Can This New Simulator Be a Proving Ground for JADC2?

Can This New Simulator Be a Proving Ground for JADC2?

Sept. 1, 2023 | By David Roza

A new theater-level simulator is intended to help military and industry leaders gauge how platforms, weapons, and networks work together under fire—providing a chance to test out the systems behind Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), the Pentagon’s sweeping plan to connect sensors and shooters across the globe.

Developed by Raytheon, the defense business unit of RTX, the Rapid Campaign Analysis and Demonstration Environment (RCADE) evaluates how an architecture of current or developing systems achieves campaign objectives, such as stalling an invasion by disabling a certain number of threats. The Air Force has similar programs such as Synthetic Theater Operations Research Model, or STORM, and the more recent Joint Simulation Environment, but RCADE is meant to run simulations at a much larger scale and deliver much faster results: from weeks or months to a few hours.

“We built it from the start to be agile, theater-scale, and flexible so that we could do airpower missions, Navy missions, and we can look at it all together in a joint, multi-domain battle,” George Blaha, principal tech fellow at Raytheon, told reporters at an Aug. 31 media event. 

“Speed was an absolutely critical requirement … so we can get insights fast,” Blaha added. “And we cast a broad net with systems, so it’s not just ‘run one operations plan or battle and see what the results are,’ it’s dozens upon dozens of concepts for architectures, for red orders of battle, for red strategies, for blue strategies and so forth.”

An RTX image depicts a notional scenario showcasing how, in collaboration with customers, RTX can use RCADE to simulate mission scenarios across any domain. The blue upside-down U-shaped icons represent U.S. and Canadian aircraft, the red icons represent incoming threats, and the lines of blue rectangles represent radar warning lines. The image shown is fabricated data used for public release purposes only and does not depict RCADE in its full capacity.

It is also large-scale, with thousands of entities that can be plotted into a scenario. That could be especially useful for analysis at the planning and programming level.

Blaha laid out an example where RCADE tested responses to enemy bombers and cruise missiles streaking south over the North Pole. In one run, defending U.S. and Canadian fighter jets took off from only military airfields, which limited their loiter time in the combat area and allowed several threats to reach the continental U.S. In a second run, fighters refueled at nearby civilian airfields—a move that would fall under the Air Force’s concept of Agile Combat Employment—boosting their loiter time and destroying 25 percent more threats as a result. 

RCADE allows planners to compare such scenarios, as well as the effects of upgrades like over-the-horizon radar, longer-range air-to-air missiles, or improved command-and-control systems. The system can then display the results of hundreds of runs on a chart with metrics like percentage of cruise missiles destroyed on one axis and intercept distance from the continental U.S. on another.

“Many things can be varied in these simulations, everything from command and control behaviors to logistics behaviors, etc.,” Blaha said.

RCADE emerges at a time when RTX, the company recently known as Raytheon Technologies, wants to position itself as offering not just individual systems such as missiles and sensors, but also analysis of how those systems interact. 

“Part of our role as a tier one prime is to understand mission priorities and evaluate architectures and scenarios in a way that informs the right decisions,” said Paul Ferraro, president of air power at Raytheon.

That mindset aligns with the Air Force’s own efforts to strengthen its “kill chain,” the sequence of steps needed to spot, identify, track, and destroy particular targets. Since the 1991 Gulf War, China has studied the Air Force kill chain and worked at ways to block or disable it, Heather Penney, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute, wrote in a study on the topic published in May.

Brig. Gen. Luke C.G. Cropsey, the Air Force’s integrating program executive officer for command, control, communications, and battle management, plays a key role in the branch’s response.

“Architecture wins over products,” he said at an industry event in August. “In order to win the long term, you actually have to have an architecture that’s relatively agnostic to the individual nodes or agents that you have in that architecture.”

Ferraro emphasized that RCADE is not for sale. Instead, the company and the government agree to share data that fuels the simulator under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. 

“This is not what I would call a Raytheon product,” he said. “We’re not selling this, not leasing it, not licensing it. This facilitates thinking, it facilitates engagement with customers, it informs our understanding of where we can contribute.”

An RTX graphic illustrates “a prototype for the U.S. Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node, or TITAN, ground station, which will find and track potential threats by quickly combing through immense amounts of sensor data.” Courtesy RTX

Raytheon has already used RCADE to test systems that could enable JADC2. A June 7 press release described how the Army tested a data-collecting ground station in RCADE for a year before performing a three-month field test. The Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node, another RTX product, is designed to better connect space, sea, and land sensors to make long-range precision fire more accurate.

“The ability to simulate quickly and accurately shows that RTX engineers not only build and field the technologies it takes to pull off the JADC2 initiative—they can also help military customers figure out what they need and predict how it will all work together,” the release said.

While it will carry implications for airpower, what eventually became RCADE first began in 2016 as the Cross-Domain Maritime Surveillance and Targeting program, which modeled how the Navy could target enemy ships and submarines over vast distances in contested environments. The program grew over time as the Army, Air Force, and Office of the Secretary of Defense expressed interest. After years of development, RCADE now has “really hit a stride,” Blaha said.

There are still some areas for improvement. Blaha said RCADE is robust in the air, land, and maritime domains but has room to grow in space. He also wants to make it more capable for artificial intelligence and a field of machine learning called reinforcement learning, which could help automate some of the simulator’s functions. Ferraro indicated the simulator’s growing capabilities will allow for increasingly complex battle scenarios—for example, including large numbers of Combat Collaborative Aircraft and uncrewed underwater vehicles.

“When the threat is markedly changing, and the approach to combating that threat is markedly changing, this gives you a way of objectively analyzing various architectures, various ways of engaging in this evolving mission set,” he said.

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Tech. Sgt. Kimberly R. Mastrocola

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Tech. Sgt. Kimberly R. Mastrocola

Sept. 1, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 11-13 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Tech. Sgt. Kimberly R. Mastrocola, the Noncommissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC) of Wing Project Integration with the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla. 

Mastrocola is a professional innovator. Working with the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt, she primarily finds creative solutions to complex problems using Science, Technology, Math, and Engineering (STEM). She leads the way for her wing to operationalize 3D-printing prototypes and computer coding across the Force—and beyond.

Collaborating with SOFWERX, a DEFENSEWERX platform that helps U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) develop innovative solutions to warfighter problems, Mastrocola led several special-operations-focused project integrations for her wing’s innovation cell. One integration was the first-ever U-28 water egress simulator, which Mastrocola’s team delivered to Hurlburt’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) squadron and trained SERE specialists on its applications.

“It’s basically a pontoon boat with the fuselage built on it in steel,” she said. “It was [designed] so that the U-28 crews could do their water survival training, but in more of an environment that was actually parallel to the aircraft and not just a raft.”

Mastrocola also served as the lead project officer for three data science events under the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Strategic Studies Group in 2022. She organized the events, which were rapid-prototype, problem-solving marathons where white-hat hackers and subject matter experts worked as a team to solve real-world cybersecurity problems in just a few days. When the prototype was designed, the teams would present their solutions in hopes of receiving funding—resulting in 39 immediately deployable solutions for the DOD.

“All those 39 projects came from use cases within Special Operations,” Mastrocola said. “Solving these things normally [costs] hundreds of thousands of dollars to research, implement, and then actually pay for a solution … [But] for the cost of the event and what [came] out of it, [we] decreased orders of magnitude by, like, 100 times cheaper than the normal prototyping path.”

But for all the impact her innovative, creative, and organizational skills have made on the Air Force, Mastrocola said her favorite part of her job is sharing her passion for STEM with community students.

The 1st SOW partners with the HSU Educational Foundation, a nonprofit STEM education organization, to teach STEM classes to kids in the local community. She leveraged the partnership to become a community leader in STEM mentorship, working with local Girl Scout troops to illustrate a career in aerospace innovation, advocate for military life, and serve as a role model for women interested in STEM and the Air Force.

“Anytime [there] was an opportunity to be a speaker to represent women in STEM … I would always get pinged for that,” Mastrocola said. “So, I ended up just talking to a lot of people and showing them different paths that you can take, and different ways that you can apply education but also have a career in STEM at the same time.”

Her contributions to community education earned her the wing’s Lance P. Sijan award for leadership. 

All the while, Mastrocola spent 2022 completing a Master of Science in Aeronautics program before going on to pursue a PhD in Systems Engineering. She said the Air Force has helped her harness her innovative mind into something operational—and, coming from a background in aircraft maintenance where there’s little to no room for improvisation, she’s happy her creativity is being put to good use.

“Once I was given the space with no parameters to actually just go out and figure stuff out, I really ran with it,” she said.

Tech. Sgt. Kimberly R. Mastrocola

Mastrocola added that wanting to innovate and improve operations in the field isn’t much different than wanting to overcome personal challenges. She considers difficulties to be the road on which innovations—and people—gain traction.

“You learn a lot from the things that weren’t so good, in a way,” she said. “Bouncing back and having the resiliency from the lows is how the highs get higher.”

As one of the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023, Mastrocola hopes her successes in the past year and the trials she faced to get here can be an example not just for junior Airmen looking to excel, but for the Air Force as a whole.

“The Air Force is at a transitional time and we’re realizing the value of hidden talent throughout the Force,” Mastrocola said. “So for up-and-coming junior Airmen, I say surround yourself with people that you look up to … Find your tribe. Find the people that bring out the best version of yourself. None of us do this alone and success is all about the environment we immerse ourselves in. Stay curious, embrace challenges, and know there is a silver lining to everything.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 below:

Lockheed to Set Up European F-16 Schoolhouse That May Eventually Train Ukrainians

Lockheed to Set Up European F-16 Schoolhouse That May Eventually Train Ukrainians

Aug. 31, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin, partnering with Romania and the Netherlands, will set up an F-16 training facility in Romania, the company announced Aug. 31. The schoolhouse may eventually train Ukrainian pilots and other regional users of the fighter.

The company and two countries signed a “letter of intent” for the schoolhouse, which will initially focus on training Romanian pilots. The planned location of the training facility was not immediately disclosed.

Romania has 17 of the fighters and is set to receive 32 additional F-16s from Norway after refurbishment. Romania is also in the process of requesting 32 to 48 F-35 fighters from the U.S., also built by Lockheed Martin.

However, a Lockheed spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that “Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-16s will be used for training purposes” at the new schoolhouse. The establishment of the facility is a “commercial arrangement with the support of the U.S. commercial licensing process,” she added.

The F-16 “continues to play a crucial role in 21st century security missions” for the U.S., Europe, NATO and other allies, Lockheed integrated fighter group vice president O.J. Sanchez said in a statement

The new facility will provide “a comprehensive F-16 training solution for Romanian pilots,” he added. “Once details are finalized, we are confident the training center will ultimately benefit Romania and other regional F-16 operators, including potentially Ukraine.”

Other European users of the F-16 include Belgium, Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Turkey—several hundred in total.

Sanchez told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an early August interview that Lockheed has a “firm backlog” of 126 orders for new F-16s, which will be produced at its Greenville, S.C. facilities at a rate of about 48 airframes per year by 2025. He said there are more than 3,000 F-16s operating worldwide and there remains “strong demand” for the fighter. The 126 figure he cited does not include India, which is considering an F-16 Block 70 Lockheed has rebranded as the F-21.

Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have collectively pledged to donate more than 60 F-16s to Ukraine, which continues to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion, and the U.S. has agreed to expedite the third-party transfer and provide F-16 training materials. Some Ukrainian pilots are receiving language training in the U.K. and the U.S. prior to an F-16 training program at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz., where most foreign military sales F-16 pilots receive instruction.

“The efforts in Tucson, Ariz., are complementary to European efforts to ensure capacity and accommodate the blossoming need for F-16 training in Europe,” the Lockheed spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander Gen. James B. Hecker said Ukraine would not get a basic F-16 capability until 2024, although other countries were promoting the idea of Ukrainian pilots flying the jet in the war against Russia by the end of this year. Hecker warned the jet will not be a “silver bullet” that will suddenly turn the tide in the 18-month-old war. Rather, the jet will simply be “more interoperable” with air-to-ground weapons the U.S. and other countries are already providing to Ukraine than those weapons are with Ukraine’s Russian-design MiG-29s and Su-27s.

An industry source said, however, that if the Ukrainian pilots have access to a nearby training facility—such as in Romania—then fewer of the jets Ukraine receives will have to be set aside for training, meaning more will be available for combat.

Kendall: USAF ‘Not as Ready as We Need to Be’ for China Challenge

Kendall: USAF ‘Not as Ready as We Need to Be’ for China Challenge

Aug. 31, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S. could find itself in a near-peer conflict with an adversary like China and Russia “tomorrow,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a livestreamed Facebook event—and the department is “not as [ready] as we could be, by a significant margin.” 

“I’ve spent a lot of the first two years in office worried about our modernization programs—what do we need to buy for the next generation of capability,” Kendall said during a “Coffee Talk” with Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass. “We’ve been able to get a lot of that into our budget, but that’s not here yet.”

But, Kendall added, “The threat is here already. And so we’ve got to think about: Are we organized to deal with that threat? Are we training to deal with that threat? Are we prepared in terms of how we structure a lot of different functions within the Department of the Air Force, for both the Air Force and Space Force, so that we could deal with that threat? If we were asked tomorrow to go to war against a great power, either Russia or China, would we be really ready to do that? And I think the answer is not as much as we could be, by a significant margin. And we’ve got to start spending a lot of time thinking about that and figuring out what we’re going to do about it.”

Given his past as Pentagon’s acquisition czar, Kendall’s time as Secretary of the Air Force has often been defined by the systems the Air Force and Space Force are developing to combat China, deemed America’s “pacing challenge” in the National Defense Strategy. The seven Operational Imperatives he has pushed mostly deal with developing, acquiring, and fielding new platforms. 

“The most important thing we owe our Airmen and Guardians are the resources they need, and the systems and equipment they need, to perform their missions,” Kendall has said in the past. 

But in conversation with Bass, Kendall suggested weapons alone will not answer the challenge of the China threat. It also requires a change in mindset. 

“We’re not as ready for the pacing challenge as we need to be,” Kendall said. “The way I’m describing this is we need to re-optimize for the possibility of great power conflict.”  

That’s what drives things like Agile Combat Employment, USAF’s plan to disperse small teams to remote or austere bases, and AFFORGEN, the Air Force’s revamped force-generation and rotation model, for ensuring unit readiness.

Early in his tenure, Kendall cited his experience as an Army officer at the end of the Cold War, a time when the military was intensely focused on the Soviet Union. Today, as then, leaders must study, understand, and prepare to take on China and Russia, adversaries with sophisticated weapons and vast resources. Now, he’s pushing that message even harder. 

“Over the last 20-odd years or so, doing counterinsurgency and focusing on other threats, plus the demonstration of dramatic military superiority 30 years ago in the first Gulf War, we have gradually over time lost our optimization to deal with a competitor like the one we have now,” Kendall said. “And it’s true in a lot of subtle ways. So we’re all going to have to take a hard look. Are we really ready for the threat that we might have to face?” 

Kendall’s concern about great power conflict gained a new level of urgency with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has previously told Department of the Air Force staff to write “yellow sticky notes up … to remind themselves that great power conflicts could happen and could do so at any time.” 

This is why readiness and resiliency go hand in hand, Bass suggested during their Facebook chat. 

“This is why we need supervisors and leaders at all levels to be connected with their folks, because we need you to be the best that you can be and really focused and resilient enough … so we can be the Air Force that our nation is going to need,” Bass said. 

Kendall said resilience is not something other people need to worry about. Acknowledging that at times he has visited mental health counselors to deal with the stresses of his national security career, Kendall said it’s everyone’s responsibility to take care of themselves, to manage stress, and to get help when it’s needed.

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Tech. Sgt. Micaela R. Mahan

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Tech. Sgt. Micaela R. Mahan

Aug. 31, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 11-13 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Tech. Sgt. Micaela R. Mahan, the Noncommissioned Officer in Charge of Military Justice, with the 7th Air Force, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea.

Before moving to Osan, Mahan was the NCOIC of Military Justice with the 78th Air Base Wing at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., where she worked for the fourth largest legal office in the Air Force, serving three wings and a major command. 

As NCOIC, she led a nine-member team that advised commanders, first sergeants, and attorneys during legal cases on what disciplinary actions were warranted, everything from demotions and letters of reprimand to courts-martial and discharges. In 2022 she oversaw 65 criminal cases, 15 courts-martial, 266 adverse and administrative actions, and 18 discharges that passed through the office.

“We mainly handled a lot of sexual assault cases. That’s the bulk of our cases,” Mahan said.

During a courtroom renovation, Mahan filled in for the wing’s Chief of Military Justice as the law office’s superintendent to provide $64,000 of new communications and IT equipment and improving the office’s budget by 77 percent—all while the wing didn’t even have a functioning courtroom.

Taking on the mantle of leadership—and excelling beyond expectation—is part of Mahan’s M.O. She was the Wing Staff Agencies’ additional duty First Sergeant, providing weekend support for 190 personnel across 17 units. She said that her ability to succeed in these situations comes from a combination of hard work and good mentorship.

Tech. Sgt. Micaela R. Mahan

“[My mentors tell me], ‘oh, you’re gonna be a chief one day,” Mahan said. “Just having those mentors and supervisors that [believe] in me and tell me those kinds of things [has] also helped me realize the same thing—it’s motivated me to keep pushing throughout these years.”

Mahan has served in the Air Force since 2014, but she said she never won an award or recognition until 2022. By scoring high grades in 7-level school and serving as a volunteer coordinator among her peers, Mahan earned the Paralegal Craftsman Course Top Graduate award. She also received the NCO Academy’s Distinguished Graduate and Commandant’s award, all while completing her bachelor’s degree in investigative forensics with honors. 

“Last year was the first year I even won a quarterly award or was ever put in for a yearly award,” she said. “To make it to this point for me was very shocking.”

Now an Outstanding Airman of the Year for 2023, Mahan hopes her perseverance throughout nearly a decade of service can serve as an example to other Airmen who might be doubting their impact on the Force.

“Never stop believing in yourself,” she said. “It took me nine years to even win a quarterly award. Had I given up prior to this … I would have never made it to this point.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2023 below:

Hurricane Idalia Battered Florida Bases, But Damage Is Contained

Hurricane Idalia Battered Florida Bases, But Damage Is Contained

Aug. 31, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force bases in the path of Hurricane Idalia escaped major damage as the storm swept through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina this week.

MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.; Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; and Joint Base Charleston, S.C., came under the Category 3 hurricane’s drenching rain and winds, but reported minimal to moderate damage in the storm’s immediate aftermath. 

Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees both Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, delayed a National Security Space Launch on Aug. 29 because of the storm and encouraged eligible personnel to work from home Aug. 30. The launch, on behalf of the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office, will be rescheduled.

MacDill evacuated completely Aug. 29 and was still closed to non-mission-essential personnel on Aug. 31, as recovery efforts got underway. MacDill’s KC-135s relocated to March Air Reserve Base, Calif.; Bangor Air National Guard Base, Maine; Tinker Air Base, Okla.; and McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. Initial photos posted to the MacDill’s Facebook page show some streets flooded or littered with debris, but little structural damage. The base’s evacuation order was lifted effective noon Aug. 31, with personnel expected to return by 11:59 p.m. Sept. 1.

Moody closed to non-mission-essential personnel on Aug. 30 and remained closed through Aug. 31 as recovery began. Moody sent four HC-130Js to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., but kept the rest of its aircraft secured or in hangars, a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Damage at the base, the spokesperson said, “seems minimal and mostly due to high winds and tree branch debris.” 

Charleston remained open throughout the storm, its C-17s remaining in place, a spokesperson said. Some offices opened late in the days following the storm, as base personnel attended to their homes and families. In a social media post, base officials said damage “was minimal, but our Airmen are working diligently to clear the installation and flightline of debris.” 

Elsewhere in the region, home to numerous military bases, the Navy evacuated helicopters from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., and Naval Station Mayport, Fla., while Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., reported no damage or closures. 

Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees both Patrick Space Force Base and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, delayed a National Security Space Launch on behalf of the Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office on Aug. 29 because of the storm and encouraged eligible personnel to work from home Aug. 30, but reported no base closures.

Idalia was the first hurricane to make landfall on the East Coast this year. Damage to the surrounding community was significant, causing Florida Gov. Ron Desantis to activate more than 5,000 members of the Florida National Guard. Meanwhile, the South Carolina National Guard mobilized around 100 Guardsmen.

“The Department of Defense through U.S. Northern Command is providing FEMA a federal staging area at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and NORTHCOM has deployed a Defense Coordinating Officer element charged with coordinating with FEMA in Tallahassee, Fla.,” said Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the chief Pentagon spokesman.

Pentagon: No ‘Drop’ in Iran Threat to Ships, As F-35s and Harriers Keep Flying over the Gulf

Pentagon: No ‘Drop’ in Iran Threat to Ships, As F-35s and Harriers Keep Flying over the Gulf

Aug. 31, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

More than a month after the Pentagon announced it was sending Air Force F-35s, thousands of U.S. Marines and Sailors, and American warships to the Persian Gulf region in response to Iran’s attempted seizures of commercial vessels, officials say they see no signs the situation is calming down.

“We continue to see harassment,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Aug. 29. “We have not seen that threat drop, I would say, so we haven’t seen a reason to move our forces out.”

In July, the U.S. dispatched some of its most advanced airpower into the region with a squadron of F-35s to respond to Iranian actions in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply flows.

“In an ongoing effort to ensure the security and freedom of navigation in the region, U.S. Air Forces Central (AFCENT) reaffirms its unwavering commitment to maintaining stability and safeguarding global trade in this vital maritime route,” the command said after one recent F-35 mission over the Gulf.

Following the deployment of Hill Air Force Base’s fifth-generation stealth fighters, the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, carrying a squadron of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) Harriers, was sent to the region.

As part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the Harriers are flying maritime missions around the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials said.

“They provide enhanced capabilities which strengthen the already robust array of theater assets throughout the joint force,” Cmdr. Rick Chernitzer, the spokesman for Naval Forces Central Command, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Sailors assigned to amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) conduct flight operations with a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II aircraft, attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162, in the Persian Gulf, Aug. 23, 2023. Components of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to help ensure maritime security and stability in the Middle East region. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Danilo Reynoso

The Harriers have helped supplement some of the fighter coverage over the Gulf, though the Air Force still has a significant intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission and tanker support role, U.S. officials say. The Navy has also flown P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.

“The Harriers augment U.S. Air Force Central Command assets, integrating with them to support a variety of mission sets,” Chernitzer said.

The U.S. military footprint in the region has shrunk as the Pentagon has sought to shift assets to Asia and Europe to deter China and Russia. But DOD has had to bulk up its force in the Middle East on short notice in response to threats from Iran and Russia multiple times in the past year.

The Pentagon has developed contingency plans to put Marines on some commercial vessels in the region, but no decision has been made as yet to place them on those vessels, U.S. officials say.

The F-35s in particular have also proved helpful in dissuading Russia from attacking U.S. drones in the skies over Syria. As for the Gulf, Singh said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remained a threat. So, for now, the U.S. posture is staying on the stronger side.

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen harassment from IRGC-backed groups over commercial ships,” Singh said. “As long as there remains a need for these forces to be in the region, they’re going to stay there.”

US Not Running Out of Munitions Due to Ukraine Aid, Pentagon Acquisition Boss Says

US Not Running Out of Munitions Due to Ukraine Aid, Pentagon Acquisition Boss Says

Aug. 30, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Despite sending more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine—both lethal and non-lethal—the U.S. is not “running out” of any particular munitions or equipment needed for its own forces, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante told attendees at a defense conference in Washington, D.C.

“We’re not running out of anything,” LaPlante said in a fireside chat at the inaugural conference of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technology Institute on Aug. 28.

“In the papers, sometimes, it says, ‘we’ve run out of X or Y,’” because of aid to Ukraine, but that’s not true, LaPLante said.

“We’re managing all of that,” he added, describing the process to identify items for Ukraine that are excess to U.S. military needs. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs review the lists of what’s being offered and what’s being requested, “and they look exactly at the effect on readiness” of providing those items, LaPlante said. If they feel there’s a negative effect, or if handing off a certain weapon or quantity of weapons increases risk beyond an acceptable level, “we won’t do it,” he said, although he didn’t cite any examples of equipment withheld.

There have been concerns in Congress that providing large quantities of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine is emptying U.S. stocks, but LaPlante said there are enough on hand and has previously said his organization is working to shorten lead times for replenishment orders.

The real challenge has been to not simply provide equipment as requested, but to anticipate what Ukraine will need and have it moving through the pipeline so it arrives in a timely manner, LaPlante noted.

For example, Ukraine needed different military equipment for its ongoing counteroffensive than in the early days of the conflict, when it was focused on holding ground and repelling advances.

Since then, it’s been an effort of matching provision of gear to “the consumption rate,” LaPLante said, and in some cases such as artillery, those rates approximate the consumption in World War II.

Once the Pentagon identifies an anticipated need, “you have to look at all the tools … [and] find the best one” to get the aid to Ukraine in a sensible way, he said. Sometimes, that will mean exercising authority Congress has given to buy new items for Ukraine and ship them directly, while at other times it means asking another country to buy or provide it.

More broadly, LaPlante said there has been a mindset change in the U.S. defense industrial base as a result of the Ukraine war. In the past, U.S. stockpiles were geared toward short conflicts and not surges. That’s changed as think tanks and Pentagon wargamers expand the timescale of their exercises, to see what would happen if a conflict didn’t last a few weeks but a year or more, he said. When the timelines are extended, it usually leads to a shortage of precision guided munitions, especially at an intense level of effort, he said.

Although this has shown up in some previous wargames, “we didn’t budget to it,” LaPLante said, and he acknowledged that munitions have frequently been the account that gets cut when budgets tighten. Moreover, during the 20 years the U.S. was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, there was a tendency to produce the minimum of high-end weapons needed for peer conflict.

The push now is to do more multiyear procurements, and LaPlante said that shows industry they can safely invest in expanding capacity.  

Congress has given “tremendous support” in provisioning Ukraine, LaPlante asserted, although it’s taken “a lot of education” with some members. He expressed optimism that support will continue.

A new wrinkle in the aid to Ukraine will be sustainment, LaPlante said. The M1 Abrams tanks being provided to Ukraine “won’t work” in a few weeks if they don’t undergo certain kinds of maintenance. The U.S. can’t put its own troops on the battlefield and doesn’t want to expose contractors to that risk either, so LaPlante said the U.S. is increasingly turning to “tele-maintenance,” wherein contractors or Army personnel walk Ukrainian maintainers through the process remotely.

What’s being learned is applicable to how the U.S. may sustain equipment in future conflicts, as tele-maintenance will make it possible to reduce the forward footprint of troops and contractors.

All in all, LaPlante said the defense enterprise has done a “remarkable” job in streamlining processes to get Ukraine the gear it needs in a timely manner. Configuring the M1 tanks in a way that was acceptable to the Army—removing some gear considered too sensitive to risk Russia gaining access to it—normally takes a year and a half, LaPlante said, but the Army managed it in six months.  

SDA Launches 13 More Tranche 0 Satellites into Orbit

SDA Launches 13 More Tranche 0 Satellites into Orbit

Aug. 30, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: Originally scheduled for Aug. 31, the launch attempt was delayed by SpaceX twice, before proceeding successfully Sept. 2. This story has been updated.

Nearly five months after the Space Development Agency celebrated the first launch of its massive planned satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit, the organization got their their second go-around Sept. 2.

Thirteen satellites from Tranche 0 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture headed into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at around 7:30 a.m. local time.

Originally, the launch was scheduled for June, but a combination of factors pushed it backward—just as the first launch was delayed as well. Tranche 0 program director Mike Eppolito cited several reasons for both delays in a briefing with reporters Aug. 30: policy hurdles, delayed deliveries, and severe weather. Moving forward, Eppolito expressed confidence that as the agency procures more tranches and sets more launches, some of those issues will ease. 

If for some reason the Aug. 31 launch is called off, there is a backup window available Sept. 1 at 7:26 a.m. Pacific time. The 13 satellites set to go up include: 

  • 10 data transport satellite manufactured by Lockheed Martin 
  • One data transport satellite from York Space Systems 
  • Two missile tracking satellites from SpaceX 

Combined with the 10 that went up in early April, that will round out most of Tranche 0, which officials have dubbed the “warfighter immersion tranche,” as it will demonstrate capabilities that later tranches will operationalize and give service members the opportunity to work with the systems and understand their capabilities. 

Originally, Tranche 0 was set to take only two launches. However, SDA officials told reporters they have changed their plans to include a third launch before the end of 2023, including four missile tracking satellites from L3Harris. That launch will be a collaboration with Missile Defense Agency, which is launching its own missile-tracking satellites as part of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program. 

“The benefit of that will be that we’ll be able to see the same targets from both the MDA satellites and SDA satellites, demonstrating both the medium field-of-view and wide field-of-view tracking payloads all together on the same target,” Eppolito said. “So there’ll be tremendous benefit to having those satellites on that launch together with MDA.” 

Officials also said that since the first launch, they decided to keep a York data transport satellite on the ground as a testbed—meaning Tranche 0 will consist of 27 satellites in orbit, 19 for data transport and 8 for missile warning. 

“We understand that software development and the application that we’re going to run on board are going to be a critical enabling element for PWSA,” Eppolito said. “So we believe that having that testbed on the ground will pay off for both the current tranche in terms of demonstrating things before we update the [space vehicles] on orbit. It will also be able to be used for future tranches in terms of learning on that satellite, which could then be applied to future tranches.” 

While the second batch of Tranche 0 is set to go up, the first batch are still getting going. In June, SDA announced it had received its first images from the missile tracking satellites, but the data transport satellites, which will be crucial for connecting sensors and shooters around the globe, have yet to maneuver to their final intended orbit or tested their ability to relay data to the ground using Link 16, the military’s tactical data network. 

“We have some outstanding policy issues that are holding that up,” Eppolito said of the Link 16 tests. “But from a technical standpoint, we’ve gotten through all the checkout leading up until that policy hurdle. As soon as we get approval there, we plan to move forward with that checkout.” 

Officials in the Pentagon and Congress are watching Tranche 0 closely as a proof of concept for SDA’s unique approach, which is defined by rapid timelines, numerous small spacecraft, and increased contractor competition. The first eight satellites went from contract to orbit in two and a half years, extremely fast for a military space program. SDA has already started awarding contracts for Tranche 2 and assigning launches for Tranche 1, with the hope of fielding new capabilities every two years and a steady stream of launches throughout.