A-10s, Space Force Join in on South American Exercise for First Time

A-10s, Space Force Join in on South American Exercise for First Time

July 14, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

An A-10 “Warthog” landed in South America for the first time ever recently, as Air Forces Southern leads one of the largest exercises under U.S. Southern Command. 

Resolute Sentinel 23, the third edition of the training exercise in SOUTHCOM, involves roughly 1,000 personnel from the Air Force, Space Force, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and eight partner nations: Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Great Britain, Brazil, Chile, Panama, and Uruguay. 

The 12th Air Force—Air Forces Southern—is leading the exercise, with 10 USAF aircraft involved, including the A-10, KC-135, C-130, C-17, and C-5, as well as 24 USAF units, spokesman Lt. Col. Mickey Kirschenbaum told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

Resolute Sentinel began in 2021, growing from previous humanitarian relief exercises like New Horizons and Beyond the Horizons. The first two editions took place in Central America, but this latest version, based mostly out of Peru, marks the biggest one yet. 

In addition to practicing humanitarian relief operations and aeromedical evacuations, Resolute Sentinel includes training for combat operations, interoperability, and Agile Combat Employment, requiring Airmen to rapidly relocate and operate from austere bases. In one scenario on July 12, Airmen set up a forward area refueling point (FARP), gassing up an A-10 from an HC-130 in a remote airfield. “The A-10s need additives for their fuel,” Kirschenbaum said. “We thought we had a contractor here that was going to provide that, and they weren’t able to. So we had to come up with a solution to ferry fuel from one location to the other and then put the additives in so the A-10s can fly with the proper fuel inside. … We’ve been doing a lot of events like that, overcoming obstacles that you would see in a deployed location.” 

The A-10s in the exercise are from the Air Force Reserve’s 47th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.—the Reserve portion of the exercise is going by the name Patriot Fury. Units from Texas, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are all involved, even bringing their own fire truck and refueling trucks. 

Meanwhile, the Space Force is also getting involved through Operation Thundergun Express, a 21-day Space Force deployment exercise nested under Resolute Sentinel. Members of the 16th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron worked with compatriots from the Ecuadorian and Colombian air forces to build “mobile space detection systems” in Cali, Colombia, and Rionegro, Colombia, and based their command and control in Lima, Peru, according to an AFSOUTH release. It was “the first-ever defensive space control operation in U.S. Southern Command history.” 

“During the exercise, the forward-deployed team rapidly detected and reported live-fire electromagnetic interference sent from an exercise input cell attempting to disrupt a commercial satellite on orbit over the Atlantic Ocean,” according to the release. 

Resolute Sentinel began June 24 and will run through July 22. 

Editor’s Note: This article was updated July 17 to correctly identify all of the units involved in the exercise.

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 3: Infrastructure and Training

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 3: Infrastructure and Training

July 14, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a three-part series on the future of how Air Force Security Forces will guard nuclear missile fields. Read Part 1, on the MH-139 Grey Wolf, by clicking here, and Part 2, on the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and new Regional Operating Picture, by clicking here.

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.—As the Air Force prepares to stand up the LGM-35A Sentinel to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, the security forces who guard them are already in the midst of sweeping updates meant to help them respond faster, hit harder, and stay better connected than ever before.

New systems like the MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopter, Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, and Regional Operating Picture communications network are all in the process of coming online. But the new ICBM itself and a flurry of new construction projects coming to nuclear bases like F.E. Warren will help tie those improvements together and make sure security forces Airmen have the training required to keep pace with future changes in threats and technology.

The incoming Sentinel features an open system architecture which should allow for easy upgrades as technology develops between now and 2075, the missile’s planned retirement date. It is also designed to be easier to maintain, which should minimize the security forces footprint required during maintenance time.

“Today you might be able to see us at a site doing maintenance based on what you can see from the roadside,” Col. Robert Ford, commander of the 90th Security Forces Group, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Tomorrow you may not be able to see us.”

The facilities where the missiles are housed should also be easier to defend. Today, an underground network of copper wires known as the Hardened Intersite Cable System (HICS) feeds signals back and forth between a missile squadron’s launch facilities and control centers. Airmen use those signals to monitor the missiles for maintenance issues or intrusions at a launch facility, but the old technology can handle only so much data. Over the next few years, F.E. Warren plans to replace HICS with a new network of fiber optic cables that should provide more data at a faster speed.

“You can push only so much data over copper lines before you just lose the information as it travels so far,” said Lt. Col. Eric Green, Air Force Global Strike Command Sentinel program integration officer. “Fiber optics will allow all that data to come back. We’re moving on from analog and going into digital technology.”

security forces
Airmen from the 890th Missile Security Forces Squadron respond to a simulated intrusion at a missile launch facility during a training exercise near Albin, Wyoming, May 21, 2023. (Air & Space Forces Magazine photo by David Roza)

The network will hopefully promote better coordination across the missile fields. Today, each missile squadron controls its own launch facilities, but there is no connection between squadrons, said Lt. Col. Raymundo Vann, 90th Operations Group deputy commander. The upgrades will allow higher-level Airmen at the forthcoming Integrated Command Center to have a better sense of conditions out on the missile field. 

“The upgrades will give us more interconnectivity and more operational oversight, which for us as operators is fantastic,” Vann said.

Green explained that missile maintainers will benefit by being able to identify problems earlier, while security forces Airmen could use the new tech to better assess possible threats. 

“Right now if the alarm goes off, you virtually have to go out and inspect it, even if it’s a rabbit or a tumbleweed going through,” he said. “And now with the new systems they’re going to be able to get eyes on and say ‘nope, no response necessary.’”

As part of the switch to Sentinel, F.E. Warren will shrink its number of launch control centers from 15 to eight. Green said the remaining seven will support the new missiles, though how exactly is yet to be determined. F.E. Warren will modernize all 150 of its missile launch facilities, with the goal of having operational Sentinels on the base by the 2030s. The transition could be a difficult one. In June the Government Accountability Office wrote that the Sentinel program is about a year behind schedule, with initial operational capability expected between April and June 2030. The no-fail deadline required by U.S. Strategic Command is September 2030. 

Even if Sentinel gets back on schedule, Ford predicted there will be some complexity for security forces Airmen as they protect both old missiles and new ones coming online. It will also take time to train everybody up on the new technology and facilities coming to the base, said Col. Deane Konowicz, vice commander of the 20th Air Force, which oversees the missile fields at F.E. Warren, Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

“The number one challenge to training anywhere in the nuclear enterprise is that we have the alert force: day-to-day we are our nation’s deterrent,” he said. “The mission has been continuous since 1963. There is no down day in the missile field, so how do you balance training with keeping that alert force safe, secure, reliable and ready?”

A new facility may make it easier to strike that balance. F.E. Warren will build an integrated training center complete with a mock launch facility where maintainers, defenders, cybersecurity specialists, and missileers can practice running and securing Sentinel without stepping on the toes of an operational facility.

“Today I have to coordinate with the maintenance group folks and the operations group folks, whereas tomorrow I’ll have that kind of facility here on the base that I can use,” said Ford.

Having begun its service as an Army cavalry post in 1867, F.E. Warren is no stranger to reinvention. The next few years will see another massive change as the base stands up 21st-century missiles, facilities, and platforms. But base officials warned that threats will continue to evolve, and so too must missile field security Airmen.

“The challenges don’t go away, they change, so we need a trained and efficient force that understands them,” Konowicz said.

The new construction projects at F.E. Warren are just a few elements of a suite of technologies and platforms that will make the missile defense enterprise even more deadly. Part 1 is about the MH-139 Grey Wolf. Part 2 covers the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Regional Operating Picture.

Bombers Surge in the Pacific: B-52s Arrive in Guam, B-1s in Japan

Bombers Surge in the Pacific: B-52s Arrive in Guam, B-1s in Japan

July 13, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S. Air Force’s bomber presence in the Indo-Pacific swelled significantly in the past two weeks, as more B-52 Stratofortresses arrived on Guam and B-1 Lancers landed in Japan. 

B-52s and Airmen from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., landed at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on July 5. They join B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., that deployed to Guam last month on a Bomber Task Force mission. 

“The Bomber Task Force is designed to enhance the high-end readiness of the bomber force while also advancing our interoperability with allies and partners,” said Lt. Col. Jared Patterson, 20th EBS commander, in a statement. “Each mission flown further demonstrates our ability to provide agile combat ready forces and long-range strike capabilities to combatant commanders around the globe.” 

Five days later, two B-1s and around 25 Airmen from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, arrived at Misawa Air Base, Japan, on a separate Bomber Task Force rotation. 

“Having the B-1 here in Japan further showcases the United States’ commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and our Allies and partners,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Marshall, 345th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, in a PACAF release. 

Since arriving in Guam in mid-June, the Minot B-52s have flown integration exercises over the Korean Peninsula and were the first USAF B-52s to land in Indonesia. Within the past week, the bombers also took part in the Northern Edge military exercise in the Gulf of Alaska. 

Bomber activity in the Pacific has surged with increased tensions in the region. In the past six months alone, USAF bombers flew more than half a dozen sorties over the Korean Peninsula and conducted multiple integration exercises with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. 

While bombers in Guam are common, however, deploying B-1s to Misawa is unusual. B-1s have rarely flown out of Japan on Bomber Task Force deployments in the past. Their arrival follows a Stars & Stripes report July 12 that one of the Minot B-52s was forced to make a rare emergency landing at Yokota Air Base, Japan, due to an in-flight maintenance issue. Further details about the cause have not been released.

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, lands on the flightline on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, July 10, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Nia Jacobs
Here’s How the Air Force Plans to Implement Its Ambitious Energy and Climate Goals

Here’s How the Air Force Plans to Implement Its Ambitious Energy and Climate Goals

July 13, 2023 | By David Roza

The Department of the Air Force revealed a sweeping list of goals and objectives on July 11 meant to keep the service ready to win wars amid severe weather brought about by climate change. The Climate Campaign Plan is the implementation portion of the Climate Action Plan the Air Force unveiled in October 2022.

The goals of the plan include achieving net-zero emissions at Air Force facilities by fiscal 2046, 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity on a net annual basis by fiscal 2030, testing a full-scale blended wing body aircraft prototype by fiscal 2027, including climate considerations into professional military education by fiscal 2024, and identifying the effects of climate change for select supply chains by the end of fiscal 2023.

This wide swath of goals reflects the scope of the plan. To effectively prepare the Air Force and Space Force for climate change, the plan authors wrote, the department must make its installations capable of withstanding future climate risks, make climate-informed warfighting decisions, and reduce the department’s logistics tail by optimizing energy use and pursuing alternative energy sources.

The announcement also comes as a heat wave scorches much of the western and southern U.S., areas that host many of the Air Force’s largest bases. The climate campaign plan aims to prepare those installations for extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and other severe weather events exacerbated by climate change.

“We cannot launch or recover aircraft on a flooded runway, nor can we operate from installations devastated by hurricanes and wildfires,” wrote Dr. Ravi I. Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations and the environment, in the plan’s introduction. “Our bases are our power projection platforms and as those bases are increasingly impacted by the effects of climate change, adapting to these challenges will be critical to meet our national security obligation.”

climate change
An aerial view of Offutt Air Force Base and the surrounding areas affected by flood waters on March 16, 2019. An increase in water levels of surrounding rivers and waterways caused by record-setting snowfall over the winter in addition to a large drop in air pressure resulted in widespread flooding across the state of Nebraska. (U.S. Air Force photo by TSgt. Rachelle Blake).

The plan’s first priority is to “maintain air and space dominance in the face of climate risks,” which entails modernizing infrastructure and facilities to improve base resilience, evaluating the effects of climate change at department installations, and creating installation development plans to prepare for climate risks. Many of the due dates for these steps fall between 2023-2027, but one step is meant to help prepare the Air Fore to meet its 2046 goal of net-zero emission installations. The department must first roll out a framework for achieving that goal by fiscal 2024, then aim to hit 50 percent emissions reductions from 2008 levels by fiscal 2033.

The plan’s second priority is to make climate-informed decisions, which means ensuring “our decisions reflect an understanding of the impacts of the climate on our mission,” Chaudhary said. The steps to achieve that goal include integrating climate considerations into the department’s professional military education curriculum and into Air and Space Force concept development and major/field command operational plans by fiscal 2024. 

War games are a part of training, so one of the plan’s goals is to incorporate “best feasible representations of the physical environments for potential future combat operations,” which the plan writers think will better prepare Air and Space Force leaders for real-world missions. The plan also calls for shining a brighter light on the climate-related risks in the Department of the Air Force’s supply chain and incorporating that analysis into its supply chain risk management policy.

The third priority, optimizing energy use and pursuing alternative energy sources, is meant to make the Department of the Air Force’s logistics chains less vulnerable and secure the department’s footing overall by reducing its contributions to climate change. The plan calls for both developing new technologies and maximizing the efficiency of current equipment and facilities. 

For maximizing efficiency, the plan lays out a concept called operational energy intensity, which measures how much energy it takes for a unit to accomplish its objectives. Depending on the unit involved, that concept could take the form of test events per gallon, weapons released per gallon, syllabus events per gallon, and even aerial refueling gas offload per gallon. Another term for this conceptual metric is “lethality per gallon.”

The plan calls for increasing the operational energy intensity of Air Force flying missions by five percent by fiscal 2027 and 7.5 percent by 2032, partly through the use of aircraft drag reduction technologies, modern software scheduling tools, and enhanced engine sustainment practices.

On the new technology side, the plan calls for testing a full-scale prototype blended wing body—an aircraft where the fuselage helps the wings generate lift—by September 2027, and completing successful pilots of sustainable aviation fuels that cost the same or less than traditional aviation fuel at two operational Air Force locations by fiscal 2026. Other steps include completing a successful pilot of nuclear micro-reactors by 2028; achieving 100 percent carbon-pollution free electricity on a net annual basis by 2030; and 100 percent zero-emissions non-tactical vehicle acquisitions by 2035. 

The plan writers cautioned that achieving these goals will not be possible without developing a set of “cross-cutting capabilities,” the first of which is data collection and analysis. Today, many of the most important data sets for measuring energy and climate risk are managed in “functional stovepipes” which limits the collaboration required to accomplish the plan goals, the writers said. The Air Force will also need to retain systematic sortie-level data on fuel use and create automated processes or systems for collecting infrastructure energy data.

The other needed cross-cutting capability is partnerships with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the rest of the military, other government agencies, the private sector, academia, and relevant foreign entities.

“Execution of the [Climate Campaign Plan] requires strong partnerships,” the plan writers said. “No single entity can successfully mitigate and adapt to the direct and indirect effects of climate change.”

Space Force to Get Two New Four-Stars, Including a New SPACECOM Boss

Space Force to Get Two New Four-Stars, Including a New SPACECOM Boss

July 13, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

U.S. military space operations are set for a changing of the guard in leadership—Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting has been nominated to pin on a fourth star and take over as head of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM). Meanwhile, the Space Force is set to receive a new No. 2, as Lt. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein has been nominated for a promotion to a four-star and Vice Chief of Space Operations.

The Senate received the nominations from President Joe Biden, which the Senate Armed Services Committee will now consider, on July 11. A committee aide confirmed the nominations and assignments to Air & Space Forces Magazine on July 13.

Whiting is currently head of Space Operations Command (SpOC) at Peterson Space Force Base, Colo., the service’s component command to SPACECOM. SpOC is one of three Space Force field commands and supplies forces for communications; command and control; domain awareness; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; and more.

Space Command was established in late 2019 as a geographic combatant command responsible for military operations that are 100 kilometers over sea level and extend beyond. The Space Force was established as an independent service, responsible for organizing, training, and equipping forces, later that year.

Whiting will take over the SPACECOM role from Army Gen. James Dickinson.

Meanwhile, Guetlein will succeed Gen. David D. Thompson as the USSF’s second-highest ranking officer. Thompson has been the service’s first and only Vice Chief since the role was created in October 2020.

Guetlein is currently head of Space Systems Command (SSC), the service’s acquisition field command headquartered in Los Angeles. Prior to taking up command of SSC, Guetlein was deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant, currently a member of the Space Staff as deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, and requirements, is set to succeed Guetlein at SSC while retaining his current rank.

Thompson’s future plans are not publicly known. SPACECOM’s current deputy is also a Guardian, Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw, who assumed that role in 2020.

Whiting and Guetlein’s confirmation to their new roles may take time—Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has placed a blanket hold on all military nominations and promotions in protest of the Department of Defense policy to pay for service members to travel out-of-state to receive reproductive health care, such as abortions and in-virto fertilization.

The Senate could circumvent Tuberville’s hold by holding roll call votes on every nomination individually, but with Whiting and Guetlein joining some 250 pending senior military nominations, it would take months to vote on every single one.

Meanwhile, the command Whiting is slated to lead is also in limbo—for more than two years now, the selection of a permanent headquarters for SPACECOM has been bogged down by political squabbling and investigations. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall still has yet to decide whether to finalize the selection of Redstone Arsenal, Ala., or keep the command at its temporary home in Colorado Springs, Colo.

While that decision is still pending, Democratic lawmakers from Colorado have charged that House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) is holding up a request from the Air Force to reprogram funds to cover a personnel funding shortfall—usually a routine process—until Kendall makes a decision on the headquarters. In a statement, Rogers said reprogramming requests are still being considered under normal HASC procedures.

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 2: Trucking and Tracking

How the Air Force Will Guard its New Sentinel ICBMs, Part 2: Trucking and Tracking

July 13, 2023 | By David Roza

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part series on the future of how Air Force security forces will guard its nuclear missile fields. Read Part 1, on the MH-139 Grey Wolf, by clicking here, and Part 3, on infrastructure and training improvements, by clicking here.

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.—Every minute of every day since the early 1960s, generations of Airmen have stood watch in underground bunkers across the Midwest and the Northern Tier of the U.S., ready to fire the intercontinental ballistic missiles housed there at a moment’s notice. And above ground, generations of security forces Airmen have also stood watch, guarding access to the most devastating weapons on the planet.

Now, as the Air Force prepares to stand up the LGM-35A Sentinel to replace the aging Minuteman III ICBM, the security forces who guard them are also due for an update. Though their mission has never faltered, much of the equipment is obsolete. For example, at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., several of the 54-year-old Huey helicopters that Airmen rely on to reach the base’s far-flung missile sites served in the Vietnam War. Many of the Humvees are similarly outdated, and the communications networks Airmen rely on are inefficient compared to what current technology can provide.

A wave of modernization aims to boost the missile field security forces enterprise by allowing them to respond faster and hit harder than ever before, while the Sentinel itself will require a smaller security footprint due to easier maintenance and enhanced communication networks. One of those platforms is the MH-139A Grey Wolf, a helicopter that can fly faster, higher, and twice as far as the UH-1N Huey and carry 5,000 more pounds of cargo.

But helicopters are just one part of the equation. In fact, the Airmen at F.E. Warren collectively drive seven million miles per year to and from the base’s launch facilities and missile alert facilities. F.E. Warren stretches across 9,600 square miles, an area about the size of Vermont. The missile site furthest from the main base is about 152 miles away, and many of the roads connecting the facilities are unlit and unpaved. For safety reasons, the speed limit is just 25 miles per hour on dirt or gravel roads, but travel may be even slower when rain makes the roads thick with mud or blizzards make them difficult to see.

Depending on the season, these snow- or mud-covered roads can stop even the hardy Humvee. That won’t be the case with the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), billed as more reliable, more mobile in rough terrain, and better protected than the Humvee. It is also smarter, with computers in the dashboard that help Airmen keep track of their fellow defenders and build situational awareness.

F.E. Warren received its just JLTVs in fall 2022 and conducted its first operational mission with the vehicle in April.

“It looks promising and we’re excited about it, because it’s going to bring us a lot of capability, especially from the standpoint of how they can maneuver over certain spaces,” Col. Robert Ford, commander of the 90th Security Forces Group, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

security forces
Airmen from the 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron depart F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, for the first operational Joint Light Tactical Vehicle mission supporting maintenance at a launch facility near Harrisburg, Nebraska, April 24, 2023. (Air Force photo by Joseph Coslett Jr.)

Ford cautioned that his team is still in the early stages of understanding the JLTV’s full operational impact. One challenge with the vehicle is its complexity: the driver’s seat rivals the cockpit of a stealth bomber, with glass screens controlling the truck’s suspension and switches that can shut down the entire system if the driver is not careful. It takes 40 hours of classroom and hands-on experience just to start driving the JLTV.

“The JLTV has a lot more capability from a technology standpoint, but it requires a lot of training,” Ford said.

Yet once that training is complete, the vehicle can be as fun as a go-cart to drive once it is fully revved up, said Staff Sgt. Kristen Witherspoon, the lead JLTV instructor for the 90th Security Forces Group and a member of the base’s Tactical Response Force.

The JLTV is set to be one of several new gadgets providing better situational awareness for security forces Airmen at F.E. Warren and the other two missile fields at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and Minot Air Force Base, N.D. Another is the Regional Operating Picture (ROP), a communications network where defenders in the field can share voice calls, GPS tracking, and other forms of data with their supervisors at a missile alert facility or with their commanders at the main base.

“Every vehicle that goes into the missile field will have that tracking ability, geolocation, turn-by-turn navigation, voice comms, and data,” said William McIntyre, chief of nuclear security for the 20th Air Force. “That’s huge.”

The ROP is already being set up: in March, the Air Force awarded Persistent Systems LLC $75.5 million for its Infrastructure-based Regional Operation Network (IRON), an antenna system mounted on towers and poles which anchors a high-bandwidth web of communications. 

“U.S. military bases can sprawl tens of thousands of square miles, and as it stands now, there’s no dynamic, high-bandwidth way for headquarters staff to track, and reliably remain in contact with, the security personnel patrolling this vast area,” Adrien Robenhymer, Persistent’s Vice President of Business Development, said in a statement. “Should personnel run into problems in the field, they wouldn’t have effective support from an operations center.”

According to Persistent, over the next three years the Air Force wants about 700 IRON systems installed across its three missile bases, which should unite 75 operations centers and 1,000 security forces vehicles spread out across 25,000 square miles. Once established, ROP will allow Airmen to see their locations and possible threats mapped out on a tablet, which should be faster and less confusing than updating each other over radio in the middle of a security incident.

“We don’t have to talk to find out where people are now, we will know where people are now,” said Joseph Coslett Jr., a spokesman for the 90th Missile Wing. “You’ll still have audio communication, but the awareness among the whole battlespace will be phenomenal.”

The JLTVs and ROP will help missile field defenders across America’s missile fields respond faster to a security incident, but they are just two new technologies that will make the missile defense enterprise even more deadly. Part 1 is about the MH-139 Grey Wolf. Part 3 covers infrastructure and training improvements.

Air Force C-21 VIP Jet Departs Middle East For Last Time After 32 Years

Air Force C-21 VIP Jet Departs Middle East For Last Time After 32 Years

July 12, 2023 | By David Roza

After 32 years of flying VIPs, medical supplies, and injured passengers throughout the Middle East, the last Air Force C-21A Learjet departed Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, on June 30, ending an era for a little-known aircraft that had an outsized impact overseas.

“As a younger pilot on my first deployment, it was exciting to see the capability we had to deliver our passengers into allied nations, knowing those passengers were there to do important work on behalf of the United States,” 1st Lt. Payton Lafrentz, a pilot with the 912th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron C-21 Detachment, said in a July 10 press release about the departure. 

c-21
A C-21A Learjet piloted by U.S. Air Force Maj. Jonathan Daniels, 912th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron C-21 Detachment director of operations, and 1st Lt. Naomi Shaak, 912th EARS C-21 Detachment pilot, takes off the runway during its last flight out of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, June 30, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Leon Redfern)

The C-21 is far more than just a business jet: during its decades-long tour of the Middle East, it served as a high-speed aeromedical evacuation platform, supply transport, and courier for messages that could not be delivered electronically. For example, during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, C-21s carried classified air tasking orders, U-2 intelligence photos, and spare aircraft parts to units that could not receive them otherwise, the release stated.

“We even operated in combat zones where defensive systems were required,” Maj. Jonathan Daniels, director of operations for the 912th EARS’ C-21 detachment, said in the release. “This is where the famous combat Learjet rhetoric ‘unaware, unafraid’ came from.”

The jet can carry eight passengers, 3,153 pounds of cargo, one litter patient, or five ambulatory patients, according to Air Mobility Command. Even today, the jet’s crews seem to enjoy its versatility.

“Flying the C-21A during the summer is the hottest thing you can experience, but overall a great time transporting distinguished visitors, cargo, and aeromedical evacuation patients around the [area of responsibility],” said Capt. David Kocher, another pilot with the 912th EARS C-21 Detachment. 

After leaving Al Udeid, the C-21 traveled to Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where it will continue to operate with the 375th Air Mobility Wing. The move is the latest in a series of consolidations for the jet, which first entered service in 1984. The Air Force originally had 84 copies of the aircraft on production, but the current inventory stands at just 19. Despite being 37.5 years old on average, the fleet had a 100 percent mission capable rate in 2022, according to the Air & Space Forces Magazine Almanac.

c-21
Members from the 912th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron C-21 Detachment take a group photo alongside a C-21A Learjet before its last flight out of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, June 30, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Devin Boyer)

When asked if Air Forces Central plans on sending a replacement aircraft to perform distinguished visitor transportation in the Middle East, the command told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the UC-35, a business jet operated by the Marine Corps, already performs distinguished visitor airlift operations in that area of responsibility. Air Force C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft can also support that mission.

“Currently there are no other plans for other replacement aircraft (other than already existing platforms),” Air Forces Central said in a statement.

The crew who flew the C-21 to Illinois said they won’t forget the experience.

“Being the crew that gets to fly it home after a 32-year mission is simply amazing,” said Kocher. “I feel very fortunate to fly the jet home and put a stamp on the historic C-21 mission.”

6 Key Insights from the Next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

6 Key Insights from the Next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

July 12, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown’s testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 11 at his confirmation hearing to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff offered extensive statements from lawmakers in between questions to the general. Over the course of two and a half hours, Brown answered questions about topics ranging from the potential sale electromagnetic spectrum to the future of Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida.

But among his responses common themes emerged, offering new insight insight into how Brown will approach the Chairman’s role.  

An Operator’s Perspective  

Brown emphasized his operational experience repeatedly—as well as his relative outsider status in the Pentagon, where he has spent comparatively little time for such a high-ranking officer. 

“For the 11 years prior [to becoming Chief of Staff], I served in seven assignments across four combatant commands—EUCOM, AFRICOM, CENTCOM, and INDOPACOM. I’ve held leadership positions focused on our five national security challenges—China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and violent extremists,” said Brown. “So, I arrive before you having spent less time as a general officer in Washington D.C. and more time with our fielded forces allies and partners, either in conflict or preparing for conflict. Having led warfighters abroad shapes my thinking. As a result, I’m mindful of the security challenges at this consequential time and the need to accelerate to stay ahead of the growing threat.” 

Brown’s experience in Command of Pacific Air Forces, at Air Forces Central, and as Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command exposed him to allies’ top military leaders, an asset for any Chairman seeking to build international consensus. 

“One of the benefits that I’ve had as having served as a commander of Pacific Air Forces is the number of air chiefs and chiefs of defense and in some cases, ministers of defense that I’ve known personally, had a chance to engage with,” said Brown. “That dialogue to me is hugely important to determine how best we can move forward and break down barriers and identify areas that we can work together on…not only as a military, but also between our nations, as well. And that’s where my focus will be: to continue that dialogue to ensure we can work together and then highlight where the challenges may be and then work with the right entities to be able to move forward to ensure that we are able to win the next war if called upon to do so, but definitely deter or avoid war.” 

Analytical Engineer  

Brown’s studious reputation is that of analytical thinker who studies issues deeply, tendencies that were on full display in his confirmation hearing. 

“I’m an engineer by background, so doing assessments and doing analysis is how I think about things,” Brown told Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) when asked about shifting resources within Europe. “And that’s something we do need to do not just for Europe, but I would say for all of our major security challenges, to continue to reassess.” 

Brown’s analytical approach melded well with that of Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, and his toward analysis helped shaped the Air Force’s modernization program, including divesting older platforms to fund the development of future systems.  

“I’ve often talked about how we have to balance risk over time and look at capability and capacity,” Brown said. “Because we can’t just try to modernize completely at the risk of today’s operations, and at the same time, we can’t maintain all capability for today’s operations and not have the capabilities [needed for] the threats we see forthcoming. And so between that, as you look at that iron triangle, it’s the balance between those.  

“We can work on emotion, but emotion doesn’t work. It’s really the analysis that we have to go through to be able to determine how we make those tough calls.” 

If confirmed, Brown pledged to foster an environment as Chairman in which “you step away from your own empirical interests and then we do what’s best, not just for your part of the organization, but what’s best for the entire organization.” 

China and the Indo-Pacific 

Brown mentioned China—America’s “pacing challenge,” according to the National Defense Strategy—just once by name throughout his entire testimony.  Yet he had plenty to say about the Indo-Pacific region and offered hints about his views on deterrence and readiness for conflict with the Chinese. 

“You cannot wait until the crisis occurs to be able to deploy capability,” Brown said. “You have to pre-position capability and have that in place. You have to work with allies and partners to have access to locations, so you can put capability into place. And that’s an area that we are focused on not only as an Air Force, but I’d also say as a joint force.” 

Brown highlighted Air Mobility Command’s massive Mobility Guardian exercise, as well as CORONA South, a recent logistics-focused tabletop exercise held in June among senior leaders.  

Russia’s War on Ukraine 

Brown said logistics figures high on the list of lessons from the war in Ukraine. 

“I think the Russians learned if you don’t pay attention to the logistics, it’s hard to win and hard to move forward,” he said. “I think we also learned that the timeline for military operations, particularly in a conflict, sometimes takes longer than we might expect, and that is also a challenge.” 

But Brown also noted how NATO allies came together to support Ukraine with arms and intelligence, the importance of Ukrainians’ intense will to fight, and the enduring lessons about airpower and the need to achieve air superiority, are the war’s key takeaways. 

Industrial Base 

Questions regarding America’s defense industrial base have grown more urgent in recent months, and Brown himself said during the hearing that he believes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “exposed” cracks in the base as U.S. weapons stockpiles dwindle. To combat that, he urged lawmakers to approve the Pentagon’s request for multiyear procurement buys of certain munitions, saying they are necessary to offer steady demand to contractors. 

“Just based on experience when I was air commander for United States Central Command during the defeat ISIS campaign, and we had some similar conversations back in 2017-ish time frame when North Korea was very active. We did some reviews and did highlight it then,” Brown said of the industrial base’s problems. “Now it’s highlighting even more so. And it’s the aspect of why it’s important for us to not only invest in the platforms but invest in munitions that they have enough stockpile, particularly the advanced munitions that are most effective.” 

The Apolitical Meritocracy 

Brown sought to stay above political debates during his hearing, declaring that he would set a “personal example” of staying apolitical and urging civilian leaders to keep the military out of political fights. But several Senators pressed him on Air Force diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, with some lawmakers suggesting the service was engaging in what Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) called “race-based politics.” 

Brown responded that he believes service members simply want a “fair opportunity to perform” and that they must be qualified for the positions they fill. 

“I’ll just tell you from my own career: When I came in, and flying F-16s, I didn’t want to be the best African American F-16 pilot; I want to be the best F-16 pilot,” Brown said. “I would say the same thing when I went to be an instructor at the weapons school … [and in] every position I’ve had throughout my career. I wanted it because I was the best and qualified. I did not want to be provided a position of promotion based on my background. I wanted it to be based on the quality of my work. And I think that’s the aspect that all of our service members look for: They want a fair opportunity, but they also be rewarded for their performance.” 

Air Force Wants to Cut F-15E Fleet in Half to Focus on Modernizing, Brown Says

Air Force Wants to Cut F-15E Fleet in Half to Focus on Modernizing, Brown Says

July 12, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force plans to cut its F-15E fleet to 99 aircraft in the coming years—cutting more than 100 Strike Eagles from the fleet. The move comes as the service seeks to modernize and bring on new platforms while still keeping enough fighters to be able to meet mission demands.

When asked about the move by Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) on July 11, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. said the determination was made to “balance capability and capacity.” Brown’s comments came during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which featured extensive questioning on Air Force weapons and aircraft program decisions.

In budget documents released by the Department of Defense on future force structure in May, the Air Force said it wants to keep 99 F-15Es and spend money to upgrade all those jets with the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), an electronic warfare suite which has already been installed on some aircraft. The service currently has 218 F-15Es with an average age of more than 30 years.

F-15Es have one of two engines: the newer model fighters are equipped with Pratt & Whitney’s F100-PW-229, an upgraded version of the F100-PW-220 engines on older F-15E models. The Air Force has decided to keep the models with better engines and modernize them in other ways.

Budd, whose state includes one of the USAF’s five F-15E bases, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base—as well as some other lawmakers and military experts—expressed concern about the Air Force’s fighter capacity.

Brown and other Air Force officials have acknowledged the service had to make tough calls due to budget constraints.

“Prioritizing modernization efforts to keep pace with near-peer competitors requires difficult tradeoffs with existing aircraft inventories and programs,” according to the Air Force’s justification for its future force structure changes. ”The Air Force determined the best mix for the fighter fleet calls for maintaining an F-15E fleet of 99 aircraft with the more powerful engine (F-100-PW-229) and shifting resources to maximize procurement of newer fighters and capabilities.”

EPAWSS was already planned for installation on the USAF’s F-15E fleet as part of a modernization of its aging “analog, federated system with a next-generation, digital, fully-integrated EW suite that enables the F-15 to operate in a modern threat environment,” according to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Now, that fleet will shrink to 99 by 2028.

But Congress ultimately determines what the service is allowed to do. Lawmakers often block the Pentagon from retiring or canceling some programs year-to-year and have previously inserted language into bills that prohibit retiring certain aircraft. No current language exists that prevents the Air Force from retiring F-15Es in the future and the service does not plan to retire any Strike Eagles in the 2023 or 2024 fiscal years.

Along with F-15Es, the Air Force plans to buy 104 F-15EX Eagle IIs, the newest variant of the venerable multirole fourth-generation fighter. The F-15EX is also equipped with EPAWSS. In fiscal 2024, the Air Force wants to buy 72 new fighters: 24 F-15EXs and 48 F-35 Lightning IIs.

Meanwhile, the service is rapidly divesting its aging F-15C/D air-to-air fighters, which first entered service in the late 1970s—in 2024, the service wants to cut 57. The F-15E entered service roughly 10 years after the C/D models.

“As we do this, it’s not just the platforms themselves, it’s the other aspects of our command and control in terms of bringing some reconnaissance capabilities that we will continue to invest,” Brown said of the service’s modernization decisions. Brown said the Air Force aims to “make those fighters more relevant and combat capable as we go forward.”