Trace Amounts of Hazardous Chemicals Found at 2nd Missile Base

Aug. 22, 2023 | By Greg Hadley and Chris Gordon

Air Force experts found trace amounts of hazardous chemicals at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., but even though the hazards fell within an acceptable threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency, Air Force Global Strike Command ordered a complete cleanup, the command announced Aug. 22.

Positive tests mark the second such finding at an Air Force intercontinental ballistic missile base since AFGSC launched its Missile Community Cancer Study. Earlier this month, the command disclosed it had found two samples with elevated amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

The EPA calls PCBs a “probable human carcinogen,” noting such compounds “have been demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health effects.”

At F.E. Warren, researchers gathered 300 samples from launch control centers and launch control support buildings, including both air sampes and surface “swipes”, using gauze wetted with a solution to sample surface contaminants. Air samples produced no PCBs, but 17 of the swipe tests produced positive results of less than 4 micrograms (one-millionth of a gram) per 100 square centimeters. That’s far below the EPA-defined acceptable levels of 10 micrograms.

AFGSC Commander Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere ordered all surfaces cleaned. “We want to ensure our Airmen always have a safe and clean work environment,” Bussiere said in a statement.

Although use of PCBs in wiring and other materials was banned in 1979, the Air Force didn’t start phasing out use of the chemical at ICBM facilities until the 1980s.

Former missileers and other personnel have long been concerned about the risk of cancer stemming from their duties at the base. Those worries were reinforced when a presentation detailing cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, at Malmstrom appeared online earlier this year.

Bussiere ordered a review of the issue, which led to the Missile Community Cancer Study overseen by U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. The study has two parts: environmental sampling and an epidemiological study, which will take 12-14 months to complete, to assess cancer rates.

Members of the study team carried out initial visits in February and March at the ICBM bases to understand what they should look for and where. The Air Force’s three ICBM bases are Malmstrom, F.E. Warren, and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. The ICBM silos themselves are spread out over vast fields that reach into five states.

Test results from Minot Air Force Base, as well as water and soil sampling done at all three bases to test for radon, organic phosphates, and other hazards, are still to come.

“We are still early in our comprehensive study of any potential health impacts to our Airmen and Guardians as a result of duty in the missile community, and we deeply appreciate the survey team’s efforts and hard work,” Bussiere said in a statement. “Many other tests are still being performed by our medical and bioenvironmental professionals, and as we get those results, we will provide updates to our Airmen and families in a rapid and transparent manner.”

Air Force Announces ARRW Test—But Offers Few Details on the Results

Aug. 21, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Aug. 23 to include a statement from Lockheed Martin.

The Air Force announced it conducted another test of the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) hypersonic missile on Aug. 19. But while the service said the event provided useful data, it declined to say whether the vehicle hit its planned target and did not characterize the test as “a success,” as it has done on some previous flights.

The shot, off a B-52H bomber, was a “full prototype operational hypersonic missile” and the test focused on the ARRW’s “end-to-end performance,” the Air Force said—a term that encompasses the captive carry of the missile, firing its ATACMS booster, release of the hypersonic glide vehicle, and receiving telemetry from it. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for ARRW.

“The Air Force gained valuable new insights into the capabilities of this new, cutting-edge technology,” the service said, but a spokeswoman for the 96th Test Wing declined to say whether the missile struck its intended target. The service would also not say what was expected from the test and could not immediately say if the test marked the last for the ARRW, which has had a patchy record.

“While we won’t discuss specific test objectives, this test acquired valuable, unique data and was intended to further a range of programs such as ARRW and HACM,” the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile now in development, the spokesperson said.

“We also validated and improved our test and evaluation capabilities for continued development of advanced hypersonic systems,” she said.

On Aug. 23, Lockheed Martin released a statement approved by the Air Force saying it has “full confidence in the maturity and production readiness of the system.”

“We continue to partner with the U.S. Air Force on ARRW hypersonic-strike capabilities by conducting operational end-to-end testing, further validating the design and production of the system,” the statement added

The Air Force has been under pressure from Congress in recent years to improve its capacity to test hypersonic vehicles both in wind tunnels and in live-fire shots. Lawmakers have complained the capacity is too limited to permit the pace of testing needed to rapidly develop hypersonic capabilities. The Air Force has responded by expanding some test ranges and using airborne platforms to collect telemetry previously collected only by ground-based control centers. Wind tunnel upgrades and new construction are underway.

The Air Force decided to “close out” the ARRW program in this fiscal year, service leaders said in presenting their 2024 budget request to Congress. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service has shifted its focus to HACM, which is a smaller, air-breathing hypersonic missile, in contrast to ARRW, which is a boost-glide hypersonic vehicle. HACM is being developed by Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, which is developing its scramjet engine and recently opened a facility in Maryland to produce hypersonic system elements.

Unlike the large ARRW, which requires a bomber to carry it, HACM is expected to be carried by fighter-sized aircraft. However, the 96th Test Wing said it cannot yet divulge what the “threshold platform”—the first aircraft—will be to employ the HACM. Service officials have suggested it will be the F-15EX.

After the ARRW program concludes, it is supposed to generate some “leave behind” usable assets, but the Air Force has not explained how many rounds this will entail, or whether they would be used for further test or in actual combat.

Edwards Dodges Major Damage from Tropical Storm, But Lakebed Runways Will Be Assessed

Aug. 21, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Despite up to six inches of rain in some areas, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., suffered minimal damage from Tropical Storm Hilary, which swept up from the west coast of Mexico bringing high winds and heavy rain to Southern California this weekend. Flight operations at Edwards were only temporarily halted, but the storm’s long-term effect on the base’s unique natural lakebed runways is still to be determined.

“There were no injuries reported on base during the tropical storm, and civil engineering crews are working diligently to remove any debris at locations with isolated flooding,” a base spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“Base infrastructure remains ready for use,” he added. “To protect all personnel who execute or support the mission, based on conditions in the surrounding area on Sunday evening, base flight operations were cancelled on Monday,” he said.

Additionally, base schools were closed and all those workers who could telework were directed to do so, to prevent commuters from being exposed to potential flash floods in the area.

Although assessments are still underway, “presently, there are no foreseeable long-term, deleterious effects from the storm,” the spokesman said.

Hilary was the first hurricane—downgraded to a tropical storm once it came inland—to hit the Los Angeles area in 84 years. The unusual storm was attributed to prolonged heat that has energized ocean waters in recent months, multiplied by the effects of an El Niño, an ocean temperature imbalance which pushes trade winds closer and with greater force toward the U.S. west coast.

Edwards’ unique dry lakebed runways have suffered in the last decade due to chronic droughts that have emptied water tables under the lakebeds and caused collapse of the concrete-like surface in some locations. That problem “has persisted” in recent years, the spokesperson said, and precipitation “can certainly ameliorate the issue and is expected to help. … To what extent the tropical storm helped remains to be determined.”

Edwards base runway managers have previously reported that steady rain over time, which gradually refill the aquifers under the lakebed, can reinforce the surface. But sudden, violent storms have the potential to cause surface collapses.

In the aftermath of the storm, the lakebed is covered with mud and standing water, the spokesperson said, and the “airfield management team has not yet assessed” its condition. After the standing water dissipates, a longer-term appraisal of the effects—good or bad—on Rogers Dry Lake and nearby natural runways will be made, he said.

The Edwards dry lakebeds have played a critical role in flight test operations for more than 80 years, playing host to various aircraft test programs like the X-1 and X-15, and serving as the main landing site for Space Shuttle missions, given the speed of those platforms and the lakebeds’ large expanse of hard, level surfaces. In recent years, surface collapses have led some areas to be put off limits, while some collapses have been repaired by injecting lakebed-like material into the holes.

Accompanied, 2-Year Tours Could Make a Comeback at Incirlik, Turkey

Aug. 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is considering restoring two-year accompanied tours as its standard assignments at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey.

Seven years after ending accompanied tours there, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa said a task force visited the base last week to assess the feasibility of returning to standard OCONUS (outside the continental U.S.) tours at Incirlik, according to a news release.

Airmen at Incirlik have been on 12-month unaccompanied tours since the fall of 2016, when the Pentagon ordered military dependents out of the country due to rising tensions in the area. That summer, an attempted military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government forced a brief pause in air operations at the base, and was followed by public protests outside the base over unfounded suspicions that the U.S. had been involved in the coup attempt. In the aftermath, some Turkish officials, including Erdogan even questioned whether U.S. and NATO aircraft should be allowed to use Incirlik.

Since then relations between the U.S. and Turkey have not been smooth. Despite warnings over its plan to buy Russian air defense systems, Turkey went through with a deal to buy the Russian S-400, prompting the U.S. and its allies to kick Turkey out of the F-35 program. Then, when Sweden and Finland said they wanted to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkey was the lone opposition, before ultimately acquiescing to both. Now that Turkey has set aside its opposition, the situation has seemingly stabilized.

Incirlik played a key role in the flow of humanitarian aid to Turkey after catastrophic earthquakes in February.

A full assessment of restoring standard OCONUS tours to Incirlik will be completed this fall, with a report expected this winter, according to the Air Force release. But that may just be a formality.

“While the task force from USAFE considers feasibility of unconditional return of dependents, security conditions … support a return of standard OCONUS tours today,” the release stated.

Col. Kevin Lord, 39th Air Base Wing commander, said in a statement: “The reinstatement of standard tours and rescinding of DOD policy will give our team the flexibility to designate key positions on base for continuity.”

Lord said the move would improve operational effectiveness at the base. “Our surety mission is something we take seriously,” he said. “Our team is advocating for return to standard OCONUS tours as a means to improve proficiency and continuity. Once policy allows, our team at the 39th ABW plans to support standard length tours for key personnel, accompanied or not, as soon as possible.”

Air Force officials are in no rush, however, and Lt Col. Charles Setzer, 39th Mission Support Group Deputy commander, said any change will take time to put in place.

“We are not considering a full-scale, unconditional return of dependents immediately,” Setzer said. “It will take a phased approach based on the [courses of action] we are presented.”

B-2 Flies Through the Arctic Circle Going From Iceland to Alaska and Back

Aug. 21, 2023 | By David Roza

An Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber flew deep into the Arctic Circle on Aug. 15 on its way from Iceland to Alaska to participate in the training exercise Red Flag-Alaska 23-3.

The stealth jet is one of three B-2s deployed as part of a Bomber Task Force rotation in Keflavik, Iceland. An open-source flight tracker reported a B-2 check in over radio at the 83rd parallel north on Aug. 15, putting it above Canada’s northernmost island. A spokesperson for the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., which operates America’s 20 B-2 bombers, confirmed the report to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“While the B-2’s home station and routine training areas don’t normally bring the aircraft to the Arctic, this training mission provided a welcome opportunity to practice navigating and operating in the challenging high north environment,” said 2nd Lt. Lindsey Weichel.

CRAG11 (B-2 Stealth Bomber) departed Keflvik, Iceland and checking in with GANDER RADIO on HF on top of the world at 83º North 😎💪🇺🇸 #SpiritNation (big thanks to @jamjake01) pic.twitter.com/1LprFcKqYg
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) August 15, 2023

The B-2 integrated with U.S. and allied aircraft for a training mission over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, then turned back to Iceland. Though the bomber could have made it from Iceland to Alaska without refueling, KC-46 refueling tankers from the New Hampshire Air National Guard’s 133rd Aerial Refueling Squadron helped the stealth jet get there and back without landing, Weichel said. The entire sortie lasted over 16 hours.

This is not the first time a B-2 has flown north of the Arctic Circle. In 2020, multiple Spirits journeyed from Missouri to train with Norwegian F-35 fighter jets somewhere over the European side of the Arctic, then flew all the way back thanks to gas from KC-135 tankers from the 100th Air Refueling Wing based in RAF Mildenhall.

A B-2 Spirit assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Miss, flies alongside a KC-46A Pegasus assigned to the 133rd Aerial Refueling Squadron, Pease Air Force Base, NH, during RED FLAG-Alaska 23-3 over the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex, Alaska Aug. 15, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew Britten

The U.S. bomber fleet has ranged across the globe this year, visiting Indonesia, the Baltics, Guam, the Middle East and other places in between.

“It seems as though everyone likes to have a bomber in their region,” Air Force Gen. Anthony J. Cotton told reporters on Aug. 16 at U.S. Strategic Command’s annual deterrence symposium. “It shows our resolve in showing that extended deterrence is alive and well when it comes to the United States.”

It also demonstrates “the strategic reach” of the bomber fleet, Cotton said, though that reach takes effort. The 509th Bomb Wing highlighted the work that intelligence, weather, communications, and maintenance Airmen do behind the scenes to make it happen.

“On the surface it might look easy to fly jets and operate out of a new environment, but behind the scenes it takes a team working tirelessly hand-in-hand to hack the mission,” Capt. Andrew Dang, a B-2 pilot with the 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, said in a press release.

SDA Awards $1.5 Billion for 72 New ‘Transport’ Satellites to Lockheed and Northrop

Aug. 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Development Agency awarded contracts Aug. 21 to Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin for 36 satellites each as part of Tranche 2 of its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), a large constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit.

The two deals, worth a collective $1.55 billion, are part of SDA’s Transport Layer—envisioned as a constellation of up to 500 satellites that will provide constant coverage over 95 percent of the Earth’s surface at all times. The Transport Layer would create a global satellite mesh network, providing high-speed tactical links supporting the Pentagon’s broader plans for Joint All-Domain Command and Control.

Under the deal, Lockheed and Northrop will each build satellites carrying ultra-high-frequency and tactical communications payloads in what SDA is calling the “Beta” segment of Tranche 2. The 36 satellites each contractor is to build will operate in three orbital planes, each with 12 satellites.

Northrop’s agreement is worth $733 million, and Lockheed’s is worth $816. That means the average cost per satellite is about $21.5 million, well above Tournear’s stated goal of $15 million. Whether future tranches will be less costly is still to be seen.

The satellites from this tranche are to be ready for launch by September 2026, according to an SDA release, or 36 months from contract award to launch. That keeps with SDA Director Derek M. Tournear’s stated focus on speed as his top priority, followed by cost and performance.

“We are now solidly in the procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the PWSA to support a 2026 delivery,” Tournear said in a statement. “Tranche 2 brings global persistence for all our capabilities in Tranche 1 and adds advanced tactical data links and future proliferated missions.”

Tranche 1 has yet to be launched—SDA launched its first batch of “Tranche 0” satellites in early April, and a second planned launch has been delayed. SDA plans to start sending Tranche 1 satellites into orbit in the fall of 2024, followed by Tranche 2 in 2026.

Tournear has described Tranche 0 as the “warfighter immersion tranche,” giving service members the opportunity to work with the systems, understand their capabilities, and begin to imagine how they might be employed. Tranche 1 will then operationalize those capabilities, and Tranche 2 will provide global persistence, with the number of satellites in each tranche continuing to grow.

Two more planned segments are planned for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer, Alpha and Gamma. A solicitation for Alpha, which will include 100 satellites, was released in June.

Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture

TRANCHE	LAYER	# OF SATELLITES	CONTRACTORS
0	Transport	20	York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin
	Tracking	8	SpaceX, L3Harris
1	Transport	126	York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
	Tracking	35	L3Harris, Northrop Gumman, Raytheon
	Demonstration and Experimentation System	12	York Space Systems
2	Transport	72	Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin
	Transport	100	TBA
	Transport	44 (approx.)	TBA
	Tracking	52 (approx.)	TBA
	Demonstration and Experimentation System	20 (approx.)	TBA

The solicitation for the Beta satellites, issued in late May, noted that SDA anticipated awarding three contracts. An SDA official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that six proposals were received from industry.

“SDA anticipated a maximum of three awardees resulting in the total procurement of six operational planes of T2TL-Beta Space Vehicles,” a spokesman said. “The solicitation tasked each offeror to propose an option for 36 satellites total in addition to the base of 24 satellites. Based on the government’s assessment of best value, SDA made awards to two vendors for 36 satellites for three planes each.”

Tournear has said SDA’s strategy of spreading out contracts among multiple vendors reduces the riks of vendor lock, allowing many different contractors multiple opportunities to bid on opportunities for the PWSA. Thus far, the agency has awarded contracts to:

York Space Systems

SpaceX

L3Harris

Lockheed Martin

Northrop Grumman

Raytheon

Fueling the Future High-End Fight with the Joint Simulation Environment

Aug. 21, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The U.S. Air Force is all-in on the Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) to revolutionize the way warfighters train for the future fight.

JSE—and HII’s Mission Technologies division, a contributor to the evolution of JSE—will be a central component in the Air Force’s mission to increase force readiness, one of the top operational imperatives outlined by Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall.

“JSE embraces an enterprise approach, meaning it is built using common, non-proprietary solutions for joint all-domain operational training challenges,” said Mike Aldinger, vice president of the U.S. Air Force portfolio in Mission Technologies’ Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) Solutions business group. “Enterprise approaches are central to HII’s business strategy and an element of the Air Force Material Command’s strategic plan. A primary advantage of the JSE solution is to provide a single, unified, high-fidelity environment that generates conditions like weather, weapons effects and electronic warfare (EW). The upshot is a common simulated battlespace where multiple simulators can interact using next-gen platforms like the F-35 and Next Generation Air Dominance.”

Plans are in place for the JSE to be integrated into the Virtual Training and Testing Center (VTTC) at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada by 2028. The initial instantiation will comprise eight F-35, four F-22, and eight virtual air threats. HII is supporting the evolution of this new technology at Nellis, working on-site to integrate systems and models, as well as performing software development to ensure that the simulated environment reflects real-world changes as they develop.

”JSE is a common environment that all of the training platforms query for results,” Aldinger said. “An input (weapon engagement) is transmitted into this common environment that then provides the adjudication to figure out [whether] it was successful or not, and this is then reflected across battlespace participants.”

Aldinger said that today’s distributed training environments are comprised of disparate systems connected over wide area networks, which can result in segmented training environments. These segmented environments impact training interoperability, and at times result in the use of dated battlespace parameters (e.g., models, threats, EW) due to the lengthy process for updating the many training systems.

“JSE includes a set of systems and processes to allow the U.S. Air Force to rapidly update models, such as radar models [and] threat models,” Aldinger said. “As our peer adversaries evolve, we can rapidly update this JSE architecture so that when we train with future platforms and current fifth-gen, they [accurately] represent what the near peer adversary we’ll be up against.”

John Bell, technical director of HII’s LVC Solutions business group, said the concept is to provide a common architecture for the simulated environment that all the models can use.

“In particular, the Air Force and the Navy, who are developing JSE together, can build a common set of models such as the Next Generation Threat System (NGTS), which is providing the constructed simulation component of the JSE,” Bell said. “We are, as of this year, beginning a new software development effort at the VTTC to develop new threat models and new weapons system models in NGTS, specifically using data that we are given from the National Air and Space Intel Center. The concept is: We get [new] data that’s been collected about real-world threats, and within a period of months, we’re able to implement that data. Depending on the nature of the data and the nature of the threat, it may be a matter of weeks before we can implement that data in the new threat system.”

Aldinger and Bell both said JSE is a “Train as you Fight” solution, giving warfighters the high-fidelity, real-world experience they need with the full range of fifth-gen (and Next-Gen Air Dominance) platforms. An F-35 pilot, for instance, can turn on all their sensors in the JSE that they wouldn’t be able to on a range without exposing capabilities to adversaries.

“This is a different approach to how they’re training today in USAF Distributed Mission Operation,” Aldinger said. “The training platforms [will] include the Operational Flight Program. What’s in the air is being fully represented in the VTTC, so you’re getting the most realistic training possible with this JSE approach.”

That streamlined, high-fidelity and efficient solution to training wouldn’t be possible without Mission Technologies’ LVC expertise. HII’s enterprise solutions and support are imperative in the Air Force’s pursuit of JSE, a revolutionary force multiplier that’s preparing today’s warfighters for tomorrow’s fight.

US, Japan, South Korea Agree to Shared Missile Warning by End of 2023, Annual Exercises

Aug. 18, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S., South Korea, and Japan have committed to sharing real-time missile warning data by the end of 2023, holding annual multi-domain military exercises, and more as part of an historic summit Aug. 18.

U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Yoon Suk Yeol met at Camp David, Md., for the first ever standalone meeting of the three countries’ leaders and announced a raft of agreements and understandings bolstering their ties in the face of aggression from both China and North Korea.

Among the agreements:

“We’ve all committed to swiftly consult each other in response to threats against any one of our countries,” Biden said in a press conference. “That means we’ll have a hotline to share information and coordinate our response whenever there’s a crisis in region.”

The three countries will “activate a data-sharing mechanism to exchange real-time missile warning data,” according to a White House fact sheet, particularly focused on North Korea’s missile launches. The hope is to make that mechanism operational by the end of 2023.

“Annual, named, multi-domain trilateral exercises,” according to the fact sheet.

Annual meetings between the countries’ leaders, as well as yearly meetings between their defense ministers and other top-ranking officials, “not just this year, not just next year, but forever, that’s the intention,” Biden said

A working group between the three countries to combat North Korea’s malicious cyber activities.

A joint agreement condemning any possible use of military force against Taiwan.

In a press conference, the three leaders tried to emphasize their security commitments go beyond responding to just one country, with Kishida emphasizing the importance of the “rules-based international order” and “regional stability.”

But the threats posed by China and particularly North Korea were common themes.

“We have consulted on practical ways to cooperate aimed at improving our joint response capabilities to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, which have become more sophisticated than ever,” Yoon said through a translator.

The agreement for major annual military exercises builds on a previous agreement in January between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin and South Korean defense minister Lee Jong-sup to ramp up military exercises between the two countries, including more deployments of assets such as fifth-generation fighters and strategic bombers.

In April, Biden and Yoon released a new agreement, dubbed the “Washington Declaration,” aimed at strengthening the U.S.’s commitment to its “extended deterrence” mission—in which America vows to defend South Korea from attack with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons. As part of that declaration, the U.S. agreed to make high-profile, but temporary, deployments, of nuclear-capable systems to the Korean peninsula, such as B-52 bombers and nuclear missile submarines.

Japan and the U.S., meanwhile, also stepped up their bilateral exercises in 2022, according to news agency Nikkei, and have conducted exercises every month this year. A U.S. Air Force B-52 briefly landed at Yokota Air Base in July due to an in-flight maintenance issue, and B-1s deployed to Misawa Air Base as part of a Bomber Task Force rotation.

Trilateral exercises have also taken place: in February, April, and July, the three countries combined for naval ballistic missile defense exercises in response to North Korean missile tests.

Trilaterial aerial exercises have been less common to this point, but Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told Nikkei in April that he would like to see them occur.

Historically, there has been enmity between Japan and South Korea, hindering cooperation. But at Camp David, Yoon and Kishida presented a united front and pledged to open a “new chapter” in cooperation.

Air Force Will Offer Pilots Assignment Preference As Part of New Retention Program

Aug. 18, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Aug. 21 to clarify details regarding the Assignment of Preference requirements.

The Air Force’s Rated Officer Retention Demonstration Program, announced Aug. 15, will offer pilots assignment preferences in addition to monetary bonuses, a service spokeswoman told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Aug. 18.

Pilots will have to sign at least an eight-year contract to receive the highest possible financial payout, and most command and control/intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance pilots will be capped at $35,000 per year, compared to $50,000 for other pilots.

The extra details shed more light on a trial program the Air Force is trotting out to entice pilots to stay in the service and re-up their commitment years in advance. Eligible pilots have until Sept. 15 to apply.

The demonstration program was implemented in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which gave the Secretary of the Air Force leeway to offer bonuses and preferred assignments to rated officers “whose continued service on active duty would be in the best interest of the Department of the Air Force” and who have between 1-3 years left on their initial service commitment—a key difference from the service’s existing Aviation Bonus program, which targets Airmen whose service commitment is expiring.

The law requires a minimum of four extra years in the service from officers who take advantage of the program. Contracts for bonuses and preferred assignments are signed separately, so Airmen who take advantage of both will incur at least six years of service—four from the bonus, two from the assignment of preference. Airmen who only receive an assignment of preference will incur four years.

“[Assignment of preference] is worked directly between assignment officers and members, but may not be a good fit for all individuals based on career timing, etc.,” service spokeswoman Laurel Falls said, noting that assignment lengths will be standard, depending on the needs of the Air Force.

The level of bonuses will be determined based on the length of the contract signed and the Air Force’s needs for different specialties, Falls added.

Specifically, bomber pilots, fighter pilots, special operations pilots, rescue pilots, mobility pilots, and U-2 pilots will all be eligible for bonuses between $35,000 and $50,000:

Four-year contracts come with $35,000 per year

Five-to-seven-year contracts come with $42,500 per year

Eight-to-12-year contracts come with $50,000 per year

Alternatively, those pilots can take a lump sum payment instead of annual payments:

Five-to-seven-year contracts come with a lump sum of $100,000

Eight-to-12-year contracts come with a lump sum of $200,000

For C2/ISR pilots, all contracts from four to 12 years come with annual payments of $35,000. Lump sum payments, however, are split between $100,000 for five-to-seven-year deals and $200,000 for eight to 12 years.

The demonstration program was implemented in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which gave the Secretary of the Air Force leeway to offer the bonus to rated officers “whose continued service on active duty would be in the best interest of the Department of the Air Force” and who have between 1-3 years left on their initial service commitment—a key difference from the service’s existing Aviation Bonus program, which targets Airmen whose service commitment is expiring.

For this year, the program will be for Airmen whose Active-Duty service commitments from training are due to expire in fiscal 2024 and 2025. Moving forward, the Air Force will reserve the biggest bonuses for pilots who sign contracts while still having three years left on their initial commitment.

The program is authorized to run through 2028. If this initial year is deemed a success, the Air Force “may potentially continue with higher funding allocation requests in future years to expand offerings to a broader rated field and/or for an extended period,” according to a release.

Air Force leaders and members of Congress hope that providing pilots the chance to renew their commitment years in advance will address a common complaint among aviators—a lack of stability for their families.

In the past, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin noted before Congress in May, bonuses have come too late to change plans that were already years in the making.

“Now, obviously, we’re asking for a longer commitment, but at that time, it’s helping them cement their future, see where their families are and have that predictability,” Allvin said.

Improving retention will be a key part in addressing the service’s persistent pilot shortage. In written testimony, Allvin noted that the Air Force had a net loss of about 250 pilots in fiscal 2022 and ended the year 1,900 pilots short of its goal of 21,000. For years now, the Air Force has struggled to produce and retain enough pilots to meet its goals, facing stiff competition from private industry.