PHOTOS: More Than 175 Aircraft Fan Out for Huge Agile Combat Exercise

Feb. 18, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

“Bamboo Eagle,” the Air Force’s new advanced combat-readiness exercise, returned for its second year in recent weeks, featuring more than 175 aircraft and 10,000 personnel from four countries for the service’s latest large-scale exercise.

Like the three iterations in 2024, this edition of Bamboo Eagle took place following the conclusion of a Red Flag exercise, adding elements of multi-domain warfare and Agile Combat Employment on top of the service’s premier air dominance exercise.

The eight-day event, led by the Air Force Warfare Center, wrapped up Feb. 15, focusing on re-arming and refueling combat aircraft across austere, high-threat environments.

The aircraft involved included bombers, fighters, tankers, command and control platforms, and ISR drones, with participation from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines, Royal Air Force (RAF), and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) also joined for the first time to provide command and control support.

Multiple B-2 Spirit bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and a B-52 Stratofortress from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., tested their integration with fighters and other aircraft in a coordinated operational environment, a spokesperson from Nellis Air Force Base told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The B-2s from the 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron practiced long-range deep strike missions.

“From the perspective of the B-2, this exercise was a real test,” Lt. Col. Joseph Manglitz, 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, said in a release. “It’s one thing to train at home—and we train hard at home—but it’s even better to bring a subset of our base on the road here and work together to generate airpower alongside the rest of the combat air force and our allies.”

Aircraft Involved in Bamboo Eagle 25-1

Bombers: B-2 Spirit and B-52 Stratofortress

Fighters: F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-35 Lighting II A & B variants, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15E Strike Eagle, and the Typhoon FGR4.

Mobility Aircraft: C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules, KC-46 Pegasus, KC-135 Stratotanker, and RAF Voyager

Command and Control: E-3 Sentry and RAAF E-7 Wedgetail

Search and Rescue: HH-60W Jolly Green II and HC-130J Combat King II

ISR: MQ-9 Reaper and RC-135 Rivet Joint

Electronic Warfare: EC-130H Compass Call and E/A-18 Growler

The spokesperson added that four different F-35 units took part in the exercise, including the Air Force’s 356th Fighter Squadron from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska; the 421st Fighter Squadron from Hill Air Force Base, Utah; U.S. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 from Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.; and the RAAF’s 77 Squadron from RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales in Australia.

The exercise tested each unit’s integration with other platforms and provided F-35 pilots with a platform to sharpen their offensive and defensive counter-air skills, execute long-range Pacific flights, and escort assets while neutralizing surface-to-air threats.

“We’ve got pilots taking off, tasked with missions they weren’t expecting, for much longer than they were expecting, and landing somewhere they weren’t expecting,” said Lt. Col. Bryan Mussler, 421st Fighter Squadron commander, in a release. “The unpredictability built into this exercise gives us a realistic look at what the fight will be like.”

The RAAF deployed around 430 personnel and 18 aircraft for Red Flag and Bamboo Eagle. The contingent included F-35As, F/A-18F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, and an E-7A Wedgetail. According to Group Captain Stewart Seeney, who led the RAAF contingent, this year marked the largest and most capable RAAF deployment to date.

“Exercise Bamboo Eagle … replicated the challenges of conducting long-range missions in the Indo-Pacific, including how we integrate aircraft and other systems across all domains,” said Seeney, highlighting that the exercise provided aviators with a “highly complex and realistic training opportunity.”

As part of the Agile Combat Employment concept, teams operated from hub-and-spoke locations across California, Hawaii, Guam, and more. Key resources were centralized at a hub, while smaller teams were deployed to spoke locations to operate with limited personnel and resources.

“Bamboo Eagle tested our ability to integrate the tactical effects we trained to in Red Flag from dispersed forces and under distributed command and control,” said RAF Gp. Capt. Guy Lefroy, U.K. detachment commander, in a release. “Throughout the exercise we developed our people’s ability to dynamically deliver airpower through empowerment, effective risk management and innovation, ultimately sharpening our individual, service and collective international capabilities to deliver battle-winning effects.

Air Force Mission Capability Rates Reach Lowest Levels in Years

Feb. 18, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

Aircraft readiness declined across the Air Force fleet in 2024, dropping to its lowest level in at least a decade and perhaps 20 years, according to data provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The average mission capable rate for all USAF fleets was 67.15 percent in fiscal 2024, down from 69.92 percent in fiscal 2023 and 71.24 percent in fiscal 2022. Compared to 2004-2006 and 2012-2024, years for which data was available, the 2024 rates were the lowest.

These rates represent a non-weighted average of all the fleets. A weighted average could be somewhat better, as the most challenged fleets are among the smallest in USAF’s inventory.

An aircraft is “mission capable” when it is able to perform at least one of its several core missions. For example, the F-35A’s missions include counter-air, electronic warfare, ground attack, and data collection, so to be mission capable, an aircraft must be able to execute at least one of those missions. The Air Force does not disclose full-mission capable rates, which measure aircraft types’ readiness to conduct all assigned missions.

The Air Force changed its metrics of mission capability in recent years, saying that it employs a formula that also includes the availability of trained aircrew and maintenance personnel, spares and other factors. Those metrics vary from platform to platform. The Air Force also gives spares and support priority to aircraft deploying to forward locations versus those remaining at home station. Deployed aircraft typically have much higher MC rates.

Among 65 aircraft types in fiscal 2024, rates ranged from a low of 30.45 for the CV-22 to 100 percent for, among others, the C-21 and MC-12. Historically, rates of 75 to 80 percent have been deemed acceptable.

Rates declined for 29 aircraft types and improved for 26 others. The rest saw no change. In all, four fleets were at 100 percent: C-12, C-21, MC-12, and UV-18.

Bombers

All three Air Force bomber fleets were mission capable less than half the time. The B-1B’s rate improved slightly, but the B-2 and B-52 rates declined slightly, all within 1.5 percent of last year’s values.

Fighters

Rates for the aging F-15C and D fleets rose from 33 and 55 percent, respectively, to 52.9 and 63.7 percent as the oldest, worst-performing aircraft were retired. The new F-15EX, with just eight aircraft, managed an 83.13 percent rate.

F-22 readiness fell from 52 percent to just 40.19 percent; it had been at 57.4 percent two years ago. The Air Force sought to divest its 32 least-capable F-22s in recent years, but Congress has blocked that move until at least 2028.

The mission capable rate for the F-35A held steady, inching up a half percentage point to 51.5 percent., possibly benefitting from increased spare parts availability as delivery was held up for scores of new aircraft throughout fiscal 2024.

Mobility

The mobility fleet had some of the highest rates overall—with most types in the 75-100 percent range. The C-5M Galaxy managed to improve on its ’23 rate of 46 percent, raising it to 48.6 percent, but still lower than 2022. The Galaxy recently completed a 10-year, $10 billion upgrade program for its engine, structures, and avionics, but its mission capable rate has remained stubbornly low. Program managers have said the C-5 suffers from parts shortages owing to “vanishing vendor” syndrome, and they are in a push to improve its readiness to 55 percent, called “Drive to 55.”

The Air Force’s fleet of aerial refueling aircraft all turned in rates in the 60-70 percent range. The rate for the KC-46 declined to 61.05 percent, down from 65 percent the previous year.

The MC-130H registered a zero percent rate, while the trainer TC-130H turned in 13.72 percent, as those aircraft are being divested.

Special Mission and ISR

The CV-22 Osprey, which was grounded for a significant chunk of 2024 after a deadly crash, only managed a 30.45 percent mission capable rate rate.

The new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter, still in development, recorded its first ever rate of 40.63 percent.

The worst-performing in the ISR fleet was the EC-130H, but it actually raised its rate from 33 percent in 2023 to 41.97 percent in 2024. It is being replaced by the EA-37.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk drone saw a significant jump in mission capability, from 50 percent last year to 64.59 percent in fiscal 2024.

The E-3G AWACS, slated for replacement later this decade by the E-7 Wedgetail, lost ground, declining to just a 55.68 percent rate, while the E-4B Nightwatch, which has had a series of maintenance issues in the last few years and for which a replacement is also in development, raised its rate slightly from 60 percent from 61.17 percent.

Trainers

While the T-1A saw a modest increase in mission capable rates, most of the rest of the trainer fleet saw declines, including the AT-38 and T-38. The rate on the T-6 Texan II, which most student pilots fly, dropped nearly 10 points to just 53.43 percent. The Air Force has faulted the low mission capable rates of its trainer aircraft among the reasons for lagging pilot production in recent years.

B-52s Fly Across Middle East, Drop Live Munitions

Feb. 18, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratrofortress bombers flew over the Middle East in a “force projection” demonstration Feb. 17, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced.

The two B-52s began their mission at RAF Fairford, U.K., before flying across Europe and through the airspace of nine partner nations, according to CENTCOM. The command did not specify which nations those were, a common practice given regional tensions and sensitivities.

The B-52 mission also included “live munitions drops at ranges in several partner nations,” the command said in a news release. The B-52s flew with American F-15E Strike Eagles, which are based in the Middle East, and “four partner nations provided fighter escorts for the bombers throughout the mission,” CENTCOM said. Again, those partner nations were not publicly identified.

“Bomber Task Force missions demonstrate U.S. power projection capability, commitment to regional security, and ability to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the CENTCOM region,” Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, CENTCOM’s commander, said in a statement.

The B-52s involved in the Feb. 17 long-range mission over the Middle East are part of a Bomber Task Force deployed to Europe, BTF 25-2, which kicked off last week.

The B-52 mission came after the Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which had been operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since mid-December, recently left the region. On Feb. 16, the U.S. Sixth Fleet said the Truman is currently in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs after colliding with a merchant tanker off the coast of Egypt on Feb. 12.

CENTCOM Conducts Bomber Task Force Mission in Middle East

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted a Bomber Task Force Mission in the Middle East, Feb. 17, to demonstrate force projection capabilities in the region.

Two B-52s from RAF Fairford, U.K., flew across Europe and… pic.twitter.com/MEepc9hGiI
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 18, 2025

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the U.S. has maintained an increased force presence in the Middle East, primarily to deter Iran and its proxies. U.S. aircraft have defended Israel against direct attacks from Iran, conducted airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen, and attacked Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.

In November, the U.S. temporarily deployed six B-52 to the Middle East, along with extra F-15Es, following the departure of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to provide additional airpower. Those B-52s conducted combat missions, including participating in airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria in December, before returning home before the end of the year. The deployment was the first time B-52s had been based in CENTCOM since 2019. The Pentagon has also surged additional assets, including more fighters, to the region during acute periods of tension over the past year and a half.

Four B-52s from the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., deployed to RAF Fairford for the task force, and some of the B-52s have already flown missions with European NATO allies in addition to the CENTCOM sortie. The B-52s that conducted the flight over the Middle East were tail number 60-0023 and tail number 60-0044, according to open-source flight tracking data.

Ground crew members conduct post-flight checks on a U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft at RAF Fairford, England, after completing a Bomber Task Force 25-2 deployment mission, Feb. 18, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kristen Heller

In a separate action Feb. 15, the U.S. conducted a “precision airstrike” in northwest Syria, targeting a senior official in Hurras al-Din (HaD), an al-Qaida affiliate, CENTCOM said. The U.S. military has stepped up its airstrikes against that group as well as the fighters and infrastructure from the Islamic State as it tries to prevent militants from taking advantage of instability in Syria following the fall of the regime of Bashar Al Assad in December. The U.S. has also taken advantage of the newly permissive airspace above Syria after the collapse of the Syrian military and the withdrawal of many Russian forces. President Donald Trump praised the recent airstrike in Syria and congratulated CENTCOM in a post on social media.

“We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland,” Kurilla said in a Feb. 16 statement.

How to Be the Top Air National Guard Recruiter in History

Feb. 18, 2025 | By David Roza

Like any other Air National Guard recruiter, Master Sgt. Todd Parkison got a “Century Club” award when he brought in 100 recruits. Then he got another at 200, and a third at 300. After that, he stopped getting Century Club awards.

In August, the production superintendent with the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, brought in his 700th Airman, more than any other Air National Guard recruiter in history, and perhaps more than any Air Force recruiter—period.

But after 13 years, Parkison isn’t driven by the numbers, he told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Instead, he sees recruiting as a way to give others the same opportunities he had as a 19-year-old just laid off from his job as a machinist.

Parkison’s father, an Army National Guard veteran, encouraged him to join the Air National Guard where he could perform similar work in the aircraft maintenance machine shop. Parkinson enlisted in 1999 and got a confidence boost from completing basic training and tech school. That confidence later helped him graduate college with honors, paid for by the Ohio National Guard’s education benefits.

“The growth that I had at basic training and tech school allowed me to really know that I could do that, that I could have the confidence to get my degree,” he said.

Parkison eventually reached master sergeant and ran the KC-135 tanker machine shop at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. Around 2011, he applied for a recruiting position, even though it meant dropping a rank to technical sergeant.

“The Air National Guard did so much for me,” he said. “I wanted to give back to the community in a way that would help individuals change the course of their lives.”

Master Sgt. Todd Parkison, production superintendent with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, shares a laugh with fellow Air National Guard recruiters in the hallway of a Central Ohio high school before setting up a recruiting table at a career fair. ((U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Colin Simpson)

Recruiting tech school at San Antonio, Texas, was a challenging experience where Parkison had to memorize an entire sales script on just the third day.

“I remember looking at the clock thinking ‘if I drive straight through, I could be home tomorrow night, back at my old shop,’” he said.

But Parkison persevered, and a supervisor named Master Sgt. Lawrence Wright taught him a crucial lesson: ask a few questions, then let the applicant talk and answer questions as they go.

“I think every salesperson comes up with their own way,” Parkison said. “And once I was able to develop the way I sold the Air National Guard, it was pretty easy for me.”

Unlike Active-Duty recruiters, who serve a few years before rotating back to their usual jobs, Air National Guardsmen can serve as recruiters for decades. But early in his tenure, Parkison noticed an issue: recruiters could recruit for only their assigned base—Rickenbacker, in Parkison’s case—but not the entire Ohio Air National Guard.

“Why couldn’t I put someone on my waiting list in Mansfield or Springfield or Toledo?” he asked. “So we as Ohio came up with this concept where we’re going to be a whole state recruiting force.”

After that, Parkison really started doing numbers, taking the Air National Guard top accessions award four times between 2013 and 2017. Being a volleyball coach helped when one of Parkison’s players became one of his recruits.

“She said ‘My Army National Guard recruiter stood me up and didn’t take me to MEPS [Military Entrance Processing Station],’” he recalled. “So I was able to flip her to the Air National Guard and she’s doing really well.”

In fact, two of the people working for him in the recruiting office today are Airmen that he himself recruited.

“Master Sgt. Parkison’s impact has been huge,” one of those recruits, Tech Sgt. Adria Bivens, said in a Dec. 11 video about Parkison’s achievement. “Seven hundred, that is 700 career paths, that’s 700 lives that he’s changed. One of those could be the next command chief, there’s a commander in there somewhere.”

Master Sgt. Todd Parkison, production superintendent with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, sets up a table at an Ohio high school career fair. (Screenshot via U.S. National Guard video by Sgt. Olivia Lauer, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs, and Senior Airman Colin Simpson)

The COVID-19 pandemic hit military recruiters hard since they could no longer go to schools and events in-person. But the Ohio Air National Guard fell back on its social media platforms, which helped bring in virtual enlistments.

“I think that was how we were able to stay in the community, because Ohio is still doing pretty well compared to the rest of the nation,” Parkison said.

The challenge is the MEPS process, where recruits are medically screened before joining the military. Many recruits need a waiver for medical conditions such as allergies or asthma, but processing waiver requests takes time and paperwork.

“When somebody is disqualified, you have to make sure you’re staying on top of that package to see it through to the surgeon general and then back to us,” Parkison said. Otherwise, a recruit might “sit in a certain spot for months, because that can happen if you’re not paying attention.”

The long medical processing time for recruits has caught the attention of top Air Force officials and federal lawmakers. In 2023, the Air Force hired about 60 contractors to work in and around MEPS locations to help with the paperwork so that recruiters can get back to recruiting. A similar approach seems to be helping in Ohio, where a civilian contractor works medical waivers full-time.

“That’s going to take waivers off our recruiters, so they don’t have to be in the computer all the time,” Parkison said. “They can be out there in public, doing events, going to schools and not having to worry about five or six applicants that have to go through the SG waiver.”

Master Sgt. Todd Parkison, production superintendent with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, talks with an Ohio high school student at a career fair. (Screenshot via U.S. National Guard video by Sgt. Olivia Lauer, Ohio National Guard Public Affairs, and Senior Airman Colin Simpson)

Another helpful program has been the state-funded “Bucks for Buckeyes,” where current or former Ohio Air or Army National Guardsmen get $2,000 for referring new recruits. But most of their leads come from the friends of recruits, and that word-of-mouth comes down to treating potential candidates right.

“That’s what I try to teach young recruiters: the most important person in your life right now is that applicant, because the most important thing in that applicant’s life is joining the Air National Guard,” he said. “If you just look at them as a number, or ‘it’s six o’clock, I’m off work, I’ll call you tomorrow,’ you’re not going to get their friends. But if you look at them as your number one priority, then they’re going to feel like you care about them, and they’re going to bring in their friends.”

It used to frustrate one of Parkison’s old bosses that he would talk to anybody, regardless of whether or not they could qualify for service.

“If someone walked in weighing 270 pounds, I would spend an hour and a half with them,” he said. “That guy is going to say ‘he took the time to talk to me,’ where everyone else disqualified him over the phone, and he’s going to tell his friends that might be qualified about it.”

And sometimes even the people who are disqualified come back; one of his recruits lost 80 pounds to join the air transportation career field.

There may have been even more accomplished recruiters in the past, but National Guard records go back only about 20 years, Parkison said, and no one else is close to his mark. Since Active-Duty recruiters serve only a few years, it stands to reason that Parkison may be the most accomplished recruiter in Air Force history, as far as records show.

Parkison’s advice for recruiters boils down to three words.

“Honest, responsive, and available,” he said. “If you do those three things, I think you’ll be a successful recruiter.”

Air Force to ‘Evaluate’ Family Days, Clarifies Policy for Civilians

Feb. 14, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

In a Feb. 11 memo, the Department of the Air Force reiterated its policies on “Family Days” and said it would “evaluate” them over the next few weeks “to ensure they align with our ability to support warfighter readiness,” raising concerns among service members that the cherished tradition could be reduced or eliminated altogether.

Family Days are typically granted by commands to give service members an extended weekend, often around a federal holiday. Each command has its own schedule, which can vary from year to year. These schedules are generally determined and announced well in advance, sometimes as much as two years ahead of time. For instance, Air Force Global Strike Command has scheduled 11 Family Days for 2025, while Air Education and Training Command plans to include six days, starting with a Friday before Memorial Day.

The Feb. 11 memo does not cancel any existing Family Days or forbid future ones. It does, however, note leave policies for both military and civilian personnel; while service members may receive a day off for Family Days, civilian employees are not automatically granted additional leave. This is due to federal law, which does not permit extra leave for civilians. The memo stresses that civilian employees are expected to either report to work or use accrued leave if they are not required for duty on Family Days.

“The primary purpose of the memo is to clarify that civilian employees must either be at work or be on leave for Family Days,” an Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Commanders, directors, and supervisors are encouraged to treat these days as “liberal leave,” allowing civilians to use previously earned compensatory time, approved time-off awards, or regular leave as eligible.

However, the memo ends by stating that “Over the next several weeks, DAF will evaluate Family Days to ensure they align with our ability to support warfighter readiness.”

On social media, Airmen and Guardians reacted with concern that Family Days might be phased out to prioritize operational needs. The service spokesperson did not provide further details on whether service members’ Family Days will be impacted in the future.

The Department of Defense has introduced several policy shifts under the new Trump administration, changing some of the work flexibility that service members and civilian employees had previously had.

The most notable change has been the move to phase out telework agreements. As the Air Force faces challenges in accommodating its full-time workforce due to a shortage of suitable workspaces, the service continues to issue new guidance to determine which employees will remain eligible for remote work.

Under the current Office of the Secretary of Defense regulations, some employees may continue teleworking if they meet specific criteria, such as having reasonable accommodations, lacking adequate office space, or holding an approved deferred resignation status—a program allowing federal workers to resign but continue receiving pay through September. According to a White House statement, approximately 75,000 federal workers have participated in the program as of Feb. 12.

Additionally, Air Force personnel required to relocate due to a service member spouse’s assignment, or those covered by collective bargaining agreements, may also qualify for telework.

Air Force Public Affairs was unable to verify current statistics on telework employees, but according to a 2024 report, more than 70,000 civilian employees used at least some form of telework. This represents nearly half of the department’s entire civilian workforce.

“We are still working through our return to in-person work plan aligning with implementation guidance from the Department of the Air Force,” an Air Force spokesperson wrote in an email statement. “The number of remote work and telework employees is evolving as we work to comply with all executive orders.”

The department is still finalizing a system for submitting exemption requests, which will be reviewed by the Secretary of Defense.

Space Force Pursues Quick Launch Capability with New ‘Victus’ Program

Feb. 14, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Feb. 18 with a comment from a Space Systems Command spokesperson.

The Space Force added to its effort to “speed run” satellite launches with the latest in a series of Tactically Responsive Space missions announced Feb. 13.

Space Systems Command awarded a $21.81 million deal to Firefly Aerospace for “Victus Sol,” the fifth in a series of experiments designed to make contractors and USSF develop, transport, and launch satellites in record time.

Victus Sol follows “Victus Nox,” which transported a satellite within 58 hours to the launch site, then tested, fueled, and launched that satellite within 27 hours or getting a “go” order—smashing previous speed records.

Next came “Victus Haze”, now targeted to launch later this year. Victus Haze will include two launches—with Rocket Lab providing and launching a satellites from either New Zealand or Virginia, and True Anomaly shipping a satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., where it will be launched aboard a Firefly rocket. Once in orbit, the two spacecraft will perform “dynamic” operations, including domain awareness missions.

Little is known today about the expectations for “Victus Sol.” The Space Force has not announced a satellite contract, and an SSC spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the command is not releasing details on the satellite, its payload, or goals or objectives “in accordance with mission requirements.”

Budget documents from last spring indicated a potential launch in late 2025 or early 2026, but neither SSC nor Firefly provided those details in their announcements. A spokesperson for Firefly directed inquiries to SSC.

Firefly has a history with the Victus series, having carried the Victus Nox satellite into orbit aboard its Alpha rocket.

The Space Force wants to cut the time between launch orders and liftoff to under 24 hours. Budget documents suggest the missions “will be ready for call-up in the second quarter of FY 2025.”

Last October, the Space Force announced two other missions: Victus Surgo and Victus Salo. Targeted for 2026, those missions will add new wrinkles to the Tactically Responsive Space requirements, including demonstrating high Delta-V maneuvers in orbit and launching a satellite into far higher geosynchronous orbit. Startup Impulse Space will deliver the space vehicles, which will launch on SpaceX rockets. One launch will also include an upper-stage rocket from Impulse Space.

Space Force leaders say the Victus missions demonstrate how USSF could rapidly replenish satellite constellations if U.S. space assets came under attack. They also help refine standard launch processes to be faster and more efficient, cutting down on timelines that sometimes stretch for months.

The launch contract for Victus Sol comes from the Space Force’s Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4, which covers smaller launches where the Space Force is willing to accept greater risk compared to the National Security Space Launch program.

New Airmen Train for Astronaut Recovery to Keep Up with Spaceflight Surge

Feb. 14, 2025 | By David Roza

As the number of crewed spaceflights ticks up, the Air Force expects to train more of its C-17 transport crews to help pluck astronauts out of the water as part of its Human Space Flight Support mission

Last month, five pilots and three loadmasters from the 315th Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve C-17 unit based at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., traveled to Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., to learn HSFS search and rescue airdrop techniques, which are used to pick up astronauts after their spacecraft splashes down in the water.

From Jan. 14-17, the 315th Airmen performed 10 airdrops and 30 pararescue jumps in rough seas and winter temperatures with Hawaii Air National Guardsmen from the 204th Airlift Squadron and Patrick-based Reservists from the 308th Rescue Squadron.

The wing’s chief of weapons and tactics and HSFS lead planner, Maj. Ryan Schieber, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that, to his knowledge, this was the first Reservist C-17 crew to train in rescue airdrop and the HSFS mission.

The training comes amid a growing number of spaceflights run by private companies such as SpaceX and Boeing, and as NASA prepares for Artemis II, its first crewed moon mission since 1972, set to launch in 2026. The uptick has HSFS-trained units such as the 204th Airlift Squadron standing alert for astronaut retrievals three to four times a year, according to a Jan. 17 press release.

“With an increase in crewed space flight, naturally the number of alerts for HSFS will increase,” Schieber said.

astronaut recovery — A joint task force of loadmasters from the 204th Airlift Squadron, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and 315th Airlift Wing, prepare MK-25 flares, before detonation and release from a Joint Base Charleston C-17 Globemaster III during Human Space Flight Support airdrop search and rescue training Jan 16, 2025, at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Della Creech)

The HSFS mission stretches back to 1959, when Department of Defense Mercury Support was established for Project Mercury, America’s first human spaceflight program. The office changed names several times over the decades as it supported the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and other programs, before becoming Detachment 3 (Det. 3), First Air Force in 2021.

Today, Det. 3 is the air component of U.S. Space Command—Air Forces Space—and manages global contingency rescue forces during launches and landings for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (i.e. SpaceX and Boeing) and the upcoming Artemis missions, a First Air Force spokesperson explained.

Defense Department forces “are on alert for launch, freeflight, and landing,” the spokesperson said. “The HSFS mission includes the search and rescue of astronauts, the recovery of crewed space flight assets, the pre-positioning of rescue forces, and providing unique communication abilities.”

For example, when the uncrewed Orion capsule splashed down west of Baja California in 2022 after orbiting the moon as part of the Artemis I mission, Det. 3 oversaw the capsule recovery. The outfit trained a team of Navy divers to install special hardware on the spacecraft to help with recovery, and to breach the capsule to rescue astronauts if future missions require it, a press release explained at the time.

Det. 3 also brought the crew of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland up to speed on recovering spacecraft, taught Navy helicopter crews how to spot and recover any separated spacecraft parts, and accompanied the ship to pick up Orion.

“The combined NASA, Navy, and Det. 3 team has been preparing for this event since the beginning of the Orion program, which dates back to 2011,” Lt. Col. Dave Mahan, then-Det. 3’s Artemis program director, said at the time. Mahan now commands the detachment. “It was amazing to watch all of that planning and just-in-time training in action during splashdown and recovery.”

Staff Sgt. Krystal Terlep, Human Space Flight Support airdrop loadmaster, 204th Airlift Squadron, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, releases an Advanced Rescue Craft for 308th Rescue Squadron pararescueman, Patrick Space Force Base, Florida, during HSFS airdrop search and rescue training Jan 16, 2025, at Patrick SFB, Florida. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Della Creech)

For past missions involving its spacecraft, SpaceX used its own ships for recovering Crew Dragons and the crews aboard. That will likely happen March 12, when astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are expected to splash down aboard a Crew Dragon after spending an unexpected nine months aboard the International Space Station since the Boeing Starliner they rode into orbit malfunctioned on approach to the ISS last June. Also splashing down with them will be cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov and astronaut Col. Nick Hague, the first Space Force Guardian to launch into space.

If anything goes wrong, Air Force crews are trained to help. HSFS missions use the C-17 for its airdrop capability and its longer range compared to smaller aircraft such as the HC-130J, the First Air Force spokesperson said.

The biggest differences between rescue airdrops and conventional airdrops, Schieber explained, is that HSFS rescue airdrops typically take place over water and involve Guardian Angels, the combat rescue officers, pararesuemen, and other Airmen who conduct or support personnel recovery.

“Our crews received training on search and rescue patterns that would assist in identifying the recovered capsule’s location for the follow-on recovery,” he said. “Additionally, the mission set requires our loadmasters to utilize flares and smoke to assist in visually identifying the recovered capsule.”

It also involves dropping gear such as jet-skis and rigid inflatable boats, Master Sgt. Makaio Roberts, HSFS deputy program manager with the 204th Airlift Squadron, said in a Jan. 17 video about the training.

With more experience on C-17 HSFS missions, it was Roberts’ and his fellow Hawaiians’ task to certify the Charleston Airmen for the astronaut recovery mission.

“This is a very unique operation for the C-17 to participate in rescue airdrops,” Schieber said in the video. “It’s something that most of the C-17 crews haven’t experienced before.”

Other crews from the Active-duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard will likely follow in their footsteps, the First Air Force spokesperson said.

“We expect more C-17 crews from the total force to become trained on the HSFS airdrop training as our nation’s space programs expand.”

New Report: Abolish Joint Requirements Process, Replace with Bottom-Up Approach

Feb. 14, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

The Department of Defense should “burn down” its formal process of setting requirements that meet joint service needs and replace with a more bottom-up, iterative process, two analysts with Pentagon and industry experience argue in blunt terms in a new paper from the Hudson Institute.

The Joint Capabilities and Integration Development System, or JCIDS, is a time-consuming, “low-value-added” bureaucratic mess that is “a burdensome layer of ceremony, divorced from the real decisions that shape America’s future military edge,” write William Greenwalt and Dan Patt.

Greenwalt served as deputy under secretary of defense for industrial policy and worked for both Congress and industry before becoming a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Patt worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and in the technology industry before becoming a senior fellow at Hudson.

Created in 2003, JCIDS was meant to connect and harmonize requirements between the services. But while it was crafted with good intentions, it has been an impediment to cutting-edge capabilities and created “entrenched parochial interests,” Greenwalt and Patt claim. Despite 10 attempts over the last two decades to reform it, it has become a process-bound bureaucracy that adds, at a minimum, two years to the development of new capabilities while forcing services to stick with obsolete requirements set by committee.

As an alternative, the authors promote what they call a “Joint Operational Acceleration Pathway,” based on their premise that if a service discovers a capability with joint benefits which will enlarge that branch’s budget, it will pursue it. These capabilities would be discovered through experimentation and prototyping at the tactical and operational level, coming to service budgets through the regional combatant commanders.

Eliminating JCIDS would free up “energy, time and talent to focus on genuine innovation and rapid adaptation,” Greenwalt and Patt claim.

JCIDS, they say, is a “breeding ground for process tyranny.”

For example, even if a requirement has been validated through the process, there’s no guarantee resources will be provided for it. There is also no accountability for filling capability gaps, and the JCIDS process doesn’t “retire old wish lists that no longer match emerging threats,” they wrote. Rather, the process “imposes yearslong validation delays” on technological advancements, while U.S. adversaries can move much more quickly.

The authors also note there’s no mechanism in JCIDS to terminate a developmental program that has clearly been overtaken by events; rather, it “accumulates an ever-expanding inventory of so-called validated needs with no strategic triage.”

Moreover, “military officers and staffers spend countless hours quibbling over formatting and definitions; a single comment can stall progress for months,” Greenwalt and Patt write. The system “locks developers into rigid technical specifications before testing new ideas in the field, removing critical decision space from both program managers and industry innovators. Meanwhile, cross-service decisions and prioritization happen elsewhere.”

Most innovation in the Pentagon bypasses JCIDS entirely, the authors note, by coming through as a Joint Urgent Operational Need or as a mid-tier acquisition initiative, both of which aim to leap the “valley of death” between good ides and a service requirement. The authors also held up Rapid Capabilities Offices as an example of how to speed development by skipping the usual system of setting and vetting requirements, while being subjected to minimal oversight.

“These processes succeed largely by enabling individual leadership, securing dedicated funding, and letting technical trades and performance evolve with learning,” the authors said. “Meanwhile, JCIDS focuses on staffing documents that have no real positive impact.”

The process of entering a new need into the JCIDS process and getting a budget-ready, validated requirement out the other end can be laborious:

A capabilities assessment and sponsor review can last 5-15 months

Getting staffing and comments, resolving disputes and submitting the revised requirement is another 2-3 months

Review by the Functional Capabilities Board, with a review by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, and finalizing the paperwork takes another 2-7 months

Total time: 8-25 months

The authors noted that programs exiting the process in 2015 spent an average 17 months in it, with a low of 8.3 months and a high of 30 months.

Rather than try to reform the process, Greenwalt and Patt concluded that JCIDS “has failed too completely to be rescued by another committee’s review or a fresh coat of bureaucratic paint. … No new [Key Performance Parameters], no revised membership, no inspired PowerPoint deck or new formatting appendix can salvage it.”

Instead, they argue that the Pentagon needs to act fast to meet the strategic needs of the moment. They urged senior leaders to end JCIDS with colorful, forceful language: “Put it out of its misery. … Bury it and salt the ground so that nothing resembling it ever grows back.”

Instead, Greenwalt and Patt claim their decentralized approach would start with “real-world experimentation and prototyping campaigns” to keep DOD in tune with and aligned to operational demands. There would be a fund to get programs going—a “Joint Acceleration Reserve” that “steps up to adopt and scale a proven cross-service concept.”

These initiatives would be vetted by a “dedicated execution hub would run iterative try-and-see efforts in realistic operating environments with actual uniformed operators, bringing together commercial prototypes, emerging tech from labs, well-integrated existing service systems, and [Combatant Command] user feedback,” they wrote.

If a concept proves out, it would get the Joint Acceleration Reserve funding. In turn, the services would have an incentive “to pick up joint or cross-domain solutions and invest in them for the long haul.”

The paper endorses the concept of “operational imperatives”—like those set by former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall—which they define as “concise statements of critical warfighting challenges identified by combatant commands and backed by DOD leadership.”

“This problem-centric focus would free innovators and operators to experiment with diverse solutions rather than adhere to an inflexible blueprint,” they added.

US, Australia, Japan Boost F-35 Integration with Indo-Pacific Exercise

Feb. 13, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

F-35s from the United States, Australia, and Japan are all soaring above Andersen Air Force Base in Guam as part of Pacific Air Forces’ largest annual multilateral exercise.

Cope North kicked off Feb. 3 and runs through Feb. 21, drawing more than 2,300 U.S. personnel, a PACAF spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

A total of 62 U.S. aircraft are involved in the exercise, spanning across the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. These include a mix of F-35A, F-35B, F-16, and F/A-18C/D fighters; EA-18 Growlers, E-11 and E-3 command and control aircraft; KC-46, KC-135, and KC-130J tankers; C-130J transport aircraft; and MH-60S helicopters, the spokesperson added.

From left to right, a Royal Australian Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and U.S. F-35A Lightning II aircraft fly in formation over the Pacific Ocean during exercise Cope North 25, Feb. 7, 2025. Japanese, Australian, and U.S. air forces trained together during CN25 to streamline combined tactics and, if needed, win in an armed conflict. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Chloe Johnson)

The exercise focuses on blending air tactics, techniques, and procedures to ensure smooth collaboration for “deterring conflict and achieving regional security.”

While last year’s iteration saw fighters and electronic warfare aircraft escorting a B-52 bomber, the focus for this year has shifted to integrating the three nations’ fifth-generation fighters.

“The reason that fifth-generation is so important is that fifth-generation fighters are the forward edge of our fighting force, especially in the Indo-Pacific, so it’s important to practice together with all the nations that fly them,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Charles Schuck, commander of the 3rd wing, in a release.

The Royal Australian Air Force is contributing 275 personnel, eight F-35As, a KC-30A multirole tanker transport, and an E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft to the exercise.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) is represented by six F-35As, two E-2D early warning and control aircraft, and a KC-46 refueling tanker, along with some 250 personnel.

U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II from Air Station Iwakuni Fighter Attack Squadron 121 receives fuel from U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 168th Wing out of Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, for Cope North 2025 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Jan. 29, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Adasha Williams

“When you have many different nations flying the same aircraft, it’s important to train together so that we learn small differences between how each nation employs, maintains, and commands and controls those airplanes,” said Schuck. “We’ll never learn those differences without actually exercising together.”

This marks the first joint F-35 exercise under an agreement reached last year following a trilateral defense summit in May. The three nations have agreed to take turns hosting joint F-35 exercises, with Cope North kicking off in the U.S., followed by Bushido Guardian in Japan this year and Pitch Black in Australia in 2026.

“Exercise Cope North [25] will be the showcase for the true integration of fifth-gen capability,” said RAAF Contingent Commander Group Capt. Darryl Porter. “Australia has participated in Exercise Cope North since 2011, and coming to Guam provides valuable training experience for aviators deploying into the Indo-Pacific region.”

The RAAF has already purchased 72 F-35As for three squadrons, with the final nine jets delivered in December. Japan, meanwhile, has ordered 105 F-35As and up to 42 F-35Bs, with the order placed in 2022.

Japan Air Self-Defense Force, Royal Australian Air Force, and U.S. 4th and 5th generation aircraft fly in formation over the Pacific Ocean during exercise Cope North 25, Feb. 7, 2025. The aircraft in the photo are, from top to bottom: a U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornet, U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, JASDF F-35A Lightning II, RAAF E-7A Wedgetail, U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II, U.S. Navy E/A-18 Growler, RAAF F-35A Lightning II, and U.S. Air Force F-16CM. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Chloe Johnson

The agreement between former U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and his Australian and Japanese counterparts is part of a broader push to ramp up the frequency and complexity of joint training amid rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

The three countries plan to boost intelligence-sharing and jointly invest in developing new technologies, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones. They also plan to hold the first-ever combined live-fire air-and-missile exercise in 2027 and aim to build a joint air defense system to tackle growing air and missile threats in the region.

Originally a quarterly bilateral exercise at Misawa Air Base in 1978, Cope North moved to Andersen in 1999 and became trilateral in 2012 with the RAAF’s inclusion.