Decommissioned Missile Sites Likely Had Hazardous Chemicals, AFGSC Says

May 20, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Certain harmful chemicals were likely present at intercontinental ballistic missile bases that have since been decommissioned, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a memorandum published May 20.

The Air Force has found evidence of polychlorinated bipheny ls (PCBs)—which are possible carcinogens—at active Minuteman III ICBM bases as part of its ongoing Missile Community Cancer Study, which is looking into the health of personnel who worked around the nation’s land-based nuclear missiles. In particular, samples from the Missile Alert Facilities (MAFs) at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D., produced PCB samples at levels above federal standards, requiring cleanups of those parts of those facilities.

PCBs were commonly used in electronics until they were banned in the U.S. in the late 1970s. As a result, older, decommissioned sites likely had PCBs present that the Air Force will not be able to document directly, meaning service members who served around Titan and Peacekeeper missiles, as well as Minutemen, may have been exposed.

The new memo from the commander of AFGSC Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, “acknowledges that PCBs are likely present in decommissioned Titan and Peacekeeper missile facilities that the Air Force no longer has the ability to conduct sampling in,” the command said in a news release.

“The memorandum is intended for service members who served in the missile fields and need to document their potential exposure to PCBs for discussions with healthcare providers or Veterans Affairs,” the release added.

Environmental sampling from the study, which Bussiere ordered early last year, has only covered the three current ICBM bases—Malmstrom, Minot, and F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.—and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., which hosts ICBM test launches. Officials have not studied decommissioned facilities that, for the most part, no longer exist. But AFGSC says the preponderance of evidence indicated PCBs were likely present in disused facilities.

“This environmental sampling effort identified the continued presence of PCBs in the Minuteman MAFs, despite a comprehensive removal effort in the 1990s,” Bussiere wrote in the memo. “While unable to sample decommissioned sites for the Peacekeeper and Titan weapon systems, a review of technical data showed that PCB-contained components were likely used in those alert and control families, given their construction timeframe.”

The first Titan missiles were deployed in the 1960s, with the Titan II remaining in service until 1987. Peacekeeper missiles were operational from 1986 to 2005.

“One of the consistent concerns we’ve heard throughout the Missile Community Cancer Study is that service members, retirees, and veterans have trouble explaining their concerns over potential exposure to toxic chemicals with their healthcare providers, especially civilian providers who don’t have access to military medical databases,” Col. Gregory Coleman, AFGSC’s surgeon general, said the release. “While this memorandum from Global Strike Command cannot capture the specifics of any individual Airman or Guardian’s service in the missile fields, it can serve as a starting point for discussions and documentation of potential exposure.”

The memorandum notes Missile Alert Facilities that have been used at some point since 1970—and therefore may have had PCBs present—including all Active ICBMs, as well as deactivated sites at:

McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.

Little Rock Air Force Base Base, Ark.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.

Disused locations at F.E. Warren and Malmstrom

“I understand the frustration and difficulty that former service members can experience while trying to get care for conditions related to their military service,” Bussiere said in a statement. “Documenting potential exposures is a small step we can take to hopefully make that process easier for our Air Force and Space Force veterans.”

‘We Love You’: Hundreds of Airmen Pay Tribute To SrA Roger Fortson at Hurlburt

May 20, 2024 | By David Roza

To become an aerial gunner on the AC-130 gunship, Airmen have to pass through a grueling series of flights where more experienced gunners pepper them with questions about the weapons systems they will have to operate under the stress of combat. So evaluators were surprised a few years ago when, after finishing his preflight duties, a student took a fire extinguisher off the aircraft wall and handed it to one of them.

“You’re going to need this,” the student said. “Because I’m going to be on fire answering these questions today.”

The student was Senior Airman Roger Fortson, a special missions aviator with the 73rd and 4th Special Operations Squadrons at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Fortson was killed May 3 by a sheriff’s deputy, who fired at him while responding to a reported disturbance call at an apartment complex at Fort Walton Beach, Fla. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy shot the 23-year-old Fortson six times as the Airman opened his apartment door while holding his legally-owned handgun at his side, pointing downwards. At a May 16 press conference, a lawyer for Fortson’s family, Ben Crump, said the deputy had been called to the wrong apartment.

The shooting has sparked grief and outrage among many Air Force members and led to discussions about race, policing, and gun rights. Airmen around the world worked together on social media to organize remembrances and tributes to Fortson, who many praised as a solid Airman and a great friend.

Respect and grief were on equal display May 20, when hundreds of Airmen gathered with Fortson’s extended family at Hurlburt for a memorial service in a packed hangar, as another 600 people watched the event live-streamed on Facebook. One Airman audibly held back tears while singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the start of the ceremony, which came three days after hundreds of Airmen joined their fallen wingman’s friends and family for a church near Atlanta, Ga., Fortson’s hometown.

At the church service, Airmen lined up to pay respects at Fortson’s coffin, and the head of Air Force Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, knelt and presented a folded American flag to Fortson’s mother, Chantemekki.

At a May 20 press conference, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the military’s highest-ranking Airman and service member, expressed his “sincere condolences” to Fortson’s family. While the case is under investigation, Brown said he “would hope and expect” that service members and their families would all be safe in their homes and the various communities they live in around the country.

roger fortson — U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, presents an American flag to Chantemekki Fortson during the celebration of life for Senior Airman Roger Fortson on May 17, 2024, at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ryan Conroy)

At Hurlburt, Airmen described Fortson as a man overflowing with confidence, competence, and kindness. Senior Airman Collin Courtney, who shared the fire extinguisher story at the service, is a fellow special missions aviator who trained and deployed with Fortson.

“It could be 125 degrees pre-flighting a plane in the sun, or maybe a really hard loss to Roger in a game of cards,” Courtney said. “Rod [Roger’s nickname] would always look at you and hit you with his famous one-liner: ‘Hey, that’s showbiz, baby.’ And you couldn’t help but crack a smile and laugh.”

AC-130 pilot Capt. Malcom Lee recalled an experienced tech sergeant telling him that Fortson “was confident, almost cocky, but he was beyond his commensurate performance level.”

At one point, Fortson told an evaluator gunner “‘Sir, there is no question you can ask me that I don’t know the answer to,’” Lee recalled from one temporary duty travel (TDY).

“Now, if you know the gunship community, that’s an extremely bold statement coming from a student gunner,” Lee said. “But Roger was prepared and knowledgeable. … Roger showed up and crushed that TDY.”

Outside of work, Fortson’s comrades described the 23-year-old as someone who got along with anyone from any walk of life.

“While out on the town, he kept us laughing nonstop,” Lee said. “Funny thing: He wasn’t trying to be funny. He was just being himself. Roger had charisma, or, as he would say, ‘the riz.’

“Loving Airman Fortson was an easy thing to do,” Lee added, holding back tears, “because he loved first.”

Fortson was also fiercely loyal to his family; wingmen recalled him ordering DoorDash food deliveries for his family back in Georgia while he was deployed to the Middle East, FaceTiming his younger siblings, and flying back from Kuwait to take care of his mother even though he was still recovering from emergency surgery himself.

“Roger came to us as a great man,” Lt. Col. Joshua Stoley, chaplain for the 1st Special Operations Wing, told Fortson’s mother, echoing comments made earlier by the wing commander, Col. Patrick Dierig. “This is not something the Air Force did, we can’t take credit for that,” he said. “He came to us as a great man because you raised him to be a great man.”

‘Restraint’

Airmen at the service also directly addressed the events that led to Fortson’s death.

“When I received the call about Roger’s incident, I immediately responded with ‘I trust Roger,’” Lee said. “I trusted that this had to be a misunderstanding, because I knew Roger’s character. The Roger I knew was level-headed, respectable, and trustworthy. He was one of our best.”

Lt. Col. Kaelin Thistlewood, head of the 4th Special Operations Squadron, added that “we must acknowledge the complexity of the circumstances surrounding his passing,” and that Fortson was “a Black man … tragically lost in gunfire involving law enforcement.

“This reality highlights broader societal challenges,” Thistlewood said. “I note this fact only to acknowledge that this aspect of his passing weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of many.”

The lieutenant colonel also noted that while gunship aviation is “a profession inherently characterized by its violence,” it is also one where control matters.

“We understand the gravity of dynamic situations. … It is this understanding that gives us a unique perspective,” he said. “We recognize that true valor is not solely measured by the ability to take a life, but rather by the restraint exercised, until absolutely necessary.”

Their rigorous training and adherence to “the highest standards of professional discernment,” allows gunship Airmen to “set the standard for excellence not only in our technical prowess, but also in our moral compass, which guides everything we do.”

Others at Fortson’s funeral last week spoke more bluntly.

“In America, before people see you as a veteran—as an Airman in the United States Air Force—they’ll see you as a Black man,” said Rev. Jamal Bryant, according to the Associated Press. “We’ve got to call it as it is—Roger died of murder. He died of stone cold murder. And somebody has got to be held accountable.”

Fortson’s death is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Footage from the deputy’s body camera released by the sheriff’s office shows the deputy at first knocking on the door and identifying himself while standing to the side. He then knocked again, and when Fortson opened the door, the deputy told Fortson to step back before shooting him six times.

As the investigation continues, Airmen at Hurlburt are adjusting to life without their comrade. Courtney recalled Lee saying “’we often don’t know why things happen, but God wanted his son home, and Roger’s at peace in paradise now.’”

“So to Rod,” Courtney said, “until we can someday have a beer over a game of cornhole in paradise, just know your gunship family is down here missing you, and we love you.”

Distinguished Flying Crosses Awarded for 2 in 2010 Fatal Crash

May 20, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Two air commandos who helped save more than a dozen lives in an CV-22 Osprey crash in Afghanistan 14 years ago were posthumously awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses last week, Air Force Special Operations Command announced.

The widows of Maj. Randell Voas and Senior Master Sgt. JB Lackey accepted the decorations from AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind at Hurlburt Field, Fla., where the two Airmen served as members of the 8th Special Operations Squadron.

Voas and Lackley were flying a combat mission in southern Afghanistan in April 2010, when they made an emergency “roll-on” landing. The landing gear collapsed and the aircraft nose hit a drainage ditch, causing the aircraft to flip—snapping off the left wing and severing the right wing and tail from the fuselage.

An accident investigation board later determined an unknown mechanical failure, unexpectedly challenging weather, and a variety of human factors contributed to the crash, which also killed a Soldier and a civilian on board. But while Voas and Lackley knew they were descending too fast and tried to correct their descent rate, they encountered “abnormal engine response” before Voas executed a “nearly perfect” roll-on landing that investigators termed “remarkable by any measure.”

That maneuver saved the lives of two aircrew and 14 passengers. The report noted that Voas and Lackley were admired by their colleagues, describing Voas as “one of the most experienced and highly qualified CV-22 pilots in the Air Force,” and Lackley as “one of the most experienced and highly qualified flight engineers in the CV-22 community.”

“Randy and JB did not have the option to sit back and let the situation unfold around them,” Bauernfeind said during the award ceremony. “They recognized the danger and through their expertise and their professionalism took action to lessen the impact of a compounding situation.”

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall authorized Bauernfeind to approve the award nominations earlier this year, AFSOC announced in March.

The Distinguished Flying Cross is awarded for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight; it is the military’s fourth-highest award for heroism.

Lackey was previously awarded a DFC in 2002 for his actions during Operation Enduring Freedom, and Voas won the 2003 Cheney Award given for “an act of valor, extreme fortitude, or self-sacrifice during a humanitarian engagement.” Voas and Lackley each also had been previously awarded the Air Medal and Meritorious Service Medal.

Their 2010 crash was the first fatal Air Force CV-22 accident, and the only one until November 2023, when an Osprey went down off the coast of Japan, killing all eight Airmen on board.

USSF Places Bet on ‘Jetpack’ to Give Aging Satellites New Life

May 20, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force is contracting with startup Starfish Space to build and launch a spacecraft that can dock with and maneuver aging satellites in geosynchronous orbit, a “first-of-its-kind” effort to embrace space mobility and logistics.

A Starfish spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine the goal is to launch one of its Otter spacecraft by 2026. The company has not yet chosen a launch partner, the spokesperson added.

Otter is designed to rendezvous and dock with satellites that were never designed or configured for docking, and to then use its own propulsion system to maneuver the larger spacecraft. Meeting with reporters this January, program executive officer for Assured Access to Space Brig. Gen. Kristin L. Panzenhagen referred to such a capability as a “backpack or a jetpack,” but the term used in a Space Systems Command press release is “augmented maneuver.”

If successful, Otter and other augmented maneuver systems would contribute to what the Space Force calls dynamic space operations, in which satellites can be more rapidly and readily moved from one orbit to another, without worrying that doing so might cost the satellite its available fuel and shorten its expected lifespan.

Satellites were not traditionally built to be refueld or serviced in flight. But as launch costs have declined, the Space Force and commercial ventures have begun to rethink the idea. Space Rapid Capabilities Office director Kelly D. Hammett has said his organization is no longer building satellites that cannot be refueled, and SSC has started certifying refueling interfaces.

However, the Space Force still has dozens of existing satellites that were built without interfaces and cannot be directly refueled. Officials have stressed that the threat to these capabilities is urgent. Starfish hopes to provide “affordable options for servicing existing and new assets without additional requirements,” it said in a statement.

Otter employs a proprietary docking system that the company says can mate with virtually any flat surface, enabling the spacecraft to dock and then release satellites at will.

“This project is another step forward in delivering what our warfighters require in sustained space maneuver,” said Col. Joyce Bulson, director of servicing, mobility, and logistics within the Assured Access to Space directorate. “For a particular class of spacecraft with a particular mission set in GEO, refueling may be the answer to sustaining maneuver; for other systems, augmented maneuver options may be the solution.”

Details such as what satellites Otter will move or the concept of operations are not being made public yet, Starfish noted in its release, but the company says it will “improve resilience, tactical responsiveness, and strategic flexibility.” In its release, the Space Force said Otter would provide two years of service.

Bulson also noted in her statement that Otter could theoretically help Space Force satellites with “station-keeping or life extension, orbital transfer, and ultimately, orbital disposal.”

The contract, announced May 20, is a strategic funding increase after the Space Force previously gave Starfish a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) II contract. Under the terms of the deal, the Space Force will contribute $37.5 million and venture capital investment will add another $30 million.

Starfish will continue to own and operate the Otter satellite, providing its capabilities as a service. In its recent Commercial Space Strategy, the Space Force listed “space access, mobility, and logistics” as one of the top areas where officials will look to leverage commercial options instead of building their own capabilities.

New Report: Backlogged F-35s Could Take a Year to Deliver

May 19, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Even if deliveries of F-35 fighters, now on hold, were to resume immediately, it could take a year to get them all into the hands of operators, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Lockheed Martin has produced but not delivered about 80 F-35s since last fall because they were built to use the Tech Refresh 3 computer and display upgrade that is still being tested. Until testing is complete, the government isn’t accepting deliveries, and the aircraft are being parked. The government won’t release the actual number in storage or their location, citing operational security.

According to the GAO, Lockheed expects that when deliveries resume, they can be accomplished at the rate of 20 per month, or roughly one every business day. But the best rate of deliveries ever achieved was 13 per month, the GAO noted in its May 16 report.

“Even at this faster rate, delivering the parked aircraft will take about a year once TR-3 software has been completed and certified,” the report states.

If the delivery rate of 20 is achieved, it would take four months to deliver the backlog of fighters, but that doesn’t take into account new fighters that continue to be produced and would also need to go through the “DD250” process; so-called for the document that certifies the jet meets its checks and can be handed over to the user. That would continually add to the delivery backlog.

Lockheed says it’s on a pace to build—though not necessarily deliver—about 156 F-35s per year, meaning roughly 13 per month are being built. Unless the delivery rate increases, the backlog would never be worked off.

The GAO reported that the Defense Contract Management Agency, which has a presence at the F-35 factory in Fort Worth, Texas, said “they believe the rate [of 20 per month] is feasible,” although it would stress the workforce and enterprise needed to do the certifications and “lead to coordination challenges” with the government.

The extra seven aircraft a month delivered under the accelerated rate would mean the backlog would take more than 11 months to complete.

But deliveries are not expected to resume immediately. The F-35 steering group—the committee of U.S. services, foreign partners, and foreign users of the jet—have agreed in principle to accept a “truncated” version of the TR-3 software, which would allow deliveries to resume, but they would later need hardware and software modification when the full TR-3 package is tested and certified.

A spokesperson for the F-35 Joint Program Office said clearance to release the truncated version will only be granted when the software associated with it “is stable,” meaning that it does not crash and need to be rebooted multiple times per sortie. The JPO offered no estimate of when that’s expected to happen.

“Our top developmental priority is delivering a safe, stable, capable, and maintainable TR-3 product,” JPO spokesperson said. “The next iteration of TR-3 software is planned for release to flight test later this month. Our team remains focused on incorporating fixes that put us in a position to deliver TR-3 configured aircraft acceptable for combat training,” although this version is not the all-up TR-3 package. “The first opportunity to potentially start accepting aircraft remains late July.” The program has previously acknowledged that all-up TR-3-equipped aircraft won’t become available until mid-2025.

The TR-3’s far more powerful computers and processors are the basis for the F-35’s Block 4 upgrade. Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt, the program executive officer for the F-35 program, recently told Congress the Block 4 is being “re-imagined,” with some of its elements being deferred from the late 2020s to the mid-2030s.

The GAO also pointed out that Lockheed is “responsible for the security and maintenance” of the parked airplanes while delivery is being worked out, and noted that if deliveries are delayed past April 2024, Lockheed is projected to “exceed its maximum parking capacity and will need to develop a plan to accommodate more parked airplanes.”

Parking the jets “presents additional risk to the government should damage occur to some or all of the parked aircraft,” the GAO report states. “It is unique for so many critical DOD aircraft to be waiting for DOD acceptance, instead of stored at lower densities across many military locations throughout the world. This creates unique financial and schedule risks to DOD.”

The threat of sabotage of the parked jets is not easily dismissed. In 2012, Taliban fighters penetrated Marine Corps Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, where they destroyed six AV-8B Harrier II fighters and severely damaged two others, using light arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and suicide vests. The jets were valued at more than $30 million each.

Lockheed leased 136,000 square feet of industrial space at a facility roughly seven miles north of its Fort Worth, Texas, F-35 factory in January, but the company could not be immediately reached to say whether this space, which it has previously said will be used “for storage” is meant to accommodate the growing backlog F-35s.

Top NATO Commander Warns of ‘Big Russia Problem for Years to Come’

May 17, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, warned that Russia would remain an enduring threat to NATO and global security, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine.

“No matter how it works out after the war in Ukraine is concluded … I believe Russia will pose a long-term threat to the alliance, we will have a big Russia problem for years to come,” Cavoli said at an Atlantic Council event on May 17.

While Russia has deployed refurbished, older model weapons that are “not as high quality” during the conflict, Cavoli noted the Kremlin’s rapid reconstitution of military might in quantity as cause for concern. Pentagon estimates suggest Russia has suffered about 315,000 casualties since the beginning of the war, and 20 of its medium-to-large Navy vessels have been sunk, destroyed, or damaged since 2022. Nevertheless, Cavoli noted that the Russian army in Ukraine is now larger than it was at the beginning of the conflict, and it will continue to swiftly replenish its losses post-war.

“Russia will be on track to expand the size of its military, it has already announced its plans to do so,” said Cavoli. “It has ramped up industrial production and manpower intake in order to achieve these goals. It will be arrayed in the western parts of Russia and associated nations, perhaps on the borders with NATO, and it will be a large force.”

Amid these rising stakes, NATO has launched one of its most extensive military exercise series since the Cold War earlier this year. Dubbed Steadfast Defender, it will last six months and feature in part aircraft such as F-35s, F-15s, and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) across 13 different countries, including Sweden, the alliance’s newest member since March. Cavoli particularly highlighted NATO members’ air forces as a ‘great and growing success story,’ noting their current state of being well-trained and well-equipped, with plans for further fleet enhancement.

“I’m very confident about our ability to wage high-end warfare,” said Cavoli. “We are rapidly moving into fourth-generation-plus and fifth-generation, exclusively across the alliance. By 2030, there are going to be more than 600 F-35s in the alliance in Europe.”

f-35 europe — The 388th Fighter Wing’s F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation fighter cruises in Eastern European airspace, Feb. 28, 2022, in support of NATO’s collective defense. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Edgar Grimaldo.

Following Washington’s approval, several NATO members are expanding their stealthy F-35 fleets, with Belgium, Finland, and Poland anticipating receiving their first F-35s in 2024. Pentagon initially sought to include 68 F-35s in the fiscal 2025 budget, with a draft National Defense Authorization Act aiming to reduce the number to 58.

Cavoli noted that each additional aircraft integrated into a fifth-generation network is worth more than just one airframe, as it strengthens overall capabilities through expanded sensor coverage. He added that the platform’s capacity to incorporate other high-end fighters like Sweden’s Gripen and France’s Rafale will only create more opportunities in the future.

“They have a very strong, very realistic training program that focuses on all the high-end threats that we have today,” Cavoli said of the NATO Allied Air Command, led by USAF Gen. James B. Hecker. “Of course, focusing on the exquisite end of aerial combat means you’re probably not able to focus as much on things such as close air support, and that’s something we’re wrestling with inside the alliance. The good news is that the alliance does retain a huge number of fourth generation aircraft, so we still have the capabilities to do it.”

The U.S. and NATO allies are intensifying their preparations for complex scenarios by expanding exercises that integrate fourth and fifth-generation jets across Europe. Just recently, exercises have focused on Integrated Air and Missile Defense, simulated combat, electronic warfare, and coordination with ground forces.

According to Cavoli, NATO’s defense forces overall are not yet fully developed, and it’s imperative to expedite the process. With Russia and NATO engaged in a competitive buildup and modernization of their militaries, the realization of the allies’ force structure will determine whether Russia gains ground or NATO retains its advantage.

“Our commitment to that force structure requirement, and the speed with which we can get up to it, is really going to decide whether Russia has the advantage, or we have the advantage,” said Cavoli. “So, it’s less about the absolute question of ‘how fast Russia can reconstitute,’ and more about the relative question of ‘will we reconstitute faster?’”

‘Bend Minds, Not Metal’: Where Airmen Learn How to Change the Air Force

May 17, 2024 | By David Roza

The Air Force has no shortage of complex problems. And from countering small drones to deterring China on a tight budget, solving these problems can require more than just good ideas: it also means getting those ideas out of the ‘silos’ that can form across the Air Force’s various job specialties. Project Mercury, a program sponsored by Air University, is set up for this exact reason.

Founded in 2019, Project Mercury takes 40 Airmen, Guardians, and other individuals per “cohort” and divides them into teams of five or six members. For the next 90 days, those team members must work together completing both academic work and an innovation project focused on problems in areas like personnel management, logistics, recruitment, or renewable energy—while still performing their regular full-time jobs.

“One of the things we try to teach our innovators is that nobody cares about your stupid innovation, they care about solving their problems,” Ethan Eagle, head coach of Project Mercury, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “High-potential go-getters are used to being right, but working together requires humility, it requires you letting go of what you think the solution is and collaborating with creative peers.”

Many programs such as Spark Tank, Spark Cells, Tesseract, and Kessel Run help Airmen and Guardians develop their ideas for solving problems. Part of Project Mercury’s role in that ecosystem is teaching students how to figure out what the problem is in the first place.

“When you get together with a diverse set of people not from the same discipline, you realize ‘Hey, nobody actually agrees what the problem is,’” Eagle said. “Finding that right problem is part of how we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the innovation education ecosystem. We bend minds, not metal, which is a way of saying, ‘leave your pet rock at the door. You’re going to, as a team, find something that everybody agrees with.’ Boy, is that way harder than ‘Hey, I know how to build a better widget.’”

project mercury — Staff Sgt. Preston Underwood, 50th Attack Squadron evaluator sensor operator, tests the flight capability of a model aircraft as part of a group experiment during an innovation workshop in support of Project Mercury at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., Dec. 11, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Robert Porter)

For many students, such as Lt. Col. Julie Janson, their innovation project has nothing to do with their area of expertise.

“They actually go out of their way to keep you out of your specialty area,” said Janson, an information operations officer who worked on personnel management as a Mercury student in 2020 and has since coached several Mercury cohorts. Not knowing the subject makes finding the real problem even more difficult.

“The military is very much like ‘I want to get it done and I want to get it done now,’ so every single team I have experienced jumps right to a solution,” said Janson. “What we are teaching them is to slow down a second and first of all analyze what your actual problem is. That step is skipped so often, and it results in solutions in search of a problem.”

Project Mercury teaches students how to overcome that challenge, in part by reading “The Innovation Code: The Creative Power of Constructive Conflict,” a book by Jeff and Staney DeGraff which explains how to use the tension from different perspectives and personalities to create new ideas.

The program “breaks you out of your comfort zone in so many ways, and one of them is breaking out of your little network of people,” Janson said. “If you just stick within your community, you’re in an echo chamber and you’re not learning anything.”

Breaking down stovepipes is easier said than done in an Air Force where many Airmen spend their careers in one speciality, explained another early Project Mercury student, Col. Steve Marshall.

“People work so hard in their own lanes that they don’t necessarily have the time to go outside of that,” he said. Project Mercury “helps you build your network, and it then becomes much easier to reach across and out of your natural stovepipe.”

Sometimes effective solutions require breaking a few rules. While that’s a tough ask for Airmen trained to obey checklists, orders, and regulations, Marshall pointed out that the Air Force’s founding mythology revolves around mavericks such as Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell.

“We were founded by this group of rule-breakers who looked for a positive change,” Marshall said. “Those people exist, but there’s no way to bring that along and nurture that in any kind of formal fashion, which is somewhat counterintuitive.”

First Lt. Edward Buster, 412th Test Wing, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., leads a brainstorming activity during a Project Mercury Innovator Workshop at Edwards, Feb. 21-23, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Laisa Leao)

Janson described Project Mercury as a pressure-cooker, where “the deadlines come fast and furious.” But the results are rewarding.

“It’s been all the emotions, from intimidating to exciting,” said Maj. Stacie Shafran, a public affairs officer and recent Project Mercury graduate whose team studied renewable energy in the Pacific.

Working with a diverse group refined her approach to figuring out complex challenges and pushing new ideas, Shafran said. Her team developed Rays to Jet Power, a system which uses roll-out fabric solar panels to generate electricity, an improvement over traditional generators which require costly supply chains of diesel fuel.

“One of my teammates is stationed in Guam, where the urgent need for sustainable alternatives was highlighted by the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar in 2023,” Shafran said. “It’s been deeply rewarding to contribute to a solution that addresses these critical challenges.”

At the end of the course, students pitch an idea to expert stakeholders. While the point of Project Mercury is not to create gadgets, the cohorts have developed a long list of impressive solutions. One group created a suite of apps allowing interagency first responders to quickly share information while responding to a crisis, which helped during Hurricane Ian in 2022 and the Hawaii wildfires in 2023, Eagle said. Another group inspired Morpheus, an innovation cell within the Air Force Chief of Staff’s Strategic Studies Group.

Besides problem-solving skills, Project Mercury also builds “a common language about innovation” among a diverse group of service members, Marshall said.

“To have those skills and that common language, that’s foundational to all the other changes,” he explained. “I think we’ll see these Airmen be open to new ideas and be able to implement them as they take on senior rank.”

Graduates receive a Professional Innovator certificate from the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. A 90-day crash course is not enough to keep Project Mercury skills sharp forever, though, said Janson. That is part of the reason why she, Marshall, and many other participants return to the program as coaches for future cohorts. Janson found herself using the skills she developed as a student and ingrained as a coach in her current job helping NATO prepare for 2030.

“You’re just seeing some people’s brains break: like how do you even begin to address this?” she said. “I am not remotely worried by a large, ambiguous project, because I know exactly how to start addressing it.”

Like other Air University professional military education offerings, Project Mercury is open to all Airmen and Guardians along with a limited number of service members and civilians at all ranks from all branches, other government agencies, and allied or partner militaries. The openness makes Project Mercury among the most diverse “classrooms” in the Defense Department, said Jim Dryjanski, the Air University Director of Project Mercury.

Project Mercury’s reach has grown to include partners and allies, including the Republic of Singapore Air Force, the National Guard, the NATO Innovation Hub, and NATO Allied Transformation Command. In late June, NATO is hosting a Project Mercury Innovator Workshop in Warsaw, Poland, called “Innovators on the Eastern Flank,” further expanding the network.

“It’s really about making you a better leader, in some ways a better person, and taking the world around you as a place where you are empowered to make change,” Janson said. “I think we need that today, when sometimes people can really feel un-empowered, to know that if you can just apply yourself and use the right tools, you can make change around you.”

New AFSOC Commander, Academy Superintendent, Top Planner All Nominated

May 17, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind has been nominated to take over as superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and his current director of operations Brig. Gen. Michael E. Conley is set to jump two ranks and succeed him at AFSOC, part of a raft of general officer nominations the Pentagon announced May 17.

In addition to Bauernfeind and Conley, the Defense Department also announced the nominations of three other Air Force generals to receive a third-star and assume new positions:

Maj. Gen. David H. Tabor has been nominated to become deputy chief of staff for plans and programs

Maj. Gen. Thomas K. Hensley has been nominated lead to lead the 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber)

Maj. Gen. John J. DeGoes has been nominated to become the Air Force Surgeon General

The departure of current Air Force Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark has been long-planned. Clark, who has led USAFA in Colorado Springs, Colo., since 2020, was named the next executive director of the College Football Playoff in November 2023 and plans to start in the 2024 fall season. He announced his intention to retire to take on the high-profile civilian job.

Bauernfeind, a command pilot with experience on nearly a dozen different aircraft types, has led AFSOC since December 2022, after spending two years as the vice commander at U.S. Special Operations Command.

In recent months, Bauernfeind has had to lead the Air Force special operators community through two tragedies. In November 2023, an AFSOC CV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of southern Japan, killing all eight Airmen on board. The entire Osprey fleet across the military was grounded for three months and is still operating with restrictions on how the aircraft is flown.

Then earlier this month, Senior Airman Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old special missions aviator on AC-130s, was shot six times and killed in the doorway of his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., by an Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputy. Fortson, who was Black, was holding a legally owned handgun by his side when he was shot after opening the door.

Bauernfeind has met leaders from Hurlburt Field, local pastors and community groups, the NAACP, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and pledged to hold a town hall.

Though under vastly different circumstances, those incidents reverberated across the Air Force, with many Airmen across the service sharing their grief online and in memorial services, and have brought particular pain to the special operations community.

If confirmed by the Senate, Conley will continue to manage the aftermath of both incidents. Conley is a career Osprey pilot himself and previously flew the now-retired MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, and commanded at the squadron and wing and in deployed special operations positions.

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Mike Conley, outgoing commander of the 1st Special Operations Wing, addresses Air Commandos during a promotion ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Florida, June 8, 2020. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Blake Wiles

Conley would also join a relatively small group of general officers who skipped the major general rank—current deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services Lt. Gen. Caroline M. Miller did so in 2022, Lt. Gen. Christopher F. Burne did so in 2014, and Lt. Gen. Richard C. Harding did it in 2010. Lt. Gen. Dale R. White, the current military deputy to Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter, skipped a rank as well, though his situation was impacted by a monthslong hold on all general officer nominations in the Senate.

Tabor was nominated for deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, to succeed Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore Jr., who is retiring. The job of the so-called A8 is a key position on the Air Staff at the Pentagon, serving as the Air Force’s senior force planner.

A two-star general since 2019, Tabor has been on Moore’s team since June 2022, serving as director of programs in the office. Moore also served in that role before becoming A8. Prior to his service at the Pentagon, Tabor was a career special operator with numerous joint special operations assignments and combat assignments.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. David Tabor, then-Special Operations Command Europe Commanding General, speaks with Ukrainian Maj. Gen. Hryhoriy Halahan, Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, prior to a low-level flight over Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 25, 2021. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Izabella Workman

Hensley is currently the deputy commander of the 16th Air Force, having served in that position for just under a year after a two-year stint at the National Security Agency. He has spent most of his career in intelligence roles. Now, he may be set to manage a big shift in the Air Force’s cyber warfare.

Air Forces Cyber will become a direct reporting unit to the Air Force Secretary under the Air Force’s “re-optimization” plans, rather than a Numbered Air Force under Air Combat Command. The final plans for that change, however, have yet to be unveiled.

Finally, the nominee to become the new surgeon general, DeGoes, currently serves as the USAF’s deputy surgeon general, overseeing the office’s daily functions. If confirmed, DeGoes would become the chief medical advisor to Air Force and Space Force and lead the Air Force Medical Service.

The nominations for Bauernfeind, Conley, Tabor, Hensley, and DeGoes were sent to the Senate on May 14.

It’s Time to Re-Adopt Peace Through Strength

May 17, 2024 | By Douglas A. Birkey

At the dawn of the Cold War, a simple phrase defined America’s national security strategy: “Peace through strength.” Today, 75 years later, the world faces similarly severe challenges, but this time the United States is struggling to adopt and actualize a similarly decisive policy.

Witness the travails necessary to pass military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The majority in Congress supported those measures, which were held hostage for months by small minorities from both ends of the political spectrum. America’s adversaries understand this power vacuum and take advantage daily. There comes a point where U.S. leaders must stop asking “what happens if we lead?” and instead ask “what happens if we don’t?”

After two decades of failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans are understandably reluctant to engage in new conflicts around the world. They saw friends and neighbors deployed, endured thousands killed and wounded, and watched as national leaders struggled to define a viable strategy and a positive end state. The U.S. failed dramatically in both conflicts, with ISIS emerging after we left Iraq and the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan serving as lasting evidence of that failure.

What is different now is the scale, scope and existential nature of the threats facing America today. Iraq and Afghanistan were regional contingencies, not major international conflicts. They did not tie to existential interests—the literal security of our nation, economic interests, core values, and the ability to engage in a free and peaceful world.

By contrast, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s continued aggression in the Pacific, Iran’s quest to dominate the Middle East, and North Korea’s obsession with expanding its offensive nuclear strike capabilities, each make the world unbelievably more dangerous day by day. America’s indecision regarding our role in global security only exacerbates these threats. Aggressors love a vacuum.

A better vector would see U.S. leaders revise the nation’s approach to Ukraine. Thus far, U.S. and allied policy has sought to provide sufficient aid to Ukraine to prevent it from losing ground day-to-day. But this focus on not losing, is a far cry from enabling Ukraine to win. By restricting Ukraine from using U.S.-made weapons to attack targets beyond its own borders, the U.S. has given Russia sanctuary in its territory and blocked Ukraine from making its invader feel pain at home. The result is World War I-style attrition warfare, and an inability to change the calculus of the war. Ukraine is restricted from attacking Russian command and control, logistics, materiel targets, and rear bases, and has ceded to Russia the upper hand it wields due to its greater size and numerical strength.

Advocates of this policy say it helps avoid dragging the U.S. and NATO into a broader fight with Russia, and reduces the risk that Vladimir Putin might unleash a nuclear attack. But they ignore the fact that deterrence is a multi-player game. Putin cannot be given free reign every time he rattles his nuclear saber. If he is, not only will he rattle it more, but Ukraine will surely lose.

The U.S. and its allies need to deter—not be deterred.

Similar patterns have occurred in the Pacific. Note how the U.S. failed to take a stand in the 2000s and 2010s as China seized territory and built military outposts on international reefs over the past 20 years. Now, those installations are fortified, and the situation is far more dangerous. Consider the violent standoff between Chinese and Philippine forces over a location in the Second Thomas Shoal. Such flashpoints risk erupting into open conflict—an outcome that poses outsized risks for the U.S. and much of the free world.

Meeting the aggression of adversaries with U.S. and allied appeasement is a recipe for a disaster. It is cliché to say so, but this is exactly how conditions were set for World War II.

The problem for the U.S. and most of its allies is that we are collectively underprepared for confronting these realities. We took a deliberate “defense holiday” following the Cold War—slashing military force structure and opting not to invest in military modernization. When the fights in Afghanistan and Iraq came a long, they distracted us from larger threats—and siphoned away valuable resources, time, and focus. Consider that at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. fielded roughly 400 bomber aircraft. Today, the Air Force has only about 141, and on any given day, only about 59 are capable of flying a military mission. Only 19 are stealthy B-2s—the type most needed to confront a competent adversary.

We face similar deficits in fighter, tanker, and airlift, and intelligence-gathering capacity. Our homeland is inadequately defended. Our new Space Force is also badly under resourced.

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing taxis to the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., April 15, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Hailey Farrell

Many U.S. leaders seem neither to understand nor care. The 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act limited the defense budget to 1 percent growth—a de facto cut given high inflation. Our entire nuclear triad has exceeded its anticipated lifespan and must be replaced. Without massive investment, these capabilities and their power to deter adversaries from risking war with the U.S. will wither away.

That is what is happening to the U.S. Air Force’s fighter inventory. F-15s and F-16s procured in the 1970s and 1980s are aging out of service. Though the Air Force has stated for years that it needs to buy at least 72 new fighter jets per year to modernize, we continue to acquire fewer jets each year, leaving gaps around the globe. That is why F-15s were withdrawn from Kadena Air Base in Japan last year—in the heart of the Pacific—and cannot be backfilled with permanently assigned fighters. That is the consequence of retiring more aircraft than we buy, year after year.

Interestingly, U.S. allies seem to get what is at stake and are making defense investments a key priority. The U.K. recently announced a new round of sustained investment, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak explaining “A victory for authoritarianism and aggression would make us all less secure.” Sweden, Japan, and Canada are all pursuing similar increases. While this is encouraging, America’s scale and stature is the keystone for any consequential security effort.

Many U.S. leaders know this, even as they struggle to convince colleagues. That is why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) said passing aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan was “a skirmish in a larger war” against an isolationist wave in Congress and elsewhere in America. It is also why Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Tester (D-MT) pushed back on the defense caps in a recent hearing: “If we’re going to invest in future technologies, this number has to be bigger.”

After years of atrophy, progress in this fight cannot happen soon enough.

Those questioning whether America still needs to play a leading security role in the world need to consider the alternatives. Our nation may be far from perfect, but the freedoms we enjoy far outstrip those afforded to people in Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Does anyone really think a wider Middle East at war is in U.S. interests? Do any Americans want a broader conflict in Europe? Or to see China dominating its neighbors in the Pacific?

Any one of these outcomes would prove catastrophic. Together, they would be world-changing, and not in a good way. America must draw clear lines, define viable strategies, and align military capability and capacity with real-world demand. Doing so can deter the worst instincts of our adversaries and preserve peace in the global commons.

Douglas A. Birkey is the executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.