Allvin to Airmen: The Course Is Set. Now We Must Follow Through

Nov. 6, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Gen. David W. Allvin’s first message to his Airmen praises each of the past three Air Force Chiefs of Staff for the work they did to modernize and set the priorities for a 21st Century Air Force. Now, he says, it’s up to every Airman to “follow through” to ensure those initiatives bear the fruit needed to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Just days after being sworn in as USAF’s 23rd Chief of Staff, Allvin spelled out his priorities in a Nov. 6 memo to Airmen in which he emphasized the essential role the Air Force could play in future conflict.

“The attributes of the changing character of war are ones well suited for our service. Speed, tempo, range, agility, flexibility, precise lethality, and resilience have been the hallmarks of airpower since our inception,” Allvin wrote. “The future holds ambiguity, but our task is clear: We must now follow through.”

Allvin takes the helm at a critical juncture in the Pentagon’s move to implement the 2022 National Defense Strategy, which identifies China as the pacing threat due to its aggressive military buildup, the scale of its economy, and its great technical prowess, while noting the challenges posed by Russia, Iran, North Korea, and radical extremism.

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel demonstrates how regional crises can suddenly erupt and how the tentacles of multiple threat actors can be intertwined. The United States scrambled to deploy air, ground, and naval forces in the wake of that attack in an effort to deter others from entering the war. But each of the threats identified in the NDS has some kind of connection to the region. The Pentagon must grapple with the possibility that multiple conflicts may break out simultaneously in different parts of the globe.

Allvin, a former test pilot with more than 4,600 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft—including 800 flight test hours and 100 combat hours—is familiar with those challenges, having held key roles in Europe, Afghanistan, and the Pentagon on both the Air Staff and Joint Staff. He helped write “America’s Air Force: A Call to the Future” in 2014 and the “Air Force Future Operating Concept” in 2015, documents that laid the groundwork for what was initially termed “multi-domain operations” and later evolved to become and Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (C-JADC2).

Allvin was Vice Chief under Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., who became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1 and played a lead role in tackling recruiting and retention as the senior member of Brown’s Barriers to Service Cross-Functional Team, which worked to eliminate processes and rules that were keeping otherwise-qualified civilians from joining the force.

Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin speaks with Air Force and Space Force ROTC cadets and newly commissioned officers at the Pentagon, Arlington, Va., July 14, 2023. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich

“We have formidable challenges ahead,” Allvin wrote, adding that “many of the solutions to these challenges are not a mystery” and that the Air Force has been working to address those challenges “for some time.”

The answer is not a handful of new initiatives, but the essential follow-through necessary to turn existing initiatives into results. Repeating that word follow through at least seven times he told Airmen it’s not time now to pause, but to move out:

“Follow through—on the changes our Airmen and their families expect and deserve. Changes worthy of their commitment and sacrifice, and suited to fulfill the oaths we take on service of this Nation.

“Follow through—to transform the products of our Operational Imperatives into actual meaningful operational capability. This requires thoughtful consideration and integration, with the ultimate aim of maximizing combat effectiveness.

“Follow through—to ensure our force presentation and force generation models are aligned to the way we intend to fight as articulated in our current Air Force Future Operating Concept. This means adapting many of our current paradigms for units of action, and orienting toward team preparation for deployment to be combat effective more rapidly.

“Follow through—to define and refine the force design that provides the optimum size, shape, and composition of our force. This entails not only incorporation of currently unfielded classes of capabilities (e.g., collaborative combat aircraft (CCA)), but also new competencies and skill sets for which we must organize and train future Airmen.

“Follow through—to adapt our organizational structure to optimize for great power competition. This entails applying “integrated by design” to capability development. This organizational design should focus on ensuring designated commanders can focus on training, readiness, and warfighting—with both the requisite authority and accountability. Meanwhile, other commanders will focus on supporting capability development and sustainment. However, all will be oriented on providing well trained, equipped, and ready forces for deterrence and conflict.

“Follow through—on training transformation. This requires continued focus on learner-centric training and education to optimize individual human performance. We have demonstrated new ways to leverage technology to not only improve information absorption and application for specific skill sets, but also ways to tailor training to individual Airmen and enable them to learn and apply skills more rapidly and effectively throughout their years of service.

“Follow through—on harnessing the innovative talent and spirit that exists in every corner of our Air Force by vectoring that energy towards solving our key Air Force challenges. We must continue to connect and empower the innovation ecosystem so the brilliance of individuals can better serve the entire Air Force team.

“Most importantly, we must follow through on our commitment to the success of the team. This includes demanding and protecting an environment in which all Airmen can reach their full potential. It means uplifting our wingmen, while holding ourselves accountable for our actions. It means removing barriers while maintaining and enforcing standards. It means all-axis leadership—top-down, peer-to-peer, and even ‘leading up.’”

Allvin has been the acting Chief of Staff of the Air Force since Oct. 1 while his nomination was held up in the Senate by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has blocked general officer promotions over concerns about DOD funding travel for troops and family members seeking abortions or other reproductive health services unavailable in their duty locations.

After making no inroads with Tuberville, despite drawing increasing ire—and in some cases outright vitriol—of fellow Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called individual roll-call votes for the leaders of the military services up for a vote.

Despite the Senate’s political gridlock the upper chamber had little objection to Allvin himself, swiftly confirming him in a 95-1 vote on Nov. 2 once his nomination reached the floor. Allvin was sworn in soon after the vote by Kendall at Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy, his alma mater. Both men were attending Corona, a conference of senior Air Force leaders that Kendall and now Allvin lead.

“We know each of us is serving in a place of importance in this great Air Force, and in a time of extraordinary consequence,” Allvin concluded. “I can think of no cause more honorable than this, and I could not be more proud to serve as your Chief of Staff. We know the challenges… let’s follow through and meet them head on!”

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What’s Next For Air Force Special Tactics?

Nov. 6, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a three-part series about Special Reconnaissance. The first story can be found here and the second can be found here.

Fort Liberty, N.C. — Members of the Air Force’s newest special tactics career field, special reconnaissance (SR) are trained to infiltrate enemy territory and gather information on hostile air defenses. That mission is part of a larger shift as the military prepares for conflicts with near-peer adversaries such as China and Russia.

Older special tactics career fields are also feeling the shift as they focus on skills not often utilized during the past 20 years of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). For example, combat controllers (CCTs) are certified Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers who can establish airfields in hostile environments. But during counterterrorism operations, they often served as joint terminal attack controllers, calling in airstrikes to support ground troops.

“For us, GWOT was the JTAC mission,” Capt. Max Krasnov, a special tactics officer and training flight commander with the 352nd Special Warfare Training Squadron at Pope Army Airfield, N.C., told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We were doing some airfield missions, but I would say 95 percent of what we were doing was JTAC.”

As the Air Force prepares to operate from small islands in the Pacific, CCTs may find themselves helping guide aircraft to austere airfields more often than they did during America’s conflicts in the Middle East.

“Historically, the air mobility mission is one of our bread-and-butters,” he said.

In May, combat controllers with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron guided MC-130J transport aircraft, A-10 attack jets, MH-6M helicopters, and MQ-9 drones in for a landing on two highways in Wyoming, an exercise meant to practice generating airpower in austere locations.

“We’re paving the way for what we think ‘forward’ is going to look like,” Master Sgt. Devin Butcher, the lead planner and organizer for the ground force in the exercise, said in a press release at the time. “It’s our responsibility to provide options for the access and placement of all our assets — not just Air Force, but Army, Navy, Marines, everybody.”

A new CCT recruiting ad also emphasized that role with the line “we turn hell into an airstrip … and clear the way for others to follow.”

Meanwhile, the JTAC mission could take a different form in a near-peer conflict, where enemy air defenses may force friendly aircraft to use longer-range munitions dropped farther from the target. In that situation, SR Airmen, who specialize in deep reconnaissance, may serve as remote spotting scopes for CCTs farther away.

“There are a lot of scenarios where the JTAC is back at the base and a team is passing the relevant information of what’s going on,” Krasnov said. “They know the ground truth, but I am trained to process that and explain it to aircraft.”

Pararescue

In GWOT, PJs and other medics often rode helicopters out to injured troops and cared for them on the flight back to a large base with robust medical facilities. But in a near-peer conflict, operators may be much farther from medical facilities, and there may be no flights due to distance and enemy air defenses.

“There was no chance a mission was getting approved if there was not a specific plan that anyone on that mission could get transported to a high level of surgical care within an hour,” said Krasnov of his deployments. “To go from that to ‘we’re probably not going to hear from you for a week’ is a much different mindset and a much different level of risk that you need to plan for.”

air force pjs — A U.S. Airman, training with the 68th Rescue Squadron, takes notes on simulated casualties, Sept. 17, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class William Finn V

PJs are now training to provide care for more patients for longer periods of time than they typically did during GWOT. In a recent exercise off the coast of California, PJs practiced caring for injured patients amid missile strikes, contested airspace, limited supplies, and other challenges meant to simulate what they may face in a war in the Pacific. In one scenario, Airmen treated about two dozen patients after a missile strike on an airfield, then moved them to a contingency location via helicopter.

“This simulates one of the most likely mission sets we could respond to: mass casualties caused by a missile strike at a forward operating site,” Master Sgt. Trevor Runyan, the Instructor Flight Chief at the 68th Rescue Squadron, a formal training unit for PJs, previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Later on, the PJs rescued simulated pilots who had been shot down and landed in the water. Some had drifted into contested airspace, so the PJs jumped out of fixed-wing aircraft with parachute-configured Zodiac boats to pick them up, then bring them back to friendly airspace where a helicopter could carry them to shore. Throughout the exercise, the PJs juggled multiple missions and limited resources.

“As a 10-man element, they must prioritize missions and determine if and when they should operate as a split team, and the risks associated with that,” Runyan said.

While counterterrorism missions continue in the Middle East and Africa, special operations forces across the military are also reassessing their approach to risk in preparation for near-peer conflict.

“For U.S. ground special operations leaders, attitudes toward risk tolerance remain shaped by the last two decades of war in the Middle East and Africa,” special operations expert Spencer Reed wrote in January for War on the Rocks. “But if these leaders are to offer utility to the joint force or their parent services in the future fight, they should reframe and reassess how they view risk now, ahead of a future armed conflict with a great power adversary.”

ICBM Test Failure Puts Nuclear Modernization Effort Into Focus

Nov. 3, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

A recent failed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile test has led to new concerns about the age of America’s land-based nuclear arsenal.

“It has served our country well and we will continue to depend on it to deter nuclear war until the 2030s, but this week’s test is a stark reminder that nothing lasts forever,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement released on Nov. 3. “We must modernize our aging nuclear deterrent and replace the Minuteman III missile—as well as the rest of our nuclear enterprise—with modern systems.”

An unarmed Minuteman III missile was terminated during a test launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., due to an anomaly on Nov. 1.

While the Air Force is investigating to pinpoint the issue, Tim Ryan, Senior Resident Fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said that he doesn’t believe the anomaly is linked to the age of the Minuteman system, suggesting it could have been caused by a variety of reasons.

Anomaly can represent any deviation or irregularity from the expected or projected behavior during the launch and testing process of the missile, which itself is an “extremely rigid and rigorous” regime.

Ryan emphasized that MM III technology remains reliable, as proven through regular flight tests conducted multiple times a year. The nuclear-capable missile has a range of 6,000-plus miles and can travel at approximately 15,000 miles per hour.

However, he added that other aspects of the weapon system, such as the silo, electronics, and warhead, are equally as old, and have been long neglected.

“As a whole, the weapon system is reliable. But it could use vital upgrades, just to be able to bring the weapon system up to date,” said Ryan.

The upcoming Sentinel missiles, which U.S. officials say will be easier to maintain and upgrade, are set to replace the 400 Minuteman IIIs in the continental U.S.

The Pentagon is accelerating the Sentinel tasks to meet the operational goal by Sept. 2030, as part of the nation’s broader modernization initiative of all three components of nuclear forces—air, land, and sea.

The Sentinel program is currently updating its integrated master schedule alongside Air Force and Office of the Secretary of Defense efforts to implement new acquisition strategies, an Air Force Spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Air Force also contracted Lockheed Martin to produce customized reentry vehicle MK21A for the ICBM, expected to be completed by 2039.

The RV program has just entered the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) on Oct. 30, the spokesperson added.

However, challenges still exist regarding the timely delivery of the Sentinel system.

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and other members of Congress have previously questioned the necessity of simultaneous triad modernization, advocating for independent validation of the Air Force’s cost estimates for the Sentinel.

The Air Force also stressed its planning and operations of the project being significantly hindered by continuing resolutions. In October, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center said they face budget constraints that affect delivering necessary nuclear capabilities for daily deterrence due to these restrictions.

Ryan emphasized the importance of Congress prioritizing the nuclear modernization effort and passing a budget, which has yet to happen for the current fiscal year.

“They need to understand the impact of passing continuing resolutions on a program like Sentinel, and ensure consistent funding at the levels and timing that can make it a reality.”

He added that the launch results from Nov. 1 are not expected to affect future scheduled tests unless the analysis discovers a flight problem, which has never occurred in prior tests.

Multiple Minuteman III tests are slated for the upcoming year at Vandenberg Space Force base, as ICBM launches are planned years in advance.

Ken Mattingly, Apollo and Space Shuttle Astronaut, Dies at 87

Nov. 3, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly, II, the command module pilot of Apollo 16, commander of two Space Shuttle missions, and an aerospace industry executive died in Arlington, Va. on Oct. 31 at 87. He was one of only two astronauts to fly both an Apollo and Shuttle in space.

Mattingly was commissioned in the Navy in 1958 and served as a pilot aboard aircraft carriers from 1960-1965. After completing the Air Force Aerospace Research Test Pilot School, he was one of 19 pilots selected in 1966 to be a NASA astronaut.

During his first five years with NASA, Mattingly supported the Apollo 8 and 11 missions and was the astronaut liaison to the industry/government team developing the Apollo space suit and backpack.

He was selected for and trained as command module pilot of Apollo 13, but due to exposure to Rubella, he was removed from the mission only three days before launch, replaced by backup astronaut Jack Swigert.

Enroute to the moon, Apollo 13 suffered an oxygen tank explosion in its service module, which decimated the command and service module’s power supply. Mattingly helped develop power transfer workarounds between the command and lunar modules that allowed the latter to be used as a lifeboat and revive the command module’s systems in time for re-entry.

Despite his exposure, Mattingly did not become sick with Rubella.

Mattingly’s contributions to the ill-fated mission were recounted in the 1995 film, “Apollo 13,” which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture, and in which he was played by actor Gary Sinise.

In a Nov. 1 statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Mattingly “stayed behind and provided key real-time decisions to successfully bring home the wounded spacecraft and the crew of Apollo 13.”

Back in the Apollo flight rotation, Mattingly was named command module pilot for Apollo 16, the penultimate moon mission, which sent astronauts John Young and Charles Duke to the lunar surface for three days in April 1972. During that time, Mattingly, alone in the command module, conducted 36 experiments and mapped large swaths of the lunar surface.

On the return flight to Earth, Mattingly conducted a 73-minute extra-vehicular activity (EVA) to retrieve film canisters from the craft’s service module. To date, it is one of only three deep-space spacewalks conducted beyond geostationary orbit.

Ken Mattingly performing an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) during Apollo 16/NASA

After the Apollo program, Mattingly became a key figure in the development, test, and operation of the Space Shuttle. From 1973 to 1978, he was head of the astronaut office to support the Space Transportation System (STS), at which point he became technical assistant for flight test of the program.

From December 1979 to April 1981, he headed the astronaut office ascent/entry group. Mattingly was the backup commander for the STS-2 and STS-3 missions, the second and third orbital test flights of the shuttle Columbia.

He commanded STS-4 in July 1982. The Columbia mission was the last of four test flights of the shuttle system, which completed 112 orbits of the Earth. It landed on July 4 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. where President Ronald Reagan greeted the returning Mattingly and pilot Henry Hartsfield. From June 1983 through May 1984, Mattingly headed the Astronaut Office DOD Support Group

STS-4 Crew Portrait showing Commander Thomas K. (Ken) Mattingly, II., right, and Pilot Henry W. Hartsfield, Jr./NASA

In January, 1985, Mattingly commanded STS-51C with a crew of five, which was the first dedicated military mission of the shuttle aboard Discovery. The mission launched a secret Department of Defense payload using the Inertial Upper Stage booster from the payload bay. The mission remains largely classified.

During his years as an astronaut, Mattingly logged over 504 hours in space. He retired from NASA in 1985, but returned to the Navy, retiring from that service as a two-star Admiral the following year.

Working in the public sector, Mattingly was director of Grumman’s Space Station Support Division, headed the Atlas booster program for General Dynamics, and was vice-president at Lockheed, where he ran the X-33 space shuttle successor program later canceled by the Pentagon and NASA in 2001, with 85 percent of the initial flight vehicle complete.

“TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining personality will ensure he is remembered throughout history,” Nelson said.

Mattingly held an aeronautical engineering degree from Auburn University, and received numerous aerospace awards and honors, including the Department of Defense and NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Ivan Kincheloe Award, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Johnson Space Center Certificate of Commendation and Group Achievement Award. He had accumulated over 7,200 flying hours, including more than 5,000 in jets.

US MQ-9s Flying Over Gaza Amid Israel-Hamas War

Nov. 3, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. has been flying MQ-9 drones over Gaza as Washington tries to gather information about American and other hostages held by Hamas and other militants there.

The flights, which the Pentagon acknowledged Nov. 3, began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people and has led to a fierce conflict.

Roughly 240 hostages were taken by Hamas, including some American citizens. The Pentagon said the drones are not carrying weapons but are conducting surveillance missions.

“In support of hostage recovery efforts, the U.S. is conducting unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, as well as providing advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said in an emailed statement. “These UAV flights began after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.”

The MQ-9 flights were first spotted by online flight trackers.

Earlier today, a drone that was tracked from a position off the coast of Crete loitered over Gaza for just under 3 hours.

What wasn't visible on flight trackers were two MQ-9A Extended Range Reaper drones also in the area: REMIX22 & REMIX55 from NAS Sigonella. #ADSB #E9D001 1/2 https://t.co/wtqFbS6CQe pic.twitter.com/rbN4etxf4F
— Amelia Smith (@ameliairheart) October 29, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces are mounting a ground offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ assault. Israeli forces have already cut the enclave in two by pushing across Gaza to the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, other Israeli ground forces are advancing from the north.

The goal is to uproot Hamas, an Iranian-backed militia that also has a political wing that controls Gaza. Israel’s ground assault has been accompanied by a punishing air campaign.

The U.S. has provided precision-guided munitions, air defense systems, and ammunition to the Israelis. U.S. personnel are also advising the Israelis on hostage recovery and how to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. One of those advisors was Marine Lt. Gen. James Glynn, who was sent to Israel in October but has since returned to the U.S.

In an Oct. 31 memo obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III restricted military support for Congressional delegations and most official government travel to Israel. The decision was made because of the “unnecessary risk and undue burden such flights put on our personnel,” a defense official said.

“We, the U.S. military, are not participating in IDF target development helping them run their campaign—just to be crystal clear that it is their operation,” Ryder told reporters on Nov. 2. “That planning element is providing planning and intelligence support as it relates to hostage recovery.”

A U.S. official familiar with U.S. MQ-9 operations over Gaza declined to say whether the drones belonged to the U.S. military or a different U.S. agency. The official also declined to discuss operational details of the missions.

Over the past year, the U.S. military has used MQ-9 drones, RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft, P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft, and other ISR platforms in the Middle East. A senior administration official said there were unarmed U.S. military assets operating in the region.

According to publicly available transponder data from the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange, a U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint flew off the coast of Israel and Gaza in recent days.

The flight path of an aircraft with a transponder corresponding to a U.S. Air Force RC-135 flying over the eastern Mediterranean Sea in November is shown on the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange/Screenshot

Other assets, such as the E-2D Hawkeye airborne battle management and E/A-18 Growler electronic warfare aircraft, are embarked on the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, which is in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

“We’re there to support any requests necessary to ensure that U.S. forces, U.S. personnel, and U.S. interests are secure across the region,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Oct. 30.

In the days following Hamas’ attack on Israel, the British government announced the deployment of P-8s as part of a package of forces meant to “deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region.”

How the Air Force Builds Special Reconnaissance Commandos

Nov. 3, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series about Special Reconnaissance. The first story can be found here, and the third can be found here.

FORT LIBERTY N.C. – Two Airmen hid in the dark, in a small hole by the side of the road running through a pine forest. Across the road, just 80 yards away, was their target: a train station they had to monitor for 24 hours for signs of enemy movement. It was bold to creep up so close, but the small ridge line into which they had dug their hide site blocked the sight lines from deeper in the woods.

The Airmen were eventually caught by the “enemy” in this training exercise, but the inconvenient ridge made clear the need for their career field: Special Reconnaissance. SR Airmen are trained in all forms of reconnaissance, from drones and cyber warfare to crawling through swamps and peering through a sniper scope. Their mission is to provide timely and accurate intelligence to airpower planners—even if they have to sneak onto an adversary’s front lawn to get it.

“Even if you have satellite imagery, you’re not going to pick up this little hill that makes a very big difference,” said Capt. Max Krasnov, a special tactics officer and training flight commander with the 352nd Special Warfare Training Squadron. The unit is based at Pope Army Airfield, N.C., home of the SR Apprentice Course.

“If you’re back 200 yards, you can see cars drive by, but that’s about the level of fidelity you can get,” Krasnov told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “If we need them to positively identify a guy with a mustache and a limp in his left leg, that is going to drive how bold they are about where they need to be.”

Sneaking up on a target requires its own set of skills, especially in this part of North Carolina, where the ground cover is sparse and a carpet of pine needles crunches underfoot.

“It sounds silly, but it is a skill just knowing how to walk through the woods in a tactical manner,” Krasnov said. “If you go hunting and sit in a tree for hours, and all of a sudden a deer appears, you’re like, ‘How did that just get there? I didn’t hear it, I didn’t see it walking up.’ Someone who’s really good, it’s almost like they can do that.”

special reconnaissance — A trainee from the 352nd Special Warfare Training Squadron fast ropes out of a civilian H225 Super Puma helicopter on Mackall Army Airfield, North Carolina, Oct. 24, 2023. For some trainees, it was their first time in a helicopter. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Xiaofan Liu)

Crawl, Walk, Run

By the time Airmen arrive at Pope for the SR and Combat Control Apprentice Courses, they already have been training to join special tactics for months. The pipeline starts with the special warfare candidate course, followed by the grueling special warfare assessment and selection course, both at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Tex. Part of the goal of those courses is to put candidates through intense physical training to see if they can handle the demands of the profession.

Those who pass through assessment and selection go on to a series of schools across the country such as pre-dive swimming and water confidence, static line parachuting, freefall parachuting, and survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE) training. The journey continues at the four-month apprentice course.

“The diving and jumping, that gets you to work,” Krasnov said. “This course is what you do when you get there.”

Crawl, walk, run is the name of the game. Students learn how to read a map and compass, then start navigating through the woods, a change of pace for many who have relied on GPS-enabled smartphones all their lives. They learn how to safely handle a firearm and how to shoot accurately, how to move on a battlefield and how to position themselves in a team fight. Later, they master small unit tactics, like bounding movements and ambush maneuvers.

“If you’re doing an L [-shaped ambush], you’ve got to make it an L, it can’t be, I don’t know, whatever the f— that was,” remarked one instructor after a drill. “While you’re making these big flanking movements, you’ve got to make sure you’re keeping track of where you are geographically in relation to your support-by-fire, so they can effectively support you.”

Easier said than done. Students had to yell commands through gas masks as fake artillery rounds went off around them and smoke grenades tinted the air pink and purple. An untrained observer could barely identify the camo-clad students amidst the leaves. But learning how to operate in such confused and stressful conditions is the whole objective of this course.

“Anyone can learn to program a radio—it’s not hard,” said Krasnov. “We need people who can reprogram a radio when they are cold, hungry, haven’t slept in two or three days and are in the middle of a firefight.”

Bread-and-butter

Usually about a quarter of the students at Pope aim to join SR, while the rest hope to become combat controllers (CCTs), who are experts at coordinating aircraft with ground operations. The students train on many skills together, such as land navigation and small-unit tactics, but they split up for skills specific to each career field. The SR Airmen learn the basics of weather observation, intelligence processing and reporting, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and techniques, long-range shooting with the M110 rifle, and stalking lanes, where Airmen build ghillie suits, using grass or other forms of ground cover camouflage, and learn to move around undetected.

“It looks super cool,” said Tech Sgt. J, an SR instructor whose full name was withheld for security reasons. “And then you do it for the first time and you realize that it is miserable, especially if it’s really hot out. People don’t realize how hot ghillie suits are.”

In the stalking lanes, J explained, students have to sneak up to a truck full of instructors, close enough so they can identify the letter on a placard one of them is holding up—all while evading the trained eyes of the instructors. It is a difficult task, but an essential one for sneaking deep into enemy territory, which SR Airmen may have to do if satellites are offline or the airspace is too heavily defended for aerial surveillance.

“Even if SR Airmen use cyber or electronic warfare, they still have to get to a location the enemy doesn’t want them to be, without them knowing,” said Krasnov.

The SR students learn the basics of operating small unmanned aerial systems, starting with tiny quadcopters about the size of a dinner plate. Though easy to fly, operating them effectively in an undercover military operation requires deep understanding, such as how high to fly to remain undetected, counter-drone techniques adversaries might use to evade drones’ thermal sensors, safe operating range and timelines, and how many spare batteries to bring for a mission.

The apprentice course is really only a starting point: graduates will continue their training for another six more months at a special tactics training squadron. Advanced SR skills include operating fixed-wing drones and top-secret cyber and electronic warfare tools.

Best Friends

The apprentice course ends with a week-long final training exercise where CCT and SR students demonstrate the skills they learned over the past four months. The exercise often begins with students parachuting into a simulated contested environment, after which they must establish a forward operating base and pursue follow-on missions, like striking a target or capturing an airfield to land a C-130 or to airdrop troops and supplies.

The exercise gives the students a chance to practice the basics of their respective career fields: CCT students may establish and operate an airfield or call in air support, while SR students may have to sneak up on a target and gather intelligence for an ambush. The exercise ends with a 15-mile ruck march back to base.

Graduation is a hard-won moment for both students and instructors. “These students, within a year they’re going to be on team with all of the instructors’ best friends,” Krasnov said. So instructors are incentivized to do a good job. “One, the instructors want to make sure they’re not going to get their friends killed. And two, all their friends know that we are responsible for the quality of the students. So they don’t want their buddies to rag on them for producing bad students.”

Another New B-21 Photo Shows Mysterious Vertical Features

Nov. 2, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

New tail-end images of the first B-21 bomber undergoing engine runs and taxi tests outside Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Palmdale, Calif. show vertical features that have industry experts scratching their heads regarding some prominent elements.

The new photo, posted on Reddit by user Folding_White Table, shows two vertical features rising from the B-21’s upper midsection.

The two vertical armatures rise from just above the wing root of the blended wing body on both the port and starboard side, just above where the engine core or cores are likely placed. It’s unclear from the photo whether they are symmetrically positioned on the aircraft.

Based on previous photos, the vertical features are retractable.

At least one of the armatures was visible in an earlier, first view of the B-21’s aft deck, which circulated online in October. However, the angle of that photo made it hard to determine whether it was part of the aircraft or a background object.

This is the first look at the new B-21 Raiders rear-end.
byu/Specialist-Ad-5300 inaviation

In a Reddit post, u/Folding_White Table said the photos were taken from the intersection of 40^th Avenue East and Avenue N in Palmdale, right at the fence line of Northrop Grumman’s end of Air Force Plant 42. The photographer said the spot offers a “perfect view of runway 25/7, 22/4 and Site 4,” on the closest public road to Northrop’s facilities.

Industry experts asked to comment on what the objects might be—and speaking strictly on background, given the sensitive nature of the B-21—offered a range of speculation about the verticals.

A common interpretation is that the vertical armatures are coverings for auxiliary air intakes in the open position and are extended to allow more air into the engines for ground operations.

However, two experts disputed that, saying the armatures may be too far back on the aircraft and too slender to serve that purpose efficiently. One also noted that the armatures are “unusually tall” for such a purpose and so thin that the opening they putatively cover might not be big enough to supply the necessary air.

The verticals also appear to be triangular and pylon-shaped, rather than flat.

Experts ruled out that the verticals are antennas or sensors, as they would ruin the B-21’s stealthy shape if extended during an operational mission. They also discounted that they are extendible “saber drains” for venting fuel, as they are too far forward, and fuel vents are typically positioned at the aircraft’s tail.

Another possibility is that the features are there to disrupt a ground-based sensor from learning something about the B-21’s radar cross-section. The stealthy F-117 and F-35 both have a removable, faceted device that makes them more visible to air traffic controllers and increases their radar cross-section. On those aircraft, the objects are removed for combat.

On the B-2, which was manifestly the design basis for the B-21, the auxiliary air intakes are set just above and aft of the intake and give the appearance of four curved paddles, with two above each intake.

Two B-2 Spirits from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., arrive in Keflavik, Iceland to participate in a Bomber Task Force Europe operation with NATO allies, Aug. 13, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Heather Salazar

The B-21’s vertical armatures are also near—but outboard of—an unexplained dark feature on the surface of the aircraft on both sides of the central hump or spine. This feature is also visible in the forward-quarter of an image of the aircraft released by the Air Force. It is inboard of the engine inlets in that image—not in line with them—on the side of the spine.

In both the forward and rear-view images, this feature is rounded and apparently teardrop-shaped, and darker than the aircraft’s overall light gray paint color. It also seems to have depth, with a potential wedge-shaped shadow within.

One expert suggested the dark feature is a mechanism to disperse the large quantity of heat likely generated by the B-21’s avionics, hence its proximity to a potential bleed air feature from the engines.

Another speculated that this darker feature could be a bleed air vent necessitated by the B-21’s serpentine inlets, which are air tunnels that conceal the engine fan blades but potentially create an airflow bottleneck ahead of the engines. The argument against this explanation is the fact that the feature isn’t in line with the likely position of the engines within the aircraft body.

As more and clearer views of the B-21 emerge through the taxi test process, the purpose of these new features may become more apparent.

Space Force Plans 21 National Security Launches in 2024

Nov. 2, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Space Force aims to boost its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program from 12 launches in fiscal 2023 to 21 missions in 2024, with United Launch Alliance (ULA) responsible for 11 missions and SpaceX handling 10.

Nailing down all the contracting will come in phases, however, as the 2024 budget has yet to pass Congress and be signed into law. Fiscal 2024 began on Oct. 1, but the government is operating under a continuing resolution as lawmakers wrangle over differences.

“The government is only ordering eight missions now, due to continuing resolution,” said Col. Doug Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space (SSC/AATS).

If the full program is executed, the launches and associated activities will pay $1.30 billion to ULA and $1.23 billion to SpaceX, Pentecost said.

SDA Launch — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 mission into low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., in April. U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Rocio Romo

Pentecost said the Space Force initially planned more ULA launches, but after evaluating readiness, production capacity, and the ability to meet demands, the split was adjusted. Over the entire 48 planned launches in the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 plan, ULA is now expected to be responsible for 26 launch assignments versus 22 for SpaceX. In all, Phase 2 will be substantially larger than the original estimate of 34 launches.

The 48 planned launches, to be executed within the next two to three years, encompass missions ranging from GPS to missile warning and space research and reconnaissance, according to SSC’s announcement.

ULA and SpaceX secured their contract for Phase 2 in August 2020, outperforming competitors including Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin. After this fifth and final Phase 2 award, the launch program will again be open to competition for Phase 3, which will cover the period from 2025 to 2034. That program is to be split into two segments, or “lanes.”

In Lane 1, SSC will award multiple indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts. These five-year, renewable agreements are intended to increase the Space Force’s launch options and, through competition, to drive down costs. In Lane 2, USSF will award two contractors launch agreements to manage launches into all orbits with comprehensive mission-specific services.

Fiscal 2024 Launches

Launch Vendor	Program	Mission

United Launch Alliance	SDA T2TL-B	One of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer launches for the Space Development Agency (SDA)
	NROL-73, -56, -100, -109	Reconnaissance and intelligence missions conducted in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
	STP-5	Supports SSC’s Space Test Program
	SILENTBARKER 2 / NROL-118	Joint NRO and SSC space domain awareness mission
	USSF-57	Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared GEO (NGG) satellites for survivable missile warning, tracking, and defense
	USSF-25	Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) DRACO to demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket in orbit.
	USSF-95	Missile Track Custody (MTC) prototype satellite to evaluate future requirements
	GPS III-9	Part of GPS modernization
SpaceX	SDA T1TL-F, SDA T1TR-A, SDA T1TR-E	Tranche 1 of SDA’s planned Transport Layer for global military data connectivity
	SDA T2TL-A, SDA T2TL-C	First three Tranche 2 satellites in SDA’s Transport Layer
	USSF-75, USSF-70	Undisclosed Space Force missions
	NROL-77	A reconnaissance and intelligence mission in partnership with NRO
	GPS IIIF-1	First launch in GPS III Follow-on program
	GPS III-10	GPS Modernization

Inside the Air Force’s Newest SOF Career: Special Reconnaissance

Nov. 2, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the first of three-part series on Air Force Special Reconnaissance. The second story can be found here, and the third can be found here.

FORT LIBERTY, N.C.— In most professions, the path of least resistance is the best, but the opposite is often true for the Air Force’s newest special warfare field: special reconnaissance (SR).

“Going through sniper school, you try to walk through the worst terrain that you can find because that’s where nobody else wants to go,” said Tech Sgt. J, an SR Airman whose full name was withheld for security reasons. “Vines and sticks grabbing onto your ghillie suit … it can be a pretty humbling experience.

Sneaking through swamps is one of many key skills in SR, where the goal is to provide timely and accurate intelligence needed to apply airpower. They are trained on the full range of reconnaissance tools, from crawling in a ghillie suit and peering through a sniper scope to flying small drones to using other equipment to gather intelligence through cyberspace and electronic warfare.

“All the other sister services have their own reconnaissance assets,” J said. “The Air Force was looking at a more niche capability, specifically for what kind of problems pilots are going to have.”

SR first emerged in 2019 as the replacement for special operations weather teams (SOWT), which gathered weather and environmental intelligence in hostile territory. In the years before that shift, SOWT Airmen started adopting some of the skills that make up the core of SR today. Though SR training still includes some weather elements, the main purpose of the field is to conduct air-minded reconnaissance as the Air Force and the wider U.S. military prepare for a possible conflict against a near-peer adversary like China.

“Basically we are looking at solving the integrated air defense problem that China, Russia, or Iran is going to have,” J said. “We’d be looking at opening airways for follow-on forces. The Air Force doesn’t want to have to rely on Army assets to open up those airways.”

In a future conflict, SR Airmen may find themselves observing enemy anti-air defenses, gathering intelligence on enemy troop movements, conducting real-time battle damage assessments after an airstrike, or scouting aircraft landing zones. Satellites or aerial reconnaissance may be unavailable, which is why SR Airmen are trained in the old-school method of crawling through the bush.

“We weren’t doing that in Afghanistan because there was no reason to accept that risk—we could just put an MQ-9 over the target for a week,” said Capt. Max Krasnov, a special tactics officer and training flight commander with the 352nd Special Warfare Training Squadron at Pope Army Airfield, N.C. SR “ensures that the Air Force has a way to get the ground truth under any situation. That’s why they are trained to the full gamut of reconnaissance techniques that are currently available.”

In terms of cyber and electronic warfare, J said his career field serves as “the link between the big computers and the target,” but he could not share specific capabilities due to security concerns. Krasnov offered a watered-down version of what cyber reconnaissance might look like.

“If I were to walk into a hotel lobby, log onto the guest Wi-Fi on my cell phone, and get the IP address that my phone connected to, I am gathering information about that hotel,” he said. “Play with your imagination as to where that can go.”

Trainees from the 352nd Special Warfare Training Squadron conduct a simulated ambush during small unit tactics training on Mackall Army Airfield, North Carolina, Oct. 24, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Xiaofan Liu

The wide range of skill sets involved in SR mean there are plenty of rabbit holes for Airmen to dive down.

“What I think is a cool thing about the career field is there are certain vectors that guys can really nerd out about,” J said. “Maybe a dude just really wants to deep dive into drones, you can do that. Guys want to go cyber warfare or higher-level intelligence gathering, we have avenues for that.”

Only 50 SR Airmen currently exist, though the Air Force hopes to grow that number to over 100. One of those could soon be Airman 1st Class S, a trainee in the SR Apprentice Course at Pope. While SR does not have the decades of lore enjoyed by other special warfare fields, such as combat control or pararescue, that was part of the attraction for S, whose full name was withheld.

“It was new and there are only a few people doing it … so I was curious to see what it was like,” he said.

Other service members feel the same way, including at least three prior Marines and a prior Green Beret.

“There has actually been, in my opinion, a surprising amount of cross-trainees or prior service people coming through,” said J, who listed long-range-shooting and cyber warfare as two reasons why some of them sought out SR.

Being so new, SR Airmen often have to explain what they do when they arrive downrange, but J considers that a strength rather than a weakness.

“I honestly think that it is a benefit for the kind of people we attract, because then they are forced to go out and prove themselves and their capabilities,” said the former SOWT.

J spoke from experience, having been attached to a team of Green Berets in Afghanistan a few years ago.

“I showed up and I said, ‘Hey, this is my little drone, this is what I can provide for you guys. I’ve got this training up into this shooting school, I’m a jumpmaster, I can do all this,’” he said. “And then the next step is to go to the range of that team and out-shoot them.”