RTX Expects Even More Demand in the Next Year to Replenish Missiles Sent to Ukraine

July 25, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

RTX, maker of the Patriot, AMRAAM, Sidewinder, Javelin, Stinger, and other missiles featuring significantly in the war in Ukraine—and in the defense preparations of neighboring NATO countries—has logged about $2 billion in replenishment orders as a result of the conflict and expects to top that figure in the coming year, chief executive officer Greg Hayes said in a July 25 earnings call.

Separately, President Joe Biden’s administration on July 25 announced yet another drawdown of weapons from U.S. stocks to be provided to Ukraine worth $400 million, including many of those same systems Hayes referenced.

Hayes said the company—until recently known as Raytheon Technologies—is “so bullish” on defense systems sales “for the next couple of years” because it has logged large orders for AIM-120 AMRAAM and other missiles, and that all 18 countries using the Patriot air defense system are or will be ordering new Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T) rounds for their Patriot launchers.

“We have orders coming from NATO,” he said. “I think in the back half of the year … we’re planning on significant order intake on both AMRAAM and GEM-T, as well as, of course, Excalibur,” which is a guided, extended-range artillery shell. “We got the Javelin order [and] we had the Stinger order already,” Hayes noted. “Those orders will continue to grow.”

“Right now, we still have only seen $2 billion of orders associated specifically with Ukraine replenishment,” Hayes said. “We think there’s probably another $2.5 billion coming in the next 12 months, associated with just the Ukraine replenishment, on top of the GEM-Ts.”

AMRAAM sales through the Air Force channel of the Foreign Military Sales program have been $1.2 billion this year so far, with German and Ukrainian orders in that package, Hayes noted.

Company officials also pointed to $265 million in orders for the Javelin anti-tank missile and $251 million in orders for the AIM-9X Sidewinder dogfight missile.

Chief financial officer Neil Mitchell said Raytheon booked $1.1 billion in classified awards in the second quarter but also reported “headwinds” on several classified programs amounting to “$40-$50 million” in the Raytheon Intelligence and Space business, “and that happened just as we closed out the quarter.” He could not describe the affected programs, but said they are “in the test phase” and that the company is “learning through that phase,” which has “a bit longer to go.”

Hayes, meanwhile, noted that the House and Senate were supportive of major RTX programs while marking up the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, including hypersonics, the nuclear Long-Range Stand-Off missile, and the Pratt & Whitney unit’s F135 engine upgrades.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in announcing the latest defense assistance to Ukraine, said the package includes “air defense munitions, artillery rounds, armored vehicles, and anti-armor capabilities, as well as other equipment essential to strengthening Ukraine’s brave forces on the battlefield, helping them retake Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and defend their fellow citizens.”

According to the Pentagon, the lasts package specifically includes:

Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS)

Stinger anti-aircraft systems

Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)

155mm and 105mm artillery rounds

120mm and 60mm mortar rounds

32 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers

Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles

Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets

Hornet Unmanned Aerial Systems

Hydra-70 aircraft rockets

Tactical air navigation systems

Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing

Over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades

Night vision devices and thermal imagery systems

Spare parts, training munitions, and other field equipment

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the military services are fully consulted on what is provided in these “excess” materiel packages provided to Ukraine and can “weigh in on what they have available on their shelves.” The U.S. will always “maintain a level of our readiness, while also being able to support Ukraine” and will “continue to assess what we can flow to them without dropping below our own readiness level.”

How US, UK, and Australia Aim to Cut Costs, Speed Delivery of E-7 Wedgetail

July 25, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia agreed to “generate, operate, and sustain a fleet of interoperable E-7 aircraft,” according to a document signed by each countries’ air chiefs and released to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The trio of air forces want to share costs, minimize duplicative efforts and differences in design, and “accelerate E-7 capability delivery,” a vital need as aging U.S. AWACS aircraft become fewer in number and harder to sustain.

The E-7 Wedgetail Joint Vision Statement, announced on July 17, was not immediately released to the public. But the full text of the agreement signed by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Royal Air Force Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, and Royal Australian Air Force Chief Air Marshal Robert Chipman was provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine July 25.

The statement does not formally commit the partners to specific plans or objectives, but it demonstrates how closely the three nations plan to work together to develop and deploy the next-generation airborne early warning and control aircraft.

Australia already has six E-7 Wedgetails, and both the U.S. and U.K. plan their own acquisitions. The RAF plans to buy three Wedgetails and reach initial operational capability in 2024; USAF projects a fleet of 26 aircraft, with first delivery in 2027.

Partnering should benefit everything from “capability development, evaluation and testing, interoperability, sustainment, operations, training, and safety.” Specifically, each air force has its own needs:

RAF: Simplify the Wedgetail’s entry into service for the RAF

USAF: Accelerate development, testing, and fielding

RAAF: Accelerate upgrades

The partners will “engage in joint discussions to identify and develop future opportunities for cost sharing, minimize duplicative efforts, cooperate on technical maturation, enhance interoperability, accelerate E-7 capability delivery, and align sustainment where there is a shared need.”

Saving money is of prime concern to Britain. The U.K. Defence Committee in Parliament complained two weeks ago that the E-7 represents “extremely poor value.” After the RAF cut its planned buy from five to three Wedgetails, the service remained liable to pay for five Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radars, greatly reducing its savings. All told, the program’s projected cost is £1.89 billion ($2.5 billion), compared to the original plan of £2.1 billion ($2.7 billion).

The U.S., meanwhile, is most concerned about time. The Air Force is retiring its AWACS fleet quickly, potentially leaving a gap in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and target indication. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall met with U.K. Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey in February, discussing ways to accelerate procurement and fielding. USAF’s unfunded priorities list included more than $600 million for advance procurement to speed up the process, and lawmakers in Congress have repeatedly pressed for faster procurement.

Reducing duplicative efforts could save money and time, and follows on previous suggestions that the countries share testing data. That’s one reason standardization across the fleets is important. The Joint Vision Statement states that the three countries “recognize a joint desire to maintain similar configurations.”

The partners also agreed to “leverage existing international cooperative agreements, or jointly develop new arrangements that further enable this vision.” While not mentioned by name, the so-called “AUKUS” defense technology-sharing agreement between the U.S., U.K., and Australia could be one such agreement that can be leveraged to further enhance E-7 cooperation.

Bones, BUFFs, and B-2s: All Three Bomber Types Fly in Alaska Exercise

July 25, 2023 | By David Roza

All three Air Force bomber types—the B-1 Lancer, the B-2 Spirit, and the B-52 Stratofortress—gathered in Alaska from July 18-19 to practice operating from an unfamiliar airfield, a rare assembly of the trio of different aircraft and a demonstration of flexible deployment for America’s heavy-hitters.

For the B-2 in particular, the occasion also marked the first major exercise for the aircraft since a six-month, fleet-wide safety pause was lifted in May following a mishap in December.

“The concerted effort by all the bomber Airmen is a testament to the flexibility and agility of the force to operate in unfamiliar environments,” Justin Oakes, the director of public affairs for the Eighth Air Force and Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The bombers operated from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER)—the B-1s came from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; the B-2s from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.; and the B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D. JBER, which does not host bomber units, functioned as “a notional forward operating base” for the bomber units, a service release stated.

Operating from unfamiliar or austere airfields is a central tenet of Agile Combat Employment, the Air Force’s operating concept in which Airmen and aircraft disperse from a central base to smaller, more austere locations in order to complicate an adversary’s targeting.

“The ability to perform training and integration exercises at a location that does not traditionally host bombers is what defines this exercise as an Agile Combat Employment mission,” Oakes said in an email.

Once gathered at JBER, the bombers practiced “fighter integration, strategic communications, and targeting exercises performed by the bombers,” he added.

b-52 — A B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 69th Bomb Squadron from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, taxis down the runway at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 16, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Zachary Wright

The Alaska mission marks the latest entry in a busy calendar for Air Force bombers. While the B-2 was grounded, B-52 or B-1 task forces visited Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Sweden, the Middle East, and other locations around the world, often in a demonstration of the bombers’ long reach.

“As a force provider, how we deliver bomber airpower has a definite strategic impact to all operations across the spectrum of conflict,” said Maj. Gen. Andrew Gebara, commander of the 8th Air Force and Joint-Global Strike Operations Center, in the press release about the JBER mission. Gerbera was on-site to observe the bombers arriving there.

“The bombers seen here today are proof of our reach and flexibility as they arrived from different areas of responsibility to a location we do not routinely occupy,” he said.

The exercise marks the most public appearance of the B-2 following its six-month safety pause. When the pause ended in late May, the Air Force did not reveal the exact cause of the December mishap, nor what actions allowed the aircraft to fly again. The B-2 is America’s only stealth nuclear-capable bomber in service.

“The B-2 fleet could still fly missions if so required,” Gebara said in May. “Our ability to provide nuclear deterrence never stopped.”

B-2 pilots spent time during the safety pause in the advanced simulators at Whiteman and increased repetitions in T-38 trainers. Only 21 B-2s were produced, costing over $1 billion per plane, according to the Air Force. One was destroyed in a crash in 2008.

Now that the B-2 is flying exercises again, Air Force officials hope allies and partners take notice of the tri-bomber gathering.

“Pacific Air Forces routinely exercises the ACE concept to ensure we can move forces fluidly across theaters of operations,” Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of the Pacific Air Forces, said in the press release. “To enhance that capability within our bomber force is crucial to ensuring we can provide a credible, effective deterrent and respond to any crisis across the globe.”

All three kinds of Air Force bombers gathered for a flyover of Super Bowl LV in 2021, an event that took months of coordination to pull off. The trio also flew together over Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as part of an exercise in the Indo-Pacific in 2016.

A B-1B Lancer sits on the runway at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, in support of a bomber Agile Combat Employment exercise, July 18, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Zachary Wright

Russian Fighter Damages Another US Drone, This Time Over Syria

July 25, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

A Russian fighter damaged a U.S. drone over Syria earlier this week, the top Air Force commander for the region said July 25, in the latest escalation between American and Russian aircraft.

“Russian fighter aircraft flew dangerously close to a U.S. MQ-9 drone on a defeat-ISIS mission, harassing the MQ-9 and deploying flares from a position directly overhead, with only a few meters of separation between aircraft,” Air Forces Central (AFCENT) commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich said in a statement.

“One of the Russian flares struck the U.S. MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller,” according to Grynkewich. “Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base.”

The incident took place at approximately 7:23 am Syria time on July 23. The U.S. declassified video of the incident two days later. The incident involved a single Russian Su-35 fighter, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

This latest incident follows a pattern of close calls in the past month over Syria, where Russian and American planes both operate. It is also the first time one aircraft has inflicted damage on another since a Russian Su-27 clipped the propeller of an MQ-9 over the Black Sea in March. Unable to operate the drone safely, U.S. operators downed it in the sea.

On July 23 Russian military aircraft deployed flares, damaging a U.S. MQ-9 while conducting a defeat-ISIS mission. For the full statement by Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, Commander, 9th AF (AFCENT) visithttps://t.co/5cQm8MQ6aQ @CENTCOM @DeptofDefense @usairforce @CJTFOIR pic.twitter.com/ViVTI3P05i
— US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) July 25, 2023

Over Syria, U.S. MQ-9s regularly assist anti-ISIS missions. In recent months, however, they have been harassed by Russian aircraft, even though ISIS is ostensibly a common foe. In November 2022, a Russian-controlled surface-to-air missile fired at a U.S. drone, and a steady stream of incidents has followed since.

Russian aircraft have regularly overflown U.S. troops in eastern Syria since March 1, and come close to manned American aircraft, flying within 500 feet, actions Grynkewich has repeatedly called out as “unsafe and unprofessional.”

On July 16, a U.S. MC-12 Liberty, a small turboprop surveillance plane, was caught in the jet wash of a Russian fighter. Grynkewich said the incident put the four MC-12 crew members’ lives at risk.

The U.S. has roughly 900 troops in Syria and partners with Kurdish groups to defeat the remnants of ISIS. U.S. aircraft support the effort by providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, force protection, and airstrikes. Russia is in Syria supporting the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.

“Russian unsafe and unprofessional behavior in the air not only degrades our Defeat ISIS mission, it risks unintended escalation and miscalculation,” Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a July 25 statement.

Russian fighter damages MQ-9 Reaper over Syria — The propeller of an MQ-9 Reaper Drone, damaged by a flare from a Russian fighter during a defeat-ISIS mission in Syria July 23, 2023. Courtesy photo/Air Forces Central

Elsewhere in the region, the U.S. is rushing military forces to the Arabian Gulf, where Iran has grown more brazen in seizing oil tankers as they transit the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic choke point between the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil flows.

U.S. officials have warned of an increasingly close defense partnership between Iran and Russia. F-35s, the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, and Marines are joining A-10, F-16s, and U.S. ships in an attempt to deter Iran.

For now, the Pentagon does have “any indication that says that this is a coordinated effort between Russia and Iran,” according to deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.

“We do not seek escalation; we do not seek war with Russia,” Singh told reporters July 25. “But there’s no excuse for Russian forces’ continual harassment of our MQ-9s, especially after years of operating within the region and after years of also being very clear on what our goals are, which is the enduring defeat of ISIS.”

Singh said increased U.S. assets moving into CENTCOM were “specifically to address what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz” and not Russia’s aerial maneuvers in Syria.

While that remains the case, “it is at the commander’s discretion if he feels that these assets need to be moved or need to be used in a different way in a different part of the region,” Singh added.

A senior U.S. defense official previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the F-35s could be used near the Strait of Hormuz if the airspace became contested, as well as over Syria if Russia presented a more significant threat. F-22 Raptors were deployed to the region in June but were scheduled to depart.

“Having that fifth-gen capability up in Syria doing defensive counterair gives us more capacity up there,” the senior U.S. defense official said. “It’s effective against some of those Russian provocations that we’ve previously countered with the F-22.”

In a video released by Air Forces Central, the Russian fighter that harassed the MQ-9 on July 23 was painted with the Russian military’s signature “Z” symbol, first used by units involved in the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not reply to a request for comment on the latest incident.

“The Russian fighter’s blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” Grynkewich said. “We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior.”

STARCOM Gets a New Commander at a ‘Hinge in Space Force History’

July 24, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Brig. Gen. Timothy Sejba took over as the head of Space Training and Readiness Command on July 20, succeeding Maj. Gen. Shawn N. Bratton as the Space Force looks to upgrade its test and training infrastructure and develop new doctrine and tactics.

In a ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman called this moment a “hinge in Space Force history,” saying command of STARCOM is “a huge responsibility.”

“The challenges before us are immense,” Saltzman said. “But so too, are the opportunities. From advancing our technological prowess to enhancing our capabilities in the domain, we must remain at the cutting edge of innovation. Our ability to adapt, to stay ahead of emerging threats and seize new frontiers will be instrumental in maintaining our superiority in space. And that begins with our Guardians and the doctrine, testing, training, and education that STARCOM provides.”

Saltzman has emphasized test and training since his confirmation hearing to be CSO, telling lawmakers at the time that the Space Force needs simulators and testing ranges to ensure Guardians are practiced in operating space systems under stress, when adversaries are trying to jam or attack space capabilities. He has also called for developing new operational concepts and tactics.

STARCOM is at the forefront of Saltzman’s drive to field “resilient, ready, combat-credible forces.” Bratton outlined some of those efforts during a May webinar with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, noting he wanted to shift away from traditional classroom learning for Guardians.

“Now the discussion is, ‘Why aren’t we flying a spacecraft in training? Why aren’t we getting some sort of reps and sets, some sorties in, in the training environment?’” Bratton said. “And that alleviates some of the training burden that we placed on the operational units.”

Bratton, who has been nominated for a third star to become deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, and requirements, had a productive tenure at STARCOM. Under his leadership, STARCOM created a Space Force Basic Military Training curriculum and pioneered the Space Force’s unique approach to a War College, partnering with Johns Hopkins University for that kind of leader developmental education. STARCOM also stood up and expanded new exercises like Polaris Hammer and Black Skies.

The command also had a hand in culture: Under Bratton’s watch, STARCOM launched the USSF’s unique patching ritual, in which BMT graduates receive their first Space Force patch as a hand-me-down from a seasoned Guardian, along with a letter by that other Guardian to inspire the start of their Space Force careers.

“There are three things needed to set those conditions for culture,” Bratton said July 20. “One, the sense of joining an organization that is greater than yourself. Two, the sense of achievement by accomplishing something difficult. And three, the use of ceremony and ritual in positive ways. And we’ve done all three of those things for the Space Force.”

Bratton now awaits confirmation to his new post, along with some 250 other general and officers whose promotions are on hold, caught up in a political stand-off pitting Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville against the Biden administration over a Defense Department policy that pays for travel and leave for members seeking abortion or other reproductive services not available where they are stationed.

He passed the guidon to Sejba, previously USSF’s program executive officer for battle management and command, control, and communications. Perhaps the biggest task on Sejba’s plate: Developing the the National Space Test and Training Complex (NSTTC), a collection of sensors and assets on the ground and in orbit that Guardians will use to try out new tactics and new systems.

At the same time, he’ll oversee a field command still in transition—the Department of the Air Force announced in June that it has selected Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., as the preferred location for STARCOM’s permanent headquarters, with the goal of moving there starting in the fall of 2024. That’s in addition to four of its five Deltas that still need to move to their permanent homes.

“We must continue to push, to increase our capacity and capability to field combat-ready forces,” Sejba told Guardians at the change of command ceremony. “This includes fully standing up the command and finalizing the basing of our Deltas. It also means delivering an operational test and training infrastructure that enables Guardians to test, train, and develop tactics in an operationally relevant environment to achieve full spectrum readiness.”

In the meantime, there will still be plenty to do, Bratton said. “There’s more doctrine to write, more exercises to host, more systems to test, classes to teach, more readiness to build,” he said. “There are always more Guardians to prepare.”

Air Force Dropping ‘Vice’ Commander Title; Now It’s ‘Deputy’

July 24, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force is switching up how it refers to No. 2 officers for most of its organizations, moving away from the longstanding “vice commander” title to “deputy commander” at all levels from the major commands on down, the service announced. The change is effective August 1, and is being made to better align the Air Force with the terms used by the other military branches.

The change doesn’t affect the overall service’s No. 2 officer, the Vice Chief of Staff. The MAJCOMs’ No. 2 designation changed from “vice” to “deputy” commanders in 2017. No new authorities are being granted to or withdrawn from those holding these positions, and the office symbol “CD” will replace “CV” as the shorthand designation for deputy commanders.

The changes were announced in a July 19 memo from Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. released by the service July 20.

In the memo, Brown said joint operations are becoming increasingly important, and “we must ensure we are best aligned to meet these challenges with a clear, unambiguous structure.” The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps use the term “deputy commander,” and it is the term used by the unified combatant commands, as well.

The “vice” to “deputy” change affects “Numbered Air Forces, centers, wings, groups, and any other unit currently utilizing the duty title Vice Commander,” Brown wrote. It applies to the Active Duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve. A temporary revision will be issued to Air Force Instruction 38-101, “Manpower and Organization” until the next complete review of the regulations.

Brown said the redesignation “is one of the several changes in motion to ensure we can execute our missions to ‘Fly, Fight, and Win…Airpower Anytime, Anywhere,” but he did not elaborate on those other moves.

The last such major nomenclature change to better align with the other services was in 2006, when the Air Force changed its Air Staff numerical designators to conform to Joint Staff designators J1 through J8. Air Staff designations A1 through A8 (Manpower, Logistics, etc.) were matched to the joint nomenclature, and in 2008, USAF added two more: A9 (Studies, Analyses and Assessments) and A10, Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration.

A smaller tweak took place in October 2021, when the service changed how it referred to top enlisted Airmen in detachments, squadrons, and groups—going from “superintendents” to “senior enlisted leaders.” Brown and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass cited the need to align with joint nomenclature for that move as well.

The term “vice” comes from the Latin for “in place of,” and was a carryover from British military organizations which served as a template for fledgling U.S. military air organizations. A U.S. Navy three-star flag officer will still be called a “Vice Admiral.”

Due to the ongoing Senate hold on thousands of military promotions, many “vice” commanders are already “acting” commanders, as senior officers retire without a confirmed successor.

Pentagon Leaders Emphasize ‘Responsible’ Options for Countering Space Weapons

July 24, 2023 | By James C. Kitfield

While China and Russia have ramped up testing of advanced space weaponry in recent years and observers call for the U.S. to develop more offensive capabilities of its own, senior Pentagon officials at the recent Aspen Security Forum highlighted the fine line America faces in preparing for a potential conflict in orbit.

On one hand, the threats are growing more and more pronounced, as U.S. Space Command boss Gen. James H. Dickinson acknowledged in Aspen last week.

In December 2021, for instance, a new Chinese Shijian-21 “space debris mitigation satellite” grappled with a defunct Chinese navigation satellite, transported it from low-Earth orbit to a distant “graveyard belt,” and then returned to geostationary orbit—an ability that could threaten U.S. satellites.

Around the same time, China tested a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS)—a nuclear-capable hypersonic glide vehicle that traversed the globe and revealed the potential to evade not only U.S. missile defenses, but also satellite early warning capabilities.

Russia, meanwhile, tested a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile in November 2021, destroying one of its own satellites and creating a massive 1,500-piece debris field. And a year earlier, Moscow demonstrated its “nesting doll” Kosmos-2542 satellite, which released a sub-satellite that reportedly stalked a U.S. spy satellite in low-Earth orbit, and then released another sub-satellite that officials believe was likely an anti-satellite weapon.

“As we look across the space domain, it’s important to understand that we’ve got some competitors out there that are developing and demonstrating capabilities that should cause us concern,” Dickinson said. “Whether it’s directed energy weapons [lasers, microwaves or particle beams], or direct ascent ASAT [anti-satellite missiles], or China’s SJ-21 [dual-use satellite], those kinds of capabilities are something we need to be concerned about.”

Such threats have led some experts like retired Col. Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, to advocate for the Space Force and U.S. Space Command to develop more offensive counterspace weapons of its own to deter China and Russia from using their growing arsenals.

“It’s oxymoronic to establish a new military service charged with protecting interests in space without arming it with the weapons it must have to accomplish that mission,” Galbreath wrote in a research paper released in June.

Yet the long-term effects of any actions in space, where debris can linger for decades, loom over any such discussions. The U.S., while standing up the Space Force and reactivating SPACECOM, has also been a key proponent for establishing internationally accepted rules in order to normalize space operations and is a signatory to the Artemis Accords designed to bolster peaceful exploration of space—as well as the venerable Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space.

“The United States intends to continue to be the world’s responsible leader in space, and that includes the U.S. military,” said John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy at the Aspen Forum. “It’s in the interest of all spacefaring nations and private companies to have a safe, secure and stable space domain, and that means minimizing space debris as part of our normal operations, and making sure we have ways to remove debris if things go wrong. And any military operations include that consideration.”

The tension between maintaining a space domain critical to both U.S. military operations and the global economy and countering the aggressive development of offensive space weapons by China and Russia, has led SPACECOM to emphasize nonkinetic responses.

While much of U.S. Space Command and Space Force acquisition remains classified, U.S. officials have acknowledged that there are “hard kill and soft kill” space programs funded. There are also offensive counterspace capabilities that don’t involve debris-producing kinetic action, to include jamming, directed-energy lasers, cyber attacks, and Special Forces targeting of satellite ground stations and communications links.

“I don’t publicly speak about offensive capabilities, because I don’t think that would be appropriate, but I will say that an [adversary’s] activity that happens in space may not receive a response in space,” Dickinson said. “At U.S. Space Command, we think about leveraging our capabilities in all domains, including land, air, sea, and cyber. We have conducted countless exercises with other combatant commands working on how we approach this problem. And we are at a point where I can say today that we’re ready.”

Meanwhile, officials have also focused on leveraging increasing commercial space launch capabilities to field mega-constellations of smaller military satellites, thus building a more resilient and redundant footprint in space and complicating an adversaries’ targeting actions.

“We’re focusing on making U.S. space assets more resilient, so there is no Pearl Harbor in an adversary’s first punch,” said Salvatore ‘Tory’ Bruno, CEO of United Launch Alliance. “That means we can take a hit and keep on going, or position an asset so it is less accessible to the weapons adversaries are developing.”

CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 2

July 24, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series about Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass’ efforts to help build the Air Force of the future. Part 1 is available here.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has made some big waves recently, releasing a memo last month exhorting Airmen to recommit themselves to the service’s professional standards and posting a photo on Facebook last week outlining her top “Things to Get After” to improve life for enlisted personnel.

As Bass nears the fourth and likely last year of her tenure as CMSAF, her list of priorities is long. But six in particular were highlighted in that Facebook photo:

Reforming developmental special duties

Increasing commissioning opportunities for enlisted Airmen

Retaining technical competencies

Setting up continuation boards

Improving the Air Force’s assignment policies

Digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) test

In an exclusive interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine, Bass said she highlighted those six in hopes that “we can cause some really strong momentum and get after them, probably quicker than some of the other ones.”

Now, as Bass prepares to put the finishing touches on her legacy, “we have to be deliberately focused on the force of the future,” she said.

cmsaf bass — On July 18, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass posted this image on Facebook of ideas to build the future Air Force. (Photo via Facebook, CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass)

Continuation Board

Bass wants Airmen to have more reasons to stay in the Air Force, but she also wants to make sure the right Airmen are staying in the Air Force. One method could be a continuation board for some enlisted Airmen. Across the services, continuation boards help determine how long an individual officer can stay in uniform without promoting. Other branches maintain some form of this for some enlisted service members, but not the Air Force, Bass said. This fall, the service will try out a continuation board pilot program for Airmen at the highest enlisted rank: chief master sergeant.

“Wearing this uniform is a privilege, it’s not a right,” Bass said.

The pilot will help evaluate how the system would work with enlisted Airmen and whether it might apply to lower ranks.

“This is not like paperwork and it’s also not anything disciplinary,” the chief explained. “It’s just a matter of evaluating whether or not continued service is the best thing for that Airman and for the Air Force.”

Bass hopes the program will “hold ourselves accountable as senior enlisted leaders to make sure that we are providing our best to our Airmen and the Air Force.”

Assignment Working Group Recommendations

Last year, Bass chartered an assignment working group where Airmen across ranks and career fields took a holistic look at the branch’s policies and processes for assigning Airmen to duty locations. The group came up with recommendations to modernize the system.

“If we’re going to retain the talent that we need for the force of the future, it’s not because of policies that were created in 1993, when I came in,” she said. “We’ve got to modernize the way we do assignments, and to some degree we have to modernize all people functions, so this is just one step in that direction.”

The recommendations were not published in an official Air Force announcement, but Bass shared a few of them at the 2022 AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference. They included giving base of preference to DSD Airmen, removing time-on-station requirements for expedited transfers, and ensuring service members returning from a deployment have time to recover and reset before moving to a new assignment. Bass also mentioned that the Air Force could use an assignment policy for dual-military couples who serve in different components, such as Active Duty and the Air National Guard.

“There will be joint spouse recommendations as well as what the future of base preference might look like,” she said.

Bass did not have a specific timeline for when concrete steps might be taken on implementing those recommendations, but she hoped to make “some positive movement” later this fall.

Changing policy takes time. When asked if she felt frustration over the pace of change, Bass said that the Air Force must “be really careful that we don’t allow the bureaucracy … or whatever the challenge is, keep us from being able to press forward.”

Bass also mentioned Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s Action Order B: Bureaucracy, calling on the service “to speed up its decision-making progress.”

“That was really in an effort to help us accelerate these much-needed changes to our force,” Bass said.

dual military — U.S. Air Force Maj. Meagan Bowman, assistant director of operations and evaluator pilot for the KC-135 Stratotanker with the 91st Air Refueling Squadron, and her husband, Maj. Woody Bowman, joint operational planner at U.S. Central Command, poses for a photo on the flight line at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, July 18, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Lauren Cobin

WAPS Testing

The last priority involves digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System, the standardized test which helps the service identify Airmen worthy of promotion. Air Force leaders have pursued this goal for years, with Bass even saying in 2022 that “if we can’t get out of taking a No. 2 pencil into promotion tests, something is wrong.”

Digitizing WAPS should reduce frustration for Airmen and eliminate the possibility of losing paper tests in the mail, which has been known to happen. Though 2022 came and went, Bass attributed the delay in part to not all locations across the branch having the systems in place to perform digital WAPS testing. Now in 2023, Bass does not see any friction points that would keep the service from fully digitizing WAPS in 2024.

“We are finally going to move into the 21st century as it relates to WAPS testing,” she said.

Having started in 2020, Bass is nearing the end of her time as the Air Force’s chief enlisted leader. The highlighted items on her Facebook post were just six of many changes that Bass hopes will help improve the lives of Airmen. When asked if she would want any particular item checked off, Bass said “it would be all of them.”

“We will continue to put the pedal to the metal on every single thing,” she said. “The important takeaway is that quality of life and quality of service initiatives directly impact our ability to build the force of the future. This is all important stuff that impacts recruitment and retention, and we owe our force the very best.”

CMSAF Bass’ Top Priorities For Keeping Talented Airmen, Part 1

July 21, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series about Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass’ efforts to help build the Air Force of the future. Part 2 is now available here.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has a long list of ideas to help the Air Force better retain its enlisted talent—but six of them in particular may be in line for action sooner rather than later.

In a July 18 social media post, Bass shared a list of “Things to Get After” ahead of engagements with Congress in which she and Air Force leadership share their priorities and goals with lawmakers.

The document was extensive, covering more than 20 different lines of effort, and generated plenty of discussion from Airmen. But six in particular were highlighted:

Reforming developmental special duties

Increasing commissioning opportunities for enlisted Airmen

Retaining technical competencies

Setting up continuation boards

Improving the Air Force’s assignment policies

Digitizing the Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) test

“We have to be deliberately focused on the force of the future,” Bass told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an exclusive interview, saying she highlighted those six in hopes that “we can cause some really strong momentum and get after them, probably quicker than some of the other ones.”

Now, as Bass nears the fourth and likely last year of her tenure as CMSAF, she offered insight into some of her top priorities.

Developmental Special Duty Reform

Developmental Special Duties (DSD) are positions in the Air Force that play a key role in training and educating recruits and Airmen, such as recruiters, military training instructors, and professional military education instructors. While the positions are crucial in developing personnel, they can be a lateral career move or even a step back for the Airmen who take them on.

For example, a maintenance Airman may have to take time away from maintenance work during a DSD as a military training instructor while their peers continue to advance. Bass wants to make sure the Airmen who serve in DSD feel well-taken care of, which will hopefully make it less of a sacrifice to perform DSD and have a positive effect on the work they do developing current and future Airmen.

“We need to make sure that we show as an Air Force that we value our DSDs,” she said. For example, “we ought to make sure that, while you’re serving as a military training instructor, that it is competitive, that it is challenging, that it is growing you but we’re also taking care of you while you’re serving in that position.”

Specifically, Bass mentioned providing base of preference to DSD Airmen at the end of their special duties. She also mentioned giving DSD Airmen a better chance to compete for promotion during their special duty, rather than afterwards as is typically the case.

“I think we can do better than that,” the chief said. “If the folks that we’re selecting into these special duties are truly the best of the best, then we have an opportunity to compete them against their peers from their career [Air Force Specialty Codes].”

Bass also called for taking a close look at the list of positions that count as DSDs.

“If we have too many special duties, then there’s nothing special about them,” she said. “Over time we’ve put more special duties under the umbrella of DSD and to some degree we’ve watered it down. We’ve got to get back to the core special duties that we believe are foundational to our institution.”

The exact plan for implementing these steps is yet to be determined. For now, Bass said there is a working group studying the DSD program to produce recommendations for modernizing it. She expects to have updates on the effort “within the next few months.”

“These are the folks who are bringing people into the Air Force and training, developing and educating them,” she said. “It should be a highly-competitive process … how are we making sure that we’re managing the talent within those special duties?”

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Tavis Bell, 321st Training Squadron military training instructor, gives a command of movement to a group of new Air Force trainees from flight 248 on proper drill movements at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, Mar. 7, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Brian Boisvert)

Increasing Commissioning Opportunities for Enlisted Airmen

The Air Force needs talented officers, and Bass said the best talent pool can be found in the service’s enlisted corps. There are a number of pathways for enlisted Airmen to commission, including Officer Training School, the Air Force ROTC enlisted commissioning program, and the senior enlisted commissioning programs, which have pathways for Airmen with and without a bachelor’s degree.

However, the number of Air Force officers with prior enlisted service is still fairly small: 9,744 out of around 60,000, split relatively equally among those with one to four years of experience in the enlisted ranks, those with five to eight years enlisted time, and those with eight years or more, according to data provided by Bass’ office. The chief hopes to bump up the number of enlisted Airmen who pursue the commissioned route.

“We have such a strong talent pool within the enlisted force,” she said. “My intent is really to just increase the opportunities and raise the percentages of those who already have prior enlisted experience.”

In the past, the Air Force has tried to encourage more enlisted Airmen to commission by allowing older Airmen to do so and by establishing a pipeline for enlisted Airmen to become commissioned pilots. Bass did not mention specific ideas for new pathways or new methods of encouraging more enlisted Airmen to compete for a commission, but she mentioned feedback that every year, the number of enlisted Airmen who can compete for a commission is affected by the number of civilians who direct commission into the service.

“That’s some of the feedback that I hear and that’s what we’re trying to get after,” she said. “As we look at what kind of [company and field grade officers] we need leading our force in the future, that talent pool is within that enlisted force.”

Retain Technical Competencies

Bass also said she does not want to give enlisted Airmen who are experts in their field a reason to leave the service.

“We cannot afford to lose technical competency out of our Air Force, especially as it relates to future conflict and in the information domain and the cyber domain,” she said. “In order to do that, analysis needs to be done on managing our talent.”

The chief said external think tanks and working groups in the Air Force are studying how to retain Airmen in technical career fields, specifically in cyber and information. The branch has been working on the problem for years—in September, it offered more reenlistment bonuses for cyber Airmen even while cutting the incentive pay for other non-tech jobs. In 2021, the Air Force also reclassified cyber enlisted Airmen as an operational role rather than as a communications support role. The move was meant in part to “provide manpower to support the Air Force cyber mission,” according to a press release at the time.

“We’ve got to have subject matter experts who stay technical only and not necessarily have to go, for instance, a leadership route,” Bass said. “That’s what we’re looking at.”

The chief said the working groups are taking a close look at different models for retaining technical experts. She mentioned that the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps have warrant officer or limited duty officer roles, which help retain subject matter experts without pushing them into strictly leadership or administrative positions. In the Marine Corps, master sergeants and master gunnery sergeants also “provide technical leadership as occupational specialists in their specific [military occupational specialty],” according to the Marine Corps website.

“I think the Air Force has to, as we’re developing our broader talent management model, make sure that we have a pathway to be able to retain our technical expertise,” she said.

When asked if the Air Force ought to implement a warrant officer system, Bass said she was “definitely not opposed to the suggestion of that. We just have to do the analysis to make sure that is what is best for the U.S. Air Force.”

Like with some of the other measures, there are no concrete next steps laid out yet, but the chief said she hopes to have progress updates within the next few months. With all six of the priorities, her Facebook post was meant in part to help light a fire for faster movement.

“That’s kind of why I have them highlighted,” she said. “We’ve got to create some momentum and start to drive toward that faster. … Our competitors are modernizing fast and time is not on our side.”