10 Airmen Make History as the First U-28 Crews to Receive Distinguished Flying Crosses

Nov. 21, 2023 | By David Roza

Airmen who operate the U-28 Draco spy plane usually do so in the shadows, providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) in support of special operations ground troops, search and rescue, and humanitarian missions.

But 10 Airmen made history Nov. 17 by becoming the first Draco crews to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross. The awards recognize the crews’ efforts during Operation Allies Refuge, the 2021 effort to evacuate 124,000 people from Afghanistan during the final weeks of the U.S. presence there. The Airmen narrowly dodged enemy fire, remained airborne until the last drop of gas, and nearly died several times so they could help provide intelligence and coordination for troops on the ground amid the chaos.

“For its entire existence, the U-28 community has lived in the shadows of recognition, but today there are no shadows,” Col. Allison Black, commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing, said at a ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Fla. on Nov. 17, according to a press release.

u-28 draco — A U-28A fixed-wing aircraft, assigned to the 34th Special Operations Squadron, takes off from Hurlburt Field, Florida, Oct. 18, 2018. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Joel Miller

By Aug. 15, 2021, U.S. Army helicopters had begun evacuating the U.S. embassy in Kabul as the Taliban arrived in the capital, sparking panic among the city’s five million residents. Lt. Col. Samuel McIntyre, Capt. Maxwell Arnold, and Staff Sgt. Zachary Schweigl were about to take off to serve as eyes in the sky when just 100 meters away, Afghan security forces opened fire on one of their own pilots to try to commandeer an aircraft out, according to an award citation.

The three Airmen decided to carry on with the mission anyway, “agreeing that their duty to protect United States citizens superseded their own safety,” according to a citation, though they had to avoid unidentified vehicles on the taxiway trying to ram fleeing Afghan planes on the way to takeoff.

Once over the embassy, Schweigl saved the lives of everyone onboard by spotting a rocket fired at them from a nearby mountain peak. Schweigl’s warning gave McIntyre and Arnold the time they needed to dodge the rocket without putting the aircraft in a stall. The rocket streaked by just 200 feet overhead, and the crew continued to receive small-arms fire as they worked with ground troops, drone operators, and others to provide command and control and flag approaching Taliban forces.

But the real challenge was yet to come. By nightfall, the Draco crew was running out of gas, but thousands of fleeing Afghans had stormed the runway at the airport. With no more emergency fuel and no divert options, the crew used night-vision goggles and various sensors to pick out a gap in the crowd and pull off a miraculous landing just before “imminent fuel starvation,” according to a citation.

While trying to flee the Taliban, thousands of Afghans stormed Hamid Karzai International Airport. Image from Al Jazeera video

The battle was not over—within a few hours, the exhausted Draco crew was back in the air providing more ISR for the embassy evacuation and then for ground troops at the Kabul airport. They nearly ran out of fuel again, then landed again at the still-unsecured runway, where they had to taxi near burning vehicles and dead bodies.

“The sounds of the gunfire and the situation at the embassy only made us more eager to get after it and make sure we did our jobs,” Arnold said in the press release. “All of our training and instinct kicked in and we almost did our jobs subconsciously at that point.”

The crew of the second U-28 faced similar challenges: aircraft commander Capt. Daniel Slade and mission pilot Capt. Patrick Knittle had to dodge anti-aircraft fire right after takeoff. Slade, Knittle, and combat system officer Capt. Nicklaus Lutz flagged enemy gunmen and perimeter breaches for troops on the ground. When local airport air traffic controllers left the tower, Slade took up control responsibility himself.

“That’s not a conversation you expect to have after takeoff, especially after you’ve already been shot at,” Lutz said in the press release about the empty air traffic control tower. “One situation we thought about was that when we landed we were going to be on our own.”

Despite being nearly out of fuel, the second Draco crew stayed aloft so they could direct C-17s carrying “desperately needed quick reaction forces” to land. The C-17 crews thought the airfield had fallen and were planning to turn back, so the Draco Airmen’s decision to stay and direct them in was crucial to U.S. troops reopening the airfield and paving the way for the massive evacuation effort to follow.

“It dawned on us that we almost died,” Lutz recalled. “It was a dire situation. There were so many variables. Getting shot at on takeoff, losing your landing base, not knowing who is hostile or who is a refugee, and then the possibility of getting shot at again. I was lucky to be on the crew I was on.”

The next day brought a similar mission for the third Draco crew, Lt. Col. Scott Hardman, Capt. Pedro Barrientes Jr., Capt. James Ryan, and Senior Airman Max Sohlberg, which also had to zigzag to avoid getting shot right after takeoff. They identified breaches in the airfield perimeter and directed friendly troops to respond. Despite flying an unarmed aircraft, the crew even managed to scare off a group of gunmen who had taken up overwatch in a nearby tower.

Sohlberg was not trained to coordinate defense of an airfield perimeter, but he stepped up to the plate, synthesized information coming into the aircraft, then used it to help identify enemy combatants hiding among the refugees and build situational awareness for ground troops.

Like the previous flights, this Draco nearly ran out of fuel and almost landed on the taxiway before a gap in the fresh crowd of people on the runway opened up. The crew pulled off a last-second sidestep maneuver to land on the runway, but there were still so many people nearby that they had to cut the engine shortly after landing to avoid hurting anyone with the propeller. After that, all they could do was barricade the aircraft door and ready their personal weapons until help arrived.

“It was really when I got back and got to listen to our tapes from the flights that some of the more serious moments really resonated with me,” Ryan said in the press release, adding that the crews sounded surprisingly calm under the circumstances.

The Airmen were proud to have pulled through such difficult moments together.

“In those moments, you could tell that training kicked in,” Ryan said in the release. “We were well-prepared and we worked well together. Every part of the U-28A mission set is a crew effort, and I’m incredibly fortunate and proud to have been surrounded by such outstanding aviators.”

AC-130 Strikes Iranian-Backed Militants Who Launched Missile at US Troops in Iraq

Nov. 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship struck members of an Iranian-backed militia who had launched a missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq on Nov. 21, resulting in enemy casualties, according to U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon.

The strike occurred after the Iranian-backed militias launched “a close-range ballistic missile against U.S. and coalition forces at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq which resulted in several nonserious injuries and some minor damage to infrastructure,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in a briefing.

After the missile strike, the AC-130 “maintained visual confirmation of the individuals from the time of the launch to the time of engagement,” CENTCOM added in a statement.

CENTCOM’s statement referred to “several enemy casualties,” while Singh said there were “some hostile fatalities.” Middle East analyst Phillip Smyth noted on social media that the militia is reporting one death from the strike.

Kata'ib Hizballah's Fadhil al-Maksousi was announced dead by the group. He was likely killed during U.S. airstrikes early this morning. Some reports said this happened near Abu Gharib. pic.twitter.com/cxssl66IVk
— Phillip Smyth (@PhillipSmyth) November 21, 2023

Unlike three previous airstrikes conducted by the U.S. against Iranian-backed militias in the region in the last month, this latest incident was not “pre-planned,” Singh noted. The AC-130 was overhead at the time of the missile attack and was able to respond “because they saw the militants, they were able to keep an eye on the movement of these militants as they moved into their vehicle,” she said.

All the previous airstrikes were against militia facilities located in Syria, conducted by either F-15s or F-16s. The Pentagon has not disclosed whether they resulted in any enemy casualties.

Since Oct. 17, U.S. forces have been attacked by Iranian-backed militias approximately 66 times—32 times in Iraq, 34 times in Syria. The attacks come amid a wave of unrest in the region spurred by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli air and ground response in Gaza. Singh noted that there have been 62 injuries reported by U.S. troops, though that total did not include any from the latest Nov. 21 attack.

The Pentagon has deployed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile battery to Saudi Arabia and Patriot surface-to-air missile systems to a number of Gulf states and Jordan. Short-range Avenger systems are also being deployed to protect troops.

U.S. troops are in Iraq and Syria to advise and mentor local partners who are working to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group. Some 2,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq working with Iraqi forces, while 900 troops are in Syria.

More F-35s Arrive in Okinawa, Bolstering 5th-Gen Forces Near Taiwan

Nov. 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

F-35 fighters from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, arrived in Japan Nov. 20, bolstering the fifth-generation airpower at Kadena Air Base and maintaining the steady rotation of fighters there in place of retiring F-15C/Ds.

The 18th Wing at Kadena did not disclose the exact number of aircraft. The base said the new jets, from the 4th Fighter Squadron, join F-35s from the 356th Fighter Squadron already at Kadena, the base said in a release. The 356th jets arrrived in Japan from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, in March.

Ever since the Air Force announced in October 2022 that it was returning home all 48 of Kadena’s aging F-15C/D aircraft after more than 40 years of continuous Eagle operations there, USAF has been rotating fighter units to the base. That has ensured continuous U.S. jet fighter presence in Okinawa, a strategically important location just 400 miles east of Taiwan.

Kadena has hosted every fighter type but one in the Air Force inventory since then, with the sole exception being the A-10. In addition to the F-35s there now, the base has hosted:

F-22 Raptors from the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska

F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 480th Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany

F-15E Strike Eagles from the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

F-15E Strike Eagles from the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho

F-15C Eagles from the California Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Wing

F-15C Eagles from the Louisiana Air National Guard’s 159th Fighter Wing

The F-22s and F-16s have since departed Kadena. Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported that all the local F-15Cs and Ds were due to be sent back to Air National Guard units or the Boneyard in Arizona by September, but the 18th Wing has declined to confirm departure timelines or aircraft counts.

Kadena’s proximity to China and Taiwan make it a vital position and potential staging ground for U.S. operations in case of conflict with the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan. Known as the “Keystone of the Pacific,” the base hosts aerial refueling tankers, command and control aircraft, and rescue helicopters in addition to fighters.

“With this deployment, our squadron will continue Team Kadena’s work of strengthening our interoperability with our allies and bilateral partners,” Lt. Col. Jondavid Hertzel, 4th Fighter Squadron commander, said in a statement. “We look forward to exchanging experience, tactics, and techniques with the variety of flying units at Kadena, to strengthen our deterrence measures, and add more versatility to the Indo-Pacific theater.”

The 4th Fighter Squadron’s presence at Kadena marks a homecoming of sorts for the unit—the squadron can trace its lineage back to the 4th Fighter Squadron (All Weather), which was stationed at Naha Air Base on Okinawa in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was there that the unit got its nickname, the “Fightin’ Fuujins,” after the Japanese god of wind.

New EC-37B Gets a Designation Change to EA-37B

Nov. 20, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Combat Command has redesignated the EC-37B electronic attack aircraft the EA-37B, effective immediately, the command announced last week. When the last EC-130 retires, the EA-37B will be the sole type to carry the name “Compass Call.”

The new designation better identifies the platform’s mission “of finding, attacking and destroying enemy land or sea targets,” an ACC release stated, as the aircraft will be primarily an electronic warfare or electronic attack system. The only other “EA” designation now flying is the Navy’s Electronic Attack EA-18G Growler tactical jamming aircraft.

The “C” designation was vestigial from the EC-130H and generally connotes an aircraft with a cargo mission.

The first of 10 EA-37Bs, heavily modified versions of the Gulfstream G550 airframe, was delivered to Air Force Materiel Command from BAE Systems and L3Harris for testing in September. After testing, the aircraft will go to the 55th Electronic Combat Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., for operational service sometime in 2024.

ACC has divested nine of its 14 EC-130H Compass Call aircraft, and when the last leaves the active inventory in 2026, the EA-37B will be the sole aircraft to use that name. The older aircraft are going into flyable storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan, also known as the “Boneyard.”

“Flyable storage” means the EC-130s cannot be harvested for parts and could conceivably be returned to duty. Such designation usually means the aircraft are being held in reserve against the need to recall them in wartime.

“The EA-37B sustains Joint Force military advantage in electromagnetic battlespace and builds a more lethal force by modernizing electromagnetic attack capabilities to deny peer competitors’ tactical networks and information ecosystems,” ACC said in a release.

ACC commander Gen. Mark D. Kelly told reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference in September that the Air Force needs the EA-37B capability “yesterday,” due to China’s construction of a robust spectrum warfare capability in recent years. The Air Force’s only escort jammer aircraft—the EF-111A, an analogy to the EA-18—was retired without a direct replacement in the late 1990s.

Like the F-15EX, the EA-37B will undergo simultaneous developmental and operational testing, made possible by the fact that many of its systems are already being used on the EC-130H. Although the EA-37B was to make direct use of the hardware flying on EC-130s—the gear was to be physically ported from one aircraft to the other—ACC could not provide a detailed list of what specific items will carry over.

The EA-37B will inherit the EC-130Hs’ mission of jamming radars, communications and adversary electronic systems. It will also have other functions, playing a role in suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) by disrupting an enemy’s ability to coordinate command and control systems with sensors and surface-to-air radars and targeting systems.

“Most of what it does is highly classified,” Kelly told reporters at the conference. “Bottom line is, we needed to enable our ships and aircraft to get closer” to the enemy by providing electromagnetic cover for them, he said, while making it harder for enemy ships and aircraft to operate across the magnetic spectrum.

The operating concept for the EA-37B and EC-130H is similar, and those EC-130Hs not yet retired are being updated with new gear so they can “catch up with what will be on” the EA-37B, Kelly said.

The Gulfstream G550 business jets that form the basis for the EA-37B are manufactured in Savannah, Ga., and the aircraft are being modified with antennas and conformal arrays at L3Harris’ facilities in Waco, Texas.

Testing of the EA-37B is being done at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Kelly said the testing will focus on ensuring the EA-37B delivers very discrete effects.

“When we dial up the jamming power or ask for a specific waveform,” the signal generated by the EA-37B “needs to come out exactly” with the requested power and frequency, he said.

Testing will ensure “when you ask for a certain amount of jamming, that’s all you get. And when you turn it off, it turns off.”

The jet-powered EA-37B will be an improvement over the turboprop EC-130H in that it can fly almost twice as high and fast as the EC-130H, which is limited to a ceiling of 25,000 feet and a speed of 300 knots.

Th EA-37B will not become obsolete when the Air Force brings on Collaborative Combat Aircraft that can also perform electronic attack and electronic warfare missions, Kelly said, calling the two kinds of aircraft “complementary.” The EA-37B is designed not to inflict “electronic fratricide” on the F-15EX and F-35’s electronic warfare suites, he noted.

USAF Gets Final MH-139 Test Helicopter as Production Ramps Up

Nov. 20, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Boeing delivered the sixth MH-139 helicopter, the last test aircraft for the type, clearing the way for the first production aircraft to arrive in mid-2024, a company spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The MH-139 Grey Wolf will replace the UH-1N Huey helicopters that provide security and support to Air Force missile fields across the Western United States, as well as to transport government officials around the Washington, D.C., area. The Grey Wolf promised greater speed, higher altitudes, and increased carrying capacity.

Production aircraft are already undergoing final assembly at Leonardo’s northeast Philadelphia facility, after which Boeing will make modifications to meet Air Force requirements. All work will take place at the Leonardo plant.

“Delivering all of the RDT&E aircraft to the Air Force enables them to continue critical operational testing and allows Boeing to focus on building the first production aircraft,” Boeing MH-139 program director Azeem Khan said in a release. “The Grey Wolf will provide crucial national security capability improvements to the Air Force. This is an important step in getting the aircraft into service.”

The Air Force first rolled out the MH-139 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in December 2019, the first major acquisition by Air Force Global Strike Command. Flight testing began in February 2020, but delays followed when issues arose with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. The Air Force’s plan to purchase eight helicopters in fiscal 2021 was delayed and the fiscal 2022 buys were skipped completely.

When Boeing finally gained FAA certification, the Air Force announced it had finally acquired four helicopters in August 2022, enabling developmental testing. Five months later the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) warned in its annual report that the Grey Wolf might fall shore of “operational effectiveness requirements.” The report noted concerns about with the automatic flight control system, sensor display, intercom system, cabin layout, and “restrictions on takeoffs in crosswinds or near obstacles.”

Even so, USAF struck a low-rate production agreement in March, with Leonardo and Boeing agreeing to produce the first 13 of up to 80 production aircraft, with the first delivery in 2024.

Much of the developmental testing for the MH-139 has taken place at Duke Field, Fla., led by the 413th Flight Test Squadron and Air Force Global Strike Command Detachment 7, bit the aircraft has also flown from Eglin and visited future operating locations, including:

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., where it landed in the snow

Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., which will host its formal training unit

Joint Base Andrews, Md.

F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.

Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

A full-rate production decision is projected for fiscal 2025.

B-52s Leave Indo-Pacific, One Joins Exercise with S Korea on the Way Out

Nov. 20, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Four B-52H Stratofortresses from the 96th Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., returned home last week from a Bomber Task Force rotation out of Guam.

During their journey back to Louisiana from Andersen Air Force Base, one of the strategic bombers engaged in a joint exercise with the Republic of Korea’s Air Force, a Pacific Air Forces spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Two B-52s returned to their home base on Nov. 14, the other two B-52s arrived on Nov. 15, a spokesperson from Barksdale said.

The one-day exercise last week saw the Stratofortess escorted by U.S. Air Force F-16s, U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, and ROK Air Force KF-15s and KF-35s.

A B-52 Stratofortress from the 2nd Bomb Wing returns to Barksdale Air Force Base, La. Nov. 14, 2023 from a Bomber Task Force deployment. Airmen assigned to the 96th Bomb Squadron were deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam to support an Indo-Pacific bomber task force mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

The exercise “honed integration skills over the skies of the Korean Peninsula,” according to a release from the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.

The F-35s, from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, made a stop at Kunsan for refueling before returning, according to the release.

The B-52, or the ‘BUFF,’ is the USAF’s primary standoff cruise missile carrier, with the H model now standing as the last serving variant of the Stratofortress.

The long-range bomber flying with the ROK Air Force showcases the two countries’ joint capability for immediate and decisive response to any provocations from North Korea, Seoul’s defense ministry said in a release.

The U.S. and ROK have jointly conducted a total of 12 aerial drills involving U.S. bombers such as the B-52 or B-1B throughout the year, according to the ministry.

The B-52 has participated in seven combined air drills this year, reaching a historic milestone with its landing on the peninsula in October—the first such landing in three decades.

During his recent visit to South Korea, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III emphasized the significance of the B-52 landing, highlighting Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to Seoul.

Austin also made a stop at the Osan Air Base to address the U.S. and ROK service members and encourage operational feedback.

Amid growing tensions in region with the likes of China and North Korea, PACAF commander Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach hosted the Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium 2023 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii last week to foster a shared understanding of challenges of the Indo-Pacific.

The four-day event, featuring senior air force leaders from 22 nations, addressed regional security and the significance of air superiority, drawing insights from the Ukraine conflict to prevent conflicts in the region.

Minot Air Force Base Investigating Deaths of Three Airmen In One Month

Nov. 20, 2023 | By David Roza

Minot Air Force Base, N.D., is investigating the deaths of three of its Airmen in October. The base could not provide further details on the incidents, but officials said they worked with higher headquarters to make extra chaplains, counselors, and mental health professionals available for grieving Airmen and family members.

“This is not a topic that leadership teams take lightly, and there is considerable effort put in to prevent and respond to these tragedies,” Col. Daniel Hoadley, head of the base’s host unit, the 5th Bomb Wing, said in a statement sent to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Over the last year we have also grown the Resiliency Training Assistant program to provide in-unit, peer-to-peer support for incidents just like this.”

The deaths occurred despite base leadership attempts to improve quality of life at the installation, which is often maligned by Airmen for its remote location and long winters. Compounding those challenges is the fact that many Airmen at Minot are young. Col. Kenneth McGhee, head of the 91st Missile Wing, said Oct. 30 during a virtual AFA Warfighters in Action event that two-thirds of the base’s security forces are below the age of 26. Feeling isolated can be particularly dangerous for young service members, who face a higher risk of suicide.

Hoadley said the Minot community tries to help out through efforts such as “Military Appreciation Days” hosted by the North Dakota State Fair, free tickets to Minot State football games, and fundraising to pay for more than 100 Airmen’s travel home for winter holidays.

Other challenges include the long distances to advanced medical care, and limited child care for children of security forces and missile crew members, who are often absent for a week at a time at the base’s farflung missile fields. Hoadley said the Air Force works to reimburse families for medical-related travel and expensive stints of child care. But capacity at the base’s child development center and family child care program, where military spouses watch over each other’s children, remains an issue.

“One thing we can’t organically do is make more people come to work here,” McGhee said. “So we’re trying to find unique ways, different programs in order to increase the number of child care workers to support our men and women every single day.”

Still, some say more needs to be done. Starting Nov. 16, a military spouse named Lisa Hermosillo stood on a bridge in Minot for three days holding a sign that read “3 Days for 3 Lives Lost” and “Break the stigma.”

“How can we reduce the rate of this happening?” Hermosillo told the Minot Daily News. “That’s why I wanted to do this now. … The holidays are such a vulnerable time for people, where we have some of the highest rates of suicide in general. We lose more service members to suicide than combat alone. That’s the real war here on American soil—with suicide and mental health, and the barriers that Airmen face just getting help. That needs to change.”

Among the barriers Hermosillo pointed out was the personnel reliability program (PRP), a tool used to assess whether service members are mentally and physically able to work around nuclear weapons. An independent 2014 review commissioned by the Pentagon called PRP “enormously wasteful,” saying it sets an unrealistically high bar which leads to many Airmen being declared unfit for duty. For example, security forces Airmen could have their ability to carry a weapon revoked, which makes them effectively unable to perform most security forces jobs.

“They can’t go out in the field and they have duties stripped from them.” Hermosillo told the Minot Daily News about Airmen found unfit by PRP. “ … Now the other Airmen have to pick up the rest of the work. That’s why people don’t say anything. ‘I don’t want to cause my co-workers or buddies any extra stress.’”

Minot public affairs office did not answer a query as to how many Airmen died by suicide at Minot in 2022 or so far in 2023. The Pentagon’s annual suicide report, released in October, recorded 64 deaths by suicide among the total Active-Duty Air Force in 2022, for a rate of 19.7 per 100,000 Airmen. That’s compared to 51 total and a rate of 15.3 in 2021.

When asked about mental health support, a Minot spokesperson said several in-person military and family life counselors have been added recently, with one embedded in the squadrons affected by the recent deaths.

The base, which employs 5,494 service members, 677 civilians, and supports 5,453 dependents, has 162 Resiliency Training Assistants, 31 Master Resiliency Trainers, and a Disaster Mental Health program that “was activated to assemble multiple helping agencies in support Airman and their families,” the spokesperson added.

Service members and veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a service member or veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans/Military Crisis Line for confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 988 and press 1; text 988; or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.

‘Not Just Coders’: Why USSF’s In-House Software Developers Are Key to a Digital Service

Nov. 17, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Leaders have said they want the Space Force to be the nation’s first “digital service,” unsurprising given that it was founded in an era defined by new technology, coding, and artificial intelligence.

After four years, USSF is still working on implementing that vision, Space Force Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Lisa Costa said at an event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies last week. But a key ingredient, part of what Costa called the service’s “secret sauce,” is a small but growing group of Guardians called Supra Coders.

Supra Coders are military or civilian Guardians with a background in coding who went through an extensive training process to become a skilled software developer. But their value goes beyond simply knowing how to write code.

“Supra Coders are critically important to Space Force,” Costa said. “They are not just coders; I can buy coders. They are Guardians first. They have been trained usually in at least one operational area and they’re an expert in that operational area, but many of them have been cross-trained.”

Space Force spokesperson Maj. Tanya Downsworth added that Supra Coders are a secondary or tertiary work role for Guardians whose primary positional description is not software development.

Because Supra Coders have space-specific experience, they have a deeper understanding of the Space Force’s software needs and can more quickly make changes to systems as needed.

“They are able to put hands on and make changes with other operators in a multidisciplinary team and make changes in real-time,” Costa said, calling such an ability crucial to the vision of a digital service.

Making quick changes is also especially important given that Space Force officials have described cybersecurity as the “soft underbelly” of space operations, and global cyber attacks continue to increased, including targets on government and defense agencies. On top of that, the world’s space-faring nations plan to manage vast volumes of data through the development of software solutions.

Supra Coders’ current duties include web and mobile application development, on top of each unit’s specific challenges, Downsworth said.

“Oftentimes we’re able to pull together some Supra Coders to work on critical capabilities,” Costa added.

Since 2021, the program has produced 195 Supra Coders. There are currently 10 members in training with an estimated completion date of March 2024, according to Downsworth. Producing a Supra Coder takes time, acknowledged Costa.

“This really is a commitment by them and their commander,” Costa said. “Because you do not build a Supra Coder overnight. You send them to three months of immersive coding school, and then you send them to a three-month internship.”

On top of that, they have to maintain their proficiency through ongoing training.

While Supra Coders are on the front lines of the digital service transformation, Costa also pointed toward other changes in the works.

In particular, she highlighted the significant “tech debt” facing the Space Force—outdated technology and IT infrastructure it inherited that holds it back from being able to fully embracing cutting-edge technologies. Costa has previously suggested the service may not try to upgrade its existing systems and will instead “just leap over that” and start new.

Taken together, such infrastructure improvements and Supra Coders represent a two-pronged approach.

“Fundamentally, we’re looking at fixing the foundation, and then we are also upskilling our Guardians, creating Supra Coders … and then allowing that combination of modernization of the foundation with the real-time changes to capabilities by Supra Coders, that’s a huge game-changer,” said Costa.

Introducing MacDill’s New Mascot, ‘Champa Boom.’ Don’t Worry, His Blue Hair Is in Regs

Nov. 17, 2023 | By David Roza

He may be just an E-2, but Airman Champa Boom has already made a splash at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., as the installation’s new mascot. Since being publicly announced Nov. 9, the aerial refueling boom operator has appeared at the base gate, a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game, and area schools to represent MacDill’s 6th Air Refueling Wing and the larger Air Force.

“Champa Boom is an asset to help tell the story of the Air Force and inspire from a fun, educational and engaging aspect, especially to younger generations,” Capt. Danielle Hudson, chief of public affairs for the wing, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Champa leaves a lasting impression on kids of all ages.”

The name ‘Champa’ is a portmanteau of ‘Tampa’ and ‘Champion,’ in reference to the city’s decorated sports teams. ‘Boom’ refers to the refueling boom that connects tankers to receiving aircraft. The mascot’s head is designed to resemble the nose of the tankers flown at MacDill, with the stubs on either side representing the wings, and the panels around his eyes representing the windows of the cockpit.

The 6th Air Refueling Wing currently flies KC-135s but is expected to switch to KC-46s in the near future, and the wing wanted to convey its important role in helping other military aircraft get where they need to go.

“The 6th Air Refueling Wing plays a vital part in air superiority and everyone at the wing is key to making it happen,” Hudson said. “A KC-135 is what represents us and so it was an easy decision.”

Boom wears a flight suit and boots like any other tanker crew member, but his hair is Air Force blue. Surprisingly, he did not need a waiver for the unusual color.

“No, waivers are for colors that are unnatural,” Hudson explained. “For Champa Boom, his natural hair color is blue!”

It took about four months and $9,000 to create Boom, which involved working with a professional mascot maker, approving the design, and making sure the patches, measurements and other details were right. The wing even sent the manufacturer a flight suit so they could make one for Boom that resembles the real thing as much as possible. A team of actual Airmen wear the Boom suit at events, and apparently it is a popular position.

“Currently we have more volunteers than we can use,” Hudson said.

Not many Air Force bases have mascots, but the branch writ large wants to increase its presence in base communities to drum up greater interest in service. Recruiters across the armed forces warn of a decreasing familiarity between Americans and their shrinking military. Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein, head of the Air Force Recruiting Service, told reporters in September that events like school trips to bases largely shut down as security stepped up after 9/11, but now facility commanders are trying to host more visits, foster connections with underrepresented groups, and set up aviation- or STEM-inspiration programs.

Boom is “a huge part” of the recruiting effort, Hudson said, and serves to open “discussions on Air Force recruiting outside the gate and core values inside the gate.”

The mascot has a busy calendar ahead of him, with possible visits to schools, sporting events, airshows, children’s hospitals, commander’s calls, and more. He has already made friends with the Tampa Bay Lightning mascot, Thunderbug, though it was not immediately clear if Thunderbug will be signing an enlistment contract. Boom has a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

As the Air Force prepares to operate from small airfields with fewer Airmen, Boom will also demonstrate multi-capable proficiency as he periodically crosstrains into other Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs).

“We couldn’t get tankers in the air and complete our missions without the support of every single AFSC on the base,” Hudson said. “While Champa Boom is a boom operator, you will see him changing AFSCs in the future as well as changing his look to be a part of local events in the Tampa Bay area.”