Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Master Sgt. Justin S. Cruz

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Master Sgt. Justin S. Cruz

Sept. 7, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 11-13 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Master Sgt. Justin S. Cruz, the Superintendent of the Operations Flight with the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron at Space Base Delta 1, Peterson Space Force Base, Colo.

As the superintendent of Peterson’s largest flight, Cruz oversees some 134 military and civilian personnel across 12 different specialty shops, consisting of everything from electricians and HVAC technicians to plumbers and metalworkers. The flight has a $7.6 million budget and 18 service contracts, working to sustain more than 1,000 acres and 205 facilities valued at $2 billion. Cruz said his flight receives about 1,000 work tasks per month.

“We’ve got a very important mission,” Cruz said. “When [Guardians are] trying to track satellites and track objects in space that are traveling 1,000 miles per hour, they have computer systems that need to be working all the time. So, who supplies that power? That’s gonna be us.”

Prior to 2021, when he was first assigned to Peterson, Cruz said he’d never have guessed he would be such a central figure in supporting space operations. But now that he’s here, he has a better vision of how important the Space Force’s mission is—and how he can help.

“When you’re on a regular Air Force base, you can see the mission, as far as the planes and the jets taking off. When you’re on a Space Force base, it’s a little bit different,” Cruz said. “But [when] you go and get the briefings of how important the mission is and what they’re supporting, it’s pretty amazing. [I] just try to do my best to convey that message down to the lowest-ranking Airmen [in] the shops so they know what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis is important.”

From April to October of 2022, Cruz deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Spartan Shield. His mission was to reconstitute bare-base assets to improve living conditions for service members who had previously been living in tents. Cruz led a 25 joint-member team to stand up 340 new housing units with reliable power.

While he was deployed at PSAB, Cruz also found a more efficient way for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) crews to clean their aircraft. The BACN aircraft needed to be washed every day to avoid corrosion in the high desert temperatures, but because of PSAB’s austere location that required flying the plane two hours away to the nearest wash station. By repurposing unused water tanks and pipes at PSAB to direct waterlines to the BACN maintenance crews’ on-site workspace, Cruz and his team cut out the need for nearly four hours of travel time per day.

“What we did is really quite simple when you get down to it,” he said. “We had a great team and they loved helping out and developing innovative solutions.”

Cruz also led a $3 million project to construct the first Air Force-owned “Coyote” weapon system site at PSAB. His team leveled the area, constructed access roads for fuel trucks, converted Conex boxes into work areas, and installed AC and power generators to support the site, which is now protecting six weapon system platforms valued at over $200 million against unmanned aerial attacks.

Senior Master Sgt. Justin S. Cruz. USAF.

“They had to prepare the entire area. I mean, it was just sand. There was nothing out there,” Cruz said. “So that was a very cool project that we had our folks working on and they did an amazing job with that.”

Selected as one of the Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year, Cruz is being honored for demonstrating exceptional leadership and innovation. But he said that it was the leaders in the last years—those he’s worked with while deployed overseas and stateside at Peterson—who showed him the way. In addition to crediting his wife and parents for their constant support, Cruz said that the teams he has worked with—from his command chiefs to his Airmen in the shops—are just as deserving of the award.

“I’m not the one out there doing these jobs. I’m just managing people and resources,” he said. 
“So, this award to me, even though they say it’s an individual award, I feel like it’s a team award. It just shows how great the men and women are out there, serving with me at PSAB [and at] the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 below:

WATCH: Paul Ferraro on RTX’s New Approach with Raytheon

WATCH: Paul Ferraro on RTX’s New Approach with Raytheon

Sept. 7, 2023

Paul Ferraro, President of Air Power at Raytheon, an RTX business, sat down with Air & Space Forces Magazine’s Editor in Chief, Tobias Naegele, to discuss why RTX combined its Missiles & Defense Unit and its Intelligence & Space Unit into a single business entity called “Raytheon”—and what the new approach means for the forces.

F-15E Maintainers Ready to ‘Show Why We Are the Best’ at William Tell Fighter Meet

F-15E Maintainers Ready to ‘Show Why We Are the Best’ at William Tell Fighter Meet

Sept. 7, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series previewing the return of the William Tell Air-to-Air Weapons Meet next week. The first part, on the pilots preparing for William Tell, is available here.

Next week, some of the best aircrews, maintainers, and intelligence Airmen from across the Air Force will gather at the Air Dominance Center in Savannah, Ga., for the William Tell Air-to-Air Weapons Meet, a prestigious fighter competition last held in 2004. While the pilots battle in the sky, maintainers will face off to determine who is the best weapons load crew in the service.

“This is definitely a big deal for us, because it hasn’t been done in so long,” said Staff Sgt. Jashaunn Jasper, a maintainer with the 4th Fighter Wing out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., which flies F-15E Strike Eagles. Even being selected to compete is an accomplishment, Jasper told Air & Space Forces Magazine, and now he and his team get to “go down and show why we are the best.”

To succeed in a weapon load competition, teams must strike a fine balance between speed and accuracy, which means following all the technical and safety procedures in the multi-step process of uploading complicated weapons. At William Tell, the F-15E load crews will hang four AMRAAM radar-guided air-to-air missiles and two Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles.  At any time in the load, evaluators deduct points for technical or safety deviations.

Each team has three people: a ‘one-man’ who leads the effort; a ‘two-man’ who prepares the racks and rails on the aircraft where the weapons will hang, and a ‘three-man’ who drives the jammer, a tiny lift truck for carrying weapons, and loads the weapons on to the plane with the help of the ‘one-man.’

The 4th Fighter Wing team, with Jasper as the one-man, Senior Airman Grace Forgey as the two-man, and Senior Airman Aaron Woods as the three-man, has had plenty of practice working together over the past few years.

“We have chemistry because we’ve been working together for a while now,” said Woods. “It helps knowing what this person is supposed to do and what that person is supposed to do.”

Senior Airman Cassandra Romero, center, 333rd Fighter Generation Squadron weapons load crew member, lines up an unarmed practice AGM-158 JASSM munition to load it onto an F-15E Strike Eagle as Staff Sgt. Alexandro Diaz, right, 4th Maintenance Group loading standardization crew member, evaluates her during a weapons standardization load evaluation at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, June 9, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal.

That chemistry paid off when the team, which belongs to the 335th Fighter Generation Squadron, competed against load crews from the three other fighter generation squadrons in the 4th Maintenance Group for the chance to represent the wing at William Tell. 

“It was a little bit intense … since we were pretty much going up against the best in the unit,” said Woods, who noted that just a few seconds separated the winners at a past contest.

Many weapon load competitions stay within a fighter wing, but at William Tell, the 4th Fighter Wing crew will take on crews from the 366th Fighter Wing, which flies F-15Es out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; and the 104th Fighter Wing, which flies F-15 C/D Eagles out of Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass. The winner of that contest will then face the best F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor load crews to figure out who is the best in the Air Force.

“Hopefully we’ll dominate that competition the first day so we can go on to compete against the other aircraft,” Jasper said.

There will be awards for top weapons crew overall and top weapons load per aircraft, and the attached bragging rights for each. Jasper and Woods are not alone in wanting to be the best: Capt. Andrew “PAÑIC” Munoz, one of the pilots representing the 4th Fighter Wing at the meet, is looking to do the same in the cockpit.

“Ultimately the goal is to win,” he said in an Aug. 14 press release. “I want to win, so that the 4th FW is named No. 1 in the air dominance category. It’ll show everybody that the F-15E is combat air power.”

An F-15E Strike Eagle takes off from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, Dec. 14, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Rebecca Sirimarco-Lang.

The fighters will compete in one-on-one basic fighter maneuvers; two-on-two air combat maneuvering; and ‘fighter integration’ where the various jets flown by different teams (F-35s, F-22 Raptors, F-15C/D Eagles, F-15E Strike Eagles, and command and control aircraft) work together to take out visiting ‘Red Air’ adversary units. 

The teams who work together best will receive the Maj. Richard I. Bong Fighter Integration Award, named after the top American flying ace in World War II. There will also be awards for the top wings in each fighter category, as well as functional awards for command and control, maintenance, weapons loading, intelligence tradecraft, and “superior individual performers.”

Fans can track the action by following scoreboard announcements posted each evening on social media, according to a July 27 press release.

The return of William Tell is a boon for Air Force fighter culture. The contest was held more or less every two years from 1954 to 1996 but dropped off for good after a 2004 revival to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first contest. USAF’s renewed focus on China as a peer adversary and the potential for fighting in highly contested airspace is the inspiration for bringing the competition back to life. Maintainers are excited to get into the action.

“Somebody referred to it as kind of like the Super Bowl for us, and that’s how I look at it,” Woods said.

About 800 Airmen are expected to participate, Air Combat Command told Air & Space Forces Magazine, representing nine squadrons from the Active, Guard, and Reserve components. Among them will be:

Air Combat Command

  • F-15E Strike Eagles from the 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and 366th Fighter Wing, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
  • F-22 Raptors from the 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
  • F-35 Lightning IIs from the 388th Fighter Wing, Hill Air Force Base, Utah
  • Command and Control from the 552 Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Pacific Air Forces

  • F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and the 154th Fighter Wing, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii
  • Command and Control from the 3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and the 18th Wing, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan

Air National Guard

  • F-15 C/D Eagles from the 104th Fighter Wing, Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass.
  • F-35 Lightning IIs from the 158th Fighter Wing, Burlington Air National Guard Base, Vt.
The Power of Partnership: Enabling Innovative Electric Technology

The Power of Partnership: Enabling Innovative Electric Technology

Sept. 7, 2023

Collins Aerospace has spent more than a half century developing electric power generation technologies that power aircraft around the world. Alongside its industry-leading engineering teams, Collins credits development of next-generation electric technology to its strategic partnerships. As technology continues to evolve in support of aircraft electrification, key relationships position Collins to help advance hybrid-electric propulsion technologies in support of sustainable aviation across both military and commercial sectors.

Advancing electric power systems for the military and beyond

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

Collins is currently developing a 1-megawatt electric generator for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) as part of its Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission-Capability program. The low-spool generator could have multiple applications for future manned and unmanned military platforms. 

 “We have a long history of working with the Air Force Research Labs and they do a lot of the cutting-edge technology for equipment that ultimately ends up on aircraft,” said Todd Spierling, Principal Technical Fellow for Collins Aerospace. 

With the addition of advanced mission systems, avionics and high-energy weapons, the next generation of military aircraft will require an order of magnitude increase in electricity that current aircraft require today. 

“Next-generation military aircraft will require increased power and operational capabilities to perform their missions, and we’re extending the work we’re doing with electrification to more and more defense applications,” Spierling said. “So how do we do that? What does that equipment look like, and how do we supply that power to the airplane?”

Collins Aerospace has been working with AFRL for several years now on the design and manufacture of the 1MW generator, which could be used to power these systems safely and efficiently. Collins is now moving into the building stage – and this piece of hardware will be one of the first pieces to be tested in The Grid.

The Grid is Collins’ new next-generation electric power systems lab located in Rockford, Illinois. The lab will be used to develop high-power, high-efficiency motors, motor controllers, generators and distribution systems, in addition to providing a space for extensive electric system integration. 

Partnering on UAV technology

In collaboration with Pratt & Whitney, Collins is advancing hybrid-electric propulsion technology through a number of demonstrator programs addressing a range of aircraft applications from advanced air mobility vehicles to single-aisle airliners. For example, the Scalable Turboelectric Powertrain Technology (STEP-Tech) demonstrator aims to advance technologies for distributed hybrid-electric propulsion systems for smaller aircraft such as high-speed eVTOL and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The program completed its first engine run and integration test in early 2023. At the larger end of the scale, Pratt & Whitney and Collins are developing a hybrid-electric GTF engine demonstrator, as part of the SWITCH project, supported by the European Union’s Clean Aviation initiative. 

As both Collins and Pratt & Whitney are businesses of RTX, the companies are uniquely placed to leverage collaboration between their closely integrated engineering teams, helping to accelerate the development of technologies for both commercial and military applications.

“When I think of aircraft electrification, what does it mean for the industry? What does it mean for our customers?” states Eric Cunningham, Vice President of Electric Power Systems at Collins Aerospace. “It means we’re going to start doing things differently and how we architect not just the systems, but the entire aircraft. If I think about what we did on the 787 and F-35 by going to a more electric architecture, Collins was the company that put those systems in place. And so, we’ve got a history of not just doing a component or two here and there, but we have the unique capability to integrate the entire electrical system including the generation, the control, the distribution, the emergency power.”

Military aircraft and the future fleet depend on the ability to execute unique mission profiles, pushing range, lethality and mission readiness. Demonstrator programs like STEP-Tech provide important opportunities for maturing technologies and exploring avenues to apply aircraft electrification to future applications, including military. The collaboration between Collins and Pratt & Whitney combines decades of expertise from each business’s specialties to execute advanced aviation systems utilizing electric architectures. 

Cutting-edge advancements powered by partnership

With more than 100 years in military aviation innovation and advancements, Collins Aerospace understands the importance of partnership to truly transform the future of aerospace. 

“We talk about this being the third era of aviation, when we went from piston engines to gas turbines and now to electrified propulsion. So, it’s a time to enter the industry when there there’s dramatic revolutionary things happening as opposed to periods of time when it’s more evolutionary,” muses Spierling. And these advancements couldn’t happen without the many partnerships that drive the future of electrified aviation.

Learn more about Collins Aerospace and the future of electrified aircraft.

Upgraded F-35 Deliveries Delayed to Mid-2024; USAF Prioritizes New Units in the Meantime

Upgraded F-35 Deliveries Delayed to Mid-2024; USAF Prioritizes New Units in the Meantime

Sept. 6, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The first F-35s with the Tech Refresh-3 upgrade—largely a processor upgrade upon which the Block 4 configuration of the fighter will ride—will be delivered before the middle of next year, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said Sept. 6.

Previously, TR-3 jets were forecast to become available in the last quarter of calendar 2023.

In the meantime, the Air Force is prioritizing deliveries of jets with the TR-2 configuration to new F-35 units, according to Gen. Mark Kelly, head of Air Combat Command.

Aircraft that come off Lockheed’s assembly line with the TR-3 hardware will be stored until testing clears them for acceptance by the services—flight testing began in January and is still ongoing. But the last aircraft delivered to the Air Force with the TR-2 configuration are earmarked for new F-35 bases, like Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Kelly said.   

“We have updated our F-35 TR-3 schedule projections with a first TR-3 aircraft delivery between April and June 2024,” the Lockheed spokesperson said.

“As a result, we now expect to deliver 97 aircraft in 2023, all in the TR-2 configuration. We are continuing aircraft production at a rate of 156 per year while simultaneously working to finalize TR-3 software development and testing. Additionally, we remain focused on receiving the necessary hardware from our suppliers to deliver this critical combat capability for the F-35.”

Kelly, speaking at the Defense News conference in Arlington, Va., said a team comprised of ACC officials and the office of the deputy chief of staff for operations have worked out “a rather elaborate plan” which will “not delay the initial arrival of airplanes” at new F-35 bases.

He noted that Tyndall “just got their first four airplanes; we didn’t want to delay that. I believe that Alabama and the other units that are slated to get F-35s will get them on time.” The priority for new bases is so they can start to become practiced at operating and maintaining the jets as soon as possible, to make easier the absorption of more new jets later.

However, delay in follow-on deliveries to the new operating locations “will take an impact” on the combat air forces, Kelly said, “depending on the amount of the delay.”

Kelly said the Air Force needs the TR-3 with all possible speed, because “the high-end software, high-end hardware, high-end EW (electronic warfare) is hard business.”

“But we stay in lockstep with our industry partners. And we need to lock arms and help them work through this as a team, but there will be impacts,” he added.

When a unit converts to new airplane, Kelly said, “usually by the time they get their last airplane, the clock starts, and they need to be ready to go [to war] a year or so later. Well, that will delay and that will impact” the Global Force Management system.

Units in the process of receiving new equipment won’t be back in rotation for forward deployments on time, and that will affect USAF’s readiness, Kelly said.

The Air Force has long said it prefers to buy the minimum number of F-35s possible until the Block 4 is ready, and Kelly emphasized the service will continue to operate as best it can until TR-3 is ready. However, the upgrades are key to the future fight, he said.

“The whole idea of a challenging peer scenario is a very challenging electromagnetic spectrum [fight] and very capable threats,” Kelly said. “And if we’re going to engage that spectrum or engage those threats, we’ve got to have the fastest processing, the best jamming, the most coherent waveforms available. And that takes a really, really agile, stable software load to unlock those Block 4 hardware” [capabilities] and unlock the EW. That’s kind of the secret sauce that we’re going to need.”

Lt. Gen. James C. Slife—just nominated to become the new Air Force vice chief—echoed Kelly’s comments and added that “I wish we had the ability, when a crisis pops up somewhere around the globe, to be able to evaluate it and say, ‘Does this crisis need a TR-3 Block 35 or is a TR-2 Block 35 sufficient?’”

Instead, the Air Force is flying on “the knife edge of capability” because it’s short of fighters, he said.

“It’s frankly … check your pockets, see what you have in your pocket. And that’s what goes. So getting these jets on time and fielded is absolutely critical to our ability to meet the global demand signal on a day to day basis,” Slife said.

The Lockheed spokesperson said the TR-3 “remains our No. 1 development priority. We are applying critical expertise to deliver TR-3, with more than 500 employees, 15 labs and flight test occurring at Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Station Patuxent River.”

The software testing schedule has been delayed, the spokesperson said, “due to unexpected challenges associated with hardware and software development, component and system integration testing and qualification testing.” The Integrated Core Processor, which is the heart of the TR-3, is being built by L3Harris.

“We have deployed employees to L3Harris to help expedite hardware delivery and are working diligently with Raytheon on their delivery of the Next-Gen Electro-Optical Digital Aperture System (EODAS), which will also be integrated with TR-3,” the spokesperson said.

Airmen and Guardians Test Launch ICBM, Plan Another in November

Airmen and Guardians Test Launch ICBM, Plan Another in November

Sept. 6, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Airmen and Guardians joined forces to conduct an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile test launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., early Sept. 6.

Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and 30th Space Launch Delta Guardians launched the Minuteman III, equipped with three test re-entry vehicles, at 1:26 a.m. Pacific Time. The ICBM’s reentry vehicle journeyed about 4,200 miles to reach the Kwajalein Atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

“Test launches validate our deterrence capabilities to the American public and to our allies,” Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, head of AFGSC, said in a statement.

This is the third ICBM test launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base this year, following launches on Apr. 19. and Feb 9. A fourth is scheduled for November this year, a spokesperson of Air Force Global Strike Command told Air and Space Forces Magazine. That would double the number of tests the command held in 2022.

These tests, as part of routine and periodic activities, verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, providing valuable data to ensure a continued safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent, according to the statement. Officials regularly stress that they are not in response to current world events.

Still, Col. Chris Cruise, 377th Test and Evaluation Group Commander, said this test launch sends a “visible message of deterrence on behalf of our joint forces and global partners.”

Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said at a press briefing on Sep. 5 that the Russian government was notified in advance of the test launch. Under the Ballistic Missile Launch Notification Agreement signed in 1988, the U.S. and Russia agreed to give each other 24 hours’ notice before testing ICBMs.

In March, the Biden administration announced its decision to cease sharing biannual nuclear weapons data with Russia. The action followed Moscow’s suspension of participation in the New START treaty in February. The treaty, which came into effect in 2011, permitted inspections of weapons sites and the exchange of information concerning the placement and test launches of of intercontinental and submarine-based ballistic missiles.

Earlier this month, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency revealed the deployment of an advanced ICBM system, Samrat. The head of the agency, Yuri Borisov, also confirmed the missiles have been placed on “active combat duty.” These silo-based missiles, colloquially known as ‘Satan 2,’ possess the capacity to carry multiple nuclear warheads and are designed to replace the R-36 ICBMs, which were designated as SS-18 ‘Satan’ by NATO.

The Minuteman III has been in operation since 1970, and boasts extended range, rapid retargeting capabilities, and the capability to deliver up to three reentry vehicles to different targets with high accuracy. Notably, it is the sole remaining U.S. land-based ICBM as the Air Force works to replace it with the LGM-35 Sentinel.

Replicator Drone Effort Part of Pentagon ‘Culture Change,’ Not a New Program, Hicks Says

Replicator Drone Effort Part of Pentagon ‘Culture Change,’ Not a New Program, Hicks Says

Sept. 6, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Within the next two years, the Pentagon plans to field thousands of drones in the sea, in the air, and possibly on land to counter the large size of China’s military under its new Replicator Initiative. And the Department of Defense’s No. 2 official insists the DOD needs no new money to carry out that plan.

“Replicator is not a new program of record,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, who is heading up the effort, said Sept. 6. “We’re not creating a new bureaucracy and we will not be asking for new money in [fiscal 2024]. Not all problems need new money.”

The goals for Replicator are extremely ambitious: “multiple thousands” of drones in “multiple domains” within the next 18-24 months. However, the Pentagon does not have a budget passed for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins at the start of next month.

But Hicks said the initiative was less about creating any particular new system than shifting the mindset of the entire Department of Defense to focus more on “small, smart, cheap, and many” systems that are “attritable” with a shelf life of a few years to field what is “most efficient, effective, and relevant.”

“This is about driving culture change just as much as technology change, and about replicating best practices just as much as products so we can gain military advantage faster,” Hicks said at a conference hosted by Defense News. “This doesn’t require a joint program office or re-shuffling deck chairs in any other way.”

The systems Hicks is referring to already have a Pentagon acronym, ADA2—“all-domain attritable autonomy.” The goal is “systems that are harder to plan for, harder to hit, and harder to beat than those of potential competitors.”

The Pentagon has a variety of unmanned systems, with varying degrees of autonomy, that it has sent to Ukraine, which uses thousands of drones, both of military and commercial origin. Some estimates put the loss rate of those systems at some 10,000 per month. That is where “many” and “attritable” parts of Replicator come into the picture. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine conflict has influenced the Pentagon’s thinking about the need for more and cheaper platforms.

“We’ve seen in Ukraine what low-cost attritable systems can do, not to mention other commercial technologies,” Hicks said. “They can help a determined defender stop a larger aggressor from achieving its objectives, put fewer people in the line of fire, and be made, fielded, and upgraded at the speed warfighters need without long maintenance tails.”

The People’s Republic of China, defined as the Pentagon’s “pacing challenge” by the National Defense Strategy, is bigger than Russia’s military, making the need more acute to “help us overcome the PRC’s advantage of mass—more ships, more missiles, more forces.”

But without new money or a new program of record, how the Pentagon will field the thousands of systems Hicks talks about remains somewhat nebulous. She said the effort looks to bring together much of what the Department of Defense is already doing under one roof, led by her, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher Grady, and the director of the Defense Innovation Unit Doug Beck. 

Hicks said what both the services and combatant commands are already doing informed the effort. The Space Force, led by the Space Development Agency, is shifting to smaller, profiled satellite architectures. In the Middle East, U.S. Central Command has several task forces focused on drones, led by the Navy’s Task Force 59, which uses commercial-origin vessels to patrol the waters of the region to assist the limited number of manned vessels at its disposal.

‘We’re now approaching a future where the web of satellites we can draw upon is so great that attacking or disrupting them would be futile—a wasted effort and a highly escalatory one at that,” Hicks said. “That’s what small, smart, cheap, and many can do, and Replicator will help us accelerate the scaling of ADA2 to systems in even more domains.”

While Hicks declined to talk about specifics systems, she did offer a preview of how future platforms might operate.

“Imagine flocks of ADA2 flying at all sorts of altitudes doing a range of missions,” Hicks said. “They could be deployed by larger aircraft, launched by troops on land or sea, or take off themselves. Bigger picture, ADA2 systems let us think and act differently.”

Whether the Pentagon can achieve what Replicator sets out to do remains to be seen.

“We are worried about proving … that the department can actually lead itself through this, not getting mired in red tape,” Hicks said.

The Replicator effort is seemingly separate from the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program to build unmanned wingmen for manned platforms—service officials have said CCAs will not be attritable, and budget documents suggest CCAs will be introduced operationally around 2030. The notional plan is to acquire at least 1,000 of those aircraft.

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Master Sgt. Michael Galindo 

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Master Sgt. Michael Galindo 

Sept. 6, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 11-13 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Master Sgt. Michael Galindo, Chief of Weapons and Tactics with the 502nd Security Forces Group at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.

Previously the operations superintendent for the 324th Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Galindo led the successful graduation of 328 Air Force and Guardian flights. He had the opportunity to serve as the squadron’s senior enlisted leader to coach, mentor, and train NCOs and senior NCOs as Military Training Instructors (MTI).

“[We] developed their fundamental skills: leadership, time management, instructor proficiency, academics, all within a challenging, high-paced environment,” Galindo said.

In another interim SEL role in 2022, Galindo oversaw the safety and security of 660,000 visitors during five base events at Randolph, Lackland, and Fort Sam Houston, including one which was the largest air show in Texas history. He coordinated the events’ safety and security forces with Defenders at all three installations.

Galindo also oversaw two flights of DAF civilians, Airmen, and Soldiers through 338 criminal responses at Fort Sam Houston, Brooke Army Medical Center, and Camp Bullis. The effort was the largest law enforcement mission in the Air Force.

“We also provide bailiff duties for some of the cases that are involved and that are going on there,” Galindo said. “[And] we did a new integration with the local school on base for active shooters. So, we built a pretty good partnership with them and started kicking off some training for not only our Defenders, but also the staff that works there as well.”

When he thinks about his time filling in as a senior enlisted leader, Galindo said the strong faith in his peers is what made the responsibility an easy one.

“We all worked well together. It wasn’t too complex,” he said. “I probably got lucky with some great teams and some good personalities within the teams, and some great attitudes who were willing to continue to get the mission [done]. We all take care of one another.”

Galindo recently established the first law enforcement-focused Weapons and Tactics Section for the 502nd Security Forces Group. The section conducts criminal intelligence analysis, integrates external stakeholders with the squadron, and creates development opportunities for around 900 Defenders—and with more than a decade of experience in security forces, an MTI certification, and his wealth of experience as a leader, Galindo embodies the perfect Airmen for the job as section chief.

Master Sgt. Michael Galindo. USAF.

“Things are constantly evolving, and we have to continue to adapt,” Galindo said. “So one of the things that my commander has charged the Weapon and Tactics Section, my section, with is still trying to still finding those innovative solutions … to solve these complex problems—[technology] helps improve the efficiency of the organization for us to focus on our duties elsewhere.”

The Outstanding Airman of the Year award recognizes Galindo as a model for Air Force leadership, a trait Galindo credits to the chiefs who have guided him through his career. He named Chief Master Sgt. Nicole Hicks as an especially inspirational leader who helped him grow from an NCO tactician into an NCO manager.

“They say you can see farther by standing on the shoulders of giants,” Galindo said. “[I’ve had] a lot of great people in my corners and just been given a lot of opportunities to work with great teams and great energies and just great leadership … a lot of my success is because of the relationships I’ve had with senior leaders, my peers, my Airmen, and NCOs.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 below:

New Vice Chief: Slife Nominated for USAF’s No. 2 Job

New Vice Chief: Slife Nominated for USAF’s No. 2 Job

Sept. 6, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

President Joe Biden has nominated Lt. Gen. James C. Slife for promotion to general and appointment as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the service’s No. 2 job, the Pentagon announced Sept. 6.

At a Defense News conference earlier in the day, Slife, who currently serves as deputy chief of staff for operations, was asked to comment on reports he would receive the nomination to succeed Gen. David W. Allvin as Vice Chief.

“I’ve got full-time work where I am right now,” Slife said. “So I guess I’ll give that some more thought once we get further down the process.”

Allvin was nominated July 26 to become Chief of Staff, set to succeed Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who is nominated to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In turn, Maj. Gen. Adrian L. Spain has been tapped to pin on a third star and succeed Slife as deputy chief of staff of operations, the DOD announced.

Slife’s three previous assignments before his current job were all in special operations:

  • Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command
  • Vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command
  • Chief of Staff at Headquarters, U.S. Special Operations Command

He has had 14 other assignments in special operations, having been a UH-1 and MH-53J Pave Low helicopter pilot, and he has commanded special ops units at the squadron, group and wing levels.

If confirmed, Slife will be the first AFSOC commander to become Vice Chief or Chief of Staff since the major command was founded in 1990. Between him and Allvin, the Air Force would have no fighter or bomber pilot in either of its top two jobs, an exceedingly rare occurrence.

The two would take over the Air Force at a key transition moment—Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has called for a sweeping review of the service’s readiness for potential conflict with China, leaders have pushed to retire old aircraft and invest in new platforms, and the branch has increasingly centered its operations around the Agile Combat Employment concept, in which teams of Airmen disperse to operate from remote or austere locations.

Slife’s other Air Force assignments include a tour with Air Force legislative liaison as an intern, a Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellow, and a stint as the director of the Air Force’s Emerging Capabilities Division from 2007-2009. He received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Auburn University, Ala.; a master’s degree in aerospace science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Fla., and a master’s in administration science from George Washington University, D.C.

In addition to Slife and Spain, the Pentagon announced four other Air Force general officer nominations Sept. 6:

  • Maj. Gen. Sean M. Farrell, to become a lieutenant general and deputy commander of U.S. Special Operations Command
  • Col. Matthew S. Allen, to become a one-star and stay in his current job as director of legislative affairs for SOCOM
  • Col. Trent C. Davis, to become a one-star and stay in his current job as command chaplain for Air Combat Command
  • Col. Lawrence T. Sullivan, to become a one-star and stay in his current job as the principal military assistant to the secretary of defense

DOD also announced Biden has nominated Space Force Maj. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. to pin on a third star and become the next head of Space Operations Command. Miller is currently special assistant to the vice chief of space operations, but before that, he was director of operations for U.S. Space Command.

If confirmed, Miller would succeed Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, SpOC’s first ever commander, who has been nominated to lead U.S. Space Command.

All these nominations, however, face an uncertain timeline. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has had a legislative hold on all general and flag officer nominations since March 8, preventing the Senate from approving them all at once by voice vote. Tuberville placed his hold to protest a Pentagon policy to provide paid leave and travel funds for troops requiring reproductive services, including abortions, who are based in states where those services are not available.

Hundreds of nominees have piled up over the last several months. The Senate could hold roll-call votes on individual nominees, but the Democrats in the majority have declined to do so, saying it would take months of floor time to vote on all of them and would encourage further blockades by other lawmakers unhappy over policy matters.