LRSO Stealth Nuclear Missile On Track for Production Decision in 2027

April 25, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The Raytheon AGM-181 Long-Range Standoff missile is on track for a production decision in 2027, having passed its critical design review in March, according to Air Force budget documents.

Justifications for the fiscal year 2024 budget request show that LRSO’s low-rate initial production waypoint—referred to as Milestone C—is set for the third quarter of 2027, when there’s a major shift in planned spending from research, development, test, and evaluation to procurement.

The LRSO’s critical design review—which set the near-final design of the stealthy nuclear missile—narrowly met the program’s projected timeline finishing up in the final few days of February and the early days of March this year. Senior Air Force officials, speaking at the midpoint of the CDR process, predicted no significant issues after its conclusion.

Gen. Duke Richardson, head of Air Force Materiel Command, has said he expects “big bang” design reviews will give way to “rolling” events, made possible by digital design and development, wherein all stakeholders can see the design as it is at any given time.

The LRSO, being developed in secrecy, will succeed the 1980s-vintage AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM), which is being phased out after undergoing several life extension programs. It has even outlasted its previous planned complement/successor, the stealthy AGM-129, which was retired as a cost-saving move in 2012.

President Joe Biden’s administration confirmed the need for LRSO in its Nuclear Posture Review last year, despite previous speculation that it might cancel the program.

Indeed, procurement funding for LRSO ramps steadily upward over the next five years, with a particularly huge increase in fiscal 2027. Air Force budget documents show planned requests of $67 million in 2024, $135.2 million in 2025, and $295.1 million in 2026, before funding balloons to $1.01 billion in 2027. Fiscal 2028 procurement is projected to be $1.7 billion, with another $6.5 billion expected after that through the life of the program.

Conversely, RDT&E funding profile for LRSO peaked in fiscal 2023 at $928.9 million and is slated for a steady decline over the next four years, with $911.4 million in 2024, $704.9 million in 2025, and $600.5 million in 2026. Research funding then plummets to $287.8 million in 2027, with just $76.4 million planned in 2028 and no more monies planned after that.

Gen. Anthony Cotton, head of U.S. Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that he was “quite pleased” with the Air Force’s progress on LRSO. At the same time, Cotton also said the ALCM, carried exclusively by the B-52H, is “still a reliable, safe, and secure weapon,” but warned that it is past its projected service life and must be replaced.

The Air Force is planning on an average of about $32 million per year in ALCM procurement funding through 2028, with less than two years funded after that, suggesting an initial operational capability date for LRSO of about 2029-2030.

Raytheon won the contract to build LRSO in July 2021, beating out Lockheed Martin.

The LRSO will initially equip the B-52J but will also be integrated on the stealthy new B-21 Raider bomber. The ALCM was never fitted to the B-2.

Little has been revealed about the LRSO, such as its range and speed, but the Air Force has said it plans to build 1,087 of the missiles, of which some 67 would be used in the development phase. Initially expected to cost about $10 million each, the most recent estimate is that LRSO will cost $13 million each. The Air Force has also said the missile will not be hypersonic.

In its budget justifications, the Air Force said fiscal year 2024 activities for LRSO will include verifying and maturing the design and planning for “manufacturing maturation.” Former AFMC commander Gen. Arnold Bunch reported that the technology maturation and risk reduction phase was extended to work on design elements that would reduce the LRSO’s cost of production and ownership and make it more reliable.

Other activities in FY24 include working with the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation on a test plan for the LRSO and completing B-52 flight envelope testing and “Control Test Vehicle flight testing,” according to the budget justifications. The program will also be working on development of “carriage and launcher equipment, trainers, test equipment and support equipment.”

The Air Force is also wants to ensure it owns the underlying technical baseline of the program. This involves establishing a digital engineering system including a supporting environment and infrastructure to perform digital activities and collaborate with and communicate across stakeholders.

Additionally, work is underway with the Department of Energy, on designing, developing and testing the LRSO’s nuclear warhead, integrating it with the missile, and planning for nuclear certification activities.

New ‘Power Projection Wing’ to Replace A-10s at Davis-Monthan

April 25, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force plans to put a new Special Operations power projection wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., replacing A-10s that have been there for years, service and Congressional officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The base is also slated to receive new EC-37 Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft and HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters as upgrades for its other missions. EC-130Hs and HH-60Gs are currently based at Davis-Monthan.

Details of the Air Force’s plans for the base over the next five years were shared with members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation in a briefing several weeks ago. After years of fighting over the future of the base’s A-10 “Warthogs,” there now appears to be consensus that the Air Force can retire the aircraft, a Congressional source said.

As recently as two years ago, Congress shot down Air Force plans to retire 42 A-10s. But this year Congress is letting the Air Force cut 21 of the beloved close air support jets from the Indiana Air National Guard, and as Congress starts work on the 2024 National Defense Authorization bill, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), along with Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), released a joint letter saying they were “encouraged by the Air Force’s intention to bring new, durable flying missions” to Davis-Monthan.

Air Force spokeswoman Sarah Fiocco told Air & Space Forces Magazine that details of that mission are still in the works. The emphasis on “durability,” though, is revealing. Two years ago, the Air Force plan to replace Davis-Monthan’s A-10s centered on transferring weapons schools and test squadrons for the A-10 and HH-60G from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Neither of those aircraft are in the Air Force’s long-term plans.

Air Force budget documents indicate plans to establish a new 492nd Power Projection Wing at Davis-Monthan, and Fiocco confirmed that the wing will be under Air Force Special Operations Command.

But just what a power projection wing is remains unclear. No other such wings exist today. Fiocco said it will be a “special operations unit based in the U.S. that can be sent anywhere.”

AFSOC’s 492nd Special Operations Wing is now based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., where it is responsible for training and education programs. Fiocco couldn’t say whether the 492nd Power Projection Wing would replace the Hurlburt wing.

In their letter, members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation wrote that the Air Force indicated “there will be nearly the same number of airmen and civilians employed at the base” in five years’ time. Fiocco confirmed the Air Force expects the base population to return to roughly 9,600 personnel once the new wing is in place.

But while the lawmakers offered support for the Air Force’s plans, they also asked Secretary Frank Kendall to expand to brief more local officials and organizations—something Kendall did during an April 17 visit, according to images posted by the Air Force and Kelly’s office.

The lawmakers also noted in their letter that the timeline laid out by the Air Force is “ambitious” and asked to be kept informed on progress.

Work on the transition has already begun—a Site Activation Task Force has convened, Kelly’s office confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The Air Force is seeking $5 million in the fiscal 2024 budget for an Environmental Impact study and an Area Development Plan for the 492nd Power Projection Wing.

Meanwhile, Air Force leaders seem increasingly confident that they will be able to retire the A-10 completely in the coming years. Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has said the service is removing the A-10 from its “4+1” fighter plan and hopes to have every Warthog divested by 2029.

Kadena Receives More F-15Es as Eagles Set to Leave By September

April 24, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force’s overhaul of Kadena Air Base, Japan, took yet another step with the arrival of more F-15E Strike Eagles to replace the aging F-15C/Ds at the base. According to a service spokesperson, the Air Force plans to send all F-15Cs at Kadena back to the U.S. by September, replaced by rotational forces of newer aircraft as part of plans first announced in October 2022.

On April 22, F-15Es from the 391st Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho landed at Kadena, the Air Force said. According to a news release from Kadena’s 18th Wing, the aircraft will operate alongside F-15Es that arrived earlier this month from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., as well as fifth-generation F-35 Lightning IIs from Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska that arrived in late March.

The Air Force has sent 18 F-15Cs back to the continental United States from Kadena since the service announced plans to wind down operations there, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. Four of those aircraft have been retired, she added. Before the drawdown, Kadena had around 48 permanently based Eagles in two squadrons.

“The Air Force plans to divest the remaining F-15Cs from Kadena in FY23,” Stefanek said, referring to fiscal 2023, which ends in September. It was not immediately clear if the same timeline applied to the remaining two-seat F-15D models at the base, one of which the head of Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, recently flew in.

Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore, Jr., deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told the House Armed Services Committee in March that of Kadena’s Eagles, there are “three that are grounded forever and four that can only that are only capable of one-time flight to the Boneyard.” The Air Force previously said the Eagles from Kadena would either be retired or enter Air National Guard service. Kadena’s Eagle operations date back to the late 1970s.

As for the recently arrived Strike Eagles, a spokesperson for Mountain Home said the base sent aircraft and Airmen from the 391st Fighter Squadron along with Airmen from its associated maintenance support group, the 391st Fighter Generation Squadron. The spokesperson did not say how many aircraft deployed. The Air Force has previously declined to specify exactly how many jets are deploying to Kadena under each rotation, citing operational security.

“As the 18th Wing continues the phased return of Kadena’s fleet of Eagles, the Department of Defense will maintain a steady-state fighter presence in the region by temporarily deploying newer and more advanced aircraft to backfill the F-15s as they retrograde,” Kadena said in its release.

The F-15Es and F-35s replaced F-22 Raptors from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska and F-16 Fighting Falcons from Spangdahlem Air Force Base, Germany, the first two sets of aircraft to begin the rotational presence at Kadena in place of permanent squadrons.

The Air Force is removing Kadena’s F-15C/D Eagles, the last of the type on the Active-Duty fleet, due to their age and airworthiness. Long-term plans for the base have yet to be announced.

“Between our permanent party Airmen and our deployed forces, we are well postured to deter, deny, and if necessary, defeat any threat to regional stability and the U.S. homeland,” said 18th Wing commander Brig. Gen. David S. Eaglin. “The robust combat capability here on the Kadena flightline serves as a powerful deterrent to potential adversaries and offers unique integration opportunities with our allies and partners.”

Kadena, on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, is an important strategic location for the U.S. military, lying some 450 miles from the possible flashpoint of Taiwan, the self-governing island that the Chinese government claims. The top U.S. commander for the Indo-Pacific said recently he does not favor reducing the number of aircraft deployed within the so-called First Island Chain, a strip of islands in the western Pacific close to the Asian mainland, including China, America’s “pacing challenge.”

“As we align and execute the National Defense Strategy, the positioning of those forces certainly would be beneficial to be maintained,” Adm. John C. Aquilino, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), told the House Armed Services Committee on April 18 said when asked about the Air Force’s presence in the Pacific. “Inside of the first island chain … I have supported those forces to remain in place and/or be replaced by equivalent capability and numbers.”

SASC Chair Says There’s Bipartisan Support to Build Up Munitions Production

April 24, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) thinks there will be strong bipartisan support—both in the Armed Services and Appropriations committees—to increase production of munitions and build up the defense industrial base.

Speaking in a webcast with the Center for New American Security, Reed said the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act took steps to provide for multiyear procurement of munitions, which signaled to industry that “we’re in it for the long term; that they can be confident of having a demand so they can adequately staff and…supply their industries and produce these weapons systems” economically.

Expect similar moves in the 2024 NDAA, Reed suggested. Committees in both houses are “looking very, very closely during this NDAA at what other steps we can take to enhance the nation’s … industrial base,” he said.

However, while there’s bipartisan support for increased military spending, some Republicans on Capitol Hill have called for cutting the government’s overall budget back to fiscal 2022 levels, with the cuts coming entirely from non-defense spending.

Reed criticized that approach, noting that in the past several years, Congress has come together in a bipartisan way to boost defense spending and provide for the services’ unfunded priorities lists.

“We were able to reach a number that was satisfactory, and also did not punish domestic spending,” Reed said. Cutting “valuable programs for non-defense … [is] going to cause a tremendous controversy, to be polite.”

Still, the worst possible outcome, Reed suggested, would be a continuing resolution, under which spending levels are frozen at the previous year’s level and new starts are halted.

“That has been strenuously voiced to us by every commander that’s come before the panel,” he said.

Surge Production

The need for more robust weapons production has been highlighted by Ukraine’s war against Russia and the U.S.’s diminishing stockpiles as it gives hundreds of millions of dollars worth of munitions to the Ukrainians.

However, surging production has proven to be a challenge, and Reed argued the U.S. lost that surge capability during the advent of the AirLand Battle concept, in which it was assumed that conflicts would be “a very short-term effort because of precision weapons; because our ability to overwhelm and control the sky.”

“The concept was that we didn’t need that elaborate defense industrial base [and] munitions because these [would be] very swift victories,” Reed said.

The conflict in Ukraine, however, has resulted in “a huge volume of munitions consumed by both sides,” and as a result, the U.S. must reconsider its plans and invest in production capacity, Reed said.

Such industrial base initiatives will receive “support throughout the Congress on a bipartisan basis … to reinvigorate our industrial base for military procurement. It makes quite a bit of sense,” Reed added.

In addition to increased capacity, Reed also said Congress and the Pentagon should look to invest in and develop new technologies and get rid of those that are no longer useful.

“That’s a significant aspect of deterrence,” he said. The U.S. has to make “hard choices” about “not only what new systems to invest in, but what systems are not particularly capable to engage in this new type of warfare.”

He said the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship is emblematic of the situation. Expectations that the Navy would be more involved in “brown water operations” in the future have been pushed aside by the need to compete with the Chinese navy in “blue water” scenarios, Reed said. The LCS is “no longer relevant” to the likely fight, and the Navy must change tack.

Support for Allies

In addition to investing in the industrial base, Reed also advocated for reforming the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) rules and the Foreign Military Sales process.

Allies are waiting too long to get weapons they need to partner with the U.S., and potential allies can turn to China, which can supply weapons much faster, though of an inferior quality, Reed said. Relaxing regulations will also help the industrial base by increasing the volume of certain munitions produced.

For Ukraine in particular, Reed cited air defense systems as a top need. Noting the pending arrival of dozens of Western battle tanks, Reed said air defenses will be their backstop.

Ukraine has been “shooting down the vast majority of the incoming missiles as well as the drones that Russia has been using,” Reed said. And while they have been less successful shooting down hypersonic missiles, “they’ve done a really effective job, using a patchwork of systems from a lot of different countries.

So Long, myPers: Airmen and Guardians Have Until April 30 to Retrieve Records

April 24, 2023 | By David Roza

The Air Force is shutting down the personnel services website myPers as part of an ongoing effort to modernize the branch’s digital human resources platforms. The website will no longer be accessible to Airmen and Guardians starting April 30, and the old features used in myPers are being migrated to the websites my Force Support Squadron (myFSS) and MyVector.

“The A1 community is committed to building and enhancing the myFSS capabilities,” stated an April 19 notice to myPers users which was posted to the unofficial Air Force subreddit. An Air Force spokesperson confirmed the notice was authentic.

“Customers should expect improvements and expanded capabilities in myFSS throughout 2023,” the notice added.

The change marks the end of an era; the Air Force personnel services website was renamed myPers back in 2006, according to press release. The website was billed to be “a single entry point into Air Forcer personnel services,” Debra Warner, the Air Force’s Personnel Service Delivery Transformation chief at the time, said in the release.

MyPers’ replacement with myFSS was announced more than a year ago. The new platform was described as “a technical refresh” for both myPers and the virtual Personnel Center (vPC) which will enable better self-service, transparency, and access as well as reduced IT cost and vulnerabilities, according to one fact sheet.

The replacement of myPers with myFSS and MyVector is part of an ongoing digital transformation meant to use “the best platforms and digital innovations that the world has to offer aimed to increase productivity and performance while streamlining processes in the future,” the Air Reserve Personnel Center wrote in an explanation of the change.

According to the Air Reserve Personnel Center, MyVector enables a web-based mentoring network where mentees can receive input and guidance and build career plans based on their goals and experience.

As might be expected with large technology shifts, the transition to myFSS has not been perfect. One Air Force release even described five interface and communications issues and how to work around them. The department has struggled with other personnel websites too; in November, the Air Force paused the much-aligned performance evaluation system myEval, which Airmen said was confusing, buggy, and frequently failed.

“I think everyone would say it’s not as well executed as it could be,” Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said at the time. “We own that.”

The April 19 notice about the end of myPers advised all Airmen and Guardians to retrieve important documents or records from myPers before April 30.

mypers Air Force — U.S. Air Force graphic

New PACAF Commander Tapped, Among Several Key Air Force Moves

April 24, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is poised to get a new commander in the Indo-Pacific, as the Pentagon announced April 24 that President Joe Biden has nominated Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Schneider to lead Pacific Air Forces.

Schneider is currently director of staff at Headquarters Air Force. If confirmed by the Senate, he’ll succeed Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach as PACAF commander—a crucial role, as the Air Force continues to add focus and resources to counter the “pacing threat” of China. Wilsbach’s next assignment has not been announced.

A fighter pilot with extensive experience on the F-16, Schneider was commander of U.S. Forces Japan and Fifth Air Force at Yokota Air Base, Japan, prior to his Pentagon assignment. Before that, he held back-to-back assignments as chief of staff for PACAF and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to behave in an increasingly aggressive manner and trample on democratic ideals and have worked to fracture and rewrite a rules-based international order that for decades has provided benefit and opportunity to all,” Schneider said in his farewell speech as USFJ commander in August 2021.

Schneider has also commanded at the squadron and wing level and served stints in U.S. Central Command.

Wilsbach took charge of PACAF in July 2020. In that time, he has continued the major command’s focus on Agile Combat Employment, including the deployment of fifth-generation fighters to Tinian and the Philippines for the first time. PACAF has also frequently deployed fighters and bombers as of late to fly alongside Japanese and South Korean aircraft in response to North Korean missile tests.

All the while, China has upped its aggressive actions, sending more and more planes into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. Late last year, a Chinese fighter came within a few yards of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint over the South China Sea, and Chinese leaders have subsequently declined deconfliction talks with U.S. military leaders.

Depending on when Schneider is confirmed, he will also have to oversee a key transition at Kadena Air Base, Japan—the closest USAF base to Taiwan. The base’s aging F-15 Eagles are returning to the U.S. while a rotation of fighters cycle through to keep up the American forward presence, but a permanent replacement aircraft has yet to be announced.

In addition to Schneider, the Pentagon announced five other Air Force general officer nominations April 24.

Schneider’s No. 2 at PACAF will be Maj. Gen. Laura L. Lenderman, who has also been nominated for a third star. At the moment, Lenderman is the director of operations for U.S. Transporation Command.

Lt. Gen. Scott L. Pleus is slated to take Schneider’s spot as director of staff on the Air Staff while retaining the same rank—Pleus is currently the deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea and the commander of the Seventh Air Force at Osan Air Base, South Korea.

Maj. Gen. David R. Iverson would then slide into Pleus’ current roles for both U.S. Forces Korea and the Seventh Air Force, while pinning on a third star. Iverson is currently the director of air and cyberspace operations for PACAF.

Outside of the Indo-Pacific, Maj. Gen. David A. Harris Jr. has been tapped to become a lieutenant general and deputy chief of staff for Air Force Futures, which is currently led by Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote. Harris is the deputy commander of Air Forces Central and the deputy combined forces air component commander for Air Combat Command at Al Udeid in Qatar.

Finally, Brig. Gen. Dale R. White has been nominated to jump all the way to three stars and become the military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics—the service’s acquisition executive.

White was only recently nominated for a second star. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved that nomination March 28, but it is among a group of nominations on hold due to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who placed holds on nominations to protest a Pentagon policy allowing the military to cover the cost of travel for troops who must go out of state to obtain a legal abortion.

Depending on how White’s nominations play out, he could join a select group of Air Force generals to skip a rank in the promotion process. Lt. Gen. Caroline M. Miller, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, was the latest to do so in 2022.

New Space Force PT Gear Coming Soon; Service Dress Skirt Hits Space Symposium

April 21, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force uniforms are steadily getting fleshed out, with progress on everything from PT gear to new service dress items, including the debut of the women’s service dress skirt.

By early 2024, the Space Force’s physical fitness uniforms will be available to all Guardians, a Department of the Air Force spokeswoman said.

First unveiled in September 2021, the PT uniform’s was originally modeled by then-2nd Lt. Mahala Norris, an NCAA track champion, in a video posted on social media. Images shared now indicate minimal changes from that initial debut—black shorts and a dark gray T-shirt, along with black sweatpants and a black windbreaker. A patterned “USSF” on the sleeves is on the shirt and jacket and the Space Force’s Delta logo is on the left side of each item.

Meanwhile, the service’s distinctive service dress uniforms begin wear testing this summer. Space Force Director of Staff Lt. Gen. Nina M. Armagno showcased that uniform’s skirt option, among the first times it’s been seen publicly. The first releases showed female Guardians wearing pants, causing a minor kerfuffle when observers said the pants seemed excessively baggy.

The skirt is the same slightly textured gray as the pants, and fitted.

Armagno wore the uniform at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., sporing a flight cap in dark blue matching uniform jacket. A Uniform Office official said the Space Force is developing other uniform items to go with service dress uniform, including “maternity, various outerwear pieces, wheel hat, cuff links and more.”

The timeline for when the service dress uniform will be available for purchase is still late 2025.

The Uniform Office is also designing a Space Force mess dress uniform for “official formal evening functions and state occasions,” according to Air Force policy. When that design will be revealed is unclear.

“We look forward to showing Guardians more uniform options in the future to continue including their feedback,” a spokesperson said.

The Space Force’s physical fitness gear is displayed on a mannequin. The uniform is scheduled to become available to Guardians in late 2023 or early 2024. Image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

space force PT gear uniforms — The Space Force’s physical fitness gear is displayed on a mannequin. The uniform is scheduled to become available to Guardians in late 2023 or early 2024. Image courtesy of the U.S. Air Force

T-7 Trainer’s IOC Slips Again, This Time to Spring 2027

April 21, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer won’t achieve initial operational capability until early 2027, having slipped from its original goal of 2024 and a more recent timeline of 2026, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said April 21. The delay stems from postponement of the Milestone C low-rate production decision, resulting from issues discovered in testing related to the ejection seat and more.

In an email transmitted through an Air Force spokesperson, Hunter told Air & Space Forces Magazine that “due to issues discovered in the early development and test phase of the program, the Air Force is delaying its Milestone C decision to initiate the buy of T-7A production aircraft. By extension, this will shift the T-7A program’s initial operational capability (IOC) into the spring of 2027. We are pursuing risk reduction activities to mitigate some of these schedule challenges.”

The Air Force and Boeing team completed a sled test of the ejection seat in February and are set to conduct a taxi test “within the next several weeks,” Hunter said. Those tests will hopefully provide a path to resolving the ejection seat problems, he added.

The escape system ran into trouble when testing showed that for persons at the low end of the height/weight range, ejection from the T-7 posed a risk of serious injury. Industry sources have said, however, that the manikins used to test ejection forces may have been improperly instrumented.

The T-7A program used new techniques like digital engineering and digital design to dramatically shorten the traditional time to go from initial drawings to first flight.

“As a result, we have identified and mitigated issues earlier in the development phase, prior to formal flight testing” and before a production decision, Hunter said. “This significantly reduces concurrency on the program and avoids more costly delays from discovery later in development, after a production decision.”

However, the problems discovered—including a “wing rock” issue—have pushed back the Air Force’s ambitious timeline to get the trainer in service.

The Air Force acknowledged last week the T-7A likely won’t get the green light for low-rate initial production until February 2026, but it could not at that time estimate what effect the delay would have on IOC. The production decision marked a 14-month slip from the update to the program schedule in late 2022.

The first production aircraft now will not be delivered until December 2025. Three of the five production-representative aircraft necessary for flight test are complete, and both Boeing and the Air Force anticipate formal flight testing of those airplanes will begin in the coming months.

The T-7A has also been afflicted by supply and labor shortage issues.

Boeing and USAF are “confident improvements and recent testing are yielding a safe and effective escape system,” an Air Force spokesperson said April 14.

The Air Force removed all T-7 production funds from its fiscal year 2024 budget request, saying the slip in the low-rate initial production meant production funds are not needed in the coming fiscal year.

The slip in the T-7A’s IOC date will now almost surely require the Air Force to further extend the service of some of its 60-plus-year-old T-38 advanced jet trainers, which continue to receive structural modifications and cockpit improvements.

The Air Force plans to buy 351 T-7As and has options to buy as many as 475.

In recent days, members of Congress have expressed concerns to the Air Force about trainer shortages causing delays in pilot production and deficits in pilot manning levels, particularly in fighters.

Latest AMRAAM Cleared for Deployment; Multiyear Buy Bridges the Gap to JATM

April 21, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The latest version of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, the Air Force’s primary air-to-air weapon, has been cleared for fleet deployment later this year, according to Raytheon, the missile’s builder.

The Air Force is planning a multiyear procurement of the missile to bridge the gap until its successor, the highly classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, is in production at scale, according to service leaders and fiscal 2024 budget request documents.

The AIM-120D-3 has completed the Air Force’s “Functional Configuration Audit” and is “on track toward fielding by both the Air Force and Navy this year,” Raytheon said in a press release. The upgrade program that keeps the AMRAAM capable of dealing with advanced threats is known as the Form, Fit, Function Refresh, or F3R.

The D-3 version of the missile includes 15 upgraded circuit cards and uses the latest software available, the company said.

“The missile brings tremendous capability to counter both current and future threats and is postured to receive continuous agile software enhancements,” the company said. The Functional Configuration Audit included bench testing, captive carry flights, and live fires from multiple USAF and Navy platforms, Raytheon noted. An FCA of an exportable version, the AIM-120 C-8 variant, will be completed later this year.

Air Force 2024 budget documents state the AIM-120D variant “delivers improved performance via Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided navigation; two way datalink capability for enhanced aircrew survivability and improved network compatibility; and incorporates new guidance software that improves kinematic performance and weapon effectiveness.”

The AIM-120 is used on “14 platforms in 42 countries,” Raytheon noted in its release. All future AMRAAM production will consist of D3 or C8 variants.

Production of the missile had been winding down—with 317 units purchased in fiscal 2022 and 271 in 2023—as the Air Force planned to ramp up production of the longer-ranged AIM-260 JATM around 2022 and achieve initial operational capability with the missile that year.

However, in the 2024 budget, the planned AMRAAM buy jumps back up to 457 units, followed by 462 in fiscal 2025 and 664 in 2026, before a sharp downturn to 118 in 2027 and just nine in 2028 and a further 27 missiles expected for the rest of the program.

Speaking at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event April 6, Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore Jr., vice chief of staff for plans and programs, said the AMRAAM program’s revised trajectory is driven in part by concerns of lawmakers that the industrial base’s ability to surge production of many weapon systems during wartime is very limited. The issue has been highlighted as reports indicate it will take the U.S. years to replenish its stocks with weapons being provided to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Now, “any munitions line that’s hot and is producing weapons right now” is getting a boost, Moore said.

It’s not limited to AMRAAM, either, he added.

“It’s any place where we can buy munitions,” Moore said. “Because the reality is, when we tried to surge [for] … Ukraine, the surge capacity wasn’t there. And industry is ramping up as quickly as they possibly can.”

Air Force budget justification documents for AMRAAM say there is an “industrial leadtime of 40 months” between ordering the missiles and taking delivery.

Asked if the reversal of direction on AMRAAM production indicates a problem with JATM, Moore said the service is not seeing a delay at the moment.

The JATM was revealed at a 2019 industry conference by the program executive officer for armaments at that time, Brig. Gen. (now Maj. Gen.) Anthony Genatempo, now the PEO for command, control, communications and networks. The JATM has significantly longer range than AMRAAM and addresses the longer range of threat missiles, like China’s advanced PL-15, which has a longer reach than AMRAAM.

Moore said JATM is still progressing, and some of the facilitization funding requested for AMRAAM in the 2024 budget “will help us to get to JATM faster.”

Once JATM, made by Lockheed Martin, goes into production, he said, “we’ll get to quantity as fast as we can.”

The AMRAAM’s funding decline in the latter part of the decade may suggest the timing of the Air Force’s ramp-up in JATM production, likely with some overlap.

Budget documents say the Air Force is “initiating a Multiyear Procurement (MYP) strategy for AMRAAM; JASSM; LRASM; and Standard Missile-6, under the Large Lot Procurement (LLP) concept.” The JASSM and LRASM are variants of the AGM-158 stealthy cruise missile; the former intended for land targets and the latter for ships. Th SM-6 is a Navy ship-based anti-aircraft missile.

The multiyear procurement strategy across all these systems at once is intended to produce “synergies in production across different but related programs” which can generate efficiencies, the budget documents said, which in turn can “result in greater production capacity, accelerated delivery, and lower unit costs.”

The documents said the LLP concept builds on the existing multiyear construct, leveraging the savings derived from economic order quantities “to procure additional lots of missiles under a buy-to-budget concept, to further improve efficiencies and yields.”

The Air Force buys AMRAAM for itself and the Navy.