B-2 Damaged Following Emergency Landing and Fire at Whiteman

Dec. 12, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

Editor’s Note: This story was updated the evening of Dec. 12 to include details about the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.

A B-2 Spirit was damaged Dec. 10 after the crew was forced to make an emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the Air Force said. The stealth bombers cost over $1 billion per plane and fewer than two dozen were produced, making any incident a potentially significant event for the service’s bomber fleet. The incident shut down the lone runway at Whiteman, which is the home base for the entire fleet of B-2s.

“A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit experienced an in-flight malfunction during routine operations Dec. 10 and was damaged on the runway at Whiteman Air Force Base after it successfully completed an emergency landing,” a spokesperson for the 509th Bomb Wing said in a statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “There were no personnel injuries. There was a fire associated with the aircraft after landing, and the base fire department extinguished the fire. The incident is under investigation.”

News of the incident and an accompanying photo appeared on the popular unofficial Air Force amn/nco/anco page Facebook page, suggesting the B-2 left the runway at Whiteman and there was a possible fire.

The 509th Bomb Wing confirmed the B-2 suffered damage in an incident and there was a fire. But the spokesperson did not address specific questions about whether the B-2 itself caught fire or how the aircraft was damaged on the runway.

In September 2021, a B-2 was involved in an incident at Whiteman. An Air Force accident investigation found that the aircraft’s landing gear collapsed, causing the aircraft’s left wing to drag across the ground until the plane came to a rest in the grass about a mile from the touchdown point. The pilots were uninjured, but the aircraft incurred a minimum of $10 million in damage, according to the Air Force.

The crew declared an in-flight emergency before attempting to land due to an issue with the B-2’s hydraulic system when they tried to deploy the landing gear on approach to Whiteman, the Air Force’s investigation found. The report said that the left main landing gear collapsed on touchdown despite cockpit indicators showing the landing gear was locked after the crew conducted an emergency extension.

The Air Force only has 20 B-2s in its inventory, and it is unclear how many are operational daily. A B-2 was destroyed in a crash in 2008, and Air Force has gone to great lengths to keep its remaining inventory airworthy after incidents, including major repairs to the aircraft involved in the 2021 incident at Whiteman and a four-year effort to restore an aircraft damaged in a fire in Guam.

The 509th Bomb Wing did not provide details on the extent of the damage to the aircraft that suffered the mishap on Dec. 10. The incident was significant enough base’s sole runway remained closed as of the evening of Dec. 12.

“At this time, the Whiteman Air Force Base runway is closed, and recovery teams are working around the clock to minimize further disruptions,” the 509th Bomb Wing said in a statement.

Air Force Global Strike Command, which is in charge of the Air Force’s fleet of B-2s, said there was “no impact on AFGSC operations” due to the incident.

Whiteman, the home base for the Air Force’s entire fleet of B-2s, recently conducted an “elephant walk” exercise with eight B-2s.

The B-2 is set to be replaced with the newly-unveiled B-21 Raider in the 2030s. However, the B-21 has yet to fly and is still years from entering service, making the small fleet of B-2s precious to the Air Force as the service’s only stealth strategic bombers.

Space Lab Construction Continues at Kirtland—Newest to Test Electronics

Dec. 11, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

A new lab building at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., will house some of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s “irreplaceable” equipment for testing how electronic spacecraft parts will likely stand up against radiation in space.

The FORTRESS lab—short for Facility for Radiation Tolerance Research on Electronics for Space and Strategic Systems—will contain testing equipment such as the sources of radiation with which the lab douses the electronic parts. It will be part of the Space Vehicles Directorate’s larger Radiation Effects Laboratory.

Some 95 percent of U.S. spacecraft are “enabled by electronics produced or researched by this team,” said Erin Pettyjohn, deputy director of the Space Vehicles Directorate, in an announcement.

Several “irreplaceable” pieces of testing equipment made in the 1960s to 1980s will go into the new FORTRESS lab, Kenneth Bole, acting chief of AFRL’s Spacecraft Technology Division, said in an email to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The manufacturers that made the precious articles have since gone out of business, been acquired, or stopped making parts needed to upgrade, maintain, or calibrate the apparatuses.

Researchers availed themselves of some of the equipment in the MISSE series of 16 orbital tests. In the Materials International Space Station Experiment, they first evaluated building materials on the ground, exposing the samples to radiation then analyzing them with processes such as spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and electrical conductance before sending them to the space station for testing in space.

Bole said AFRL doesn’t anticipate any new equipment for the FORTRESS lab right now but that the building can accommodate potential future needs such as “additional accelerated space lifetime sources, a linear accelerator, and wafer probe stations.”

The new $4.5 million, 6,200-square-foot building is going in next to the Deployable Structures Laboratory. That $4 million, 7,000-square-foot lab opened in 2020 to test other spacecraft elements besides electronics.

Also this year at Kirtland, the Space Vehicles Directorate opened the 72-acre Skywave Technology Laboratory including a $3.5 million, 3,500-square-foot office and indoor lab facility near existing radio antennas on a remote part of the base. The Skywave lab studies conditions in the near-Earth space environment.

Meanwhile the new simulation-focused RAPID lab for small satellites—Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development—will offer a collaborative venue for internal and external organizations. The $7.3 million, 14,000-square-foot facility opened this year as well.

Bole said the frequent openings haven’t been part of a larger strategy but instead “driven entirely by mission need and building construction.” He said the “AFRL facilities team has been extremely successful in seeking various sources of funding, such as FLEX-4 and the MILCON process.”

Cotton Takes Command at STRATCOM, Citing ‘New Perils’ in Nuclear Security

Dec. 9, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb.—Air Force Gen. Anthony J. Cotton assumed command of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) in a ceremony here on Dec. 9, putting an Air Force general in charge of America’s nuclear forces at a time of rising nuclear threats around the globe.

“Today, STRATCOM faces new challenges,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd L. Austin III told those gathered for the change of command. “The United States is on the verge of a new phase—one where, for the first time, we face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors. The People’s Republic of China is expanding, and modernizing, and diversifying its nuclear forces. And Russia is also modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal.”

STRATCOM representatives echoed concerns over the state of global nuclear competition. They cited Russia’s war in Ukraine and threats to use nuclear weapons, as well as China’s rapid expansion of its nuclear forces.

“The stakes and the assumptions have changed,” one STRATCOM representative said.

Austin flew into Offutt Air Force Base aboard the E-4B National Airborne Operations Center operated by STRATCOM. The plane is designed to serve as the nation’s nerve center in the event of a catastrophic nuclear attack—underscoring the important role the Department of Defense placed on the occasion.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III arrives at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. on Dec 9, 2022 to participate in the change of command ceremony at U.S. Strategic Command. Staff photo by Chris Gordon.

Cotton took over command from Navy Adm. Charles “Chas” A. Richard, an outspoken leader who often opines on nuclear issues. But Cotton, who previously led Air Force Global Strike Command, has a low profile. Most of Cotton’s public remarks have come during Senate confirmation hearings.

After taking command, Cotton outlined his vision in a speech at STRATCOM’s gleaming, glass-enclosed headquarters, which provided respite from the grey, biting Nebraska weather.

“New perils are ahead of us,” Cotton said. “While the post-Cold War era is over, the competition is underway among major powers to try shape what comes ahead.”

An Air Force general is taking over STRATCOM at a time when the service is charged with extensive modernization of its nuclear enterprise. In the Department of Defense’s recent Nuclear Posture Review, an emphasis was placed on Air Force nuclear-capable programs such as the brand-new B-21 Raider, which the DOD says will eventually number more than 100 aircraft in the Air Force inventory, and the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile to replace the aging Minuteman III. Navy programs that Richard championed, such as the sea-launched cruise missile-nuclear (SCLM-N), are set to be canceled.

The Air Force’s key role in supporting two legs of the nuclear triad was highlighted by Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall’s appearance at the change of command.

“The Air Force is moving fast in the right direction thanks to your leadership,” Cotton said, addressing Kendall in his speech. “Thank you for the confidence and support in me and the steadfast support of the modernization of the two legs of the nuclear triad, which I was responsible for until a couple of days ago. Now I get it all.”

Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere assumed Cotton’s previous position as head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) on Dec. 7. AFGSC forms the majority of America’s deployable nuclear forces and is responsible for the land-based Minuteman III, the current generation ICBM, and America’s strategic bombers, including the nuclear-capable B-52 and B-2 as well as the conventionally-armed B-1. Bussiere will usher in a new era for the Air Force major command, as the U.S. will field its first new strategic bomber in three decades in B-21, which is set to replace the B-2 and B-1, while the Sentinel replaces the Minuteman III.

“To safeguard our status and our capabilities, we can’t settle on the status quo,” Cotton said. “We’re taking actions now. Our mission cannot fail.”

Austin and Cotton reiterated America’s nuclear arsenal ultimately relies on people to make decisions, from intelligence, detection, launch, and targeting. And it requires service members to operate in harm’s way.

“So let us always ensure that the most dangerous weapons ever produced by human science are managed with the greatest responsibility ever produced by human government,” Austin said.

STRATCOM, with its massive nuclear arsenal, embraces the motto “Peace is our profession.” Cotton, a missileer by training who met his wife while serving at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., has spent much of his career around the nuclear enterprise.

“Everything we do is foundational to national and international security,” Cotton said. “It’s not just our nation that’s counting on us.”

USAF Picks Oklahoma Guard Base for New Sky Warden Schoolhouse

Dec. 9, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force selected Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, Oklahoma, to host its formal training unit for the AT-802U Sky Warden—the converted turboprop crop duster aircraft that won U.S. Special Operation Command’s Armed Overwatch contract.

The Oklahoma City base will receive the new Sky Warden, replacing the MC-12W Liberty and its Formal Training Unit currently based there, the service announced Dec. 9. The new Total Force Integration schoolhouse will include 28 aircraft and about 80 personnel as part of the 310th Special Operations Squadron.

The 310th SOS is currently based at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., and flies the U-28A Draco. When it relocates, it will create an active association with the 185th Special Operations Squadron, the Oklahoma Air National Guard unit that has flown the MC-12.

The 185th SOS is part of the 137th Special Operations Wing, one of only two special operations wings in the Air National Guard—it has flown the unarmed MC-12 since 2015.

Sky Warden is a rugged, single-engine turboprop intended to replace the U-28A. It will be both an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft and one that is capable of conducting light strikes in permissive environments—officials have spoken of its ability to “collapse the stack” of up to 20 ISR and armed defense aircraft that are sometimes called in to support missions, providing a broad range of capabilities and needing a very small footprint to operate in austere locations.

In particular, the aircraft will play a key role in SOCOM’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations, Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife previously told Congress.

“The idea of the Armed Overwatch platform is [that] it’s a modular capability and so you can outfit the aircraft with a robust suite of sensors that will exceed what is available with most dedicated ISR platforms today. Or you can outfit the platform with a robust suite of precision munitions,” Slife said. “It really depends on the mission, and so clearly, the Armed Overwatch platform is not a panacea for every tactical situation that a ground force might find themselves in. But for what we envision the enduring counter-[violent extremist organization] mission looking like, we think it’s a prudent investment.”

SOCOM selected Sky Warden over four other finalists for the Armed Overwatch contract in August, in a deal worth $3 billion that could include up to 75 aircraft. The aircraft will first be built by contractor Air Tractor in Texas, then modified for military use by L3 Harris at its facility in Oklahoma.

Initial operating capability is expected in fiscal year 2026.

For Will Rogers, there are still several steps left before a final basing decision is made for the Sky Warden FTU. First, a site survey has been scheduled for spring 2023 to assess “operational requirements, potential impacts to existing missions, housing, infrastructure and manpower,” the Air Force said in a release. Then, an environmental impact analysis will follow in the fall. Officials have said they want to officially stand up the unit by the second quarter of 2024.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12 p.m. Dec. 12 to clarify that the 185th Special Operations Squadron is part of the 137th Special Operations Wing.

More Pay, More Flexible BAH Lay Ahead in 2023 NDAA

Dec. 9, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The 2023 National Defense Authorization bill passed the House Dec. 8 and the Senate is poised to pass it in the next few weeks, paving the way for a 4.6 percent pay raise, a housing allowance increase, the elimination of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and more.

But the authorization bill only directs policy; it takes a Defense Appropriations Act to fund those programs. Lawmakers are still negotiating an omnibus spending bill that would give the federal government a budget. As long as the government continues to operate under a continuing resolution, funding levels are frozen at the previous year’s level and raises to basic pay, BAH, and other accounts are impacted, as Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall outlined in a recent letter to Congress.

What is clear from the 2023 NDAA is that lawmakers want to put more money in troops’ pockets to combat soaring inflation.

Pay and Allowances

At 4.6 percent, the 2023 pay raise is the largest in 20 years and in line with the President’s budget request. On top of that, the NDAA authorizes the Defense Department to increase Basic Allowance for Housing payments by an extra 2 percent. The 2023 rates for BAH have yet to be released.

The bill also would expand eligibility for the new Basic Needs Allowance, which will supplement the pay of junior service members with large families. The initial BNA legislation authorized the payment to service members whose gross family income was up to 130 percent of the federal poverty rate based on the family’s size; under the 2023 NDAA, eligibility would expand to those whose gross family income is up to 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. To receive the supplement, members must apply.

The NDAA also renews the Pentagon’s authority to temporarily adjust BAH rates in response to soaring prices. DOD used this authority in both 2021 and 2022 to adjust rates in places where housing costs exceeded established BAH rates by 20 percent or more, but that authority expired Sept. 30, 2022; under the 2023 NDAA, it is extended through fiscal 2024.

The NDAA also includes a proviso that would require the Pentagon to produce a report on the “efficiency and accuracy of the current system used to calculate BAH.” That system entails surveying roughly 400 rental markets across the country, determining the median price of rent and utilities for six different housing options.

Lawmakers also directed the Pentagon to consider alternatives to the way BAH is now calculated, perhaps including data from local school districts or recalculating BAH more frequently than once a year, and potentially being more transparent in how the BAH formulas are calculated or contracting those calculations out to a civilian vendor.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has pushed for similar ideas as part of her call for a “holistic” review of military compensation.

In addition to BAH, the NDAA also calls for Pentagon leaders to conduct a review of the allowances given to troops for dislocation and relocation when they temporarily or permanently change assignments.

The bill also would require an external study on “the value of basic pay for members of the Armed Forces,” including an assessment of the underlying model used to determine basic pay and whether it needs to be changed. The provision calls for Pentagon officials to provide three briefings to Congressional committees, first in April 2023, then one year after the NDAA is passed, and again a year later.

COVID-19 Vaccine

The NDAA, if passed, will direct the Pentagon to rollback its COVID-19 vaccine requirement, which has been in place since Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered the measure in August 2021. Thousands of service members were discharged or retired because they declined to be vaccinated.

While President Joe Biden and Austin have argued in favor of the vaccine mandate, Congressional Republicans had pressed the issue and Democrats in Congress bowed to the pressure. HASC Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said the situation had changed with the general easing of COVID-19 protocols across the country.

The NDAA also extends a requirement that any service member kicked out for refusing the vaccine receive no less than a general discharge, and requires the Secretary of Defense to submit data quarterly to Congress on religious and medical exemptions to its vaccine requirement until the requirement is dropped.

Recruiting and Retention

The NDAA responds to military recruiting woes with several directives. Lawmakers want a broad review of recruiting data from the services, an evaluation by the Comptroller General on each service’s marketing and recruiting practices, and a report on how DOD advertises itself to racial and ethnic minorities. It also re-authorizes the service secretaries to develop up to three new incentives for new recruits.

In addition to attracting new service members, the NDAA contains sections aimed at improving retention. Specifically, it calls for each department to conduct reviews and share best practices for improving retention for female service members and for special operations forces, a career field that is in constant need of more recruits and can ill afford to lose too many people.

The Air Force in particular could be affected by another provision included in the bill that would require a “study to identify opportunities to provide more support services to, and greater recognition of combat accomplishments” of drone pilots and crew members.

That review would cover everything from the special duty and combat pay available to UAV crew members, to mental health support, safety policies, and career advancement opportunities.

Kendall Warns Congress: Continuing Resolution Stopping 61 New Programs

Dec. 8, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

With a little more than a week to go before the continuing resolution funding the federal government expires, lawmakers in Congress still have yet to reach an agreement on spending—and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall is warning that dozens of programs and projects could be affected if no long-term agreement is reached, according to a letter obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine.

While lawmakers continue to negotiate a spending bill, they have made progress on the National Defense Authorization Act, the annual defense policy bill—the House passed a compromise version of the NDAA on Dec. 8, setting it up for passage in the Senate. The NDAA can authorize maximum spending limits, but it cannot appropriate funds.

All told, a yearlong CR could cost the Department of the Air Force up to $12 billion in buying power, Kendall wrote in the letter to members of Congress.

Even a short-term continuing resolution “threatens DAF readiness, delays military construction projects, reduces aircraft availability and maintenance, hinders the Space Force, and curbs modernization efforts,” Kendall added.

Specifically, Kendall wrote that as long as the government continues to operate under a CR, 61 new programs and 28 military construction projects are unable to start, impacting more than $6 billion worth of efforts.

Those military construction projects include facilities for some of the Air Force’s most important modernization efforts, including the KC-46 tanker, the new B-21 bomber, and the LGM-35 Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Facilities for the European Deterrence Initiative, aimed at combatting Russian aggression, are also affected, as are funds for “Indo-Pacific presence activities,” Kendall wrote. Flight hours and weapons system sustainment are cut, decreasing aircraft fleets’ mission capable rates.

Transfers into the Space Force are delayed, and eight new Space Deltas cannot be activated. Pay raises and increases to allowances cannot go into effect. And production of the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellite is delayed.

The number of new starts and military construction projects affected by the CR exceed what the department faced last year, when 16 new programs and seven construction projects were affected.

Congress didn’t pass a full budget for 2022 until mid-March, nearly six months into the fiscal year. For fiscal 2023, the legislature passed a CR just before the Sept. 30 deadline, funding the government until Dec. 16. Now, with just a few days to go until that expires, Pentagon officials are ramping up pressure on lawmakers to act—Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III sent a letter similar to Kendall’s last week, saying a CR costs the DOD at least $3 billion every month.

Yet Republicans and Democrats remain at odds and seemingly unable to reach an agreement on a so-called “omnibus” spending bill. Indeed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders threatened Dec. 8 to put forward a yearlong CR—exactly the kind of scenario Austin, Kendall, and other officials have warned would deeply damage the military.

“We may just have to go to a CR, which would be most unfortunate, but we have to weigh it against how unfortunate it would be if they cannibalized the domestic budget at the expense of the defense budget,” Pelosi reportedly said. “We need them both.”

CRs have become standard for Congress over the past quarter of a century, with one getting passed every year since 1997. Yearlong CRs, on the other hand, are rare but have occurred before—2007, 2011, and 2013 all saw yearlong CRs for at least part of the federal government.

DOD’s New Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability Will Underpin JADC2 But Require Cultural Shift, Officials Say

Dec. 8, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Department of Defense announced a contract for future cloud services Dec. 7. The effort, Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC), will serve as a pillar of the U.S. military’s future operations, with a top line of $9 billion. It will provide the DOD with enterprise, global cloud services across all security and classification levels.

“This is a huge day for the department and what we can bring to our warfighters, particularly for areas like joint all-domain command and control, JADC2,” John Sherman, the DOD’s chief information officer, told reporters at the Pentagon on Dec. 8, referring to the U.S. military’s concept of more connected sensors and shooters. “We’ve talked about being able to provide that undergirding of the cloud computing that’s going to be there for the combatant commands and many others.”

The contracts for JWCC were awarded to Google, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft. The Pentagon originally had a vision for a single cloud-service provider under the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program, which faced legal challenges over the contract and was ultimately canceled.

The JWCC contract awards run through 2028 and are worth up to $9 billion altogether. However, each vendor is only guaranteed $100,000 and will have to compete for task orders, the DOD’s cyber leaders said.

The DOD’s top cyber officials said having cloud services for many of its capabilities will enable coordination and data sharing on a level that is currently impossible. But they acknowledged that individual services can be territorial and the DOD will need a broad cultural shift to move toward integrated operations and a shift to more shared technology.

“As we move towards an enterprise framework here, which is really what JADC2 is about, and why having JWCC now is so critical to be that binding element here, that compute capability that really spans the entire enterprise, which we haven’t had before—that is a bit of a cultural shift,” Sherman said. “This is a journey to get there to work with our military department colleagues, the combatant commands, the defense agencies, and field activities to lead the cultural piece of this.”

Services are also not used to being forced to share one platform. For example, during recent exercises at Project Convergence, an Army-led exercise to experiment with elements of JADC2, the Army and the Air Force learned that their assets had trouble communicating in an automated way. They thought that might happen because the Army and Air Force did not originally design their assets to talk to each other.

“We’re going to have to be joint, integrated, and we can’t miss a step or time,” said Lily Zeleke, the acting deputy chief information officer for the information enterprise. “What JWCC buys us is speed, scale, security.”

From Zeleke’s point of view, the DOD needs to field the cloud capabilities and then improve its systems.

“This is it,” Zeleke said. “We’re going to have to have the diversity of cloud capabilities and the providers and the technology. As it evolves, it’s going to have to give us—[and] we’re going to have to be able to do—monitoring of the whole environment. We’re going to have to be able to do automation.”

The U.S.’s “pacing” challenge of China, and what the DOD sees as the Chinese military’s desire to disrupt America’s capabilities in a conflict, drives the need to move toward a more modern system for DOD-wide communications, the department’s cyber leaders reiterated during the news conference.

“Where we’re heading, in the environment we’re in, is going to drive us to using JWCC,” Zeleke said.

What Could Be Part of the B-21 ‘Family of Systems’? New Report Offers Some Insight

Dec. 8, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

With the unveiling of the B-21 Raider, speculation and interest in the new bomber have reached a fever pitch, with a first flight still to come in mid-2023.

But the B-21 won’t just be about the large, flying wing aircraft that rolled out in Palmdale, Calif., on Dec. 2. Air Force officials have frequently spoken about the Raider becoming the lead element of a so-called “family of systems,” and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has made defining that family of systems one of his seven “operational imperatives” for the department.

What exactly will be included in that family remains unknown, but a new research paper from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, informed by an unclassified workshop that gathered Air Force leaders, planners, and operators along with industry partners, offers some insight into what might be considered.

“What we haven’t heard much about is the family of systems that is going to accompany [the B-21]. Just dribs and drabs of information. So this report might actually help … get a handle on some of the capabilities that might be in that family of systems, including weapons, that could help reduce risk and increase the effectiveness of our combat forces,” said retired Col. Mark Gunzinger, the Mitchell Institute’s director of future concepts and capability assessments and a co-author of the paper.

The three-day workshop, held this summer, was meant in part to develop concepts for what the Air Force calls “autonomous collaborative platforms”—relatively cheap drones that can fly alongside manned aircraft, operating with some level of independence.

The most high-profile example of these ACPs has been the Air Force’s planned collaborative combat aircraft, intended mainly for fighters. But Caitlin Lee, one of the workshop’s leads and co-author of the paper, noted that in discussions with the Air Force Research Laboratory, officials have said they envision “a whole family of potential capabilities and a range of different mission sets that this could actually involve.”

The workshop was aimed at exploring one of those mission sets—the long-range penetrating strike mission that the B-21 will take on. Three teams of experts were tasked with designing up to three kinds of unmanned aircraft to aid the bomber in strikes against an air base, a maritime threat, and a transporter erector launcher in a hypothetical conflict with China in 2030.

In all three cases, no constraints were put on what kind of aircraft the teams could create, but none of them opted for an “exquisite unmanned fighter” or “exquisite unmanned bomber” that could match the B-21’s range, Lee noted. That’s in line with Kendall’s own comments this past July that the department had determined that a long-range uncrewed escort for the B-21 was cost-prohibitive.

Instead, the three teams created a mix of UAVs, most with a range of a few thousand miles, a few launched from other bombers. And the capabilities given to each varied as well—some designed to provide defensive counterair; others as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms gathering data; others for suppression of enemy air defenses; and still others as escorts.

“Two-thirds of the teams design ACPs for counterair, which really speaks to the need for survivability for these penetrating strike packages, where they’re operating in this highly contested air environment,” Lee said. “ … And then ISR was another really important mission. Three of the ACPs had a primary role for that, but I think all ACPs had sensors of some kind or another, because that tracking, especially mobile targets, in contested airspace is a real challenge.”

Just as notably, the teams sought large quantities of ACPs and were willing to trade off some capability for quantity, Lee noted.

“If the Air Force is able to buy larger numbers of lower-cost ACPs, that could really drive down risk,” Lee said. “And it’s all about the modest platforms in large numbers versus trying to put more sophisticated capabilities to get that operational advantage.”

The exact rundown of the intended missions and numbers of drones the teams in the workshop decided on are as follows:

Maritime threat

ACP 1: Defensive counterair, 40
ACP 2: ISR, communications relay, 10
ACP 3: Strike, 20

Transporter erector launcher

ACP 1: Escort, suppression of enemy air defenses, 10
ACP 2: ISR, Suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), offensive counterair, 144 (24 per bomber)
ACP 3: ISR, SEAD, offensive counterair, 120 (20 per bomber)

Air base attack

ACP 1: Escort, 8
ACP 2: SEAD, 16 initially, increased to 32
ACP 3: Jamming, 8

In all three cases, the workshop experts determined that the addition of these uncrewed teammates reduced risk for the missions. But the authors did note that for the air base attack, in particular, the risk wasn’t driven down as much because the current class of precision-guided munitions require bombers to fly extremely close to targets, assuming a permissive environment.

“So that is a collateral finding and recommendation from this effort—that the Air Force needs to develop those mid-range weapons that will optimize the strike power and lethality of our penetrating assets,” Gunzinger said.

Indeed, some of the ACPs designed by the teams in the workshops were essentially loitering munitions—designed to fly above targets and then attack, only to be used once. And as the B-21 continues to develop, new kinds of munitions could very well join that family of systems, too, Lee noted.

“This family could have all kinds of different capabilities in it, whether it’s space assets, munitions, and potentially ACPs,” Lee said.

Stephen Colbert Visits Space Force in Greenland and Learns the Mission is No Laughing Matter

Dec. 8, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Space Force has served as fodder for many comedians who have questioned what it does since it stood up in 2019. Now in its third year, the service continues to tell its story and to explain its importance to the American public. On Dec. 6, they got a boost from CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The popular comedian engaged in irreverent humor on a visit to Thule Air Base in Greenland but also showcased some of the Space Force’s most important roles there and visited service members as part of a USO trip.

“I wanted to learn about their mission,” Colbert said while introducing his special titled “Red, White, and Greenland: Stephen Cold-Bear is Lost in Space Force.”

What the Space Force enables America’s military and the general public to do is critical, the service says. People around the globe would struggle to navigate a few blocks without the Global Positioning System. America’s defense relies on its satellites and tracking capabilities. But space is increasingly congested and contested, the Space Force says, and it has to address that challenge. On The Late Show, the service got to show why its mission matters on a popular television show.

“It was really important to go and do the engagement because the American public is still learning what the Space Force is and why we stood up, and we know that space is a war-fighting domain,” a Space Force spokesperson who was on the trip told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Dec. 8.

Colbert interviewed Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman. While the affable Towberman played along with Colbert’s intentionally ignorant interviewing style, he was able to explain the importance of the Space Force. Towberman’s interview with Colbert was part of a longer visit by the Space Force’s top enlisted member to visit with service members at Thule, the Space Force said.

“We ensure unfettered access and freedom to maneuver in space,” Towberman told Colbert. “There’s an increasing amount of activity. There’s more stuff up there. … It’s becoming very, very busy.”

At Thule, Colbert visited the 12th Space Warning Squadron, which operates a missile early warning system as part of Space Delta 4, and the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, part of Space Delta 6’s global satellite control network. Thule is part of U.S. Space Command’s Missile Warning Center. Colbert experienced a simulated ballistic missile launch.

Colbert’s trip was not just public relations for the service and television fodder for one of CBS’s flagship programs. Colbert has a long-standing relationship with the USO. In 2009, Colbert went to Iraq to film multiple episodes of his old Comedy Central program, The Colbert Report, in front of a live audience at Camp Victory in Baghdad. Colbert had his head shaved by the late Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the bald commander of American troops in the country, in solidarity with U.S. service members. At Thule, Colbert was also appreciative of American troops stationed there.

“He was so friendly,” the spokesperson said of Colbert’s visit to Thule. “Every single person felt like they mattered and was valued when he said hi.”

Thule is a harsh place to be deployed. It is the northernmost U.S. base in the world. The landscape is barren, and Guardians often joke it is similar to being deployed to the surface of Mars, according to the spokesperson.

Service members at Thule have limited connection to the outside world, despite the service’s role in communications across the joint force.

“Anything like this, it’s just really important for the morale,” the spokesperson said.

Colbert visited Aug. 4-5 and taped segments for the show. Towberman’s visit lasted several days.

Colbert also did a stand-up comedy routine and sang karaoke with country music singer Sturgill Simpson and Towberman for the assembled service members.

“Their visit was a really good opportunity to affect the morale and welfare of the Guardians and the Airmen who served there,” the spokesperson said. “But also [to] talk about that mission and being able to show what’s so special and unique.”