SDA Hires an Integrator to Keep Its Next Satellite Tranche on Schedule

April 24, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

After supply chain challenges delayed the first few tranches of its ambitious low-Earth orbit constellation, the Space Development Agency is changing its approach, hiring an engineering and integration partner to help manage the next tranche of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

SDA awarded a $55 million contract to SAIC on April 22 for “system engineering and integration support activities,” through which SAIC will help review and manage requirements, schedule, engineering, and risk management for Tranche 3. According to the contract solicitation, the winning bidder would oversee technical reviews, schedule management, verification and integration test plans, as well as “trade studies” to help prioritize and “inform critical decisions that impact [Tranche 3] Program delivery.”

It’s the first time SDA has hired an integrator for this purpose; it previously awarded $887 million in management and integration contracts to General Dynamics Mission Systems to integrate ground systems for Tranches 1 and 2; those contracts focused on outfitting operations centers and ensuring data compatibility among disparate satellites feeding into an integrated architecture.

The SAIC deal is broader, designed to “enable the delivery of the T3 Program,” a significant departure from SDA’s prior practice, an agency official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The decision to bring in integration support comes as SDA faces some pressure to move from contract awards to capabilities in orbit. Its initial “Tranche 0” satellites launched in 2023 and early 2024 after several delays, and its first Tranche 1 launch has been delayed until late this summer. Officials cited delivery delays and issues with contractors not being able to scale their supply chain.

“With the spiral development model, SDA continuously pushes lessons learned into subsequent tranches,” a spokesperson said. “SDA decided to contract with a Tranche 3 integrator based on lessons learned from acquiring and delivery of Tranche 1 and Tranche 2.”

Tranche 3 is expected to include around 190 satellites and will be the first to replace earlier PWSA satellites with refreshed, improved capabilities. The objective is to maintain a steady state of around 450 satellites in the architecture.

For now, SDA is sticking with its latest projected launch schedule: Tranche 1 will start going up in late summer 2025, Tranche 2 in late 2026, and Tranche 3 in late summer 2028. The goal is to deliver initial regional coverage with Tranche 1, followed by global coverage with Tranche 2.

Sticking to that schedule could be crucial to SDA’s role in President Donald Trump’s ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative, which seeks to start fielding capability by early 2029.

SDA already has a solicitation circulating for acquring Tranche 3 missile warning and tracking satellites; it is expected to release soon solicitations for the data transport satellites as well.

USAF Doubles Down on More F-16 Fighters near North Korea

April 24, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley and Chris Gordon

The U.S. Air Force will ramp up its presence near North Korea by sending more than two dozen additional F-16 fighters to Osan Air Base, South Korea, creating a second “super squadron” there.

Osan, located just 50 miles south of the Korean border, will welcome 31 extra Vipers and 1,000 Airmen from Kunsan Air Base to its southwest in October, service officials said. The latest move will further centralize the Air Force’s footprint on the peninsula. The Air Force started the “Super Squadron” initiative last year, relocating nine F-16s from Kunsan to Osan, upping the base’s fleet to 31 of the fighters—a number that is now set to double after Air Force Chief of Staff David W. Allvin recently signed off on the standup of the second super squadron.

“This temporary change allows us to test and validate force generation capabilities on the Korean peninsula, ultimately fostering a more lethal, ready air component,” Allvin wrote in a post on X. “The Super Squadron test aims to increase sortie generation and combat capability, while enhancing readiness and responsiveness.”

In a release, Seventh Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. David Iverson said the initiative has been a “success” so far and the Air Force now wants to consolidate its F-16s at Osan to further test the Super Squadron structure.

“The past months of data reveal that we’re on the right track and the consolidated, larger unit has shown some increases in readiness and combat capability, while also exposing some challenges,” said Iverson.

While Air Force officials say no permanent decisions have been made, the service has not specified exactly how long the experiment will last.

Two U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron park next to each other before being cleared to takeoff at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, March 19, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Dustin Braaten

The Air Force Personnel Center will begin making assignment updates for the affected Airmen in the coming weeks, according to Lt. Col. Aaron Tissot, Seventh Air Force director of manpower, personnel, and services.

“Our goal is to minimize disruptions and ensure a smooth transition for our Airmen throughout this process,” Tissot said.

The move also comes as Osan is in the process of bidding farewell to its 24 A-10 aircraft, where the 25th Fighter Squadron has flown the venerable close air support aircraft since 1993. Without the A-10, Osan would have been left with only one squadron of aircraft.

The previous F-16 transfer, initiated last summer, was originally intended to last a year. This upcoming second phase will continue to assess these areas on a larger scale, Air Force officials said.

The goal of Super Squadrons is to provide benefits in readiness and training while “reducing manpower and logistic support requirements,” said Lt. Col. Karl Wiest, a spokesperson for Allvin.

Allvin has previously said he wants to decrease excess infrastructure and logistical requirements across the Air Force and reinvest those funds.

“After thorough analysis, Osan was chosen as best able to support the housing and support needs of the Airmen required to execute the Super Squadron test, having recently supported similar personnel requirements during Kunsan’s runway construction project in 2023,” Wiest said.

The previous nine additional F-16s with Osan’s 36th Fighter Squadron supported a number of joint missions, including a recent Freedom Shield exercise in March by “participating in the live-fly exercise portions of the training, engaging in combat training missions focused on air interdiction, close air support, static and dynamic targeting and combat air patrols,” a Seventh Air Force spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Many of these fighters also participated in an ACE exercise, deploying to an alternate base “to rehearse the unit’s ability to quickly maneuver forces around the region while maintaining combat flying operations,” the spokesperson added.

An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron takes off at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, March 10, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jason W. Cochran

The upcoming transfer will leave Kunsan with a far diminished flightline. Presuming the nine jets previously moved to Osan remain in place, the addition of 31 more would leave Kunsan with only a handful of aircraft.

For the time being however, the host 8th Fighter Wing plans to continue operating as “a primary exercise and rotational force bed-down location for U.S. air component forces in the ROK,” according to the release.

“We acknowledge this is a major shift in how we operate here at Kunsan,” said Col. Peter Kasarskis, 8th Fighter Wing commander. “We’ll meet this change with the same warfighter mindset the Wolf Pack has maintained through our history, and strengthen our ability to accept follow-on forces, defend the base, and take the fight north.”

The wing also plans to maintain active flightline operations and facilities as well as maintaining war reserve material and munitions at multiple locations across the country.

What a ‘Ferrari’ Version of the F-35 Might Look Like—and What the Pentagon Thinks

April 24, 2025 | By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin’s new push for a more powerful F-35—unveiled this week as the company announced it won’t protest the Air Force’s choice of Boeing for the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter—might largely be the NGAD alternative Air Force leaders from the previous administration were talking about as they deliberated whether to go ahead with what is now known as the F-47.

Last September, former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall suggested the service might look at “disaggregating” some of NGAD fighter’s sensors and other capabilities to Collaborative Combat Aircraft, USAF’s planned autonomous escorts to the crewed fighter fleet, and shifting to a new, less complex fighter costing about the same or less than an F-35.

Ultimately, the Trump administration decided to move forward with NGAD largely as planned and tapped Boeing to build it—leaving Lockheed Martin, builder of the F-35, on the outside looking in.

In an April 22 earnings call, however, Lockheed president and CEO Jim Taiclet said he believes the F-35 could be upgraded to deliver 80 percent of the NGAD’s capability at half its cost, using technologies developed for the F-22 and the NGAD itself; what he termed a “Ferrari” version of the fighter.

“We have 70,000 engineers and scientists in the company working on really interesting stuff all the time,” Taiclet said. “Some of the fifth-gen-plus solution set is already being funded by the U.S. government and the F-35 program itself.” Secrecy prevented him from being too explicit about what could be done with the F-35 to achieve this capability, but the steps involve “key techniques, I’ll say, and approaches that [the] fighter pilot needs to have to be competitive and win.”

Answering a question about whether the new capabilities would be company- or government-funded, Taiclet said some come from “our government-funded investment in R&D, the competitive process … funded for both Lockheed Martin and Boeing [for NGAD] over a period of years by the government. And, you know, we made independent investments along the way, too, in both” the F-35 and NGAD.

At half NGAD’s projected cost, an upgraded F-35 could be around $150 million per airplane; a price level near what Kendall has said would exceed the affordability that international partners and foreign military sales customers require. Taiclet did not say whether he views the “Ferrari” F-35 as becoming the fleet standard, but did say that engineers are looking at potential upgrades with an eye toward exportability.

An F-35A Lightning II arrives at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 1, 2022. Air Force photo by Chase Kohler

What would be different about a fifth-gen-plus F-35? Some of the technologies to consider include:

Sensors: Taiclet said the need to sense and track an enemy—particularly one that is a stealthy aircraft itself—is necessary “at a distance greater than they can sense you.” Lockheed has developed an infrared search and track system that has been seen on the wings of the F-22 in recent tests. “Passive infrared is really important,” Taiclet said, “because if I’m transmitting radar, that means somebody else’s electronic warfare receiver can see me, and then they can maybe shoot me.” With passive IR, “nobody can sense that. And the best radar on top of those kinds of sensors [is] really, really critical.”

Extreme Low Observability: Taiclet said he was in a meeting at the White House and the president—he didn’t say which president—said “Dogfights are not what we want anymore,” and Taiclet agreed that “we want to shoot the other guys … even before they know we’re there.” Throughout his discussion of the upgraded F-35, Taiclet referred to using the F-35 “chassis” to host new systems. That might include new wings and control surfaces. The F-35’s planform was designed to make it a good dogfighter, able to turn at 9Gs in the Air Force version and 7.5 Gs in the Marine Corps and Navy models. But if air-to-air maneuvering is less important than greater stealth, the F-35’s high G-loading might be reduced to allow more a more stealthy airframe that would be more of a missile truck than a dogfighter. Taiclet said it would be possible to tweak “materials … geometries [and] countermeasures” to give the F-35 more stealth. That would likely also involve removing the verticals and making the F-35 a tailless design.

More Powerful Engines: Powerplants already exist to make the Air Force F-35A faster, with better climb and acceleration plus more electricity for sensors and processors. GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney developed Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) engines with all of these characteristics, specifically designed to drop into the current F-35. But the Air Force initially elected not to pursue the AETP last year, given that the service would have had to pay to develop them further without help from the Navy or Marine Corps, and adopting them would create at least two engine logistics trains to support the F-35 program, adding sustainment cost.

Weapons: The highly classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile—also developed by Lockheed—is in testing and is intended to restore some of the F-22’s “first look, first kill” capability by being able to shoot a stealth target as soon as it is detected. In sufficient quantities, the AIM-260 would be available to equip a large part of the F-35 force and extend its lethal reach.

Range: The F-22 has been tested with stealthy underwing pylons and fuel tanks that will significantly enhance its range, though how much is a secret. The F-35’s different shaping would probably require different versions of those on the F-22, but the principles should make adapting the concept to the F-35 fairly straightforward.

Stealthy Communications: Whatever capabilities have been developed to make the NGAD able to send and receive data and voice communications without being detected is likely to be portable to the F-35.

Taiclet said he would not have put forth the concept of the “Ferrari” version of the F-35 if he didn’t believe the concept was achievable.

“My challenge to my aeronautics team is, let’s get 80 percent of sixth-gen capability at half the price,’ he said. “And these engineers … wouldn’t have agreed to this if they didn’t think there was a path to get there.”

However, Lockheed seemingly did not speak with the Air Force before unveiling the concept. At an AFA Warfighters in Action event April 24, Maj. Gen. Joseph D. Kunkel, deputy chief of staff for Air Force Futures, said that he had no discussions with Lockheed on a fifth-gen-plus F-35 and declined to comment further.

The F-35 Joint Program Office, meanwhile, told Air & Space Forces Magazine that it had no comment on the idea, “as the discussion remains entirely notional at this stage.”

Still, Taiclet projected optimism that the Pentagon will embrace the idea: “That’s something we’re going to go out and do. And this is how we get best value to the customer, who has a limited budget and an increasing threat. We use these digital technologies. We apply something from one system, one to another, and we actually try to create that best value equation.”

Acting Pentagon CIO Signing Off on New, Faster Cyber Rules for Contractors

April 23, 2025 | By Shaun Waterman

A new fast-track approval process for software on Defense Department networks will use AI tools to radically shorten a process that currently takes months or years, Acting Pentagon Chief Information Officer Katie Arrington said April 23.

Arrington told an audience of industry executives at an AFCEA DC luncheon event that the new Software Fast Track (SWIFT) process will use “AI tools on the back end” to replace the Authorization To Operate (ATO) process, which governs the way software products are certified for use on military networks, and the venerable Risk Management Framework (RMF), which has guided decisions about cybersecurity in DOD for more than a decade.

“I’m blowing up the RMF, blowing up the ATOs. They’re stupid. They’re archaic,” she said, lambasting the extensive paper-based documentation ATOs require.

Instead, she said, SWIFT will collect third-party data about the cybersecurity of vendors and technical information about the makeup of their software, through a government web application called eMASS and keep it in the Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS), a database where contractor performance and cybersecurity compliance information is stored.

SWIFT was first previewed by DOD Chief Software Officer Rob Veitmeyer earlier this month, but this is the first time it’s been suggested that the new process will eliminate the role of the RMF, which has been the veritable Bible of cybersecurity risk management in defense since its adoption in 2014.

SWIFT appears to build on a process developed at Kessel Run, the Air Force’s original software factory, and piloted service-wide in 2019, known as “Fast Track ATO.” But it will go even further, Arrington said, because the criteria for authorization themselves will change, not just the means used to assess them. Software vendors will have to provide a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for their products and their production environment—and get it certified by an independent third party, she said.

An SBOM is effectively an index of all the other pieces of software which are inside a computer program. Modern software makes extensive use of publicly available programs, called open source code libraries, to perform computing tasks. But this means that a vulnerability in one of those libraries can create a vulnerability in any program that uses it, making it important to document all the dependencies of a given piece of software.

Arrington said her direction to software providers will be: “Provide me your SBOM for both your sandbox and production [environments], along with a third-party SBOM,” by uploading them into eMASS.

“I will have AI tools on the back end to review the data instead of waiting for a human. If all of it passes the right requirements: Provisional ATO,” she declared

She said that her memo authorizing the new process was being signed out “today.” As acting CIO, Arrington sets department-wide policy for IT matters.

She said the memo would be briefed out to “all the CIOs and [chief information security officers] in the building. It would be followed “in the next week or two,” by a Request For Information to industry to help build out the details.

“I want the RMF eliminated,” she said. “I only have five things that I really care about. Did you develop what you’re doing in [a] secure by design [process]? How do I validate that? Are you working with zero trust? How do I validate that? [And, how are you doing] continuous monitoring?”

C-17 Refuels Off a Commercial Tanker for First Time in AMC History

April 23, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Air Mobility Command, responsible for the Air Force’s airlift and tanker fleets, got some refueling help of its own from a commercial provider for the first time earlier this month.

The milestone came when a KDC-10 tanker owned by Omega Air Refueling passed fuel onto a C-17 over California on April 10. The airlifter came from the 62nd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, which said in an April 23 release that it used a Pacific Air Forces contract to task the mission.

PACAF has utilized Omega before—a KDC-10 refueled F-15, F-16, and F-22 fighters over the Pacific in November 2023, followed by a B-52 bomber and MC-130J special ops aircraft in March 2024.

But this latest mission to refuel a C-17 was significant “because it marked the first instance of contracted air refueling of an Air Mobility Command aircraft,” Pete Vanagas, Omega’s director of U.S. Air Force business development, said in a statement.

While the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have used commercial refuelers for almost two decades, the Air Force only started doing so in 2023, mostly to support exercises.

Former Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan told Congress in July 2024 that his team had done preliminary work considering how it could use commercial refueling, and that he saw “value” in it. However, he stressed that more analysis and certification was needed, adding that it was important to “make sure that with commercial refueling, that we don’t decrement the readiness of those in uniform flying the tankers.”

It was the readiness of C-17 pilots, though, that led the 62nd Airlift Wing to seek commercial refueling— Maj. Ryan Vigil of the 62nd Operational Support Squadron said the wing “has limited access to air refueling training, which can impact the currency of our pilots.”

A little less than 300 miles from the wing’s home base of McChord is Fairchild Air Force Base, home of the 92nd Refueling Wing with four squadrons of KC-135s. But the 92nd is incredibly busy, with a squadron usually deployed downrange, and the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet is always in high demand, especially to keep the Combat Air Force flying.

As a result, airlift wings like the 62nd can have a “training backlog” they hope commercial refueling can help clear, per the release.

“The training is very similar to what we experience with the KC-10 and KC-46,” Vigil said, emphasizing that using the KDC-10 won’t affect the refueling training for the C-17 pilots.

Omega’s KDC-10s are converted DC-10 aircraft and utilize an optical sensor system which, like the cameras on the KC-46, allows crews to operate the refueling boom without looking out the back of the aircraft.

Commercial refueling could free up military tankers and Airmen to go forward into combat zones, proponents say.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Joseph Wiginton, 8th Airlift Squadron director of staff, left, and Lt. Col. Jonathan Fariss, 62d Operations Group chief of standards and evaluations, prepare to conduct aerial refueling with an Omega Air Refueling Service KDC-10B above California, April 10, 2025. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Megan Geiger

Dozen F-16s Join Back-to-Back Exercises with the Philippines

April 23, 2025 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

A dozen F-16s from Misawa Air Base are joining back-to-back exercises across the Philippines’ vast archipelago, including the northernmost major island less than 200 miles from Taiwan.

The annual Balikatan exercise, currently underway from April 21 to May 9, features “full battle” drills spanning from the nation’s largest island, Luzon—home to the capital, Manila—to the southern reaches of Mindanao, and various islands in between. The training comes on the heels of Cope Thunder, an 11-day exercise between Pacific Air Forces and the Philippine Air Force that wrapped up April. 18.

A dozen F-16s from the 35th Fighter Wing were at Cope Thunder and have joined Balikatan, a PACAF spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The move marks one of wing’s final large-scale exercises featuring its Fighting Falcons, as the Air Force will begin to withdraw the fourth-generation jets from northeastern Japan this summer.

In their place, the service plans to station 48 F-35s, up from the current F-16 fleet of 36, with the first stealth fighters expected to arrive in spring 2026, according to local media citing Japanese government officials. This will make Misawa the first U.S. base in the Indo-Pacific base to host the F-35A, and only the second overseas base overall, following in the footsteps of the U.K.’s RAF Lakenheath. The 35th Fighter Wing did not respond to inquiries to confirm the timeline.

Airmen with the 317th Airlift Wing prepare for a Max Endurance Operation outside a C-130J Super Hercules equipped with external fuel tanks enroute to support Exercise Balikatan 25 at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, April 17, 2025. Balikatan is a longstanding annual exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military designed to strengthen our ironclad alliance, improve our capable combined force, and demonstrate our commitment to regional security and stability. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Caleb Schellenberg)

For Balikatan, cargo planes—including three C-130Js from the 317th Airlift Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; and one HC-130J from the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif.—supported the transportation of weaponry and personnel.

This year’s exercise involves 14,000 combined troops, with 9,000 U.S. personnel, including about 450 U.S. Air Force Airmen. It is the 40th iteration of Balikatan and features many firsts, including the participation of four NATO countries—Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands—as observers for the first time. And unlike past iterations, this year features a “full battle test” that adds real-world events to a virtual scenario.

“The Full Battle Test will demonstrate how the tactical actions of service members have operational effects for the multilateral force,” Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael S. Cederholm, commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a release. “Doing so allows us to validate, refine and improve our combined capability to defend the Philippines.”

In another first, the exercise incorporates the Navy-Marine ship-striking missile system NMESIS, as highlighted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth during his visit to Manila last month.

The NMESIS combines a powerful missile mounted on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which can be remotely operated, and will be deployed in Luzon and the Batanes Islands, just 120 miles south of Taiwan. The Air Force’s 29th Tactical Airlift Squadron, along with the Army’s 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, is helping transport several NMESIS across multiple islands in the region.

Meanwhile, Cope Thunder took place across several key locations, including Basa Air Base and Clark Air Base in Luzon. The 35th Fighter Wing’s F-16s teamed up with the Philippine Air Force’s FA-50PH, A-29B, S-76A, and S-70i aircraft for field training exercises. And for the first time in more than three-decade history of the exercise, the U.S. Marine Corps also joined the action with their F/A-18 Hornet fighters.

Originally launched in the Philippines in 1976, Cope Thunder moved to Eielson Air Force Base in 1992 before returning to the Philippines in 2023.

Amid these latest exercises, China issued a statement warning that it considers its dispute over Taiwan an “internal affair.” Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory, despite never having governed the island.

Air Force MAJCOMs, Given New Guidance, Pull Back on Family Days

April 23, 2025 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published April 18 and has been updated with additional information from more major commands.

When acting Air Force Secretary Gary A. Ashworth rescinded service-wide “Family Days” last week, he left it to commanders, directors, and supervisors to decide for themselves if they wanted to grant the extra days off. Ashworth’s guidance urged only that, in accordance with USAF regulations, they “re-evaluate their pass structures to best align with warfighter readiness.”

Multiple Air Force major commands and Space Force field commands have updated their policies or issued new guidance on Family Days, or passes, to preserve some days and cut a few others. Most commands are still reviewing their schedules, promising updates to come.

Family Days are intended to extend holiday weekends for eligible uniformed Airmen, typically by adding a Friday to the three-day weekend. Aircrew, maintainers, and security forces Airmen, among other jobs, are often ineligible due to mission requirements. Federal law prohibits civilian employees from being given extra days off.

The next federal holiday is Memorial Day, making Friday, May 23, the next anticipated Family Day. Here’s where each MAJCOM stands on Family Days so far:

Updates

Air Education and Training Command

AETC issued its new Family Days schedule for 2025 and 2026 in an April 22 memo—it’s now calling them “Resiliency Days.” For the rest of 2025 and for all of 2026, there will be four Resiliency Days, along with one possible “Readiness Day” per quarter if different AETC organizations meet their readiness or mission performance targets.

For 2025, the command removed two Family Days from its previous schedule: Friday, June 20, following the Thursday, June 19 Juneteenth holiday; and Friday, Aug. 29 ahead of Labor Day on Sept. 1. It is keeping the days associated with Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

For 2026, the command has four days authorized, associated with New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa

Unlike most other major commands, USAFE-AFAFRICA has only scheduled Family Days through the end of fiscal 2025 on Sept. 30. According to a memo sent to Airmen and verified by Air & Space Forces Magazine on April 23, the command is keeping the Family Days associated with Memorial Day in May and Independence Day in July, but canceling two: Friday, June 20, following the Thursday, June 19 Juneteenth holiday; and Friday, Aug. 29 ahead of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

The command’s memo also states that the Third Air Force can “adjust, or not observe, these dates based on operational demands.” It can also delegate that authority to the wing level and allow wings to set “Goal Days”—extra days off if the unit hits certain training or mission requirements.

Air Force Materiel Command

AFMC has issued a memo rescinding its previous Family Days schedule and is still working on a new policy, an official confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine on April 23. The old schedule included Family Days in conjunction with Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Notably, the command is perhaps the most civilian-heavy in the Air Force at around 80 percent, and the rules regarding leave for civilians are different—civilian employees can only use accrued leave on Family Days.

Space Operations Command

Space Operations Command has “fully implemented the Secretary’s guidance regarding leave and passes,” a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine on April 23, with no command-wide Family Days on the schedule now. Commanders of units under SpOC can still grant passes to uniformed personnel, and SpOC leadership “will assess opportunities to incorporate military passes in alignment with operational requirements.”

Air Force Global Strike Command

Most previously scheduled Family Days remain in place for the rest of the year, with two exceptions, according to a memo leaked on social media and confirmed by Air & Space Forces Magazine. AFGSC canceled two anticipated Family Days: Friday, June 20, following the Thursday, June 19 Juneteenth holiday, and Friday, Oct. 10, which would have preceded the Monday, Oct. 13 Columbus Day holiday.

Air Mobility Command

Air Mobility Command cancelled four Family Days: Friday, April 18, ahead of Easter Sunday; Friday, Aug. 29 ahead of Labor Day on Sept. 1; Friday, Oct. 10 ahead of Columbus Day; and Monday, Nov. 10 ahead of that Tuesday’s Veterans Day.

Space Systems Command

The Space Force’s main acquisition arm has “rescinded command-wide family days for 2025 beyond Independence Day,” a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Instead, the command is “empowering and encouraging its commanders, directors, and supervisors to focus any future pass days/structures on organizational/unit goals that align with warfighter readiness; execute our mission with excellence; or maintain our competitive advantage.”

SSC had previously scheduled Family Days for Friday, Aug. 29 (Labor Day); Friday, Oct. 10 (Columbus Day); Friday, Nov. 10 (Veterans Day); Friday, Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving); and Thursday, Dec. 26 (Christmas).

Air Force Reserve Command

A memo circulating on social media says that AFRC has rescinded all of its Family Days. The command did not immediately respond to a query from Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Still Deciding

Air Force Special Operations Command

AFSOC is still finalizing its updated Family Days schedule, an official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Some previously scheduled days are likely to be cancelled.

Air Combat Command

“In accordance with the Secretary’s guidance regarding family days, ACC is reviewing our policy and updates are forthcoming,” an official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Individual commanders still have the authority to issues passes in the meantime.

Pacific Air Forces

“Pacific Air Forces is reviewing its own policy on leave and passes, balancing the resiliency and personal readiness of our Airmen, and their families, with our collective warfighting readiness,” an official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Space Training and Readiness Command

STARCOM officials did not immediately respond to a query.

Air Force Still Planning a Nuclear Microreactor in Alaska—and More After That

April 23, 2025 | By Matthew Cox

By the end of this decade, the Air Force could begin equipping up to nine bases with self-sufficient nuclear microreactors as part of an effort to unplug from local commercial power grids and satisfy a growing demand for secure, reliable power sources that are more protected from cyberattacks and natural disasters.

One is set to be at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, as part of a project that was delayed 18 months from bid protests of the service’s selection process. Despite the setback, the Air Force hopes to announce a commercial firm to build the microreactor this year.

The rest of the microreactors will come from the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program, known as ANPI, a Defense Innovation Unit effort launched last year with the Air Force and the Army. The DIU program recently selected eight commercial firms that will be eligible for contracts to build microreactors on select installations to meet the need for independent power sources.

“We have growing critical-mission need areas in both the Air Force and on the Space Force … we have our own data centers, so think about [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] feed, downlink stations from satellites– so we need to make sure that we’re able to support artificial intelligence for doing our own intelligence review,” Nancy Balkus, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Infrastructure, Energy and Environment, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Balkus added that nuclear power will allow these installations to “operate independently from the commercial grid. … So when there is some type of an impact, whether it’s a natural disaster, just a severe weather event, or cyber attack–which we’ve already seen multiple times in control systems for utility systems–we want to make sure that we have a resilient energy solution that offers security from all of those things.”

If all goes well, the Air Force will build a 5-megawatt microreactor at Eielson that will supplement its 15-megawatt coal plant before 2030, Balkus said, explaining that after a series of protests, Defense Logistics Agency Energy—the agency overseeing the Air Force project—has been able to remediate the acquisition strategy.

“I’m anticipating that we will be able to make an announcement, perhaps as early as this summer, but maybe later this year,” said Balkus, who is unsure whether the project can recover from the 18-month delay and still meet the 2027 completion deadline outlined in the fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

“I’m hoping that our Eielson reactor will be [completed] before 2030,” she said.

DIU’s Director of Energy Andrew Higier had a slightly longer timeline, saying he is confident that the commercial microreactor industry has matured enough to begin delivering safe, government licensed microreactor prototypes for the ANPI project by “the early 2030s.”

“If you would have asked me three years ago, I probably would have said, we won’t do a nuclear project, but now here we are, and that’s because that commercial sector has grown,” he said.

Commercial companies have recognized that the surge in demand for artificial intelligence will require power generated by microreactor technology, Higier said.

“There are now private sector companies, some of the big name ones … the Googles and Metas of the world that are looking to leverage micro and small reactors for their data centers,” he said. “The reality is now there’s a large private sector capital investment being poured into this technology. There’s no longer just a defense need for this.”

Higier added that commercial microreactors of the scale and size needed for DIU’s program do not yet exist, “so I think in this particular instance, we are actually looking to help catalyze the industry, as opposed to just directly leveraging the industry.”

In early April, DIU selected the following eight firms to be eligible for prototyping contracts under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations effort:

Antares Nuclear Inc.

BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems

Kairos Power LLC

Oklo Inc.

Radiant Industries Incorporated

Westinghouse Government Services

X-Energy LLC

The Air Force and DLA Energy originally intended to award the Eielson contract to Oklo, before rescinding that notice of intent after a protest. Radiant and Westinghouse also presented briefings on their designs, according to a project update in January 2024.

Higier said the next step will involve sending request for prototype proposals to these firms, most likely before fiscal 2025 ends in September.

While he would not discuss specifics of source selection, Higier then said the effort will go into a “crawl, walk, run” approach.

“We will approach this carefully and deliberately with milestones in the contracts that get us our best chance of success,” he said.

Part of that approach will be reducing the risks associated with this type of nuclear power as much as possible, Balkus said.

“There are risks with any new technology. … However, I think the benefits outweigh any risks that there are. And let’s be clear up front, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing process looks at every single angle of every risk area that there is with the safety of the reactor portion, as well as the environmental impact of putting a microreactor” on a base,” Balkus said.

The reactor designs for this effort come from proven reactor technology that is “intrinsically safe,” said Kirk Phillips, director of the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance.

“One of the things we also really like is that they do have a significant amount of shielding and protection that is part of the design,” Phillips said. “It’s greatly dependent on the specific vendor and their designs, but those things make them easily hardenable from an external attack, so more than just risk or contamination, we also need it to survive and do its job.”

Air Force officials said it is too early to discuss which bases will be selected as sites for future microreactors. Under a process dubbed Department of Defense Advanced Reactor Criteria Baseline Understanding for Enterprise Scaling, or DARC BlUES, Air Force officials will examine the needs of both the Air Force and Space Force to make its selections.

“We want to have a data-driven, decision-making method to be able to identify what are the best installations that have the most critical mission areas that would benefit most from the benefits of advanced nuclear energy,” Balkus said “What is the mission criticality? How can we get it to [be] cost-effective, because while there are many benefits to nuclear, we wouldn’t want to pursue a nuclear solution if there was a more cost-effective energy solution other than nuclear.”

There are states such as Alaska and Texas that have “passed nuclear-friendly laws” that will influence the selection process, Balkus siad.

“That’s a really important factor too, because if the state and local regulatory laws are not supportive, then that’s a factor we also want to consider,” she said.

The Air Force is also in the process of determining how many bases will be involved in the effort, a decision that will also depend on available funding sources, Balkus said.

“We are developing a [list] so that depending on site-specific criteria and funding to be able to implement them–whether it’s DOD funding or whether it’s private capital funding–will determine how many locations we would implement,” she said.

While these will be prototyping contracts and not production ones, Higier said he is confident the effort could yield multiple microreactor prototypes for the Air Force as well as the Army.

“Within the bounds of the prototype contract, we are not really very limited. In other words, there’s quite a bit of room here for the Army to get what they want, the Air Force to get what they want,” he said, explaining that it’s possible that each vendor could do “at least one or two sites.”

“If the Army wants those eight vendors … and the Air Force wants those eight vendors, and they want different sites, that’s going to be OK.”

Airmen Confused and Understaffed for Elements of ACE, Report Says

April 22, 2025 | By David Roza

The Air Force must better explain Agile Combat Employment concepts, align training standards, and address staff shortages to be ready to implement the strategy, according to a new report by the federally funded RAND Corporation.

ACE involves Airmen working in small teams and rapidly moving between expeditionary airfields to avoid being targeted by enemy missiles and other long-range weapons. Service officials bill ACE as the key to success in a conflict against Russia or China, but it marks a shift from the past quarter-century of the Global War on Terror, where Airmen generally operated in large groups from permanent bases with steady supply streams and communications.

ACE requires mission-ready Airmen, the Air Force’s term for troops who can operate in small, multifunctional teams in contested and austere locations.

“However, the road to implementation of MRA has been anything but straightforward, particularly for Airmen in combat support communities, such as maintenance, logistics, engineering, and force protection,” RAND wrote in its April 18 report.

Combat support Airmen fix aircraft, maintain runways, move cargo around base, and defend the flightline, but they don’t typically organize and train as multifunctional teams, RAND noted. The Air Force asked RAND to help chart a path for preparing these Airmen for ACE, and the think tank grouped its findings into three focus areas: organizing, training, and cross-cutting issues.

Organizing

Within organization, RAND found two key themes: there is still confusion about how Air Force units are organized for ACE, and finding enough combat support Airmen to support those units will be a challenge.

Alongside ACE, the Air Force is introducing Air Task Forces, then Combat Wings, as the units of action that will present operational capability to joint force commanders. ATFs and Combat Wings are meant to provide more stability for Airmen and enhance effectiveness by allowing them to train together for longer.

Among the formations are Mission Generation Force Elements and Mission Sustainment Teams. The MGFEs include aircraft and the maintenance Airmen who fix them, while the MSTs include engineers, security forces, and other roles who help the MGFE work from austere locations.

But RAND found confusion about the operational relationship between the two kinds of groups. A representative from Air Mobility Command told RAND that MSTs are expected to attach to mobility MGFEs, but an Air Combat Command said combat MGFEs would include some combat support Airmen that would make attaching an MST unnecessary.

“The main implication of this confusion is that it could result in redundancies of [combat support] training … and manning if MSTs do not deploy” to contingency locations, RAND wrote. It also could lead to some Airmen being unqualified to deploy to a contingency location if they have to work in an MST or MGFE with a different understanding of the concept.

The Air Force ought to clarify the relationship between MSTs and MGFEs, RAND wrote, but another challenge is finding enough Airmen to staff those units.

“Indeed, our interview participants indicated that not having enough [combat support] Airmen to send to ATF elements is one of the top impediments for organizing Airmen in the ATF elements,” RAND said.

Multiple factors contribute to the shortage, including the fact that such Airmen provide both in-garrison support and operational mission support, making it difficult to put experienced Airmen on an ATF without hurting in-garrison work.

RAND recommended adjusting ATF requirements to accommodate a broader range of skill levels or specialties, reducing stovepipes that limit how Airmen are assigned and employed, and shifting some base support functions to civilians to free up Airmen for operational mission support.

Training and Proficiency

ACE preparations for combat support Airmen are further clouded by unclear training and proficiency standards, which interviewees feared would lead to different levels of preparedness between units and lead to wings not prioritizing mission-ready training for support Airmen.

“USAF would need to ensure that the tasks for which Airmen are to be trained to the proficient level occur with regularity,” RAND wrote.

The think tank recommended the Air Force set cross-utilization training standards, as well as a qualification program to certify that combat support Airmen are meeting mission-ready standards. The Air Force should also assign proficiency targets for ACE training events so that units can ensure they’re ready for deployment, RAND said.

Cross-Cutting Issues

Like the relationship between MSTs and MGFEs, RAND also noted confusion at the wing level and below about what qualifies as a mission-ready combat support Airmen.

“Although this lack of clarity on the definition might not affect much in the short term, some interviewees and workshop participants cited long-term challenges, such as variation in … training standards across wings,” RAND wrote. “This can create redundancies and gaps in Airman capabilities if what counts as MRA does not translate across assignments and missions.”

A consistent understanding is even more important as the Air Force switches to a new force generation model that hinges on reaching certain proficiency levels by predetermined points in a rotation cycle, RAND wrote. Still, it’s difficult to know who is proficient when the Air Force lacks a comprehensive proficiency tracking mechanism for mission-ready Airman skills, the think tank said.

A separate RAND report released on April 16 noted the same problem. Subject matter experts told RAND that Air Force Specialty Codes “as currently structured, do not accurately reflect Airmen’s existing skills and abilities; moreover, existing personnel databases and management systems do not comprehensively trackAairmen’s skills.”

RAND’s recommendation for improving how combat support Airmen prepare for ACE include:

Clarify the relationship between MSTs and MGFEs

Make the assignment requirements for ATFs and combat wings more flexible

Consider civilianizing base support functions to address CS manning challenges

Set cross-utilization training standards for CS Airmen

Establish a qualification program to certify MRA training

Assign proficiency targets for training events

Further hone CS ACE capabilities, including capabilities after battlefield attrition, through exercises such as Bamboo Eagle

Develop and disseminate a more detailed definition(s) of MRA for MAJCOMs and wings to communicate expectations to Airmen

Establish a way to track CS MRA skills in personnel systems, such as a through a prefix to an AFSC or a special experience identifier