Travis Gets Its First New KC-46 as Tanker Deliveries Resume

July 28, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Travis Air Force Base, Calif., became the sixth main operating base for the KC-46 on July 28, receiving its first Pegasus tanker—also the first accepted by the Air Force from Boeing since March, when a fuel tank problem halted deliveries.

A ceremony commemorating the event at the base also marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of Travis; the 75th anniversary of the 60th Air Mobility Wing; and the 100th anniversary of aerial refueling. Travis is trading its KC-10 Extender tanker/cargo aircraft for the Pegasus.

Boeing, in its second-quarter earnings call earlier this week, said it had resumed deliveries of the KC-46, which had been on hold since March due to a quality process problem with Boeing subcontractor Triumph Aerostructures. The center fuel tank interiors had not been properly cleaned and primed, causing concern that paint could flake off and contaminate the aircraft’s fuel system. Boeing CEO David Calhoun said the company has “completed the rework” necessary to fix the problem. Affected aircraft were deemed safe to fly during the corrective process with close monitoring of their fuel filters.

Boeing needs to deliver 15 KC-46s this year under its contract with the Air Force, but the Travis aircraft is only the second in 2023. The company has not said whether it expects to deliver all the required aircraft by the end of December.

Maj. Gen. Corey J. Martin, commander of 18th Air Force, said at the welcoming ceremony that the KC-46 goes beyond the KC-10 in that, while it can do air refueling, cargo, and aeromedical evacuation missions, it has “the brains [for] far more.”

“It’s the connections, it’s the sensors, it’s the survivability,” Martin said. The Pegasus has “the tactical situational awareness systems. It has the radios that will link this mobility aircraft to bombers, fighters, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; to space, to special operations. It has systems that will detect and avoid radar-guided surface-to-air threats. It has systems that will detect and defeat infrared guided surface-to-air threats; all while maneuvering our Joint force closer to contested airspace than any KC aircraft has done in the past.”

Besides the primary missions of air refueling, cargo movement, and aeromedical evacuation, the Air Force plans to fit its KC-46s with communications and connectivity gear to make them a kind of airborne internet provider in the battlespace, as part of the service’s evolving Air Battle Management System. These changes were included in recent contracts for the KC-46 Block 1 upgrade.

The aircraft delivered to Travis is the 70th KC-46 to become operational for the Air Force, against a total order of 179 aircraft due to be delivered by 2028. The Air Force said the Pegasus has flown more than 16,000 sorties and delivered more than 150 million pounds of fuel, despite being at least a year away from the planned declaration of initial operational capability.

All 59 KC-10s in the Air Force are set to retire by September 2024 or sooner. The last East-Coast KC-10s retired from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey in June. Travis was picked to get the KC-46 in a 2017 Air Force decision; the base is slated to receive 27 of the new tankers.

In preparation for the Pegasus’ arrival at Travis, the Air Force built a $137 million, 174,300-square-foot, three-bay hangar; the largest among several new-build or renovation projects at the facility worth a collective $188 million. Construction was paused in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, and the first KC-46 arrival was postponed from January 2023 as a result.

The KC-46 recently participated in the recent Mobility Guardian 23 exercise, as well as the Juniper Oak exercise with Israel. Air Force tankers have also been making flyovers of ceremonies and sporting events all summer to commemorate the centennial of aerial refueling.

The first aerial refueling took place on June 27, 1923, over Rockwell Field, San Diego, Calif., when two Army Air Service pilots passed fuel from their Boeing-built de Havilland DH-4B to another, using simple gravity flow. Using this technique the same group of pilots set a flying endurance record of 37 hours a few weeks later. Air refueling in the coming years was largely used to support endurance records—notably, Maj. Carl Spaatz and the Question Mark set a record of 150 hours and 40 minutes in 1937—but it was not until Spaatz became the first Chief of Staff of the Air Force that aerial refueling was pursued with serious operational purpose. Spaatz directed the conversion of some B-29s to tanker configuration in 1948, and the first air refueling units stood up in 1949.

In Emotional Speech, Brown Commemorates 75th Anniversary of Military Desegregation

July 28, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

When he was head of Pacific Air Forces in 2020, Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. recorded an emotional video following the killing of George Floyd that recounted how he, as a Black man, had to prove that he was as capable as some of his white counterparts.

Three years later, Brown is the first Black service chief as Air Force Chief of Staff and has been nominated by President Joe Biden to become the second-ever Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“None of us decide to grow up to be something we’ve never seen before,” Brown said July 28 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

He was speaking at the Truman Library Institute’s Civil Rights Symposium, which was held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces by President Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9981, signed on July 26, 1948.

Truman’s executive order mandated “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Now, some 44 percent of the nation’s Active-Duty, all-volunteer force are Americans of color, according to the Pentagon.

In a heartfelt address to the symposium and in other recent appearances, Brown recalled the many Black pioneers who proved, despite discrimination, that they had the ability and willingness to serve a nation that did not treat them equally.

“You must reflect on how far we’ve come as a nation,” Brown said. “Maj. Gen. James Hamlet, an infantry officer in the segregated mighty Second Infantry Division in World War II and an army aviator in Vietnam, said in his retirement ceremony, ‘When I entered the army, a Black man was not allowed to lead a squad to the latrine. We have come a long way.’ We’ve come a long way indeed.”

Two days earlier, Brown took note of the most famous example in Air Force: the Tuskegee Airmen, the air and ground crew who served in the Black flying units in the Army Air Forces, the predecessor to the independent U.S. Air Force, during World War II.

“Their progress is what made it possible for me to stand here today,” Brown said at Joint Base Andrews, Md., when he accepted a PT-17 Stearman biplane, used as a trainer by Tuskegee Airmen, to be exhibited at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., center left, and Tuskegee Airmen stand in front of the PT-17 Stearman during the Tuskegee Airmen PT-17 Stearman Aircraft Exchange ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Md., July 26, 2023. Generations of Tuskegee Airmen attended the exchange ceremony. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Tyrone Thomas

The Pentagon has spent much of this week reflecting on the diversity of America’s armed forces. On the evening of July 27, Biden addressed the Truman Civil Rights Symposium where he recognized high-profile pioneers, including the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, and less well-known individuals.

“The list goes on, including rank-and-file cooks, custodians, secretaries, mailmen—too often overlooked and forgotten, but made it work,” Biden said during his address, which Brown attended.

In 2021, a year after Brown became the Air Force Chief of Staff, Lloyd J. Austin III became the first Black Defense Secretary. If Brown is confirmed as Chairman, the top two U.S. military officials will both be African Americans for the first time.

“For far too much of our nation’s history, service members of color who fought to defend our country were forced to serve in segregated units,” Austin said in a July 26 statement. “Black troops were denied the very rights that they fought to defend. Despite this bitter heritage, segregated units demonstrated their skill and mettle in war after war.”

Brown offered some more personal reflections.

“I’m very humbled when I’m out and about,” Brown said July 28. “It happened even to me last night, at last night’s event, when people approached me and told me that I’m an inspiration. And what goes through my mind is, ‘Really? I’m just C.Q. Brown Jr. I’m an ordinary American who has been provided extraordinary opportunities. Opportunities provided by Executive Order 9981.’”

Brown said that he hoped such a career would eventually be less remarkable.

“I hope that one day, progress will mean there will be no more firsts to be celebrated; that we are all left celebrating each other’s achievements as fellow Americans,” Brown said.

New Air Force Detachment Supports RC-135 Recon Jets in Alaska

July 28, 2023 | By David Roza

The Air Force’s 55th Operations Group is standing up a detachment at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. to help launch and recover jets from the RC-135 family of intelligence and reconnaissance platforms as they conduct operations and exercises over the Indo-Pacific.

The detachment is small: less than 10 Airmen and a few contractors, according to a July 25 press release. Ryan Hansen, a spokesperson for the 55th Wing, told Air & Space Forces Magazine there are still a final few steps before the detachment is fully stood-up, but it already has some operational capabilities. By providing aircraft maintenance and systems support for RC-135s, the unit could play a key role as the U.S. military works to enhance its awareness and response times over the vast area.

“Over the past few years we have seen an increase in operations over the Indo-Pacific region,” Hansen said. “This has come as a result of the Pacific pivot and our nation’s continued commitment to our allies in the region.”

Each of the 30 or so aircraft in the RC-135 family of jets performs a unique kind of intelligence-gathering. RC-135V/W Rivet Joints act as mobile listening posts: collecting, analyzing, and disseminating real-time electronic and signals intelligence. RC-135S Cobra Ball jets track and analyze ballistic missile activity; RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft locate, identify, and analyze radar signals; while WC-135R/W Constant Phoenix jets collect samples of the atmosphere to detect nuclear weapons testing. The detachment in Alaska will initially support Rivet Joint operations but over time will support other RC-135 or WC-135 jets as needed.

There are no plans to expand the Alaska detachment or station any of the RC-135s or WC-135s in Alaska on a more permanent basis, Hansen said. The key advantage of Detachment 1 is speed: allowing the 55th Operations Group to respond faster in the Pacific as requirements increase.

“All of our platforms are constantly tasked for worldwide operations,” Col. Derek Rachel, commander of the 55th Operations Group, said in the press release. “Having this location always available and ready will enable us to respond quicker than ever before.”

Detachment 1 is not the 55th’s only geographically-separated unit (GSU). Hansen pointed out that the group has maintained two GSUs at Kadena Air Base, Japan, in the form of the 82nd Reconnaissance Squadron and 390th Intelligence Squadron.

“We’ve relied on that location for some operational taskings while also utilizing Alaska for shorter [temporary duty] missions, etc.,” he said.

Indeed, the 55th Wing also has GSUs at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England; and Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Greece.

As the only wing in the Air Force operating the RC-135 and WC-135 family of aircraft, “we are constantly tasked by combatant commanders around the globe, so these locations enable us to do so quickly when called upon,” Hansen said. “We plan to use the new detachment much the same way as we have these long-standing locations.

This is not the first time RC-135 Airmen have operated out of Alaska. The jets, many of which were first built in the early 1960s, often flew from Alaska or were temporarily deployed there during the Cold War, the service’s release noted.

A Chinese J-11 intercepts a U.S. Air Force RC-135 over the South China Sea, Dec. 21, 2022. Screenshot of DOD video.

Recent headlines testify to the the RC-135’s continuous global presence. In December, one RC-135 Rivet Joint took evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with a Chinese J-11 fighter jet that came within 20 feet of the reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea, according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. A similar incident occurred over the same area in May.

As the new Alaska detachment stands up, RC-135s may return to fly over those areas.

“The new detachment will provide us more flexibility and allow us to expand our operations in response to increased intelligence requirements,” Rachel said. “We’re very excited to see this initiative come to fruition.”

Northrop Won’t Bid on Air Force’s NGAD Fighter, But CCA, F/A-XX Programs Still in Play

July 27, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Northrop Grumman won’t compete to be the prime contractor on the hyper-secret Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter program, but hasn’t ruled out a bid for the Navy’s corresponding F/A-XX or the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs, CEO Kathy Warden said July 27 in a second-quarter results call.

“We have notified the U.S. Air Force that we’re not planning to respond to the NGAD RFP (Request For Proposals) as the prime,” Warden said. She did not rule out being a partner or supplier to other NGAD bidders, however.

Northrop’s portfolio includes combat aircraft like the B-21 bomber; reconnaissance aircraft such as the RQ-4 Global Hawk; electronic warfare systems; radars; sensors and aircraft structures, as well as solid rocket motors and hypersonic engines, among other business lines.

Northrop had withheld comment on NGAD until the Air Force announced “their intent to issue the RFP,” Warden said. The Air Force released the NGAD RFP in May and aims to select a winning contractor in 2024.

It wasn’t clear from Warden’s comments when the company informed the Air Force it won’t bid on NGAD. Media reports have indicated that the NGAD horse race is down to two competitors, and Northrop may already have been knocked out of the competition. But the Air Force has said any qualified offeror is welcome to make a proposal on the program.

Neither Boeing nor Lockheed Martin, the other two largest aerospace contractors, have stated officially an intent to bid on NGAD, but Lockheed officials have talked extensively about what might go into NGAD and its “family of systems,” including uncrewed escort aircraft.

Warden couched Northrop’s decision as part of a strategy: “Remaining disciplined in assessing the right programs to pursue.” Those “right” programs, she said, should offer “an appropriate balance of risk and reward, for both the customer and the industrial base.”

But, Warden added, “we have other opportunities in military aircraft that we are pursuing.” Northrop backed out of the T-X advanced trainer competition in 2017, even after building a flying, full-scale prototype. After reviewing the final RFP, officials said at the time, they did not see the business case for a profitable program.

Northrop has also withdrawn from or opted not to pursue other programs, such as the second KC-X tanker competition; a Navy carrier-capable drone; and the Navy’s 1980s-era A-12 competition.

In most of those cases, the winning bidder wound up absorbing huge losses. Boeing, which ultimately won the tanker and trainer contests, has paid dearly for the privilege, losing more than $7 billion on the fixed-price KC-46 tanker program and now taking losses on the fixed-price T-7 Red Hawk Advanced Trainer, as well. The company has said it will be more careful about the risk of underbidding in the future.

Asked about the F/A-XX—the Navy’s version of NGAD—Warden said Northrop hasn’t decided if it will bid or not. If there are programs where “we’re well-positioned, and the government is appropriately balancing risk and reward … that would be a program we would pursue,” she said, declining to be more specific “until a little more information comes out.”

The Air Force and Navy are comparing notes on their respective next-generation fighters but will not join them together as with the F-35.

While Warden ruled out bidding on NGAD, she held open the possibility of bidding on the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

“It is a separate solicitation,” she said. “We’re looking at it closely.” The CCA program is expected to yield a modular, uncrewed aircraft to carry sensors, extra munitions, perform electronic warfare, or do other missions in collaboration with crewed fighters and bombers.

Warden said Northrop is looking for new business as older programs like the F/A-18 fighter, for which Northrop builds the aft fuselage and vertical tails, wind down. The F/A-18 comprises just 1 percent of Northrop’s sales.

The Air Force is drawing down its RQ-4 fleet, but Northrop is believed to have built a successor, the RQ-180, which is highly stealthy and may have paved the way for the B-21. Warden referenced a number of classified programs in her presentation.

Warden said Northrop will continue to consider each opportunity on its own merits. Northrop doesn’t apply a “blanket” policy across the board, she said. “We think about each opportunity in terms of its risk profile,” she said. “The maturity of our designs and offerings at the time that we’re being asked to bid also weighs heavily into our thinking about that decision.”

Russian Fighter Damages a Second MQ-9 Over Syria. So What Should the US Do Now?

July 27, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Stepping up harassment of U.S. aircraft over northwest Syria, Russian fighter jets damaged two MQ-9s this week, U.S. officials say.

The Russian actions have sparked a broader debate over how the U.S. should carry out air operations against ISIS militants in Syria as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalate.

“I don’t see any reasonable way forward where you don’t keep flying the aircraft,” said retired Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who commanded U.S. forces in the Middle East from 2019-2022, in an interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We have a clear continuing counter-ISIS mission that needs to be accomplished there.”

On July 26, two Russian fighters approached an MQ-9 and one dropped flares, striking and damaging the aircraft’s left wing in several places, according to U.S. officials.

The Russians quickly put out their version of events: Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, a Russian military official in Syria, accused the U.S. of provoking the encounter with a “dangerous” approach by the MQ-9, causing the Russian pilots to release flares to defend themselves. Gurinov called U.S. MQ-9s operations “provocative,” according to Interfax, a Russian news agency.

Gurinov claimed sensors aboard the planes triggered “the automatic operation of onboard defense systems and the shooting of false thermal targets.”

A U.S. official disputed the account. “The Russian storyline that the propeller-driven MQ-9 ‘dangerously passed’ Russian fighter aircraft is laughable,” the U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “If an MQ-9 can sneak up on a Russian Su-35, then they probably need another Su-35 pilot.”

Just three days prior, on July 23, a Russian Su-35 released flares, striking an MQ-9’s propeller. As with the July 26 episode, the drone returned safely to base. The Russians also blamed the U.S. for that incident, prompting Air Forces Central (AFCENT) to release a video of the incident showing how the Russian plane flew toward the drone and released flares directly in its flight path.

The incidents raise the larger question of how the U.S. will carry out air operations against ISIS without letting escalating tensions with Moscow get in the way. The two nations’ air forces have managed to deconflict operations effectively since Russian forces arrived in 2015 to support President Bashar al-Assad’s fight against insurgent forces. American forces are in Syria for a very different mission: partnering with local groups fighting against the remnants of ISIS.

To avoid inadvertent confrontations, the two sides created a deconfliction channel linking Russian and American commanders. But in recent months, the channel has increasingly become a complaint line, U.S. officials say, rather than a means of managing airspace so each side can carry out operations without interference.

One way the U.S. could ease tensions would be to reduce U.S. MQ-9 operations over northwest Syria, some observers say. But doing so would constrain both intelligence gathering and the ability to strike at ISIS leaders, providing them a refuge in that part of the country. It would also send a signal to Moscow that aggressive operations can be effective in getting the U.S. to pull back.

“We don’t want this to escalate,” McKenzie said. “But at the same time, we can’t be forced out of this space. Those drones perform a vital task for us.”

Another approach could be to have U.S. fighter aircraft accompany the MQ-9s some of the time. That could discourage the Russians from overflying U.S. forces in eastern Syria and loitering over the American outpost at Al Tanf, as a Russian reconnaissance plane did earlier this month. Right now, four U.S. fighter squadrons—F-16s, A-10, and now F-35s—are deployed to the CENTCOM area of responsibility. F-22s were sent to the region in June after American encounters with Russian forces in the air, but the Raptors have since left.

Escorting MQ-9s over northwestern Syria where Russian and Syrian regime forces are more active could present additional risks.

“You would be taking a lot of risks with manned platforms,” said McKenzie. “I used to say when I was the CENTCOM commander: ‘I’m very brave with uncrewed aircraft. I’m not real brave with crewed aircraft. I’m very conscious that I’ve got human beings on those airplanes.’”

The White House has also sought to minimize the chances of a military confrontation with Russia in and around Ukraine and in other parts of the world.

Yet another option could be to continue the MQ-9 flights while documenting the Russian provocations whenever they occur.

“We’ve dealt with provocative actions in the Middle East for a long period of time,” retired Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the commander of CENTCOM from 2016-2019, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We’ve got to demonstrate some will and some strength in these areas and make it very plain that these are not acceptable activities, and then we’ve got to expose it for what it is.”

AFCENT’s commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich and other defense leaders have been vocal in calling out Russian behavior, and the Pentagon has taken the unusual step—in many cases—of releasing video footage from U.S. drones and manned aircraft in an effort to counter the Russian narrative.

An NSC spokesperson said July 26 that “Russia’s close approach to, and deployment of flares over, U.S. drones during routine missions against ISIS targets violates established protocols and international norms.”

A day after the July 26 episode, however, the Pentagon has yet to make public any video of the encounter, leaving it unclear whether the Department of Defense is still committed to its policy of naming and shaming the Russians whenever they engage in provocative actions.

Successful B-21 Test Moves Bomber Closer to First Flight, Still on Track for 2023

July 27, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The B-21 Raider accomplished its first “power on” test in recent months, moving it another step closer to a first flight that is still scheduled to take place before the end of 2023, Northrop Grumman officials announced July 27.

After that, the company expects to receive a low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract, also before the end of the year.

In Northrop’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO Kathy Warden said the company doesn’t expect any profits on highly classified B-21 during the LRIP phase, due to the drag of inflation on the fixed-price contract. However, she did report the company will receive $60 million from the Air Force to mitigate inflation on the project.

“We successfully powered-on the first flight-test aircraft in the quarter,” Warden said, calling the development “another important milestone in our campaign to achieve first flight in transition to production.”

Chief financial officer David Keffer added that “we remain on track for first flight this year. Again, that timing continues to depend on events and data over time. We anticipate that first LRIP contract will be awarded following first flight.”

It was not clear from his remarks if the contract is conditional on first flight.

Keffer said the company will continue to look for efficiencies in the program and the timing of the LRIP contract “will be informed by continued progress in driving efficiencies on the program as well as our understanding of that first LRIP contract lot and beyond.” Warden added that some aspects of production have seen a 15 percent efficiency improvement due to the application of “digital thread” methods.

Asked whether the LRIP phase of the B-21 will allow Northrop to “break even,” Warden said “we are not planning to have margin from the LRIP contracts.”

“We still have the risk factor associated with B-21, as we look at inflationary impact,” Warden added. “In the quarter we did receive notification that the [Defense Department] has allocated $60 million for B-21 LRIP procurements due to inflationary impact, and we expect that to be awarded later this year. But keep in mind this only applies to the one fiscal year; it’s associated with FY 2023. And we continue to work closely with the government on an effort to address the impacts of macro-economic disruption.”

Northrop’s contract for the B-21 was awarded in 2015, and it calls for engineering and manufacturing development to be a cost-plus arrangement, but Northrop agreed to a fixed price arrangement for the first lot of aircraft. Warden said there’s very little financial backlog on the B-2 at the moment because EMD is winding down and the LRIP contract has not yet been awarded.

Northrop and the Air Force rolled out the first B-21 in December 2022. Company officials said the time had come to reveal the top-secret airplane because it would soon be outside the factory for engine runs and taxi tests. However, there have been no reports of the bomber appearing beyond the walls of Northrop’s Palmdale, Calif., facilities in the seven months since.

The B-2 bomber rolled out of the same factory in 1988 and did not fly until nine months later. Its first flight was from Palmdale to nearby Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., which is the planned destination for the B-21’s first flight as well.

Air Force officials have said the B-21’s initial flight likely will not be announced in advance, as the jet will fly when it’s ready, but those officials also said an increasing tempo of outdoor testing will indicate that the first flight is close at hand.

In early 2021, the service projected the B-21’s first flight would take place in mid-2022. In May 2022, that timeline was pushed back to 2023, and in March 2023, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the schedule for first flight had slipped “a few months” but was still set to occur before 2024.

Experts Warn of Blurring Line Between Military, Commercial Satellites

July 27, 2023 | By David Roza

As the Pentagon and other government agencies become more reliant on information provided by commercial satellites, the line between military and civilian targets in space will become increasingly blurred in future conflicts, three former Air Force space experts-turned-commercial space executives said during a panel discussion hosted by the Hudson Institute on July 26.

As a sign of things to come, the executives pointed to the role that communications and imaging satellites owned by SpaceX and Maxar Technologies have played in Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion. Much of the U.S. military’s current communication system also runs through commercial satellite systems, the panelists said.

“I think we’re not spending enough time talking about the coupling between the commercial operators and the [Department of Defense] in a conflict that extends into space,” said Even Rogers, former Air Force space operator and CEO of the space technology company True Anomaly.

“Commercial operators become targets when they support the DOD,” Rogers added. “In fact, I suspect that there are some incentives that would cause commercial operators to be targeted first as a strategic off-ramp in a broader conflict, because it is a gray zone, there is uncertainty about whether the United States intends to defend and protect … commercial providers.”

Indeed, the same day of the Hudson Institute panel, the nominee for the next leader of U.S. Space Command, Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the military ought to work more closely with industry to accelerate fielding new technologies.

Whiting’s testimony also seemed to confirm the “gray zone” status of commercial space assets. When Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked if an attack on U.S. commercial satellites constitutes an act of war, the general demurred, calling it a policy question and stating SPACECOM’s job is to provide decision-makers options for defending commercial space capabilities.

“We must continue to partner with those companies, so that they look to build resilience into their systems,” he said, so that, “if we do need to actively defend them, we have the communication avenues open to be able to do so.”

Executives at the Hudson event made similar calls for close cooperation. The way to deter gray zone aggression and preserve the capabilities that the government relies on is to establish “rules of the road” for what constitutes acceptable behavior in space, said retired Air Force Col. Dean Bellamy, now executive vice president of national security space for Redwire.

Specific examples of behavior that could be normalized include rendezvous and proximity operations, where two spacecraft have to draw up close to one another in orbit, said Jason Kim, a senior policy analyst at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Commercial operators could hold a certain distance and broadcast what they are up to in order to promote transparency during such an operation, Kim suggested. But transparency requires constant awareness of events in orbit and an established process for dealing with bad behavior. Rogers pointed out that a similar system already exists on Earth in the form of air-to-air intercepts.

“Very rarely do air-to-air intercepts result in any sort of catastrophic activity,” he said. “There’s ways that I think industry partners and the government can work together to establish those procedures, demonstrate those procedures, and adhere to them.”

Rogers’ company, True Anomaly, produces Jackal, an autonomous orbital vehicle built to carry out rendezvous and proximity operations. Another panelist and former Air Force officer, Chris Shank, is vice president of defense and space programs at Maxar, whose imagery-producing satellites can track activity both on Earth and in orbit.

Both military leaders such as Whiting and civilian government officials like Kim say stability in space, secured with industry’s help, benefits everyone.

“Space sustainability in general is a huge concern for all of us, not just for national security but for commercial and civil space,” Kim said. “It’s in all of our collective interest to maintain the sustainability of space and to not allow a war to escalate into space.”

Bird Strike Caused T-38 Crash, Investigators Say

July 27, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A large bird struck the canopy of a T-38 and sent debris flying into the trainer jets’ engines, forcing the pilot to eject and the aircraft to crash last November, according to a new Air Force accident investigation report.

The mishap, which resulted in the complete destruction of the T-38, was unavoidable and the sole cause of the loss, investigators said.

The July 26 release of the accident report comes more than eight months after the Nov. 7 incident near Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. Eleven days later, another T-38 experienced an in-flight emergency, forcing the pilot to execute a “wheels-up” landing.

The Air Force has yet to release a report on the second incident.

According to the Accident Investigation Board, the Nov. 7 incident came during a routine instructor continuation training sortie, in which two T-38s flew with no student pilots aboard.

Planners recognized increased risk in the mission, given that it was the pilots’ second flight that day, they would fly lower to the ground, and there was a moderate risk of bird strikes, according to the report.

However, investigators noted that Columbus is “generally at bird watch condition moderate” and that mitigation measures were discussed during the preflight briefing. They also stated that “it is not uncommon for an instructor to fly twice in one day.”

Within five minutes of takeoff, as the planes were maneuvering into a line abreast formation at approximately 3,000 feet, one plane struck a “large bird,” the report states.

“The front canopy was basically open,” the pilot told investigators. “To me it looked like it was just, most of it was gone.”

A pair of T-38 Talon aircrafts prepare to take off July 15, 2020, on Columbus Air Force Base Miss. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jake Jacobsen

The jet’s flight data recorder showed the left engine dropping to zero revolutions per minute with a rise in exhaust gas temperature, indicative of a seizure. The right engine, meanwhile, was able to keep going at reduced power, indicating a compressor stall “when the engine does not have a proper distribution of airflow; the engine is still turning but will have a loss of thrust and therefore is not as effective as needed to sustain flight,” investigators stated.

The pilot quickly identified the incident as a bird strike and told the other T-38’s pilot they needed to make an emergency landing at a nearby airport. Within 90 seconds, however, the right engine started to fail as it exceeded temperature limits and failed to produce enough thrust. The pilot tried to recover the engine for 24 seconds, then punched out at 680 feet above ground level. By then, two minutes had passed since the bird strike.

The aircraft crashed some 20 miles away from Columbus, completely destroyed, a loss valued at $8.5 million. The pilot suffered minor injuries from the bird strike and was medically cleared within 24 hours.

Investigators at the crash scene recovered parts of the T-38 canopy, heavily damaged and with small amounts of bird remains on it. They inspected the engines and discovered heavily damaged compressor blades in both, with “white granular material” in one that was consistent with the acrylic canopy. No bird remains were found in either engine.

The report’s conclusion states that the pilot “could not have avoided the bird” and acted as an experienced pilot should in an emergency. The report also concluded that “the Columbus AFB Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard Program and its execution by the tower, operations supervision, and pilots were satisfactory.”

Boeing Resumes KC-46 Deliveries, But Supply Chain Problems Persist

July 26, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Boeing has resumed deliveries of KC-46 tankers after a prolonged halt due to quality problems with fuel tanks, company president and chief executive officer David Calhoun said July 26 during a second quarter earnings call.

Yet company officials said supply chain problems continue to afflict Boeing programs, particularly defense-oriented ones, and full recovery will take some time.

“On the tanker, we have now completed rework on the production aircraft requiring it, and we have resumed deliveries to the Air Force,” Calhoun said.

Boeing first notified the Defense Contract Management Agency in January that there had been a process problem with KC-46 center wing fuel tanks, built by Triumph Aerostructures. The tank interiors had not been properly cleaned before being primed and delivered to Boeing. There was a possibility that the paint could flake off and clog fuel lines to the engines. The issue also affects the 767 freighter, on which the KC-46 is based.

At the time, Boeing determined there was no safety of flight issue, but deliveries of the jet were halted in March pending rework. The Air Force had only accepted one of 15 KC-46s planned for delivery this year before the problem emerged, and has taken none since. The service agreed with Boeing in January that there was no immediate risk to flight crews. Fuel filters installed in the jet are capable of detecting and catching paint flakes, and flight crews were instructed to watch for readings that would indicate paint flakes being caught in the filters.

An Air Force spokesperson was not immediately able to confirm that Boeing had resumed deliveries of the tanker, but the next two aircraft are slated to go to Travis Air Force Base, Calif. Boeing officials did not say whether they will be able to deliver the remaining 14 tankers required by the end of the year. Aviation Week reported July 13 that Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan said the delivery goal would be met.

Boeing officials also did not discuss progress on development and testing of the KC-46’s Remote Viewing System 2.0, which is supposed to conclude by the end of 2025. That effort calls for a complete changeout of the boom operator station behind the KC-46 cockpit, as well as the cameras used to provide the boom operator with three-dimensional views of the refueling operations at the tail of the airplane.

Despite the delay in deliveries, Boeing did not report any losses in the quarter on the KC-46, leaving the company’s total losses at a little more than $7 billion on the fixed-price program.

However, Boeing did record losses on three other fixed-price defense projects: the T-7A Advanced Trainer, at $189 million; the Navy’s MQ-25 refueling drone, at $68 million, and NASA’s commercial space crew transport, the Starliner, at $257 million.

“The T-7A impact was not due to any performance challenge within the quarter, [but] was more associated with our estimates for higher supply chain and production costs in the future,” Calhoun said. He noted, though, that “even with the cost growth, we’re hitting some key milestones on the program. The Air Force successfully completed its first flight of the T-7 [and] we’re heading toward the start of flight test in earnest.”

The Air Force conducted the first test flight of the T-7A with a USAF pilot on June 28. Four more production-representative airplanes are slated to comprise the test fleet, but the Government Accountability Office has warned that the service and Boeing have not finalized what the aircraft are to include ahead of low-rate and full-rate production, and this could lead to misunderstandings later.

Calhoun said Boeing is working through problems on its defense programs and has confidence after hitting milestones. He also claimed that the programs affected “will meet or beat the high performance standards of the warfighter.”

‘Given the fixed-price nature of some of our contracts, we’re very transparent about the financial impacts and we’re working to stabilize, to de-risk and mature them through development,” he added.

Expressing confidence in Boeing’s defense business, Calhoun also noted that analysis indicates a demand for 42,000 aircraft through 2043, “and with demand strong, the supply side of the system is beginning to settle down.”

There are still supply chain issues, however. Brian West, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said “we continue to see operational impacts from labor instability and supply chain disruption and other programs that contributed to lower margins.” For the defense-side of the business in particular, West said the company is “focused on the path to high single digit margins in 2025, 2026.”

Calhoun said his workers and vendors are “still in an extremely supply-constrained world, everything they do is supply constrained. … My prediction is it’s going to be quite a while” before the situation changes.

“Everybody’s fighting for the next part,” he said. “I think that’s just this moment we’re in.”