Why the ‘Sun Never Sets’ for Airmen Aboard the RC-135

Sept. 21, 2023 | By David Roza

OFFUTT Air Force Base, Neb.—Headquartered here in America’s heartland is the 55th Operations Group, which flies intelligence-gathering missions all over the world with a small fleet of 28 RC-135 aircraft.

“People might not fly a mission if an RJ [Rivet Joint] isn’t available, or the package is weakened because an RJ isn’t there to support it,” Lt. Col. Craig Lee, director of operations for the 338th Combat Training Squadron, a component of the 55th OG, told Air & Space Forces Magazine during a visit to Offutt in May.

“Same thing with large force exercises,” Lee added. “Our jet’s in such high demand and it’s because of what everyone knows we bring to the team as a whole.”

The Jets

The 55th Wing’s unofficial motto is “The sun never sets on the Fightin’ Fifty-Fifth,” which Airmen make true by flying global missions aboard these aircraft:

17 RC-135V/W Rivet Joints: Mobile listening posts, collecting real-time electronic and signals intelligence

3 RC-135S Cobra Balls: Study ballistic missile activity

2 RC-135U Combat Sent: Locate, identify, and analyze radar signals

3 WC-135R/W Constant Phoenix: Collect samples of the atmosphere to detect nuclear weapons testing

3 TC-135Ws: Serve as training aircraft

Most RC-135 jets are approaching 60 years in service. Hard-working maintainers keep the aircraft flying, while engineers rebuild the aircraft every few years to make way for cutting-edge electronics and intelligence-gathering equipment.

The Mission

Though Airmen at the 55th OG do critical work, much of it stays behind the scenes.

“We don’t immediately see the ramifications of our missions, like we don’t get instant gratification,” said Staff Sgt. Brandon Weik, an airborne systems engineer. “But I do enjoy turning on the news three months or six months later and seeing the impact of a mission I know I was on.”

The work often directly benefits fellow service members. When the Combat Sent collects information on radar signals, it can help Air Force fighters and bombers update their radar warning receivers. When the Rivet Joint detects new weapons systems or new capabilities, it helps the entire military be better prepared.

Sometimes the results are immediate. Lee often helped gather fresh intelligence for troops in contact while on deployments to the Middle East during the Global War on Terror.

“You might have spent six hours on station or on orbit and you’re ready to leave the country, but all of the sudden you get one of those calls over the radio and we need to support them,” he said. “It’s tough on crews because you’ve been out there a long time, but in that mission you’re there to help get that intel directly to troops on the ground.”

Each variant of the RC-135 requires unique skill sets. The Constant Phoenix, for example, requires at least two special equipment operators (SEOs) to run the subsystems that collect particulates from the outside air, which scientists analyze when the jets return to base. SEO Staff Sgt. Eric Martin is proud to be part of such a unique mission.

“Most people think of radiation and think ‘avoid it,’” Martin said. “With this jet we’re able to go and actually do that safely, which I think is really cool.”

Meanwhile, the Rivet Joint usually flies filled with electronic warfare officers, airborne system engineers, intelligence operators, airborne mission supervisors, and airborne signals analysts, not to mention the two pilots and a navigator in the cockpit. There are often about two dozen crew members, though it can vary by mission.

Each position aboard the Rivet Joint has its own computer station. Right behind the flight deck, three electronic warfare officers collect electronic intelligence, often from radars, surface-to-air missiles, or other systems. Further down the fuselage, three airborne systems engineers serve as an “airborne geek squad,” maintaining their crewmates’ high-tech equipment, said Weik. They also run the air conditioning units that cool the electronics, and they double as firefighters in case the cooling effort fails.

“If a fire were to break out, which luckily has never happened to me, we’re the ones who respond to it, shut down the electricity, get that fire isolated and then extinguished,” he said.

Taking up most of the cabin are more than a dozen intelligence operators who scan intercepted communications. Airborne analysts oversee their work and report to the airborne mission supervisor, while an information integration officer coordinates the effort with the rest of the battlespace and a data link operator helps share information between aircraft.

Rivet Joints frequently fly over vast and diverse areas, so the operators are often linguists who have trained for years and might specialize in technical fields or regional dialects, said one airborne analyst, Tech Sgt. Brittany Sizemore.

In the back of the Rivet Joint sits the airborne signals analyst, who picks up nonverbal communications, the ‘beeps and squeaks’, as one analyst, Tech Sgt. Thomas Frederick, put it.

“I feel like we’re the future of the RJ,” he said. Signals are always changing as more advanced communication technology comes online, “so our job is to process the ones we know and find the new and unusual stuff as well.”

The Galley

Frederick’s station at the back of the jet puts him close to the galley, which consists of two refrigerators, a convection oven, and a microwave. The galley is put to good use during a Rivet Joint mission, which can last 16 hours or more.

“People get really creative back here, especially on long sorties. They’ll make pulled pork or taco bars or pizzas,” Frederick said. “Cinnamon rolls are a big hit for some reason.”

Other menu options include croissant crust-pizza, sticky toffee pudding, muffins, chicken wings, cordon bleu, and easy-bake cookies, along with the usual snacks and energy drinks. One common challenge on the Rivet Joint is to eat 100 quarter-sized chicken nuggets in one sortie.

“It’s not something I want to do again,” Frederick recalled. “You don’t really feel great after that.”

It feels even worse to smell a fridge full of forgotten food after the jet has been sitting in the sun all day in a hot place like Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, which is why RJ crews sweep out all food off the aircraft after a sortie.

“If you leave your food in there and someone catches it, you’ve got to buy them some kind of treat,” Frederick said.

Meanwhile, aboard the Constant Phoenix, Airmen try to perform 10 pull-ups an hour using straps dangling from the ceiling above the flight deck. The reps add up over a 15-hour flight, and some Airmen also do squats while microwaving food in the galley.

“You try to find healthy ways to keep your mind in the game,” said one Phoenix crew member.

The Flying

The crew positions are connected via an interphone panel, which crew members use to coordinate with each other and the flight deck to accomplish objectives.

“I try to distinguish what the back end wants, create a mission plan, and send it to the pilots so they can actually fly it,” said Capt. John Burns, a navigator. “It’s a lot of communication, and since we can all hear each other over the interphone panel, you get to know people very well, even if they don’t want you to.”

The flights themselves can get bumpy: the Combat Sent sometimes descends rapidly to capture data on adversary radar systems, while the Constant Phoenix plows through clouds and weather to collect atmosphere samples. One pilot, Capt. Taylor Pearce, called Combat Sent flying “the most dynamic, which makes it the most fun as a pilot.”

“That’s one of the coolest things about this community is that we’re all qualified on a different airplane, and they look and act much the same, but the flying that you do on them is actually significantly different,” he added. “So I’m never bored. You get to fly a whole bunch of different missions and you’re not doing the same thing all the time.”

Indeed, the 55th Operations Group is a medley of aircraft, specialists, and missions that share one thing in common: the intelligence they gather can save lives.

“Every position is critical to the overall mission of the jet, and we know there are people depending on us,” said Lee. “When everyone else is in trouble, when they’re in harm’s way, we’re the ones basically allowing them to know what’s out there, and we take that really seriously.”

Zelenskyy Visits Pentagon in Push for Breakthrough on Long-Range Weapons

Sept. 21, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his push for long-range missiles and F-16 aircraft in a whistle-stop trip to Washington D.C. on Sept. 21.

“We had great dialogue,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We spoke about so many details.”

But unlike his trip last December, which culminated in a U.S. pledge to send a prized Patriot air defense system and JDAM guided bombs to Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s latest visit has not been not greeted with a major new arms commitment from President Joe Biden. Instead, the administration focused on bolstering Kyiv’s air defense and artillery stockpiles in a $325 million package.

After an hourlong meeting with Senators, the upper chamber’s Majority Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), summarized Zelenskyy’s clear message to Congress, quoting the Ukrainian leader: “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war.”

Other lawmakers said the top priorities on the Ukrainian president’s list included the U.S.’s Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a surface-to-surface missile with the range to strike logistics and other targets behind the Russians’ front lines.

Ukraine has been using French and British air-launched cruise missiles for long-range strikes. But those supplies are shrinking.

Gen. Stéphane Mille, the head of the French Air and Space Force, told a small group of reporters on Sept. 18 that his country would not be able to send more SCALP cruise missiles to Ukraine because they were needed for the French air force.

“There is no option in the short future to give them more,” Mille said. Supplies of the British Storm Shadow are also limited.

ATACMS can be fired from a mobile launcher with a range of around 100 and 190 miles depending on the variant. Some of the models carry cluster munitions.

Zelenskyy did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about what more military aid Ukraine needed from the U.S. as he walked up the steps to the Pentagon before meetings with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley. The Ukrainian leader also placed a bouquet of sunflowers, irises, and other flowers down as he paid his respects at the Pentagon’s 9/11 Memorial after the playing of the Ukrainian and American national anthems.

“We’re going to continue to work very hard with Ukraine and our international allies and partners to ensure they have what they need to be successful on the battlefield,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters.

Ryder said the purpose of the visit was to provide Zelenskyy with an “update” on U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. Ryder said the Pentagon expects “several” Ukrainian pilots to arrive in the U.S. “soon” for English-language courses before transitioning to previously announced F-16 training being conducted by the Arizona Air National Guard.

“There was also an opportunity to discuss Ukraine’s longer-term capability requirements and how to support that in the future in terms of deterring Russian aggression,” Ryder said of Zelenskyy’s conversation with Austin.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Pentagon, Sept. 21, 2023. DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley

After he visited the Pentagon, Zelenskyy took his case straight to Biden for a meeting at the White House.

But after meeting with Zelenskyy, Biden unveiled the latest aid package that he said focused on “more artillery, more ammunition, more anti-tank weapons” and “strengthening Ukraine’s air defense capabilities to protect the critical infrastructure that provides heat and light during the coldest and darkest days of the year.”

The package includes AIM-9M missiles for ground-based air defense, more Avenger air defense systems, and counter-drone machine guns to help blunt Russia’s continued missile and drone attacks. But the U.S. declined to provide any ATACMS, instead opting for more GMLRS rockets, which are shorter-range weapons with a range of around 40 miles.

“We’re committed to help Ukraine build a force capable of ensuring Ukraine’s long-term security, capable of deterring future threats against sovereignty, territorial integrity, and freedom,” Biden told Zelenskyy during their meeting.

If the Biden administration eventually opts to give Ukraine ATACMS, Germany may follow with its Taurus air-launched cruise missile.

Some Senators said they were frustrated with the administration’s decision not to approve ATACMS after hearing from Zelenskyy.

“Does the Biden administration want Ukraine to win or not?” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a statement.

If ATACMS missiles are provided to Ukraine, the Army plans to replace them with more modern PrSM precision strike missiles, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told reporters earlier this week.

A concern in some circles of Washington has been the accountability for U.S. weapons, especially after Defense Minister Oleksii Resnikov resigned following allegations of misuse of Ukrainian taxpayer funds for military purchases. Resnikov himself was not accused of any wrongdoing.

U.S. officials note that U.S.-made weapons carry stipulations that they are not to be used to strike Russian territory, by which Ukraine has abided.

“He talked about accountability,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) told reporters after Zelenskyy’s meeting with Senators. “They talked about how they take it seriously, and they are working hand in hand with the United States.”

Do Airmen Enjoy Their Dorms? Air Force Has No Systematic Way To Find Out

Sept. 20, 2023 | By David Roza

The Department of the Air Force does not consistently or systematically ask Airmen or Guardians how dormitory conditions affect their quality of life and readiness, which reduces the department’s ability to identify and prioritize improvement efforts, according to a Government Accountability Office study published Sept. 19.

The other branches face similar issues: GAO found each has serious flaws in how they assess barracks systems, such as electrical, plumbing and foundation; in how they track and report barracks construction or renovation funding; in how barracks conditions affect residents, and in their rules for who is required to live in barracks. Junior enlisted, unmarried Airmen typically live in dormitories, which other services call barracks.

The study found that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), which oversees the services, must also play a larger role in guiding and standardizing barracks assessment programs.

“[T]he military barracks program is a large entity that spans all four military services, and improving barracks conditions requires OSD oversight and collaboration with OSD and military service leadership,” GAO wrote. “However, OSD has not provided sufficient oversight of housing programs for barracks.”

Many barracks, which the GAO used as a catch-all term to include Air Force dormitories, are in need of improvement. In their visits to 10 installations, investigators found a range of substandard conditions that affected service members’ mental and physical health, including:

All 10 installations reported broken, malfunctioning, or non-existent heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. One service member said trying to sleep in a room without HVAC was “like standing in the sun all night,” while others in colder climates bought portable space heaters despite the fire risk.

Broken or malfunctioning fire safety systems at four out of 10 installations

Insufficient lighting, vacant units occupied by unauthorized personnel, or no existing or working security cameras at seven out of 10 installations. Two installations reported incidents of squatters living in vacant barracks rooms.

Broken door locks and first-floor windows at three installations, which made several service members feel physically unsafe at night.

Mold or mildew growth in occupied and vacant rooms in five out of 10 installations

Water quality problems at five out of 10 installations. One installation reported the barracks tap water is often brown

Pests such as bedbugs, rodents, cockroaches, and wasps reported by service members in six of 12 discussion groups

Lack of privacy and insufficient space reported by service members in 10 out of 12 discussion groups, which they said affected their mental health and work performance.

The GAO did not specify which services the affected installations belonged to, but military housing writ large has a history of problems with maintenance and oversight. Many headlines concern private military family housing, but mold, roof leaks, and broken air conditioning remain issues in barracks as well, which can disrupt service members’ sleep, mental health, and ability to do their jobs. Those problems can also affect Air Force dormitories, despite the branch’s reputation for cushy living conditions.

“We had to lower standards for field training to keep [service members] mentally in the game,” one senior enlisted service member told GAO. “Had to do it because when they get out of ‘training’ they can’t take a hot shower [in the barracks], or sleep with a locked door.”

One barracks resident asked “if you can’t expect leadership to fix immediate housing issues, why stay [in the military]?”

An Airman cycles past a dormitory at Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Feb. 22, 2021. Senior Airman Mya Crosby

While the Navy and Marine Corps conduct annual tenant satisfaction surveys for government-owned barracks, the Army and the Air Force do not. Air Force officials told GAO that they sometimes administer surveys at the installation level, such as informal exit interviews or unit commander surveys, but there is no consistent, standardized system which might inform Air Force-wide improvements.

The services already conduct tenant satisfaction surveys for private and government-owned family housing, so GAO called on OSD to direct the services to expand that survey to barracks. According to GAO’s analysis of military data, more than 148,000 Airmen and soldiers lived in barracks across the U.S. in fiscal year 2022.

“Army and Air Force leadership, in particular, may be unaware of effects on quality of life stemming from living conditions in barracks, and may not be positioned to make improvements for the thousands of service members required to live in barracks,” the authors wrote.

The GAO also called on the services to unify their standards for assessing barracks conditions, which vary widely in terms of what systems are inspected, how often they are inspected, and the expertise level of the inspector. The index used to score conditions may also be in need of an update: GAO analysis showed that nearly 50 percent of Air Force dormitories considered at-risk of significant degradation had a condition score of 80 or above.

Exacerbating the problem is the fact that the Defense Department does not track complete or reliable information on how much money is used to improve barracks conditions, how much more is needed to meet minimum standards, or what funding streams the money taps, GAO wrote.

In all, GAO made 31 recommendations to the Defense Department and the services to provide guidance on assessing barracks conditions; find complete funding information; and improve oversight of barracks. The Defense Department concurred with 23, and partially concurred with eight, citing ongoing actions to address some of them. GAO insisted the department should fully implement all 31 recommendations.

Senate Confirms Brown as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

Sept. 20, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate confirmed Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sept. 20, clearing the way for Brown to become the first Airman to serve as the nation’s top military officer in 19 years.

Brown was approved in a bipartisan 83-11 vote as lawmakers circumvented the legislative hold of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), just a few days before the term of the current Chairman, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, was set to end.

It is not immediately clear if Brown will be sworn in to his new position before Oct. 1, when Milley’s term expires.

Also poised for roll-call votes in the coming days are Gen. Randy George to be the next Chief of Staff of the Army and Gen. Eric Smith to be the next Commandant of the Marine Corps.

For months, hundreds of general and flag officer nominations have been stuck in the Senate. Tuberville’s hold prevented them from being approved all at once by voice vote, while Senate Democrats resisted calling up nominees for individual votes.

Tuberville (R-Ala.) placed his hold to protest a Pentagon policy to provide paid leave and travel funds for troops requiring reproductive services, including abortions, who are based in states where those services are not available. The Republican said he would be willing to vote on nominees individually, but Democrats argued doing so would take up too much floor time and encourage more blockades in the future.

On Sept. 20, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) reversed course and announced he would bring up Brown, George, and Smith for individual votes after Tuberville indicated he would try to bring up Smith’s nomination for a vote himself in an unusual procedural motion. Schumer accelerated the Senate’s lengthy legislative process to file cloture and vote on Brown in one day, and Tuberville did not object.

Tuberville did, however, vote against Brown’s confirmation, as did 10 other Republicans—an unusual occurrence. Nominees to be Chairman have traditionally been confirmed quickly and unanimously by voice vote, though Milley was approved by a 89-1 roll-call vote.

Brown’s confirmation ensures the Chairman job will not be filled on an acting basis, something that has only happened once before in 1993. The Army, Navy, and Marine Corps have all been without a Senate-confirmed leader for several weeks.

It remains to be seen if or when the Senate will hold an individual roll-call vote on Gen. David W. Allvin, who has been nominated to succeed Brown as Air Force Chief of Staff. Should lawmakers not do so before Brown is sworn in as Chairman, Allvin will become acting Chief of Staff in addition to his current job as Vice Chief of Staff.

If Allvin is confirmed, his job as Vice Chief would be filled on an acting basis by the most senior officer on the Air Staff until his nominated successor, Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, is confirmed.

More than 100 Air Force and Space Force general officer nominations are still awaiting confirmation.

Still, Brown’s ascension to Chairman marks a milestone for the Air Force, which has not had a general in the position since Gen. Richard Myers retired in 2005. All told, he is the sixth Airman to be Chairman.

A career fighter pilot with most of his experience in the F-16, Brown has 3,000 hours of flying experience, including 130 combat hours. Brown, the son and grandson of veterans, has command experience in the Middle East, Europe, and, perhaps most importantly, the Indo-Pacific. Prior to becoming Chief of Staff, Brown was the commander of Pacific Air Forces.

Introducing Brown as his selection for Chairman back in May, President Joe Biden called him a “a proud, butt-kicking American Airman.”

“Gen. Brown is a warrior descended from a proud line of warriors,” Biden added. “He knows what it means to be in the thick of battle and how to keep your cool when things get hard.”

F-16s, AC-130, and More Operate over Remote Alaskan Regions

Sept. 20, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

U.S. and Canadian forces recently conducted joint exercises around some of the most remote, austere islands in Alaska.

“Operation Noble Defender” took place near Shemya, Attu, and St. Lawrence islands—scattered in the Bering Sea and less than 500 miles from Russia—and featured air, ground, and naval forces from both nations operating under the authority of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command.

The operation, which took place from Aug. 15 to Sept. 10, aimed to practice detecting, deterring, and protecting against potential threats to North America and the Arctic region, even in challenging weather and harsh conditions.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, the commander of NORAD and NORTHCOM, emphasized the increasing interest of the Arctic region due to environmental changes—making the ability to execute operations in the region more critical than ever. He highlighted the significant need for readily available, well-trained, and equipped forces capable of operating in the Arctic to defend North America.

“As strategic competitors take advantage of greater access and influence in the region, NORAD and USNORTHCOM must demonstrate the readiness and capability to persistently operate in the arctic,” VanHerck said in a statement.

Operation Noble Defender consisted of two components: Operation Polar Arrow and Operation Polar Dagger. Operation Polar Arrow, the air component of the operation, was conducted from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. From this strategic location, aircraft embarked on a journey across the vast expanses of Alaska and the Arctic Circle, braving harsh and austere weather conditions, a spokesperson from NORAD told Air and Space Forces Magazine.

North American Aerospace Defense Command CF-18 Hornets and F-16s Fighting Falcons fly in formation with an E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system in support of Operation Noble Defender over Alaska, Aug. 24, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ricardo Sandoval

U.S. and Canadian aircraft participated in this phase to demonstrate their ability to deploy assets in coordination with special operations units and to maintain air sovereignty. NORAD aircraft, including F-16 Fighting Falcons and CF-18 Hornets, flew alongside an E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system, showcasing interoperability. KC-135 tanker aircraft also supported these operations.

Operation Polar Dagger, designed to integrate joint special operations units and test new capabilities while defending critical infrastructure—enhancing all-domain awareness and strengthening the force’s understanding of the region—involved collaboration among air, ground, naval, and special forces. The Air Force’s 17th Special Operation Squadron deployed an AC-130J Ghostrider aircraft, accompanied by MH-60 Blackhawks from the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and UH/MH-60 Blackhawks and CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the 207th Aviation Troop Command, Alaska Army National Guard. Additionally, the USAF Special Operations Surgical Team from the 720th Operational Support Squadron provided rapid trauma medical support for the integrated air, ground, and maritime operations conducted as part of the maneuver.

East-Coast-based U.S. Naval Special Warfare Operators (SEALs) engages with an AC-130J Ghostrider as the aircraft conducts a flyover on Attu Island, Alaska, Aug. 31, 2023, as part of Operation POLAR DAGGER. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matthew Dickinson

Noble Defender is a recurring exercise aimed at showcasing the ability of the U.S. Alaskan NORAD Region and Canada to enhance integrated deterrence and layered defense. In a previous edition held in June, the operation involved U.S. Air Force F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft from Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans, La.; and Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida. And back in January, the operation had four Air Force F-35s deploy to Thule Air Base in Greenland for the first time, followed by a series of air drills.

NORAD, a joint Canadian and American command, employs an array of space-based, aerial, and ground-based sensors, air-to-air refueling tankers, and fighter aircraft on alert, controlled by an advanced command and control network.

On-Demand PME, New ‘Foundations’ Courses Coming for Enlisted Airmen

Sept. 20, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force plans to make online educational materials available to enlisted Airmen “on demand” by late 2024, one of several changes the service announced Sept. 20 as part of a new “Enlisted Airmanship Continuum” for developing service members.

Other changes include “Foundations Courses” for junior enlisted, noncommissioned officers, and senior noncommissioned officers starting in October that will eventually become a prerequisite for Airmen to attend the service’s enlisted PME programs—Airman Leadership School, NCO Academy, and SNCO Academy.

Finally, the Air Force plans to expand its “Prepping the Line” initiative, which sets Job Qualifications Standards for Airmen to be certified on for certain supervisory roles.

“This shift is about the long game and building the force of the future,” Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass wrote in a letter to the force. “We owe every Airman deliberate developmental opportunities throughout their careers to grow and become their very best. They will be the difference makers in the future fight, and we are choosing to invest in them now to ensure we remain the Air Force our nation needs.”

On-Demand PME

On-demand PME will “provide unrestricted access to relevant content for Airmen, when and where needed,” Brown and Bass wrote. A background paper from the Air Force clarified that the initiative is still being worked with a scheduled release in late 2024.

An Air Force spokeswoman confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine that on-demand PME will not replace the need to attend enlisted PME courses like Airman Leadership School, NCO Academy, and SNCO Academy.

Rather, it will be “online content Airmen can continually return to or to learn about something new, such as emotional intelligence [or] Air Force Budget Life Cycle,” the spokeswoman said.

The Air Force has made digitizing and upgrading different enlisted programs a priority in recent years, with varying levels of success. Despite Bass’ push to move to digital testing for the Weighted Airman Promotion System by 2022, paper tests and Scantrons remain standard. myEval, a new personnel evaluation web application, was paused in November 2022 because it was too difficult to use, followed by myEval 2.0 in March.

On the officer side, on-demand educational material has been a key part of the revamped Undergraduate Pilot Training curriculum, allowing for students to learn at their own pace, officials have said.

Foundations Courses

Bass first previewed the Foundations Courses during a livestreamed discussion with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on Aug. 30, saying they would replace the Air Force’s professional enhancement seminars.

“We’re about to make those things mandatory,” she said at the time. “We will make sure that we have relevant content that we are supplying and giving you, empowering you with, so that you can continue growing those around you.”

The three new Foundations Courses—for junior Airmen, NCOs, and senior NCOs—will launch in October at the base level but will not become mandatory for enlisted PME until late 2024, according to Brown and Bass’s letter.

“Content for all foundations courses will be updated, and standardized by Air University and Development Advisors, with the intent to remain current and relevant to maintain our competitive advantage,” the background document added.

The EFD Action Plan to reimagine and explore a new ecosystem. The new EFD Model – Enlisted Airmanship Continuum (100–900) – connects institutional, functional, and base delivered education, training, and experiences. The Enlisted Airmanship Continuum is introduced at Basic Military Training, reinforced by Foundational Competencies in each AFSC’s Career Field Education and Training Plan, and embedded throughout the entire continuum. U.S. Air Force graphic

Enlisted Force Development

In January 2022, Brown and Bass released their Enlisted Force Development Action Plan, outlining 28 force development objectives to be completed over the next two years.

One such objective was to review the existing enlisted PME continuum “to ensure it meets the needs of today’s warfighter and delivers development at the right time,” leading to the Sept. 20 announcement.

More broadly, Bass has sought to revamp the foundational documents and processes by which enlisted Airmen progress in their careers. During her tenure as CMSAF, the Air Force has released updated “Blue” and “Brown” Books—“The Profession of Arms: Our Core Values” and “The Enlisted Force Structure,” respectively. In addition, the service trotted out “The Blueprint,” a 32-page “living” document updated regularly with new information and links intended to be a resource and reference for enlisted Airmen throughout their careers.

Air Force Acquisition Boss: In Upcoming Reorganization, Speed Is the Priority

Sept. 19, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

In the major “re-optimization” review of the Air Force ordered by Secretary Frank Kendall earlier this month, speed of acquisition will take top priority, superseding cost and performance as secondary factors, service acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told reporters last week at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference.

Kendall’s sweeping review—requiring major commands and other organizations within the Department of the Air Force to submit an action plan by Jan. 1—directs reorganization along five lines of effort: overall organization, equipage, personnel, readiness, and “supporting the force.”

Asked how restructuring the “equipage” enterprise will differ from run-of-the-mill acquisition reform—a longtime cottage industry in Washington—Hunter said the directive reflects the urgency of responding to the accelerating threat from China.

“Where one lays the priority in acquisition reform has shifted over time,” Hunter said. “Between the three different priorities of acquisition—the acquisition system cost, schedule, performance—sometimes the priority that takes center stage shifts, and that’s been true of the acquisition reform debate.”

Where once the priority was on controlling costs—to the detriment of speed—it has shifted to getting new gear fielded rapidly to deter China, he said.

Speed, he said, “is absolutely foremost” among the priorities of schedule, cost, and performance, but he didn’t rank the other two factors in terms of their priority.

The term “acquisition reform” has become “kind of generic,” Hunter added, but in the context of Kendall’s reorganization, it is “incredibly focused” in the context of re-optimizing for competition with a near-peer threat like China.

“We know the capabilities that we have to maintain, develop … or recapture” in terms of “competitive advantage with the pacing threat.” He reiterated previous Air Force comments that China enjoys an edge in certain kinds of weapons and in spectrum warfare, and that USAF’s edge in many areas has eroded.

“We will be doing things that are directly tied to achieving those outcomes; organizationally, process, budgetarily, all of the above, very focused on those specific goals,” Hunter said of the review.

The guiding idea will be “the ability to deliver … integrated capabilities through a development pipeline,” he said.

That means “unity of effort starting from [science and technology], incorporating advances and commercial technology that are happening outside of DOD … through AFWERX and our AFWERX 3.0 initiative,” Hunter said.

There will also be efforts to ensure new capabilities fit within the Air Force’s overall architecture, “that there’s a home; a place for them to go, and then that they tie into our acquisition strategies and our program approaches that then deliver a field of capabilities and upgrade and sustain those capabilities over time,” Hunter added.

The acquisition system already does those things, but Hunter said the review will provide focus to ensure “as little friction—as little gap—as possible between stages of the development process.”

The goal is to accomplish normal acquisition processes “at pace and scale across different parts of the enterprise to deliver integrated capabilities and specific areas to stay ahead,” Hunter said. “There’s plenty of work for us to do to up our game in that area.”

In his keynote speech at the conference, Kendall emphasized that there is “no time to lose” in restructuring the service to be able to quickly pivot to new technologies and organizational structures, in order to keep China off balance and present it with cost-imposing demands.

He said the re-optimization review will conclude in January and immediately shift to “an analysis of alternatives to execution” of recommended changes.

Service officials said the review will likely not drive significant changes in the fiscal 2024 budget, but will provide a foundation for the fiscal 2025 request.

USAF Will Test Out a New Way to Organize Deployments: Air Task Forces

Sept. 19, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

In an attempt to build more cohesive teams of Airmen, the Air Force will test out a new system for grouping and deploying troops overseas, top service leaders announced last week at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

Air Task Forces, or ATFs, are intended to replace the service’s model of Air Expeditionary Wings with “forces all packaged together in a light-footprint, deployable unit,” deputy chief of staff for operations Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife told reporters.

Under the current system, small groups or individual Airmen with different unit type codes are pulled piecemeal from across the service for deployments.

“We deployed wings to Desert Storm,” Slife said. “We no longer deploy wings … we deploy bespoke collections of UTCs that have never trained together before they get to where the action is. That has been an efficient way to operate. It largely works in a relatively uncontested environment where you have large main fixed operating bases that are going to be free from attack. That’s not the world we’re living in anymore.”

In contrast, ATFs will consist of Airmen who train and deploy together under the new Air Force Force Generation Model and include different “force elements” allowing them to function more independently. Specifically, Slife pointed to four elements every ATF will need:

Command: A commander, deputy commander, senior enlisted leader, and expeditionary “A-staff” patterned off the Air Staff to provide support for the commander. According to an Air Force release, ATF commanders will be colonels, the deputies will be lieutenant colonels with at least one squadron command assignment, and the senior enlisted leader will be a command chief master sergeant.

Mission Generation: Operational, maintenance, and intelligence forces—“all of the things you need to generate sorties on a day-to-day basis,” Slife said. Some will include fighter aircraft, others airlift, other ISR, and so on.

Combat Support: The forces necessary to establish a base and enable the mission, like civil engineers.

Combat Service Support: Personnel needed for “running a main operating base, providing for airfield security, air traffic control, lodging, sustenance, all those types of things at a main operating base,” Slife said.

A June release from the Air Force broke down force elements even further based on specific function like opening, establishing, operating, and “robusting” an air base; command and control; different kinds of missions like air superiority or intra-theater airlift; or “Demand Force Teams” for highly specific skillsets.

Not every Air Task Force will have all of those more specific force elements, Slife said.

“If you’re going to INDOPACOM to do a series of exercises, you may not need a substantial force protection capability as part of that task force, for example,” Slife said. “If you’re going to CENTCOM, where there is a large main operating base that is reasonably well developed, you may not need as many civil engineers as if you were going to build from scratch.”

The service is still figuring out the exact formulations. To that end, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced during his keynote speech that he had approved the creation of three Air Task Forces “to serve as pilots in order to experiment with ways to more effectively provide deployable integrated units.”

Two of those ATFs will be for the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, and one will be for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

“These are not the final permanent deployable units we expect to form, but they are a major step in the right direction and we will learn from this experience,” Kendall added.

In a subsequent release, the Air Force detailed that the ATFs will group, train, and deploy Airmen and units together as part of the new four-phase Force Generation Model. They will also include the expeditionary air base squadron teams the Air Force introduced last year.

The pilot task forces will officially enter that force generation model in the summer of 2024 and deploy beginning in the fall of 2025. The exact units involved in the task forces were not disclosed, and more details will be released in the coming months, the release stated.

Still, the move reflects a broader shift within the Air Force to organize itself around missions, not functions, said Slife, who has been nominated for Vice Chief of Staff. As he has in the past, Slife expressed concern that the service has centralized resources to become more efficient—at the cost of flexibility.

Lt. Gen. James C. Slife meets with junior leaders at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 12, 2023.

In that regard, Air Task Forces go hand-in-hand with some of the Air Force’s other major initiatives like Agile Combat Employment and Multi-Capable Airmen. In order to have teams of Airmen that can disperse from central hubs to operate from remote or austere bases—like ACE calls for—the service will need to include support and command elements. In order to keep those teams lean and agile, Airmen will have to be ready to take on duties outside their career specialties.

Getting Airmen ready for these challenges and new ways of operating is “100 percent dependent on having a disciplined force generation cycle that allows you the time and space to train,” Slife added. And staying disciplined means some Airmen won’t always be available for their usual jobs at their home bases.

“AFFORGEN is going to allow us to accept some moderate, prudent risk in day-to-day garrison operations in order to build and train these Multi-Capable airmen teams and then deploy them as part of a task force,” Slife said.

AFSOC Wants MQ-9 Reapers to Act As ‘Capital Ships’ For Smaller Drones

Sept. 19, 2023 | By David Roza

The head of Air Force Special Operations Command envisions a future where MQ-9 Reaper drones act as ‘capital ships’ from which smaller uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) launch to establish a sensor grid or a communications pathway for the joint force.

The command is working with drone vendors to explore how to establish that kind of network and how wide it can expand, AFSOC boss Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind told reporters Sept. 12 at AFA’s Air, Space, & Cyber conference.

“Can we establish a network that goes 5 miles, 50 miles, 500 miles?” he said. “I don’t know, we have to work the physics and the tactics, techniques, and procedures to find out how far we can push these networks out that will then give us that grid that we need to support the joint force.”

The UAS network is a key component of Bauernfeind’s top acquisition priority, a project called adaptive airborne enterprise (A2E). Under A2E, MQ-9s would grow beyond their traditional role as intelligence and strike platforms. They would become mobile control centers for a network of small drones or other systems which could form an “expansive sensing grid” to find targets or create a communications pathway “for our special operations forces that will be in the deep battlespace,” Bauernfeind said.

“The future is this: AFSOC operators will have the capability to operate an MQ-9 Reaper, while also managing and synchronizing sUAS platforms capable of delivering various payloads, from anywhere—whether that be in the back of an AC-130, home station, or a hotel room halfway around the world,” a release last month from the the 27th Special Operations Wing noted.

Bauernfeind pictures MQ-9s, which inhabit the Defense Department’s heaviest drone category, Group 5, launching drones from the lightest categories—Groups 1 and 2, which weigh under 55 pounds. Standing up a network to control all those machines at once will take some work, the general acknowledged, since the current infrastructure for commanding uncrewed aircraft is outdated and inefficient.

“Our ISR infrastructure, specifically our MQ-9 architecture, has really been the same architecture that we have seen since the 1990s,” he said. “It takes over 150 personnel or Airmen to maintain a single MQ-9 orbit. That doesn’t seem too unmanned to me.”

mq-9 reaper — U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Nicholas Hatcher, 49th Wing chief of safety, left, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Austin Shuta, 29th Attack Squadron instructor sensor operator, prepare to launch an MQ-9 Reaper during Agile Combat Employment Grand Warrior at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, July 21, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Antonio Salfran

The large footprint also limits how many Reapers AFSOC can send to meet combatant commanders’ demand for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The command runs a fleet of 50 MQ-9As with three MQ-9Bs on the way, though not all of these are ready to deploy at any given moment. Bauernfeind wants to experiment with automated software so that a single human operator can control three Reapers.

“We’re going to wrestle with that … because this is going to change how we think and the architecture required,” he said.

Bauernfeind appears to be in step with his predecessor, Lt. Gen. James C. Slife, now deputy chief of staff for operations.

“When we got into the remotely piloted aircraft business in the 1990s, we did it the way that you might expect the Air Force to do it … one pilot, one cockpit, one data link to one airplane,” Slife said at an AFA Warfighters in Action in 2022. “That’s a very manpower-intensive methodology for operating aircraft.”

Automating some tasks could significantly reduce that manpower requirement, Bauernfeind said. And while the Air Force has been slow to adopt such technologies, it has started to do so in areas like automatic takeoff and landing and satellite communication launch and recovery, which have extended Reaper on-station time by 35 percent—a boon for combatant commanders.

“We’re getting a lot more holiday cards,” he said.

Automated takeoff and landing is now being implemented across Reaper pilot training, but Bauernfeind sees more difficult automations on the horizon.

“We’re going to have to learn to be uncomfortable with not having a person in the loop, but a person on the loop,” he said. “How are we going to trust ourselves that that automation is working, and we don’t have to have a good young American sitting there staring at that sensor feed 24/7, 365?”

The general is not the only one considering those questions as the Air Force and the Defense Department work to automate some of their most important weapons systems, from aircraft to submarines to cruise missile warning, in order to decrease manpower requirements and increase decision-making speed.

Distributed networks of sensors and communications pathways like the one Bauernfeind envisions complement the military’s larger pursuit of Joint All Domain Command and Control, the Pentagon’s sweeping plan to connect sensors and shooters across the globe. Bauernfeind wants to move fast to bring that kind of capability to the joint special operations force.

“As we move forward into adaptive airborne enterprise, it’s very important to me that we push and we go faster,” Bauernfeind said, indicating his troops would conduct three demonstrations over the next year. “In fact, I want to fail forward, I want to fail fast.”