NORAD Boss: China Will Increase Military Flights Near Alaska

NORAD Boss: China Will Increase Military Flights Near Alaska

Feb. 13, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

China is set to increase its military activity around Alaska, likely including bomber flights, the top U.S. general in charge of defending North America said Feb. 13.

“I do think that [China will] increase their presence both independently and as well as increased cooperation with the Russians in the air, in the maritime, and undersea,” Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, the commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Chinese and Russian military flights have become a growing concern for the U.S. over the past year, most notably with the first joint Chinese-Russian bomber patrol into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last July. In that episode, two Chinese H-6 bombers and two Russian TU-95 bombers flew off the coast of Alaska inside the U.S. ADIZ, escorted by Russian fighters. American and Canadian NORAD fighters intercepted the mission. 

That flight was a demonstration of China and Russia’s growing partnership, while China has also provided dual-use technology to fuel Russia’s war in Ukraine. Last July, the Chinese and Russian bombers took off from the same base in Russia for their mission near Alaska, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported at the time.

Guillot indicated the growing collaboration between the two countries was one of his main concerns going forward.

“Their transfer of weapons, military technology, and basing access is cause for significant concern,” Guillot said in his opening statement to the committee.

“What I worry about the most is that instead of just weapons and technology, that they will trade [basing] access, which would shorten our timelines to react to either country’s military capabilities,” he added later.

Guillot also said that in addition to military flights, he was concerned about Chinese naval activity near Alaska, which he said was increasing. Multiple Chinese and Russian flotillas were tracked by the U.S. last year, and a high-profile exercise in 2023 involving nearly a dozen Chinese and Russian ships prompted U.S. Navy destroyers to shadow the fleet.

Until February 2024, Guillot was the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, where the U.S. has defended against Iran and its extensive network of proxy groups, had run-ins with Russian aircraft over Syria, and been concerned about China’s growing influence in the region. That experience appeared to inform his testimony to the committee.

“The growing cooperation between China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran to challenge the United States” has “direct implications for homeland defense,” Guillot said.

In addition to Guillot’s concerns over Chinese activity, the general said Moscow was also upping its unilateral bomber flights near Alaska and Canada to levels not seen in years.

“The associated risks to North America have also grown as the number of Russian bomber incursions into Alaska and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zone has returned to levels not seen since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine” in February 2022, Gulliot said. He said a similar trend has played out with naval activity. “We’ve seen a significant increase in both Russian air and maritime activity in the vicinity of Alaska, both in the Bering Sea and up in the Arctic Ocean.”

Russia has also upped its flights off the east coast to North America, he said. Russian military flights in the Arctic last month prompted NORAD to conduct fighter patrols off Alaska and Canada, and NORAD recently sent U.S. F-16s on a deployment to Greenland.

“We’ve also seen an increase in air patrols on the eastern side, what we call the two o’clock approach through the Greenland and Iceland Gap towards Maine and the northeast portion of the United States,” Guillot said. “I’m certainly concerned by that. And I would expect the numbers on both sides of our coast to increase in the coming year.”

PHOTOS: Two Dozen F-22s Gather for Impressive Elephant Walk

PHOTOS: Two Dozen F-22s Gather for Impressive Elephant Walk

Feb. 13, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

More than one-eighth of the U.S. Air Force’s entire fleet of F-22 Raptors lined the runway at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., on Jan. 31, as the 1st Fighter Wing flexed its ability to rapidly put airpower into action.

The “elephant walk” featured 24 F-22s plus six T-38 Talon trainers, tying the mark for the largest F-22 elephant walk in service history.

“This demonstration highlighted the wing’s ability to mobilize forces rapidly in high-stress scenarios,” the wing said in a statement. “As Air Combat Command’s lead wing, the [1st Fighter Wing] maintains unparalleled combat readiness to ensure national defense at a moment’s notice.”

According to data from fiscal 2023—the most recent year available—the Air Force has 185 Raptors, meaning the elephant walk featured nearly 13 percent of the fleet. And the fleet’s mission capable rate for that year was 52 percent, meaning that at any given time, around 100 fighters are available to carry out at least some the aircraft’s assigned missions.

Elephant walks typically require major efforts from maintainers to render a majority of a unit’s airpower ready to go. The wing did not immediately reply to a query on how the exercise stressed the unit’s ability to surge.

The 1st Fighter Wing includes the 94th and 27th Fighter Squadrons, which fly the F-22, and the 71st Fighter Training Squadron, which flies the T-38s as companion trainers and sparring partners for the Raptors.

Langley Air Force Base also hosts the flying training unit for the F-22, having inherited that mission in 2021, after Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., was devastated by Hurricane Michael.

The Air Force is in the process of upgrading about 148 of its F-22s with new equipment, such as low-drag stealthy fuel tanks to increase their range; infrared search-and-track devices to widen its ability to detect stealthy aircraft; communications and navigation upgrades, and electronic warfare improvements.

The F-22 is also likely to partner with autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which can carry extra missiles for the Raptor, and the Air Force is developing a new long-range missile—the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile—to extend the Raptor’s ability to shoot enemies from a far greater distance.   

The Air Force planned to retire the F-22 around 2030 due to its technologies being overtaken by adversary types, but the recent “pause” on the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter program, which was meant to replace the F-22, means the Raptor may serve well into the 2030s. 

The Air Force has asked Congress to allow the retirement of 32 F-22s that are used only for training, saying it would rather put the money used to operate those aircraft toward upgrading the rest of the fleet, but Congress has blocked the move for several years.

Maintainers Reload and Refuel a ‘Hot’ F-35A for the First Time

Maintainers Reload and Refuel a ‘Hot’ F-35A for the First Time

Feb. 12, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Maintainers swarmed an F-35 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., last month, testing out a procedure that has become common for older fighters but has never been done before on the service’s fifth-generation jets: a “hot” integrated combat turn.

Hot ICTs involve simultaneously refueling and rearming a fighter with new munitions while the engines are still running. Normally it can take maintainers around three hours to prepare a single F-35 for a new sortie. A team involving half a dozen different government organizations and technicians from industry want to cut that turnaround in half and possibly get as low as 25 minutes. 

The team completed its first hot ICT on an F-35A in January, a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine, though she declined to specify the exact date or whether more have taken place since then. 

Regardless, the successful test is a significant milestone for the burgeoning test maintenance community. 

“It’s been a long time coming,” Master Sgt. Sharlyn Smith, F-35 operational test and evaluation superintendent for the 59th Test and Evaluation squadron, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We did a lot of legwork to investigate all of the risks and then put a lot of time and effort into mitigating those risks down to an acceptable level to actually execute the operation. So the behind-the-scenes efforts have been going on for honestly quite a while here, and then the actual execution portion has obviously happened in the last couple of months.” 

In preparing to conduct the hot ICT, the team looked at how the Marine Corps performs a similar procedure on its F-35B and C models, and how the Vermont Air National Guard conducted rearming and refueling for its F-35As.  

Just as pilots must learn new skills to fly the F-35 compared to older aircraft, maintainers have to adjust their procedures, said Master Sgt. Oliver Gutierrez, F-15 and F-16 operational test and evaluation superintendent. In particular, fifth-generation fighters have internal weapons bays and more electrical systems compared to fourth-generation aircraft, he said. 

“There were a lot of engineering looks we had to do to ensure that we are developing capabilities that are going to be safe to maintainers,” he said. 

Along the way, test maintainers used a “crawl, walk, run” approach—testing out their ideas with the jet’s engines turned off first, for example. 

“Ultimately, it is standardizing procedures and training,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a lot of training, but in order to train, we need to know what we’re doing exactly. So this is what we’re doing—we’re testing it, validating procedures, and then we’re going to go out and train with our maintainers out in the field.”

As part of that process, Smith said, the team looked at execution speed for the whole procedure but also went beyond to break down each part of a hot ICT—the rearming, refueling, and regenerating of an F-35—and study how they could be done more efficiently. 

The process is one that Capt. Cameron Castleberry, head of the Maintenance Operational Test (MxOT) Division within the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron, described as a balance between the necessary risk acceptance of the test community and the safety focus of the maintenance community. 

But as Gutierrez made clear, the team doesn’t feel that they’ve reached the limit of how fast the process can be. 

“We’re going to be continuously developing this tactic to refine the maintenance capabilities,” he said. “It is a unique tactic that has a lot of really fun implications for how we can get faster. We are thinking of creative solutions to get faster, but that is still in work overall. And I’ll just let you know we will not be stopping anytime soon, and we will just look to further increase our time.” 

The ability to get an F-35 back up in the air as quickly as possible is something that Air Force officials know could be crucial in a potential conflict—studies have found that in a potential high-end conflict, most aircraft losses would happen on the ground. 

“This test team really thought that that was going to be an important capability that we wanted to not only explore, but eventually get published and to be a common practice that we would utilize in combat when future threats take off,” Smith said. 

Integrated combat turns proved important when Air Force fighters helped defend Israel against a large-scale Iranian attack last year—one F-15E expended all its munitions taking down drones, then landed and got ready to go again in roughly 30 minutes, taking off before missiles and debris started raining down on the base. 

Posted in Air
B-52s Arrive in Europe for Bomber Task Force as Hegseth Visits NATO

B-52s Arrive in Europe for Bomber Task Force as Hegseth Visits NATO

Feb. 12, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

B-52 Stratofortress bombers have landed in England to kick off the U.S. Air Force’s first European bomber deployment of the year, service officials said Feb. 12.

Four B-52s, flying as the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., will operate out of RAF Fairford, U.K., a traditional hub for the Air Force’s European bomber operations, where they are under the command of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFA), officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Some of the B-52s have already flown alongside French Dassault Rafales, Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripens, and Finnish F/A-18 Hornets, USAFE said. A photo from the cockpit of a B-52 taken Feb. 11 and released by the Air Force shows allied fighters flying off the wing of the BUFF, with a second B-52 visible in the background. Another photo released by the Finnish Air Force shows two B-52s flying with the fighters.

“While transiting into Europe, the U.S. aircraft conducted a routine mission,” said Col. David Herndon, USAFE’s senior spokesman. “Training with NATO Allies strengthens our ability to operate as one team. These missions reinforce our partnerships and prepare us to deliver decisive capabilities whenever and wherever they’re needed.”

Bomber task force operations typically include multiple training events with foreign nations. NATO released a promotional video for the current rotation with the blurred flags of more than half a dozen countries. The bombers will participate in “a series of exercises and training flights alongside allied air forces,” Herndon said.

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron flies during operation APEX COMMANDER in international airspace on Feb. 11, 2025. During the mission, the U.S. aircraft integrated with French Dassault Rafales, Swedish Saab JAS 39 Gripens, and Finnish F/A-18C Hornets in support of Bomber Task Force 25-2 operations. U.S. Air Force photo

The mission comes as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is in Europe, where he visited U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Germany before heading to NATO headquarters in Belgium, where he exhorted the alliance’s defense ministers to do more for their own defense on Feb. 12.

“Stark strategic realities prevent the United States of America from being primarily focused on the security of Europe,” said Hegseth, who added that the Pentagon will be “prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific.” Under Hegseth, the Pentagon has also focused on helping to prevent illegal migration across the U.S. southern border and on transporting detained migrants.

President Donald Trump and Hegseth have called on NATO nations to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense, an increase from a previous alliance goal that nations should spend 2 percent of GDP on their military. The U.S. spends roughly 3 percent of its GDP on defense.

Still, bomber task forces are likely to remain an important element of the U.S. military’s force posture in Europe. BTF missions are in high demand by combatant commanders, and planning them is a balancing act for Air Force Global Strike Command and U.S. Strategic Command. BTFs in Europe are often particularly busy as U.S. and allied officials say countries are eager to fly and conduct missions with American B-52s, B-1s, and B-2s, as no allied European nation has its own bomber fleet.

The U.S. conducts several bomber task forces missions a year. And while the Air Force ended its continuous bomber presence in Guam in 2020, it still carries out shorter-term deployments. Six of Minot’s B-52s temporarily deployed to the Middle East last year amid regional tensions and participated in combat missions, including bombing Islamic State targets in Syria.

“Bomber Task Force missions reinforce our ability to rapidly project combat power, demonstrating U.S. lethality and readiness in a dynamic security environment,” Maj. Gen. Joseph Campo, U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces Africa’s director of operations, strategic deterrence, and nuclear integration, said in a statement. “Training alongside our allies and partners ensures seamless integration, enhancing our collective deterrence and warfighting capability across Europe and Africa.”

Air Force Promotion Tests Delayed: What You Need to Know

Air Force Promotion Tests Delayed: What You Need to Know

Feb. 12, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Air Force is delaying the start of the promotion testing cycle for technical sergeants two weeks, citing the need to purge study materials of content on diversity, equity, and inclusion to follow executive orders from President Donald Trump.

The service announced the move Feb. 12, just days before the testing window was set to open Feb. 15 and run through April 15. Now it will open March 3 and last until May 1.

Yet despite the delay, the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) promotion fitness examination will still have questions related to DEI, the service said in a statement. Trying to revise the test would cause a four-month delay in testing and disrupt the advancement of more than 6,000 Airmen awaiting promotion, the Air Force claimed.

“Until questions can be removed, testers will still see DEI questions and are expected to answer all questions to the best of their ability,” the statement noted. “However, any DEI questions will not be scored.”

Air Force Handbook 1 and multiple career development course (CDCs) study guides were pulled from circulation Jan. 29 as part of a review process to comply with orders from the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to eliminate all DEI content from courses and training.

Airmen hoping to make staff sergeant or technical sergeant use those materials to prepare for the WAPS test, and Air Force regulations say Airmen must have access to study reference materials at least 60 days before their test date.

An Air Force official previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that said study reference information laying out which parts of the handbook Airmen should review before their promotion fitness examination was released Dec. 1, 2024. That meant 60 days had elapsed by the time the handbook was rescinded on Jan. 29, so the temporary removal complied with regulations.

The official also said at the time that any alternative study materials made would not include new information for Airmen to study, as the only changes would focus solely on removing content inconsistent with the executive orders that mandate the removal of DEI-related material from official Air Force documents.

Now, however, officials say they expect updated versions of the study materials are expected to be released by “no later than Feb. 18.” The service’s statement did not explain why the decision to delay testing was not made earlier.

The 2024 version of the Air Force handbook included several mentions of diversity as an organizational value.

“Managing workforce diversity can result in higher productivity, improved performance, more creativity, more innovativeness, and reduced stress,” the handbook read. “Giving emphasis to diversity without threatening our unity is the proper way to strengthen the ties that bind a team together.”

Within the service, the social media pages and websites of programs related to diversity and inclusion disappeared as the service began to implement the executive orders.

Grey Wolf Helicopter Still Has Deficiencies as It Prepares for Operational Testing

Grey Wolf Helicopter Still Has Deficiencies as It Prepares for Operational Testing

Feb. 12, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

As the Air Force gets ready to put the new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter through initial operational test and evaluation—a key step before full-rate production—the Pentagon’s test director is warning that the aircraft still faces important deficiencies that could cause it to not meet operational requirements.

The MH-139A—Boeing’s adaptation of the civil Leonardo AW-139—has issues with dust ingestion, software, a redesigned gun mount and spent shell casing management, seating restraints and the seating layout, among other concerns, the office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation said in its 2024 annual report. An electromagnetic pulse test, required for entry into initial operational testing, also still hasn’t been done, the report noted.

While testing is set to begin this quarter, the report said the assessment may have to be delayed if the Air Force and Boeing can’t correct the problems.

The Air Force has largely completed developmental testing and made progress in addressing other previously noted deficiencies, testers acknowledged, including issues with the automatic flight control system, sensor displays, and crosswind takeoffs.

“But performance concerns remain that present a risk to MH-139A meeting operational effectiveness requirements,” the report states.

Among them, the engine has a tendency to ingest dust and debris, which could cause long-term maintenance issues. This issue showed up mainly during landings in austere areas and “degraded engine performance,” the report states. The Air Force is evaluating whether it needs to conduct additional tests, but the report suggested that this is the main issue putting the MH-139’s “suitability” in question.

That’s in addition to “previously reported concerns about engine maintenance caused by expansion of the aircraft flight envelope and higher power requirements.” Testers also noted a buildup of carbon on several parts of the aircraft’s engine, including its fuel nozzles, the report said.

Other issues include cabin seating constraints and commercially derived mission planning software, both of which are unresolved.

The helicopter mounts an M240 machine gun, and previously reported concerns about this weapon persist, the report states. These include weapon malfunctions, the need to design a new way to catch the spent-brass casings, and the ammunition feed system. “A gun mount redesign is in development but will not be completed prior to IOT&E,” the report said.

The helicopter’s intercom system, which lets the flight crew talk to personnel in the cabin, is expected to require a redesign, which will not be completed prior to IOT&E, the report noted.

There are survivability concerns as well.

“The original contractor-proposed fuel cell design did not meet the required self-sealing military requirements for vendor material qualification against the specified projectile threat,” the report noted, adding that “subsequent testing focused on the design’s ability to inhibit sustained dry bay fires.”

The Air Force has extended developmental testing to include some equipment changes. An additional radio is needed for Global Strike Command missions and must be integrated with the system.

The MH-139 is also “behind schedule on integrating contractor maintenance data into the Air Force Integrated Maintenance Data System,” which is required “to support both IOT&E and normal operations with fielded aircraft.”

To enter initial operational testing, Boeing needs to deliver “operationally representative aircraft; complete flight and maintenance technical orders with the new radio and environmental control system” and provide “fully trained flight crews and maintenance personnel.”

The first phase of cyber testing has been carried out by the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, and AFOTEC has submitted plans for further cyber testing, the report said.

The Air Force’s plans for the MH-139 have varied wildly in the last few years. The service initially planned a fleet of 84 aircraft to replace the aged UH-1N fleet. The helicopter was to transport troops across intercontinental ballistic missile fields under ground attack, provide other support for those widely dispersed locations, and carry VIP passengers as needed.

But due to budget constraints, the Air Force reduced the buy to 80 aircraft, then 74, then 36 in the fiscal 2025 budget, eliminating the VIP transport mission. Six developmental aircraft will join the fleet, however, making the new inventory objective 42 aircraft. The Air Force has contracted with Boeing for 26 aircraft so far. The Air Force is fully equipping all ICBM bases with planned MH-139s.

The DOT&E report recommended that the Air Force develop corrective action plans for all known deficiencies in the Grey Wolf and ensure that there are enough aircraft “in an operationally-representative configuration” available for IOT&E, along with trained flight and maintenance crews, maintenance support, and “all associated support equipment, consistent with approved concepts of operations.”

With Space Futures Command on Pause, How Is USSF Working on New Partnerships?

With Space Futures Command on Pause, How Is USSF Working on New Partnerships?

Feb. 11, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

RESTON, Va.—The Space Force may have stopped work on its Futures Command, but the service is still crafting future plans, to include a strategy for how it will work with international partners, a top official said.

RAF Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, currently serving in an exchange role as Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships, teased some high-level details of the forthcoming strategy at the National Security Space Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference. 

At prior conferences, Godfrey has spoken of his role in helping establish Space Futures Command, a new field command that was one of the Space Force’s signature efforts from the Department of the Air Force’s “re-optimization for Great Power Competition.” Progress on that reorganization has been paused while the department waits for new civilian leaders as part of President Donald Trump’s administration. 

On Feb. 11, Godfrey noted that his portfolio includes work “shaping futures,” but he was quick to note that “when I talk about shaping futures, I am not talking about standing up Futures Command.” 

Rather, Godfrey said his focus is on “driving the Space Force to think about allied, commercial, and partner in every capability, every operation, and every mission.” 

Space Futures Command was set to have a major role in that by studying new technologies and conducting wargaming and analysis—with allies and partners—to decide what capabilities the Space Force will need in years ahead. 

Even without the command for the time being, Godfrey outlined several ways the Space Force is trying to work more closely with international partners, chief among them a new International Partnerships Strategy set to be released “in the coming months.”

While declining to discuss specifics, Godfrey said the strategy will focus on integration “across the three elements of joint force development”: 

  • Force design, including work on long-term needs within the next five to 15 years 
  • Force development, including work to acquire and integrate new technologies within two to seven years 
  • Force employment, which includes generating and operating combat power within three years or less. 

In keeping with Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman’s idea that the Space Force must be prepared for continual “competitive endurance,” Godfrey said the strategy “won’t have a static end state, but will rather use three enduring goals”: 

  • Secure U.S. and allies’ collective interests in, from, and to space 
  • Interoperability and information sharing across classification levels 
  • Integration of allies and partners across every aspect of joint force development 

To get there, Godfrey added, the strategy “sets the conditions” for allies to be included in Space Force planning, to develop information standards, to increase information sharing, and to increase opportunities for countries to train and operate together. 

To achieve these goals, the strategy sets the conditions for allies and partners to be integrated into the Space Force’s planning and capability development, helps develop international standards, improves information sharing, and maximizes opportunities for allies and partners to train and conduct operations together. 

Pentagon leaders have said collaborating with other countries, as well as industry, is especially important for the Space Force given the service’s relatively small size and budget, but wide-ranging missions. To accomplish all that the joint force needs, they say, the Space Force needs to be efficient and leverage every partnership it can. On top of that, other nations are eager to build up their own space capabilities.  

Speaking later at the conference, the Space Force’s Chief Science Officer Stacie Williams reiterated that argument in advocating for research and development partnerships. 

“Partnering with international, we have opened up new markets, we share risk, we get to build capacity in our allied nations, and we also get access to unique capabilities,” she said. 

More immediately, Godfrey pointed to the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) initiative as a way that partnerships are growing by encouraging collaboration and cooperation among 10 different countries’ space operations. 

“We can use existing collaborations such as CSpO,” Godfrey said, noting that the initiative can help craft international standards and set measurable goals to quantify how the countries are actually working together. 

Williams also cited the CSpO as an avenue for more long-term cooperation and development through the service’s Space Strategic Technology Institute program, which funds academic research into complex operational problems. 

“I would like to see us do something with the SSTI, the international one, with the CSpO, maybe something that’s based on awareness because geographical diversity is important,” Williams suggested. “So I’m looking forward to expanding that.”

Yet just as Godfrey was limited in what he could say about Space Futures Command due to the reorganization pause, external factors could impact future international partnerships. When asked if the new strategy required more resources to implement, Godfrey demurred. 

“We are where we are at the moment in terms of resources,” he said, a reference to the Space Force’s relatively small budget that leaders say needs to be expanded. “I think this is about prioritization and process.” 

Air Force Orders Halt to Some Work on Sentinel ICBM

Air Force Orders Halt to Some Work on Sentinel ICBM

Feb. 11, 2025 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force is suspending work on a significant part of its new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program, ordering a pause on the design and construction of launch facilities being developed by Northrop Grumman.

The suspension comes as the service is working on a plan to restructure the program following significant cost and schedule overruns that triggered a review and required certification from the Secretary of Defense to continue.

“Due to evolving launch facility (LF) requirements in the Command & Launch segment, the Air Force directed the Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) to suspend the design, testing, and construction work related to the Command & Launch Segment” of Sentinel, an Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The order to halt work covers the “LF Standard Design,” which is the baseline design for all planned operational Sentinel launch facilities. The directive also covers work on several sites used for testing, evaluation, and training, the spokesperson said.

The Air Force gave no hint on when the suspension might be lifted.

“The Air Force’s ICBM Systems Directorate is assessing aspects of the current development effort that may be paused, or halted, as the Air Force restructures the program and updates the acquisition strategy,” the spokesperson added.

The sites covered by the order include Launch Facility-26 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., a test and training facility. Work was also suspended at a former Peacekeeper launch facility at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and at the Physical Security Systems Test Facility (PSSTF) at Dugway, Utah, a military test site. Also paused is work on launch facility “derivative training devices,” which include maintenance and security forces training facilities at each of the Air Force’s missile wings.

The ICBM Systems Directorate officially stood up last year to help manage the mammoth task of fielding Sentinel as a one-for-one replacement for the 400 currently deployed Minuteman III missiles, which still must be sustained, maintained, and tested. The Air Force has ICBM wings at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.; and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Missile fields are spread out over five states—Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming.

Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden first indicated there would be a pause on a Jan. 30 earnings call. The Air Force directive was first reported by Defense One.

“We are working with the government on the restructure, but in the meantime, we are performing and meeting important milestones on the [engineering and manufacturing development] contract,” Warden said last month. “The government has said that they project the restructure to take 18 to 24 months, and we’re still very much in that window—though they have paused work on some small infrastructure efforts in the command and launch segment.”

Sentinel, which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, like his predecessors, has said is a priority for the Department of Defense, is now estimated to cost nearly $141 billion, according to the Pentagon. That triggered a review of the program under the Nunn-McCurdy Act, as the cost was some 81 percent higher than estimated in 2020. That cost overrun also led the DOD to rescind Sentinel’s “Milestone B” approval to enter the engineering and manufacturing development phase, and officials said last year the program could be delayed by several years. 

Full operational capability for Sentinel had been set for 2036, and the Pentagon has long argued that the program is vital to maintain the land-based leg of the nuclear triad.

The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center conducts a full-scale static test fire of the LGM-35A Sentinel stage-one solid rocket motor at the Northrop Grumman test facility in Promontory, Utah, March 2, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by R. Nial Bradshaw

The cost and schedule growth of Sentinel stems mainly from the infrastructure to command and launch the new ICBM and not the missile itself. 

“It’s not pulling the plug, but they’re certainly recognizing here that the entire core infrastructure of this system isn’t going to work. It’s going to be assessed,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

Air Force and defense officials have said the missile is on track, but the infrastructure would be a significant civil engineering effort.

“I think the part that’s probably missed or lost is the scope and scale,” deputy commander of Air Force Global Strike Command Lt. Gen. Michael J. Lutton told Air & Space Forces Magazine during a visit to an unarmed Minuteman III test at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., last November. “When you look at modernizing that infrastructure … it’s close to 500 facilities across an area of about 33,000 square miles, about the size of the state of South Carolina, and that’s going to be intra-netted. There’s an underground command and control network that connects all that across five states. So, when one looks at that, that’s highly complex.”

Air Force officials have said Minuteman III could be in service until 2050. The missile was originally expected to be decommissioned in the 2030s. Pentagon officials have argued the U.S. needs to embark on a costly but overdue modernization of all three legs of its nuclear triad, which also includes fielding the B-21 Raider bomber and Columbia-class submarine.

“You’ll push the program well into the 2030s,” Kristensen said of the latest pause. “They were pushing this single source contract, forging ahead with this, rushing the program. … Now the whole system, ironically, will face exactly that delay.”

The Air Force has hinted changes could be coming to the ground infrastructure before the recent move. In September, then-Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter said the service could “change our design for the ground infrastructure to be simpler, more affordable.” Those comments added to ones made last July, in which Hunter indicated that there were “elements of the ground infrastructure where there may be opportunities for competition”—which could strip work away from Northrop Grumman.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Feb. 12 with additional details.

‘New’ F-35 Assembled from Two Wrecked Jets Makes Its First Flight

‘New’ F-35 Assembled from Two Wrecked Jets Makes Its First Flight

Feb. 11, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley and David Roza

The Air Force’s first-ever effort to stitch two damaged F-35s into a single stealth fighter is nearing its final stages, with successful functional check flights now complete.

Dubbed the “Franken-bird,” the aircraft made its inaugural flight Jan. 16, a spokesperson for the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The fighter is now at Lockheed Martin’s assembly plant at Fort Worth, Texas, for additional tests before it returns to combat status.

There, the aircraft will also undergo final work on the section just behind its nose, which currently has only anti-corrosion primer, to apply low-observable materials.

“According to Lockheed Martin estimates, the aircraft is expected to be completed within an eight-week timeframe, with a projected return date of late March at the earliest,” the spokesperson said. Once the jet receives its final certifications, it will return to Hill and be operated by the 4th Fighter Squadron.

The project is estimated to have cost less than $6 million, a fraction of the typical $80 million for a brand-new F-35A. Dave Myers, lead engineer at the F-35 Joint Program Office, explained in a release that by combining the best parts of both aircraft, the result will be a fully capable jet with no loss in performance. The “new” fighter, designated as tail number -5269, was created from the wrecks of two earlier F-35s:

  • AF-27, which suffered a severe engine fire in 2014 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
  • AF-211, which survived a landing gear collapse in 2020 at Hill

“When we received the aircraft, it was pretty much a shell,” Senior Airman Jaguar Arnold, the aircraft’s dedicated crew chief, said in a release. “There were a lot of tasks to complete that we hadn’t done before at the unit level.”

The “Franken-bird” team included the F-35 JPO, Airmen and civilians from the 388th Fighter Wing and Ogden Air Logistics Complex, and Lockheed Martin technicians. The team created custom tools and equipment to join the aircraft sections at Ogden before the jet returned to Hill in November 2023. Since then, maintainers have worked on the final restoration stages.

Merging the two wrecked planes involved a list of first-time tasks that hadn’t been tackled before. The work included reinstalling landing gear, rewiring the aircraft, rebuilding the cockpit and avionics, and installing a variety of components. The team also procured and installed “belly bands” between and just forward of the air intakes. These bands, made of composite material, provide extra structural support, and reinforced the aircraft’s body after the new nose was installed.

A new Mobil Maintenance System supports the donated nose section from a salvaged F-35 airframe used as an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair trainer at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in October 2023. U.S Air Force courtesy photo

The groundwork for the project was laid back in January 2020, when the JPO turned to Lockheed Martin for insights on repairing F-22s. At that point, the JPO had already started salvaging damaged F-35 components, improving maintenance, and getting creative with parts, including turning the AF-27 into a trainer jet for Aircraft Deployed Battle Repair.

“When we took responsibility for this project, we were taking on something unprecedented at the field level and it wasn’t easy,” said 1st Lt. Ryan Bare, Sortie Generation Flight commander for the 4th Fighter Generation Squadron. “But we were also taking on an opportunity for our maintainers to gain proficiency in this type of work and build experience at the unit level. As a program, and as a unit, we’ve benefited greatly from this.”

The JPO has collected Insights and feedback from the process to update data and procedures for all F-35 maintainers. The service also anticipates this project paving the way for future reclamation tasks with the equipment, techniques, and expertise developed throughout the effort. 

Airmen from the 388th Fighter Wing completed a lengthy project to restore a single F-35A Lightning II from two separate, damaged aircraft, and begin its return to combat status. The project was an interagency effort between the F-35 Joint Program Office, Ogden Air Logistics Complex, 388th Fighter Wing and Lockheed Martin. Seen here before its functional check flight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Todd Cromar)