Quick Actions Earn F-15E Pilot the Mackay Trophy for Daring Secret Mission

Jan. 16, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

An F-15E Strike Eagle pilot was honored last week with the 2022 Mackay Trophy, awarded by the Air Force and the National Aeronautic Association for that year’s most meritorious flight.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin presented the award to Maj. Stephen Keck on Jan. 11 at Nellis Air Force Base, where Keck now serves in the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron. Keck was the Defensive Counter-Air Team Lead in 2022, with the 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, when he and his weapon system officer, Lt. Col. John Rabun, “identified a critical error during ingress that would have given away” a special operations team’s position.

“In response, Keck and Rabun corrected the error by being proactive and shifting to a more aggressive posture of their forces,” according to a press release. “During the mission, Keck also identified an adversary aircraft in the contested airspace and initiated an intercept to ensure the safety of ground forces. Ultimately, the success of the operation resulted in the capture of a senior terrorist leader.”

The 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to the Middle East from April to October 2022, but the squadron’s precise location was never disclosed.

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles, assigned to the 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, fly alongside Saudi Arabian Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles during an agile combat employment exercise Agile Spartan within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Sep. 5, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christian Sullivan

“When we flew that night, we had a very well developed and understood game plan that enabled our ability to operate at our best,” Keck said in the release. “Flying alongside other folks at the top of their game ready to use their capabilities to fight our enemies and protect our allies was an awesome feeling.”

Much of the Air Force’s combat operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility have been in support of the anti-ISIS mission in Syria and Iraq.

The Mackay Trophy was first awarded in 1912 and has gone to such Air Force legends as Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Medal of Honor winner Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, and Vietnam aces Col. Charles B. DeBellevue, Lt. Col. Jeffrey S. Feinstein, and Brig. Gen. R. Stephen Ritchie.

“Maj. Keck’s inspiring actions reflect exactly what it takes to be a stellar Airman and aviator—ingenuity, tenacity, and audacity,” Allvin said.

In 2021, the trophy went to a pair of AC-130J Ghostrider crews who aided in the evacuation of American diplomats from Kabul, Afghanistan, and accomplished the longest unaugmented flight in AC-130J history. This was the eighth consecutive Mackay Trophy awarded to Airmen for actions in the CENTCOM AOR.

The Clarence Mackay Trophy, as it was in 2019, at the National Aeronautic Association’s Fall Awards dinner. Courtesy photo.

Pentagon Reveals Second Wave of Strikes Against Houthis in Yemen

Jan. 12, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

U.S. and British forces have carried out airstrikes and sea-launched cruise missile attacks on nearly 30 locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the Pentagon said Jan. 12, striking a dozen more sites than were previously revealed.

The additional strikes were conducted during the overnight hours of Jan. 12 and followed an initial wave of attacks that were intended to degrade the Houthis’ capabilities to attack shipping in the Red Sea, Director of Operations for the Joint Staff Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II told reporters.

All told, more than 150 precision munitions were employed against more than 60 targets spread out over 28 locations, Sims said.

The initial wave of attacks were directed against “command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems,” Air Forces Central commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich said in a statement. The follow-up attacks were more dynamic in nature, U.S. officials said.

“Based on the hostile act, hostile intent, a determination that those weapon systems would be employed against the maritime or air forces, and as a result, they struck those targets,” Sims said of the second wave of attacks, which occurred shortly after the first strikes.

That wasn’t the end of it. An additional “follow-on” strike was carried out against a Houthi radar site in Yemen in the early morning hours of Jan. 13 local time using Tomahawk cruise missiles from the destroyer USS Carney, U.S. Central Command said. The purpose was to neutralize a target that wasn’t fully destroyed in a previous strike, U.S. officials said.

The earlier strikes were carried out by U.S. Navy aircraft from the Carrier Air Wing Three on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and USS Mason, the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, and an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine, Sims said.

The British government said four Royal Air Force Typhoons were involved in the strike and struck an airfield and a drone facility. U.S. Air Force assets were also involved, though officials did not specify which platforms.

The Houthis, an Iranian-backed group that controls most of Yemen, have carried out 28 attacks on commercial shipping since mid-November, with the latest occurring soon after the U.S. and U.K. strikes.

On Jan. 1, President Joe Biden asked for military options after a Dec. 31 clash in which Navy helicopters came to the rescue of a commercial vessel the Houthis were attacking and sank three small Houthi boats. The U.S. and 12 other countries then issued a joint statement on Jan. 3 warning of “consequences” if attacks continued. But that did not deter the Houthis, who on Jan. 9 mounted their largest attack yet, launching drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.

“On Tuesday, Jan. 9, nearly 20 drones and multiple missiles were launched in multiple salvos directly against U.S. ships,” a senior administration official told reporters on Jan. 11. “This attack was defeated by the U.S. and UK naval forces working jointly as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the defensive coalition established last month in response to these attacks. If not for this defensive mission, we have no doubt that ships would have been struck, perhaps even sunk, including, in one case, a commercial ship full of jet fuel.”

After that attack, Biden convened a meeting of his national security team and directed Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to carry out a military response, the official added.

“We will make sure we respond to the Houthis if they continue this outrageous behavior along with our allies,” Biden told reporters on Jan. 12.

Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance militia groups Tehran arms have carried a range of strikes against U.S. forces and international shipping since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Iranian-backed militias have carried out more than 130 attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, while the Houthis have sought to attack Israel and commercial shipping.

The Biden administration says that its goal is to deter future attacks without broadening the fighting in the Middle East.

“This was a comprehensive strike intended to not only back up last week’s diplomatic statement but to do real damage to the Houthis’ ability to conduct more of these attacks,” former CENTCOM commander retired Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“In and of itself, it will probably be insufficient because it is likely the Houthis will attempt to test us again,” said Votel. “That means we need to be prepared to do it again and reinforce the message that we find these unprovoked attacks on shipping unacceptable.”

“Iran may try to test us as well and we need to be sending very clear messages that they should not do this,” Votel added. “We need all of our elements of national power being applied in a coherent strategy.”

Commercial and military vessels are at particular risk near Yemen because they must use Bab el-Mandeb strait to cross between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a critical chokepoint.

Nearly 15 percent of seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Many commercial shippers have been forced to divert ships around the southern coast of Africa, causing significant delays and costs for the global economy, with some carmakers announcing halts in production. The White House said 2,000 ships have been forced to divert and more than 50 countries have been affected by the attacks.

“This cannot stand,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak added.

But U.S. officials said they were clear-eyed about the continuing Houthi threat.

“It seems within the DNA” to continue attacks, Sims said. “I would hope that they don’t retaliate, but we’re prepared in the event that they do,” he said.

New Defense Industrial Base Strategy Warns of Long Recovery to Reverse Atrophy

Jan. 12, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The decline of the defense industrial base happened over 30 years—each decrement a logical response to world events—and turning it around to deal with modern realities won’t be quick, according to the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy released Jan. 11. But the Biden administration is touting the steps it has taken already to inject more vigor and resiliency into its defense enterprise, even as it prepares to release an NDIS “implementation plan” next month.

“The contraction of the traditional DIB (both commercial and organic) was a generation-long process and it will require another generation to modernize,” according to the forward of the NDIS, penned by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen H. Hicks.

The DIB can’t do what it needs to do without an all-of-government approach; something the administration said it has been working on since taking office. Officials touted numerous executive orders, studies and other steps—besides the NDIS itself—to assess and take action needed to match the military rise of China and the emergence of a geopolitical multi-polar world.

The “arsenal of democracy” that “overwhelmed the Axis powers in World War II and contributed significantly to deterring the Soviet Union during the Cold War” has shrunk in size and capacity as a natural reaction to world events, the NDIS notes.

“The ‘peace dividend’ and ‘procurement holiday’ that followed saw dramatic cuts in military force structure, weapons production, and corresponding stockpiles of munitions and materials,” the strategy states. “Most notably, the traditional Defense Industrial Base (DIB) consolidated in the wake of the Secretary of Defense meeting with the major prime contractors and their suppliers in 1993 at what became known as the ‘Last Supper.’”

In that meeting, then-Defense Secretary William Perry warned contractors they should actively look for mergers to adapt to deep cuts in defense spending, as there wouldn’t be enough work for all of them. Since then, the number of U.S. military airplane companies, for example, has dwindled from to eight to three, and many second-tier aircraft component manufacturers have also been vertically integrated with them.

The Pentagon needs to build “a more robust, modernized defense industrial ecosystem” and doing so requires “a dynamic effort across the U.S. government to create the legal and policy conditions that allow new entrants into the defense production and services community,” the NDIS states. “We must solicit entrants of all types: large and small, domestic, and foreign, and those with no previous relationship to the DOD or defense production. This will require reinvigoration and the development of new dialogues and relationships.”

The DIB must be a “competitive advantage” for the U.S and its partners and allies, the Pentagon said.

Major world crises—from the COVID pandemic to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Israel-Hamas war—caused the Pentagon to realize major changes in the DIB were needed, according to the NDIS.

“The COVID-19 crisis demonstrated America’s near-wholesale dependency on other nations for many products and materials crucial to modern life,” the strategy noted. “Longstanding mobilization authorities, such as the Defense Production Act, were needed in the first months of the crisis to prevent expected shortages in medical equipment and other crucial items.”

Then, Russia’s 2022 invasion, “followed the next year by attacks by Hamas on Israel, uncovered a different set of industrial demands and corresponding risks.” All have required surging weapons production far beyond the “just-in-time” levels of the past 30 years, emphasizing minimum quantities at the lowest possible cost, when peer competition was developing but not yet a pacing threat.

The administration is touting the NDIS as now providing “a path that builds on recent progress while remedying remaining gaps and potential shortfalls.”

Steps taken in the last few years have addressed specific problems rather than the defense industry writ large:

The CHIPS and Science Act provided $53 billion for companies to bring the manufacturing of semiconductor computer chips back to the U.S.; a vulnerability as so much of the chip-making capacity in the world lies with China and nearby Taiwan.

A trio of executive orders directed new policies to help defense production, strengthen supply chains, and enhance cyber security at all levels of defense manufacturing.

Another executive order “elaborates and expands on the existing list of factors that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) considers when reviewing transactions for national security risks.” This was aimed at curbing Chinese takeovers of small companies with competitive technologies.

“Complementing this CFIUS reform, [Executive Order] 14105 regulates outbound investments” in “adversarial defense economies, limiting those adversaries’ ability to compete with the U.S.”

Since one executive order was issued in 2021, nearly $900 million under the Defense Production Act has been “invested in five critical sectors (kinetic capabilities, microelectronics, energy storage and batteries, strategic and critical materials, and castings and forgings),” according to the NDIS.

Other initiatives include the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) program, “aimed at maintaining the health of vulnerable DOD suppliers and capabilities.” Another is the Pentagon’s ManTech (Manufacturing Technology program), “a DOD investment portfolio that seeks to develop advanced manufacturing processes, techniques, and equipment to develop, produce, and sustain weapon systems.” There is also a voluntary program under which major contractors help small suppliers use additive manufacturing.

“Guided by this first-of-its-kind” NDIS, the Pentagon “will develop more resilient and innovative supply chains, invest in small- and medium-sized businesses, and strengthen and grow American innovation and manufacturing ecosystems across both the private sector and the government-owned organic industrial base (OIB),” according to the strategy.

“We need to shift from policies rooted in the 20th century that supported a narrow defense industrial base … to a modernized industrial ecosystem that includes the traditional defense contractors—the DIB primes and sub-tier defense contractors who provide equipment and services—and also includes innovative new technology developers; academia; research labs; technical centers; manufacturing centers of excellence; service providers; government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facilities; and finance streams, especially private equity and venture capital,” the strategy states.

An unclassified version of the NDIS implementation plan is promised for February.

US Halts Recovery Effort for Osprey Crash with One Airman Not Found

Jan. 12, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Forty-three days after a U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan, the Pentagon has halted search and recovery operations, Air Force Special Operations Command announced Jan. 11. Of the eight Airmen killed in the crash, the remains of one, Maj. Eric Spendlove, were not recovered.

The U.S. military, Japan Coast Guard, Japan Self-Defense Forces, local law enforcement, and civilian volunteers participated in search and rescue efforts starting Nov. 29, 2023, that eventually transitioned to search and recovery operations. In a release, AFSOC said the effort included:

More than 1,000 personnel

46 aircraft

23 maritime vessels

21 unmanned aerial and underwater systems

The search covered 60,000 square kilometers of the ocean’s surface and 39 square kilometers of the ocean floor. The bodies of seven Airmen and the bulk of the CV-22 wreckage were recovered.

Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah, was a residency-trained flight surgeon and medical operations flight commander assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

“While it is with tremendous deep regret that we were unable to find our last teammate, Maj. Eric Spendlove, the combined joint efforts of our Japanese allies and U.S. military forces has been inspiring to see the lengths our forces will go in order to attempt to bring a teammate home,” Rear Adm. Jeromy Williams, commander of Special Operations Command Pacific, said in a statement. “Our main priority since the mishap has been locating and bringing our Heroes back to their families. After over a month of exhausting air, surface, sub-surface, and modeling and simulation assets, we have ruled out all identified possible options to recover our teammate. Our thoughts remain with the families and squadron mates of our CV-22 aircrew and we extend our sincerest gratitude to every asset who assisted in the search.”

A CV-22 Osprey assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron flies over Yokota Air Base, Japan, June 15, 2020. U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe

The other seven Airmen killed in the crash were:

Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minn., a CV-22 instructor pilot and officer in charge of training assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Maj. Luke A. Unrath, 34, of Riverside, Calif., was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Capt. Terrell K. Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, N.Y., was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Fla., was a medical operations flight chief assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Staff Sgt. Jacob “Jake” M. Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Mass., who was a Direct Support Operator and airborne linguist specializing in Mandarin with the 43rd Intelligence Squadron, Detachment 1, Operating Location—Alpha.

Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Ga., was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The cause of the crash, the deadliest Air Force aviation mishap since 2018, has not been identified, but AFSOC has previously stated initial findings suggested there was a “material failure” with the Osprey, indicating pilot error was likely not the primary cause and there was an issue with the aircraft itself.

The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have all implemented standdowns for their V-22 fleets while the crash is investigated. AFSOC announced Jan. 3 that it had recovered the “black box,” the voice and data recorder, from the aircraft—likely a key piece in the investigation.

While an Air Force Accident Investigation Board will probe the specific causes of the Nov. 29 mishap, there will be multiple other investigations into the V-22 more broadly, which has garnered a reputation for safety incidents. In August 2023, three Marines were killed when their Osprey crashed in Australia. In 2022, two separate crashes in San Diego and Norway resulted in the deaths of nine Marines.

Air & Space Forces Magazine has confirmed the Government Accountability Office will initiate a review of “matters relating to accidents involving Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (V-22) during military training exercises and operations,” at the request of Reps. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.), the top lawmakers on the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee.

Separately, the House Oversight Committee has requested documents from the Pentagon related to the Osprey’s safety as part of its own investigation.

“The Department of Defense commits to working cooperatively with the committee to accommodate its requests,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said Jan. 4. “We’ll work diligently to provide additional information as soon as possible.”

Air Force Taps Selfridge ANGB to House 12 New KC-46 Tankers

Jan. 12, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Air Force has chosen Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. as the preferred location of a dozen new KC-46A Pegasus refueling aircraft. After an environmental impact analysis in 2025 and final approval, the base will welcome the fleet’s arrival starting in 2029, set to replace the A-10 Thunderbolts and KC-135 Stratotankers currently stationed at Selfridge.

Securing these new tankers is “a huge win for Selfridge, Macomb County, and our entire state,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said Jan. 12 via X, formerly known as Twitter. “This decision will not stop me from pushing to bring a new fighter mission to Selfridge as well.”

The base’s potential for hosting a separate fighter mission remains, as the Air Force’s updated release on Jan. 12 indicated that Selfridge is open to consideration for fighter aircraft or other assignments. The A-10s positioned at Selfridge will phase out starting in 2026, while the KC-135s are slated for divestment beginning in 2027.

A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Wisconsin National Guard, prepares to refuel an A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to the 127th Wing, Selfridge, Michigan National Guard, during an air bridge to exercise Air Defender 2023 (AD23), June 5, 2023. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Lauren Kmiec.

For years, Peters has been urging the service to designate the base as the home for the new tanker squadron and a new combat aircraft mission to replace the aging A-10s. In December, Peters urged the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to fund more fighter aircraft, like the F-15EX, at Selfridge in the 2024 defense appropriation bills, in a joint letter signed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Peters had previously voiced disapproval of the Pentagon’s decision to allocate the F-35 training center to Arkansas’s Ebbing Air National Guard Base. He contended that Selfridge has superior qualifications, surpassing all mission requirements in infrastructure, runway length, and aircraft shelters.

The Air Force is procuring 179 KC-46As for Air Mobility Command from Boeing in a fixed-price contract to replace half of the aging KC-135 fleet. The Pegasus, a heavily modified Boeing 767, offers increased fuel capacity, improved efficiency, and enhanced cargo and aeromedical evacuation capabilities compared to the 50-year-old Stratotankers.

The tanker took its inaugural flight in 2014, and the first batch of KC-46A was delivered to McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas in 2019. Boeing has provided 76 KC-46As to date, with an additional $2.3 billion awarded in November for 15 KC-46s delivery scheduled for mid-2027.

Congress had prohibited the Air Force from retiring operational KC-135s until FY23 to address capacity gaps resulting from KC-46 delays. The USAF intends to extend the tanker’s service life by a decade, retaining some of them until at least 2050.

As for the A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, the branch retired 21 of the aircraft last year, decreasing the total inventory from 281 to 260. Despite concerns about the aircraft’s survivability against advanced adversaries, U.S. Central Command have utilized Warthogs to meet fighter squadron needs in the Middle East. The aircraft carried out missions in the region during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas.

VCSAF Slife: New Force Generation Model Better Explains ‘Capacity, Risk, and Readiness’

Jan. 12, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

As the Air Force plans to unveil sweeping changes to its structure, organization, and training to “re-optimize” for competition with China, one part of the service’s overhaul is already underway: a new force generation model for how to deploy Airmen.

Known as AFFORGEN, the new Force Generation model is designed to help the Air Force, combatant commanders, and the broader U.S. military better understand how to deploy Airmen and Air Force assets, part of an effort first outlined in 2021.

“It gives us a better ability to articulate capacity, risk, and readiness to the joint force,” Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an interview shortly before his elevation to the USAF’s No. 2 job.

Primarily driven by the need for airpower for America’s fights in the Middle East, the Air Force has deployed Airmen from a myriad of bases to large, fixed sites, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Service officials say this “crowdsourcing” model will not be applicable to a future fight as the Pentagon pivots towards its long-term focus: China and the Pacific. Instead, a more cohesive plan is required in the future.

“In a relatively low-threat environment, where we’re operating for years at a time out of large main operating bases, that model has been sufficient to our needs,” Slife said. “We organized our Air Force to be as flexible as possible, break it up into as many small little things as we can, and deploy. We’re in a different strategic environment now.”

The Air Force and all military services train and equip forces that deploy at the direction of the secretary of defense. Commanders want forces, while the services emphasize the need to maintain long-term readiness.

“That’s the tension the secretary of defense has to deal with every single day,” Slife explained. “There’s an insatiable demand from combatant commands. There’s a limited capacity from the services.”

To balance this tension, AFFORGEN establishes a two-year cycle for deployable units. There are four six-month phases, which take the units from “reset,” to train to maintain readiness to deploy before returning to reset.

“The service has a responsibility to think on a different time horizon than combatant commands do,” Slife said. AFFORGEN will help explain that balance better to senior Pentagon leaders, he said.

AFFORGEN is being put to the test in the Middle East as tensions soar in response to attacks by Iran-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, and on commercial shipping. Airmen were deployed to U.S. Central Command this fall under the AFFORGEN model, according to the Air Force. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall visited those Airmen and Guardians in December to get a firsthand look at how the process works in action.

“As I got to know the Air Force and the Space Force more intimately, it became more apparent to me that we need to make some changes,” Kendall told Airmen and Guardians at an all-call meeting at one base in the Middle East, according to a news release.

AFFORGEN is still being adjusted and service officials have indicated it will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Units in commands such as Air Mobility Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, and Air Combat Command likely will not deploy in the same way as those at the regional commands, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFA) or Pacific Air Forces (PACAF).

AFFORGEN will also be complemented by new Air Task Forces, which will provide a package of forces that train, deploy, and fight together.

For now, the service plans three Air Task Forces: two for U.S. Central Command and one for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. The first ATFs are scheduled to begin their AFFORGEN cycle this summer, the Air Force says.

Through these changes, the Air Force is aiming for a greater understanding of the long-term risks and benefits of deployments. But Airmen will still be ready if called upon.

“The secretary of defense gives us orders and we execute those orders,” Slife said.

US, UK Strike Houthis in Yemen Following Ship Attacks

Jan. 11, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

American and British aircraft and warships carried out strikes against multiple targets in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Jan. 11, in response to continuing attacks on commercial shipping, U.S. and U.K. officials said.

The airstrikes and sea-launched cruise missiles were aimed at more than a dozen sites.

“Today’s strikes targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement.

The strikes were carried out by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.K. Royal Air Force aircraft. Missiles were also launched from U.S. Navy surface and subsurface vessels, U.S. officials said.

The strikes were directed at over 60 targets at 16 locations, according to Air Forces Central commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich. In a statement, Grynkewich added that over 100 precision-guided munitions of various types were used, including Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Navy. The Royal Air Force struck two targets with Paveway guided bombs from four Typhoons, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

U.S. and U.K. officials said “non-operational support” was provided by Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, and Bahrain.

On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and… pic.twitter.com/bR8biMolSx
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2024

Grynkewich said U.S. forces targeted “command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems,” while the U.K. said it targeted a drone launching site and an airfield.

The U.S. and 12 other countries issued a joint statement on Jan. 3 warning of “consequences” if attacks continued, which the U.S. officials indicated should be treated as a final warning to the rebel group.

On Jan. 9, the Iranian-backed group launched its largest salvo yet in what U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) called a “complex attack” that involved two dozen drones and missiles. F/A-18s from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely, USS Laboon, and USS Mason successfully defended against that attack, shooting down 18 attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles, and one anti-ship ballistic missile, according to CENTCOM.

The British Navy has also been involved, and the HMS Diamond shot down seven drones on Jan. 9, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said.

None of that, however, was enough to deter the Houthis. On Jan. 11, the Houthis launched their 27th attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea and surrounding waters since Nov. 19.

The U.S. and British strikes on Jan. 11 followed multiple calls between Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and U.K. Chief of Defense Staff Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, and Shapps saying, “watch this space” on Jan. 10.

Four @RoyalAirForce Typhoons have conducted precision strikes on two Houthi military targets alongside US forces.

The threat to innocent lives and global trade has become so great that this action was not only necessary, it was our duty to protect vessels & freedom of navigation pic.twitter.com/tbN7ncJYpF
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps (@grantshapps) January 12, 2024

Houthi forces were already bracing for the attack before it took place and were vowing to retaliate.

“Any American attack will not remain without a response,” Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a speech Jan. 11. “The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” he added, referring to the Jan. 9 attack.

Iran, which has supplied weapons and provided intelligence to the Houthis, also anticipated the U.S. and British action. The Behshad, a suspected Iranian spy ship that has been parked in the Red Sea since 2021, left the Red Sea on Jan. 11 as Tehran braced for military action against its proxies, according to the ship-monitoring website Tanker Trackers.

Iranian forces, meanwhile, seized the oil tanker St. Nikolas on Jan. 11 while the vessel was transiting the international waters of the Gulf of Oman, according to the U.S. military.

Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance of groups it has aligned with have launched attacks against U.S. forces and international shipping in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.

In response to more than 130 attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. has conducted airstrikes against Iranian-aligned militia groups, including a rare targeted killing last week of a militia leader in Baghdad.

The U.S. and its allies have held off on striking back against the Houthis until now, instead launching the defensive Operation Prosperity Guardian maritime coalition. U.S. officials and regional security experts say the Houthis are more unpredictable and hardline than other Iranian-backed groups.

Vessels are at particular risk near Yemen because they must use Bab el-Mandeb strait to cross between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a critical chokepoint. According to the U.S. government, nearly 15 percent of seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Many commercial shippers have been forced to divert ships around the southern coast of Africa, causing significant delays and costs for the global economy.

“I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” President Joe Biden said in statement.

First Ever Pentagon Industrial Strategy Sets the Vision; Action Plan Coming Soon

Jan. 11, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Pentagon’s first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy is not “aspirational,” but sets the stage for a series of concrete steps to improve the resiliency, surge capacity, and long-term health of the defense industrial base, DOD officials said in unveiling the document Jan. 11. An implementation plan will be coming next month, they add.

“We are finalizing a detailed classified implementation plan,” Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy said, which will include “near-term, measurable actions and metrics to gauge progress.” An unclassified version of the implementation plan will be published next month, she said, while the classified version will be released to necessary White House and Capitol Hill officials in March.

While the NDIS is meant to govern defense industrial policy over the next 3-5 years, it’s also a vision for “generational change” of the acquisition system, said Taylor-Kale.

The 60-page strategy, released under the signature of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, describes the current state of the defense industrial base as adept at innovation and developing advanced capabilities but without the speed, breadth, and depth to adequately respond if the U.S. gets into a major war with a peer competitor.

It sets out “how we got here” Taylor-Kale said, along with broad prescriptions for improvements.

“The current and future strategic environment requires immediate, comprehensive, and decisive action in strengthening and modernizing our defense industrial base ecosystem to ensure the security of the United States and our allies and partners,” Hicks said in a foreword to the document. “As this strategy makes clear, we must act now.”

Later, at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Taylor-Kale noted that the NDIS is “program, sector, and theater agnostic,” although it does discuss submarine and shipbuilding specifically. She declined to say what new major programs will be most affected by the new strategy.

She noted that while the strategy doesn’t discuss particular kinds of batteries, for example, “we know we’re going to need lithium” to power those batteries, and so it discusses approaches to expand access to defense-critical raw materials, such as Rare Earth Elements.

The need for a strategy was highlighted by real-world crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Taylor-Kale told reporters at the Pentagon. After extensive discussions with analysts, industry and other stakeholders, it distills that knowledge into “what is it that we need in order to move forward.”

The NDIS will “guide the department’s engagement policy, development, and investments in the industrial base over the next three to five years,” William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said in a brief preview at the Reagan Defense Forum in December.

“A strategy is what allows all of us to make choices … of what we’re going to do and invest in and what we’re not going to do,” he said. The strategy also calls out the risk of inaction, he noted.

The document highlights:

The need for resilient supply chains to produce needed items “at speed, scale and cost,” LaPlante said.

Workforce readiness, particularly with regard to the ship- and submarine-building industry.

“Flexible acquisition,” with a professional acquisition workforce able to “use all the tools” available to it to buy things efficiently with “the right mix of customization.” This will include heavy reliance on commercial, off-the shelf items and procedures, he said.

“Production is deterrence,” LaPlante said. The industrial strategy must not be viewed as “a U.S.-only solution,” he said, but a “resilient industrial ecosystem among not just the U.S. but our allies and partners.”

The document says the U.S. will engage in joint production of certain high-demand items, make more direct use of needed technologies if they are developed by foreign partners, and inject more speed and responsiveness into the Foreign Military Sales enterprise. The FMS system will anticipate partner needs and accelerate cases, the strategy states.

Taylor-Kale said the NDIS also accounts for the need to have a well-coordinated effort using an all-of-government approach, including allies and partners.

At CSIS, she said the strategy does not call for for an overhaul of defense acquisition policies, which has been undertaken in recent administrations. The Pentagon only uses “about a quarter” of the authorities it already has to be flexible in contracting, she said, and the strategy calls for greater use of flexible methods.

Five years ago, under the Defense Production Act, the Pentagon only executed $60 to $70 million worth of acquisition actions, she noted, but “last year, it was $900 million.” That was achieved with no new legislation, she said.

The Pentagon will pay special attention to removing “the pain points and choke points” industry complains about in the supply system, she noted.

Specific action areas called out in the report:

Supply Chain Resiliency

The strategy calls for:

Incentivizing contractors to invest in extra capacity

DOD to do a better job anticipating and managing needed stockpiles

Expanding domestic production and widening the base of industries on which the DOD draws

The use of data analytics to understand where the lowest-tier suppliers are, expand their numbers and help ensure their survival, as well as invest in their cybersecurity.

Without taking these corrective actions, the U.S. and its allies might not be able to “adapt to new and emerging threat environments,” the document states. The defense industrial base risks facing program-delaying material shortfalls.

“‘Just-in-time’ delivery has created fragility in the production capabilities for many end items, making sub-tier suppliers especially vulnerable,” the strategy noted.

Workforce Readiness

The strategy calls for expanding student participation in science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing (STEM) pursuits; investing in the development of defense-critical skills; expanding apprenticeship programs; “de-stigmatizing” careers in manufacturing and trades; and expanding recruitment from “non-traditional communities” to widen the pool of potential defense workers.

Taylor-Kale noted that the Pentagon, in concert with outside experts, has mapped the regions where there is a shortage of workforce and where additional workforce might be available, and will work with the Departments of Labor and Commerce to make the best use of it where it is. Workforce “is very regional,” she said.

Flexible Acquisition

The strategy calls for more industry standards and open architectures; more investment in research and development, and consideration of exportability in all new procurements. It also calls for “more discipline” in the requirements process to prevent “scope creep,” prioritizing off-the-shelf acquisition where appropriate, and negotiating license agreements to ease concerns about intellectual property.

Economic Deterrence

Focused mostly on international industrial collaboration, this push calls for:

Strengthening economic security agreements among partners and allies

Enabling “international interoperability standards” so that all allies can use common equipment that in turn will work with other coalition gear

Fortifying alliances to share science and technology

Strengthening enforcement of laws preventing adversaries from buying up essential defense industrial base suppliers and protect various levels of the industrial base from cyberattack

Work to ensure that material required for national defense “is not sourced from adversarial entities.”

Taylor-Kale told CSIS that the strategy calls for more multi-year procurements, and sending industry “more consistent demand signals” so it can confidently anticipate and prepare for Pentagon needs.

New DAF Office for Prosecuting Major Crimes Now Fully Operational, with Six District Locations

Jan. 11, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A new Department of the Air Force office for investigating and prosecuting certain major violent and sexual crimes is now fully operational, the department announced Jan. 10, with six field locations scattered around the globe.

The Office of Special Trial Counsel will be responsible for deciding whether to prosecute 14 different offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including:

Murder

Rape

Kidnapping

Domestic violence

Stalking

Sexual harassment

Lawmakers dictated the creation of the office of the special trial counsel in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. It marked a major change to the military justice system, taking decisions about prosecuting such offenses out of the chain of command as the Pentagon seeks to stamp out sexual assault in the ranks and ensure offenders are punished.

“I am committed to the success of this path forward,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a statement. “That success depends on the willingness of victims of these crimes and others to report offenses when they do occur. We know this can be an extremely difficult decision. We will do everything we can to ensure victims are supported and justice is done.”

Guidance issued by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III required that each department’s office be fully operational by Dec. 27, and the Pentagon announced Dec. 28 that it reached that milestone.

On Jan. 10, the Department of the Air Force issued its own release noting that it has established six “districts” to cover all Air Force major commands and Space Force field commands.

District 1 covers Air Combat Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, and Air Force District of Washington and has a location at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

District 2 covers Air Mobility Command and Air Force Materiel Command and has a location at Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

District 3 covers Space Operations Command, Space System Command, Space Training and Readiness Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, and U.S. Air Force Academy and has a location at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas

District 4 covers Air Education and Training Command and also has a location at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas

District 5 covers U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa with a location at Ramstein Air Base, Germany

District 6 covers Pacific Air Forces and has a location at Kadena Air Base, Japan

“This allows each district the opportunity to not only prosecute the cases across a specific domain, but also allows them to track trends in misconduct involving covered offenses and provide consistent training for younger counsel on that command who will sit second chair,” a senior Air Force official told reporters during a Pentagon briefing.

The official added that the office has 40 prosecutors and six paralegals. By fiscal 2027, those numbers will increase to 66 and 14, respectively.

“Every OSTC litigator is personally selected, specially trained and qualified, and vetted from nomination through certification,” Brig. Gen. Christopher Brown, lead special trial counsel, said in a statement. “This process ensures our counsel are experts in the execution, management and supervision of complex litigation.”

The office also has agents from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on its staff to coordinate with local law enforcement when working a case.

“Notwithstanding OSTC’s independent authority, commanders remain a crucial stakeholder in the military justice system with the ultimate responsibility for command climate and good order and discipline within their units,” Brown added. “Commanders of victims and accused are uniquely suited to provide input to OSTC disposition decisions, and we welcome their perspective.”