Retention Returns to Pre-COVID Levels as More Airmen Depart

Retention Returns to Pre-COVID Levels as More Airmen Depart

Jan. 5, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force retention spiked to a 20-year high during the COVID-19 pandemic, as enlisted Airmen reenlisted rather than risk the uncertainties of the pandemic job market. 

Two years later, however, officers and enlisted retention is back at or below pre-COVID levels. For 2022, 93.1 percent eligible officers stayed in uniform, as did 89.4 percent of enlisted Airmen. Rates for the Space Force are still hard to determine because of the small number of Guardians in the force.

“These retention rates are consistent with those over the last six years,” said Air Force spokeswoman Tech. Sgt. Deana M. Heitzman. “While there may be some impact from COVID, it is too early to make that correlation.” 

Retention rates have held near 90 percent since 2017, but 2022’s rates are the lowest for both officers and enlisted since 2018, when 93.2 percent of officers and 89.6 percent of enlisted remained with the service 

Retention ticked up in 2019 and then peaked in 2020, especially among enlisted service members, going from 90 percent to 91.1 percent. That marked the largest year-over-year increase for either group in the six years of data provided. 

In 2021, retention among officers increased slightly, while enlisted retention fell to 90.5 percent. Both groups saw retention fall by at least a percentage point in 2022. 

Heitzman said a lack of robust data makes it hard to determine clear rates for Guardians in the Space Force.

Amid the pandemic, the Air Force slashed the number of career fields eligible for reenlistment bonuses and offered waivers to let more Airmen transfer their service commitment to the Reserve or Air National Guard. 

Then, as competition in the job market grew fierce, recruiting faced a downward trajectory and hundreds of Airmen were booted for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, the service updated its retention bonus program, adding career fields in mid-2021 and twice in 2022. 

As of Sept. 30, 2022, the Air Force’s Active-duty end strength was 328,517 Airmen, a hair below the 329,220 authorized in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. Authorized end strength declines this fiscal year, as enacted by the 2023 NDAA, to 325,344. 

Fiscal YearOfficer RetentionEnlisted Retention
201793.00%90.00%
201893.20%89.60%
201993.60%90.00%
202093.70%91.10%
202194.10%90.50%
202293.10%89.40%
Source: Air Force data
No Speaker of the House? No Oversight of Defense, Warn Reps on Both Sides

No Speaker of the House? No Oversight of Defense, Warn Reps on Both Sides

Jan. 5, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

As the House of Representatives struggles to elect a Speaker and begin the work of a new session, a bipartisan group of lawmakers began warning that the House can’t perform its oversight duties. The House has been locked in a holding pattern since Jan. 3, with ten ballots coming and going and no candidate receiving the needed 218 votes to take the Speaker’s gavel.

Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, but a group of about 20 from the party’s conservative wing have withheld their votes from Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has thus far refused to stand down and see if another candidate can win the 218 votes needed to get the Speaker’s job. Representatives must continue to vote until a speaker is elected and before other business can come before the chamber.

That means essential committees, such as the House Armed Services Committee, cannot do their work, such as participate in classified national security briefings. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) highlighted that point during Jan. 4 press conference: “Right now, [Rep.] Don Bacon and I were supposed to be meeting with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in the SCIF here to talk about matters in the Indo-Pacific. But I’m informed by House security that technically I don’t have a clearance. I’m a member of the Intel committee, I’m on the Armed Services committee, and I can’t meet in the SCIF to conduct essential business.” 

Such classified briefings occur regularly for HASC members and staff, said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) in a phone interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

“Our staff are getting classified briefings daily, they happen multiple times a day,” Smith said. “Members, particularly at the senior level of life like me, a couple times a week, at leas. So, in a normal situation, if the committee was actually formed and we were able to do our job, we would be getting this information on a daily basis, multiple times a day. And that’s all just blank and we’re all just blind.” 

The longer the process drags on, the greater the impact, Smith said.  Delays will slow down the committee’s work with reverberations that could last months. “They’ve got to pick a chairman,” he said of the Republican majority. “Then they’ve got to pick the members to be on the committee, which typically takes time. And then we’ve got to organize the subcommittees. So yes, it pushes things back.”  

Delays will “make it much more difficult for us to do the other major piece of our job,” Smith said, “which is pass the defense bill, which we do every year, which is legislatively how we exercise our oversight.” 

Congress has passed a National Defense Authorization Act every year for more than six decades, and it takes months to craft that measure. The HASC holds a series of hearings with the different military services and combatant commands, typically starting in March. So long as there is no Speaker, however, “all of that stuff is pushed back and thrown into a level of chaos,” Smith said. 

Given the small majority Republicans hold in the House and the ability of a small faction to create legislative hurdles, Smith even went so far as to speculate the NDAA’s passage, normally a given, could be in peril. 

“Are they going to let us pass the defense bill?” Smith said of the small group of Republicans who repeatedly voted against McCarthy. Many of them also opposed the 2022 NDAA last month. “They tried to stop us the last four years but we were in charge, so we had the votes, we were able to get it done,” Smith said of his fellow Democrats. “They’re going to undoubtedly stop us from passing a defense appropriations bill, because they’re going to stop all appropriations bills.”

So aside from the short-term impact of not having a functional Congress, “those near-term impacts of pushing back all of our work for the year,” he added, “there’s a long-term impact, that we now have a group of extremists effectively in charge of the House of Representatives who want to stop us from doing even our most basic work, including protecting this country. That’s something that everybody should be very alarmed about.” 

Republicans who support McCarthy are just as frustrated. They accused the renegade wing of their party of allowing President Joe Biden’s administration to operate unchecked and of preventing Congress from having a say in national security issues like countering Russia and China and investigating the withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is expected to become the HASC chairman, is a stalwart McCarthy supporter. In a statement issued Jan. 5, he likewise accused the Republican holdouts . 

“There is no oversight of the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, or the intelligence community.” said Rogers in a joint statement with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio). “We cannot let personal politics place the safety and security of the United States at risk.”

All F-35, F135 Engine Deliveries Suspended Pending Crash Investigation

All F-35, F135 Engine Deliveries Suspended Pending Crash Investigation

Jan. 4, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Fallout from the Dec. 15 crash of an F-35B is widening, as the Joint Program Office revealed deliveries of new F135 engines for all F-35 fighters were halted Dec. 27—while deliveries of newly completed F-35 fighters were stopped the day of the crash.

Deliveries of both products are on hold as Naval Air Systems Command continues its investigation into the root causes of the accident, the Joint Program Office reported. In the mishap, an F-35B making a vertical descent hit the ground hard at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, facilities.

“Currently, acceptance of new engines has been suspended,” a JPO spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “The length of the pause is currently to be determined, and it is hard to say how long it will last,” given NAVAIR’s ongoing investigation and the need to establish criteria “that would allow deliveries to resume,” he said. “The root cause analysis and accident investigation need to be completed first.”

The spokesman also said that “flight operations restrictions have been imposed at all F-35 production facilities, which has had the effect of halting aircraft deliveries.” The flight restrictions were imposed immediately after the accident.

“A joint JPO, Lockheed Martin, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and Pratt & Whitney team is developing procedures to lift these [flight] restrictions and resume flight operations,” he said. “At this time, it is not known how long this pause will be in effect.”

The JPO spokesman told Air & Space Forces Magazine that a safety inspection and Time Compliance Techical Directive (TCTD) have been issued for an undisclosed number of aircraft in the F-35 fleet. The affected aircraft are not with a particular unit and span the full range of F-35 variants—A, B and C—meaning that all the services are affected.

However, only certain aircraft have been grounded, not the entire F-35 fleet. The spokesperson said he could not explain why certain aircraft were being examined and others not, citing operational security.

A TCTD typically involves an inspection of a part or system that may have caused an accident or a handling issue and is often accompanied by instructions to replace the part or modify it in some way. The JPO spokesperson said that the nature of the TCTD is also being withheld for operational security reasons.

Government officials said the Air Force has only grounded a “handful” of F-35As pending inspections, and that this characterization suggests less than half a dozen aircraft.

Deliveries of new F-35s have been on hold since the accident, and as a result of not being permitted to transfer those aircraft to the government before the end of the year, Lockheed Martin missed its goal of delivering 148 aircraft in calendar 2022, delivering only 141. The company said it now has nine completed aircraft awaiting final test and acceptance flights, and was “on track” to meet its commitments at the time of the mishap.

A government official said the TCTD is “not necessarily connected” to the accident but could not elaborate due to security concerns. Observers “should not conclude” that the subject of the TCTD is assumed to have caused the crash, he said. Government officials reported that an engine issue is being examined as a possible cause of the accident.

The Dec. 15 accident happened while an Air Force pilot for the Defense Contract Management Agency was conducting an acceptance test prior to delivery of the F-35B. The accident was recorded on video and showed the aircraft in a hover, then descending toward a vertical landing with wings level at what appeared to be a too-fast rate. A puff and then a stream of white smoke issued from the tail at the same time.

The aircraft bounced on the runway, and then the tail—with the engine exhaust still in vertical mode—lifted, causing the nose to strike the runway at an off-angle, then spun the aircraft around. When the aircraft turned back to its original orientation, the pilot ejected.

A Defense Contract Management Agency spokesperson said the pilot was examined at a hospital after the accident and released. The pilot had previously been assigned to DCMA and was recently “lent” back from the Air Force to help with acceptance flights, the DCMA spokesperson said.

Although the aircraft was a Marine Corps-type F-35B equipped for vertical takeoff and landing, the Air Force pilot was a test pilot trained to operate it in that mode, the Air Force said.

Boeing Works to Solve KC-46 Deficiencies, One by One

Boeing Works to Solve KC-46 Deficiencies, One by One

Jan. 4, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

While Boeing and the Air Force inch forward on the new KC-46 Remote Vision System 2.0, they are also making progress on other deficiencies that have thus far limited the aircraft in certain missions. 

Boeing is tweaking the design of the actuator at the base of the tanker’s boom so that it will operate with the thrust-limited A-10 Thunderbolt.

The Pentagon Inspector General characterized the problem as a “stiff boom” that “would not extend or retract during flight testing unless subjected to more force” than the A-10 could muster. Rather than a full “boom redesign,” Boeing KC-46 Program Manager James Burgess said the fix is a new actuator. 

Speaking to reporters at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., plant, Burgess explained the challenge this way: The actuator “drives the boom out in the telescope direction, and then when a receiver connects with it, the receiver drives the boom back into sort of a nominal refueling position.” The original actuator requires about 1,400 pounds of pressure to enable refueling, Burgess said. But when at high altitude and fully loaded with weapons, the A-10 is “a very thrust-limited receiver aircraft; it had trouble pushing it up to that 1,400 pounds and then keeping it compressed at that force.” 

Indeed, A-10 attack aircraft still cannot refuel from the KC-46, even after Air Mobility Command announced in September that the KC-46 had been cleared for worldwide deployments and combatant commander taskings.

The new actuator will be able to better regulate the force needed. Boeing shared a 3-D model of the new design in the boom assembly facility. 

“What it does is control force as a function of rate, so as the receiver pushes harder on it, it pushes back harder on the receiver,” Burgess said. “If the receiver doesn’t push as hard on it, it doesn’t push as hard back. So it’s a little bit more conducive to lightweight, thrust-limited receivers like the A-10.” 

The new actuator is smaller than the current one, and simpler, as well, with only one torque motor rather than two. 

“It turns out [the current actuator] was probably a little over-designed initially in terms of redundancy,” Burgess said. “That has nothing to do with the deficiency. But Boeing and the Air Force worked together to take advantage of simplifying the design as part of the redesign. The relief manifold assembly … goes away, and it’s replaced with what’s called a PQ valve.” 

A working version of the new actuator is currently going through lab tests at Boeing Field, Burgess said. Delays, however, continue to mount: An Air Mobility Command spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine in November that the fix, referred to as the Boom Telescoping Actuator Redesign (BTAR), “is experiencing delays due to issues getting a compliant actuator from Boeing’s subcontractor, Moog.” 

AMC said its most recent projection has flight testing ending in late 2023, with retrofits for the existing fleet starting in late 2025. Delays could push that still further into the future.

The “stiff boom” is just one of several non-RVS deficiencies in the KC-46 identified by the Air Force. Another is related to leaks in the fuel system that were first identified in March 2020. Reports indicated seals designed to “flex” and move with the aircraft were insufficient to the task. Burgess said the problem was due to the difficulty of installation, and that Boeing has since redesigned the valve seals to make it easier to install them. As a result, “far fewer” fuel leaks have been reported, Boeing and Air Force officials during the plant visit. 

Officially, the leaking seal deficiency has not yet been resolved, but Burgess said that was more of a formality at this stage, the result of infrequent meetings of the KC-46 deficiency board. 

Other deficiencies have been resolved. Burgess touted during the tour the redesigned cargo pallet lock, which now includes a safety feature to ensure the lock stays fully engaged. The previous design sometimes unlocked when twisted during flight, leading the Air Force to restrict the aircraft from carrying cargo or passengers for a few months in 2019. 

All in all, Air Force officials projected optimism, both in the KC-46’s current capabilities and the future fixes coming.

“If we had to go to war today, we would take this airplane with us,” Lt. Col. Joshua M. Renfro, from the Air Force’s KC-46 Cross Function Team, told reporters. “And we’d be fantastically confident in its capabilities in order to deploy it. However, long term, there’s always things that we can leverage— emerging technologies, and that partnership [with Boeing]—to acquire what the long-range vision for this tanker needs to be.”

4 More Airmen Get Distinguished Flying Crosses for Afghanistan Mission

4 More Airmen Get Distinguished Flying Crosses for Afghanistan Mission

Jan. 4, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

Two pilots and two loadmasters were honored with Distinguished Flying Crosses at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., on Dec. 20, perhaps the final Mobility Airmen to be recognized for their actions during the August 2021 noncombatant evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan. 

Capt. Thomas Jividen, Capt. Bandna Choudhary, Master Sgt. Eric Pietras, and Tech. Sgt. Justin Lyles, all of the 62nd Airlift Wing, received their DFC with “C” device from Lt. Gen. Randall Reed, deputy commander of Air Mobility Command.  

The recognition follows earlier ceremonies at Joint Base McGuire–Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; Travis Air Force Base, Calif.; Joint Base Charleston, S.C.; and Scott Air Force Base, Ill. In all, the Air Force has awarded nearly 100 DFCs for Operation Allies Refuge, most with the “C” device indicating the award was for actions under combat conditions.

Jividen was one of several C-17 pilots forced to take decisive action on Aug. 15, 2021, when the airfield at Hamid Karzai International Airport was breached by desperate Afghan civilians and the Taliban seized control of the capital city. After offloading more than 100 Soldiers and boarding 200 Afghan nationals, Jividen safely taxied through hundreds of civilians on the airfield and executed a daylight tactical departure, despite dangerous runway incursions and the threat of small arms fire. 

Fifteen days later, Choudhary, Pietras, and Lyles arrived at HKIA on two of the last five flights out of Al Udeid Airbase, Qatar. Despite air defense artillery, flares, and heavy machine gun fire, they landed safely, and Choudhary, a pilot, secured her aircraft while Pietras and Lyles loaded the last remaining U.S. personnel and equipment onto their jets in less than 60 minutes. With no ground controllers and the airfield unsecure, they then took off. 

“It will be years before you truly understand just how big of a difference you made,” Reed told the DFC recipients in a speech. “But thanks to you … we can take tremendous pride in the fact that our military, our Air Force, our members of McChord are ready any day of the week, any hour of the day or night, and we can trust that you’ll always get it done.” 

The Distinguished Flying Cross is the nation’s fourth-highest award for heroism and the highest award for extraordinary aerial achievement. 

Pentagon Rolls Out New Parental Leave Policy—Air Force Details Still to Come

Pentagon Rolls Out New Parental Leave Policy—Air Force Details Still to Come

Jan. 4, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Service members will now be eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental leave, the Pentagon announced Jan. 4. The Department of the Air Force could not immediately provide details on how the new policy will be implemented.

The sweeping changes to the military’s parental leave policy, mandated by Congress in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, means service members will be eligible for at least three months of leave following a new birth, adoption, or long-term care of a foster child.

“It is important for the development of military families that members be able to care for their newborn, adopted, or placed child or children,” Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr., the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, wrote in a memo directing the new rules. “Unit commanders must balance the needs of the unit with the needs of the member to maximize the opportunity to use parental leave.”

That memo, released more than a year after the 2022 NDAA was signed and retroactive to Dec. 27, 2022, specifically directs the secretaries of each military department to “implement the policy … in their respective military services” and “issue further service-specific guidance.”

A Department of Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine they could not immediately provide details on how the DAF would implement the policy.

Regardless, the new 12-week standard will be a step up from the Department of the Air Force’s current parental leave policies, put in place in 2018. New mothers in the Air Force and Space Force got six weeks of convalescent leave after birth, and the primary caregiver of the new child could take an additional six weeks of leave, while the secondary caregiver could take three weeks of leave. Other services, such as the Navy, have had less generous policies.

The new DOD-wide Military Parental Leave Program (MPLP) aims to ensure that service members will be able to take up to 12 weeks of parental leave, in addition to medically-necessary convalescent leave for new mothers.

Service members can take parental leave in one continuous period or in increments “consistent with operational requirements,” according to the Pentagon.

Leave must be taken within 12 months of the birth or adoption, though operationally deployed members can defer parental leave until their deployment is completed with an extension of the one-year period during which leave is allowed.

The convalescence leave must be medically ordered and taken immediately following a birth. In November, lawmakers wrote a letter to Cisneros insisting that cutting short convalescent leave because other forms of parental leave would be extended would be contrary to Congress’s intent.

Advocates say the new leave policy will help the Pentagon retain and attract talent amid a historically competitive job market, putting military parental leave policies more in line with the rest of the federal government and private employers.

Air Force Deploys Latest E-11A BACN to Saudi Arabia

Air Force Deploys Latest E-11A BACN to Saudi Arabia

Jan. 3, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force deployed a brand new version of one of its prized communications aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the service said in a Jan. 2 news release. An E-11A equipped with a Battlefield Airborne Communication Node, or BACN, arrived at Prince Sultan Air Base in the middle of last month, according to the service.

The E-11A is a high-demand, low-inventory asset. Previously the Air Force had just three E-11A aircraft, which operate in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. The new E-11A, serial number 21-9045, was transferred to the Air Force by airframe manufacturer Bombardier in September and arrived in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 16.

The BACN payload, made by Northrop Grumman, is able to relay and translate information from air assets and ground troops. It allows aircraft with different data links to work together and provides a way to transmit information over mountainous terrain, a feature that proved useful in supporting U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Air Force officials have often described BACN in simple terms as “Wi-Fi in the sky.”

“The BACN program reduces communication issues associated with incompatible systems, adverse terrain, and distance,” BACN materiel leader Lt. Col. Eric Inkenbrandt said in a statement when the Air Force took delivery of this latest aircraft. “The delivery of 21-9045 is the pivotal first step to advancing the mission this program provides.”

While the U.S. war in Afghanistan is over, CENTCOM still requires plenty of communication among its forces. U.S. troops are on the ground in Syria helping combat the remnants of ISIS, while Air Forces Central aircraft fly combat air patrols, conduct air strikes, and practice counter-drone exercises.

“We supply communication coverage to ground and air forces in active combat zones, who require consistent, clear communications to higher levels of leadership and other command and control assets,” Lt. Col. Todd Arthur, the commander of the 430th Expeditionary Electronic Communications Squadron, said in a statement. The 430th EECS is the only unit in the Air Force to operate the E-11A, which is a modified Bombardier Global business jet that is used for the niche BACN payload. As a result, all of the Air Force E-11A pilots are volunteers who moved over from other aircraft.

Tragically, one of the Air Force’s E-11As crashed in Afghanistan in 2020, killing the two pilots.

BACN systems are also fitted to some RQ-4 unmanned aerial systems, but the Air Force plans to retire the drone. BACN reached over 200,000 flight hours in 2020 after originally being deployed in 2008, according to Northrop Grumman. In November, the company announced it was purchasing and modifying two more Bombardier jets as part of a 2021 contract to sustain BACN operations. The Air Force plans to create a new E-11A BACN squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and eventually buy up to six additional aircraft, including the latest delivery.

“The Air Force and U.S. Congress have recognized what the E-11A platform brings to the fight,” Arthur said.

$30 Billion F-35 Deal Will See Prices Rise, Deliveries Dip

$30 Billion F-35 Deal Will See Prices Rise, Deliveries Dip

Jan. 3, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The unit cost of F-35 fighters will creep up in a $30 billion, three-lot deal announced Dec. 30, driven by a more sophisticated product, inflation, and lower U.S. sales volume, while annual deliveries will slip.

Meanwhile, some F-35s remain grounded and others undelivered following the crash of an F-35B on Dec. 15.  

The deal, which defines production for Lots 15 and 16 and sets options for Lot 17, calls for 398 F-35s to be built over the three years, including foreign orders. The agreement calls for 145 aircraft in Lot 15, 127 aircraft in Lot 16, and up to 126 in Lot 17, which will include the first airplanes delivered to Belgium, Finland, and Poland.

The open-ended Lot 17 allows for 23 more jets than the Pentagon originally planned. When the “handshake deal” on the three lots was announced in July 2022, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief William LaPlante said it was “based on” as many as 375 jets.

Either way, however, deliveries are declining—the Lot 12-14 deal, inked in 2019, covered 478 aircraft. The Air Force has requested fewer F-35s in the last couple of years, saying it prefers to wait for the all-up Block 4 model of the jet in order to avoid modifying older aircraft to the more capable configuration later. The other services have followed suit. Making up for some of the deferral of purchases, though, has been strong international sales of the F-35. Congress has also added back some of the jets the services did not request.

The agreed Lot 15-17 numbers average 132 airplanes per year; well below the 156 per year predicted by Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet in an investors’ call a year ago. Lockheed is anxious to avoid a boom-and-bust cycle of production, as it plays havoc with workforce and economic materials purchases.

In a January 2022 investor call, CFO John Mollard said “the last thing you want is a sawtooth pattern” of up-and-down production rates.

In a statement announcing the deal, F-35 Joint Program Office director and program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt said the deal “strikes the right balance between what’s best for the U.S. taxpayers, the military services, allies, and our foreign military sales customers.”

The unit cost of the fighters will average about $75 million a copy, but that is without the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine. With the engine, the last three-lot deal achieved a unit cost below $80 million per jet. The JPO did not provide Air & Space Forces Magazine an all-up cost for the fighters in Lots 15-17.

For the airframe and mission equipment only, the Lot 15-17 cost of F-35s ranges “from $70.2 million to $69.9 million for the F-35A, $80.9 million to $78.3 million for the F-35B, and $90 to $89.3 million for the F-35C,” a Lockheed spokesperson said.

The A model is a conventional takeoff type, while the B is short takeoff/vertical landing version and the C is configured for aircraft carrier operations. It has larger wing and tail surfaces and other structural differences to make it capable of withstanding carrier takeoffs and landings.

From Lot 14 to 17, “the F-35A aircraft vehicle cost, on average, only increased 6.5 percent; less than the rate of inflation,” the Lockheed spokesperson added. The Lot 15 airplanes are already in early stages of manufacture.

The agreement represented the longest period of negotiation on an F-35 lot to date. The “handshake deal” was reached ten months after it was expected to be concluded—when it had already been under negotiation for more than a year—which former JPO officials said was due to extensive bargaining over inflation, labor costs for Lockheed, lingering supply chain effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the uncertainties attending the services’ planned buys. The final deal came after a further five months of haggling.  

Lockheed has been warning for two years that Lot 15 and later lots would cost more due to the greater capability being built into the jet. Another factor has been the slower sales growth for the U.S. services, which are the biggest customers for the fighter.

Lot 15 is the first that will include Tech Refresh 3 (TR-3), which is a suite of more powerful processors and other capabilities that make the Block 4 version of the F-35 possible. Other improvements in Lot 15 include a panoramic cockpit display and a more powerful memory.

As part of the Block 4 upgrade, some 75 changes are in the works. These include new or additional weapons, communications and networking upgrades, electronic warfare improvements, cockpit and navigation enhancements, and “radar and [sensor] fusion updates,” the Lockheed spokesperson said.

After 141 aircraft delivered in 2022, the worldwide F-35 fleet now numbers 894 airplanes. Lockheed officials have said they are contemplating a celebration at their Fort Worth, Texas facility in late summer, when the 1,000th F-35 will roll off the assembly line.

Lockheed was due to deliver 148 F-35s in 2022, but the Dec. 15 crash of an F-35B caused the government to stop accepting deliveries of the fighter. The mishap aircraft suffered an engine problem in vertical landing mode; video of the accident became a viral sensation last month. The pilot survived a low-altitude ejection. The jet had not yet been transferred to the government at the time of the crash.

The halt meant that Lockheed fell seven aircraft short of its planned deliveries in 2022, even though the aircraft were finished. The accident stopped both final test flights and acceptance flights.

There are now nine aircraft waiting for final test and delivery.

An Air Force spokesperson said that a “small number” F-35As in USAF service are grounded until a technical compliance/technical directive is completed. While she did not provide details, a TC/TD usually means that a part or system must undergo inspection, and if a problem or faulty part is found, be replaced.

A government source said the problem seems to be engine-related, and so far, only jets with “a few dozen” flying hours or less are being inspected for the problem.  

“The scope and duration” of the effect on the USAF F-35A fleet “are to be determined based on additional ongoing analysis,” the Air Force spokesperson said. She did not say how many F-35As are affected, or whether they are in a single unit or dispersed across the combat air forces.

RC-135 Takes Evasive Maneuvers after ‘Unsafe’ Chinese Fighter Intercept

RC-135 Takes Evasive Maneuvers after ‘Unsafe’ Chinese Fighter Intercept

Jan. 3, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The American and Chinese militaries are trading blame after a close call between two warplanes over the South China Sea on Dec. 21, as a Chinese fighter jet came within a few yards of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint over the South China Sea, according to the U.S.

On Dec. 29, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) released a statement that alleged a Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) J-11 fighter “performed an unsafe maneuver” and came within 20 feet of the American reconnaissance plane.

INDOPACOM said the U.S. aircraft was “lawfully conducting routine operations” in international airspace over the South China Sea at the time of the incident.

“The PLAN pilot flew an unsafe maneuver by flying in front of and within 20 feet of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

The Pentagon later released a video of the incident.

A PLA spokesperson said the incident occurred near the Paracel Islands, which China calls the Xisha Islands. The U.S. did not specify where the incident took place or provide details of the plane’s flight path. The PLA reportedly claimed the RC-135 altered its flight and veered toward the Chinese fighter.

On Dec. 31, the PLA released a short video shot from the J-11, which can be seen closing in on the slower, less maneuverable RC-135.

The Chinese video, which the Pentagon has not commented on, shows the fighter jet flying alongside and then in front of the RC-135V Rivet Joint, tail code 64-842.

The Rivet Joint carries a mission flight crew of 21 to 27 people, according to the Air Force, and is used for signals intelligence. The planes are based at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., but are often forward deployed. The J-11 is a Chinese-made fighter derived from the Russian Sukhoi Su-27.

China claims most of the South China Sea as its own and has built up militarized islands in the region, but its claims are disputed by many of its neighbors. The U.S. has entered what China claims as its airspace before, claiming it is conducting lawful, safe activities. U.S. warships also sail so-called “freedom of navigation” missions near China, including through the Taiwan Strait that separates the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan from the mainland.

After a visit to Taiwan this past summer by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, China has increased the number of aircraft and warships crossing over the median line between Taiwan and the mainland. China has also intercepted Canadian and Australian aircraft operating near China.

In late December, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning operated for two weeks in the Western Pacific. Japan said it had to scramble fighter jets to monitor Chinese activities.

“We’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of dangerous PLA intercepts of U.S. and allied forces—including Canadian aircraft—that were operating lawfully in international airspace over the South and East China Seas,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a Nov. 19 speech in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

During a meeting a few days later with Wei Fenghe, China’s Minister of National Defense, Austin “raised concerns about the increasingly dangerous behavior demonstrated by PLA aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region that increases the risk of an accident,” according to a readout of the meeting from Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder.

In 2015, a similar incident took place involving an RC-135 and two Chinese JH-7 aircraft, though officials said at the time there was no imminent threat of a collision.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and the Pentagon did not immediately reply to a request for comment regarding China’s characterization of this latest incident or provide details on what steps might be taken in response to the Chinese intercept.

INDOPACOM said in its statement the U.S. “will continue to fly, sail and operate at sea and in international airspace with due regard for the safety of all vessels and aircraft under international law.”

“We are focused on how we can manage this broad bilateral relationship—arguably the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world—constructively and responsibility,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Jan. 3 in response to questions about America’s relationship with China.