Get Ready for Sky Warden: First Delivery Set for October

Get Ready for Sky Warden: First Delivery Set for October

May 22, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. Special Operations Command will start accepting delivery in October of Sky Warden, the modified crop-duster that won its Armed Overwatch competition last year. Already in low-rate production, SOCOM is expecting 26 aircraft as part of low-rate initial production.

Those aircraft will go through operational testing and a full-rate production decision will follow as soon as March 2025, a SOCOM spokesman told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The low-rate production decision was first reported by FlightGlobal. 

All told, SOCOM plans to acquire 75 Sky Warden aircraft to fly surveillance, close air support, and precision strike missions in austere but permissive environments, such as counter-insurgency operations in Africa or the Middle East. SOCOM and Air Force Special Operations Command officials have said they currently rely on a variety of different aircraft to perform those functions separately and want one platform to “collapse the stack.” 

Sky Warden, selected by SOCOM in August 2022, was developed in collaboration by L3Harris and Air Tractor. Based on the AT-802 aircraft, which is used for agriculture and firefighting, it is rugged, with chunky tires built for primitive airfields and a NASCAR-style roll cage to protect the two-man crew. 

Designed to be modular, capable of swapping out different sensors, communications equipment, and combat payloads as needed, Sky Warden has “the largest payload capacity of any single turbine engine aircraft,” L3 Harris claims. 

“You can outfit the aircraft with a robust suite of sensors that will exceed what is available with most dedicated ISR platforms today,” said then AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife in 2022, now deputy Air Force chief of staff for operations. “Or you can outfit the platform with a robust suite of precision munitions. It really depends on the mission. Clearly, the Armed Overwatch platform is not a panacea for every tactical situation that a ground force might find themselves in. But for what we envision the enduring counter-[violent extremist organization] mission looking like, we think it’s a prudent investment.”   

Because Sky Warden is based on an existing system, L3Harris has claimed it can be delivered in less than 12 months. An October 2023 delivery date would be slightly out of that timeframe, as the aircraft are modified for military use. An L3Harris spokesperson referred comment to SOCOM. 

Plans for the aircraft to reach initial operational capability and full operational capability remain on track though, with the Special Operations Command spokesman saying IOC is scheduled for September 2025 and FOC is set for September 2029. Both dates are on the tail end of previously-stated timelines for fiscal 2025 and 2029. 

The Air Force has said it plans to base its formal training unit for Sky Warden at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, Okla., replacing the MC-12W Liberty and its schoolhouse there. The service said it intends to place 28 aircraft and about 80 personnel as part of the unit, with an official stand-up in the second quarter of 2024. 

New House Bill Aims to Keep 25 ANG Fighter Squadrons. Here’s Why USAF Is Wary

New House Bill Aims to Keep 25 ANG Fighter Squadrons. Here’s Why USAF Is Wary

May 22, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A new bill in Congress aims to increase the Air Force fighter inventory by setting a minimum number of Air National Guard fighter squadrons and aircraft. But the Air Force worries the measure is too prescriptive and would favor the Guard over Active-Duty units.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a retired Air Force brigadier general, is spearheading the proposed “Fighter Force Preservation and Recapitalization Act,” which would require:

  • A minimum of 25 fighter squadrons in the Air National Guard, each with at least 18 aircraft  
  • Development of a plan to modernize and recapitalize the entire ANG fleet on a one-for-one basis by the end of fiscal 2034 
  • Establishment of a plan to field Next Generation Air Dominance fighters in the ANG 

Bacon and a bipartisan group of cosponsors including Reps. John James (R-Mich.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) introduced the bill last week. The issue is parochial for some—Guard A-10 squadrons at Warfield Air National Guard Base, Md., and Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., are slated to stand down in 2025 and 2027. But for Bacon, a former ISR pilot whose home district includes no fighter squadrons, the issue is all about readiness.

“I’m a 30-year Air Force guy, but I’m not a fighter guy, we don’t have fighters in Nebraska,” Bacon told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an interview. “So this is nothing parochial. It’s strictly love of the Air Force and love of our nation’s military.” 

The Air Force is retiring both ANG A-10 and F-15C/D squadrons, moves the Air Force has said are necessary to fund intensive modernization across the force. Lawmakers have opposed those plans in the past but more recently have given in to Air Force arguments that divesting aging aircraft not suited to advanced threats is essential to modernizing the overall force. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall indicated recently he is optimistic that plans included in the fiscal 2024 Air Force budget submission will be approved, clearing the way for further divestments.

But the planned net loss of some 400 fighters over the next five years is too risky, Bacon said. 

“As we’re bringing fighters in, I understand you’ve got to take fighters out,” he said. “But they’re doing over two to one. For every new one we’re bringing in, they’re taking out two. So I just think the capacity is going to get too small to deal with China, plus Europe, and presence in other areas. I don’t mind disinvesting. I don’t mind disinvesting out of the A-10. But to do it at a two-to-one rate doesn’t make sense to me.” 

A senior Air Force official said he understands Bacon’s concerns, but countered that the proposed legislation only makes the service’s job harder.  

“What they’re trying to do is start a conversation about [recapitalization] of the fighter fleet in the Air Force,” the official said. “They think it’s getting too small, and I don’t know that we would disagree. The challenge is the physics of fighter procurement right now.” 

The Air Force is competing with the Navy, Marine Corps, and a host of allies to acquire new F-35s, and the list of customers is growing. From 2024-2028, the official said, the Air Force can’t buy more than 48 F-35s per year because there isn’t capacity to build any more airplanes. Current plans call for buying 24 F-15EXs for the next three years, then ending production at 104. Another 40 could be had over the following two years but aren’t currently in the service’s five-year plan.

The Air Force official cited two other problems with Bacon’s bill: First, its focus on a minimum fighter fleet for the Guard, but not the Active Duty force, could mean giving new aircraft to the Guard at the expense of frontline forces; and second, that requirement stretches out a decade, while Congress only funds the Air Force year to year.  

“The issue is Congress can give us a mandate, but they can only fund it in the budget year, and only if they choose to. They can’t fund it across the [Future Years Defense Plan], and so these mandates wind up [as unfunded],” the official said. 

Bacon said he would work with other members of the House Armed Services Committee and the Appropriations defense subcommittee to ensure the Air Force gets the funds it needs. He intends to propose his bill as an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization bill.  

“We have a really good relationship with the defense appropriators,” Bacon said. “The chairman of that subcommittee has a great rapport with [HASC chair] Mike Rogers and all of us. And whatever we end up deciding, I’m sure we’ll do it in tandem. So I mean, if I’m don’t get my way, if it’s a compromise, I’m sure it will be worked between Appropriations and HASC, and I have confidence that in the end we’ll get this aligned.” 

Without enough industrial capacity to build more aircraft faster, the Air Force official said, Bacon’s plan is “like three years too late: You can’t solve this with procurement now, because the procurement capacity doesn’t exist.” 

The Air Force chose to hold down F-35 purchases in recent years as it waited for improved capabilities in with the jet’s Tech Refresh 3 digital overhaul and anticipated improvements that tech makes possible in Block 4 upgrades. Congress added to those plans then, and Bacon said it could do so again now.

Bacon said he had spoken with F-35 contractor Lockheed Martin and F-15EX builder Boeing and asserted confidence they can produce more airplanes. 

The Air Force official was less sanguine, suggesting that no solution will produce more aircraft in the next five years. That means a requirement to hold the line on Guard fighter squadrons would result in painful decisions. 

“If you follow the path of this legislation, what you will do is put aircraft that are already supposed to go to [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] or to other units in the States and force them into the Guard,” the official said. 

Bacon countered that the Guard is responsible for much of the Air Force’s homeland defense mission and that his bill highlights the broader issue Congress must address: Air Force readiness. 

“The challenge here is for the Air Force,” Bacon said. “The President’s budget is too low for the Air Force. For them to produce the F-35, B-21, the ICBMs [concurrently], they feel like they’ve got to disinvest out of these older fighter platforms. And I would suggest we need to go back in and look at the Air Force budget. Because at a certain level, we’re putting our country at risk. They shouldn’t have to disinvest 400 aircraft at a time where we think China is becoming a bigger and bigger threat.” 

Kendall: F-16s Not a ‘Game-Changer’ for Ukraine But ‘Something They Need’

Kendall: F-16s Not a ‘Game-Changer’ for Ukraine But ‘Something They Need’

May 22, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May 22 that Ukrainian pilots could learn to fly the F-16 Fighting Falcon in a matter of months and the aircraft will be an important element of the nation’s future defense capability.

“They’re very motivated,” Kendall told the Defense Writers Group. “Everything we’ve done with the Ukrainians, they’ve shown a capacity to learn. I don’t think I’ve ever seen more motivated individuals, in terms of wanting to get into the fight and make a difference.”

Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown said last July Ukraine would eventually need Western aircraft to replace their aging Soviet-legacy planes and build an air force for the future.

But President Joe Biden’s administration later made it clear that getting F-16s to Ukraine was not a priority, largely because it would take time to train Ukrainian airmen and because it was worried providing the plane could escalate tensions with Russia.

That changed last week when Biden gave the green light to a plan by European nations to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s. It is still unclear when the planes might be provided to Ukraine, how many will be transferred, and which nations will send them.

“It’s something they need to do,” Kendall said. “It’s something that makes sense for them. It’s going to help them.”

To address White House concerns over escalation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Biden that Kyiv would not use the plane to fly over Russian territory to strike targets there.

“I have a flat assurance from Zelenskyy that they will not use it to go on and move onto Russian geographic territory, but wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area, they would be able to do that,” Biden told reporters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Roughly 60 Ukrainian warplanes have been downed during the conflict as of March. The F-16 would help Ukraine build back its air force with Western kit to contend with Russia’s larger and more advanced air force. As a multi-role aircraft, it could provide air support for Ukrainian troops, attack ground targets, intercept Russian cruise missiles, and fend off attacks by Russian planes.

“The F-16 is a reasonable option for them for a whole bunch of reasons,” Kendall said. “It will give Ukrainians an increment of capabilities that they don’t have right now. But it’s not going to be a dramatic game-changer, as far as I’m concerned, for their total military capabilities.”

So far, Ukraine’s air defenses have been effective at preventing the Russians from gaining control of the skies over the country. But the British government said May 22 that Russia is trying to establish a new attack aviation group that would include Su-24s, Su-34s, and attack helicopters.

“The mix of aircraft types suggests the group will have a primary role of ground attack missions,” the British government said in an intelligence update. “Credible Russian media reports suggest that the Russian [Ministry of Defense] aims to attract highly skilled and motivated pilots by offering large pay incentives and opening recruitment to retired officers.”

Air Force Will Pick Just One NGAD Design in 2024, Kendall Says

Air Force Will Pick Just One NGAD Design in 2024, Kendall Says

May 22, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Only one company will be chosen next year as the overall designer and developer of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) crewed fighter, despite years of prototype work on different designs by several companies, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said May 22.

Kendall added that there will be ongoing competition to supply NGAD’s systems after an overall winner is picked—but the original NGAD concept of rolling competitions, producing a series of incrementally better platforms, is too costly, he revealed.

“We’re not going to do two NGADs. We’re only going to do one,” Kendall said at a meeting of the Defense Writers Group in Washington, D.C.

Kendall told Air & Space Forces Magazine the original concept of rapidly-iterated NGADs, with competitions every few years—promoted by former Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper and meant to provide steady work to contractors to preserve their industrial capability—has been abandoned.

The NGAD’s “development phase is far too expensive,” to pursue such a strategy, he told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Such an approach is “not going to work, but we are going to design for modular open systems, on a number of [onboard] technologies, and that will remain competitive,” he added.

The Air Force released a classified solicitation for NGAD engineering and manufacturing development proposals May 18, saying a winner will be selected in 2024, but few new details of the highly classified program were released beyond that.

Even the size of the fleet remains publicly uncertain—Kendall has said a “notional” buy could number about 200 aircraft, but Air Force experts have said 250 is the more likely objective, as the minimum number of aircraft necessary to cover peacetime obligations along with minimal wartime surge capability.

Regardless, Kendall also said he is less concerned about the Air Force’s force structure—the number of aircraft and systems it has—than about modernization, which he said has been neglected for too long. China has been aggressively advancing its capabilities in air superiority and air defense, and “we have not responded as quickly as we should have,” he said.

As a result, Kendall said he is “prepared to take some risk” on the service’s force structure, but not with its modernization. The Air Force can only afford to field systems “that scare China” and contribute to deterrence, he said.

NGAD is key to that plan, as reflected in its planned capabilities the Air Force laid out in the May 18 announcement, such as enhanced lethality and the abilities to survive, persist, interoperate, and adapt in the air domain, all within highly-contested operational environments.

Kendall offered other details May 22, noting his own his history with NGAD dating back to his time undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics in the Obama administration.

“I started a program called the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, which was to get to the sixth-generation set of technologies we would need for future air dominance, and to build flying prototypes—X-planes, if you will—to bring those technologies forward,” he said.

That initiative resulted in a 2015 contract that produced experimental prototypes and verified new technologies. Those prototypes formed the basis of NGAD, Kendall said.

Since then, he added, “model-based system engineering and digitalization … moved forward a significant amount, so that we could integrate our design teams between the government and contractors much more effectively and efficiently.”

Both the contractors and government officials work in a common design environment, giving the Air Force an “intimate” knowledge of each competitor is doing, Kendall said. The service even has teams working with each company.

The Air Force won’t repeat the “serious mistake” it made with the F-35, Kendall said—allowing one company to own the technical baseline of the aircraft, thus controlling the program’s life cycle and creating “a perpetual monopoly” on sustainment and future modifications and upgrades.

“We’re not going to do that,” he said. “We’re going to make sure that the government has ownership for the intellectual property it needs. We’re going to make sure … we have modular designs and open systems so that, going forward, we can bring new suppliers in.”

Whoever is chosen “as the platform integrator … will have a much tighter degree of government control over the future of that program than we’ve had” with the F-35, he said. “We’ve learned that lesson.”

Kendall also said the Rapid Capabilities Office will not be brought in to manage the NGAD program, despite its apparent success on the B-21.

Instead, Brig. Gen. Dale White, program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, and his office will oversee the effort, in addition to their management of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. Kendall said NGAD and CCA will be developed “in parallel,” but he declined to say when a contract award for the CCA program might be awarded.

New Boeing Pylon Could Shift Hypersonics Testing to B-1, Add Bomb Capacity

New Boeing Pylon Could Shift Hypersonics Testing to B-1, Add Bomb Capacity

May 19, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

OKLAHOMA CITY—Boeing is proposing the Air Force shift the testing of hypersonic missiles from the B-52 to the B-1, using a new pylon for the bomber that could, as an added benefit, increase the B-1’s munition-carrying capacity by 50 percent for many existing weapons, the company says.

Boeing developed what it is calling the Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon with its own money, but the Air Force is using some congressional add-on funds to test it. Those tests are now underway.

The Air Force has earmarked eight B-52s to test engine, radar, weapons, and other upgrades. With 10 to 12 more bombers expected to be in depot, repair, or upgrade at any given time for the foreseeable future, that leaves only 56-58 of the 76 B-52s available for operations, creating a potential issue because the B-52 has a nuclear deterrence mission, while the B-1 does not.

“The whole point of this … is for the B-1 to become the hypersonic testbed for the Air Force,” Jennifer Wong, Boeing’s director of bomber programs, told reporters at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. Boeing and Rolls Royce provided travel, lodging, and meals for reporters covering B-52 upgrade efforts.

“Because of all the modernization efforts on the B-52, we can actually not take away from what we’re doing on the B-52 today to have it test hypersonics,” Wong said. “So we will be doing hypersonics testing on the B-1.”

The B-52 has been used to test the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), but the Air Force has said it is winding that project down—although some members of Congress have said they may add funds in fiscal year 2024 to keep it going. The service is also pursuing the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, an air-breathing cruise missile.

Boeing saw a need for the Air Force to test newer, heavier weapons, but “at the time didn’t have the funding for it or the requirement for it, and so we stepped in,” Wong said. Boeing built four of the pylons with its own funds but expects a contract soon to build more, she said. The Air Force is using some congressional add-on funding for hypersonics to conduct tests and potentially buy more LAMs. An official announcement about the program is expected soon.

A artist’s rendering shows a B-1 bomber with Boeing’s Load Adaptable Modular Pylon.
An artist’s rendering shows a B-1 bomber with Boeing’s Load Adaptable Modular pylon, launching a notional missile. Rendering courtesy of Boeing, Photo by John Tirpak/Air & Space Forces Magazine

The new unit was designed to be rapidly reconfigurable to carry a variety of different new and existing weapons. It works by having adjustable mounts and attach points that can be changed on the flightline to shift from one kind of weapon to another.

Attachment lugs “click into a new position … like Lego” on the pylon, Wong said. The LAM can carry heavy missiles in the same class as ARRW; up to 7,500 pounds per station.

For test crews and forward-deployed bombers, the unit means “one pylon versus seven,” Wong said, which would simplify the amount of hardware that weapon loaders would have to train on or take with them to theater.

The LAM can also “carry some future concepts” involving hypersonics, she added without elaborating.

The first pylon was delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and installed on a B-1, and “they are going through ground tests as we speak,” Wong said. That will be followed by captive-carry tests with a dummy weapon this summer.

The LAM can be installed on the B-1’s external hardpoints, which were inactivated as part of the nuclear arms START treaty. But Wong said “we’ve woken them up” for use with the LAM. The hardpoints were originally intended to carry strategic AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missiles, so the structures can carry heavy weapons in those locations. The hardpoints can be used now because Russia has withdrawn from the New START treaty.

Because the LAM can carry such a heavy load—and the B-1 could mount six of them on external hardpoints as well as in its two bomb bays—it could significantly increase the B-1’s combat loadout as well, Wong said. She showed a chart indicating those increases, broken down by weapon type:

B-1 Loadout by Weapon With New LAM Pylon

WeaponLAMCurrent/InternalTOTAL
Joint Direct Attack Munition (5K)6N/A6
Joint Direct Attack Munition – Extended Range (2K)121224
Joint Direct Attack Munition (2K)122436
CBU WCMD122436
Powered Joint Direct Attack Munition122436
Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff – Extended Range122436
Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (estimate)122436
Small Diameter Bomb4896144
Boeing data

The airplane has the gross takeoff capacity to lift the heavier loads, Wong said.

“What this does for the B-1 is, it does keep it in the fight longer, it keeps it relevant, and again, takes some of the workload off the B-52,” she said.

The testing so far has generated interest, Wong said, and “we’ve actually had other, I’ll say ‘weapons providers’ come talk to us about possibly working with them to integrate their weapon onto it and get it tested onto a B-1” with the LAM. “We are weapons-provider agnostic. It could be a Boeing weapon, it could be somebody else’s weapon.”

However, the LAM will not fit on the B-52, Wong said. While there may be interest in a heavy stores pylon for the B-52 in the future, it would have to be a different unit, she said. There have been preliminary discussions with the Air Force about such a project, but “they’re not going there, just yet,” she said.

The Air Force is focused on the major upgrades now in the works for the B-52—radar, new engines, communications, integration of the new strategic LRSO missile, and others—and doesn’t want to further complicate that already-complex overall effort with another project, she said.

Although the Air Force is considering launching hypersonic weapons off the F-15EX’s centerline fuselage weapons station, the LAM cannot fit that aircraft, either, Wong said.

In Reversal, Biden Administration Will Help Ukraine Get F-16s

In Reversal, Biden Administration Will Help Ukraine Get F-16s

May 19, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

President Joe Biden’s administration will support allies providing modern, fourth-generation fighters to Ukraine, including U.S.-made F-16s, a senior administration official told Air & Space Forces Magazine on May 19. Biden informed allies of the plan at a meeting of the G7 in Hiroshima, Japan, the official said.

The U.S. “will support a joint effort with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force,” the senior administration official added.

Where the planes will come from remains unclear for now. The training effort includes the U.S., United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark.

“Our pilots can’t wait to begin the training,” a Ukrainian official told Air & Space Forces Magazine on May 20. The Ukrainian official said details were being worked out but “the ball started to roll.”

Britain and the Netherlands increased pressure on the U.S. with a May 16 push to provide fighters to Ukraine. U.S. approval is required for American-made weapons to be provided to a third-party nation.

The Biden administration had steadfastly refused to provide F-16s or support foreign delivery of American-made fighter jets, arguing that such a costly and advanced system would require too much investment and too much training time to make them useful to Ukraine in this conflict. Now that position has changed.

“This training will take place outside Ukraine at sites in Europe and will require months to complete,” the senior administration official said. “We hope we can begin this training in the coming weeks.”

Previously U.S. officials had said F-16 flight training would take 18-24 months and providing the jets might cost at least $2 billion. Outgoing undersecretary of defense for policy Colin Kahl testified on that point in Congress. Kahl’s departure, set for July, was announced May 17, two days before the policy change. It is unclear if the two are related or coincidental.

Airpower experts say the cost and timeline to provide F-16s to Ukraine depends largely on the number, age, and types of F-16s provided. In his testimony, Kahl referenced the cost and timeline for new jets. But older aircraft that may be excess inventory from U.S. or allies’ fleets could be delivered much sooner.

The senior administration official said the U.S. have focused so far on providing near-term capabilities to support an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“To date, the United States and our allies and partners have focused on providing Ukraine with the vast majority of the systems, weapons, and training it requires to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer,” the official said. “Discussions about improving the Ukrainian Air Force reflect our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense.”

U.S. officials have always left open the notion of helping Ukraine acquire modern aircraft in the future but have opposed trying to do so for the current conflict.

NATO allies praised the change in position.

“We welcome the upcoming approval by the United States of the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets,” Kajsa Ollongren, the Dutch minister of defense, said. “Together with our close allies Denmark, Belgium, and the U.K. we are working on the modalities. We stand ready to support Ukraine on this.”

British Prime Minister Rushi Sunak said the U.K. would help “get Ukraine the combat air capability it needs.” Britain does not own or operate F-16s but has discussed providing Typhoon aircraft. The U.K. recently provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, which Britain says have already been used.

The U.S. senior administration official said the Western allies still needed to decide “when to actually provide jets, how many we will provide, and who will provide them.”

Yahoo News reported May 18 on an assessment by the U.S. Air National Guard, which is evaluating the skills of two Ukrainian pilots who have trained on F-16s. The assessment concluded that “four months is a realistic training timeline,” and that the Ukrainian pilots were skilled enough to handle sophisticated challenges, including safely landing (in a simulator) following an engine flameout. But the report also indicated the pilots’ lack of English language skills presents a barrier and concern. In addition, the Ukrainian pilots were not familiar with Western-style flying and organizational approaches.

A Ukrainian official told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this month the Ukrainian Air Force has a “couple of dozens” of pilots proficient enough in English to train on F-16s.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the G7 summit meeting.

“This will greatly enhance our army in the sky,” Zelenskyy said. “I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated May 20 with additional comments from a Ukrainian official.

THOR Hammers Drone Swarm with High-Power Microwaves

THOR Hammers Drone Swarm with High-Power Microwaves

May 19, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

An experimental directed energy weapon developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory successfully disabled a swarm of drones last month—its first test on such a scale. 

The Tactical High-power Operational Responder, or THOR, has been in development for years now, generating high levels of interest within the military and beyond. THOR uses bursts of high-power microwave energy to disable small unmanned systems, causing them to drop from the sky. 

An April 5 demonstration at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., pitted “numerous” drones of a sort THOR had not faced before against the weapon in the “first test of this scale in AFRL history,” according to a release.

“THOR was exceptionally effective at disabling the swarm with its wide beam, high peak powers, and fast-moving gimbal to track and disable the targets,” said Adrian Lucero, THOR program manager, in the release.  

Ken Miller, AFRL’s high power electromagnetics division chief, declared the demonstration a “success.” 

An AFRL spokesperson declined to say how many or what kinds of drones were used or whether calling the test a success could be taken to mean THOR successfully downed every drone in the swarm. Regardless, however, defeating a drone swarm significantly exceeded the 2019 demonstration at Kirtland of the system knocking down a single drone.  

The 2019 test was followed in 2020 by an announced overseas demonstration alongside other directed energy weapons, but results of that demonstration were never disclosed. In 2021, the lab announced the U.S. Army was investing in the system.  

Also in 2021, AFRL announced it was developing a follow-on system to THOR called “Mjolnir,” the name of the hammer wielded by the Norse god Thor. In 2022, the lab selected Leidos to build Mjolnir, saying the new weapon would use the same technology as THOR “but will add important advances in capability, reliability, and manufacturing readiness.”  

Directed energy weapons have long been seen as promising, but as drones have become cheaper and more capable, military leaders have become increasingly worried about the threat posed by swarms of autonomous drones in a coordinated attack.  THOR was developed with that theat in mind.  

Using a wide beam, THOR can take out multiple drones at a time, using a video game-like interface. The weapon can be carried in a C-130 and quickly assembled on the ground. It can leverage other detection and targeting systems or use its own. 

“[THOR] is an early demonstrator, and we are confident we can take this same technology and make it more effective to protect our personnel around the world,” Capt. Tylar Hanson, THOR deputy program manager, said in a statement. 

Unique F-15E Paint Job Pays Tribute to WW2 Aviation

Unique F-15E Paint Job Pays Tribute to WW2 Aviation

May 19, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Eagle-eyed World War II buffs at the Wings over Wayne airshow in North Carolina this weekend will be challenged to catch all the historical references adorning the 4th Fighter Wing’s F-15E flagship jet. 

From nose to the tail, the F-15E Strike Eagle’s heritage paint job offers tribute to the wing’s historic lineage, which traces back to the 4th Fighter Group in World War II. Now based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., the wing highlighted the jet’s new look in a recent Facebook post.

Perhaps most striking: A portrait on the inside face of the right tail depicting renowned Ace Col. Donald Blakeslee, believed by many to have flown more missions and hours in World War II than any other American fighter pilot and credited with 17 aerial victories. Blakeslee scored the first air-to-air kill in a P-47 Thunderbolt and flew escort on the first bombing mission over Berlin. Under his command, the 4th Fighter Group destroyed more than 1,000 German aircraft. 

On the outside of the left tail, just above the tail code, the jet sports the Royal Air Force Eagle Squadrons emblem, recognizing the American volunteers who flew those planes in the early days of WWII before the U.S. entered the war. Those squadrons eventually became the 334th, 335th, and 336th Fighter Squadrons of the 4th Fighter Group. 

Other historic references in the paint scheme include a flaming spear meant to represent “the performance of the 4th Fighter Group in WWII and how the 4th Fighter Wing currently serves as the ‘tip of the spear’ for the United States Air Force,” a wing spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

Just below the cockpit is the blue and yellow National Star Insignia used by the 4th Fighter Group during the war. And near the nose, a cartoon “fighting eagle” that appeared on the planes of historic Aces William Dunn and Don Gentile 

“Invasion Stripes”—alternating black and white stripes—dress up the wing tops as they did on 4th Fighter Group aircraft during World War II and the Korean War.  

Finally, its green and gray camouflage pattern pays homage to the group’s Supermarine Spitfires, which flew from September 1942 to March 1943. 

It took more than a month for the 4th Equipment Maintenance Squadron to complete the elaborate paint scheme, which made its debut April 25.  

Four other flagships—for the 333rd, 334th, 335th, and 336th Fighter Squadrons—each with their own references and homages, will also be on display at Wings over Wayne. The airshow is open to the public on Seymour Johnson May 20-21. 

USAF’s New ICBM Cancer Study to Examine ‘Everyone Possible’

USAF’s New ICBM Cancer Study to Examine ‘Everyone Possible’

May 18, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force is pressing to find out why some Airmen and former Airmen who worked wth the nation’s intercontinental continental ballistic missile fleet are being diagnosed with blood cancer—years after the service dismissed such concerns in the early 2000s.

A new Missile Community Cancer Study launched earlier this year aims to “make sure we get to the truth, whatever that truth is,” said Col. Robert D. Peltzer, a senior medical officer with Air Force Global Strike Command.

Air Force reviews of cancer rates among missileers in 2001 and 2005 could not identify an increased rate linked to missile service, but new medical knowledge has emerged since, Peltzer said. Doctors have “a better understanding” of factors that can cause cancer today.

“Look at [the herbicide] Roundup being one of those,” Peltzer said. “Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the No. 1 cancer on the list when you look at it. We didn’t know [Roundup] caused those types of cancers back in 2001.”

Armed with greater knowledge and detection capability, the Air Force will also have better access to highly classified ICBM facilities and the health data for a broader range of personnel, including both those working in underground bunkers for 24-48 hours at a time.

Peltzer said maintainers, security forces, and food service workers—among others—will also be in the new study, not just those who worked in launch facilities. Members of the study team, which is led by the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, visited bases to better understand the facilities and potential exposure issues.

“We want to make sure we didn’t miss out or exclude groups that actually are just as much—or potentially as much—at risk, or more at risk, than those members,” Peltzer said. The research team is made up of experts experienced in conducting cancer studies, including one that showed increased risks of cancer among pilots in recent years. That study led to a broader Pentagon review that validated the Air Force study’s conclusions.

“This is the same team and through that they learned which data sources and what they could get and how long it took them to get it,” Peltzer said.

But to conduct a study, Air Force medical officials said, they first have to know what an ICBM base is and what ICBM forces do—from an “operational, occupational, and environmental” perspective.

Col. Tory W. Woodard, commander of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that seeing the bases was a new experience for the research team. “Many of the medical experts had not previously been to a missile base or been in the operational locations where the missileers work,” Woodward said. “This visit was extremely important in order to inform the future cancer studies.”

Woodard was on the team that visited three ICBM bases— F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.; Minot Air Force Base, N.D.; and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. The visit took place from Feb. 27 to March 7 and included his staff, members of the AFGSC Command Surgeon’s office, and experts from the Defense Health Agency.

“The team did not see any acute risks that needed immediate attention,” Peltzer said.

But Peltzer said there was no intention to dismiss cancer risks as they reviewed the facilities and flagged other possible medical concerns, such as running vehicles too close to air vents, burning documents indoors, or signage that indicated the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have long been banned and should have been removed. Whether the signs were left behind after the PCBs were removed years ago is not clear. To locate traces of PCBs and a long list of other possibly toxic substances will require extensive sample testing, according to AFGSC.

ICBM facilities are often surrounded by private land where agricultural products may have been used without regard to the potential effect on missileers working nearby. The next-generation Sentinel ICBMs that will eventually replace today’s 50-year-old Minuteman III ICBMs will likely also be safer, given modern understanding. But an AFGSC official noted that even new missiles will have their own hazards.

Air Force officials said these first visits were not intended to draw definitive conclusions.

“It’s not the epidemiology study, so it wasn’t looking at cancer-related items,” Peltzer said. “That will be done later through the actual study itself.”

Interest and focused attention on the issue comes only after long-held concerns among some members of the missileer community pushed to the fore earlier this year, following a presentation detailing cases of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at Malmstrom by a Guardian who formerly served there. His Powerpoint slides later surfaced on Facebook, prompting AFGSC Commander Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere to call for and launch the study in February.

Bussiere, Woodard, and AFGSC Command Surgeon Col. Lee D. Williames briefed members of the ICBM community at a recent virtual hall, Air Force officials said. Bussiere directed his staff to explore the idea of assigning medical professionals directly to ICBM units, modeled on how flight surgeons support flying crews. Because of the remote and classified nature of ICBM work, that could yield more real-time access to sensitive areas.

While the study is inspecting the three current active bases, which have ICBMs spread out over five states, the service is going through military, federal, and state cancer registries. The study will then have to match that data with service personnel files. That is not a straightforward process as the Air Force has changed job titles over time. The study is expected to take 12-14 months from start to finish, according to Woodard. The time is largely due to the amount of data that needs to be collected and analyzed, Peltzer explained.

“They will look at everyone possible,” Peltzer said.

A number of since-shuttered bases will also be examined as the service reaches back four decades in its data gathering process. Only the on-site work is limited to those three-active bases.

Peltzer said researchers will use Air Force Specialty Codes, bases, and timelines. “We know them all and all locations that were active since 1983,” he said. “Those members will be captured into this data study because that seems to be a great concern, especially of those who are retirees or former retirees if they’ve already passed away.”

Former and current service members have expressed skepticism over previous Air Force health studies, criticizing them for leaving the Air Force to study itself. The new study leverages epidemiologists from the Veterans Administration and the National Cancer Institute to monitor the study and provide feedback.

“There’s going to be outside entities,” Peltzer said. They “will give us a fair and objective look at what we’re doing to make sure we’re aboveboard.”