The Air Force’s Final MC-130H Heads to the Boneyard

April 3, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Talon has officially been retracted.

The Air Force’s final MC-130H Combat Talon II, Tail Number 89-0280, made its last flight April 2, taking off from Hurlburt Field, Fla., with a crew including members of the 15th Special Operations Squadron and led by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Tony D. Bauernfeind, a long-time MC-130H pilot.

The Combat Talon II, a variant of the C-130H, was a stalwart special operations tanker and mobility aircraft used extensively for infiltration, exfiltration, and covert resupply for missions in hostile and denied territory from the early 1990s until now.

“I’ve spent a majority of my career being around this amazing airplane, its maintainers and operational support staff,” Bauernfeind said in a release from the 1st Special Operations Wing. “I felt that it should be sent off right, knowing full well that we’re capturing its heritage.”

Families, friends, and former MC-130H crew joined in the ceremony at Hurlburt, reflecting on the unofficial “Talon Standard” motto they said defined the Airmen who flew the 24 Combat Talon II aircraft.

“The ‘Talon Standard’ means holding yourself and your crew to the highest standard,” Lt. Col. Andrew Fisher, an MC-130H pilot assigned to the 5th Special Operations Squadron, said in the release. That storied history included the 1997 Mackay Trophy, which went to a Combat Talon II crew for rescuing 56 people in the Republic of the Congo in the midst of a civil war, and operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Inherent Resolve, and Resolute Support. Other missions included humanitarian operations in Japan, Haiti, and Nepal.

Replacing the MC-130Hs are newer MC-130J Commando II aircraft, that can refuel rotary aircraft from wing-mounted external fuel tanks and drogue refueling pods. The MC-130J already replaced all the MC-130P Combat Shadows, the last one in 2015. To date, 56 of 64 planned MC-130Js have been delivered to operational units, an AFSOC spokeswoman told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The final MC-130J delivery is anticipated in fiscal 2025.

After three decades of service, the MC-130H fleet was beginning to break down. AFSOC held a safety stand-down last year after cracked propeller parts were found on some C-130Hs, a problem likely caused by maintainers etching serial numbers onto the propellers after inspections. The AFSOC spokeswoman said the entire fleet was inspected. Waivers were granted to fly the aircraft one-way to the Boneyard at Davis-Montham Air Force Base, Ariz., where they will be set to rest in the dry desert air.

The last flight of the Combat Talon II brings to three the number of small fleets recently retired from service. The MC-130Hs join the RC-26 Condo reconnaissance aircraft, used for both counterdrug and homeland security missions, and the C-145 Combat Coyote short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft as taking their last flights in the past five months. The RC-26 Condos began winding down operations in late 2022, as did the C-145 Combat Coyotes.

Space Force Finishes Fit Testing New Uniforms, Targets 2025 Delivery

April 3, 2023 | By David Roza

The Space Force is one step closer to delivering its service dress uniform to every Guardian. On March 30, the service announced it had completed its final service dress uniform fit test, where 100 Guardians worldwide tried on the uniform prototype for proper sizing and fit.

Col. James Jenkins, director of the Space Force Change Management Team, said his office is working fast to finish the uniform in line with the feedback they have received from Guardians.

“From the word ‘go’ we have been committed to keeping Guardian feedback at the forefront of developing the service dress,” he said in a press release. “We know Guardians are excited for a uniform they can call their own and we are accelerating as quickly as possible to deliver a product they can wear with pride.”

Now that the fit test is complete, the next step is the wear test, where selected Guardians will wear the uniform three times a week and provide feedback on its durability, functionality and comfort. The wear test starts this summer, and the Space Force expects to deliver the service dress uniform across the branch in late 2025.

The prototype of the service dress uniform was first revealed at the 2021 AFA Air, Space, and Cyber conference. Some observers criticized the uniform for resembling outfits from science fiction and for being too baggy. The Air Force Uniform Office went to work making the pants fit better, and the uniform went on a “roadshow” to Space Force installations across the globe in order to get their feedback.

Then-Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said the prototype actually enjoyed 81 percent approval from Guardians.

“If you get 81 percent on anything, it’s a home run,” Raymond told Air & Space Forces Magazine at the time.

“We listened intently to Guardian design and fit requests,” Wade Yamada, Space Force deputy director of staff, said in the March 30 press release. “In many ways, Guardians helped select our current service dress design.”

Addressing the criticism that the uniforms resemble those seen in Hollywood, the New York Times pointed out in 2021 that the uniforms of the original “Star Trek” television show resembled Navy uniforms.

The Space Force uses the Operational Camouflage Pattern uniform as its duty uniform like the Army and Air Force, with “Space Blue” name tape, Space Force badge, and grade insignia. The service has also unveiled its own PT gear: black shorts with a version of the service’s delta logo in white, and a gray T-shirt bearing the stylized words “Space Force” in white on the back.

BAE Systems to Produce Upgraded Electronic Warfare Suites for F-35

April 3, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

BAE Systems has received a $491 million contract from Lockheed Martin to produce AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare suites for the Block 4 version of the F-35 fighter, the company announced April 3. The award follows a $493 million contract in December 2022.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, director of the F-35 Joint Program Office, said the F-35 Tech Refresh 3, which will underwrite the new EW suite, will be ready in 2024.

BAE’s work will be done in support of Lot 17 F-35s, with production under the contract starting in mid-2024 and continuing into 2025. The company did not say how many suites the contract covers. BAE has delivered 1,200 F-35 EW systems to date, it noted in a release. The suites are shipped to Lockheed’s Fort Worth, Texas facilities, where they are installed on production aircraft, a BAE spokesman said.

The previous award covered “development and maturation of the Block 4 EW baseline,” the company said at the time, while the new award covers production.

The updated EW suite is considered one of the centerpieces of the Block 4 upgrade, made possible by the Tech Refresh 3—called TR-3 for short—which includes improvements to the aircraft’s processor and other upgrades which recently entered flight testing.

Speaking with reporters at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference in National Harbor, Md., Schmidt said he feels confident that TR-3 will deliver in 2024.

“I stand behind that window,” he said.

“We were late in hardware development and delivery. The hardware now is there, it’s reliable. … The yield has been a little tough, but it’s been a lot better in the last few weeks, which makes a difference because we’re feeding the labs, the flight test aircraft and the production line,” Schmidt said, adding that contractors and program officials have been working on getting TR-3 into and through testing “seven days a week since Labor Day weekend.”

The AN/ASQ-239, which works in both the radio-frequency and infrared parts of the spectrum, includes “significantly upgraded hardware and software that improves sensing and signal-processing capabilities,” the company said. The improved sensors will increase the F-35’s ability to detect “difficult-to-observe threats” as well as process more threats simultaneously. The improvements include the Digital Channelized Receiver Techniques Generator and Tuner Insertion Program, or DTIP.

The upgrade also includes the Non-Intrusive Electronic Warfare Test Solution (NIEWTS) fault isolation and diagnostics capability. The NIEWST is meant to reduce maintenance costs through more precise troubleshooting.

On its website, BAE said the improved AN/ASQ-239 delivers full functionality “in a smaller footprint, reducing volume and power requirements and creating space for future upgrades,” as well as “improved reliability and maintainability,” with an architecture to allow “continuous capability development,” which allows rapid future upgrades.

“The flexibility of our active production line will allow us to seamlessly transition to the Block 4 design without skipping a beat,” Chris Rossi, BAE director of F-35 production, said in a press release. The system is designed and manufactured at BAE’s Manchester and Nashua, N.H., facilities.

BAE said the AN/ASQ-239 “provides F-35s with fully integrated offensive and defense EW capabilities, including long-range threat warning, self-protection, and targeting support. It provides 360-degree, full-spectrum situational awareness and rapid-response capabilities—allowing the F-35 to evade, engage, counter, and jam threats, and reach well-defended targets.”

The company also builds the F-35’s aft fuselage and vehicle management computer and makes the Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS), which will equip the F-15E and F-15EX fighters.

Can Gas-Hauling Cargo Planes Fuel the Air Force in the Pacific?

April 3, 2023 | By David Roza

The Air Force’s largest aircraft transformed into an oversized fuel transport this past February, when a C-5M Super Galaxy from the 9th Airlift Squadron landed at Dover Air Force Base, Del. and kept half its engines running while Airmen pulled fuel out of the wings and into an R-11 refueler truck.

“The idea is to turn the C-5 into a mobile fuel station that can offload fuel into a refueling vehicle standing by at a forward-deployed location,” Master Sgt. Brent Gregory, operations superintendent for the 9th Airlift Squadron, said in a press release about the experiment. “In theory, a cargo aircraft can land in an austere environment, offload fuel using the aircraft pumps and take off with minimal time on the ground.”

It’s not the first time the Air Force has used transport aircraft to haul and pump gas. In 2020 a C-130 refueled a pair of F-22 fighters on the ground in Hawaii, and this past December, a C-17 refueled a B-2 bomber on the ground in California. Transport aircraft can also defuel into a bladder or other facilities at an airfield.

Delivering gas with cargo aircraft may seem out of character for a branch that takes great pride in its fleet of aerial tankers, but it could give commanders more options in a future conflict.

Many national security experts are warning of a potential conflict with China in the western Pacific, and the Air Force is preparing to disperse its operations so that it is more difficult for the Chinese to select an airfield to target. But part of the challenge of dispersed operations is that small airfields do not have the pipelines or deep supplies of fuel often found at larger bases.

“Sending fuel forward to those bases would be necessary, and most of them are not the kind of places where you could pull up a ship alongside and unload a whole lot of fuel,” Jeremiah Gertler, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“The Air Force is looking for ways to make those bases work,” Gertler added. The C-5 project “is one of those experiments.”

If those airfields need gas in a hurry, transport aircraft may be the way to deliver it. The massive C-5 can deliver more than 100,000 pounds of fuel and land on short runways, while the C-17 and C-130 can deliver smaller quantities.

“The ingenuity of the personnel of the 9th Airlift Squadron to aggressively pursue new options to employ the C-5M should be lauded,” Timothy Walton, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “The 9th Airlift Squadron’s efforts align with a broader campaign by Air Mobility Command to aggressively develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures that maximize the operational effectiveness of the current and programmed force and impose dilemmas on adversaries.”

Still, Gertler and Walton cautioned that while using transport jets to carry gas could be helpful in a pinch, the already-overburdened transport fleet likely cannot carry enough gas to sustain a long campaign.

transport plane — A U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy with the 436th Airlift Wing flies over the Atlantic Ocean after refueling with a New Jersey Air National Guard KC-135R Stratotanker, April 15, 2021. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Matt Hecht.

Marginal Gains

In a 2021 report, Walton and another Hudson Institute senior fellow, Bryan Clark, calculated that a C-17 could offload about 90,000 pounds of fuel—enough for six F-35A fighter jets on the ground. A C-130 could refuel slightly less than three. By comparison, the KC-46, the Air Force’s newest refueling tanker, can carry about 200,000 pounds of fuel.

“Planners should be wary of substituting bulk fuel distribution capabilities with mobility aircraft,” wrote Walton and Clark. “Transport aircraft are optimized to carry dry cargo and personnel and are not good fits for transporting bulk quantities of fuel.”

The issue isn’t just about how much gas the Air Force’s transport fleet can carry; in a conflict, the fleet will already be burdened with carrying all the other equipment and personnel the U.S. military needs to fight.

“Transport aircraft will likely be in high demand supporting inter- and intra-theater mobility and other missions,” Walton said. “They’ll be transporting air and missile defense systems, munitions, and other cargo and personnel to distributed airfields and to some of the main ones as well.”

Transport aircraft may become even more burdened if they are used as weapons platforms or as airborne command and control centers, capabilities the Air Force has also explored.

In the meantime, most of the U.S. military’s fuel is shipped overseas aboard maritime tankers and barges or overland on trucks, pipelines, or other systems. In their report, Walton and Clark explained that maritime tankers deliver fuel to ports supporting airfields, and there also has to be a system in place for getting the gas out of the boat and onto the airfield.

“Over-the-shore fuel transfer systems are critical to allow fuel from tankers to reach airfields if port or supporting pipeline infrastructure is damaged or if air operations are taking place from austere airfields without access to developed ports,” the experts wrote.

Tanker Security

The amount of gas required by prolonged Air Force operations likely could not be delivered by aircraft alone. Walton and Clark estimated that if the Air Force wanted 18 aerial tankers to operate from Tinian, a small island in the Pacific, the site would require about half a million barrels of fuel per month. Many small airfields in the Pacific, including the one at Tinian, do not have the infrastructure to hold that amount of gas, they wrote.

That means the Department of Defense should build “environmentally compliant hardened underground fuel stores,” which, while costly, would give the military access to assured stocks of fuel that would be more difficult for an adversary to destroy, Walton and Clark argued.

Even if the military built those underground fuel stores, the stockpiles likely would not last through a protracted conflict. That means the Department of Defense needs a robust fleet of maritime tankers to move enough gas across the ocean to sustain operations—but America’s tanker fleet is not in great shape. A study required by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act found that the U.S. government was relying too heavily on foreign-flagged tankers, which could be risky in a contested environment.

In response, Congress directed the Secretary of Transportation to stand up the Tanker Security Program, which is meant to provide the military with access to 10 U.S.-registered tankers to use in times of war or emergency. But 10 ships may not be enough.

“Today, the United States military has access to only nine government and commercial tankers suitable for operations abroad, but it has projected it needs at least 80 tankers to transport fuel from oil refineries to American forces during a large war,” Walton and Clark argued in a 2020 opinion piece.

In the meantime, using transport aircraft to deliver relatively small amounts of fuel could play an important role, especially in the early stages of a campaign, Walton said. But sustaining that edge will require a strong maritime and overland fuel delivery infrastructure, as well as a robust network of aerial refueling platforms to make sure friendly aircraft can access gas mid-flight.

“I think we would likely do this in a conflict, but it will be important for the joint force to develop approaches to address the significant majority of its ground aerial refueling demands using maritime-delivered bulk fuel as opposed to aircraft-delivered bulk fuel,” Walton said.

Maximize Your AFA Membership with Exclusive Insurance Benefits

April 3, 2023

“Membership has its privileges.”

Those of a certain age may recall this popular slogan from an old American Express advertising campaign. The point of the campaign was that an American Express card was more than just a credit card; it provided other tangible benefits.

Membership in the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) offers its own set of privileges. These include shopping and travel discounts. You also have access to education, financial, and health and wellness programs.

Another major benefit of your AFA membership is access to a variety of group insurance programs.
Participating in the AFA Member Insurance Program is a great way to protect you and your family and/or to supplement your existing coverage. AFA members have access to exclusive group rates for both individual and family coverage.

In addition, when AFA members buy insurance through the Member Insurance Program, they’re helping the AFA to continue its mission of supporting and advocating for the United States Air and Space Forces.

The insurance benefits offered through the AFA are provided by name-brand, top-rated insurance carriers.

Plus, the AFA Member Insurance Program recently launched a new, easier-to-use website. Members can apply for coverage online for many of the plans and the site will eventually enable you to apply online for all plans. That will mean no more filling out PDFs or paper applications.

Here is an overview of the insurance policies offered through your Member Insurance Program’s website, www.AFAInsure.com:

Term Life Insurance. AFA members can choose between two term life insurance plans exclusive to the organization. Unlike many Life Insurance policies, there are no exclusions for war or terrorism, and flying personnel are covered 100%.

Senior Whole Life Insurance. This guaranteed-acceptance policy allows members ages 45 to 85 add up to $25,000 in permanent life insurance without a medical exam. Premiums are fixed – they never increase as you age – and your benefits never decrease.

Final Expense Whole Life Insurance. Free your family of financial burden upon your death with a permanent insurance plan designed to help cover funeral expenses, medical bills and remaining debts. Up to $40,000 in coverage is available, with guaranteed options for members with pre-existing health conditions.

Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance. Accidents happen when we least expect them. As an AFA member you can have peace of mind that you and your family are protected from the financial effects of an accidental death, or loss of limb, vision, speech or hearing.

TRICARE Supplement Insurance Plans. This valuable policy helps pay for medical expenses not covered by your TRICARE medical plan. Coverage is available for member, spouse, and dependents of active-duty members, reserves and military retirees.

Dental Insurance. As an AFA member, you can smile and rest easy knowing that you’re protected against the rising cost of dental care with flexible dental insurance coverage. Take advantage of valuable and affordable dental protection for you and your family. You can choose from two options that are competitive, efficient and easy to access.

Vision Insurance. Help lower your or your family’s out-of-pocket costs on eye exams, glasses, contact lenses, and more with AFA-sponsored Vision Insurance. With affordable co-payments and nationwide access to discounts, you’ll be seeing your way to clear savings in no time.

Hospital Indemnity Insurance Plans. Get cash benefits to help pay medical bills or other expenses if you or a family member have been hospitalized. The AFA plan for retirees ages 65 to 99 also helps pay for short-term recovery costs.

Long-Term Care Insurance. Protect your assets against the cost of long-term care with customized protection through the variety of individual plans available to AFA members. Members have access to special discounts, multiple carriers, multiple products, wider underwriting, and service for life.

Pet Insurance. You can insure your furry family members and minimize the cost of vet bills with the AFA Pet Health plan. There are several flexible options to choose from, and the policy covers all licensed veterinarian, specialist or emergency clinics in the U.S.

Legal Services Plan. For just $216 a year, you can access a qualified attorney to help with frequently needed personal legal matters. There are more than 18,000 attorneys available across the U.S. as part of this benefit.

You can find complete details about these AFA member insurance benefits, as well as application and enrollment information, at www.AFAInsure.com.

Air Force Plans New Campaign, Social Media Partnerships to Combat Recruiting Shortfall

March 31, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts increasingly note the challenging long-term trends the service faces in convincing young Americans to join: Declining numbers of eligible candidates, lower interest and propensity to serve, and reduced exposure to military people and service.

But while leaders see no “silver bullet” to solve those issues, the Air Force Recruiting Service is pressing ahead with a push to attract more women to serve. Acting Undersecretary of the Air Force Kristyn E. Jones described in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee last week the Women in Sports Campaign, which she said “aligns DAF recruitment with female athletes through direct marketing as well as enduring partnerships that encourage female participation in sports.”

The target of the campaign, she said: “Approximately 7.6 million 18- to 24-year-old women [who] watch women’s sports on YouTube.” Taken as a group, “these viewers constitute a key demographic for DAF recruitment efforts,” Jones added.

The Air Force Recruiting Service plans to expand outreach to young women via social media, officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Women in Sports campaign is set to launch this summer, hoping to inspire more young women to stay fit and consider service.

“Less than 25 percent of females ages 18 to 24 are actually eligible to serve in the military,” said Lara Stott, senior strategic advisor for marketing at AFRS. “And one of the big reasons is due to obesity and being out of shape and other health issues that kind of go along with that.

“So we’ve been working on how to build an enduring brand initiative that would really be focused on putting the Air Force front and center as a champion of women in sports and girls in sports,” Stott continued. “And we want to use this as an opportunity to kind of be a catalyst for the next generation of young women to pursue sports at whatever level they want to pursue.”

By encouraging more girls and women to participate in sports, USAF hopes to increase the percentage of young women fit enough to serve.

“By the time they hit that 18- to 24-year-old range when we’re actually trying to recruit, if they don’t already have those healthy habits, it is much harder to teach them at that point,” Stott said. “ It’s really about instilling this sense of making that an important part of your self-care as a woman.”

To get that across, Stott said, the Air Force will:

Expand presence at prominent women’s sporting events

Build new partnerships with brands and influencers with greate rfocus “on the next generation of female athletes”

Highlight Air Force and Space Force athletes from the U.S. Air Force Academy, ROTC, or the Air Force World Class Athlete Program.

But the Air Force isn’t about to blow it’s budget all at once. “We could go drop a lot of money on the Women’s World Cup coming up and that would be great for a moment in time,” Stott said. “But we want this to be something that is really enduring.”

Expanding its Reach

Air Force Recruiting had about 1 million followers on Facebook, 349,000 on Instagram, and 153,000 subscribers on YouTube as of March 31. But Jones told Congress department leaders believe they can increase reach considerably through partnerships with appropriate social media influencers.

“We’re looking at how to better utilize YouTube influencers,” Jones said.

Stott said that it’s a matter of outreach. “If you go on YouTube right now, there are—in addition to the Air Force Recruiting Service and official Air Force YouTube channels—all kinds of channels that are very Air Force-focused. I think all of those are potential partners at this point.”

Influencers can come in many forms, Stott added. “At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is to tell that authentic Airman story. And if that comes from someone at Nellis Air Force Base who just made us a cool piece of content about a day in the life, those are the real types of stories that we want to tell.”

It’s all about engaging with young people in a more personal, genuine way.

“Obviously Gen Z is one of the smartest generations as a young cohort,” Stott said. “They know when you’re not being genuine, they can see right through you. So we are looking very carefully at where we can take Air Force and Guard and Reserve—all of our components—where we can match those attributes and Gen Z attributes and where those intersect.”

Some Airmen and former Airmen with established social media presences have expressed reservations about mixing the official Air Force brand with their personal ones, but recruiting officials insist they don’t want to stifle Airmen’s voices, and they will give partners wide latitude to express their creativity.

Stott acknowledged “there is certainly risk involved with that.” But she added, “I think we’re willing to take a little bit of that risk because the reward is going to outweigh that risk.”

Outside the Air Force

The Air Force also sees potential to partner with influencers and brands that connect with audiences the services need to reach.

Super Girl Surf Pro, an annual surfing competition; Athletes Unlimited, a growing basketball league; and Amanda Sorenson, a driver in the Formula Drift motorsport competition all have appeal to women the Air Force doesn’t think it reaches now. With tens of thousands of followers on social media, they represent growth. Other partnerships are still to come.

But AFRS is not aiming for simply the broadest reach, Stott said.

“What we don’t want to have happen is for us to just be construed as not being genuine,” she said. “Again, I really think that Gen Z would see through that immediately. And I think we can all think of examples of brands in the past where they’ve made that mistake of pursuing partnerships that didn’t really have a natural tie to their brand’s message, to their brand values, if you will. And when that happens, they face a lot of backlash.”

US Should Consider Expanding Nuclear Arsenal to Cope with China and Russia, Study Says

March 31, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

A new report from a study group organized by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory hopes to shape a crucial emerging debate in Washington: how to manage two nuclear near-peers for the first time in U.S. history.

“This new problem compels a broad rethinking of the assumptions of U.S. nuclear policy and of the deterrence practices of the United States,” write the authors of the report, which include former senior defense and nuclear policy officials.

Some of the group’s proposals have bipartisan support and are already underway. It argues the U.S. should invest in the modernization of the nation’s nuclear triad by certifying the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter as a dual-capable aircraft—capable of carrying conventional and nuclear weapons—by 2024, fielding a significant number of new B-21 Raider stealth bombers, and ensuring the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile is fielded to replace the aging Minuteman III.

The study, however, argues for additional steps, including consideration of increasing the number of U.S. nuclear forces to boost their chances of surviving an enemy attack.

It also says policymakers should consider some hotly-debated ideas the Biden administration has shot down, such as fielding attack submarines with the nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N), which the Pentagon does not plan to develop despite Congressional pushback by Republican lawmakers, and exploring a mobile variant of the Air Force’s Sentinel ICBM.

“The United States should also seriously explore making a portion of the ICBM force road-mobile (but garrison-based), and take steps to ensure that the Sentinel ICBM can be made mobile in the future if necessary,” the report states. “This enhances the survivability of the ICBM force without increasing the need to consider launch under attack and hedges against a breakthrough in anti-submarine warfare.”

The 18-member study group was chaired by Brad Roberts, a former senior Pentagon official who now serves as director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Other members include retired Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler, the former commander of U.S. Strategic Command; Robert Soofer, a Defense Department official during the Trump administration; and Elbridge Colby, who played a key role in drafting the 2018 National Defense Strategy which placed an increasing emphasis on China.

U.S. nuclear posture has long focused on Russia, with smaller threats of rogue states or actors using nuclear weapons looming in the background. Amid tensions over Ukraine, Russia has “suspended” its participation in the New START treaty, which limits the U.S. and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear weapons, though it has pledged to remain under the cap for now.

The biggest change in the security situation, though, is China. It has expanded its nuclear arsenal at a rapid pace to around 400 warheads, and the Pentagon projects that China’s nuclear force could reach 1,500 warheads by 2035. The Chinese have also shown no interest so far in engaging in arms control talks.

Pushback

However, some former officials say the study authors did a better job at diagnosing the challenges of coping with two peer nuclear competitors than in mapping out a solution. Instead of prioritizing ways to expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal, they argued, the U.S. should put more emphasis on diplomacy and renewed efforts at arms control.

“If China’s arsenal grows as predicted, the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile will never equal that of Russia plus China combined,” Lynn Rusten, a former senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the National Security Council during the Obama administration, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“The more we build up, Russia will certainly maintain parity, and our decisions will influence what China does,” Rusten, now a vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, added. “So why not try to influence it all in the other direction, which is to maintain mutual constraints on U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons, maybe exercise some self-restraint, and keep pushing to get China into a strategic stability and risk reduction dialogue, and eventually arms control.”

Some of the group’s recommendations also face substantial political challenges. The U.S. developed plans for mobile ICBMs during the Cold War, including rail-mobile Peacekeeper IBCMs and road-mobile “Midgetman” ICBMs, which would have complicated adversaries’ targeting. But deploying mobile missiles on U.S. territory was not politically sustainable.

“The emergence of a second nuclear peer is certain to drive renewed debate about the continued necessity, values, and risks of maintaining a requirement to be able to strike an enemy’s nuclear forces,” the report says. “We cannot now know the future choices leaders in Moscow, Beijing, and elsewhere might make about what additional or different strategic capabilities to seek.”

GAO Tells Congress: Pentagon Still Needs a Portfolio Plan for Tactical Aviation

March 31, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

With a flood of new aircraft programs taking shape, the Pentagon still doesn’t have a portfolio plan that rationalizes its all-service tactical aviation activities, the Government Accountability Office told the House Armed Services Committee this week.

Creating such a plan would help the Defense Department and Congress alike size up the true priorities in TacAir and put funds against the most pressing needs, the GAO reported. It also said the joint-service F-35 continues to lag behind planned schedules, and that its engine issues are being addressed without a business case analysis in place.

In March 29 testimony before the House Armed Services Committee panel on tactical aviation, GAO’s Jon Ludwigson, director of contracting and national security acquisition, said the DOD is in the midst of updating almost all of its TacAir programs, roughly half of which “were first produced before 2000 and are more than 25 years old.”

While the Pentagon is pushing this raft of new airplanes, it still “lacks key portfolio-level analysis to better inform its decisions,” despite no fewer than eight TacAir reviews conducted by the DOD between 2020 and 2022. Ludwigson said the GAO thinks a rationalized portfolio could save money by reducing unnecessary duplication of effort.

The Pentagon has not “conducted an integrated analysis that provides insights into the interdependencies and risks across all tactical air platforms and all services,” Ludwigson said, referring to an audit GAO did in December 2022.

“We believe that conducting an integrated portfolio review would benefit DOD and the Congress, as they balance these decisions,” he said. In fiscal 2023, TacAir modernization programs totaled more than $20 billion across the services, he noted, and that bill balloons to over $100 billion across the future years defense plan.

Responding to the GAO in December, the Pentagon said it expects to do a portfolio-wide analysis of its TacAir plans in the next year or two.

The Air Force and Navy both are pursuing Next-Generation Air Dominance fighters—which despite the identical names are different programs with different requirements and timelines. They are likewise separately pursuing uncrewed combat aircraft programs and new examples of fourth generation fighters, while jointly building different variants of the F-35 as their main crewed tactical aviation asset.

Offering insights from a not-yet-published report on the F-35, Ludwigson said “challenges continue to delay completion of the baseline development” and put F-35 modernization at risk.

“The program has struggled to complete and validate the simulator needed for final testing. In addition, aircraft and engines have been delivered late and have not met reliability/maintainability metrics set for them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Block 4 upgrade of the F-35 needed to face modern threats” has “continued to lag schedule estimates, exceed cost estimates” and grown in scope, Ludwigson noted.

The original engine specifications of the F-35 didn’t take into account “the eventual full cooling and power needs of the aircraft, which contributed to accelerated wear and tear on the existing engine. Further, the existing cooling system and engine faces limits in supporting new planned capabilities,” Ludwigson said, a reference to additional cooling needed for the new hotter-running electronics that will be incorporated in the Block 4 version of the fighter.

The Pentagon is moving toward an Engine Core Upgrade of the F135 powerplant, particularly to the F135’s thermal management system, but “based on our preliminary analysis, these engine-related efforts lack key elements of a full business case to support decisions and are proceeding without requirements,” Ludwigson said, setting the stage for the program to come up short if there are no firm targets against wish to measure it.

At the very least, the F-35’s “engine is underperforming, resulting in … increased wear and tear” on the powerplant, Ludwigson asserted.

“We’re … concerned that the program may seek to develop and acquire this complex, costly and important upgrade” of the F135 “within the F-35 program, without its own baseline cost and schedule,” he said.

The Block 4 upgrade alone is expected to cost $16.5 billion, Ludwigson said, and GAO’s observations of the effort “point to increases in scope, costs, and delays,” he said.

Meanwhile, until DOD verifies that the “simulator can conduct complex test scenarios that accurately replicate real-world conditions, the F-35 will be unable to complete initial operational testing,” Ludwigson said.

USAFA to Double Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Staff After Rise in Incidents

March 31, 2023 | By David Roza

Three weeks after a new study revealed rising reports of unwanted sexual contact at the military service academies, an Air Force official said the U.S. Air Force Academy is doubling its sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR) workforce from 12 to 24 employees.

“This increase will improve data-driven prevention, evaluation, and outcomes,” Lt. Gen. Caroline M. Miller, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services wrote in a statement delivered to the House Armed Services Committee at a personnel posture hearing March 29.

On March 10, the Department of Defense released its annual report on sexual harassment and violence at the military service academies, showing a steady increase in the total number of incidents of sexual harassment and violence across the academies. In the 2021-22 academic year, there were 206 reports of sexual assault across the academies, a near-sixfold increase over the 35 reported in the 2007-08 academic year.

At the Air Force Academy, the DOD study found that 22.3 percent of women indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact in the 2021-2022 academic year, compared to 15.4 percent in 2018. Meanwhile, 4.3 percent of Air Force Academy men said they experienced unwanted sexual contact in the 2021-2022 academic year, compared to 1.8 percent in 2018.

The study found a similar trend for sexual harassment. The number of female Air Force Academy cadets who experienced sexual harassment rose from 46 percent in 2018 to 60 percent in 2022, and the percentage for male cadets rose from 13 to 19 percent.

An infographic summarizes the key results of the Department of Defense’s most recent Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies. (Department of Defense infographic).

Sexual harassment and assault is also a problem at civilian colleges and universities. A 2019 study by the Association of American Universities of more than 108,000 undergraduate students across 33 schools found that the estimated prevalence rate of nonconsensual sexual contact for female undergraduates was 25.9 percent and 6.8 percent for male undergraduates.

The problem persists at the Air Force Academy despite programs to prevent sexual assault and harassment, which has prompted a comprehensive review of the issue, Miller said.

“Although individual program metrics indicate positive outcomes, holistically our current programs are not driving prevalence down,” Miller wrote in her statement. “An Academy Superintendent-directed review of current programs, leveraging input from cadets, subject-matter experts, alumni, permanent party, and leadership is ongoing.“

Key themes

The Pentagon report on sexual assault and harassment at the service academies identified five main themes:

Though the number of incidents increased, the characteristics of unwanted sexual contact incidents were consistent: Alleged offenders were usually fellow Cadets and Midshipmen in the same class year as the alleged victim, and offenses usually occurred after duty hours on a weekend or holiday both on and off academy grounds.

60 percent of unwanted sexual contact events across the academies involved alcohol use by the victim and/or the alleged offender. Reducing excessive alcohol use should be combined with education in skills such as building healthy relationships for a more effective approach, the report authors recommended.

Rates of unwanted sexual contact were highest for Cadets and Midshipmen in the second and third years of study, and women who indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact prior to entering an academy were nearly twice as likely to indicate victimization during the 2021-2022 school year. Men in the same situation were four times more likely to be victimized.

In 2021, 66 to 74 percent of Cadets and Midshipmen experienced unwanted sexual contact, a higher rate than 95 percent of military units that took climate surveys. Service academy men and women also experienced unwanted sexual contact at slightly higher rates than Active-Duty men and women in the same age group.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual Cadets and Midshipmen were “significantly more likely” to experience unwanted sexual contact than their heterosexual counterparts. This tracks with prior studies of the general public and of the Active-Duty military, the report noted. Hispanic women and non-White men were also more at risk for unwanted sexual contact.

The report also found that most Cadets and Midshipmen who indicated unwanted sexual contact never officially reported it. Of the approximately 1,136 who experienced unwanted sexual contact from 2021 to 2022, only 155 reported it to a DOD authority, a reporting rate of about 14 percent at each academy.

The reasons for not reporting allegations included the victim not wanting people to talk or gossip about them; feeling shame or embarrassment; thinking it would take too much time or effort; or because they dealt with it by avoiding the alleged perpetrator and tried to move on, the report said.

Swearing In Class of 2024 — Basic Cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Class of 2024 follow social-distancing precautions during a swearing-in ceremony held on the school’s Stillman Field on July 11, 2020. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley.

Fixing it

Despite the report’s troubling findings, it found the services had taken foundational steps towards preventing future incidents. These included providing onboarding training to staff and student leaders, better coordinating prevention efforts, and developing comprehensive plans to prevent sexual assault and harassment.

For the 2022-23 academic year, the academies must develop an implementation plan for stronger prevention, along with a plan for providing officers and noncommissioned officers the skills “to act on climate factors impacting Cadet/Midshipman units,” the report wrote.

“We’re in an unacceptable place and we need a culture reset,” Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark said in a statement earlier this month. “I look at this as a campaign where there is no silver bullet and it will take a variety of approaches to reach our goal. But the most important thing is a commitment from every one of us to change our culture.”

Beyond better prevention, the Department of Defense also wants service academies to encourage greater reporting of sexual assault so that the academies can help victims recover from the incident and/or pursue accountability. Both the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy are due to implement a “Return to Health” policy modeled off of the one issued by West Point, which sets down a process to help students recover from a sexual assault and balance their academic goals with that process.

One initiative specific to the Air Force is the Teal Rope program, where Cadets who have been trained in sexual violence prevention and response support survivors and help drive culture change at the academy.

“People like to go to their equals,” Air Force Academy SAPR office manager Sonja Strickland said in a 2019 Air Force article. “It’s that Cadet-to-Cadet piece.”