ACC Boss on Inspections: ‘Pay Attention to the Details’

July 14, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The head of Air Combat Command was not exempt from the order he issued last month directing inspections for tens of thousands of ACC Airmen to ensure they’re dress and personal appearance meets Air Force standards. On July 9, he said, he endured his first “open ranks” inspection since college.

“The headquarters at Air Combat Command lined up in the parking lot, I was leading the formation, and I got inspected myself,” Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said July 10, during a visit to AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “It was the first inspection I’ve had since I was in ROTC. That was a long time ago.”

Wilsbach’s order called out “a discernable decline in the commitment to, and enforcement of, military standards,” generating consternation and pushback from some Airmen. But the ACC commander said standards are essential, and enforcement is necessary to prepare the force for potential peer conflict with the likes of China.

“One of the things that we started with very early in my command is an emphasis on standards and discipline,” said Wilsbach, who took command of ACC in February. “There’s been a bit of controversy, but mostly it’s been positive in that regard.”

Steeling the force to win in battle is like girding a championship football team to win on the field. The players must meet a standard, and learn to expect their teammates to meet those standards too. The NFL Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs didn’t achieve their win on chance alone. They needed to face and overcome tough situations first.

“That’s what I’m talking about with taking care of Airmen; making them strong, making them resilient,” Wilsbach said. “Because if we do end up having to have this fight, the American people are going to expect for the Airmen of this country to do some horrifically difficult things. And if they’re not resilient, and if they’re not strong, they won’t be able to do it. So we’re going to plan on doing hard things together and we’re going to give opportunities to fail. And then leaders are going to coach and mentor.”

While some Airmen argue that open-ranks inspections are “wasting time,” Wilsbach countered that doing little things well is preparation for doing bigger, harder things well.

“What I learned many years ago is if you pay attention to the details, when it gets hard and you need to do something difficult, because you’ve been disciplined to pay attention to the details, you can be good and you can succeed,” he said.

Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Commander of Air Combat Command appeared on Aerospace Nation, a virtual event series produced by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The July 10 interview was hosted by Mitchell Dean Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.). Photo by Mike Tsukamoto/Air & Space Forces Magazine

ACC units have until July 17 to complete unit-level standards and compliance inspections, Wilsbach said.

“What I told the team there after we finished our inspection was that I hope that the captains and lieutenants and the staff sergeants will embrace this, and they’ll make it [part of] their day-to-day operation,” Wilsbach said. “Because frankly, the commander of Air Combat Command doesn’t really have time to be making sure that people have boots that are clean and uniforms that look good and a haircut, etc. Those are things that other people can do. They need me, and the nation needs me to do things that only the commander can do. And so I asked the youngsters to take this on and to police themselves up and to give everybody feedback.”

As part of that trust, Wilsbach said Airmen will be empowered to enforce standards with their peers, subordinates—and even their bosses.

“If we police ourselves, we won’t have to worry about this, but we’ll be paying attention to the details and it will allow us to have discipline to do some very difficult things,” he said.

In addition to open ranks, Wilsbach also said ACC will conduct inspections to see how well units accomplish their missions.

“We’re going to get out there and we’re going to say, ‘Hey, you’re having an inspection today,'” he said. “You generate, you deploy, you employ and you redeploy. And that’s what you’re going to get inspected on.”

The Pentagon Needs a Strategy for Deep Space

July 14, 2024 | By Charles Galbreath

Nestled within the 720 pages of the Senate Armed Services Committee Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2025 are a few short paragraphs directing a briefing “on a strategy for DOD’s activities and interests in cislunar space.”

Senators recognize how important this crucial region of space is, where the gravitational pulls of the Earth and Moon conflict and the future of space operations grow more complex.

There are grave national security risks at play if the United States cedes any advantage in the cislunar regime to China or others with ambitions to dominate lunar or deep space exploration.

Establishing a DOD Cislunar Strategy is the first step in aligning the military resources, capabilities and requirements to accelerate and secure scientific and economic ventures on and around the Moon. The report directs the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, in coordination with the Chief of Space Operations and the Commander of U.S. Space Command, to brief congressional defense committees on the new strategy by May 31, 2025. It’s an ambitious schedule, but achievable and necessary to inform the fiscal 2025 budget timeline.

While this will be a DOD-wide strategy, the bulk of the work will fall to the Space Force.

The Senate committee laid out nine goals for the strategy, but the most important ones are to define DOD’s goals and priorities; assess potential threats; identify key partnerships; specify required investments; and enumerate necessary force structure changes. These last two elements are critical to the Space Force, which is not quite five years old, but already stretched too far and given too little. Indeed, the President’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget included a cut for the Space Force.

Directing a cislunar strategy affords the Space Force a huge opportunity to define its future and the resources it will need to make that vision come true.

Yes, competition in cislunar space is a long-term game, and there are numerous near-term challenges the Space Force faces now. It will need additional resources to address those, let alone what’s needed in the cislunar region.

The proposed funding cut for 2025 will delay the U.S. military’s ability to achieve space superiority, a huge risk at a time when China and Russia are both showing increasing aggression in space. Such an ill-timed cut must be corrected, and soon.

Defining a clear strategy for future missions can help make that clearer to the decision makers who hold the purse strings. It takes years to develop and field any capability in space, and the challenges will be even greater in the cislunar regime. But the stakes could not be higher: China is racing ahead, most recently completing a sample return mission from the far side of the Moon.

In the ongoing competition with China, there are sprints and marathons. The Space Force must be prepared to win both.

The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MISPACE) examined the cislunar challenges in a recent report, which likened the region to “the First Island Off the Coast of Earth.” That’s how China sees it, just as it sees Taiwan and the first island chain off its coast as part of China. The People’s Republic is competing to win the new race to the Moon as the first step in its quest to overtake the United States and become the world’s technological, political, and economic leader.

The United States must compete to ensure that quest never becomes reality.

A concerted, whole-of-government effort is required now to ensure free and open access to space and that no nation, especially a rival, can take a dominant position in such a critical region. A DOD cislunar strategy will be a key first step in that direction, one that will undoubtedly drive the necessary further expansion of our Space Force.

The Senate should embrace the wisdom displayed here by the Senate Armed Services Committee and approve the measure. The House should likewise embrace the effort. It costs little to develop a strategy, but the payoffs to having one will be unparalleled.

The race for space is on again. DOD and Congress must work together to ensure that the Space Force has the resources it needs to win.

B-52 Maintenance Might Get A Lot Easier Thanks to This Airman

July 12, 2024 | By David Roza

Keeping a 60-year-old B-52 bomber ready to fly takes hard work, and poor tools make that work even harder. At the 307th Maintenance Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., Tech Sgt. Jermey Vickers noticed one tool in particular was slowing down the process: the metal stands maintainers use to get up close to the wings and engines.

“The maintenance stands we were using had been purchased in 1994 and you couldn’t get parts to fix them anymore,” Vickers said in a July 11 press release. “They also were purchased used, so it’s difficult to know how old they are.”

The stands are a headache during a B-52 phase maintenance inspection, a weekslong process where dozens of maintainers have to work on the plane at the same time. The problem is that the current stands can support only two people at once, so Airmen must keep setting them up, taking them down, and setting them up again as they inspect different parts of the jet.

“Those stands were heavy and required a couple of people to move them, so there was a lot of potential for safety risks,” Vickers said.

But the tech sergeant had a solution: design his own stands. The process began six years ago, when he drew up the first blueprints and reached out to a company that could produce them. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed the effort, and it took three years to fund the project, but after working with the 307th Bomb Wing Safety Office and Air Force Reserve Command, Vickers eventually managed to secure more than $6,000 in National Guard and Reserve Equipment Appropriations (NGREA) funding.

“He was extremely persistent and stayed the course,” David Griffore, the wing’s occupational safety supervisor, said in the release.

An Engine Pod Stand runs the length of a B-52 Stratofortress wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, July 3, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Ted Daigle)

When the Engine Pod Stands arrived earlier this year, Vickers put the segments together and ensured the hydraulics lifts worked correctly. The stands finally debuted on July 1 for a phase inspection, and they are already making a difference.

“With the old stands, it took over an hour to get ready just to work on an engine,” Vickers said. “With the Engine Pod Stand, we are ready to go in five minutes.”

The stands can be set up in different configurations: one arrangement provides a fixed platform stretching the length of the roughly 90-foot wing, while another uses a hydraulic lift to raise a smaller platform up to the engines or other components.

Still, Vickers plans to refine the stand if other maintenance squadrons want to adopt it too. Whether the 307th will buy more is yet to be decided, said wing spokesperson Senior Master Sgt. Ted Daigle.

“Although the stands are very effective in their first use, Vickers wants to ensure their long-term viability before committing to more,” Daigle told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

b-52 maintainer — Senior Airmen Alexander Orta, with the 2nd Maintenance Squadron, and Tech. Sgt. Michael Starkey, assigned to the 307th Maintenance Squadron, use a new Engine Pod Stand to perform a Phase inspection on a B-52 Stratofortress at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, July 3, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Ted Daigle)

Vickers is the latest in a long line of inventive, persistent maintainers improving on Air Force platforms and processes. Airmen at the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing, for example, manage to keep 40-year-old F-15C fighter jets flying with spare parts made in-house at the wing’s metals technology shop.

Meanwhile, Airmen at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, saved the Air Force millions of dollars by inventing 3D-printed magnetic sensor covers for the F-35 fighter, a vast improvement over the fragile, expensive sensor covers that originally came with the jet.

Inventions like these help make maintenance a little easier, which helps make for healthy aircraft.

“We’ve already halved the engine-top inspection time,” Vickers said. “So our maintainers are loving it.”

Get Space-Based Targeting Data ‘to Right People at Right Time,’ Says Nominee

July 12, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The prospective next head of the Pentagon’s intelligence enterprise will face dicey challenges guiding how space-based tracking and targeting duties will be split among multiple agencies, but at her July 11 confirmation hearing she promised to stress the importance of collaboration and sharing.

Tonya P. Wilkerson, deputy director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and nominated to become undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, was questioned re[eatedly by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee about how intelligence and military agencies can better deliver moving target indication (MTI) from space.

With the Pentagon phasing out older airborne platforms, like the E-3 AWACS and E-8 JSTARS, space-based sensors are needed to assist in directing fires against enemy targets. But turf disputes over who owns what and what data can be shared with who, and how fast, remain, frustrating military commanders.

The Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency all gather space-based intelligence. All have expressed interest in both new targeting satellites and leveraging commercial satellite data for targeting. But reports and public comments make clear tension and disagreement remains.

At the GEOINT Conference in May, Space Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. argued against “anything that introduces delay in data being provided to commanders and shooters to either defend themselves and their team or prosecute, close with and destroy the adversary.”

“Operational headquarters and agencies back in the rear don’t win or fight conflicts,” Miller added. “It’s not about offline analysis. It’s providing that directly to the shooters so that they can provide the effects on the battlespace that we need.”

Soon after, NGA Director Rear Adm. Frank Whitworth—Wilkerson’s current boss in her role as deputy director—told conference attendees that “for anyone who suggests we’re not moving as rapidly as possible—in our actions and our products—let me be clear: That’s a complete myth.”

Wilkerson, if confirmed, would bring years of experience at NGA and NRO to her new role, which would also entail working out the kinks between those agencies and the Space Force. Congress designated the Secretary of the Air Force as the primary authority for for presenting tactical ISR to combatant commanders. But how that happens, and who owns the sensors generating that ISR, is still being worked out.

In both his opening statement and questioning, SASC chair Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) pressed Wilkerson on how the NRO, NGA, and other agencies can “continue to assist the Space Force in providing space-based ISR support to the combatant commanders for their tactical level operations.”

Wilkerson responded: “I am very, very much tracking the current direction and am supportive of the decisions that have been made to date by the Secretary and the [Director of National Intelligence],” she said. “What I would look to do, if confirmed, is ensure that we don’t take our eye off the ball of ensuring that the right information is getting to the right people at the right time, which is really the outcome that we’re trying to drive with respect to the new architecture.”

Officials from both the Space Force and NRO said recently that the NRO will lead the acquisition process and the Space Force and NRO will jointly fly satellites “shoulder to shoulder,” and that the combatant commands will have authority to task the Space Force and NRO. The Space Force chose command and control for MTI as a “quick start” program recently, using new authority to proceed with a program without specific congressional approval. Also recently, the NRO launched two batches of satellites into low-Earth orbit. Although their exact mission remains unclear, a constellation in LEO could provide effective MTI.

Some experts want the Space Force to go its own way, however, and build its own targeting satellite constellation from scratch. That would provide a tactica/strategic divide, with the Space Force focused on support for troops on the tactical level and the intelligence community focused on strategic-level ISR.

Wilkerson disagreed with that approach. “I think there’s always opportunity space to continue to strengthen the interaction between organizations,” she said. “I wouldn’t necessarily indicate that it’s a problem. I would rather note that there’s an opportunity space for continued engagement.”

Sen. Mark Rounds (R-S.D.) urged Wilkerson to ensure space-based targeting is done under military “Title 10” authorities, not the intelligence community’s “Title 50” authorities.

Wilkerson agreed to do so, noting that MTI is “a topic of high interest at this time.”

Wilkerson also faced questions from senators worried about the Pentagon’s security clearance processes, which have come under scrutiny with the massive leak of intelligence from Senior Airman Jack Teixeira, a subsequent Pentagon-wide review, and a GAO report on years of mismanagement when it comes to modernizing the system.

Pledging to foster a “culture of individual and collective accountability” to stop leaks, Wilkerson also acknowledged that the GAO report identified many problems and recommendations to work on as she hopes to oversee the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.

Warrant Officer Selection Rates Will Be Low with Fierce Competition, Few Spots

July 12, 2024 | By David Roza

The application process for the Air Force’s first batch of warrant officers in 66 years looks to be a fiercely competitive one, with nearly 500 Airmen applying for just 60 slots.

About 490 Airmen across the Active-Duty, Reserve, and Guard components applied to attend Air Force Warrant Officer Training School, which will train two eight-week classes of about 30 candidates each. The first class starts this October and the second starts in early 2025.

The Air Force and Space Force are the only military services currently without warrant officers, who fill technical rather than leadership functions in the other military branches. But today the Air Force sees the reintroduction of warrant officers as a way to maintain an edge in two fast-moving technical fields: information technology and cybersecurity.

Since only 60 spots are available, the rejection rate for the 490 or so applicants will be around 88 percent just to land a spot at the warrant officer training school.

Of the 490 applications, about 57 were quickly turned away due to not meeting eligibility requirements or having incomplete application packages. That means the remaining 433 applicants face a slightly-better 86 percent rejection rate for a chance of landing a spot at warrant officer school.

The data per component, broken down by rank, gender, and age, when available, is listed below:

Eligible Air Force Warrant Officer Applicants By Rank

Component	E-5	E-6	E-7	E-8	E-9
Active	73	132	93	3
Reserve*	10	16	16	2
Guard	16	42	26	2	1
Total	99	190	135	7	1

*The Reserve applicants included one O-3

Eligible Air Force Warrant Officer Applicants By Gender

Component	Male	Female
Active	277	24
Reserve	42	3
Guard	74	13
Total	393	40

Eligible Air Force Warrant Officer Applicants By Age**

Component	20-25	26-29	30-34	35-39	40+
Active	12	63	110	99	17
Reserve		6	11	17	11
Total	12	69	120	116	28

** Data on the age of Air National Guard warrant officer applicants was not available.

The applicants came from a range of career fields including cyber defense and cyber warfare, intelligence analysis, cryptologic language analysis, aerospace ground equipment specialists, health services management, mental health services, special investigations, and military training instructors.

Applicants had to be at the rank of staff sergeant and above, at the age of 42 or younger, and with a minimum five years’ time in service by July 24. Though applicants could come from any career field, they had to meet a range of qualifications in cybersecurity and information technology.

The application period opened on April 25 and closed on May 31. The selection board met from June 24-28, and selectees will be notified in late July. Upon graduating, the new warrant officers will be assigned to units supporting both the Air Force and joint force operational requirements, according to a press release late last month.

Future classes will be announced each year. It is unclear at this point how many warrant officers the Air Force hopes to train, but planning documents obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine in February show that the pipeline could scale up to 200 junior warrant officers and 50 senior warrant officers per year. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in March that he expects the program will eventually expand to other career fields, pending how successful it is in cyber and IT.

NATO Sounds Alarm on China’s Advances in Space and Nuclear, Ties with Russia

July 11, 2024 | By Chris Gordon and Unshin Lee Harpley

NATO leaders gathered in Washington D.C. for the alliance’s 75th anniversary summit said they were alarmed by China’s ambitions and aggression in nuclear, space, and cyberspace on top of its deepening ties with Russia, calling on the People’s Republic of China to act more responsibly.

“The PRC continues to rapidly expand and diversify its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems,” the Washington Summit Declaration, released July 10, stated. “We urge the PRC to engage in strategic risk reduction discussions and promote stability through transparency.”

The declaration also said allies were concerned about “developments in the PRC’s space capabilities and activities.”

China’s advancements in nuclear weapons and space in recent years have sparked widespread apprehension, with U.S. analysts and military leaders frequently highlighting Beijing’s extremely rapid progress. China currently operates nearly 500 intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance satellites, forming a formidable “sensor-shooter kill web” that poses significant risks to U.S. forces, and the Pentagon estimates China could possess over 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030, many of which will be deployed at heightened readiness levels, with plans for continued expansion.

NATO leaders said China’s cyber ambitions exacerbate the threat. The declaration condemns Beijing’s “malicious cyber and hybrid activities, including disinformation,” targeted at both the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. and its allies have reported increasing espionage and hacking attempts from China this year. Early this week, NATO allies raised red flags about a Chinese government-linked hacking group targeting business and government information.

“If we as a group of industry and nations don’t take steps to secure cyberspace now, we could find ourselves in a very bad place,” Robert Blair, senior director for national security and emerging technology at Mircosoft, said at NATO’s public forum on July 11. He added that NATO needs a common pact on cybersecurity, focusing on both attribution and cyber deterrence, labeling the increasing risk as an “immediate threat.”

Beijing’s growth in these sectors, coupled with its ties with Russia, remains a “profound concern” and a security challenge for NATO, officials said, as they work to build resilience, preparedness, and protection against China’s “coercive tactics and efforts to divide the Alliance.”

The official declaration saw strong condemnation of China, labeling Beijing as a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine” due to its “large-scale support” for Russia’s defense industrial base.

“We call on the PRC, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” the declaration stated. “This includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defense sector.”

“China is propping up Russia’s war economy,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg added July 11. “This is not just a temporary coalition of convenience, it is a major strategic shift.”

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the declaration’s language on China is purposefully “harsh” because while China may not be providing Russia directly with weapons like North Korea or Iran, it is offering “industrial assistance and maintaining trade” with Moscow.

Concerns over China’s military ties with Russia have prompted NATO to increase its focus on Indo-Pacific partnerships. Member nations have expanded dialogue, increased economic cooperation, and staged joint military exercises with countries including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan, who all attended the summit.

“China is an increasing concern for us, helping Russia with military equipment and doing a lot of things that the sanctions against Russia is aiming to stop,” said Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of Sweden, which joined the alliance this year. “It also emphasizes the need to cooperate with the Indo-Pacific region. … Security nowadays is now a very global thing, not a regional thing.”

China is lashing out against the 32-member states’ collective statement. China’s foreign ministry said the Washington Summit Declaration is a “scaremongering piece about the Asia-Pacific,” denying responsibility for the war in Ukraine.

“Its paragraphs on China contain a load of biases, smears, and provocations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters on July 11. “NATO has been spreading disinformation created by the U.S. and blatantly smearing China to undermine China’s relations with Europe and hamper China-Europe cooperation.”

But NATO officials said China’s activities have also drawn Asian countries closer to the alliance.

“What happens in Ukraine today can happen in Asia tomorrow,” Stoltenberg said in remarks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida July 11.

F-35 Deliveries Can Resume Immediately With ‘Truncated’ TR-3 Software

July 11, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Lt. Gen. Michael J. Schmidt, F-35 program executive officer, has approved use of “truncated” Tech Refresh 3 software, clearing the way for deliveries of more than 90 F-35s sitting in storage to U.S. military services and foreign users, the Joint Program Office announced July 11.

Schmidt approved the move July 3. The JPO said Schmidt took the action “after extensive coordination with the services, Joint Strike Fighter Executive Steering Board, pilots, maintainers, and industry.”

Deliveries of the F-35 have been on pause for a year now, as the TR-3 software—meant to underpin a host of Block 4 improvements to the jet—remains in flight testing. The jets in storage were built with TR-3 processors and other hardware.

A few months ago, manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the JPO agreed to accept a “truncated” version of TR-3 to get deliveries going again. The F-35 steering group—comprised of partners and users of the multiservice, multinational fighter—approved the plan to release jets with an incomplete TR-3 software package.

Yet Schmidt had been waiting for clear evidence that the truncated software is stable and safe for flight. Test pilots reported as recently as May that the software was still unstable and required in-flight rebooting multiple times per sortie.

Schmidt’s action means Lockheed Martin can resume deliveries of the F-35s as early as July 11, government sources said. The JPO is expected to issue a statement when the first aircraft is delivered and accepted, a process named for the associated Defense Contract Management Agency form, the DD-250. This will happen in “the near future,” the JPO said in a brief press statement.

Lockheed has said it can deliver the F-35s at the rate of one plane per day, but the Government Accountability Office recently pointed out that the company has never before achieved that rate. Even if that rate is achieved, it will take more than a year to catch up on deliveries to where all stored aircraft have been handed over to their users. Complicating the math is the fact that F-35s are still being produced, requiring faster delivery than production. Lockheed has a goal to deliver 156 F-35s per year by 2025.

The hold on deliveries has thwarted absorption plans at user squadrons worldwide, disrupting the training of pilots and maintainers and delaying the divestment or retirement of older fighters, such as the F-16.

Denmark recently recalled F-35s it had stationed at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., in order to facilitate pilot and maintainer training at its domestic F-35 unit.

The TR-3 package of powerful new processors, displays and software is the basis for the Block 4 upgrade of the F-35 fleet; the configuration the Air Force has been waiting on to amp up its purchases of the fighter. However, delays in testing and development of some new capabilities prompted Schmidt to tell Congress this spring that the Block 4 will be “reimagined,” with some new features not coming until the 2030s.

Although neither Lockheed nor the JPO will discuss where the F-35s are being stored due to operational security, sources said the majority are parked at facilities near the company’s Fort Worth, Texas, manufacturing plant. The jets are still technically “owned” by Lockheed until they are delivered, but the DCMA has suggested the company’s liability for damage during the long storage period may be limited.

Lockheed has declined to disclose how the fighters have been stored; whether they’ve had their openings sealed to prevent intrusion of pests—akin to what is done with jets in long-term storage at the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.—or whether they are put in hangars to prevent weather damage, and whether they are occasionally run to lubricate their systems.

Maj. Gen. Joe Engle, X-15 Pilot and Shuttle Astronaut, Dies at 91

July 11, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Joe Henry Engle, test pilot, Apollo-era astronaut, and the only American to fly two different winged vehicles into space, died July 10 at the age of 91.

Engle made 16 flights in the high-speed X-15 research aircraft; on three of those flights, he ascended above 50 miles, earning him astronaut wings. He flew approach and landing tests in the Enterprise shuttle prototype, and commanded two shuttle missions in space: the second shuttle flight, STS-2, aboard Columbia in 1981, and STS-51I, the 20th shuttle mission, which in 1985 deployed three commercial satellites from Discovery.

Engle flew more than 185 different aircraft—38 of them fighter/attack types—and amassed more than 15,000 flight hours, including 9,000 jet hours. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving X-15 pilot out of only 12 men to fly that craft.

Engle was born in Kansas in 1932 and earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Kansas in 1955, receiving a commission in the Air Force through the ROTC program there. While in college, he earned his private pilot license. In 1958, he won his Air Force wings and was assigned to fly the F-100 Super Sabre at George Air Force Base, Calif.

Just three years later, he graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School and was assigned to test fighter aircraft, including most of the Century Series fighters. Soon after, he was assigned to the Aerospace Research Pilot School. Engle was selected for the third NASA astronaut group, but the Air Force pulled his application because it wanted him for the X-15 program, to which he was assigned in 1963. In June 1965, he made his first flight above 50 miles and qualified for astronaut wings. His last flight in the X-15 was on Oct. 14, 1965, another suborbital space flight.

In 1966 he applied to NASA again and was chosen for the fifth group, becoming the youngest astronaut in the program and the only one to have previously flown in space.

In the Apollo program, Engle was the backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 14 and was selected to be the lunar module pilot on Apollo 17. When budget cuts eliminated the last three Apollo moon missions and it was clear Apollo 17 would be the last moon landing, NASA replaced Engle with Harrison Schmitt, a geologist, in order to get at least one scientist-astronaut on the moon. Engle accepted the decision gracefully and for his next assignment was offered a choice between the Skylab program, the Apollo-Soyuz test project, or the Space Shuttle. Engle chose the latter.

In 1977, Engle flew approach and landing tests on the Enterprise, NASA’s non-spaceworthy test shuttle built to explore approach-and-landing procedures. In those tests, the Enterprise was carried to 25,000 feet atop a 747 freighter and released to fly a dead-stick (unpowered) glide to landing, as would all subsequent shuttles.

Engle was the backup commander to John Young for the first shuttle mission, STS-1, and commanded STS-2, flying with pilot Richard Truly. The two-day mission in November 1981, was a second shakeout flight for the shuttle Columbia, and the first use of the “Canadarm” space crane/manipulator arm.

He later commanded STS-51I, with a crew of five, on a seven-day mission from August-September 1985 that included a 12-hour spacewalk for two of the crew to retrieve and repair LEASAT-3, a military communications satellite, and deployment of three commercial satellites.

While on astronaut flight status, Engle served as deputy associate administrator of NASA for manned spaceflight for most of 1982. He later participated in the investigation into the loss of the Challenger shuttle in 1986.

Throughout his NASA career, Engle retained his Air Force commission. His last Active-Duty assignment was as assistant to the commander-in-chief of North American Air Defense Command.

He retired from NASA on Nov. 28, 1986, and from the Air National Guard two days later, promoted to major general upon retirement. In retirement, he was a consultant to various government and corporate aerospace organizations and a technical advisor to NASA’s International Space Station Advisory Committee.

Gen. Kevin Chilton (Ret.) a three-time Shuttle astronaut who commanded STS-76 and later headed Air Force Space Command, told Air & Space Forces Magazine, “What I loved most about Joe was his willingness to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who would ask.” Chilton said he always had lot of questions for Engle “about his experiences in the X-15, and he would always patiently and excitedly answer them and more.” Chilton said Engle had the reputation of being “the best ‘stick and rudder’ man in the business,” and it is “no wonder that Joe uniquely was selected to hand-fly the Space Shuttle through re-entry on STS-2. He paved the way for all of us in the program.”

Engle’s extensive list of honors and decorations include the Defense and Air Force Distinguished Service medals; the Distinguished Flying Cross; two NASA flight medals; the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and NASA Special Achievement Award. The Air Force presented him the Gen. Thomas D. White Space Trophy. He received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Pioneer of Flight Award; the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Iven Kincheloe Award; the Collier Trophy; Goddard Trophy and Harmon Trophy. He was elected to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, the Aerospace Pilot Walk of Honor and the International Space Hall of Fame. In 1964, he was named both the Air Force Outstanding Young Officer of the Year and one of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce’s ten Outstanding Young Men of America. The University of Kanas awarded him its Distinguished Engineering Service Award.

Engle received the Air Force Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

‘Like Your Uncle’s Old Porsche’: Why the Aging C-21 Is Still in High Demand

July 11, 2024 | By David Roza

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. — Air Mobility Command is known for large, lumbering aircraft such as the C-5 transport jet and the KC-135 tanker. But tucked away in a hangar here at AMC headquarters is a fleet of shiny C-21s, zippy business jets that ferry distinguished visitors (DVs), wounded troops, and vital cargo in a hurry.

At an average age of 38.5 years, the C-21 is on the older side, which makes for a unique flying experience.

“It’s like your uncle’s old Porsche,” C-21 evaluator pilot Maj. Angus MacDonald told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “It’s not going to drive as nice as the new Porsche, but it’s pretty cool to drive.”

Like a Porsche sports car, the C-21 also accelerates faster than its airlift peers, both in flight and in terms of preflight preparation.

“It’s a simple aircraft to prep, to hop in, and to take off,” MacDonald said. “The mission can be complex, but the ability to efficiently set up a mission, task a commission, and get the plane off the ground is pretty quick.”

That ability to accelerate is what makes the aging, 19-jet C-21 fleet still in high demand around the world. While the C-130 transport plane can land almost anywhere, and the C-5 can carry small armies across oceans, the C-21 offers short-range rapid delivery for DVs, patients, and essential cargo.

When the demand is “‘Hey, we need this right now and we don’t want to schedule it on a different airplane that’s going to take a while to spin up and get going,’” the C-21 responds, MacDonald said.

A U.S. Air Force C-21 assigned to the 458th Airlift Squadron takes off from Scott Air Force Base, Ill., Feb 26, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by 1st Lt. Sam Eckholm)

Multi-Capable Aircrew

Most C-21 crews are on the younger side: MacDonald estimated that 60 to 70 percent of the 458th Airlift Squadron at Scott Air Force Base are company-grade officers (lieutenants and captains), with a large percentage of those on their first assignment out of pilot training. For younger pilots, flying the C-21 is like stepping back in time to a less-automated age.

“We don’t have a computer that’s going to squawk at you saying ‘this box is in trouble, please pull that circuit breaker,’” the evaluator pilot explained. “You need to know what checklist to run and how to do your own diagnostic. It’s a little bit more rudimentary.”

And that’s just the flying. At the 458th, pilots are also expected to do the preflight logistics, planning, diplomatic clearances, and other details that the Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott usually handles for most other Air Mobility Command units. MacDonald once got a call on a Friday afternoon to bring a presidential advisor back from Mexico City in time for an important meeting in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

Commercial travel and other airlift units were not viable, so the major and another pilot spent all weekend setting up the mission and getting hold of U.S. embassy officials and defense attachés for diplomatic clearance. They managed to bring the advisor back in time—it was not easy, but it was fulfilling.

“There’s a reward afterwards, looking back and saying ‘we definitely accomplished something cool and did a lot of work with just two pilots,’” he said.

c-21 — U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Riley Snowden (left) and Capt. Ramiro Rios, C-21 pilots assigned to the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, fly a mission over the Middle East, Feb. 7, 2018. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Phil Speck)

It also forces younger pilots to grow up fast. MacDonald recalled flying a mission as a first lieutenant with another silver bar-wearer over the Middle East, an uncommon level of responsibility for junior air crew.

“We’ll take a first lieutenant out of undergraduate pilot training and a year from now they could be a full-up aircraft commander flying DVs and aeromedical evacuations,” the major said. “They’re 24, 25 years old and we’re giving them all of this autonomy. It is on them to get it done.”

Connective Tissue

C-21 crews get plenty of practice planning missions due to the high demand for the jet. Most sorties involve ferrying high-level military and civilian leaders. The C-21 crews might fly generals to deliver two different speeches in two different states on the same day, shuttle top Air Force leaders to and from the biannual CORONA conference, or take Pentagon leaders to explain new strategies to their troops.

“The C-21 is the connective tissue to bring those leaders directly to the units that need that information and need it in person,” MacDonald said. “That’s literally what we do.”

c-21 — U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Leonard Isabelle, the Assistant Adjutant General for the State of Michigan, interacts with airman from the 110th Airlift Wing during a C-21 fini-flight at the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base, Battle Creek, Mich., June 15, 2013. ((U.S. Air National Guard photo by Airman Justin Andras)

It’s not exactly luxury flying; the small cabin fills up fast, while the lavatory is a box with a toilet seat on top that slides out from under a jump seat. But the Air Force flies the jet for speed, and that speed saves lives: C-21 crews also fly aeromedical evacuation missions for injured troops, State Department employees, and others in need of urgent higher care. Recent flights involved picking up service members with punctured lungs or late-stage pregnancy issues and flying them back to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany on short notice.

The crew may have as little as two hours to coordinate and brief a critical care action team, get the medical experts on board, and get moving, MacDonald explained. One advantage of the C-21 is that its wide door can accommodate a Spectrum life support system, a kind of mobile hospital bed.

“I thought it was one of the most rewarding missions I have ever done in an aircraft,” a C-21 pilot said about an aeromedical evacuation mission in 2016.

Besides transporting generals and patients, C-21s also act as high-speed couriers for U-2 spy plane logistics, blood supplies for partner forces fighting ISIS, and other important cargo. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, C-21 crews flew classified air tasking orders and intelligence photos to units that could not receive them otherwise.

All of these missions: VIP transport, aeromedical evacuation, and courier, are grouped under the term operational support airlift, MacDonald said. Sometimes those missions involve flying into dangerous territory, leading to the tongue-in-cheek motto “unaware, unafraid,” which highlights C-21 crews’ dedication to carrying out their mission.

“We don’t have any defensive systems on this aircraft, but name a base in CENTCOM and we’ve probably been there,” MacDonald said. “In regards to acceleration: sometimes we don’t even know what we’re going to be asked to do, we’re pretty much unaware, and then we get a mission tasking and we do the best job that we can.”

Leadership from the 379th Expeditionary Operations Group render a salute to a C-21A Learjet assigned to the 912th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron C-21 Detachment, as it taxis towards the runway before its last flight out of Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, June 30, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Leon Redfern)

Looking Ahead

With an average age of 38.5 years, the C-21 fleet is older than many of the pilots who fly it, but recent upgrades keep the jet relevant. Starting in 2017, the Avionics Upgrade Program replaced the cockpit’s analog dials with digital displays, modernized the aircraft’s navigation, communication, and flight management systems, brought the jets in line with Federal Aviation Administration mandates, and improved crews’ ability to work in unfamiliar environments without the usual navigation aids.

The upgrades, plus contract maintainers scrounging spare parts from civilian jets or retired Air Force C-21s, keep the aircraft’s mission capable rate at a remarkable 100 percent, a critical factor considering its high operational tempo. MacDonald estimated that the 458th may be flying more than any other active-duty Learjet squadron in Air Force history.

But the future for the C-21 is uncertain. The Air Force originally had about 80 C-21s when they first entered service in 1984, but cost-cutting efforts shrank the fleet to its current size of just 19 jets split between two locations: Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where the 458th handles operational support airlift in the western hemisphere, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where the 76th Airlift Squadron handles the same responsibility in Europe.

There currently are no public plans to replace the C-21, and an AMC spokesperson said the fleet is currently cycling through a 20,000-hour flight control inspection program in an effort to keep it flying into the 2030s.

“Given the challenging fiscal environment, AMC continues to review each weapon system in the context of our warfighting requirements to ensure we recapitalize and modernize the fleet to meet the mobility demands of the joint force,” the spokesperson said. “AMC values the important contribution to our executive fleet with the operational support airlift mission, and we will continue to monitor these aircraft to ensure they continue to provide safe and reliable airlift.”

In the meantime, MacDonald expects the high demand is here to stay.

“We’re relied on pretty heavily and I think we will continue to be relied on until the 21’s done,” he said. “The plane is not going to last forever but I think the mission will.”