Lockheed Pitches LMXT as ‘Mothership’ for Future Stealthy Tankers

Lockheed Pitches LMXT as ‘Mothership’ for Future Stealthy Tankers

June 6, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin is pitching its Airbus A330-based LMXT tanker as a “mothership” for the Air Force’s planned fleet of small, stealthy tankers—a rationale company officials hope will overcome the service’s reticence to open its so-called “bridge tanker” buy to competition.

Lockheed officials detailed their argument June 6 during a press briefing to announce they have selected the GE Aerospace CF6-80E1 engine to power the LMXT tanker. The company is marketing the LMXT for the Air Force’s bridge tanker program, expected to consist of at least 75 tankers between the conclusion of the current KC-46 program around 2030 and the future Next Generation Air refueling System in the mid-2030s, according to service leaders.

Larry Gallogly, LMXT campaign lead, noted the Air Force doesn’t want a gap in tanker production and expects to buy the bridge tanker until the NGAS is ready—and 2035 “we feel … is a very, very aggressive target,” he said. Lockheed officials believe a 2040 timeline, which the program originally had, is more likely.

“If you believe NGAS will really take a little longer before it’s operational,” the number of bridge tankers required “actually grows quite substantially; somewhere between 75 and I’d say, 150 aircraft, if they continue to buy 15 aircraft a year, which has always been [the Air Force’s] plan,” Gallogly said. That increase would boost the business case for LMXT, he argued.

While the Air Force has yet to rule out a competition for the bridge tanker and service Secretary Frank has said he is reserving final judgement until more analysis can be done, officials have said they are skeptical a tanker competition would be worth the cost, given the expected small size of the buy and the need to create an all-new logistics train for the aircraft. Instead, the service may simply buy an upgraded version of the KC-46.

However, Gallogly argued the LMXT would offer the service several advantages. Because it is based on the A330, it will have a worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) enterprise, similar to the KC-10, which was also derived from a commercial airliner. The LMXT would also be a hedge against a “single point failure” if the KC-46 develops a fleet-grounding problem like a wing crack, Gallogly said.

“Competition drives value,” Gallogly added, noting that Lockheed did not automatically select the A330’s usual engine, which happens to be the CF6.  

Finally, Gallogly said the aircraft would fulfill a need in the Air Force’s future tanker fleet.

An analysis of alternatives for the NGAS program is slated for later this year, but it’s expected to be a small, stealthy tanker able to operate in contested airspace, feeding fuel to fighters and autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft operating at the end of a long supply line.

Assuming that comes to pass, NGAS is going to need “a mothership, in our view,” Gallogly said—an aircraft that can fuel NGAS and other stealthy aircraft before they enter contested airspace, and connectivity and real-time analysis while they’re there.

Gallogly said Lockheed has heard the overall tanker requirement is moving through the Pentagon’s processes now and the requirements for the Bridge Tanker will solidify next month, with a Request for Information to industry issued soon after. The Air Force is expected to complete its acquisition strategy by the end of the calendar year, he said.

“When we see those final requirements, that will give us a much better idea of how well the LMXT is aligned with the priorities of the Air Force,” Gallogly said. “And of course, we’ve been getting consistent and constant feedback from the service during our over four years now of pursuing this business. So we think we’ve got a pretty good idea of what those requirements are going to be, but like you, we’re looking forward to actually seeing those requirements in writing.”

The LMXT is a much larger aircraft than the KC-46, and the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport on which it is based was the competitor to what became the KC-46—it won one Air Force competition but lost the contract after a protest from Boeing, and lost the subsequent second competition. One of the Air Force’s discriminators in choosing the KC-46 was its ability to operate from a greater number of airfields, which will be a key factor under the service’s Agile Combat Employment model.

Gallogly said Lockheed doesn’t expect “a requirement for short field landings, but in operations in the Pacific, airfield access is getting more and more important. And we did look at our ability to have the LMXT operate in various airfields in that theater. This engine had a great impact on that. And really, our airfield access numbers are very impressive, and we’ve been sharing those with the Air Force.”

He added that in the Pacific, there will be an “insatiable need for gas,” and the Air Force will need an aircraft that can rapidly fill up its smaller NGAS aircraft to head on into contested airspace.

The CF6-80E1 equips the A330 Multi-Role Tanker-Transport (MRTTs) operated by Australia and Saudi Arabia, and GE said at 72,000 pounds, it’s “the highest-thrust CF6 engine to date.” Gallogly noted that the CF6 was designed for the A330 and powers the C-5 Galaxy, E-4B, and VC-25 Air Force One in the USAF inventory. There are some 8,500 CF6s flying. The latest version offers lower emissions and longer time on wing, with 15 percent improved fuel efficiency over earlier versions of the CF6, GE said.

In addition to refueling capacity, the Air Force has said it sees the bridge tanker as performing additional roles as an airborne internet provider, communications hub, and possibly an ersatz air battle management platform.

Those are roles for which Lockheed officials claim the LMXT is well-suited.

“When I look at what’s compelling about our offering—that will sway the Secretary and [Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter] to see the value of a competition—is exactly that future of aerial refueling,” Gallogly said. “This aircraft has the space, it has the electrical power … again, thanks to our new GE engine selection. We’ve got a lot of electrical power on the aircraft to grow with the mission.”

The LMXT will also offer automatic air refueling, saving crew members and freeing up space within the aircraft for communications personnel or CCA operators or some other function, Gallogly said. Lockheed is also working on its Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capabilities which would be hosted on the LMXT, he said.

Guard C-130s Start Landing in Germany for Historic Air Defender Exercise

Guard C-130s Start Landing in Germany for Historic Air Defender Exercise

June 6, 2023 | By David Roza

C-130 transport aircraft from Air National Guard units in Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota and Wyoming began arriving at Wunstorf Air Base, Germany, this week in preparation for Air Defender 23—a massive exercise in which 220 aircraft and 10,000 personnel from 25 countries will practice large-scale air warfare and hone new tactics.

The C-130s are the first of about 100 Air National Guard aircraft that will head to Europe to participate in the exercise. All told, Guard units from 35 states will fly F-35s, F-16s, F-15s, A-10s, KC-135s, KC-46s, C-130s, and C-17s. Active-Duty F-16s from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, will also participate. 

The exercise, which the German military described as “the largest air force deployment exercise in NATO’s history,” and has been in the making since 2018 and will last from June 12 to 23. The German Air Force will test its ability to command and control and provide logistics support to an international armada of aircraft.

“We have to be much more capable of defending the lines and it’s not just about talking or showing slides,” Chief of the German Air Force Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz said about the exercise during a visit to Joint Base Andrews, Md., in April. “We have to prove it, we have to demonstrate it. How do you inform Russia? Well, we won’t write them a letter. I think they get the message when we deploy.”

The exercise will take place mainly in three areas over Germany, though there will also be forward operating locations in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Latvia. Like many air warfare exercises, mock enemy ‘Red’ aircraft will take to the skies and fight with friendly ‘Blue’ aircraft.

“Blue will be killing and Red will be killing,” Air National Guard director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh told Air & Space Forces Magazine in April. “Everyone will see a little bit of Red.”

air defender
A F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 158th Fighter Wing, Vermont National Guard, taxis by a German Air Force Airbus A400M-180 painted with Air Defender 2023 decals during a media event highlighting Air Defender 2023 on the flight line at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, April 5, 2023. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Sarah M. McClanahan

Though Germany will lead the exercise, U.S. Airmen hope to practice new operating concepts like Agile Combat Employment, where small teams of Airmen and planes disperse to remote or austere locations in an effort to complicate an enemy’s targeting process. Operating from smaller locations forces Airmen to work with a greater autonomy—a far cry from the top-down air wars fought from sprawling air bases in the Middle East during the Global War on Terror.

“It gets us out of what I would call the legacy mindset of CENTCOM,” Loh said in April. “It doesn’t matter what it is, A-10, KC-135, are they going to be able to go ‘OK, I’ve lost our comms, everybody.’ I know what the initial plan was for today. Can I set myself up and do it as an aircraft commander, with a full crew, and take off and go make the next mission?”

As NATO forces begin a simulated air war, Russia and Ukraine are locked in an actual conflict on the same continent. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has sparked increased investment and efforts by many European militaries to strengthen their air defenses.

“We have to take responsibility to stand up and say ‘OK, we are ready to defend the alliance,’” Gerhartz said in April. 

Retired USAF Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, who led U.S. Air Forces in Europe and NATO Allied Air Command from 2019 to 2022, told Air & Space Forces Magazine in April that NATO’s efforts to modernize member air forces could make a big impact.

“If we mass legitimate capabilities, it’s going to deter Russia, and they’re not going to want any part of what we could potentially do to them,” he said.

Getting Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel Gets Harder for Operators

Getting Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel Gets Harder for Operators

June 6, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The selection rate for majors in zone for promoted to lieutenant colonel dropped slightly this year, while “above the zone” promotions continue to rise.

The Air Force unveiled an overhaul to its selection system in 2019, and instituted those changes in 2020, creating six competitive categories rather than have officers compete for promotion in a single group. The new system was supposed to make it easier for non-rated officers in logistics or intelligence, for example, to compete for advancement against rated officers, such as pilots and navigators.  

The selection rate for Line of the Air Force majors promoted “in the zone,” which ranged from 76 percent to 77 percent since the change, dropped this year to 75.1 percent. Above-zone promotions, those for officers getting their second look by the promotion board, rose to 13 percent, the highest level since the change.

Early, or “below-the-zone” promotions, were eliminated in 2020.

Driving the shift is the air operations and special warfare category. Majors in this category, the largest in the Air Force, accounting for nearly half of those considered, were selected at a 74.4 percent rate, down nearly five percentage points from 2021.

“Above the zone” selections for operators were just 8.2 percent, the lowest in any category. 

Selections also fell for information warfare officers, the second largest category. In-zone selections fell to 74 percent, down from 78.2 percent in 2021. However, the above-zone selection rate for information warfare officers tripled from 2021, rising from 6.4 percent then to 19.3 percent this year. 

Combat support—the third largest category—which has seen fluctuating in-zone selections in recent years, saw an increase in “above the zone” selection. 

When the Air Force announced its categories, the intent was to ensure officers competed to advance against peers with similar skills, career progression, and experience. Officials have since argued the system has also improved diversity, because women and racial minorities make up a greater portion of the non-rated officer community.  

On the whole, more than 1,500 majors were in zone for consideration by the board, the largest cohort in at least four years. The group was likely larger because retention ticked up, related to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially creating a slightly larger cohort. 

This year’s promotion cycle also marks the first time promotions boards have been able to see if potential lieutenant colonels have advanced academic degrees since 2014. The Air Force started “masking” those degrees because Airmen had come to see such degrees as a prerequisite for promotion—even if they had little to do with their career field. 

In reversing that policy, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall emphasized that advanced degrees are “neither a requirement for promotion to major or lieutenant colonel nor a guarantor of promotion.”  

“The DAF will continue to value both operationally and educationally derived experience and expertise and will always value high levels of performance,” he added. 

CATEGORY“In the Zone” Considered“In the Zone” Selected“In the Zone” Rate“Above the Zone” Considered“Above the Zone” Selected“Above the Zone” Rate
Air Operations & Special Warfare75055874.4511428.2
Nuclear & Missile Operations352571.435514.3
Information Warfare31123074.01813519.3
Force Modernization15812277.2137139.5
Combat Support26520175.81623823.5
Cross Functional Operations574782.516531.3
TOTAL1576118375.1104213813.2
Data courtesy of Air Force Personnel Center
Pentagon Awards $2 Billion Contract for New Lot of F-35 Engines

Pentagon Awards $2 Billion Contract for New Lot of F-35 Engines

June 5, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Pentagon awarded a contract worth over $2 billion for the next batch of F-35 engines to Pratt & Whitney on June 5.

The deal for Lot 17 F135 engines, totaling $2.02 billion, is expected to be completed by December 2025, the Pentagon said in its announcement. 

The new contract does not specify how many engines will be included in the lot, but it does come three months after Pratt & Whitney announced it had struck a deal with the F-35 Joint Program Office for Lots 15 and 16 of the engine, with an option for Lot 17. The company said at the time Lot 17 could include 140 or more engines.  

Those engines would presumably not be included in Pratt & Whitney’s planned F135 Engine Core Upgrade—needed to meet the F-35’s growing power and cooling needs—as the contractor has said it is targeting 2028 to start delivering those enhanced engines. 

The contract announcement said a large portion of the money for Lot 17 will come from non-U.S. F-35 partners and foreign military sales funds—some $817 million. Air Force funds cover another $557 million, and the Department of the Navy contribution is around $646 million. 

Last month, the Pentagon exercised a $7.8 billion contract option for Lot 17 of the F-35 aircraft—126 airframes in total—with contractor Lockheed Martin. Work is expected to be finished by mid-2026. 

The contracts for Lot 17 of both the engine and aircraft come after negotiations on Lots 15-17 of the aircraft dragged on for months longer than anticipated. 

Not long after a “handshake” deal was announced, a December 2022 crash of an F-35B halted deliveries of both F-35s and F135 engines. A Defense Department investigation uncovered a “harmonic resonance” issue, and Pratt & Whitney was able to develop a field fix that allowed deliveries to resume after several months. 

Moving forward, the F-35 is likely to have increased power needs, as Tech Refresh 3 and Block 4 upgrades increase demand from the engine and the Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS), which provides cooling for avionics, radar, and other equipment, as well as emergency power, cockpit conditioning, some electrical power, and more. 

Pratt’s solution to that issue is the Engine Core Upgrade, a modest upgrade to the system. After considering an entirely new engine from its Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), the Air Force opted to go with the Engine Core Upgrade due to cost and integration concerns with the AETP engines. 

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office recommended the Congress direct the Pentagon to break out the F-35’s propulsion upgrade from the rest of the program better to track its scope, schedule, and cost. The GAO also recommended the DOD set its long-term propulsion requirements, a move Pratt, a division of Raytheon Technologies, also endorsed. 

Why No Bomb Is a Dud When Air Force EOD Is Around

Why No Bomb Is a Dud When Air Force EOD Is Around

June 5, 2023 | By David Roza

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah—Cleaning trash off a training range may sound like a dull task—but not if the trash is highly explosive.

Airmen with the 775th Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight deal with such trash on a regular basis at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), an area about the size of Delaware where military aircraft practice dropping a wide range of ordnance. In the hands of an EOD technician, a dud bomb can become a useful tool to understand explosives and practice new disarming techniques that can help both the 775th and other units across the military.

“It builds an Airman’s understanding of explosives, and explosive effects, which trickles down to everything else that you’re going to do,” Staff Sgt. Cody Patterson, a member of the 775th, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “I can’t mitigate a hazard if I don’t fully understand what the hazard is.”

One of the world’s largest weapon test facilities, UTTR has several kinds of ranges. Some are used year-round by military pilots honing their airstrike skills, while others are used to test new weapons being developed. On the large training ranges, the 775th EOD flight performs two large sweeps a year for unexploded ordnance, and they also clear out specific paths when range employees need to change or upgrade a target. The smaller test ranges need to be cleared more often so scientists and engineers can safely collect data on weapons performance.

“EOD is on the range if there is a used target, and somebody wants to go down there,” said Capt. James Stapleton, an element leader at the 775th. “For the test range, EOD clears the area so that the engineers can go do their part.”

eod
Airmen assigned to the 775th Civil Engineering Squadron, Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, use all-terrain vehicles during training near the Utah Test and Training Range, March 24, 2014. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Taylor Queen)

The range work adds up: Patterson estimated that last year the 775th disarmed about 2,400 unexploded bombs, missiles, and more across 40 missions that could span from a couple of days to a couple of weeks depending on the size of the range being cleared. Maintaining vehicles for transport and preparing the logistics of range work is half the battle, he said.

“It all costs money and man-hours to upkeep equipment, vehicles, and trailers that we take to the range,” the sergeant said. “I would say easily 70 percent of our time is either on range or preparing to get to the range.”

One of the most hazardous tasks the 775th performs on the range is clearing areas where submunitions have been dropped. Hundreds of smaller submunitions can be dropped in one bombing run, and some submunitions have a dud rate of 10 to 15 percent. That means if 200 submunitions are dropped on a target, there may be 20 or more that hit the ground and do not detonate.

To clear out submunitions, up to a dozen EOD techs from the 775th ride on all-terrain vehicles, form a line with the team leader in the center of it, and then move across the target area scanning for unexploded ordnance, said bomb tech Senior Airman Brandon Hughes. If an EOD sees something suspicious, the line stops to inspect the object and, if it is not immediately hazardous, they mark the grid coordinates with their GPS-equipped ATAK phones and continue the process for the rest of the target area.

Once the area is swept, the team typically places charges near the ordnance and detonates them from a safe distance. Since they involve live explosives, every range mission is still a dangerous mission for the EOD techs—it is not just their lives on the line, but also those of range workers, scientists, and fellow service members who train there. Hughes said Army soldiers sometimes practice maneuvers on the same areas where aircraft drop bombs, though not at the same time.

“It is especially important for us to pay attention to those areas so they’re not running into any [unexploded ordnance] while they practice their soldiering skills,” he said.

eod
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andrew Filcher, assigned to the 775th Civil Engineering Squadron, Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, scans for potential threats during training near the Utah Test and Training Range, March 24, 2014. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Taylor Queen)

Once they are detected, dud bombs offer EOD techs a chance to hone their craft.

“Everything can be a training event, essentially,” Patterson said. “Obviously we’re going to make it safe at all times. But you can try something like ‘hey, the [technical publication] says this is untested, but maybe I can gather some data.’”

For example, the 775th recently tested improvised methods of knocking the fuze off of a bomb, essentially disarming it. When the units discovers new tactics, techniques or procedures (TTPs), they pass them off to fellow bomb techs in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.

“As a career field we try to experiment and share with each other so we’re not keeping TTPs to ourselves,” Hughes said.

There is always room to learn something new, since no two range missions are alike.

“You’re never going to go to the same area and find the same 81mm mortar that you found the last time you were out there, so you always keep your head on a swivel trying to make sure you find everything that you need to find,” Hughes said.

The lessons learned at UTTR, particularly in regards to clearing submunitions, may play a key role in a possible near-peer conflict. During the Global War on Terror, troops often had to secure a city block against ground attack so that bomb techs could safely defuse a single improvised explosive device. In the future, Air Force EOD techs may have to clear isolated runways of large numbers of air-dropped unexploded ordnance as quickly as possible before another air attack arrives.

“We’re worried about ‘how do I clear this runway fast using the least amount of stuff,’ because it’s going to happen again,” said Patterson.

Some of those techniques harken back to “old-school World War II tactics” such as using rope, tape, and zip ties to yank submunitions off a runway all at once, he explained. Others include pouring concrete into a backhoe bucket and pushing the bombs off the tarmac, or using rope, tape, and a wrench to pull the fuze off from a distance.

“I can try something here so that later if I’m downrange and I’m trying to clear a runway, I already know what is or is not going to work because I just cleared a grid of 160 of these two months ago,” Patterson said.

Other explosives also have the benefit of being fun to detonate. Master Sgt. Rebecca Kimberling, another EOD tech, said illumination rounds or flares and chaff make sparkles like fireworks when they are blown up into the air. But one kind of explosion happens only at UTTR: destroying old or obsolete rocket motors that are used to propel nuclear missiles. Those detonations can involve 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of net explosive weight, Hughes said. By comparison, the biggest explosions EOD techs typically encounter in training is 1,000 pounds. The rocket motor detonations are “monumentally bigger,” he said.

“One of the neat things when you have an explosion that large is watching the blast wave just propagate outwards,” Kimberling said. “It just sends everything outwards, and it is such a fast process but it seems slow-mo when you’re watching it, like time is standing still for you.”

It just goes to show: Cleaning up the trash can be a real blast.

Air Force Bumps Annual Retention Bonus for Aviators Up To $50K

Air Force Bumps Annual Retention Bonus for Aviators Up To $50K

June 5, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force is bumping up bonuses in its quest to retain pilots, the service announced June 5. Aviators—including pilots, air battle managers, and combat systems officers—can now receive up to $50,000 annually for agreeing to stay on in fiscal year 2023, a significant increase from the cap of $35,000 set last year.

The move comes as the Air Force is still working on a congressionally-mandated retention program aimed at easing its pilot shortage. The new program is “projected to roll out this summer” an Air Force spokeswoman said, adding that effort still needed to be finalized.

The move announced June 5 is an update to what the Air Force is now calling its “legacy” aviation bonus program.

“FY23 will be a transition year for the Air Force,” the service said in a release.

A new effort, referred to as Rated Officer Retention Demonstration Program, was required by the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act and includes provisions that services can offer up to $50,000 and/or guaranteed future assignment locations in an effort to retain pilots.

An Air Force spokeswoman said the two efforts “were developed to work collaboratively together to target and synchronize retention efforts across the rated community simultaneously.” The NDAA-mandated program will also cap its annual bonus at $50,000 for fiscal 2023, she added. The Navy, for comparison, capped its annual pilot bonuses at $35,000 for fiscal 2023.

The spokeswoman said the new program is for regular Air Force “manned pilots only, with no more than three years but not less than one year remaining” on their service commitments.

In testimony to Congress last month, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff David W. Allvin said Air Force ended the fiscal 2022 1,900 pilots short of its goal of 21,000, a net loss of about 250 pilots.

“The FY23 NDAA Rated Officer Retention Demonstration Program is designed to offer monetary and non-monetary incentives,” to counteract that, the spokeswoman said, though the service has yet to officially outline what it will offer in addition to money.

“Program details are still being finalized,” the spokeswoman said.

Allvin said the Air Force is trying to retain aviators earlier in their careers rather than offering them cash at the end of their 10-year service commitment—when their plans for the future may already be set.

“What we have done now is offered these incentives to them three years before the commitment is done,” Allvin said. “Now, obviously, we’re asking for a longer commitment, but at that time, it’s helping them cement their future, see where their families are, and have that predictability.” 

The commercial aviation industry, where many Active-Duty Air Force pilots end up, is also trying to entice its pilots to stay on with their own incentives. Major airlines have announced new labor agreements with their unions and double-digit wage increases in recent months.

“Publicly available data on hiring, employment, and wages indicate strong current demand for pilots,” the Government Accountability Office wrote of the commercial industry in April.

In his testimony, Allvin cited a lack of stable home life, money, and having to conduct too many non-flying duties as reasons for aviators leaving the Air Force.

While the NDAA-mandated program is not yet official, Air Force is doing what it can under its existing regime.

The “legacy” program applies to aviators whose Active-Duty service commitment is expiring in fiscal 2023 or has already expired. Pilots have until Sept. 15 to apply when the program opens up on June 6. Pilots on a bonus program for a lower amount cannot renegotiate for a higher amount this year, the Air Force said. Bonuses range from $15,000-$50,000 per year with contract lengths ranging from three to 12 years, an Air Force spokeswoman said.

“Our experienced aviators are uniquely qualified to succeed in a combat environment and these incentives are necessary to maintain that talent and competitiveness with our pacing challenge,” Maj. Gen. Albert Miller, Air Force Training and Readiness director, said in a statement.

In First, B-1 Bombers Join Largest Nordic Air Exercise

In First, B-1 Bombers Join Largest Nordic Air Exercise

June 5, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A pair of B-1 bombers flew over the North Sea on June 5, joining in on an expansive aerial exercise taking place in the Nordic region. 

As part of Arctic Challenge Exercise 2023, the B-1s from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flew above the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and integrated with F-35s from the U.S. Air Force and Royal Norwegian Air Force, as well as U.S. Navy aircraft. 

“The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy routinely conduct operations in the High North alongside the Finnish, Swedish, and Norwegian Air and Naval Forces, and Arctic Challenge provided enhanced opportunities for NATO allies and partners to integrate with strategic U.S. bombers and the Ford-class aircraft carrier in a new environment,” a U.S. Air Forces in Europe press release stated.

The B-1s are in Europe as part of a Bomber Task Force deployment, based out of RAF Fairford, U.K. Since arriving two weeks ago, Airmen and aircraft have been busy. On May 23, one B-1 was intercepted by a Russian fighter over the Baltic Sea region. On May 30, a bomber flew over Bosnia and Herzegovina, in a show of support amid continued unrest in the area. And on June 1, a B-1 integrated with allied forces during a small force exercise across France and Belgium. 

Their participation in Arctic Exercise Challenge, however, marks their biggest training opportunity yet—and the first time U.S. bombers have flown in the biennial exercise since it began in 2013. 

In addition to the B-1s, the U.S. Air Force is flying F-35s and F-15s from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., in the exercise, as well as KC-135s from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, U.K., and the Maine Air National Guard. 

Sweden is leading the exercise, with aircraft also stationed in Norway and Finland. The U.S., U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic all sent personnel and aircraft. 

“By training and conducting realistic exercises in the High North, like Arctic Challenge Exercise 2023, U.S. forces and those of Allied and Partner nations hone skills, fine-tune interoperability, nurture key relationships, and acclimate to the inherent challenges posed by fighting in the Arctic’s extreme conditions,” a USAFE press release stated.  

How Many Airmen Does It Take To Run An F-35 Gas Station?

How Many Airmen Does It Take To Run An F-35 Gas Station?

June 2, 2023 | By David Roza

HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah—Earlier this spring, the 388th Fighter Wing proved just 12 Airmen can operate an F-35 contingency location, refueling and rearming the fighters at spots across Georgia and South Carolina.

The demonstration, part of exercise Agile Flag 23-1, marks yet another proof of concept for the Air Force’s plan to send small teams of Airmen far afield to keep fighter jets running, then pack them up again before moving to another location.

“You can kind of treat a contingency location like a gas station” Maj. Cahn Wadhams, commander of the 4th Fighter Generation Squadron under the 388th, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

“Jets land, we gas them, we load bombs and then they leave,” he added. “Whatever aircraft lands there, we can get it ready, though we are limited to support just two aircraft at any given time. That is why we’ll set up for a specific set of time, then change location. That is the ‘agile’ piece of Agile Combat Employment.”

Agile Combat Employment (ACE) is the Air Force’s operating concept in which Airmen and aircraft disperse from a central base to smaller, more austere locations in order to complicate an adversary’s targeting—a hub-and-spoke model.

In Agile Flag 23-1, Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. acted as the hub, from which the smaller teams of Airmen would depart for contingency locations in Georgia and South Carolina, “turn and burn” aircraft, then return to the hub to resupply before heading out to another location the next day. The contingency teams at Agile Flag 23-1 stayed at each location for 12-hour shifts, but the concept is built to allow teams to operate for multiple days, Wadhams said.

Each contingency location was staffed with 12 maintenance Airmen who served as the mission-generating element of the team, Wadhams explained. Part of the reason why the teams could be so small is the concept of Multi-Capable Airmen (MCA), a key tenet of ACE in which Airmen learn skills outside their usual job specialty.

At Agile Flag, that took the form of Airmen who usually put bombs on aircraft helping direct the planes to launch, or crew chiefs stopping unauthorized personnel on the flight line, something normally done by security forces.

“MCA is designed because of the fact that there is going to be a high rate of attrition if war breaks out,” Wadhams said. “The Air Force needs to have light, agile, and lean forces that are constantly able to move.”

f-35
Weapons loaders prepare to re-crate an AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile during Agile Flag 23-1 at Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Ga, March 4, 2023. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Micah Garbarino)

In addition to Airmen learning new skills, ACE requires different kinds of units to work together more closely than ever before. At Agile Flag, that meant maintainers, command and control specialists, and support personnel figuring out how to operate smoothly.

“This was the first time we’ve ever done it, so we expected that,” Wadhams said.  “It’s good to see what our constraints are, what we need to fix as we figure out how to fit a mission generation force element into another wing.”

Speed is particularly critical, as these contingency locations will likely operate “in the red zone of where fires and missiles can hit,” said Col. Jeremy Anderson, commander of the 388th Maintenance Group. 

“Get the jets back up and back in the fight, but then be ready to defend yourself and survive, and when the C-130 comes, get the heck out of there,” he added. “That’s the whole point, because by now the enemy has figured out exactly where you’re at, and you are about to get attacked. So load up, get out and go to the next spot.”

That mindset is very different from what many maintenance Airmen experienced over the past 20 years, when they stayed “in the rear with the gear” on sprawling bases in the Middle East complete with amenities and fortifications, Anderson said. 

“Now it’s ‘get on the C-130, here are your tents, your backpack and MREs, I’m going to plan and come back and get you in a few days, and if any F-35s drop in, gas them, load them and get them the hell out of there,’” he said.

That change introduces logistical questions, and the Air Force is still figuring out what the standard kit might be for a contingency location team, especially if there may be enemy ground troops nearby.

“We’ve got this duck-and-cover mindset where we only throw our protective gear on when we are about to get attacked and then we come back out afterwards to start wrenching on jets,” Anderson said. “If we are worried about folks in the tree line or similar threats, now we need tactical gear that we can wear while we maintain aircraft. Instead of big and bulky you need to be able to move around and be comfortable wearing it for long periods of time.”

Another shift will be the level of responsibility that lower-ranked Airmen will take on. Master sergeants who may not have working communications gear will decide whether or not a partly-broken jet is safe enough to attempt a flight back to higher maintenance care, a decision which is usually left to colonels. Accepting that greater level of risk is a big step for the Air Force maintenance community, which is typically risk-averse, Wadhams explained.

“Now we’re telling our Airmen ‘take more risks, because it is required for mission success,’” he said. “That’s a fine balance that we in the maintenance community have not really cracked and we are trying to figure that out. I think it is just going to take reps and training and getting down in the weeds.”

f-35
An F-35A Lightning II maintainer with the 4th Fighter Generation Squadron watches the first two jets arrive at Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Ga., during Agile Flag 23-1., March 2, 2023. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Micah Garbarino)

Luckily, with the greater sense of responsibility, Airmen can also expect greater stability in terms of when they will have to be at peak levels of operational performance. The Air Force is standing up its Air Force Generation Model where units will move together through 6-month phases to prepare for a deployment, get ready for a deployment, deploy, and then reset after a deployment. In the past, the service would cherry-pick individuals or flights for deployments, which could lead to upheaval for some Airmen.

“In the past models, we had a lot of unpredictability and instability in our Airmen’s lives, because you just didn’t know where you were going to go,” said Chief Master Sgt. G Foster, chief enlisted manager for the 388th Maintenance Group. Under AFFORGEN, Airmen will have a better idea of when they will be ready to go, and they know they will go together with their teammates.

The Air Force will have to make smart decisions not just about people, but also about airplanes and equipment. Anderson and Wadhams pointed out that ACE and contingency locations depend on “setting the theater,” which means prepositioning stocks of gas or other supplies so they are available when a contingency location crew arrives.

“The problem is that as soon as you set the theater, the enemy is watching, they are seeing you set the theater, but there is no other way to do it,” Anderson explained. “You balance speed with preparedness. I can go anywhere really fast, but am I going to be able to do anything when I get there? Or do I just drop off a bunch of MREs and tents and bury fuel bladders all over the place so that the enemy does not know which of the 200 places I’m going to use?”

Fighter jets are also limited by the places they can land, since they require fairly smooth, improved surfaces. The Air Force is working through how to “set the theater” while also keeping adversaries guessing, Anderson said.

But even if stocks are prepositioned, there will be the challenge of finding enough transport aircraft to bring teams and equipment to them, Wadhams pointed out.

“Designated airlift is nearly impossible considering the Air Force is also the airlift provider for the Marines and the Army,” he said. Teams may have a transport aircraft for a day, but then the plane has to go pick up someone else in need. Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command, is well aware of the challenge.

“As the joint force maneuver, we have to service everybody,” Minihan said in March while discussing his troops’ large-scale exercise, Operation Mobility Guardian, which will take place over the Pacific Ocean this summer.

“Airlift is going to be the biggest struggle,” said Wadhams. “If we don’t have gas, we can’t fly.”

Top Space Force General Visits Europe to Explore How to Operate Within NATO

Top Space Force General Visits Europe to Explore How to Operate Within NATO

June 2, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

With the Space Force on the precipice of standing up its own European component, the service is studying how it will work within NATO, the continent’s primary military framework.

To that end, Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, traveled to Germany and the United Kingdom late last month.

In Germany, Burt met with NATO space operations personnel “to learn and understand how the U.S. can best integrate and support the alliance’s space mission,” according to a news release.

Both the Space Force and NATO are still figuring out how the alliance will use space capabilities.

“We’re also talking about now what does this mean,” Burt told reporters after the visit, which ran from May 22-26. “Space has been identified as a new domain under NATO.”

After NATO’s declaration that space was the “fifth domain” in 2019—the year the the Space Force was created—the alliance set up a dedicated Space Center in 2020. In 2021, NATO said “attacks to, from or within space” could lead to the invocation of the alliance’s Article Five mutual defense clause. Much like the Space Force’s original operating construct, NATO’s space operations are part of NATO Allied Air Command, which is led by U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

But the Space Force is in the process of breaking out its own space components under different geographic combatant commands.

“The United States decidedly has been doing space for a long time but has not broken it out as a separate service and its own combatant command until recently,” Burt said. “So there’s a lot of learning going on and sharing of what we’ve learned as we’ve traveled this road on the U.S. side, sharing with our partners.”

According to a readout of the trip from the Space Force, Burt also traveled to London to discuss space operations with the British military, which recently stepped up its military capabilities in space.

Soon, the Space Force will create its component inside U.S. European Command. Right now, the service is preparing to transfer its existing space operations, part of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, into a component separate from the Air Force but with little immediate change in staffing, Burt said. That would create a similar arrangement to U.S. Central Command’s space component, which kept existing personnel but made its commander Col. Christopher Putman independent of Air Forces Central boss Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich in an effort to gain a bigger voice for the service.

“It only makes sense as the newest service that we are also standing up our own service components,” Burt said. “So we’re repurposing those personnel who are already there in that Director of Space Forces element, and now pulling them out and establishing them as a service component to U.S. EUCOM.”

For now, she said, those forces plan to remain where they are at Ramstein, and the command will officially be authorized by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

“While that is pending and we’re working that official letter, we are doing mission analysis on the number of people that it’s going to take to execute that mission and to support U.S. EUCOM,” said Burt, who added the DOD was also exploring if Ramstein should be the permanent hub for the USSF on the continent.

As the Space Force begins to find its footing as an independent service, it has recently articulated the concept of “responsible counterspace campaigning,” dipping its toe into the prospect of offensive missions in space to ensure the service can continue to support of the U.S. military.

“My job is to be prepared to fight tonight if asked by the nation. How do we do responsible counterspace campaigning?” Burt said. “And those words are very specific: responsible. Do we have responsible norms of behavior of how we operate in the domain?”

NATO has been bolstered recently with increased defense spending and a new member after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv has been heavily reliant on space capabilities, using commercial assets such as SpaceX’s Starlink and satellite imaging to aid its war effort. Russia, in turn, has sought to disrupt those capabilities.

But for Burt, one of the main lessons to come out of the war doesn’t come from space, but from the air. Commercial traffic avoids Ukrainian airspace lest it be caught in the crossfire, which already happened in 2014 when Russian-backed forces shot down a civilian airliner. That offers a stark lesson, she said, for any nation contemplating conducting a war in space, which Burt noted had distinct dangers from a conflict that uses space assets to support other domains.

“When you look at Ukraine from an air perspective, all the commercial traffic goes around Ukraine,” Burt said. “Nothing is flying directly over Ukraine or the battlespace. That’s how we are protecting noncombatants. They don’t go into the area of responsibility or the danger area. We can’t do that in space. Everyone is in the engagement zone if we were to have a war that extended into space, which is why it is not something that we want to do.”