Multiple Bases Hunker Down, Evacuate Aircraft for Hurricane Helene

Sept. 26, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force installations across Florida hunkered down for Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, closing many on-base services and only allowing mission-essential personnel on base.

The Category 2 hurricane, which is expected to strengthen and make landfall as a Category 4 storm, is also impacting the first-ever launch of a Space Force Guardian into orbit.

Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base, and MacDill Air Force Base all moved to mission essential posture as of the morning of Sept. 26. The storm is expected to make landfall around Florida’s Big Bend region in the evening.

At Tyndall, the base has moved to “HURCON 1” status, meaning 50-knot winds were expected in the next 12 hours. The base is closed to all non-mission essential personnel, but no evacuation orders have been issued.

The track of the storm had shifted slightly east of Tyndall as of the early afternoon of Sept. 26, and the base is now forecasted to avoid a direct hit such as the one it suffered in 2018 when the Category 5 Hurricane Michael caused widespread destruction and $5 billion in damages. Officials previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the base’s new F-35 fighters deployed to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., for a training exercise before the storm and will extend their stay there until the storm passes.

Col. Ed Szczepanik, installation commander for MacDill, issued a limited evacuation order Sept. 25 to allow security forces to secure the base ahead of the storm. MacDill, which sits almost exactly at sea level in the Tampa Bay area, also evacuated its KC-135 tankers on Sept. 24 ahead of the storm. The base also serves as headquarters for U.S. Central Command.

Crew chiefs assigned to the 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron perform preflight checks on a KC-135 Stratotanker ahead of Tropical Storm Helene at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, Sept. 24, 2024. Aircraft were relocated due to projected winds and are expected to return once flying conditions are favorable. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Lauren Cobin

Eglin announced it was moving to “mission essential” posture, under which “only official business will be conducted and vital services will be provided.” Many base services were closed Sept. 26. The base also posted to social media that it was moving its aircraft into hangars to avoid the bad weather.

Elsewhere, Moody Air Force Base in Georgia closed Sept. 26 except for mission essential personnel and is evacuating its aircraft, which include A-10 attack jets, HH-60 helicopters, and HC-130s.

Aircraft fill up King Hangar to avoid any potential weather conditions from Hurricane Helene Sept. 25 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The base was in full preparation mode to prepare and secure vehicles, buildings and aircraft for the upcoming weather. (U.S. Air Force photo by Matt Veasley)

Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., has closed some on-base services ahead of the hurricane.

One unit isn’t evacuating or hunkering down—the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron of the Air Force Reserve posted on social media that it is flying its WC-130J “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft into the storm to record data.

Engine start up for another mission into #HurricaneHelene. pic.twitter.com/UnkUPsdEHO
— Hurricane Hunters (@53rdWRS) September 26, 2024

Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama is also hosting an incident support base for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to the storm, and National Guard units are set to respond too.

“Florida and Georgia have both declared states of emergency and the governor of Florida has activated more than 3,300 National Guardsmen and 12 rotary wing aviation assets in state Active-Duty status,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh noted Sept. 25, adding that Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina are expected to activate their Guard units as well.

For the Space Force, perhaps Helene’s most prominent impact will be to delay the launch of Crew-9, a NASA mission to the International Space Station that will carry Col. Nick Hague. Originally scheduled for Sept. 26, the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is now set for Sept. 28.

Hague will be the first Guardian ever to launch into orbit, though not the first Space Force member in space—astronaut Mike Hopkins transferred into the new service in 2020 while aboard the ISS.

US to Train 18 More F-16 Pilots for Ukraine, Send New Bombs

Sept. 26, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The United States will train 18 additional Ukrainian F-16 pilots and provide Kyiv with fresh standoff air-to-ground weapons as part of an $8 billion military aid package, President Joe Biden’s administration announced Sept. 26.

The move, made ahead of a meeting at the White House between Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, comes as Ukraine has pushed for more Western assistance to fight off Russia’s invasion.

“To build the capacity of Ukraine’s air force, I have directed the Department of Defense to expand training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots, including by supporting the training of an additional 18 pilots next year,” Biden said in a statement.

Zelenskyy presented Biden with a so-called victory plan ahead of U.S. elections in November. He has pushed for the U.S. to allow its weapons to be used to strike targets in Russia that Ukrainian officials say are being used to launch attacks against Ukraine, including airfields. The U.S. has yet to grant that request, and some U.S. officials argue Russia has already moved its aircraft out of the range of U.S. ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles.

But the U.S. will provide Ukraine with AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW), a medium-range, air-to-ground, precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 70-plus miles, the White House announced Sept. 26.

The U.S. has already provided the Ukrainian Air Force with JDAM Extended Range guided bombs—which have a range of roughly 50 miles—as well as Small Diameter Bombs and HARM anti-radiation missiles. The Biden administration has stopped short of providing AGM-158 JASSM long-range standoff missiles, which have a range of upwards of 200 miles, a move it has been reportedly considering.

“For nearly three years, the United States has rallied the world to stand with the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom from Russian aggression, and it has been a top priority of my administration to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to prevail,” Biden said. “In that time, Ukraine has won the battle of Kyiv, reclaimed more than half the territory that Russia seized at the start of the war, and safeguarded its sovereignty and independence. But there is more work to do. That is why, today, I am announcing a surge in security assistance for Ukraine and a series of additional actions to help Ukraine win this war.”

The JSOWs will provide the Ukrainian Air Force with a new standoff weapon, allowing them to strike ground targets from further away. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has air superiority, and both sides have formidable and ample surface-to-air missile systems. However, the JSOW’s range is longest at higher altitudes and Ukrainian aircraft have had to fly low to avoid Russian surface-to-air missiles.

Ukraine has shot down over 100 Russian aircraft, and Russia has shot down over 75 Ukrainian aircraft, Gen. James B. Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and NATO Allied Air Command, told reporters Sept. 17 at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

“Aircraft are kind of staying on their own side of the line, if you will,” Hecker said.

The U.S. is also providing Ukraine with an additional Patriot air defense system as Russia continues its aerial attacks with drones, glide bombs, and cruise and ballistic missiles. Iran recently provided Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, increasing the threat to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, according to U.S. officials.

“These are deliberate Russian attacks on our power plants, and the entire energy grid,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25.

Some $2.4 billion of the aid announced Sept. 26 will go towards purchasing additional air defense, drones, and air-to-ground munitions, the White House said.

Ukraine has been promised at least 80 used F-16s from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium. The U.S. is not providing any aircraft but had to give permission for the American-made fighters to be transferred and is helping arm the Vipers with air-to-surface munitions and air-to-air missiles, including the stalwart AIM-120 AMRAAM.

“I am grateful to the United States for providing the items that are most critical to protecting our people,” Zelenskyy posted on social media. “I also appreciate the decision to expand programs to train more of our pilots to fly F-16s.”

The Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, the Air Force unit charged with training foreign F-16 pilots, planned to train a total of 12 Ukrainian pilots in fiscal 2024, which ends Sept. 30, U.S. officials have previously said. It is unclear whether that will be met.

In late August, a Ukrainian F-16 crashed during a massive Russian missile and drone attack, killing pilot Oleksiy “Moonfish” Mes, one of the first Ukrainians trained to fly the fighter.

Five F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 162nd Wing, Morris Air National Guard Base, Tucson, Ariz., fly in formation over southern Arizona, April 6, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Colin Hollowell

Some members of Congress have publicly urged the Biden administration to train more pilots, and Zelenskyy recently said Ukraine had a strategy to speed up its transition to F-16s from Soviet-era Mig-29, Su-27, and Su-24 aircraft.

The U.S. has a limited F-16 training capacity, however. It is unclear if the additional 18 pilots will all be trained in the U.S. The Pentagon did not immediately provide more details but said pilot training was an important part of U.S. and allied assistance.

“We continue to train Ukrainian pilots that either come to the United States or through the … coalition with our partners in different parts of the world. This is something that we know is a priority for them. It’s a priority for us,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Sept. 27. “We’re continuing to work with them to make sure that their pilots get the training that they need so that when they return to Ukraine they can be as effective as needed on the battlefield.”

The 162nd Wing also trains pilots from other foreign countries and has a finite number of slots, with a normal capacity of around 50 pilots per year.

“We also have an obligation to other allies to train their F-16 pilots, so it’s a very delicate balance to make sure we’re keeping all of our allies trained with pilots and we’re also training Ukrainian pilots,” Hecker said. “We can’t just stop training all of the allies that we have and just focus strictly on Ukraine. So we’re working that balance, and I think the team is doing a pretty good job of doing that.”

Denmark is also training F-16 pilots. Other countries, such as the U.K. and France, which do not operate F-16s, have trained Ukrainian pilots on jet aircraft, and Canada, which also does not fly F-16s, recently announced that it would train new pilots who could then move on to more advanced training as part of a long-term commitment to Ukraine.

“We can’t train them fast enough,” Hecker said. “The good news is we have a coalition that is helping with the training.”

Biden said he will convene a leader-level meeting of the 50-member-nation Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which coordinates aid to Kyiv, next month in Germany.

“Through these actions, my message is clear: The United States will provide Ukraine with the support it needs to win this war,” Biden said in a statement.

Faced with New and Growing Demands, Military Propulsion Needs More Support: Experts

Sept. 25, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The U.S. has a lead over China and Russia in military propulsion, but there’s a real peril of losing that edge soon if research is not sustained and new engine technologies are not actually fielded, experts said at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference last week. They also said that an engine “ecosystem” for Collaborative Combat Aircraft is still in its infancy, but chances are there will be no one-size-fits-all powerplant solution for CCA engines.

The Adaptive Engine Transition Program was “the last, big, major research and development activity” in the field of propulsion, said Michael R. Gregg, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s aerospace systems directorate, during a panel discussion, but that program dates back two decades.

The Pentagon also opted not to use either of the AETP engines in the F-35 Block 4 upgrade, and not seeing that work come to fruition is discouraging to potential propulsion engineers, Gregg said.

“If there isn’t a sustained effort” that continues to fund, develop, and field advanced engine technology, “industry is not going to keep talent in that pool,” Gregg said. The demand signal for engineers who can do such work “has really shrunk,” he added, as there is also no learning to be had from having an engine in the lab, but which has not been exposed to the rigors of real-world operation.

Meanwhile, military propulsion efforts are being stretched with more and more different demands in the fields of hypersonics, fighter engine technology, small engines for drones, and missiles, without a corresponding increase in funding.

“From a research perspective, we’re getting much more demand for the smaller engines,” which are “less exquisite, but maybe cheaper,” Gregg said. These efforts are coming at the expense of “that high-end, most exquisite, most technologically challenging,” engine work.

Advanced Engines

Experts have frequently noted that in a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific or Europe, the U.S. would be fighting an “away game” against the likes of China and Russia.

“our adversary is going to have most likely strength in numbers, and they’ll have the benefit of proximity. What they don’t have today is an advantage in propulsion capability, but they are working hard to close those gaps,” said David Tweedie, GE Aerospace Edison Works vice president and general manager for advanced products.

To maintain that edge, Tweedie called for steady, sustained investment.

In the AETP program, GE Aerospace built the XA100 and Pratt & Whiteny built the XA101, but the Pentagon opted not to use either one for the F-35. The knowledge gained from inventing adaptive engine technology won’t be lost; both companies are tweaking it for the Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program to power the Air Force’s next fighter. But the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program is under review and will likely change. Senior leaders at the conference said they are contemplating a single-engine version of the NGAD, of which fewer than 300 are likely to be built. That may weigh against carrying two contractors into production.

While there is uncertainty around NGAD, though, Tweedie expressed confidence that the Air Force will always “need to put some sort of tactical platforms into a stand-in capability—crewed or uncrewed—with significant range, payload and survivability, and you’re going to need the next generation of propulsion system to make that work.”

Whenever that next generation is required, “we need to be ready, collectively, as an industry,” he concluded.

The ability to produce a cutting-edge fighter engine “doesn’t happen by accident,” Gregg said. “It takes sustained, persistent investment over a long time and right now, with the pace of aircraft [fielding] getting longer we have fewer in production, and we have fewer opportunities to bring in new systems.”

New technologies and digital tools are improving the propulsion engineering process, he added. But funding is needed to keep progress going and actually field new engines.

CCA

Another major challenge facing military propulsion is how to power the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft—autonomous “wingmen” drones that need to be inexpensive but still reliable, yielding a capability that can keep up with fighters

Gregg said AFRL has not yet “cracked the code” on developing powerplants for CCA—and the process is made even harder by the fact that different CCA drones may have different missions.

“It would be nice if we could build an ecosystem” where engines are variable enough to be tailored to the mission, Gregg said. “We’re thinking hard about that. I think what drives CCA is ultimately going to be the price point. We want to think about maybe 1,000 to 5,000 hours of engine [life]. And if you think along those lines from the beginning, does that change your materials? Does that change your maintenance concept or sustainment concept? Does that change how you run it? So there’s lots of things that we need to experiment with, and learn and test and figure out, but from my point of view, CCA … really opens the aperture.”

Tweedie noted that GE inked a deal with Kratos Defense and Security over the summer to partner on smaller engines optimized for CCAs. Kratos “has a great skill set when it comes to agile, low-cost” engines, he said.

Pratt & Whitney vice president for military development program Chris Flynn predicted the Air Force will put a premium on speed in the CCA program—“I’ve got to go fast, right?”—and affordability.

“That’s where commercial-off-the-shelf comes in. We have a stable of engines at Pratt & Whitney that can provide various levels of thrust that can be pulled off of a production line today and inserted into a [CCA]. So that’s going to take care of the speed element,” Flynn said.

He noted that the Northrop Grumman Scaled Composites Model 437—an aircraft expected to experiment with CCA technologies—recently flew with a Pratt 535 engine.

“My prediction,” he added, “is that the Air Force is going to want more out of CCAs, not less.” They will need “more power and thermal capability” because they will be using artificial intelligence which will be “sucking all kinds of power, [and] they need cooling.”

Other Challenges

Tweedie said the biggest near-term challenge in propulsion is not just adding more power to aircraft but also to “deal with all those systems that generate heat.” With fighters loaded up with more and more processors, they generate lots of heat that must be dissipated, while the engines themselves must be cooler to reduce vulnerability to heat-tracking systems.

There are three ways to address the problem, he said: “First at the architectural level … adaptive engines provide a lot more levers for us to do some segregation between the thrust producing parts of the engine and the thermal and power sides of the engine, so you can get the best of both worlds.”

At the component level, “heat exchangers are critical to that lightweight, informal, complex geometry really lends itself to additive technology” and will “unlock the design engineers’ toolkit to be able to produce those.”

Third, he said, is integrating with the “multiple companies with different pieces” of an aircraft. They must avoid working in silos, he said. Digital tools especially help with that cross-communication.

Flynn said he sees “exponential increases in the requirements” for engine performance and cooling with sixth-generation aircraft. “And … it’s all about how we digitally design the system architecture.”

Thanks to the NGAP program’s digital foundation, “the propulsion enterprise is transforming” the way engines are designed, Flynn said, “in terms of being able to model these systems from end to end, quickly, identify what works and what doesn’t work, model that again and do this in a digital environment until you find the right solution.”

Tweedie also cited the shift from “nickel-based super-alloys in our hot sections, combustors and turbines” to ceramic-based materials as a major advancement, allowing the engines to run hotter and provide far more performance, while also being lighter. This was a case where the technology started out in military programs, was proved in commercial programs and led to advances on the XA100 and NGAP.

Flynn said Pratt has learned that “no matter what we do with specifying the way” an engine will be used, “when it gets to the field, it’s going to be used differently.” He said the company has formalized ways of feeding field experience back to the lab for a perpetual improvement program that “brings that learning back into our systems.”

Senate Confirms Nordhaus as National Guard Boss; Air Guard Nominee Still Waiting

Sept. 25, 2024 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Senate on Sept. 24 quietly approved Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven S. Nordhaus to lead the National Guard, filling a vacancy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff that has persisted for nearly two months.

Nordhaus’ promotion was ushered through in a unanimous voice vote as the Senate wound down for the evening. It was not immediately clear when he will pin on a fourth star and be sworn into the job.

Nordhaus, a career fighter pilot who runs the 1st Air Force, or Air Forces Northern, and the Continental U.S. Command Region for NORAD, will take over as the top officer managing policy and resources for around 325,000 National Guard troops across the globe. He’ll become the most senior leader in Washington balancing the desires of state Guard leadership as their units are stretched thin on missions from disaster response to driving school buses.

President Joe Biden tapped Nordhaus to replace Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson on July 23, about two weeks before Hokanson retired after four years in the job. His late nomination butted up against Congress’s August recess, pushing a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to Sept. 12.

Army National Guard boss Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Stubbs has served as the acting National Guard chief in the interim.

Also confirmed this week were Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Reed, who will lead U.S. Transportation Command; Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Clark, who will command Army forces in the Pacific; and Navy Vice Adm. Alvin Holsey, who will lead U.S. Southern Command. Each will be promoted to the rank of general or admiral.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) had blocked Clark’s promotion to become a four-star over concerns that Clark failed to alert the White House about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization in January while the nominee was serving as Austin’s senior military aide.

Still in limbo is Maj. Gen. Duke Pirak, the Air National Guard deputy director who has filled in as its top officer since Lt. Gen. Michael Loh departed in June. Pirak, a fighter pilot-turned-policy strategist, was nominated March 14 to lead the Air Guard.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said he would put Pirak’s nomination on hold until the Air National Guard agreed to exempt Alaska from planned staffing changes that would convert some full-time positions across the Air Guard to lower-paying roles with different responsibilities, the Alaska Beacon reported in August. A National Guard spokesperson confirmed Sept. 17 that the Alaska National Guard is exempt from the changes, which the Guard refers to as “full-time leveling.”

Sullivan’s office did not respond to a query from Air & Space Forces Magazine on Sept. 25 whether the senator has lifted the hold as a result of the exemption.

Congress is set to leave town until after the Nov. 5 elections, potentially further delaying Pirak’s confirmation until the end of the year.

Air Combat Command Activates 3 New Air Task Forces; 5 of 6 Now Open

Sept. 25, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Air Combat Command activated three new air task forces this week, bringing the Air Force closer to starting all six of the units that will form the next stage of its deployment model.

ACC Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Koscheski on Sept. 23 presided over a ceremony at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., during which three commanders accepted the guidon for their new units:

Col. Benjamin Donberg will command the 13th Air Task Force at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas

Col. William Watkins will command the 22nd Air Task Force at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.

Col. Bradley Baker will command the 23rd Air Task Force at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

ACC’s stand-up of three task forces follows Air Mobility Command’s activation of 12th Air Task Force at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., earlier this month. Air Force Special Operations Command started 11th Air Task Force at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., in July.

One final air task force, the 21st Air Task Force, will be activated Oct. 8 at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and fall under Air Force Global Strike Command.

Each air task force will consist of:

A command element with expeditionary air staff and special staff that work directly for the commander

A combat air base squadron that handles base support.

One or more mission generation force elements to generate combat power, such as a fighter squadron, a bomber squadron, or a special warfare squadron.

Mission sustainment teams attached to the mission generation force elements that provide sustainment and protection for those force elements when they deploy to a more forward or austere location.

The task forces are meant to craft more cohesive teams of Airmen that train and work together prior to deploying, instead of relying on the current system that pulls Airmen into piecemeal units as needed to support military operations overseas.

In the long run, the Air Force wants to create two dozen deployable combat wings. Each would centralize their resources and personnel at a single base so they can live and train together, then pick up and go when called upon.

Air task forces are an intermediate step toward that vision, bringing Airmen from across the same region together for training. The previous system could pull Airmen from around 60 units at more than a dozen different Air Force bases, forcing troops to form bespoke teams with people they didn’t know on the fly. ATFs will limit that sourcing to as many as four bases, making it more likely that Airmen have developed relationships and trust ahead of time.

“This will start us on a journey creating a definable and sustainable force presentation model for the United States Air Force,” Koscheski said during the ceremony.

Central to the concept is the Air Force’s new “AFFORGEN” deployment model that cycles units through six-month phases of increasingly complex training before a combat deployment and a reset phase. Of the six air task forces, three will deploy in October 2025 while others prepare to replace them; the other three will take over for the first batch of forces in April 2026.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin has said he hopes to have the first deployable combat wings resourced and ready by the fall of 2026, when the second air task forces would be wrapping up their deployment.

One-and-Only Air Force PJ Dog Prepares to Wrap Historic Career

Sept. 25, 2024 | By David Roza

It was there, dangling from an HH-60 helicopter’s hoist cable in a snowstorm in the middle of the night, that Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons realized he was part of something special.

A pararescueman with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, Parsons was helping the Alaska Air National Guard search for a 70-year-old hiker who’d gone missing on a trail outside Anchorage. While the rest of the search party was grounded by the foul weather, the Air Guard crew in their rugged HH-60 kept looking.

But Parsons did not descend into the cold darkness alone. His teammate, a Dutch Shepherd named Callie, was strapped to his body, ready to sniff through the avalanche debris below to find the missing hiker. In the end, they could not locate the man, but the Guard’s rapid response and Callie’s sharp nose gave him the best shot of being found.

“That’s the moment where I realized this is a capability that does not exist anywhere else in the world,” Parsons recalled three years later. “And it’s at such a level that this could actually mean the difference for this man’s life … It gave him the most likely chance of survival because of our capability to push out.”

Over the course of her six-year career, Callie—the only search and rescue dog in the Department of Defense—has jumped out of planes, hoisted out of helicopters, and rode to the rescue aboard jet skis, snowmobiles, and everything in between.

“She can do anything a pararescueman can do, besides scuba diving,” Parsons said. “We have a top-tier capability canine that can go anywhere in the world faster than anybody else because we’re part of the United States Air Force and we have all of those assets behind us.”

air force dog — Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons, a pararescueman assigned to the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, rappels from the Big Four Bridge in Louisville, Ky. with Callie, the only certified search-and-rescue dog in the U.S. military, as part of an annual team-building event held Dec. 12, 2022 (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Clayton Wear)

The idea of Air Force Pararescue dogs first emerged after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, where a group of PJs spent three days digging through the rubble of a collapsed school. A canine rescue team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cleared the pile much faster.

“Within 20 minutes, that dog found there was nobody actually in that pile,” Parsons said. The PJs “had just wasted three days of manpower when they could have been helping out elsewhere.”

PJs are combat search and rescue specialists, but a dog can make the search side much more efficient and effective than any other technology.

“How can we hone our capabilities as search experts as well as rescue experts?” he asked.

Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons, a pararescueman in the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, searches debris fields with Callie, his search-and-rescue dog, in Cookeville, Tenn., March 3, 2020 (Courtesy Photo)

‘Trust Your Dog’

Search and rescue dogs date back to at least the 18th century, when monks at the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Swiss Alps used the eponymous breed to save travelers in the surrounding mountains. Even before Callie, the U.S. Army and Air Force dabbled with search and rescue dogs during the Cold War, Parsons said.

But after Haiti, there wasn’t a clear path forward on a new program until Parsons got involved around 2017. Parsons spoke with experts around the country, and within four months he started working with the 15-month-old Callie. The young dog was named after an Australian Shepherd who, along with her handler, Peggy Faith, searched the rubble of the Pentagon after it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

It took another three months to pick up certifications in urban and wilderness search and rescue from the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, the acclaimed research, training, and breeding program which raised Callie.

“The hardest part was just learning how to communicate with another living creature that has a mind of its own,” Parsons said. “Luckily for me, Callie’s incredible at her job and she could make up for all my mistakes.”

He recalled one drill where he and Callie had to find a Penn Vets intern hiding in a large warehouse.

“Callie started barking at a tiny cabinet and I’m like ‘there’s no way she’s in there,’” he recalled. Of course, the cabinet opened and out popped the intern.

“That was a big realization for me … you talk to any dog handler, they’re going to tell you the number one thing is ‘trust your dog,’” Parsons said. “Callie is 100 percent every single time. She’s never made a mistake.”

Callie, a search and rescue dog for the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, and her handler, Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons, search through the rubble of the Mayfield Candle Factory in Mayfield, Ky. after it was struck by a tornado in December 2021. (Photo courtesy Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons)

Since then, the pair have responded to tornadoes, floods, missing persons cases, and an avalanche, clearing swathes of ground and rubble in hours compared to the days it would have taken otherwise. In 2021, they responded to a tornado that leveled a scented candle factory in eastern Kentucky. The candle smells were overwhelming.

“Within 15 minutes I had a headache, because it was such a strong smell,” said Parsons, who called Penn Vets to ask if Callie could do her job in such an environment. While working a scent, search and rescue dogs sniff five to 10 times a second, compared to humans who typically breathe once every 1.5 seconds.

“They were like ‘put her on the pile and watch,’” he recalled.

Sure enough, Callie and Parsons cleared the factory and found the remains of two people in the rubble. When a FEMA team arrived about 10 hours later, Parsons already had the spots marked on a map so they could quickly confirm the findings, giving resolution to the victims’ families that much faster. An Air National Guardsman, Parsons appreciates being able to help his neighbors during a crisis.

“These are people that we drive by and we see regularly, so it’s been very neat to have this capability that helps those around us directly,” he said.

A headshot of Callie, the U.S. military’s only search and rescue dog, wearing the maroon beret of Air Force Pararescue. (Screenshot via Instagram/@sar_pup)

‘She’s One of Us’

Search and rescue work takes a toll on dogs just like it does on people. Callie’s been bit by a rattlesnake, had surgeries on both of her knees, and taken plenty of scrapes over the years. Rescue dogs typically work barefoot so they can keep their balance while climbing through rubble piles, so Callie got a few bad cuts while climbing through the “Dr. Seuss landscape” of the wrecked candle factory, Parsons said.

“She was in pain but just kept working and did her job exceptionally,” he said. “It just shows how stoic these dogs are. They’re amazing.”

Like her ability to skydive, Callie’s wounds and stoic attitude are part of what makes her a PJ.

“I can’t relate to a drone, but I can really relate to Callie,” Parsons said. “I’ve had knee surgeries, I’ve had back injuries … She’s putting herself on the line just like we are. She’s one of us.”

But even special operators have to hang up the hat someday, and Parsons anticipates the seven-year-old Callie will retire within the next year. The 123rd Special Tactics Squadron is looking to replace both Callie and Rudy, who wants a successor to keep the program going.

“I think for it to be sustainable, I can’t shoulder it the whole time,” he said. “So as much as I want to stay in and do it the rest of my life, I think I need to share the blessing.”

Could a search and rescue canine benefit other Air Force rescue and special tactics squadrons? The appetite is there, Parsons thinks, but manning is a challenge, since special operators are already swamped with training and mission requirements.

Parsons himself did not realize how much work it takes to hone a world-class canine rescue team. For example, before he could jump out of an airplane with Callie strapped to his chest, he took three months getting her comfortable with her jump bag: first having her nap in it, then jumping off benches with her in it. Same thing for her goggles, ear protection, muzzle, and the airplane itself.

“Before Callie jumped she had over 100 hours of flight time,” Parsons said in a 2022 interview. “We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this.”

When Callie finally retires, Parsons will officially adopt her. But after years of nonstop adventure, Callie’s retirement promises to be anything but quiet.

“I’ll see if I can help her relax,” Parsons said. “I don’t know if she’s able to.”

Master Sgt. Rudy Parsons, a pararescueman with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, and Callie, his search and rescue dog, participate in Patriot North, an annual domestic operations exercise designed to provide natural disaster-response training at Volk Field, Wis., July 17, 2019. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Horton)

Space Force Picks 4 Firms to Work on New Resilient GPS Small Satellites

Sept. 24, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force has selected four contractors to work on concepts for a batch of new, small GPS satellites meant to proliferate the critical position, navigation, and timing constellation.

Space Systems Command announced the four firms selected for the Resilient GPS program Sept. 24: Astranis, Axient, L3Harris, and Sierra Space.

L3Harris is the lone prime contractor in the bunch, but Sierra Space has also received contracts from the Space Development Agency in the past. Astranis and Axient, by contrast, are relative newcomers. Just a few days prior to the R-GPS announcement, Astranis received a strategic funding increase from Space Systems Command and U.S. Space Command to add military Ka-band frequency compatibility to their planned Omega satellites that will go in geosynchronous orbit.

“A mix of traditional and non-traditional defense space companies were selected for this initial award based on their innovative and integrated concepts,” according to an SSC release.

The first iteration of Resilient GPS, dubbed “Lite Evolving Augmented Proliferation One,” will consist of eight satellites, with the goal of launching as soon as 2028. At some point, the Space Force will trim the list of contractors with a final design review and contracts to build prototypes, followed by a final contract award for “one or more vendors,” per SSC.

Resilient GPS is one of the two “Quick Start” programs the Department of the Air Force selected to start work on prior to getting approval from Congress, an authority for which Secretary Frank Kendall made a concerted push last year.

“Thanks to the Quick Start authority that was approved by Congress, we were able to field and award contracts for these low-cost satellites in less than six months,” Kendall said in a statement. “This authority allows us to move faster and start new Space Force and Air Force programs, and we appreciate Congress providing us this authority.”

The Space Force is pushing an aggressive timeline. If the launch date of 2028 holds, the satellites would go from concept to orbit in four years—by comparison, the contract for the latest batch of GPS III satellites was awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2008, and the first bird went up in 2018, with still more launches planned into 2026.

The R-GPS satellites are expected to be smaller than the main fleet of GPS satellites, the latest iterations of which measure 8 x 5 x 11 feet and weigh more than 4,000 pounds each.

“R-GPS provides resilience to military and civil GPS user communities by augmenting the GPS constellation with proliferated small satellites transmitting a core set of widely-utilized GPS signals,” SSC stated in its release. “The decision to pursue R-GPS was based upon outcomes of recent resilience studies recommending an additional proliferated fleet of small GPS satellites.”

Further batches of R-GPS are expected to follow on this first eight-satellite group, with improved capabilities, the command noted. All told, service officials have described a goal of around 20 R-GPS satellites.

Over the past several decades, GPS has become an essential part of everyday life for many Americans and a regular example leaders turn to when explaining to the public what the Space Force does.

At the same time, officials and experts have grown concerned that both the military and the public have grown over-reliant on GPS, especially as Russia has turned to jamming GPS signals during its invasion of Ukraine.

“If we lose GPS in this nation, we can’t get crops out of the field, we can’t get goods off the shelf or off the boat, we can’t get ambulances to your house, and you can’t travel,” Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein warned at the Defense News Conference earlier this month, noting that even a 15-minute disruption could cause a $1 billion hit to the economy.

“There is an enormous amount of attention from the White House on position, navigation and timing (PNT) and how to shore up those signals, looking at alternative capabilities,” Guetlein said. “Is there another way we could be doing this, that’s more resilient, more survival against the threat? I would say we could be doing more in this area.”

However, not all are convinced Resilient GPS is the right answer. In its version of the 2025 budget released in June, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense turned down the service’s request to reprogram $77 million for Resilient GPS. The panel cited unclear benefits, questioning whether the additional satellites would better protect against GPS jamming compared to other methods, and noted the program for focusing solely on satellites while overlooking the need for the M-code equipment—an encrypted GPS signal essential for jamming resistance.

Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow at Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, echoed the concern that the new satellites would not solve the question of jamming.

“Whatever solution the Space Force pursues, it must address the variety of the most likely and most dangerous threats, such as jamming, cyber and potential threats to the on-orbit architecture,” he previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Tyndall Braces for Major Storm, with Its F-35s Out of the Way

Sept. 24, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Tyndall Air Force Base is bracing for a major potential storm this week, as the new Tropical Storm Helene is forecasted to intensify into a Category 3 hurricane with winds reaching 110 miles per hour and hit the Florida Panhandle around Sept. 26.

As of Sept. 24, the base has declared Hurricane Condition Level 3, indicating the storm has become a “potential threat to Tyndall with destructive winds possible within 48 hours.”

The base commander has not issued any evacuation orders for personnel yet but is recommending people staying at the installation’s “Fam Camp” campground to evacuate as a precautionary measure, the base shared on its social media page.

Base officials are currently “in close coordination with Bay and Gulf Counties and Bay District Schools,” and 325th Fighter Wing personnel are expected to report during normal duty hours on Sept. 25.

Tyndall’s 95th Fighter Squadron deployed its F-35s to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., before the storm warnings hit the area, a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “They will be safe there until conditions are cleared at Tyndall,” the spokesperson added.

Helene is projected to hit the Gulf of Mexico by Sept. 25, with landfall expected along the Florida Panhandle by the evening of Sept. 26. Tallahassee, located about 90 miles east of Tyndall, is currently in the center of the storm’s forecast path, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tyndall and nearby Panama City are within the forecast “cone” and are under a tropical storm warning.

The Air Force is investing $5 billion into Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., not just restoring what was all but destroyed by a hurricane in 2018, but ensuring it can withstand future superstorms, as well. Among the new features: a 360-room lodge designed to stand up to 165-mile-per-hour winds. **Airman 1st Class Zachary Nordheim**

The base received its first F-35s last August, marking its shift from F-22 Raptor training to becoming a key hub for the Lightning II. The 95th Fighter Squadron, assigned to the mission, was reactivated in June 2023 after a four-year hiatus following Hurricane Michael’s devastation in 2018.

Tyndall is still undergoing years of reconstruction and upgrades today, but the base confirmed that Hurricane Helene and current warnings won’t slow down progress.

“Our contracts incorporate anticipated weather delays, which is built into the schedule, so there are no progress delays,” the spokesperson said.

Hurricane Michael tore apart Tyndall’s hangars, damaged several F-22 Raptors, and left much of the base in ruins, causing around $5 billion in damage. The storm was later upgraded to a Category 5, making it the first Category 5 storm to make landfall in the U.S. since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

A Category 3 hurricane means “devastating damage will occur.” Well-built homes may suffer major structural damage. Widespread tree uprooting, blocked roads, and prolonged power and water outages lasting days to weeks are also expected in the region. Damaging winds and heavy flooding rains are expected for the northern part of the state.

Remnants of Hurricane Helene are expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds through Alabama and Georgia by Sept. 27. The storm is forecast to continue tracking northward through Tennessee and into the Midwest over the weekend.

USAF Needs to Stop Talking, Start Moving on Next-Gen Training Tech, Industry Says

Sept. 24, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Artificial intelligence and open systems can better prepare the Air Force for a potential high-end fight against the likes of China and Russia, but the Air Force has work to do to make that a reality, service officials and industry leaders said last week.

Across two panels at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, experts said the training enterprise has made progress towards better representing the threats the U.S. will face in the future and the means to counter them. But to be effective, that training needs to be less fragmented, more open to sharing data, and adopt a faster approach to cybersecurity.

Most of the work left to do will be in the digital realm. The Air Force’s flying hour program has declined, and some of the capabilities on new systems such as the F-35 are so sensitive that training with them in the open air would risk exposure to adversaries.

“Every time we go fly, people are seeing and sniffing everything we’re doing and they’re bringing that back and informing how they think about navigating and countering our proposition for deterrence,” said Mike Benitez, director of product for Shield AI.

Combined, those factors have pushed the Air Force to emphasize simulators, said Maj. Gen. Gregory Kreuder, commander of the 19th Air Force—to the point that new F-35 pilots “are demanding that we spend more time in the sim to train the high-end fight,” he said.

Officials agreed that the quality of Air Force simulators has increased dramatically in the past few decades.

“When I joined the Air Force about 30 years ago, in the mid-90s, late-90s, the sims were crap, essentially,” Kreuder said. “They were emergency procedures training, doing some approaches on them. They were isolated. They didn’t connect to anything.”

Programs such as the F-35’s Joint Simulation Environment (JSE) and the Air Force’s Digital Test and Training Range helped the service create “a physics-based environment that has the fidelity, the realism, to actually train in that virtual environment,” said Benitez.

Yet the realism of a simulator is inherently limited in several ways.

“If I’m in a simulator, unless the building catches on fire, I’m generally not afraid that I’m going to lose my life,” noted Maj. Gen. Clark Quinn, deputy commander for Air Education and Training Command.

On top of that, “if you survey 2,000 fighter pilots, 1,999 would tell you that the adversary forces in the sim are terrible,” said Benitez.

The next step, officials said, is a blend of live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) training—constructive refers to simulated players in a training scenario who respond to the human’s actions, whether it be an adversary or a wingman. But the time for merely considering LVC training is over, experts said.

“We’re past the point of it being an imperative that we have to look at live, virtual, and constructive,” Benitez said. “It should be a foundational part of generating readiness.”

“We have to increase the value of every hour we spend in the air,” added Dan Ourada, vice president at Amentum. “Having threat replicators with live blended synthetic and live, virtual, constructive recreates the experience of a high-end fight.”

AI could play a central role helping pilots learn to work with autonomous wingmen like the forthcoming Collaborative Combat Aircraft, said Matt George, founder and CEO of Merlin Labs.

“If a human pilot is flying with a system that is a non-human pilot next to them, or flying with a Shield AI wingman on board a CCA, or flying with any other AI-enabled tool, that is dramatically different than how we train our pilots today,” George said. “So by actually getting stuff out there, learning where the gaps are, getting into the simulator, getting into flight, we could start to develop those tactics and trainings in a way that, in my opinion, we’re never going to be able to get to if we keep this at an academic level.”

Yet while Kreuder marveled that “it’s incredible where the technology’s at,” the Air Force needs a shared vision for tying it all together, industry officials said.

“The one thing that we can do better is defining a common set of pipes and a common set of infrastructure that we can all develop too, so that we can begin to develop some common ways of being able to touch those pipes with some modularity in terms of systems, intelligence, mission systems that come into those systems,” said George.

Doug Gill, senior staff scientists at FSI Defense, voiced a similar view, saying the main issue with LVC training is “it’s actually kind of fragmented.”

The Air Force has increasingly emphasized open, modular systems across new aircraft and networks, allowing for easier sharing of data. When it comes to training, though, the system is stovepiped across different programs, Gill warned. Even JSE, which provides a common platform for multiple services and partners to work together on the F-35, can be more open in sharing and incorporating data from other simulation environments, he said.

“We’re talking about a joint mission that also has Army and also has Navy and has coalition,” said Gill. “And I think JSE actually should be an open part of that system, and it’s bringing a few great new ideas in.”

AI helped make large-scale simulators a reality, processing huge amounts of data to produce more precise, realistic results. But producing more granular data while including coalition partners will test the Pentagon’s already stressed networks, said Cathy Johnston, vice president of mission integration at Peraton.

Further complicating matters is the cybersecurity risk of such systems.

“We are stopped with that risk management framework. It halts funding. It halts progress. It halts moving forward,” said Ourada. “So as we look at the fifth-, the sixth-, and seventh-generation [simulators], we have to find a better way to secure what we call open architecture, to secure data.”