autonomy and the CCA concept into fifth-gen and sixth-gen, if there is one,” he said at one point. 

“We’re preserving our optionality based on what the U.S. government and services determine to be their strategy for tactical fighter deployment over the next 20-30 years,” he said at another. “Part of that strategy is having Skunk Works continue to develop technologies that could be implemented for a sixth-generation tactical aircraft that’s a step function above what the F-22 and F-35 can do today.” 

PACAF Deputy: Large-Scale Exercise Next Summer Will Feature Nearly 300 Aircraft

PACAF Deputy: Large-Scale Exercise Next Summer Will Feature Nearly 300 Aircraft

Oct. 24, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Oct. 25 to include the official name of REFORPAC.

REFORPAC, the large-scale exercise in the Pacific planned for summer 2025, will be on a scale unseen by the Air Force in recent memory: nearly 300 aircraft spread across 25 locations. 

Lt. Gen. Laura L. Lenderman, deputy commander of Pacific Air Forces, detailed the size of the exercise during a keynote address at the AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific conference on Oct. 23. 

“The goal is to integrate and experiment with logistics, sustainment, and enabling capability to bring fifth-gen fighters, command and control aircraft, and airlift and air refueling into the Western Pacific at speed and scale, with approximately 25 operating locations, almost 300 aircraft, and sister services and partner nations involved,” Lenderman said. 

If the Air Force meets those numbers, REFORPAC—short for “Resolute Force Pacific” and sometimes referred to as “Return of Forces to the Pacific”—will significantly outstrip other major exercises the service has held in recent years in terms of number of aircraft and operating locations: 

Even Air Defender, the largest air exercise in NATO history held last June, had 250 aircraft, including 100 U.S. planes. 

Lenderman also said the Air Force will use the exercise to focus on Agile Combat Employment, the operational concept in which small teams of Airmen deploy to remote or austere locations, generate airpower, and move again quickly as needed. 

“We’re conducting multiple simultaneous ACE operations, and it’s an opportunity to refine our capabilities, strengthen our partnerships, test and stress ACE, and shift interoperability into interchangeability,” the general said. 

Lt. Gen. Laura Lenderman, Pacific Air Forces deputy commander, thanked Col. James McFarland for his service and welcomed incoming commander, Col. Julie Sposito Salceies, during the 613th Air Operations Center Change of Command Ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 26, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mark Sulaica

ACE originated with PACAF, and leaders have stressed its importance in a region where the Air Force may need to “island-hop” or operate from locations with World War II-era airfields. 

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in August that REFORPAC will include elements from U.S. Strategic Command; U.S. Northern Command; U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and Air Mobility Command, and that it will dovetail with other major exercises like Bamboo Eagle and Talisman Sabre, a large biennial Australian-U.S.-led event.

Officials say REFORPAC is just one in a series of large-scale exercises the Air Force will implement in the coming years as the service attempts to reorient itself for great power competition against China and Russia.  

Service leaders say that shift has to be done with urgency and speed given the pressing nature of the threat. 

“Time is not on our side when it comes to offensive and defensive operations, logistics, sustainment, command and control, or battle management,” Lenderman said. “We no longer have the luxury of long-term development for perfect solutions.” 

Instead, exercises like REFORPAC will help the Air Force identify stress points and innovative solutions to challenges—and Lenderman wants industry to help. 

“What we ask of you is to bring your best ideas, bring your concepts, bring your newest technologies, bring your ready kits to the Indo-Pacific theater at a level ready for experimentation,” she said. “Help us challenge our status quo. Help us stress Agile Combat Employment and our ability to command and control and execute contested logistics and our ability to perform dynamic force movements throughout the theater.” 

WATCH: How BAE Systems Is Delivering the Air Force an Electronic Warfare Advantage

WATCH: How BAE Systems Is Delivering the Air Force an Electronic Warfare Advantage

Oct. 24, 2024

Joshua Niedzwiecki, Vice President and General Manager of Electronic Combat Solutions at BAE Systems, shares how BAE Systems uses mission-based systems (and how those systems will work within the U.S. Air Force’s new Integrated Capabilities Command) to provide an EW advantage to the warfighter’ future fight.

Air Force Missile Cancer Study Samples for New Chemicals, Finds No Health Hazard

Air Force Missile Cancer Study Samples for New Chemicals, Finds No Health Hazard

Oct. 23, 2024 | By David Roza

The latest round of environmental sampling for the Air Force’s Missile Community Cancer Study found trace amounts of potentially harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds in the service’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) facilities, but not at levels that would pose a health hazard, Air Force Global Strike Command announced Oct. 22.

For the third round of environmental sampling, the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine once again tested the air, soil, and drinking water at missile alert facilities (MAFs) and Launch Control Centers (LCCs) across the Air Force’s three main missile bases and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif, which hosts missile launch facilities. LCCs are the underground capsules where Airmen operate ICBMs, while MAFs include the above-ground buildings where missile operators and the security forces Airmen guarding the facility live, eat, and sleep during an alert shift.

This round found trace levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VOCs are human-made chemicals used and produced in the manufacture of paints, pharmaceuticals, and refrigerants. They are emitted as a vapor by a vast array of products including paints, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials, office equipment such as copiers and printers, and permanent markers. Even the “new car smell” comes from VOCs emitted from the materials inside a new car.

VOC exposure can result in headaches, nausea, dizziness, irritation in the eyes and throat, and a few VOCs have been directly linked to cancer in humans, but the extent and nature of the health effects depend on a range of factors such as amount of time exposed and exposure level, according to Northern Arizona University.

The Air Force study found trace levels of VOCs in about one percent of samples, Global Strike Command said in a statement. In every case, those levels were below five percent of the recommended Threshold Limit Value, a method endorsed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for how much of a substance adults can be exposed to without experiencing adverse health conditions, the command said.

“The levels detected in the survey are not assessed to present a health hazard,” Global Strike Command wrote.

The tests took place over the summer as part of an effort to capture seasonal variations in the LCCs and MAFs, the head of Global Strike Command, Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, said in the release.

“Across all three rounds of sampling, we’ve learned a great deal about our facilities and what compounds are present in them, and most importantly how we can clean-up or mitigate those compounds to ensure our Strikers have a safe work environment,” he said.

Capt. Isabella Muffoletto, U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine bioenvironmental
engineer, labels different samples at L-01 missile alert facility, or MAF, near Stoneham,
Colorado, July 13, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Joseph Coslett Jr.)

In previous rounds of environmental testing, Global Strike Command found polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hazardous chemicals the EPA has deemed “probable human carcinogens” that were used in electronics and other equipment before being banned in 1979. Many ICBM facilities’ equipment predates then, and Global Strike Command found PCBs above EPA standards at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.; and Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

In June, the command said it would expand its environmental studies to the missile launch facilities, where maintenance Airmen work on the weapons.

The environmental studies coincide with an epidemiological study of cancer rates among missileers and other ICBM-related jobs compared to the rest of the military and the general population. Preliminary data released in March showed elevated rates of prostate and breast cancer. 

The data supporting those observations came from Department of Defense electronic medical records from 2001 to 2021, capturing service members diagnosed with cancer through the Military Health System and Tricare. The Air Force expects that accounts for fewer than 25 percent of the total cancer cases. 

The rest may be accounted for as the study expands. On Oct. 31, Global Strike Command will host a virtual town hall to discuss the results of the next phase of the epidemiological study, which covers Veterans Affairs medical records from 1991-2020, the DOD Cancer Registry from 1986-2020, and the Veterans Affairs Central Cancer Registry from 1976 to 2020.

“We won’t be able to make definitive statements about cancer incidence among the missile community until after we complete the epidemiological study,” Col. Richard Speakman, commander of the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, said in the release. “But we know from previous studies that military members do have higher rates of certain cancers. Hopefully this study will increase our awareness of any higher risk and enable Airmen, Guardians, and their families to make informed decisions.”

Hundreds of people logged onto an earlier town hall held in June. For years, the Air Force dismissed concerns among the missile community about connections between their work and cancer. In early 2023, those concerns were raised again as a result of a possible increased rate of cases of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a blood cancer, at Malmstrom Air Force Base. 

Bussiere, who dealt with cancer while still a captain flying fighter jets, has pledged to take an expansive approach with the study and reiterated to town hall participants that he does not intend to sweep the issue under the rug. 

“I believe it’s our obligation to completely understand the environment we asked our Airmen to operate in and do what we can to mitigate any risk or exposure,” the general said in the town hall.

SDA Sets Approved Vendor Pool to Compete for Experimental Satellites

SDA Sets Approved Vendor Pool to Compete for Experimental Satellites

Oct. 23, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Development Agency has created a pool of non-traditional defense space vendors to compete for experimental and demonstration satellite contracts in low-Earth orbit, director Derek M. Tournear announced Oct. 23. 

The Hybrid Acquisition for Proliferated Low Earth Orbit, or HALO, pool includes 19 companies under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract that pre-clears all participants to compete for individual awards.  

HALO prototype solicitations will seek two identical satellites able to launch 12-18 months after contract award in each round, SDA said in a release. 

SDA, now part of the Space Force, has primarily focused on developing the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a large constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites for data communications and missile warning and tracking. But the agency also has dabbled in experimental efforts, including: 

HALO provides a pool of vendors to compete for such programs.

First up is the Tranche 2 Demonstration and Experimentation Systems (T2DES) program, the successor to T1DES. 

“Through HALO, SDA has an even faster and more flexible contracting mechanism in place to compete and award T2DES and other SDA demonstration projects,” Tournear said in a statement. “We believe HALO will also increase the pool of performers capable of bidding on future SDA programs, including participation in layers of future tranches.” 

Back in October 2022, Tournear suggested that T2DES could be focused on “translator” satellites that can pull data from non-SDA satellites and feed it into the network. In mid-2023, the agency solicited industry feedback on the program. Since then, however, officials have offered few updates.

Of the 19 vendors in HALO, a few have been selected for SDA contracts in the past, such as SpaceX, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, and York Space Systems. Others, like Firefly Aerospace and Impulse Space, have worked with the Space Force in some capacity before. The full list: 

  • Airbus U.S. Space & Defense 
  • Apex Technology 
  • AST Space Mobile USA 
  • Astro Digital 
  • Capella Space 
  • CesiumAstro 
  • Firefly Aerospace 
  • Geneva Technologies 
  • Impulse Space 
  • Kepler Communications 
  • Kuiper Government Solutions 
  • LeoStella 
  • Momentus Space 
  • Muon Space 
  • NovaWurks 
  • SpaceX 
  • Turion Space 
  • Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems 
  • York Space Systems 
Space Force Adds 6 New Satellites to Its MEO Missile Warning Constellation

Space Force Adds 6 New Satellites to Its MEO Missile Warning Constellation

Oct. 23, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Space Systems Command is adding six more satellites to its medium-Earth orbit missile warning/missile tracking constellation, awarding a $386 million contract to Millennium Space Systems. 

The order doubles to 12 spacecraft the number of satellites in the constellation’s Epoch 1, and all will be built by Millennium, a Boeing subsidiary. The deal comes less than six months after SSC canceled a contract with RTX, due to cost growth, schedule delays, and design issues. 

Called the Resilient MW/MT MEO program, the constellation is scheduled for its initial launches in late 2026 and early 2027. 

“Once on orbit, Epoch 1 satellites will play a vital role in delivering advanced missile warning and tracking capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Nathan Terrazone, materiel leader for Epoch 1, in a statement. “Our commitment is to rapidly deliver operational requirements. Awarding this additional plane lets us do that without skipping a beat.”  

After dropping RTX, SSC contemplated shifting some satellites to Epoch 2. But “because of the flexible nature of its acquisition approach,” which used other transaction authorities to award the fixed-price contract, SSC was able to keep the program on cost and schedule and award the additional satellites to Millenium. 

SSC is already soliciting proposals for the next phase, Epoch 2, which will expand the constellation and enable global coverage. Launches are programmed for fiscal 2029.

“We are excited to see what industry offers us for Epoch 2, which will take us to initial warfighting capability in the next few years,” said Terrazone. 

The MW/MT MEO constellation will give the Space Force three missile tracking layers, one in each major orbital regime. In addition to the MEO satellites, the Space Development Agency is fielding a missile warning layer in low-Earth orbit and SSC is developing the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program for geosynchronous and polar orbits. 

Both agencies are iterating development through “spiral development,” building satellites, launching them, then adding capabilities in a follow-on set of launches. The widely dispersed warning systems aim to dissuade rivals from trying to attack the satellite constellations by putting so many satellites up that attacking them would prove fruitless.  

For Millennium, the project solidifies its prowess at rapid satellite development and delivery. Millenium, which is also involved in SDA’s low-Earth-orbit proliferated architecture, is under contract to provide it experimental fire control satellites.

SDA and SSC are coordinating their missile tracking efforts, each focusing on a different orbital regime. Satellites in LEO offer a more detailed picture and higher speeds, while satellites in GEO offer a persistent stare and a broader field of view. 

Austin Confirms North Korean Troops Are in Russia. Why Remains Unclear

Austin Confirms North Korean Troops Are in Russia. Why Remains Unclear

Oct. 23, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

PRATICA DI MARE AIR BASE, Italy—North Korean troops are deploying to Russia—a potentially “very, very serious issue,” according to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III—but it remains unclear if Pyongyang’s forces will directly support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“What exactly they’re doing? [That’s] left to be seen,” Austin said Oct. 23 during a stopover at an Italian military base near Rome, prior to returning to the U.S. from a weeklong European trip. “These are things that we need to sort out.”

Austin’s trip included an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Oct. 21 for meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top defense officials there.

“If they are co-belligerents, if their intention is to participate in this war on Russia’s behalf, that is a very, very serious issue,” Austin said. “It will have impacts not only in Europe, it will also impact things in the Indo-Pacific as well.”

Austin’s comments are the first official U.S. confirmation that North Korean troops are in Russia. Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence officials have said there are upwards of 10,000 North Korean troops heading to Russia. Speaking after Austin, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said there were at least 3,000 North Korean troops training at three sites in Russia.

“A lot of things to be answered,” Austin said. “Our analysts will continue to work this.”

Austin said American intelligence officials were still trying to assess what role the North Koreans might play. American officials do not know if the North Korean soldiers will be sent to fight in Ukraine, ease Russia’s manpower shortages by guarding rear areas in Russia, or if their presence is intended as a warning to Ukraine that Moscow is determined to fight on. 

“Number one, why are the troops there? We’ll continue to pull this thread and see what happens here.” 

Russia has already turned to North Korea for ballistic missiles and artillery shells. And Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June to discuss military cooperation. But the use of North Korean personnel would mark a major increase in Pyongyang’s help for Moscow’s war effort.

“There is a strengthened relationship, for lack of a better term, between [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and Russia. You’ve seen DPRK provide arms and munitions to Russia—and this is a next step,” Austin said, using the formal acronym for North Korea.

Austin said it was unclear what North Korea would gain from the deployment, but suggested it was a sign of Russia’s weakness. The Pentagon said Russia is facing its highest casualties of the war in recent weeks, and more than 600,000 casualties since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“This is an indication that [Putin] may be even in more trouble than most people realize,” Austin said.

“He went tin-cupping early on to get additional weapons and materials from the DPRK and then from Iran,” Austin said. “And now he’s making a move to get more people if that is the case if these troops are designed to be a part of the fight in Ukraine. But we’ll see.”

USAF Spends More, But Fighter Readiness Lags. GAO Wonders Why

USAF Spends More, But Fighter Readiness Lags. GAO Wonders Why

Oct. 22, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force ramped up operations and maintenance spending to keep its F-35A fighters flying over the past six years, but readiness continues to lag behind goals, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. 

Indeed, the Air Force is spending more and more to sustain its entire fighter fleet, but has seen only middling gains in mission capable rates, which measure the percentage of time an aircraft can fulfill at least one of its missions, the government watchdog found. 

GAO did not include precise, year-by-year figures on sustainment funding and mission capable rates by aircraft type in its public report, bowing to concerns from the Pentagon that deemed that data sensitive. But the analysts noted that:

  • O&M funding requests rose almost 27 percent from fiscal 2018 to 2023 for to sustain A-10, F-15, F-16, F-22, and F-35A aircraft;
  • O&M spending outstripped those requests during that period, rising by 40.7 percent;
  • And all told, the service spent nearly $34.2 billion on fighter sustainment—not including engine depot maintenance, service life extension programs, and certain spare parts procurement. 

Yet that jump in spending also came at a time of high inflation, erasing many of the increases.

Not once in that period did any of the Air Force’s F-15E, F-22, and F-35A fighters meet their objective mission capable rate. The aging F-15C and F-16C fleets hit their marks three times, meanwhile, and the A-10, F-15D and F-16D all met their goals once. 

Source: GAO

Sustainment troubles also plagued the Navy and Marine Corps, according to GAO, which found that “none of the 15 tactical aircraft variants [across the services] met their mission capable goals in fiscal year 2023.” 

Air Force leaders counter that mission capable rates are just one way of measuring readiness across different units, and that changes in the way rates are calculated contributed to the negative picture. The F-35 Joint Program Office, responsible for overall F-35 sustainment, has pushed back on prior GAO criticism, arguing that sustainment costs are coming down.  

Still, availability issues with the F-35 were already deemed bad enough In March 2023 for the JPO to declare a so-called “War on Readiness,” with the goal of increasing mission capable rates by 10 points, to 64 percent, within a year. 

It wasn’t to be. The Air Force said this summer its F-35A fleetwide mission capable rate was 51.9 percent in fiscal 2023—down from prior years and below its goal. Now, the GAO reports that during that fiscal year, the Air Force exceeded planned O&M spending on the F-35 by nearly 7 percent.  

Steady increases in projected sustainment costs for the F-35 are not unexpected, given that the size of the Air Force fleet is growing over time. Yet for four years in a row now, the service has spent more than expected on operations and maintenance for the Lightning II. 

The Air Force also has spent more than requested on F-22 sustainment while still missing its mission capable goals. USAF is planning billions of dollars in Raptor upgrades and modernization in the coming years, now that it’s clear the aircraft will be needed longer than previously anticipated. The Air Force took a “pause” on its Next-Generation Air Dominance Platform, meant to replace the F-22, this summer potentially setting that project back by several years.

The only aircraft on which the Air Force spent significantly less than projected was the A-10, with costs falling 13.5 percent below expected. The A-10 fleet is gradually being retired.  

Costs for the F-15 and F-16 fleets came in basically on target, as USAF divests its F-15C/D fleet. 

GAO noted the apparent disconnect between rising sustainment spending and stubbornly low aircraft readiness.  

“The variances observed between the executed and requested amounts for tactical aircraft are not meaningfully associated with mission capable rates,” the watchdog report states.