A Cyber Force? Senate Proposes Study With Lessons Learned from Space Force

A Cyber Force? Senate Proposes Study With Lessons Learned from Space Force

July 17, 2023 | By David Roza

As the Senate prepares to start debate on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on July 18, one provision in the bill would task the Pentagon with studying the possibility of an independent Cyber Force—taking into account lessons from the Space Force.

The Senate Armed Services Committee completed its markup of the NDAA in late June, and the full text of the bill was released July 11. A section in the legislation directs the Secretary of Defense to work with the National Academy of Public Administration in evaluating whether it is advisable to either establish a separate service dedicated to cyber operations or refine the existing U.S. Cyber Command approach, which is based on the U.S. Special Operations Command model.

The legislation calls for studying how well the armed forces currently meet the cyber requirements of combatant commands, as well as how well the Pentagon recruits, organizes, trains, equips, and retains cyber operators. The study would then evaluate whether an independent cyber force would improve on that performance.

The provision would also analyze the tradeoffs of establishing a completely separate cyber force compared to standing one up within an existing military department, as the Space Force was stood up within the Department of the Air Force in 2019. Lawmakers also want to know “lessons learned from the creation of the United States Space Force that should be applied to the creation of a United States Cyber Force,” the bill states.

In terms of timing, the section requires the Secretary of Defense to enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Public Administration 60 days after the bill is enacted, and the academy would then be bound to submit a report 210 days after the agreement is signed. 

If passed, the provision and the ensuing study would help shape debate in Congress over whether to create a separate cyber service, an issue national security experts have debated for years but which has gained particular steam recently. The provision comes after lawmakers expressed a need for more data on the issue.

“I think we have to have like a public sort of analysis of it,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber, innovative technologies and information systems  subcommittee, said in February, according to Breaking Defense.

Gallagher said he worried that creating a separate cyber force would lead to “a massive increase in bureaucracy,” especially so soon after the creation of the Space Force, but he admitted that he was “yet to do my own homework on it.”

Some national security experts share Gallagher’s concern over bureaucratic bloat.

“The overhead costs of standing up a new service and its respective bureaucracy would place an undue burden on a military that is still struggling to modernize and likely faces a period of stagnating or declining budgets,” wrote Jason Blessing, a visiting research fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, in a 2021 commentary for War On the Rocks. 

Blessing also argued that the current system, in which each service trains cyber operators and contributes to the U.S. Cyber Command, is well-suited to cyberspace, “which has complex intersections and interdependencies with the military’s other operating environments.”

Proponents of an independent cyber force say that the current set-up fails to keep pace with evolving threats.

“Most important, the creation of a U.S. Cyber Force would move America beyond the current ‘pick-up team’ approach to cybersecurity, wherein each of the armed forces has a small number of cyber experts,” wrote retired Adm. James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, in a March analysis for Bloomberg. The admiral argued that a cyber force would also lead to greater advocacy for cyber needs on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Future of the F-15E and More In the Balance as Senate Starts NDAA Debate

Future of the F-15E and More In the Balance as Senate Starts NDAA Debate

July 17, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate will start debate on the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act on July 18, as lawmakers wade through 666 amendments proposed amendments filed to the bill.

The proposals cover everything from the Department of State’s authorization bill to a prohibition on slaughtering horses for human consumption; many have little or no relation to defense policy. Senators vie to attach legislation to the NDAA because it’s “must-pass” legislation. Over the course of debate, most proposed amendments will be dropped. Some may be packaged together for quick, uncontroversial votes. And some will receive their own debates and roll-call votes. 

The House has already passed its version of the authorization bill, and once both chambers have passed a bill, the two must be reconciled. But first, the Senate must have its day.

For the Air Force, several of the amendments could have lasting repercussions for the service. 

Fighters 

The Air Force quietly revealed plans earlier this year to cut its F-15E fleet to 99 aircraft in the coming years—a reduction of more 119 aircraft. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was asked about the cuts in his confirmation hearing to become the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, answering that the cut was necessary to “balance capability and capacity.” 

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), who raised the issue with Brown on July 11, represents Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, one of five bases with F-15Es, and offered an amendment the next day that that would prohibit F-15E retirements through fiscal 2029. 

Budd’s drive to save the F-15E comes as other lawmakers press to increase procurement of the new F-15EXs variant. USAF asked for 24 F-15EXs in 2024—restoring some planned purchases that had been cut a year earlier. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the service would go no further, but that hasn’t stopped some legislators. 

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, added funds to his markup of the NDAA for advance procurement of six extra F-15EXs in 2025, and an amendment from Rep. John James (R-Mich.) adopted by the House added funds to buy two more EXs in 2024. 

Another amendment included in the House bill from Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) would prohibit the Air Force from terminating the flying mission of any Guard fighter squadron until at least 180 days after USAF submits a “notional plan” on how it will recapitalize every Guard fighter squadron. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced a matching amendment in the Senate. 

Bombers 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filed a series of amendments touching on the Air Force’s bomber fleet—unsurprising given that he represents Dyess Air Force Base, which hosts the B-1B Lancer. 

  • One would extend a previous prohibition on modifying “the designed operational capability statement for any B–1 bomber aircraft squadron … in a manner that would reduce the capabilities of such a squadron below the levels specified in such statement” until the B-21 Raider starts to be fielded. 
  • Another amendment would provide $30 million to test hypersonic weapons on the B-1—a possibility the Air Force has been studying with the development of a new pylon by contractor Boeing that enables the long-range bomber to carry such weapons. 
  • Finally, Cruz also wants to take $45 million out of the B-21’s research, development, test, and evaluation account and redirect it to fund military construction to support B-21 basing at Dyess.  

Other Aircraft 

A number of other Air Force fleets would be protected under amendments filed in the Senate. 

  • Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wants to once again prohibit any divestment of the C-40 Clipper, used to transport senior military commanders, Cabinet officials, and members of Congress. 
  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wants to extend a requirement that the Air Force to maintain a fleet of at least 271 C-130s through 2024. 
  • Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment that would prohibit the Air Force from reducing its E-3 AWACS fleet to less than 16 aircraft until the service submits a plan “for maintaining readiness and ensuring there is no lapse in mission capabilities,” or until it starts buying the E-7 Wedgetail. 

Next Steps 

The House passed its version of the NDAA on July 14, largely along party lines after Republicans included amendments on a host of contentious issues that would cut funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and out-of-state travel for reproductive health care, and more. 

Some lawmakers introduced corresponding amendments in the Senate, but they are unlikely to succeed in the Democratic-controlled chamber. If and when the Senate does pass the larger bill, a conference committee will be appointed to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions, and send that combined measure back to both bodies for a vote.  

F-16s Join A-10s to Deter Iran from Seizing Oil Tankers

F-16s Join A-10s to Deter Iran from Seizing Oil Tankers

July 16, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. Air Force is now using F-16s to bolster its armed overwatch of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region and deter Iran from trying to seize the vessels, U.S. officials say.

A-10s have already been flying patrols in the Gulf for the past couple of weeks. 

The F-16 fighters, which started to fly maritime missions in the last few days, will add to the U.S. ability to respond to Iranian threats at sea and can also carry out defensive counter-air missions should Iran challenge America in the skies. 

“We are working closely between the maritime and air components to ensure that there’s adequate air cover, that there’s adequate maritime surface presence in order to deter Iran from going after oil tankers,” a senior U.S. defense official said on July 14. 

The official added that the F-16s would “further robust that presence.” Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes are also supporting the effort.

The U.S. moved to beef up its air patrols after Iran sought to seize two commercial oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month and fired on one of them. 

U.S. officials said the Iranians abandoned the attempted seizure, which occurred in international waters, after the U.S. sent a guided missile destroyer, the USS McFaul, to the area.

The U.S. has a good understanding of which oil tankers are transiting the Gulf, what cargo they are carrying, what flag they are flying under, and who owns them, officials say.

“That kind of lets us assess what vessels might be a risk and when do we want to have more presence in play,” the senior U.S. defense official said.

“We don’t just protect everyone,” the official added without providing further details. “We protect vessels that we have a national interest to protect.”

This is not the first time the U.S. envisioned using A-10s for a maritime security mission in the Gulf. In the 2012-2015 time frame, the official said, the U.S. tested how A-10s could be effective against Iranian fast attack boats and concluded they could be useful in situations in which there is not a serious surface-to-air or air-to-air threat.

U.S. officials have said Iran may receive Russian fighters in exchange for the drones Tehran has provided Moscow to use in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran also has surface-to-air missiles that can cover the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic choke point for shipping leaving the Gulf. An Iranian SAM shot down an American RQ-4 Global Hawk in 2019 during a period of high tension due to Iranian attacks on commercial tankers. Formerly a U.S. ally, Iran has American-made combat jets such as the aging F-4 Phantom in its inventory.

“They have a working air force,” the official said of Iran.

The A-10s are equipped with a range of weapons that are useful against moving maritime targets, including guns, rockets, and certain laser-guided bombs, and the A-10s in the region have specifically been modified to carry a more diverse range of munitions.

The aircraft deployments have gotten the attention of the Iranians, who claim their actions are aimed at discouraging smuggling and that Washington is destabilizing the region. 

“I think our presence is very visible. It’s serving a deterrent effect,” the senior U.S. defense official said. “We’ll see if it’s deterrent enough over the coming days.”

38-Year KC-135 Crew Chief Marshals His Daughter’s First Takeoff

38-Year KC-135 Crew Chief Marshals His Daughter’s First Takeoff

July 14, 2023 | By David Roza

Master Sgt. Kevin Clancy has launched KC-135 tail number 58-0045 countless times over his career as a crew chief, but one flight July 6 was different from the rest. This time, his own daughter was taking his pride and joy down the runway.

“I went over the checklist again and again in my head that day,” Clancy told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “You launch hundreds of jets over the years, but this one had my kid on it.”

1st Lt. Megan Hirlehey was 0045’s co-pilot that day on her first mission assigned to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing. Hirlehey had practically grown up on the wing’s base outside Pittsburgh, where Clancy has worked since the late 1980s.

“I wanted to do this ever since I was a kid,” Hirlehey said.

Aerial refueling has long been a family affair for the two Airmen. As first reported in a recent press release, Clancy stayed on base for five straight days during the high-alert period immediately after Sept. 11, 2001. At one point his wife and two daughters stopped by to drop off a clean set of clothes, and during the visit one of the KC-135 pilots, Brian Krawchyk, took the kids to a refrigerator on base.

“He said ‘close your eyes,’ and then he opened the door and it was full of ice cream,” Clancy recalled. “The family joke is that that’s what made Megan decide to join the Guard.”

For her part, Hirlehey remembers seeing flight-suited aviators walking around the base and wanting to join their ranks, but it wasn’t the easiest journey. She enlisted with the 171st shortly before graduating high school in 2008, serving in the base’s education and training office and as an aerial port specialist at the base’s air terminal. Her goal was to commission and become a pilot, but there was a problem: at 5-foot-2, she did not meet the Air Force’s height requirement, and she was unable to get a waiver.

Her luck turned a few years later when the Air Force changed its height requirements to expand the pool of eligible pilot candidates. She finally received a waiver and was approved in 2019, but there was another problem: the COVID-19 pandemic, which made an already-long process that much longer.

Hirlehey’s patience paid off: she commissioned in 2020, made it through the Air Force’s pilot training pipeline, and reported back to the 171st earlier this year.

“It’s just very surreal to be back here,” she said. “I watched the pilots walk around here for 15 years wanting to be one of them.”

As the day of Hirlehey’s first flight with the wing drew near, Clancy requested to work in the aircraft hangar that day to make sure he could see his daughter take off. He got more than that: the mission planners made sure Hirlehey’s first flight was on 58-0045, the jet Clancy had served on as dedicated crew chief for six years. At one point Clancy named the jet “Global Reach” and designed nose art of the jet refueling a B-52 bomber over the western hemisphere.

“I called it ‘Global Reach’ because that’s what tankers provide to the Air Force,” he said.

kc-135
KC-135 tail number 58-0045 sports nose art designed by crew chief Master Sgt. Kevin Clancy in this 2019 photo. Though the nose art has since been taken down, ‘Global Reach’ will always have a special place in Clancy’s heart. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sgt. Shawn Monk)

Over the course of countless hours keeping an aircraft ready to fly, many crew chiefs come to think of their jets as their own flesh and blood. On July 6, Clancy watched his daughter fly away with his baby, so to speak. The crew chief waved the aircraft out of the chocks and saluted on its way out. He stood on the pilot’s side, according to standard practice, so he could not directly see Hirlehey through the cockpit window, but he walked away “smiling ear to ear” nonetheless. 

“With a jet that old there’s always a chance something might not work,” he said. “I was so thankful that she didn’t have to go to a spare.”

A few hours and an uneventful flight later, Hirlehey returned the KC-135 safe and sound and Clancy turned the jet around so it was ready for the next mission. The flight marked a changing of the guard: as Hirlehey begins her own flying career, Clancy is set to retire in three months after 38 and a half years in uniform. The flight was “kind of the last thing I’m hanging around for,” he said.

The old hand was grateful to end things on such a high note.

“Not many crew chiefs get to retire with this honor,” he said.

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.