Watch, Read: Gen. B. Chance Saltzman on ‘Guardians in the Fight’

March 14, 2023

Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman delivered a keynote address on “Guardians in the Fight,” laying out his theory of success for the Space Force called “Competitive Endurance” at the AFA Warfare Symposium, March 7, 2023. Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Voiceover:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Please join me in welcoming the President & CEO of your Air & Space Forces Association, Lieutenant General Bruce “Orville” Wright.

Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright (Ret.):

Well, this is pretty awesome, I think you would agree. It’s only 10 o’clock in the morning and the Chinese are even more defensive, so God bless you guys. So last spring, our association, your longstanding 76-year-old AFA got a new name, the Air and Space Forces Association. And Space is now our middle name.

The delta is half of our logo. Guardians are in the same fight as our Airmen. We are one team and one fight at the leading edge of the kill web. And just as I had the privilege of introducing Chief Brown to speak on the importance of our Airmen, it is now a humbling privilege to introduce the Chief of Space Operations to speak about our Guardians and their families.

General Chance ‘Salty’ Saltzman is the second CSO in Space Force history. He launched in November, and though it has only been a few short months, Salty is at orbital velocity in shaping strategic objectives for a nation’s younger force. And let me underline, he is a war fighter. And so it is with great honor that I present to you your Chief of Space Operations, General ‘Salty’ Saltzman.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman:

Thank you. Wow. Bright lights, lots of people. This is exciting. It’s a real honor to be here. What an amazing crowd. What an amazing venue. Thanks to Orville, Bernie, Doug, all the AFA team, volunteers, members for this opportunity to speak about the Space Force. Secretary Kendall, thanks for your vision, your leadership, and for setting the right tone for us to get after these critical missions against our threat.

CQ Brown, thanks for being a great wingman. Thanks for showing me what being a leader and a service chief looks like. Wow. How about those senior leader keynotes? Pretty amazing, huh? Pretty. Let’s give it up. Those were … Watching those senior keynote speeches being delivered got me thinking about Ricky Bobby. If you ain’t first, you’re last. Very impressive.

So what about this? Next year we’ll have another Jeopardy clip. The answer will be Salty Saltzman. The question will be, who doesn’t want to follow CQ Brown presentation? That’s only halfway a joke. I’m telling you. Now it’s my turn to take you back in history a little bit.

In July of 1997, I was an Air Force intern in the Pentagon assigned to the Air Staff history office. It was an exciting time to be in the office because as of September that year, we were marking the 50th anniversary of the US Air Force. So there was quite a bit of demand for history in the form of research for senior leader speeches, development of handouts for air shows and other events.

And I was blessed at the time to be working under Dr. Dan Mortenson, who had been with the Air Staff history office longer than anyone could recollect. He was an amazing historian, storyteller and very generous with his time. Now, at that time, I’d only been in the Air Force for about five years, mostly performing ICBM operations.

I joined the Air Force through ROTC as a way to pay for college, and I didn’t really come from a family with extensive military background. All that is to say I really didn’t know that much about the Air Force and much less about its history. Dr. Dan set out to fix this. Day after day he would tell stories to me about historic leaders, aircraft, missions of the Air Force, seemed like he knew everything.

In fact, his detail left me to believe that in many instances he may have actually been there and heard the accounts firsthand from witnesses. Almost every night he would pull a book from our shelves and tell me to read it, or at least a chapter that captured the key insights and details. And I remember him telling me that to understand how the Air Force works, you have to understand the early days, the formative years of flight.

You had to understand what the original men and women went through before they were the senior officers making the key decisions. He told me stories, made me read about Ira Aker, Pete Cassada, Loris Norstad, names I’d never heard before. He told me about the Pan-American flights, the question mark flight, Operation BOLO, missions I’d never heard of.

He made me read “Global Mission,” Hap Arnold’s autobiographical account of the development of airpower. I remember this in particular because he gave the book on a Friday and said he wanted to talk about it on Monday. So I spent a weekend slogging through Hap’s 386 pages of questionable prose with mind-numbing details on the early days of aviation.

On Monday, Dr. Dan asked me what I thought, and as I paused to organize my thoughts, he said, “Hard to read, huh?” He said,” Hap was a better pilot than a writer,” and I agreed, but as we talked about it, the storyline became clear. The early days of military aviation, 1920s and ’30s was a time of experimentation searching. The pilots were experimenting with new technology and its military applications, but more importantly, they were searching for a theory of success.

How should airpower be used? What unique contribution could it make to fighting and winning wars? What was different about these weapons and the domain of the air that required dedicated training, education, expertise? Now the circumstances and timelines of spacepower development are not exactly the same as airpower.

I personally have been integrating space capabilities into the joint fight for well over 20 years, and the U.S. has been leveraging space capabilities for many decades more. However, the emergence of space as a contested domain of war itself is a relatively new phenomenon. The experimentation and search for military applications from a contested domain is a much younger proposition and more clearly connect to the air power efforts of the ’20s and ’30s.

When I listen to CQ Brown talk about air power, I hear an Airman that has not only benefited from his 30 plus years of training, education, experiences, but I hear the results of a service that for 75 years in counting, has determined what air powers does and how it does it, the value it brings to the force. It is through this lens and as an evolution of those lessons that I believe the U.S. Space Force must propose, evaluate, and evolve its own theory of success for contesting the space domain and ensure the U.S. can continue to enjoy the advantages we have secured from superiority on the ultimate high ground.

So in memory of Dr. Dan, a great mentor and friend to whom I am forever grateful, I would like to describe a theory of success for the Space Force. This theory is not an answer to the question, but rather a proposal, a point of departure to start the debate and discussions regarding how the Space f\Force accomplishes its primary mission and best contributes to the joint team.

Now before the theory, I think it’s important to set the scene by describing the evolution of the space domain. For over 50 years, the U.S. has built the world’s most capable force enhancing globally integrated space capabilities on the planet with unrivaled abilities to access and exploit the space domain. And this includes world-class satellite communications, missile warning sensors, position, navigation, and timing, and other capabilities that have assured the U.S. military is the envy of the world and the finest combat force in history.

We were so successful in fact that our competitors watched, they plotted and they invested in capabilities to blunt our advantages in space. The rise of these threats against on orbit systems and increasingly threats to the joint force itself from adversary satellites drove us to the realization that we must be able to contest and when necessary control the space domain.

Why? Because these threats are not just academic discussions any longer. From the Chinese anti-satellite system test in 2007 to the Russian test in November of 2021, these irresponsible weapons tests provide a worrisome glimpse of what conflict in the space domain may entail with the potential for unrestrained military force, creating catastrophic levels of debris that could render wide swaths of valuable orbits useless, limiting access to space capabilities that provide prosperity and security for the United States and the world.

We’ve seen a payload launched into orbit, fly around the world, and then re-enter the atmosphere gliding and maneuvering at hypersonic speeds to its target. We’ve seen a demonstration of a satellite grabbed by another satellite’s robotic arm and pulled out of its mission orbit, and it doesn’t stop at tests. We’ve seen cyber attacks knocking out thousands of space-based internet terminals, widespread attempts at satellite communications, and GPS jamming.

The rise of these threats creates the primary mission of the U.S. Space Force to protect our capabilities and defend the joint force from space enabled attack. The United States established the Space Force to protect our nation’s interest in space. Our formative purpose as Guardians is to protect and to protect, we must be able to contest and control the space domain or in military terms, to achieve space superiority.

Contesting and controlling a domain is a complex endeavor, which is why the Department of Defense relies on its military services to dedicate themselves to the purpose. In the same way we need the Air Force to gain and maintain air superiority, the joint force needs its space force dedicated to gaining and maintaining space superiority.

A military service dedicated to a domain gives our joint force the tools, the depth and institutional experience specialized for domain control. In space, this is a critical prerequisite to follow on space operations needed for joint force effectiveness. The service does this by bringing the full weight of its resources and authorities to focus on meeting the challenges of domain control.

In other words, it means your Space Force is focused on developing experts in the space domain, it’s operational concepts and tactics, and finally building domain focused partnerships with other services, government agencies, industry like-minded nations among those partners. So we know what we need to do and why we need to do it. The next question is how? And here again, I think there are lessons to be learned from the airpower theorists during the interwar period.

During the 1920s and ’30s, the Air Core Tactical School-educated cadre of air-minded professionals who developed a theory of success for our service, The Industrial Web Theory. That theory was used to inform operational concepts like high altitude precision daylight bombing. This concept led to mission requirements like long-range aircraft with accurate navigation, self-protection, which informed program acquisitions like the Northern bomb site, the B-17, the B-24, which were organized into forces like Eighth Air Force, which developed tactics like the combat box and interlocking fires.

Now as we know, combat is a cruel teacher and there are intense lessons to learn and the services must learn and adapt to them. At the beginning of World War II, there was a belief that due to their tactics, the bomber would always get through. But Airmen learned in blood that these tactics were not sufficient, which resulted in a shift in the strategy with a new operational objectives to establish air superiority, which started the theory and acquisition cycle again, resulted in P-51s conducting fighter sweeps over Berlin by 1944.

Now I admit this is an overly simplistic summary of the airpower evolution of World War II, but the logic is sound. Without a theory, the service cannot effectively and efficiently make all the necessary decisions, perform the key activities that must be accomplished in order to accomplish the mission. In short, a theory of success provides an answer to the question of how to get the mission done.

For the U.S. Space Force, the theory of success is necessary in order to orchestrate our efforts in pursuit of space superiority. A theory of success provides Guardians with shared purpose, a common understanding of our overall strategy towards the objective. It defines our organizing principles, it clarifies the assumptions we’re making. It helps identify the equipment we need to buy and the training Guardians will need to be effective.

A theory of success gives you something to point to, a guiding light, if you will. It says this is what matters most for the mission we are charged to perform. So this brings me back to the success theory for United States Space Force. As Secretary Kendall alluded to, this is a working theory which I’ve tentatively titled Competitive Endurance.

The title is intended to capture the notion that we are in a state of competition with our pacing challenge and that remaining in that state is preferable to the alternative states of crisis or conflict. Furthermore, we must have the endurance to maintain this state recognizing fully that managing the stability will require an active process of campaigning.

I intend Competitive Endurance to be a starting point for a dialogue, I believe is critical, absolutely critical to the success of our young service. The goal of the theory of success is to maximize the Space Force’s contribution to integrated deterrence and deter a crisis or conflict from extending into space, but if necessary, allow the joint force to achieve space superiority while also maintaining the safety, security, and long-term sustainability of the space domain.

The approach has three core tenants. Tenant one states we must be able to avoid operational surprise. Avoiding operational surprise in space requires comprehensive and actionable space domain awareness. And by that I mean the ability to make sure we understand what’s happening in space, but also identify behaviors that become irresponsible or even hostile.

And lastly, our ability to avoid operational surprise is an imperative with regards to establishing space superiority. In essence, space forces must be able to detect and preempt any shifts in the operational environment that could compromise the ability of the joint force to achieve space superiority. This requires an enhanced level of space domain awareness. So we are investing heavily in new sensors. We are investing in advanced data management decision support tools.

You will clearly see this tied to the department’s operational imperatives for ABMS and JADC2. We are exploring commercial capabilities to augment this mission in areas and partnerships with allies to expand our information sharing. The second tenant for Competitive Endurance states the U.S. Space Force must deny first-mover advantage in space.

The visibility, predictability, and reconstitution timelines associated with current military space architectures favor the actor that goes on the offensive first. This is an unstable condition that works against deterring attacks on space assets. We can’t have that. Therefore, the Space Force must shift this balance by making an attack on satellites impractical, even self-defeating, discouraging an adversary from taking such actions in the first place.

One way to do this is by investing in resilient space order of battle, as Secretary Kendall has outlined in operational imperative number one. Consistent with the National Defense Strategy’s emphasis on resilience, the Space Force is investing heavily in shifting to more resilient space architectures. Our emerging force designs incorporate attributes like disaggregation, distribution, diversification and protection, maneuverability and proliferation.

Architectures with these present targeting problems for an adversary, they recover more quickly from an attack and make mission disruption far tougher to achieve. All of this creates deterrence. If an adversary has little chance of denying space missions through attack, the incentive to attack at all much less first will be reduced. Let me offer a couple of vignettes to drive this point home.

Without resiliency in the architecture jamming of a few geosynchronous communication satellites could have an outsize of impact. If space-based communications is spread across hundreds of satellites in different orbits, jamming efforts become much tougher, non-mission impacting and therefore impractical. When our missile warning constellation goes from a few satellites to dozens and operates in several different orbits, the overwhelming force that would be required to disrupt the mission would prove to be so escalatory and self-defeating that attack itself would be far less likely.

In summary, when we complicate targeting, we get resiliency and the resiliency raises a threshold for attack, which equates to deterrence. Remove the first mover advantage and the resulting stability increases deterrence. The final tenant for competitive endurance is that space forces must prepare to achieve space superiority via responsible counter-space campaigning. There are several elements of this.

First, we must continue to lead the effort in being responsible in space as Secretary of Defense did with the publishing of the DOD’s tenants of responsible behavior. We must encourage like-minded nations to support these tenants and join us in confronting nations that choose to act in irresponsible ways in space. The Space Force is actively working with international allies and partners to expand the coalition of nations who share our goal of responsible use of space.

Secondly, competitive endurance recognizes that counter-space activities may be necessary to prevent adversaries from leveraging space enabled targeting to attack our forces. But we will balance our counter-space efforts with our need to maintain stability and sustainability of the orbits we are required to use.

Space Force must preserve U.S. advantages by campaigning through competition without incentivizing rivals to escalate to destructive military activities in space. The Space Force is investing in capabilities that protect our joint force from space enabled targeting while understanding that we cannot have a Pyrrhic victory in this domain.

In other words, efforts to control the domain cannot inflict such a devastating toll on the domain itself that our orbits become unusable for follow on operations. And this is not something the other domains have to worry as much about, but it’s just one of the unique aspects that Guardians will have to understand in depth. Let me show you another.

Now this picture is pretty self-explanatory. 24 February, commercial airlines staying away from Ukraine. Now as a general rule during active hostilities, noncombatants take great efforts to avoid war zones. And this holds true in most other domains, contested airspace, sea lanes, the streets of a city under siege. Our domain’s a little different. In space you cannot easily leave the war zone.

There’s no easy way to physically separate civil, commercial, military satellites from one another because the laws that govern orbits are immutable. These laws also dictate that the domain is not self-healing, a kinetic strike that generates debris resulting in long-lasting hazards that could perpetuate for hundreds of years or even longer.

Understanding orbital mechanics and the laws that govern space operations is just one example that shows the need for well-trained, educated personnel in our new dedicated military service. The Space Force is dedicated to protecting us interest in space and defending the joint force from space enabled attack.

A theory of success points us in a direction, orients us to ensure stability and competition, whether our adversaries is the preferred state relative to crisis or conflict, and taking every action to deter crisis or conflict while maintaining the safety, security, and sustainability of the space domain is our prime directive. To further organize and focus space force activities and investments, I’ve set three main lines of efforts going forward.

The first LOE, implementing competitive endurance will require the space force to field combat ready forces. This focuses on building resilient, ready, combat credible capabilities. Technology makes space operations possible, but the Space Force does not present technology systems or even capabilities to the joint force. We present space forces.

This is a small but important distinction. Our space systems may be capable and resilient, but they will only be operationally effective if its personnel has the experience, the sustainment for the mission. We must ensure we have the equipment and the training, expertise, sustainability, so that our forces are prepared to conduct prompt and enduring space operations against an adversary.

Now, train like you fight, that’s a time tested requirement for combat credible forces. Therefore, Guardians need to be able to practice their tactics on a training range or in an emulated environment with a digital twin of their weapon system. To this end, the Space Force is investing in an operational test and training infrastructure, high fidelity simulators, virtual environments, war games, and realistic exercises.

This brings me to LOE number two, amplifying the Guardian spirit. It is our Guardians and their spirit that makes the Space Force an indispensable component of the joint force. Now, to me, Guardian spirit is a collective representation of what it means to be a member of the Space Force. It describes the most positive attributes of our workforce and distinguishes us as a separate service.

If we can amplify the Guardian spirit, we will benefit from the critical thinking, creativity, determination, patriotism of our force. Individuals who embody the Guardian spirit will thrive in the space force. Those without it will struggle. Like all ethereal ideals, the Guardian spirit is easy to recognize yet difficult to explain and define. At a minimum, I think those who exhibit the Guardian spirit share three core traits. They are principled public servants and understand how meaningful public service is to our nation.

Selfless public service is the foundation of our organization and the source of the trust the American people place in the U.S. military. Additionally, these Guardians are space minded war fighters committed to defending the nation, protecting its interests and defeating its enemies. And lastly, they are bold and collaborative problem solvers.

They engage with, analyze, debate new ideas, perpetually challenging the status quo. Our Guardian talent is our most important operational advantage and empowering them will lead to our success. It is Guardians who will take the theory of competitive endurance and give it structure, define the next level of objectives, tasks, activities, and determine its measures of performance and effectiveness.

And that said, I know that even with our talented Guardians, we can’t go it alone, which leads me to my third line of effort. Partnering to win is about further developing partnerships, alliances, coalitions as a core strength of the United States. Our competitors do not have anything close to it. Spacepower is a collaborative endeavor, and this collaboration is essential in the execution of the national defense strategy elements of integrated deterrence and building enduring strategic advantage.

Even with superlative talent and exceptional capabilities, the Space Force will not succeed without robust joint coalition, international, interagency, academic, and commercial partnerships. Partnerships are part of our very core structure as a service. I greatly appreciate the leadership of Secretary Kendall and General Brown. One team, one fight is a critical mantra for the Space Force because we will continue to rely on the Air Force for many important infrastructure and sustainment functions.

In concert with the National Defense Strategy, we must continue to cultivate partnerships that build enduring strategic advantages. This means building mutually beneficial partnerships that expand the capacity, capability, and resiliency of our space forces. This makes our coalition stronger, creates global stability and deters aggression. One key activity that we are undertaking in the establishment of Space Force is the establishment of Space Force service components.

By integrating directly with our allies and partners in their regions, we have an opportunity to work together on a daily basis, building trust, sharing information, creating a better understanding of our mutual strengths and challenges. Last year, we established components in Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Forces Korea, and Central Command.

We are working to establish a component in European Command and we’ll follow that in other combatant commands soon. As I close here, just let me say that for over the past 50 plus years, Guardians and Airmen before us have built the world’s most capable globally integrated space force on this planet.

Their charge included the words, support, deliver, enhance, enable, integrate. We will continue that legacy, but we will evolve to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Guardians in the fight will have to add, compete, protect, defend, deter, and defeat to our lexicon. It’s my job as the CSO to charter a course that gives Guardians the tools they need to be successful.

We are investing to cover our operational imperatives. We are investing to support the National Defense Strategy and we are investing to ensure the Space Force has the systems, people, and processes to implement our theory of success. As I close, I want to reiterate, this is a working theory called competitive endurance. It’s not policy or doctrine, but rather an operational hypothesis we must continuously evaluate.

My ideas on this topic are a point of departure. As our understanding of the operational environment matures, the assumptions and principles that guide our action must evolve as well. My final comment is a challenge to all Guardians, mission partners, other stakeholders, think deeply and critically about what I’ve proposed here. Challenge the assumptions, make your own assertions, recommendations, test your ideas, share those ideas broadly.

The journey we are on must evolve our thinking and our capabilities. It is critically important and requires a sense of urgency and we must get it right. I have every confidence you will. Thank you. Sempra supra.

Voiceover:

General Saltzman and General Wright, please remain on stage for the presentation of the Colonel Bradford W. Parkinson United States Space Force Innovation Awards. Will Captain Brandon Hufstetler, please come forward. Captain Hufstetler developed a multiplayer online space electronic warfare virtual simulator that provided space operators a real-time platform to practice space war fighting tactics.

Further, captain Hufstetler’s use of the DevOps paradigm embodied the fail fast mentality that facilitated accelerated adoption across the force. This zero cost virtual solution fills a major training gap and provides flexible, scalable, and operationally relevant hands-on electromagnetic warfare training across the service.

The United States Space Force proudly presents the Colonel Bradford W. Parkinson Innovation Award individual category to Captain Brandon Hufstetler, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Will miss Angela Blankish and her team please come forward.

The space rapid capabilities office, ground command, control and communications GC3, team developed a first of its kind approach to contracting and software development by blueprinting a process for supporting on the fly make versus buy decisions and centralized systems integration processes. The team also established a responsive customer feedback process to ensure the changes were modified rapidly to accelerate adoption.

This agile construct drives real speed into the acquisition process, improves first run quality, and delivers capabilities faster, enabling us to maintain technological advantage in space. The United States Space Force proudly presents the Colonel Bradford W. Parkinson Innovation Award team category to the space rapid capabilities office, ground command, control, and communications GC3 team, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Thank you, General Saltzman and General Wright. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats. The next session in the Aurora Ballroom, joint war fighting requirements, the forces needed to fight and win will begin in just a moment.

Watch, Read: Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. on ‘Airmen in the Fight’

March 14, 2023

Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, Jr. delivered a keynote address on “Airmen in the Fight,” highlighted by a mantra of “Airpower in the Answer” at the AFA Warfare Symposium, March 7, 2023. Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Voiceover:

Please welcome, AFA President & CEO, Lieutenant General Bruce “Orville” Wright.

Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Ret.):

Well, good morning and welcome to Colorado. And, by the way, this is the launchpad, if you will, for September and getting us all back together to continue to send a message to the world that America is indeed ready for anything, anytime, anywhere, and certainly that is our Air & Space forces. So thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your words. And as Bernie mentioned in his opening remarks, the theme of this AFA Warfare Symposium is “Dominant air and space forces to deter, to fight, to win.” And that’s the idea of one team, one fight. Together we are stronger and our unification recently is an imperative for our nation’s security and that’s why our symposium has placed special emphasis on the seven operational imperatives outlined by Secretary Kendall. As he said himself, “Our nation owes you, our Airmen and Guardians, the resources needed to complete your mission. We, at AFA ,will remain on your wing and fighting for you every minute of every day.”

And so let’s address our Airmen, Guardians, and their families in the fight. There’s no better man, no better leader to do so than your very own Chief of Staff of our United States Air Force. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome General CQ Brown to the stage.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Well, thank you, thank you. Thank you very much and good morning.

Audience:

Morning.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Good morning.

Audience:

Good morning.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

As your Chief and throughout my Air Force career, I’ve talked to you about my four leadership tenets: The first is execute at a high standard. Personally and professionally, I do not play for second place. If I’m in, I’m in to win. I do not play to lose. Matter of fact, I was reminded this morning of the immortal words of Ricky Bobby, “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

But also I want to reflect on a quote from General George Kenney where he talks to … George Kenny was the Allied Air Commander in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. And he compared airpower to poker. And if you’re playing second place, you have a second hand. It’s not like having a hand at all. It’s really about losing. When you think about poker in the aspect of poker, you can bluff. But for our Air Force we have to have credible combat capability. We can’t afford to bluff. And for more than 75 years when our nation has called, airpower was the answer.

The question is what is the capability the nation, our joint teammates, our allies and partners count on throughout history?

Five months after Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raiders put B-25s on the USS Horn and struck Japan giving it the decisive blow and boosting the morale of the nation. Airpower was the answer.

In 1950 when North Korea crossed the 38th parallel, we brought in air to ground capabilities, close air support, mobility with an outsize influence so the joint team was enabled to support UN forces to end overt hostilities. Airpower was the answer.

In Vietnam, Robin Olds, Chappie James and Captain J.B. Stone devised Operation Bolo to alert and trap MiG-21s to attack F-4s that were mimicking F-105s. In 12 minutes, nearly half of the North Vietnamese aircraft were lost with no US losses. Airpower was the answer.

In 1991, just days after Iraq invaded Kuwait, United States Air Force with our allies and partners brought in fighters. Attack, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, airlift, air refueling. We formed a coalition during Desert Storm to execute the largest air campaign since World War II. Airpower was the answer.

Back in 2001 on 911 in response to the attacks on our nation with no plan, in less than 30 days Operation Enduring Freedom began with 12 days of airstrikes into Afghanistan, followed by Special Forces teams that included our special warfare Airmen. Airpower was the answer.

In 2011 to counter the forces that are loyal to dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the international community came together with a decisive option of Odyssey Dawn Unified Protector to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians. Airpower was the answer.

2014: By, with, and through our partners we were able to roll back ISIS using non-doctrinal approaches of strike cells to execute the most precise air campaign in history. Airpower was the answer.

When you’re addressing the pacing, acute, unforeseen challenges of today or tomorrow, airpower is the answer.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here. I want to thank our One Team. Secretary Kendall, it’s a pleasure to work with and for you. I also want to recognize the Honorable Gina Ortiz Jones and thank her for her leadership. And welcome the Honorable Kristyn Jones to our One Team.

A good teammate, Salty Saltzman; and I also want to thank our senior enlisted Jo Bass and Toby Towberman. Because of this One Team, because of all of you as a One Team, we are able to execute the fight our nation needs. I want to thank the Air & Space Forces Association for their tremendous support. Orville, thank you for the very kind introduction. But it’s what you do on our wing day in and day out to support our Airmen, our Guardians, and families to ensure our Air Force and our Space Force have the combat capability we require, thank you.

I also want to thank our Airmen and families, our Airmen, Guardians, and families because they allow us to do what we do to make sure we’re able to fly, fight, and win and be Semper Supra all the time.

And, finally, I want to thank our industry and community partners. Because of them, we’re the greatest Air Force and Space Force in the world.

Today I want to talk about a few things. I want to build up upon what Secretary Kendall talked about, and talk a bit more about how we modernize the Air Force, but how we actually use the capabilities he described in his remarks. I want to make sure and ensure that airpower remains the answer for our Air Force, for the joint force, and for our nation.

I started out talking about poker. I want to take a minute or two to talk about another game of chance and tie it to our personal story. I’m going to take it way back to Second Lieutenant Brown, Williams Air Force Base and pilot training. This is me, my table mate, Tony Davis, T38 table mate, Tony Davis, on the screen. And those who remember pilot training back in the day we had early week and late week, and so early week we’d start at four in the morning, finish about in the afternoon. And, typically, on Fridays … Well, maybe a lot of days, we’d head over to the club for a cold one. I probably have a cold one in my hand right now in that photo. And one of the things we would do is we actually … This so happened, we’d get there about four and the show Jeopardy would be on and that actually became our class show.

Now, I know some of you are fairly young and probably don’t understand the show Jeopardy, but it came out in 1984, the year I was commissioned, and so I’ve been a long time fan of Jeopardy. And so as I think about Jeopardy, I want to think about the quote from Giulio Douhet, where he talks about victory and how victory smiles upon those who anticipate change, not on those who wait to change. Now, if I think about this particular quote and I was going to put it into a kind of Jeopardy kind of parlance, the way you would do that is I would say “Change,” and the response would be in the form of a question, “What makes many uncomfortable?” Change. I’d rather be uncomfortable than lose. That’s exactly why I wrote, “Accelerate change or lose.”

As Airmen, we must think differently about how we fly, fight, and win. With accelerate change or lose, we need to think about the speed, the agility and lethality we have. It’ll be force multipliers. We must adapt and we cannot do this by ourselves. It takes collaboration with Congress, with our joint teammates, with our allies and partners and with our industry partners. Success takes help. Failure you can do alone. In order to be successful, we’ve got to work together. We’ve got to make sure we have the right mix of capabilities and capacity as an Air Force and as a joint team to be successful.

We, our Air Force and our Airmen, are the security of promise through our core functions to ensure we can successfully employ airpower. We need to change to stay ahead of our pacing challenge, the PRC. The mission of the United States Air Force, is to fly, fight, and win. Airpower any time anywhere. Not sometimes in some places. It is anytime, anywhere. We are the only service that provides the nation the assurance of air superiority, the advantage of global strike, the agility of rapid global mobility, the adaptability of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and the authority in our command and control to sense, make sense, and act. It’s what we must do today and must be prepared to do tomorrow. Bottom line, airpower is the answer.

So let’s discuss the core functions in Jeopardy parlance:

“Provides our nation with an asymmetric advantage. Underwriting the freedom of action required for all joint military operations.”

What is air superiority? One, the path to go to four fighter fleets. We’re bringing on the F-35 to be the cornerstone of our fighter fleets. We’re procuring the F-15EX and we’re doing it right here on the FY24 budget. We’re bringing on the next generation of air dominance family of systems. Secretary Kendall highlighted the collaborative combat aircraft and the 1,000 we’re going to bring on. That is a capability we’re going to need to ensure we can fly, fight, and win. We’re bringing on advanced weapons like the joint advanced tactical missile to increase our range of capability, to hold our targets at risk. We need to make sure we have the right mix of capability and capacity, whether it be our aircraft or our weapons. They all come together. With air superiority, airpower is the answer.

“Provides our nation with safe, secure and reliable power projection.”

What is global strike?

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

It’s okay to cheer for the core functions.

Hey, with the rollout of the B-21 back in December, and for those that were there, it was an awesome event, but it demonstrated global strike and our path to get from a three bomber fleet to a two bomber fleet. At the same time, we’re modernizing to bring on Sentinel to replace Minuteman III to ensure that we can maintain two legs of the triad. At the same time, we’re bringing on hypersonic and long-range weapons so we can hold targets at risk anytime, anywhere around the globe. With global strike, airpower is the answer.

“Delivers on demand allowing us to respond quickly and decisively anywhere needed around the globe.”

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

What is rapid global mobility?

Audience:

Let’s go.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

We’re bringing on the KC-46 and this past year we got the initial operational capability to ensure we can support the joint fight. Secretary highlighted we’re accelerating towards next generation air refueling system. At the same time, mobility along with munitions and electronic warfares described by the Secretary are cross-cutting operational enablers that ensure we’ll be able to fly, fight and win. In order to do logistics under attack, it will require rapid global mobility. For rapid global mobility, airpower is the answer.

“The foundation upon which every joint interagency and coalition operation achieves success.”

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

What is intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance? It’s the capability to be persistent, connected, and survivable in a contested environment. It’s providing actionable intelligence to the war fighter. I’m excited that we’re accelerating the E-7 Wedgetail into our Air Force and combine that with the capabilities provided by the United States Space Force, we’ll be able to strike moving targets at scale. With intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, airpower is the answer.

“Pervasive and highly interconnected networks that allow us to access reliable communication information networks for global operations.”

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

What is command and control? The advanced battle management system is the Department of Air Force’s contribution to joint all domain command and control. This will enable us to close long range kill webs with speed, precision, and lethality. Our command and control communications at Battle Management PA will bring on the DAF Battle Network so we’ll have decision advantage for the Air Force, for the space force, for the joint force and for the coalition. With intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, airpower is the answer. The Air Force, our Airmen, through these core functions, underwrite the entirety of the joint force, and we are uniquely suited to provide airpower as a cornerstone of the nation’s defense. Airpower is the answer.

I’m going to shift gears for a second. There’s a lot of great debates. Tastes great, less filling. Ford or Chevy. Coke or Pepsi. Internal to our United States Air Force core mission or core function. What I’ve found as your chief, as I’ve gone through and read, there’s some inconsistencies in some of our strategic documents. Some of those inconsistencies have probably been rewarded with performance report bullets, but I’m going to set the record straight so I like to read them. So I’ve read through the Joint Publication one, definition for mission and function. “The enduring roles the Air Force is designed and equipped to train for: air superiority, global strike, rapid global mobility, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, command and control.” I want to end the debate. From this day forward we refer to them as our core functions and capture them that way in all of our strategic documents.

Now, maintaining our advantage requires collaboration. Maintaining our advantage requires accelerating the capabilities through the operational imperatives. And maintaining our advantage requires an on-time budget. Last AFA, I talked about a future design. In the future design concept, I talked about the joint war fighting concept and the change in trends and character of war. Yesterday I signed the Air Force Future Operating concept. It talks about how we will operate, fight, and win as an Air Force. This was put together by our Air Force Futures led by Lieutenant General Q Hinote. It’s linked to the joint war fighting concept. It talks about how we execute our core functions, how we integrate with the operational imperatives and how we create opportunities for the joint force.

Without the integrated capabilities of the United States Air Force, the joint force opportunities are infrequent, fleeting and costly. Future conflicts will be contested and complex. We’ve identified those within six fights within the Air Force future operating concept: The fight to compete and deter, the fight to get into theater, the fight to get airborne, the fight for air superiority, the fight to deny adversary objectives and the fight to sustain the fight. All these six fights overlap. They’re not done independently. Airmen need to fight them all at the same time. This is why you must be multi-capable as an Air Force and multi-capable as Airmen to integrate the core functions simultaneously across domains in the context of winning all six fights. And we’ll do so through continued development of our future force design.

I had a chance to sit down with Q and his team about a week ago to take the first look of this future force design. Guess what? It’s going to make a few people uncomfortable because it’s driving change.

In Jeopardy there’s a Daily Double where the contestant is allowed to double their bet than they normally would. Many of you know I’ve been stationed at Nellis a couple of times. There in Las Vegas. I’m kind of a tightwad. I’m not a better, but there’s one thing I would do that I would double down on every time, it’s our Airmen. Our Air Force recruits and retains the highest caliber talent within our nation and we, as leaders, have a responsibility to empower them, provide them the tools and resources and opportunities for success.

“Understand an employ airpower to accelerate change in, from and through the air.”

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Because of our Airmen, airpower is the answer. Because of our Airmen, airpower is the answer.

I’m going to go off script for a second. And can you turn the lights up a little bit? You got your phone, right? You pull it out, take a selfie. I’m going to take a selfie of all of us and I want you to text that to your parents, significant other, good friend, neighbor. And on the bottom put, “Because of me, airpower is the answer.” Because of our Airmen … I’m going to send it to my mom … Because of our Airmen, airpower is the answer. And when I think about our doctrine, when I think about mission command, it’s about our Airmen. It’s about providing intent, trust, and empowerment to execute what the nation’s asked us to do. We will not be able to execute the Air Force future operating concept without mission command. It takes practice and intentional development. You must brief mission command. You must train mission command. You must exercise mission command and you must debrief mission command. Mission command is essential to winning.

Part of the essential part of winning also includes talent management and the initiatives we’re putting in place, they’re focused on inspiring a culture of excellence. You heard me say before, “One of my prominent goals as your Chief of Staff is to create an environment where all Airmen, active, guard, reserve, and civilian can reach their full potential.”

Secretary Kendall highlighted the historic anniversaries. Integration of women into the services 75 years ago, desegregation of the services 75 years ago, 50 years since the beginning of the all-volunteer force. I think about all those anniversaries. I think about the generations that have gone before us that rose their right hand, took an oath of office or took an oath of enlistment. I’m also thinking about how we inspire the next generation. And so as I travel as your chief and I have a chance to talk, I talk to Airmen and I talk to our families. I talk to historians, influencers, gaining insights on the call to service.

Why did we all serve? That’s the question we want to ask ourselves. What inspired you? Why did you join? And share that story.

I always believe young people only aspire to be what they see. You never decide to grow up to be something you’ve never seen. And so we have to do a better job of providing young people an opportunity to see our air force, to see our Airmen, to see the great opportunities this call to service offers and provides. We need to connect with our communities. We need to open up our bases and spend more time with the American public, say more about our United States Air Force and the United States Space Force and our military. Our legacy depends on doubling down on our Airmen and accelerating change.

Video: Jeopardy Contestant:

The Postmaster General.

Video: Alex Trebek:

Yes.

Video: Jeopardy Contestant:

Government 800.

Video: Alex Trebek:

Yes, sir. Daily Double. All right. It’s a close game, but you’re in the lead.

Video: Jeopardy Contestant:

Yes. Let’s throw caution to the wind. Let’s make it a true Daily Double.

Video: Alex Trebek:

All right. In 2020, Charles Q. Brown got this three word title for the Air Force and is the first African American General to lead a military branch.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Now, never in a thousand years back at pilot training …

Audience:

[Cheering]

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

One, I never thought I’d be the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Two, I never thought I’d be smart enough to get on Jeopardy, and most definitely, I never thought I’d be a clue on Jeopardy and be the Daily Double. If you’re wondering, he got the answer wrong.

I, as your chief, we, as an Air Force, can’t get this wrong. We have a responsibility to get the answer right. Our Airmen, our joint teammates, industry partners, allies, and partners all need to work together to make sure we get to the right answer. In order to execute a high standard, we can’t play for second place. We need to play to win. I’ve known since I was a second lieutenant. I know it even more today as your chief. Airpower is the answer.

At this momentous time and an inflection point in our history, I’m proud to serve with and for you. I want to work with each of you to ensure our Air Force can execute our mission to fly, fight, and win; airpower anytime, anywhere.

Thanks for the opportunity. Airpower is the answer.

Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Ret.):

Well, thank you Chief Brown. And it’s my honor on behalf of your Air & Space Forces Association to present our coin and also we’re going to stay on stage here for just a minute-

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Okay.

Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Ret.):

… to present a very important award. Thank you, Chief.

CSAF Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown:

Thank you.

Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Ret.):

We got to get a picture.

Voiceover:

Ladies and gentlemen., we will now have the presentation of the General Larry O. Spencer United States Air Force Innovation Awards. Will Master Sergeant Jason Yunker please come forward.

While deployed to Kadena Airbase, Master Sergeant Yunker worked to decentralize the Spark Tank finalist VIPER hot refuel kit procurement process by creating a central point of contact for integrating partner equipment refueling kit orders enabling commanders to purchase as much needed increases as possible, the ability to perform hot refuel operations globally and saved an estimated $72 million annually.

Additionally, he partnered with the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center to synchronize data and introduce new fuel equipment to seven aircraft platforms while securing approval for use in refueling operations. These efforts resulted in the first new petroleum oil and lubricants kit in 15 years.

The United States Air Force proudly presents the General Larry O. Spencer United States Air Force Innovation Award Individual Category to Master Sergeant Jason Yunker, Kadena Airbase, Japan.

Will Major Sean Pasieta and team please come forward.

The 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s Dash-21 team captured the essence of this prestigious award and drove operational and cultural results as they established air mobility commands, sole dual powered winch maintenance and repair facility. This enabled mission-critical asset availability for the entire fleet of 52 C-5 Galaxy aircraft across the active and reserve air components. In establishing a Dash-21 shop, the team repaired 38 assets and saved the Air Force more than $20 million in replacement and procurement costs.

The United States Air Force proudly presents the General Larry O. Spencer United States Air Force Innovation Award Team Category to the 60th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Dash-21 Team, Travis Air Force Base, California.

Thank you, General Brown and General Wright.

Ladies and gentlemen, our exhibit hall is now open until 16:30. Please help yourself to coffee and visit more than 100 exhibitors. Please be sure to return to the Aurora Ballroom at 10:00 hours to hear from the new Chief of Space Operations, General Chance Saltzman.

Watch, Read: AFGSC Commander Bussiere on ‘Global Strike’

March 14, 2023

Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, delivered a keynote address on “Global Strike,” covering the future of AFGSC, including the B-21, Sentinel ICBM, and more at the AFA Warfare Symposium, March 7, 2023. Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere:

How we doing? So you all are waiting for me to get done so you can go to the bar, right? All right, so I’d like to spend a few minutes thanking some folks. So I don’t see Orville or Doug here, but when I talked to Orville Wright a few weeks ago, I go “hey, what do you want me to talk about?” He goes, “whatever you want to talk about.” So I guess it’s customary for the MAJCOM commander in the Air Force to have the opportunity to come to the next AFA, and given the opportunity to pontificate about anything he or she wants to, so hang on. They should have given me a topic.

So I want to thank AFA and the industry partners here for setting this all up. I’d like to thank our Airmen and Guardians who made the time to come here, and their supervisors and commanders that let them do that and that attended themselves. I’d like to thank our family members who are here, who support, enable, and defend the homeland while our warriors are at home and deployed. And I’d like to personally thank my teammate Chief Smith here, sitting in the front, for all she does for not only me, but our Airmen and families in Air Force Global Strike Command.

I want to give you a little bit of an around the world for Air Force Global Strike Command. Today is literally my three months in command, third tour in the Air Force Global Strike Command, and three months today. So I’m going to give you a little bit of what I’ve seen so far, where we’re going, and there’s a lot of people here that we need to thank. And I don’t see them, but I’ll thank them anyways. So our success in Air Force Global Strike Command… In case you heard this morning, it’s the Global Strike Functional Area… is a byproduct of a lot of things. There is no Global Strike without Air Mobility Command, and I know Minnie [Gen. Mike Minihan] was just up here.

We don’t go anywhere in the world without AMC, so they enable our ability to go anywhere on the planet and influence bad people. We can’t do our job in Air Force Global Strike Command without our guard and reserve partners. So General Healy and General Loh were here earlier today, and if you’re in the components of reserve or guard, please know that we can’t do our job without you. And then there are many folks here that need to be recognized from an AFMC perspective and then the RCO perspective, for a lot of the things we’re going to talk about in our around the world for Global Strike Command can’t happen without Air Force Materiel Command and the Rapid Capabilities Office. So I want to take this opportunity to give you a little sense of the air component to STRATCOM, and I’m going to give it to you in a little bit of the parlance of strategic deterrence, because I didn’t understand it.

I’ve done this for 36 years and I did not understand this until I was a one star on the joint staff. So you’re all going to be ahead of the power curve. So every day of every week, our forces, Gen. Cotton … Every day of every week, we stand the watch. Right now, this second, in three ICBM wings across the northern tier of this country, we have missile operators, missile maintainers, defenders, facility managers, and chiefs standing the watch like they have done since 1962 with this weapon system, the Minuteman III. Started off with Minuteman I, we went to II in, now we’re at III. Think about that. A year before I was born was when this weapon system was originally fielded, and they have stood the watch since then. The silent warriors maintaining the foundational defense of our nation.

So when the chief and the secretary gave me the privilege—it’s not a right—the privilege to come back to Global Strike Command and serve in this capacity with 33,000 plus warriors, and have the privilege of taking care of this mission, of taking care of our Airmen and taking care of our families, it was a dream come true. There is no other place on the planet that I’d rather be than right here in Air Force Global Strike Command. Many of you may have not been around when this command was stood up in August of 2009. It was a turbulent time in our Air Force. You need to understand, we are here for a purpose. It’s somewhat lost in the last 20 years with the war on terror, but make no mistake why we exist.

We have the privilege and honor of maintaining two thirds of our nation’s triad, the land leg and the air leg, and my partner in crime, Admiral Caudle, maintains the sea leg. 24/7, 365. That’s a responsibility and an obligation we take very seriously. It’s a no-fail mission. It underpins everything in our nation. You heard General VanHerck, General Hyten talk about it yesterday. It’s an assumed underpinning of our nation’s defense. It’s an assumed aspect of every regional combatant commander’s operational plans, that strategic deterrence and within that, nuclear deterrence, will hold. No one can imagine a world where it doesn’t. That’s the nature of this business.

Now, you’ve heard many speakers talk about the threat. I will approach it from a slightly different angle. Just two weeks ago, Russia withdrew from New START Treaty. That was the last vestige of arms control treaty that the United States had. We do not have an arms control treaty with China. Many of you know that Russia has completed 80 to 85 percent of recapitalization of their strategic forces. Many of you know that they have non-treaty accountable weapons that exceed any number that we have had in the recent past. You don’t have to look too far back in history to realize that Russia doesn’t necessarily comply with all the international rules and laws that Western democratic nations aspire to follow. Just ask the Ukrainian people how they feel about that.

If you look out toward the Pacific, you can see China and the CCP sprinting to parity with their nuclear force, diversifying, expanding and modernizing at a pace that we haven’t seen since the Cold War. When the wall fell and we took a peace dividend, we thought the world was going to be a different place. It isn’t. I would offer to you that 2023 presents a threat and a world that Lieutenant and Captain Bussiere would have never guessed would materialize in 2023. It is the most complicated international order I have ever experienced in my military career.

So how would you propose we, from the air component to STRATCOM, respond to that? You are all familiar with the NDS published last October. You are all familiar with integrated deterrence. My opinion is we’ve been doing integrated deterrence for a while, but the maturation and vision that the secretary and the nation has, fully agree with. What’s the silent foundational assumption of integrated deterrence? That you have an underpinning of a credible nuclear deterrent. That is what we’re doing right now in Air Force Global Strike Command. Now, I used to put on my Christmas cards, which not everyone appreciated, a picture of the B-2 when I was flying that weapon system. It was a picture in my family, and across the top it said “peace through strength.”

How do we ensure the world as we know it doesn’t get more complicated or more dangerous? In my opinion, we make sure we have the most modern, credible nuclear deterrent and long-range strike platforms that our nation can deliver. And that’s what we’re going to talk about. Our current ICBM force, the Minuteman III, has been fielded for many, many decades. It’s a testament to General Richardson’s team at Air Force Materiel Command. It’s a testament to industry. It’s a testament to our operators in the field in the mighty 20th Air Force. It’s a testament that we have taken on the backs of our Airmen for years.

That system has to maintain full operational capability until we field the Sentinel weapon system. There is no other option. That’s a unique aspect of the business we do. There is no other business in the Department of Defense in my opinion, where you bring on a new weapon system that you don’t off-ramp the current system. You can’t do that in the nuclear enterprise. Full operational capability until the new weapon system is fielded. Whether that is the Sentinel for the land-based, or the B-21 bomber for the B-1 and B-2. Full operational capability. The same thing holds true for our NC3 systems and platforms. It’s a unique aspect that doesn’t exist, in my opinion, anywhere else in the department at this scale and scope. And that is going to be a testament to a really wonderful group of people. Our Airmen, our industry partners, and our materiel air command experts that manage those systems that we’re transitioning. You can’t do it without all of them.

Our current bomber force, right now we have bombers in Australia, we have bombers in Spain. We just had bombers return from India. We’re going to send bombers in a few days to Red Flag in Las Vegas. It’s a high demand, low density platform. Everybody wants it. As you know, there is no long range global strike without our bomber legs. I would offer to you the mighty 8th Air Force, which I had the privilege of leading, is the reason we have an independent air force. We can debate that after if you’d like. The essence of long range strike, range, and payload coupled with stealth, provides the opportunity to hold at risk anything on the planet at a time and place of our choosing. That’s a powerful thing for our senior leaders to have in their back pocket.

I used to tell our bomber crews that when the State Department goes and negotiate for the United States and our allies and partners, they’ll flip a baseball card across the table that has the B-1, the B-2, the B-52, and soon to be the B-21, and on the flip side, it’s a picture of them. That’s the power and influence that our long-range strike platforms have. The future bomber force. What do you think our next bomber is going to be? We just unveiled it, the B-21. But I’m not going to talk about that yet, Mojo. I’m going to talk about the 6th generation bomber first. I just made that up.

The B-52J. Any BUFF maintainers or operators in the audience? I used to say that our last B-52 pilot hasn’t been born yet. Yeah, I’m not thinking that’s the right line anymore. It might now be our last B-52 father or grandfather hasn’t been born yet. Think about that. Think about that platform. The Vietnam warriors that were on this stage yesterday talked about the strategic air command B-52s that were on in that war on that peninsula. Every time I went to a Vietnam veterans event when I was younger, when the B-52 flew over the event, the crowd went wild. I will offer to you that that sentiment is probably not going to change with the B-52J. It’s probably not going to change for a few decades. We’re going to fly that weapon system to the 2050s. Think about that.

But we’re going to put new motors, new radar, new avionics, and new weapons on that aircraft, and that will be the backbone of our long-range standoff systems. And you can’t do that alone. That’s a combination of industry, our Airmen, and the pros from Dover at Air Force Materiel Command. That’s a pretty amazing statistic. Now let’s talk about the new kid on the block. The B-21, just revealed in December of last year. Now, I got this cleared through Mojo so I’m not going to get in trouble. So the B-21 is truly an amazing long-range strike platform. The capabilities and technology integrated into that weapon system is second to none. It will be the most advanced strike platform ever designed or built on the planet, and that’s a huge testament to the B-21 team. It’s a huge testament to industry. It’s a huge testament to Duke’s team that has been integrated in the rapid capabilities office.

From day one, we’ve had the airborne risk reduction platform testing systems for the B-21. Just recently, we had a third party sensor integration demonstration for the B-21. Just recently, we demonstrated the capability to detect, target, track, and simulate destroying a target with the B-21. The technologies that are integrated, and the open architecture within the open architecture system that we built into it will provide the capabilities to advance, modernize, and keep that weapon system on the leading edge of any threat in the future. In fact, the B-21 team is already thinking about how you’re making a platform that hasn’t actually fielded yet, more lethal. And that’s because of the way it was designed, the way it’s being built, and the vision for it in the future.

Think about the capabilities coupled with the underlying foundational deterrents of our nuclear triad with the ability to hold at risk anything on the planet at a time and place of our choosing. That’s a pretty powerful statement for our nation. The next thing I want to give you an update on is our command and control. So we can have the most exquisite weapon systems on the planet in the nuclear triad, and we will, but the foundational elements of deterrents is our ability to command and control that in a stressed environment. Our nation’s unimaginable stressed environment. Our ability to deter is predicated on the capabilities of our forces to command and control our nuclear triad.

Air Force Global Strike Command and the Air Force has the privilege of maintaining about 75 percent of our nation’s NC3 systems, both widgets as well as airborne platforms. On the screen, you see our National Airborne Operations Center on the left-hand side. That’s the white and blue stripe 747. We have the privilege of supporting the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs with that weapon system. It is a very high demand, low density weapon system. No pressure. OK, just a little bit of pressure. We are going to field a replacement for that. It’s called the SAOC, because we can’t name it the NAOC-2, right? So we’re naming it the SAOC, but you’ll see that hopefully come out in 2023 as we are putting out that airframe for a bid. Foundational to our nation’s ability to command and control and support our senior leaders in government.

You see our helicopter for us up there. Vietnam era UH-1s, soon to be the Grey Wolf, the MH-139, that will meet our requirements for missile field security, range, payload, and speed. You might imagine we have some pretty stringent requirements to maintain security of our missile fields. That weapon system will provide that opportunity in the near future. Now, quick little tidbit. You can barely see it. You see the Grey Wolf up there? See the person in the doorway, and then the PJ fastener open? It’s my son. So I gave props to the program officers for putting a picture of my son on the Grey Wolf.

All right, so that’s a very quick overview of our weapon systems. Your weapon systems. We have the privilege of operating and maintaining them. We need your help to field them. Whether you’re an AFMC, the RCO, or industry, you should look up on that slide and see where your work and your sweat and tears have developed these capabilities. Now, no pressure. We have to do it. OK, just a little bit of pressure. Our nation recapitalizes the triad about every 40 years. We don’t have any option other than to modernize. We’ve exceeded all our operational margin in our current force. The good news is, our Air Force budget and our DOD budget reflects the priority of this mission. There’s not one weapon system up there. There are several weapon systems up there, and that’s accounting for our nation understanding the foundational elements of what Global Strike provides for our Air Force, for STRATCOM, and our nation, as well as our allies and partners. We provide that umbrella of 24/7 365 deterrence. And if ordered, make no mistake, make no doubt. If ordered, we’re ready.

So to wrap it up, some more thanks. To Air and Space Forces Association, thank you for giving me the opportunity to pontificate for a few minutes about what we do for you, our Air Force, and our nation. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to thank our industry partners, our teammates in RCO and AFMC, our teammates in Air Mobility Command, our teammates and the other major commands that are the recipients of our forces as we forward deploy them to the regional combatant commands. To our Airmen and Guardians and family members that are here, thank you for what you do every day. Thank you for volunteering to serve your nation and your Air Force, and your Space Force. If your families aren’t here, thank them for Chief Smith and I, for what they do to enable and empower your service.

To our commanders and command chiefs out there, thank you for leading. There is no higher privilege in the Department of Defense than to have the opportunity to take care of our mission, to take care of our Airmen, and to take care of our families. To the secretary and chief who aren’t here, thank you for letting me do this job. I’m just grateful and gracious they went alphabetical, and there were no As available. There is no other place on the planet I would rather be. And to the strikers of Air Force Global Strike Command, thank you for what you do every day to underpin our nation’s defense. There is no higher honor in my opinion in life than to have the opportunity to defend your family, your friends, and your nation. Thank you.

Dr. Patrick Donley:

General Bussiere, in appreciation for those terrific remarks and your warrior leadership, AFA would like to present to you this highly desired but seldom distributed AFA Star Delta coin with our sincere thanks and best wishes to you and all the strikers in the days ahead. Thank you, sir.

Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere:

Thank you, Patrick. Appreciate it.

Watch, Read: Secretary Kendall on ‘One Team, One Fight’

March 14, 2023

Department of the Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall delivered a keynote address titled “One Team, One Fight” covering progress on his Operational Imperatives at the AFA Warfare Symposium, March 7, 2023. Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall:

Good morning. I don’t think I’m ever going to overcome that West Point thing, am I?

Now it’s a pleasure to be with you. This is my fourth AFA conference. Fourth as your Secretary of the Air Force. I want to thank Orville Wright, Bernie and the AFA team for giving us this opportunity to meet here in Colorado. I was just here skiing, so it’s good to be back, even though I’m not skiing. It looks like we have a great program planned. Before I begin my remarks, I want to extend condolences to our Italian colleagues. They lost two pilots in a collision near Rome over the night sometime, and I want to extend our condolences on behalf of the Secretary of Defense and on behalf of the entire department of the Air Force. This is a reminder of the risks that we all take in the profession of being Airmen. So please extend your condolences if you have the opportunity and reach out to our partners as they seek peace and healing.

I also want to mention, before I start the presentation that was given yesterday afternoon, I’m old enough to remember very well the Vietnam War. Yesterday we heard from three American heroes, Colonel Charles de Bellevue, Colonel Lee Willis and Colonel Jean Smith, Lieutenant Colonel Jean Smith. If you missed their stories yesterday and you missed their messages, I’m sure AFA is going to put this up online. Give you a chance to look at it. Please see it. These are tremendous stories about people who epitomize what it means to be an American Airman and what you need to have to be successful in a fight with a serious competitor. They’re amazing stories. This is considered a war fighter’s symposium, so I’m going to be talking about our war fighting capability and capacity and how I see it changing over the next several years. You’re also going to hear from General Brown and General Saltzman who will also address the need for change in their presentations.

Salty will speak about a theory of success for the Space Force, particularly the need for competitive endurance. CQ has been emphasizing the need for accelerating change and being integrated with our allies by design. We are united in our commitment to modernizing the Air and Space Forces and achieving the transformation we must have to be competitive with our pacing challenge. China, China, China. First, I want to compliment my partners on the department of the Air Force Senior Leadership team and thank them for their parts and all that we have accomplished together to date. First General Raymond and now General Saltzman continue to provide the Space Force with visionary leadership as we were to create the entirely new set of space and counter space systems we need to be successful. General Brown is an exceptional leader with broad strategic perspectives and a thoughtful measured approach to any problem set. I would hate to lose such a great partner, but there is a chance someone who out ranks me considerably might see those same attributes in CQ.

At any event, Salty, CQ and I will soon begin our round of posture hearings to explain and defend the FY24 budget submission. I hope I’m not jinxing anything when I say that I’m looking forward to the opportunity. We have a good story to tell, and today I’ll give you a little preview of that story. The fourth member of the DAF Senior Leadership Team, Undersecretary Gina Ortiz Jones, has stepped down from her duties as undersecretary and will be moving on to new challenges, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management, Kristin Jones, will perform the duties of the undersecretary, pending the nomination and confirmation of Gina’s successor. Kristin would be with us, but she’s busy preparing to roll out our ’24 budget. Gina has been a fantastic advocate for the DAF as we have worked to secure the resources we need to be successful in our missions.

Salty, CQ and I will have a much easier time in our posture hearings and the Department of the Air Force has a much better resource path to the future in large part due to Gina’s advocacy, both inside and outside the Pentagon. Gina’s been the Department of the Air Force representative with the two service chiefs, vice chiefs, and the Deputy Secretary of Defense’s Management Action group where all major program and budget issues are debated. Gina’s also been a strong and effective advocate for fostering greater diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Air and Space Forces. A recent People Magazine article highlighted two B-1 pilots, both majors, both weapon school graduates, both married, in this case to each other, but only one of whom is pregnant. Now do, in large part to policies that Gina championed, both can now maintain their career momentum. Please join me in a round of applause for Gina and for this fantastic team.

My priority as a secretary remain those of Secretary Austin, mission, people and teams. The guidance we have on the National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy are the basis for everything we do. My particular focus, as you all know well by now, is responding to the People’s Liberation Army’s Military Modernization program, a program aimed directly at acquiring the ability to defeat power projection by the United States and its allies. The PLA has been working for decades to acquire the ability to prevent and, if needed, to defeat U.S. intervention in the region. The ruling CCP has regional and global ambitions, and the possibility of aggression in the Western Pacific is real, particularly against Taiwan. But war is not inevitable and there is no reason to believe it is imminent. In fact, there is no specific timeframe in which conflict can be predicted to occur. The Department of the Air Force’s mission is to help prevent a conflict with China, or any potential adversary from occurring at any time, but if deterrence fails and war does occur, we must be ready at all times.

Semper supra, always above, and airpower anytime, anywhere. Our service mottoes and mission statements say it all. Today I’ll be talking about three relevant timeframes. It’s called the first, the current timeframe, where we have comparatively little and ability to affect change in the composition of the department, but in which we must keep our existing forces ready and able to deter or meet any threat. The second is the midterm timeframe, in which we can feel greater quantities of systems and capabilities already well into development or in production. Finally, there is a longer term timeframe beyond the current five-year program in which we can feel totally new transformational capabilities, but only if we start down the road to those capabilities now. In our posture statement and hearings last year, we told the Congress that hard choices lay ahead. We were right. We also told the Congress that the Department of the Air Force was using a list of seven operational imperatives to focus our work on defining and acquiring the Air Force and Space Force we need to meet our pacing challenge.

The operational imperative work has had a major impact on our FY24 budget. We’re still a few days away from submitting the budget, so I can’t be very specific, but I can give you a general sense of what we’ve been able to include. The hard choices have come as we balance funding the current force and our investments in the war fighting capabilities of the mid and longer terms. We are maintaining our current force at adequate levels to meet the threats that they face. Importantly, we are taking steps to support and improve the quality of life for our most important resource, our people. Still, we have no choice but to prioritize the Air and Space Forces we must have to remain dominant in the future. The operational risk posed by our facing challenge are increasing over time. Emphasizing the current force at the expense of the force of the future is a road to operational failure.

We are continuing to divest older and less capable or relevant platforms as we increase midterm capability and capacity. Requiring aircraft in production, we will be acquiring aircraft in production at higher rates than previously planned. In general, our previously… Let me say that again. We will be acquiring aircraft currently in production at higher rates than previously planned. In general, our previously initiated programs are continuing as intended. For the longer term, and as a result of our work on the DAF operational imperatives, we will be requesting close to 20 new or significantly enhanced efforts. I’ll try to give you a sense of what that entails without providing any budgetary specifics. In his remarks, General Brown will cover the status of each of the Air Force’s five core functions and talk about the six fights the Air Force must win. As he will discuss, the six fights are typically coupled to the modernization program defined by the operational imperatives are tightly coupled.

General Saltzman will discuss the needs for Space Force and the requirement to deliver that ready total force. He’ll focus on the concept of competitive endurance, also directly supported by the operational imperatives. I’ll focus on our integrated modernization program to address the pacing challenge in our areas of highest risk. Since last year’s budget submission, we’ve come a long way in defining the needed space order of battle. As Salty will discuss, the still very young Space Force must undergo a transformation unparalleled by any other military service at any time in history. We have to acquire the resilient systems needed to support the joint force during a conflict. We have to create the operational capacity to deny adversary support they increasingly obtained from space. Critically, we have to protect the joint force from targeting by our potential adversaries. The President’s FY24 budget will address all of these goals.

The program we initiated to create a new missile warning and tracking architecture that addresses the full spectrum of missile threats, including hypersonics, will continue and accelerate, while we concurrently provide risk mitigation with current technology in the near term and the midterm. The Space Development Agency is now fully integrated into the Space Force and moving forward with the fielding of early versions of the space transport layer and Space Development Agency’s contribution to the missile warning architecture. While some programs are classified, I can assure you that the FY24 budget includes funding that addresses each of the Space Force’s requirements. Since the last major AFA Symposium, we have moved forward with our efforts to define and fund the next generation of integrated command control and battle management. I’ve been using a metaphor to help people understand the evolution of this effort. A few years ago, we envisioned a beautiful C3 battle management palace called JADC squared. In this beautiful palace, information could move effortlessly from any room to any other room, and perfect operational decisions would result.

That was an attractive, even compelling, vision, but the hard work of designing or costing the palace had not been accomplished. Pretty soon, there were a lot of people in our community talking about how they were building bricks that would fit perfectly into this beautiful palace. Still, we lacked a sense of what bricks we actually needed, or how they would come together to create the palace. And finally, we needed a more precise and realistic definition of what we were going to build. We needed a single technical leader working closely with the air and space operational communities to define that goal technically and ensure our acquisition efforts were aligned in progressing in concert with operational concepts for C3 battle management. Hence, the creation of the new department of the Air Force, PEO for integrated C3 battle management.

Our new PEO for integrated C3 battle management has organized this team and is moving forward, but to make progress, they’ll need the resources we will be requesting in FY24. The DAF senior leadership team recently conducted its first quarterly review of this effort. It’s off to a good start. We envision major efforts to develop the next generation of air operations planning and management, and we also envision a parallel program to create the first generation of space battle management for a possible conflict with a peer competitor who has fueled a full suite of counterspace capabilities. General Brown will talk about how our next generation of air battle management capabilities will have to plan and control the six fights. General Saltzman will talk about the operational concepts, training and equipment needed for effective space battle management in pursuit of space superiority. The DAF PEO for integrated C3 battle management is ruthlessly focused on solving these operational challenges in partnership with the advanced battle management system cross-functional team, a combined team of Air and Space Force operational experts.

Critically, we are working closely with joint and OSD stakeholders, and the intelligence community, integrating all these capabilities into a single effective and resilient kill web that also supports joint and international partners, and this is a major undertaking, but we must succeed. There is no choice. Timely targeting of moving assets, maritime, air and ground, is a prerequisite for the employment of the weapons that can defeat acts of aggression. Over the past year, we have worked closely with the intelligence community to define and budget for a moving target center system designed, built for the real-time dynamic war fighting mission, while still providing seamless support to intelligent functions.

The Space Force continues to develop additional tactical space-based sensing systems to enable expansion to additional classes of targets. We have designs and plans for the software and communications that will be needed to connect all of these centers together with additional Air Force and joint weapons delivery platforms. Details are classified, but with support from Congress, we should be able to move forward with the resilient suite of airborne and space-based centers and the associated processing and data distribution needed to perform these functions. We’re deeply appreciative of the cooperation we’ve had for the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial and Intelligence Agency as we work to define the needed integrated multi-roll systems.

The DAF is moving forward with a family of systems for the next generation of air dominance, that will include both the NGAD platform and the introduction of uncured collaborative aircraft to provide affordable mass and dramatically increased cost-effectiveness. We will be requesting the resources needed to move these programs forward, along with associated risk reduction activities that will allow us to explore operational, organizational and support concepts, as well as reduced technical risk. General Brown and I have recently given our planners a nominal quantity of collaborative combat aircraft to assume for planning purposes. That planning assumption is 1000 CCAs. This figure was derived from an assumed two CCAs per 200 NGAD platforms, an additional two for each of 300 F 35s, for a total of a thousand. This isn’t an inventory objective, but a planning assumption to use for analysis of things such as basing, organizational structures, training and range requirements, and sustainment concepts.

The CCAs will complement and enhance the performance of our crude fighter force structure. They will not impact planned crude fighter inventory. One way to think of CCAs is as remotely controlled versions of the charting pods, electronic warfare pods, or weapons now carried under the wings of our crude aircraft. CCAs will dramatically improve the performance of our crude aircraft and significantly reduce the risk to our pilots. As we considered current midterm and longer term investment options, one operational area that we realized could be improved relatively quickly was the resilience of our forward deployed air assets. We can move forward with hardening our forward bases and with a support structure needed for agile combat employment, without having to wait for development program. With timely investments, we could substantially improve our forward tactical air resiliency. This effort has strong synergy with our integrated deterrent strategy in both the Western Pacific and in Europe.

We are hopeful that with the Congress’s support, we can make meaningful current and midterm improvements in this area. The B-21, which we rolled out just a few months ago, will be the centerpiece of our global strike family of systems. The B-21 is projected to begin flight tests later this calendar year. Our goal is to get into production as quickly as possible with acceptable concurrency risk associated with overlapping some testing with production. With the Congress support, we intend to pursue other capabilities, some defined as a result of the operational imperative work, that will enhance both the survivability and effectiveness of the B-21. We’ve also made good progress at defining and addressing the need to ensure that all the systems and facilities we depend upon to go to war will function as desired under duress. Under the seventh operational imperative, and through concurrent management initiative efforts, we define the resources needed to buy down information technology, technical debt, that have been accumulating for years.

Addressing this need will take some time, but we can’t make progress without the additional resources we will request in the budget submission. While the work on the seven operational imperatives has identified a number of solutions to our operational problems, it has also exposed additional needs. In some cases, this has led to continuing work on the original seven imperatives, but it has also spurred the creation of efforts to address three cross-cutting operational enablers, mobility, electronic warfare and munitions. Work in these areas is relatively recent and is generally focused on the FY25 budget. I would like to mention one situation in which this work has already led to a significant change in our plans, and that is mobility. One characteristic of the dynamic pacing challenge we face is the continuous increase in engagement ranges against our assets. In particular, our mobility fleet can no longer operate forward with relative impunity.

The air threat is becoming much more severe with increasing range. Our particular concern is the survivability of our tankers, which will have to be far enough forward to refuel fighters that operate within a few hundred miles of the threat. Our preliminary assessment is that this will mandate a more survivable tanker, one that is not a derivative of a commercial aircraft. As a result, we have begun the effort to define the concept for this new capability which will be competitively procured. One possibility is a blended wing body design. There are many others. We intend to conduct an analysis of alternatives for this new capability, which may be a single platform or a family of systems. We have named this effort the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System, or NGAS. Catchy acronym there. We intend to move quickly, while continuing the current KC-135 recapitalization program, potentially with additional upgraded KC-46 aircraft until NGAS enters production. The business case supporting KC-135 recapitalization will complete in the first half of this year, supported by our final market research.

CQ and Salty and other speakers here will have much more to say about some of these topics and about other aspects of the Department of the Air Force Enterprise. Before I close, I do want to touch on one subject that is absorbing a lot of our attention and that is recruiting. Recruiting is a direct contributor to taking care of people and building strong teams, both key elements of course, of Secretary Austin’s and my priorities. We are currently projecting about a 10 percent shortfall this year in the Active Air Force and more in the Guard and Reserve. We are swimming upstream against a reduced propensity to serve nationally across the board and a limited percentage of qualified candidates. We need this community to help spread the word to America’s youth. They are great opportunities in the U.S. military, especially in the Air Force and Space Force. In all components, Active, Guard, and Reserve.

As evidence of that fact, retention numbers look very good. We’re keeping the people that we get, but we need to get more people. People coming into the Air Force are staying with us, so please reach out to your communities and help us counter negative perceptions of our military service and share our positive and accurate messages. This year we celebrate three important anniversaries, the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the military, the 75th anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, and the 50th anniversary of the All Volunteer Force. Today and always, I’m deeply proud to be a part of a team that empowers and supports all of its people, embraces cutting edge technology, and performs missions that will determine whether our future is bright and free or not. All the technology and money in the world cannot replace the dedicated professionals that make up our total force. Our people will remain our greatest advantage.

My remarks today have been largely about time. I started each posture hearing last year with a quote from General MacArthur to the effect that military failure could almost always be summarized in just two words. Too late. Time is an asset, this was mentioned yesterday, that can never be recovered or replaced. As our pacing challenge continues to modernize creatively and aggressively, we can’t afford to seed the advantage of time. We have done a great deal of work over the past year to analyze and solve our operational problems and to define the programs needed to address them. As we submit our FY24 budget in the next few days, we are grateful for the support of the Secretary of Defense and the President. We are also grateful to the Congress for the support we received in FY23, especially in allowing nearly all requested divestitures of legacy systems and in completing authorizing and appropriations prior to the end of the calendar year.

It says something that getting it before by the end of the calendar year, vis a vis the end of the fiscal year, is regardless of success, but that’s the life. That’s the reality we live with. Our most sacred obligation is to provide our fighting men and women, in our case, Airmen and Guardians, with the tools they need to defend the nation. It will soon fall to the new Congress to enact both an authorization and appropriations bill on time. The DAF Senior Leadership team is ready and eager to work with the Congress. The many new efforts I have described, and that we have spent over a year analyzing and planning, cannot begin without congressional approval. My greatest fear today is a delay, or even worse, a failure, to provide the Department of the Air Force and Department of Defense with timely authorization and appropriations. That would be a gift to China. It is a gift that we cannot afford. One team, one fight. Thank you.

Bernie Skoch:

Mr. Secretary, I think the thousands of people you see here before you and thousands more who are viewing this event online can see that unquestionably we’re led by a brilliant visionary leader. We thank you for that and we thank you for your support of the year and Space Force Association. It’s my honor to present to you our new coin, which reflects our commitment not only to supporting and advocating on behalf of the Air Force, but every bit is committed to the Space Force. Thank you, sir.

Russian Fighter Collides with American MQ-9 Over Black Sea; Drone Lost

March 14, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

A Russian fighter collided with an American drone over the Black Sea on March 14, damaging the drone and causing it to crash, according to U.S. European Command.

The U.S. military said the incident occurred in international airspace following “an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper at 7:03 a.m. Central European Time. The U.S. routinely operates surveillance drones over the Black Sea including near Russian-occupied Crimea.

Two Russia Su-27s, NATO reporting name Flanker, dumped fuel on and flew in front of the drone “several times” before one of them eventually struck the MQ-9’s propeller, which is mounted at the rear, according to the U.S. military.

“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe-Air Forces Africa, said in a statement. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”

Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said the Russian fighter “ran into” the MQ-9. The Russian aircraft was likely damaged but was able to land, Ryder said. The U.S. was forced to intentionally crash the drone. Ryder declined to provide details on the MQ-9’s payload, including whether or not it was armed.

“They collided with the aircraft, damaging the propeller, and essentially putting it in a situation where it was unflyable and uncontrollable, so we brought it down,” Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon.

EUCOM added in a statement that the collision “demonstrates a lack of competence” on behalf of the Russians.

National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told reporters President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident. Kirby said Russian intercepts of U.S. planes and drones are not uncommon, but it is “the first time that an intercept resulted in the splashing of one of our drones.”

“I want to stress that that this MQ-9 was operating in international airspace over international waters and posed a threat to nobody,” Kirby said. Ryder added the MQ-9 was “well clear of any territory in Ukraine.”

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. was summoning the Russian ambassador to the department “convey our strong objections.”

In February 2022, Russian Su-35 fighters got within five feet of a Navy P-8 surveillance plane over the Mediterranean Sea after crossing into its flight path.

“This incident follows a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace, including over the Black Sea,” EUCOM said.

The MQ-9 crash also follows increasingly aggressive behavior by Chinese fighters when intercepting American surveillance planes over the South China Sea. U.S. officials insist they will not be deterred by harassment of their aircraft.

“U.S. and allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” Hecker said.

Air Force Skips AETP Engines for F-35, Presses on with NGAP

March 14, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

After a year’s deliberation, the Air Force has decided not to develop Adaptive Engine Technology Program (AETP) powerplants for its F-35s, deeming the cost too high in light of other demands.

Instead, the service will go with a suite of upgrades for the existing F135 engine and press ahead with the Next Generation Advanced Propulsion project meant to power its next fighter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a March 10 budget briefing.

“We needed something that was affordable and that would support all variants” of the F-35, Kendall said.

The upgrades to the F135, deemed the “Engine Core Upgrade” by contractor Pratt & Whitney, will deliver improvements to the engine necessary to meet the demand for additional power and cooling on advanced Block 4 versions of the F-35. Those specific Block 4 requirements have not been made public.

GE Aerospace and Pratt both developed competing powerplants under the $4 billion-plus AETP program—GE the XA100 and Pratt the XA101. The two engines achieved improvements of 30 percent in fuel efficiency and at least 10 percent in thrust compared to the stock F135.

However, both powerplants used a bypass air system to achieve the gains, increasing their diameter. While the new engines would fit comfortably in the F-35A used by the Air Force, they would be more challenging to adapt to the Navy’s F-35C and very difficult to fit to the Marine Corps’ F-35Bs, which use a unique short takeoff/vertical landing system with swiveling exhaust nozzles and a shaft connected to a vertical lift fan behind the cockpit.

While GE insisted the AETP could be made to work with the F-35B, Pratt said it could not. And while GE claimed that the new engine would ultimately provide savings of up to $10 billion due to fuel savings and less maintenance, Pratt argued its analysis found the development and integration of the AETP engines with the F-35, along with changes to the worldwide F-35 engine sustainment system, would cost $40 billion over the life of the program.

“We’re pleased to see the President’s Budget includes funding for the Engine Core Upgrade,” a Pratt spokesperson said. “All F-35 variants need fully-enabled Block 4 capabilities as soon as possible, and with this funding, we can deliver upgraded engines starting in 2028.”

The ECU “saves billions, which ensures a record quantity of F-35s can be procured,” the spokesperson added. “It also ensures funding will be available to develop 6th generation propulsion for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance Platform.”

GE Aerospace was—predictably—unhappy with the choice, saying through its spokesman that “this budget fails to consider rising geopolitical tensions and the need for revolutionary capabilities that only the XA100 engine can provide by 2028.”

“Nearly 50 bipartisan members of Congress wrote in support of advanced engine programs like ours because they recognize these needs, in addition to the role competition can play in reducing past cost overruns,” the spokesman added. “The XA100 engine is ready to power U.S. warfighters today and in the future.”

The company also claimed the $4 billion invested in AETP technology thus far “risks being wasted if the program is ended so close to completion.” Congress, the company said, will ultimately decide whether the AETP is funded or not—the legislature previously directed preliminary work to take place ensuring that F-35 engines could be upgraded with AETP technology by 2028.

GE also said it is continuing to test and develop the XA100 “while pursuing funding support for 2024.”

The engine maker derided the ECU as “an incremental upgrade to the current F135 engines” that would “still cost billions, without providing the same capability improvements as the XA100. Other so-called savings you might see are cost avoidance numbers disguising an increased baseline cost.”

However, given that within the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, partners have to “pay to be different,” the Air Force would likely have born the entire cost of a new engine—leading to the decision to not proceed with AETP.

“This was based on the fact that the requirements were … applicable only to the Air Force,” and not “spread across the entire fleet of joint F-35s,” said Kristyn E. Jones, assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management and acting service undersecretary.

“We’ve decided to move forward with the Engine Core Upgrade. We have $254 million in this year’s budget for that particular effort,” she added.

However, Jones said the money spent on AETP won’t go completely to waste.

“We do plan to leverage a lot of the capabilities that were part of the AETP prototype for efficiency, thrust … [and] thermal management, so it was not necessarily” a futile effort, she said.

“Those capabilities will be leveraged as we look at the next engines” under the NGAP program, which the Air Force seeks to fund at $595 million in fiscal 2024, up from $224 million enacted in the fiscal 2023 defense budget.

“We’ll be building on all the lessons learned” from AETP, Jones said, but she couldn’t offer a timeline of when test articles will be ready for that program.

The NGAP is intended to produce engines for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, the crewed centerpiece of a family of systems that is intended to provide air superiority in the 2030s. It isn’t clear how the NGAD development will proceed if its engines are being designed concurrently.

Deliveries of F-35s and F135 engines resumed recently after a two-month hiatus following an F-35B crash in December 2022. Pratt said it identified a “harmonic resonance” problem with the engine that only manifested after 600,000 hours of engine run time. The fleet has been directed to perform a retrofit in the field to correct the issue.

Air Force vs. Army vs. Navy: How the ’24 Budgets Stack Up

March 13, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Biden administration is requesting $185.1 billion for the Air Force in 2024, slightly less than its $185.5 billion proposal for the Army, and well behind the $202.5 billion requested for the Navy.

But the Air Force, Space Force, and Navy are gaining investment while Army and Marine Corps spending would remain essentially flat—if the Pentagon gets its way.

The Space Force, the smallest service, would receive the smallest total at $30 billion, but the biggest increase at 15 percent. The Marine Corps would receive $53.2 billion.

After two decades of wars in the Middle East, the Department of Defense has shifted its focus largely toward the Pacific and China. And instead of large armor purchases, its growing investments are for long-range precision weapons.

“The focus here is making our military more capable, not making it larger,” DOD comptroller Michael J. McCord told reporters at the Pentagon.

2024 Budgets by Service

Service	Funding in Billions
Navy	$202.5
Army	$185.5
Air Force	$185.1
Marine Corps	$53.2
Space Force	$30.0

Source: Pentagon budget documents

Air Force leaders continue to press to retire old platforms now in order to buy new newer systems and weapons. Munitions make up a major portion of investment for all the services: The Pentagon’s planned budget for missiles and munitions is $30.6 billion, more than its ask for the entire Space Force budget.

The Defense Department’s shift to the Pacific is perhaps most evident in the Army’s budget. Two years ago, the Army budget stood at $180 billion, compared to the Department of the Air Force at $221.4 billion and the Department of the Navy at $221.2 billion. For 2024, the Army is requesting $185.3 billion while the Department of the Air Force and the Department of the Navy are seeking $259 billion and $256 billion respectively, or more than $30 billion in growth over two years for each.

The Department of the Air Force figure is inflated, however, by $44.2 billion in pass-through spending that is destined not for the Air Force or Space Force but for other agencies. In reality, the Air Force and Space Force share just $215.1 billion of the $259.3 billion DAF budget, and Air Force funds would actually be less than those invested in the Army.

The Air Force budget has lagged behind the Army and Navy for the last 31 years.

“Our greatest measure of success, and the one we use around here most often, is to make sure the [Chinese] leadership wakes up every day, considers the risks of aggression and concludes that today is not the day,” deputy secretary of defense Kathleen Hicks told reporters.

Lessons from Vietnam: ‘It’s All of Us Together’

March 13, 2023 | By Patrick Reardon

The AFA Warfare Symposium kicked off March 6 with three storied heroes of the Vietnam War. This is the final in a three-part series on their talks. Read the first talk by Lt. Col. Gene Smith and the second talk by Col. Lee Ellis.

AURORA, Colo.—The 555th “Triple Nickel” Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base scored 39 MiG kills during the Vietnam War—and six of those kills were credited to one pilot.

Retired Col. Charles “Chuck” DeBellevue flew nearly 100 combat missions in 1972, becoming the war’s highest-scoring ACE. Today, more than 50 years later, he recalls the experience with equal precision.

“Hanoi was 285 miles from Udorn as the crow flies,” DeBellevue told a packed crowd of several thousand at the 2023 AFA Warfare Symposium. “Every time we went into Hanoi, you had to have enough gas left to fly almost 300 miles. That sets your thinking about how you’re gonna fight … you had to have the right mindset.”

To DeBellevue and his Triple Nickel squadron mates, “the right mindset” required discipline, integrity, and training, not just from yourself, but from everyone. The mission demanded teamwork.

“Your word is your bond. If you tell somebody you’re gonna do something, do it. If you can’t do it, tell them, because otherwise somebody may die,” DeBellevue said. “[Flying] is a team sport. It’s not just you. It’s all of us together that make the force what it is.”

DeBellevue (R) poses with Staff Sgt. Reggie Taylor (C) at Udorn Royal Thai AFB, Thailand in 1972. Courtesy photo.

The squadron worked together so efficiently, DeBellevue said, that communicating between the F-4 Phantoms felt telepathic. But the teamwork was just as close, and just as critical on the ground. DeBellevue reflected on the innovative contributions of enlisted men like Tech. Sgt. Dan Ames and the weapons load crew. who eliminated the need to fire two missiles to get one kill. And he praised his crew chief and friend Staff Sgt. Reggie Taylor who “could do amazing things” to maximize performance.

“On the D-model F-4, the engines were screwdriver controlled. He had the screwdriver,” DeBellevue said. “You could not catch that airplane.”

DeBellevue retired in 1998 after 30 years of service, the last American ACE on Active duty. Since then, he has remained a strong advocate for airpower as an active member of the Air & Space Forces Association’s Central Oklahoma Gerrity Chapter, and he regularly meets with ROTC cadets, pilot training classes, veteran groups, and professional military organizations to share stories, insights, and lessons on teamwork as a force multiplier.

“The next war we fight, it’ll be you people prosecuting the war,” he told the Airmen and Guardians in Aurora. “It’s attitude. It’s love of country. Love of family. Love of God. Knowing that you’re the very best at what you do, and freedom is in your hands. I appreciate everything you’re doing: You’re wearing the cloth of this country. That means an awful lot.”

Pentagon Leaders: 2024 Budget is ‘First and Foremost’ About Procurement

March 13, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

At $886 billion, the Pentagon’s 2024 budget request is “first and foremost … a procurement budget,” declared Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen H. Hicks March 13, as the budget was unveiled. The spending plan marks a shift from the Biden administration’s first two budget requests, which prioritized research and development over new weapons.

But investing in new weapons requires the cooperation of Congress, and administration officials argued strenuously for lawmakers to pass spending legislation before the next fiscal year starts Oct. 1. Extra money in the final spending plan is less valuable than on-time passage of the bill, they said.

The administration is seeking a record budget for procurement as well as research, development, testing, and evaluation, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement.

All told, DOD is seeking $170 billion for weapons acquisition in fiscal 2024, up about $24 billion—or 16.4 percent from its request a year ago. The requested RDT&E budget is also up substantially at $145 billion, a $15 billion increase, or 11.5 percent, over the 2023 request.

One major driver: munitions. The administration wants to add predictability and price stability for munitions by buying more munitions in multiyear blocks. Some $30 billion of the budget is tabbed for munitions, most for acquisition.

“The thing that is newest and biggest is probably munitions,” noted Pentagon comptroller Michael J. McCord. “This is new in the sense of the emphasis of this budget …. Ukraine has really informed and highlighted the need to up our game here.”

Billions more will pay for new F-35, F-15EX, and KC-46 aircraft, as well as funds for Navy aircraft carriers and submarines, and new vehicles for the Army and Marine Corps.

Weapons purchases make up a little over 19 percent of DOD’s 2024 budget request, the highest share so far since President Biden was elected.

“[The budget] puts its thumb on the scale in favor of game-changing capabilities that will deliver not just in the out-years, but in the near-term, too,” Hicks said.

The budget request begins a months-long process, during which lawmakers are likely to add funds for additional purchases. In the last budget cycle, for fiscal 2023, legislators increased procurement funding by $17.7 billion, to $163.7 billion.

That action took a while. Congress didn’t pass the defense spending measures until Dec. 24, after multiple continuing resolutions were needed to keep the government funded after the fiscal year ended nearly three months earlier. CRs have become routine measures to keep the government from shutting down while political leaders negotiate spending agreements—only once in the past 14 fiscal years did Congress pass a spending measure on time.

‘If you add up the months DOD has been under a CR since 2011, it totals four years’ worth of
delays—delayed new program starts, delayed training, delayed permanent change of station
moves,” Hicks said. “That’s four years lost over the last decade-plus. To out-compete the [People’s Republic of China], we cannot have one hand tied behind our back for three, four, five, six months out of each year. And let me assure you: more money cannot buy back lost time.“

Asked if he would rather have more money delivered later in the year or a smaller budget on time, McCord echoed Hicks.

“The thing Congress can do for us and does do for us is provide resources,” McCord said. “But writing a check doesn’t solve every problem. And so the time that you lose, you cannot make up with more money. It’s just a fact. There are things that you can address with more money, but there are also things that you can’t.”

Republican leaders in Congress have already attacked the Pentagon budget request as “insufficient,” and even Democratic lawmakers have left open the possibility for change. An increase would likely put the overall topline past $900 billion—and set the stage for the first $1 trillion defense budget in the coming years.

“Do the math: the budget will hit a trillion dollars,” McCord said. “Even if it only grew three percent a year, when the numbers are what they are, it’s inevitable. And I think maybe that’s going to be a psychological, big watershed moment for most of us or some of us. But it is inevitable. And it just reflects the growth of the economy.”

Defense spending was once at 9 percent of Gross National Product; during the Reagan administration, at near the end of the Cold War, it was considered high at 6 percent. Today, defense spending is around 3 percent. So as much as is being spent, it’s a smaller portion of the overall economy.

“It’s a big number,” McCord said. “But in other contexts, you could look at it another way.”