Space Force Activates CENTCOM Component to Gain Influence, Extend Support

Space Force Activates CENTCOM Component to Gain Influence, Extend Support

Dec. 2, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Space Force activated its Middle East component on Dec. 2 as the service moves to secure more responsibility with U.S. worldwide combatant commands. In the latest stand-up, U.S. Space Forces-Central (SPACECENT) was activated in a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., with Space Force Col. Christopher Putman becoming the first commander.

“Unless you have that unifying effort, we’re going to be a little bit scattershot,” Putman said in an interview. “One of the biggest opportunities we’ll have is to unify all those previously disparate efforts and get us all on the same page.”

SPACECENT is the newest service component under U.S. Central Command and will be responsible for space operations in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility, which stretches from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and includes potential adversaries such as Iran.

CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla lauded the new component during the ceremony.

“Space underpins every element of warfighting in the CENTCOM region,” Kurilla said. “It has long been so.”

Kurilla outlined his focus, and said the Space Force will play an important rule in achieving the command’s goals. CENTCOM is focused on “deterring Iran; countering terror groups; competing with China and Russia in the Middle East, Levant, and Central Asia; countering increasingly sophisticated Iranian UAVs and rockets,” according to Kurilla.

“All these priorities require access to the cosmos,” he said.

The activation of SPACECENT comes less than two weeks after a Space Force component of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command launched. More geographic commands will follow. A Space Force component of U.S. European Command is planned, and Space Force leaders say a Space Force component of U.S. Forces Korea will soon be activated.

Putman is familiar with the job. Before being named to his new post, he previously served as director of space forces for Air Forces Central. Most of his staff will transfer over.

“My position is the only new one,” Putman said. “I think the transition is going to be beneficial for CENTCOM across all the components. When we were embedded with the air component, we were primarily focused on the integration of air and space. Now that we’re a separate component, our focus is on supporting all the components and commanders equally across all the domains, across all services, across all components. It’s spreading the space support across everyone.”

In other services, Putman’s geographic component command would be staffed by a more senior officer. But the Space Force has a dearth of generals, and the post of commander of Space Forces in the Pacific received priority, activating Nov. 22 with Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Mastalir at the head.

“We’re not big enough,” Gen. David D. Thompson, the Vice Chief of Space Operations, said when asked about the issue. “That kind of overhead is not something that we can afford.”

So SPACECENT, like the rest of the Space Force’s geographic commands save for the Indo-Pacific, will be led by colonels, who Thompson said will have to “punch above their weight.”

Putman will be based at CENTCOM headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., which he sees as ensuring his voice is heard.

“I will be in Tampa. This is where the headquarters are going to be,” Putman said. “We determined that due to the small size of the component, it was really important to be as close as possible to the commander.”

The rest of the SPACENT staff of about 30 Guardians will mainly be forward-deployed at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, though some staff will also be based at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., where Air Forces Central is home-based. Putman and some of his staff will report to Kurilla at MacDill.

“The policies, planning, and requirements are all going to be done at MacDill, and that makes it the right place to integrate this team,” said Tim Ryan, the senior resident fellow for space studies at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

The new Space Force components will help the Space Force advocate for resources and help the geographical commands better understand space threats, Putman said.

“I think one of the great things about having a component here is you now have a voice from all the combatant commands into the programming and budgeting cycle,” Putman said. “Gen. Kurilla has a dedicated component commander that now provides a voice and an input into the Space Force acquisition process. INDOPACOM now has a service component commander that has a direct voice into the Space Force acquisition process, and same thing with EUCOM and all the other combatant commands.”

Putman said the new command will help the Space Force acquire the capability it needs.

“That way Space Force has a very good input so that we’re designing the right things,” Putman said. “When we were buried in the Air Force, there was a lot of competing priorities with different systems.”

Putman faces a complex threat. The U.S. defense strategy is now focused on China and Russia as the two biggest challenges and is shifting from two decades of focus on counterinsurgency in the Middle East. But regional threats remain. Putman cited Iran as the biggest danger to U.S. interests and American allies in the region.

“We’re keenly attuned to the threat from Iran,” Putman said. “Just because we stand up a new component really doesn’t change how we address the threat. Obviously, Iran is going to increase their capabilities and keep moving forward.”

Iran’s space capabilities, though currently not very technologically advanced, are improving. The current regime in Tehran has “increased political emphasis on Iran’s space program,” according to the Secure World Foundation’s 2022 Global Counterspace Capabilities assessment.

“Iran has a nascent space program that includes building and launching small satellites that have limited capability,” the study said. Iran seeks to “persistently interfere with commercial satellite signals, although the capability against military signals is difficult to ascertain.”

If U.S. forces are under attack, SPACECENT will need to help protect them. Part of SPACECENT’s job will be to provide warning of missile attacks against U.S. troops in the region, according to Putman.

“The problem we have is short times of flight,” Putman said. “Look at the map, and missiles from Iran to our bases get here a lot quicker than if you’re in the Indo-Pacific and you’re shooting from China to, say, Guam or pick any U.S. base there. The time of flights make our job that much more critical, and we have to be that much more precise and timely with our warnings.”

But satellites, for now, cannot hide.

“The thing you’ve got to remember with the space domain, anything that happens in the space domain affects everyone,” Putman said. “If INDOPACOM’s fighting China and China decides to do something malicious towards our U.S. satellites, the loss of those capabilities just doesn’t affect INDOPACOM. It affects us as well. And same thing can be said with Russia and EUCOM.”

Overall, the Space Force cannot fully integrate with the rest of the joint force if their operations are unknown to decision-makers. Putman said the new component will boost the role of the Space Force in the CENTCOM area of responsibility.

“You didn’t have a component in the theaters,” Putman said. “It was the air component. Maybe the needs of what space capabilities we have got lost in the noise.”

Now, Putman said, “I’ve got a seat at the front table.”

American Public’s Concern About Nuclear War Growing, Survey Finds

American Public’s Concern About Nuclear War Growing, Survey Finds

Dec. 2, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

One out of every three Americans is extremely concerned about the possibility of a nuclear war within the next five years, as worries about Russia and the security situation in Europe have surged, according to the results of a new survey.  

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute’s annual National Defense Survey, released Dec. 1, shows an American public increasingly aware of and nervous about the threats posed by near-peer competitors such as China and Russia—particularly in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Out of 2,538 U.S. adults surveyed in mid-November, 69 percent said they were extremely or somewhat concerned about the possibility of a nuclear war in the next five years. That marks the highest percentage recorded since the survey began in 2018, and is eight points higher than last year alone—the largest year-over-year increase of any concern asked about.  

That increase was largely driven by more people saying they were extremely concerned about it, up from 26 percent a year ago to 33 percent now. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is likely responsible for the new waves of concern about the issue, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has engaged in nuclear saber-rattling for months now. Starting in February, he put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert. And ever since, he has left open the possibility of using nuclear weapons on the battlefield, while Russian officials have tried to muddy the waters by claiming Ukraine may use a radioactive “dirty bomb”—a move some U.S. and Western observers have warned could be a pretext for Russia using its own nuclear weapons. 

In April, Congress’ nuclear adviser went so far as to wonder whether Russia could be looking to spark World War 3 with its actions. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the percentage of survey respondents who said they were extremely or somewhat concerned about a nuclear attack by Russia on the U.S. rose from 60 percent a year ago to 71 percent now. Regarding the potential use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, the level of concern rose to 77 percent. 

Beyond the threat of nuclear attack, though, the invasion of Ukraine has seemingly led more Americans to view Russia as an adversary.  

Since the survey began in 2018, the percentage of respondents who identified Russia as the greatest threat to the U.S. declined every year, reaching a low of just 14 percent in 2021. This year, that trend sharply reversed with a surge to 31 percent, the highest figure recorded in five years. 

Along those same lines, the percentage of those who identified Russia as somewhat or strongly an enemy of the U.S. jumped from 65 percent a year ago to 82 percent now. 

China 

But while concerns about Russia have increased, Americans have not forgotten about the ongoing competition with China—identified as the key challenge facing the U.S. in the recent National Defense Strategy. 

China is still the top answer among survey respondents when asked to identify the greatest threat to the U.S., at 43 percent. And a plurality still believe the military should focus its forces in the Indo-Pacific region, specifically East Asia. 

Indeed, 70 percent of survey respondents said they were extremely or somewhat worried about the invasion of Ukraine “distracting policymakers from the threat posed by China,” a finding highlighted by officials from the Reagan Institute in a press briefing. 

The same percentage said they were concerned about China invading Taiwan, the first time that question has been asked in the survey’s history. 

A plurality of respondents even said they would support committing U.S. ground troops to the defense of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion—43 percent compared to 36 percent opposed. The survey then went even further in testing potential support in the case of an invasion. 

“The pollsters have encouraged us to explore something quite common in polling, which is you sort of give people a piece of information and see if it changes their view,” said Rachel Hoff, policy director at the Reagan Institute. “And so after hearing a couple of sentences … about Taiwan being a democracy and being the world’s largest producer of semiconductors and testing whether that changes their view with regard to Taiwan, 65 percent then say that they’re open to the idea of committing U.S. forces in the case of a Taiwan contingency.” 

Spending and Trust 

As concerns about potential aggression by both Russia and China grow, the vast majority of survey respondents favor increasing defense spending—76 percent. And of that 76 percent, 48 percent said they strongly held that view. That represents a slight increase from years past. 

The support for more spending has been reflected in Congress as of late, as lawmakers have moved to increase the top line of the Pentagon’s budget beyond what President Joe Biden’s administration has requested. 

But even as support for more spending remains high, the question of trust in the military remains a contentious one.

Last year’s Reagan survey found a sharp decline among those who said they had “a great deal of trust and confidence” in the military as an institution, going from 70 percent in 2018 to 45 percent in 2021. Experts attributed that largely to increasing political polarization and the fallout from the turbulent withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

This year, the survey showed a slight bump in those with a great deal of trust, up to 48 percent. And while it is still less than a majority, no other institution about which respondents were asked—including Congress, the Supreme Court, the news media, the presidency, law enforcement, and election administrators—registered more than 33 percent. All but Congress posted year-over-year declines in trust as well. 

The biggest reasons for declining trust in the military cited by respondents was the perception of military leadership becoming overly politicized and the performance and competence of the Presidents as the Commander-in-Chief.

B-21 to Be Capable of Holding at Risk Any Target on Earth

B-21 to Be Capable of Holding at Risk Any Target on Earth

Dec. 2, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

After seven years of tightly guarded development, the first B-21 Raider will be unveiled today during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman’s plant in Palmdale, Calif. There, the company is building at least six of the new stealth bombers, which it calls the “first sixth-generation” combat aircraft.

WATCH LIVE: B-21 Raider to Make Public Debut This Evening

The B-21 will be the centerpiece of the Air Force’s long-range strike portfolio, expected to enter service in a few years and persist for decades with continuous improvements to make it capable against tough and evolving air defense threats worldwide.

The rollout sparks some deja-vu as it takes place at the same facility where the company rolled out the B-2, the first stealth bomber, in a ceremony 34 years ago last month. The two aircraft bear a strong family resemblance. Both are large flying-wings and have a clear lineage from the YB-35 and YB-49 flying wing bomber prototypes designed by Jack Northrop himself some 70 years ago.

Although the Air Force has released several artist’s renderings of the Raider, all of those preliminary images have had features concealed or altered to protect the airplane’s secret attributes. Today’s unveiling will be the first time the jet will be on uncensored display. Even so, it is expected that it will be presented in such a way as to conceal some of those characteristics.

A live video feed of the ceremony is to be broadcast, and network news coverage is also expected.

There is no set definition of what a “sixth-generation” combat aircraft is. Fifth generation has come to be regarded as aircraft possessing stealth characteristics and sensor fusion to achieve unprecedented situational awareness of the battle space. Some attributes of the “sixth generation” may be the ability to be “optionally manned”—a feature the B-21 is supposed to have—even better sensors, sharply improved stealth, and potentially, capability to use directed-energy weapons such as lasers or high-powered microwave beams.

Major unknowns about the B-21—which may or may not be answered by today’s revelation—are its exact size and the number and type of Pratt & Whitney engines beneath its stealthy skin. One of the only hiccups in development known about the B-21 was that the air intakes needed refinement to improve airflow through the serpentine engine ducts, which shield the fan blades—a major radar reflector—from enemy view.

The B-21 is the centerpiece of a “family of systems” which the Air Force and Northrop Grumman have said will include external support platforms and enablers. These have not been described in detail but are likely to include jam-resistant satellite communications and the possible use of bomber-launched decoys, radar jammers, or intelligence-collection vehicles.

Although originally expected to be named the B-3, former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James decided in 2016 to name the bomber the B-21, to reflect its status as the Air Force’s principal bomber for the 21st century. It was named the Raider to honor the Doolittle Raiders of World War II, which carried the first counterstrike against the Japanese home islands after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The innovative mission—flown by Army bombers off Navy carriers to extend their reach—surprised the Japanese, who believed their home territory to be too far removed from the U.S. to be under threat.

Similarly, the B-21 is to be capable of holding at risk any target on the face of the Earth. Its advanced stealth and electronic warfare systems are designed to enable it to penetrate the most sophisticated air defenses any nation can muster. It is also expected to be able to persist in enemy territory, collecting information and providing it to other strikers.

The B-21 grew out of technologies Northrop Grumman continued to develop after the B-2 was terminated at just 20 (later 21) aircraft. It was halted due to the double whammy of the end of the Cold War and rising unit costs as the planned buy of the B-2 was whittled down by Congress. Initially, some 132 B-2s were planned to be built, and Northrop Grumman had been contracted to tool its facilities to build the aircraft at scale and a rapid pace, but the diminishing Russian threat prompted Congress to stop funding new B-2s in 1997.

Soon after, the Air Force was instructed to pursue a new program, dubbed the Next-Generation Bomber (NGB), or “2018 bomber.” Various bomber roadmaps held that a 2018 in-service date was necessary, both to begin replacing aging B-1 and B-52 bombers and to address worsening threats.

Northrop Grumman went under contract to develop NGB technologies, both to leverage what it had learned in creating the B-2 as well as to develop improved stealth capabilities for that aircraft, which have been applied during various upgrades since. These include improved stealth surface treatments, more efficient and repeatable ways of applying the treatments, and electronic warfare upgrades.

In 2008, Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed a partnership to compete for the NGB, and in the following months, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon was also contemplating an unmanned version of the new bomber. (Artwork of a notional Boeing-Lockheed NGB—a flying wing—bore a striking resemblance to the eventual B-21.)   

In 2009, however, Gates canceled the NGB, saying its planned capabilities had become “exquisite,” meaning the aircraft as then envisioned would be too packed with costly capability to be affordable in numbers. The Northrop Grumman and Boeing-Lockheed Martin teams were told to stop working on the NGB aircraft, and the Air Force was directed to start over and pursue a new bomber that would be more affordable. The 2018 in-service target date was dropped.

The new program was dubbed the Long-Range Strike aircraft, and equal among its performance requirements was the need to keep its unit cost under $550 million in 2010 dollars.

In 2015, the Air Force awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman for what was then called the Long Range Strike Bomber, or LRS-B. William LaPlante, then Air Force acquisition executive and now undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at the contract award announcement that the LRS-B would have to come in at $515 million a copy “in 2010 dollars when procuring 100 aircraft.”

Rather than tool for production of dozens of aircraft a year, costs would be reduced by tooling only for about 15 airplanes per year, Air Force officials said at the time. LaPlante said the program would not experience any steep ramp-ups in production, which tend to be disrupted in years when budget cuts must be found. The LRS-B schedule, he said, would be “resilient” because of its modest and consistent production pace.

Air Force officials also said the first aircraft would be available for operational use in the “mid-2020s.”

Prior to the contract award, the Air Force had spent nearly $2 billion on risk-reduction efforts, and LaPlante announced that the engineering, manufacturing, and development contract would cost $21.4 billion in 2010 dollars.

He said the EMD contract would be a “cost-reimbursable type” with incentives for Northrop Grumman to meet the planned cost schedule and “reduced profit if they do not control” those factors.

Although little is known about the B-21’s specific capabilities, it has earned praise from members of Congress read into the program, including House Armed Services chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who has called it one of the Pentagon’s “best run” programs.

To keep the program secret, reduce the oversight chain, and pursue an overall lean approach to the B-21’s development, it has been managed by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, with direct reporting to the senior Air Force leadership.

To prevent costly redesigns, the B-21’s requirements can be changed only at the order of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and all of the Chiefs who have presided over the program say they have not altered its goals. To keep the B-21 capable against the current and evolving threat, however, the bomber has been designed with an “open architecture” to allow modular change-outs of sensors, weapons, communications, and other attributes. In the future, other contractors will be able to compete to upgrade these elements of the B-21.

Although it has divulged little about the bomber’s progress, the Air Force has said the B-21 is meeting expectations and living within the cost limits imposed at its outset.

The B-21’s first flight is expected in mid-2023. It is being revealed now because it has reached the stage where outside activities—such as engine runs and taxi tests—will soon begin, and the aircraft will be exposed to public view.

In a statement released by Northrop Grumman ahead of the rollout, it said it’s applying “continuously advancing technology, employing new manufacturing techniques and materials to ensure the B-21 will defeat the anti-access, area-denial systems it will face.” The aircraft benefits from more than three decades of strike and stealth technology, the company said. Among Northrop Grumman’s other stealth programs are the B-2 Spirit bomber, the YF-23 fighter prototype, the Tacit Blue stealth demonstrator, the AGM-137 Tri-Service Standoff Missile, and numerous other presumed classified programs.

The company’s RQ-4 Global Hawk family of unmanned, high-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft are gradually being phased out of USAF service, but there is strong evidence they are being superseded by another Northop Grumman stealth platform called the RQ-180, said to bear a strong resemblance to the B-21.

The company also revealed that it has created a “digital twin” of the B-21 to facilitate and speed any changes made to the platform in the digital world before applying them to physical aircraft.   

Northrop Grumman also said that, because of the B-21’s “open architecture,” it will forego a common pattern on other programs: the block upgrade.

“To meet the evolving threat environment, the B-21 has been designed from day one for rapid upgradeability,” the company said. “Unlike earlier generation aircraft, the B-21 will not undergo block upgrades. New technology, capabilities and weapons will be seamlessly incorporated through agile software upgrades and built-in hardware flexibility. This will ensure the B-21 Raider can continuously meet the evolving threat head on for decades to come.”

WATCH: B-21 Raider Makes Public Debut

WATCH: B-21 Raider Makes Public Debut

Dec. 2, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Editor’s Note: This story was updated after the conclusion of the B-21 unveiling ceremony.

PALMDALE, Calif.—The Air Force and Northrop Grumman rolled out the service’s first new bomber in 34 years on Dec. 2—the B-21 Raider .

In an eagerly awaited ceremony at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., the B-21 made its public debut after seven years of development behind the scenes and only a few artists’ renderings. 

The invitation-only event included Air Force and political dignitaries and a limited number of media representatives. Photography was permitted, but the Air Force restricted the size of lenses photographers could use, and viewing of the aircraft was limited to one section of the facility. 

A video replay of the event can be viewed below:

Alternatively, the ceremony can be viewed on YouTube.

The rollout is the first for a new Air Force bomber since 1988, when the B-2 Spirit emerged from the same facility. 

Northrop Grumman has teased a few details about the secretive aircraft, describing complementary elements of the B-21 “family of systems”; confirming a “digital twin” version of the aircraft; and, in a break with previous programs, eliminating the “block upgrade” approach to modernization. 

While the public got its first glimpse of the B-21 on Dec. 2, a first flight for the aircraft is still several months away, with the most recent timeline projecting a date of mid-2023. 

The Air Force tentatively plans to buy as many as 145 B-21s in time. Over the next five years, the service plans to spend nearly $20 billion on the program, and another $12 billion on research and development for the program during that same period, for a total of $32 billion.

The B-21 will succeed the B-1B and B-2 bombers now in service, but the exact dates of those turnovers has been walked back in recent years. Three years ago, the plan was for the B-2 and B-1 to retire in 2031 and 2032, respectively. But officials have said those dates depend on progress with the B-21 and have pledged that the existing bombers will not retire until they “shake hands” with the B-21s that replace them.

Posted in Air
Air Force’s 71st Operation Christmas Drop to Deliver Supplies to Remote Pacific Islands

Air Force’s 71st Operation Christmas Drop to Deliver Supplies to Remote Pacific Islands

Dec. 1, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force will begin its 71st annual Operation Christmas Drop on Dec. 4. The weeklong exercise is a yearly tradition that delivers supplies such as food, fishing equipment, school books, and clothes to remote islands in the Pacific. It is the longest-running Department of Defense humanitarian mission.

The U.S.-led effort is based out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Aircrews plan to airdrop supplies to 56 remote islands in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau, Pacific Air Forces said.

“The tradition began during the Christmas season in 1952 when a B-29 Superfortress aircrew saw islanders waving at them from the island of Kapingamarangi, 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii,” according to Andersen Air Force Base. “In the spirit of Christmas the aircrew dropped a bundle of supplies attached to a parachute to the islanders below, giving the operation its name.”

C-130s and Airmen from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan; the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and the 15th Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, will join partners from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Republic of Korea Air Force, and Indian Air Force, according to the U.S. Air Force.

For Operation Christmas drop, volunteers in Guam create drop-off boxes for books and raise money for the program from local businesses and citizens, and recieve some donations from people around world, according to the private foundation that coordinates the effort. Under the Denton Humanitarian Assistance Program, goods donated from nongovernmental sources can be transported—or airdropped—from U.S. military aircraft free of charge.

“These islands are some of the most remote locations on the globe spanning a distance nearly as broad as the continental U.S.,” according to Andersen Air Force Base. Aircrews are “linked to the village via ham radio as they fly overhead and drop supplies. The event provides readiness training to participating aircrew, allowing them to gain experience in conducting airdrops while providing critical supplies to 56 Micronesian islands impacting about 20,000 people; ultimately it’s a profound win for everyone involved.”

Crews conduct what are known as low-cost, low-altitude airdrops, according to Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). Low-cost, low-altitude (LCLA) airdrops contain bundles of cargo weighing up to 500 pounds and are dropped via parachute, according to the Air Force. The service has called it a “more accurate and flexible” way of providing supplies through larger airdropped container delivery systems (CDS) or landing to deliver supplies.

“Through the cooperation of local and military communities in the Asia-Pacific region, Operation Christmas Drop has delivered over 850,000 pounds of much needed food, supplies, tools, and toys to thousands of residents throughout Micronesia,” according to the Operation Christmas Drop foundation.

The mission also has a practical purpose, training crews to resupply areas in the Indo-Pacific. The Air Force has shifted more of its focus to the region in line with the National Defense Strategy, which sees China as America’s “pacing” challenge.

“The aerial delivery enables aircrews to develop and maintain combat readiness through aircraft generation and recovery across a remote region of the Pacific Ocean,” PACAF said in a news release.

But the mission is above all a humanitarian effort for the people who live on those isolated islands. According to Andersen Air Force Base, almost everything from coffee to cement can be donated. The story even made it to the silver screen as a romantic comedy in 2020. The film received mixed reviews.

The Air Force hopes the 2022 mission will fair better than the movie.

“Operation Christmas Drop continues to be an annual collaboration delivering valuable humanitarian assistance to those in need,” Col. Andrew Roddan, 374th Airlift Wing commander, said in a statement. “This operation helps to hone critical skills necessary for successful response to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and we look forward to continuing our successful joint efforts in support of humanitarian aid delivery.”

Air Force Promotes 1 in 5 Eligible to Chief Master Sergeant

Air Force Promotes 1 in 5 Eligible to Chief Master Sergeant

Dec. 1, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force selected one out of every five eligible senior master sergeants for promotion to chief master sergeant, the service announced Dec. 1—a rate largely in line with years past, yet one that defies the larger trend of promotion rates among enlisted noncommissioned officers this year. 

All told, 514 senior master sergeants were tapped to move up to the service’s highest enlisted rank short of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, out of 2,526 eligible, for a percentage of 20.34. 

That’s the highest rate in the last three years and just shy of the 20.96 percent selected in 2019. In the four years prior, the promotion rate ranged from 23.82 percent to 20.83. 

The full list of newly selected chief master sergeants will be publicly released Dec. 6 at 9 a.m. Eastern time, the Air Force Personnel Center announced. 

While the Air Force stayed with its general trend of elevating roughly one of every five eligible Airmen to E-9, other NCO ranks saw steep declines in promotion rates in 2022. 

Just 9,706 senior airmen out of 45,991 eligible became staff sergeants—a 21.1 percent promotion rate, the lowest in nearly a quarter of a century. 

Out of 33,935 eligible staff sergeants, 5,430 became tech sergeants, the fewest in at least a decade. 

And just 4,040 technical sergeants were selected to become master sergeants out of 27,296, a 14.8 percent rate that was the lowest since at least 2010. 

But the very highest echelons of the Air Force’s senior noncommissioned officer corps saw relatively stable promotion rates—in addition to the E-9 statistics, the percentage of master sergeants tapped for senior master sergeant was 8.28 percent, actually the highest mark in three years, though slightly under the 1-in-10 ratio typical of the late 2010s. 

Some of the issues affecting promotion rates are broad—high retention amid the COVID-19 pandemic and end strength numbers plateauing. 

In particular, though, the E-5, E-6, and E-7 ranks were affected by recent enlisted grade structure revisions intended to combat a decline in experience among NCOs. 

“The majority of the experience decline was attributable to the Air Force trying to achieve an enlisted force structure with too many higher grades,” Col. James C. “Jim” Barger, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency commander, said in a July statement. “We also found that experience levels would continue to decline unless the Air Force lays in more junior Airmen allocations and fewer E5-E7 allocations.”

Space Force Promotions

While the Air Force only announced its chief master sergeant promotions Dec. 1, the Space Force detailed its promotions for both chief master sergeant and senior master sergeant. 

Of 328 eligible Guardians, 35 were tapped for senior master sergeant, for a 10.67 percent promotion rate. Of 55 eligible senior master sergeants, 15 made chief master sergeant, a 27.27 percent rate. 

Given the Space Force’s small but rapidly expanding size, promotion rates can vary more, but the overall numbers are roughly similar to those from 2021. 

Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Promotion Statistics

YEARSELECTEDELIGIBLEPROMOTION RATE
20225142,52620.34
20215052,77518.19
20205182,76318.75
20195302,52920.96
20184792,24121.37
20174722,14222.04
20165312,22923.82
20155252,52120.83
DAF’s Chief Information Officer Envisions Future With ‘Intelligent Warfare’

DAF’s Chief Information Officer Envisions Future With ‘Intelligent Warfare’

Dec. 1, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The Department of the Air Force’s chief information officer offered glimpses into a future with “intelligent warfare” during a webinar Nov. 30 hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Lauren Barrett Knausenberger said she expects “information to be front and center for any future battles.”

Beyond simply “informationized warfare,” with its universal digital connectivity and plentiful computing power, “intelligent warfare” goes further, as Knausenberger describes it, incorporating artificial intelligence to create a “converged battle space.”

Carrying out “informationized warfare,” to begin with, “means you have to do a lot of things really well to have the information that you need,” Knausenberger said. 

“You have to have connectivity. You have to have ‘compute’ [computing power] wherever you need it. And networks—you have to be able to get data from anywhere to anywhere. You have to have software that makes it easy for a warfighter to interpret that picture and to make a decision.” 

Such “ubiquitous connectivity,” for one, may be “very close,” Knausenberger said, with the addition of more mobile and space-based connections—“where maybe we don’t have to carry around quite as much gear as we used to, to just get a connection.” 

Adding AI to achieve intelligent warfare will involve “basic automations all the way through neural networks, deep learning,” she said, with the expectation that in the future, AI will be a part of all of the Defense Department’s weapon platforms.

But while AI is already commonplace in everyday life, that’s just not yet the case in the DOD, “and part of that is because it’s a lot easier to do AI at scale when you are already in the cloud,” Knausenberger said: “You already have really clean training quality data that you’ve been collecting across a large populous legally for decades.”

The department hasn’t yet incorporated AI consistently into its existing “20-year-old platforms,” though “some of them we have, and so I’d say that we are on the right path. We still have some work to do both in the lab and on the battlefield.” 

The real “game-changing effect” of intelligent warfare, she said, comes into play “when you have a convergence of a number of different things.” Zero-trust IT architecture and the joint all-domain command and control concept qualify as “big convergence things.”

The DAF’s and DOD’s zero-trust implementation plans are already converging, she said of strategy to make IT infrastructure more secure, “and we’re actually making decisions together across the entirety of zero trust.”

In the long run, the vision is one of automation and intuitive interfaces—“that when you show up and you need to put in place that war-fighting effect, that you’re not trying to figure out a complex system to do it,” Knausenberger said. “You have the data at your fingertips. You make the decisions that you need to. … Once you make a decision, it’s going to be relatively automated in being able to carry out exactly what you expect it to carry out.”  

Senate Confirms New AFGSC Commander, Deputy Chiefs of Operations for Air Force and Space Force

Senate Confirms New AFGSC Commander, Deputy Chiefs of Operations for Air Force and Space Force

Dec. 1, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate confirmed hundreds of military nominations the evening of Nov. 30, including a new Air Force four-star, deputy chiefs in charge of operations for both the Air Force and Space Force, and dozens of general officers in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. 

Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere is now set to pin on his fourth star and become commander of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), succeeding Gen. Anthony J. Cotton, who is set to become the head of U.S. Strategic Command in the coming days. 

Space Force Maj. Gen. DeAnna M. Burt, meanwhile, will get her third star and take over as deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear—the position previously held by Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the new Chief of Space Operations. 

Also included in the raft of confirmations was Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, who currently serves as commander of Air Force Special Operations Command and will now shift over to become the Air Force’s next deputy chief of staff for operations. 

Bussiere and Burt were both nominated for their new jobs in mid-October but had to wait as Congress focused on the midterm elections and the resulting power shifts and leadership changes. Slife, on the other hand, had to wait less than two weeks for his nomination to the Air Staff to be approved. 

Burt and Slife are ascending to key roles on the Space Staff and Air Staff, respectively, where they’ll be responsible for providing “policy, guidance, and oversight for … operations, training, and sourcing” of their respective branch’s personnel and capabilities, as well as representing their respective service’s operations to the Joint staff. 

Given the Space Force’s leaner structure with only a few leaders overseeing directorates, Burt is also responsible for overseeing the Space Force’s cyber and nuclear capabilities. 

Bussiere, meanwhile, will lead the Air Force’s major command responsible for both its intercontinental ballistic missiles and its long-range strike bombers. In particular, he’ll take on the new role just as the Air Force publicly rolls out the B-21 Raider, its first new bomber in decades. The B-21 still must undergo testing and make its first flight sometime in 2023. ICBM modernization efforts are also still ongoing with the new LGM-35 Sentinel (formerly called the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent). 

Bussiere comes to AFGSC having previously served there as special assistant to the commander and inspector general in two prior stints. He’s also flown B-1 and B-2 bombers, as well as F-15s and F-22s, and has commanded at the at squadron, group, wing, and Numbered Air Force levels. Currently, he is deputy commander of STRATCOM. 

Burt has spent the past few months as a special assistant to the Chief of Space Operations. But she only moved to that role while waiting for Saltzman to succeed Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond and leave the deputy chief spot open. Previously, she commanded the Combined Force Space Component Command, a multi-national subordinate command of U.S. Space Command, where she was dual-hatted as vice commander of Space Operations Command.

Slife has led AFSOC since June 2019. Before that, he served consecutive assignments as chief of staff and vice commander for U.S. Special Operations Command, in addition to stints as a top planner for U.S. Central Command. He has also commanded special operations Airmen at the squadron, group, and wing levels. 

While Bussiere, Burt, and Slife were the highest-ranking Department of the Air Force officers included in the promotions approved by the Senate, 692 were approved in total, including 80 colonels and brigadier generals across the Air Force Active-duty, Guard, and Reserve components who will either get their first or second star. 

The full list of officers promoted to brigadier general or major general is as follows: 

Active-duty Air Force 

  • Col. Christopher A. Brown 

Air National Guard 

  • Brig. Gen. Konata A. Crumbly 
  • Brig. Gen. Kenneth S. Eaves 
  • Brig. Gen. Robert G. Kilgore 
  • Brig. Gen. Gary A. McCue 
  • Brig. Gen. Bryan E. Salmon 
  • Brig. Gen. Bryan J. Teff 
  • Brig. Gen. Denise M. Donnell 
  • Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Harris II 
  • Col. Lisa M. Ahaesy 
  • Col. Jenifer E. Pardy 
  • Col. Tad J. Schauer 
  • Col. Kristof K. Sills 
  • Col. Paul M. Bishop 
  • Col. Tyler D. Buckley 
  • Col. Scott C. Humphrey 
  • Col. Christopher A. Jarratt 
  • Col. Jennifer R. Kondal 
  • Col. Gregory R. Lewis 
  • Col. Kenneth Lozano 
  • Col. Ileana Ramirez Perez 
  • Col. Linda A. Rohatsch 
  • Col. Jeremiah S. Tucker 
  • Col. Keith C. Wilson 
  • Col. Christopher A. Eason 
  • Col. Amy P. Kremser 
  • Col. Kallie D. Kuehl 
  • Col. Reid J. Novotny 
  • Col. Humberto Pabon Jr. 
  • Col. Jonathan L. Vinson 
  • Col. Justin T. Wagner 

Reserve 

  • Brig. Gen. Troy T. Daniels 
  • Brig. Gen. Terrence L. Koudelka Jr. 
  • Col. Steven A. Breitfelder 
  • Col. Jason S. Christman 
  • Col. Christopher G. Batterton 
  • Col. Daniel J. Begin 
  • Col. Matthew G. Brancato 
  • Col. Matthew D. Calhoun 
  • Col. Andrew J. Camacho 
  • Col. Barry F. Deibert 
  • Col. Michael J. DiDio 
  • Col. George H. Downs 
  • Col. Megan H. Erickson 
  • Col. Christopher D. Gries 
  • Col. Michael S. Griesbaum 
  • Col. Jason L. Hawk 
  • Col. Shawn E. Holtz 
  • Col. Shawne M. Johnson 
  • Col. Mitchell R. Johnson 
  • Col. Brian D. Kile 
  • Col. Jason W. Knight 
  • Col. Jason L. Knobbe 
  • Col. Daniel J. Kramer II 
  • Col. Quaid H. Quadri Jr. 
  • Col. Christopher J. Southard 
  • Col. Trace N. Thomas 
  • Col. Kenneth A. Borchers 
  • Col. Gene C. Buckner 
  • Col. Richard L. Coffey III 
  • Col. Martin L. Hartley Jr. 
  • Col. Raymond L. Hyland Jr. 
  • Col. Patrick L. Lanaghan 
  • Col. Joshlin D. Lewis 
  • Col. Brian S. McCullough 
  • Col. Mark L. Miller 
  • Col. Adam T. Rice 
  • Col. Ronald N. Speir Jr. 
  • Col. Joseph H. Stepp IV 
  • Col. Todd E. Swass 
  • Col. John A. Conley 
  • Col. Scott A. Coradi 
  • Col. Christopher M. Dunlap 
  • Col. Matthew J. French 
  • Col. Nathan W. Kearns 
  • Col. Joseph F. Morrissey Jr. 
  • Col. Beverly G. Schneider 
  • Col. Lane A. Thurgood 
  • Col. Brian J. Tollefson 
First F-15s Leave Kadena for ANG Units or the Boneyard

First F-15s Leave Kadena for ANG Units or the Boneyard

Dec. 1, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Eagle has started its departure. 

Kadena Air Base, Japan, bid farewell to a batch of F-15C Eagles on Dec. 1, as the Air Force began the two-year process of retiring the base’s aging fighters. 

The 18th Wing at Kadena did not specify, in its announcement, how many F-15s were leaving in this first reduction, but an image shared by the wing showed eight fighters preparing for a final takeoff. 

The long-term plan is to retire all 48 F-15C/Ds from Kadena by the end of 2024. 

According to the press release, these first F-15Cs flew to Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base, Ore. From there, some will continue service with different Air National Guard units, while others will head to the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. 

The departing F-15s will be backfilled by a rotation of newer, more advanced fighters, as officials say the F-15C/D models have become too old and out of date for a contested environment. Kadena, located on the island of Okinawa, is the Air Force’s closest land-based location to Taiwan, some 450 miles away. 

Already, F-22s from the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, have arrived at the base.

“While I’m sad to see the F-15 go, it’s important to maintain an advanced fighter presence here in Okinawa,” 18th Wing commander Brig. Gen. David S. Eaglin said in a statement. “Our adversaries have advanced and progressed since 1979, and we must do the same. I look forward to the future as we work through the challenges of divesting an airframe that served admirably as we modernize our defenses and evolve to the threats we face today.” 

After the F-22s rotate through Kadena, F-16s from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, are expected to arrive, with the likely long-term replacement being F-15EXs. 

F-15Cs and Ds have been stationed at Kadena for more than 40 years—the first fighters arrived on the island in the fall of 1979. In that time, the aircraft and the 18th Wing Airmen flying it established a record of 104 kills compared to zero losses in air-to-air combat, Eaglin noted. 

Their departure comes at a critical juncture for the Air Force in the Pacific, as leaders increasingly emphasize competition with China while also pushing for widespread modernization, including newer aircraft that can penetrate and survive in contested airspace.  

Pacific Air Forces has F-22s stationed in Alaska and at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and F-35s based at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, but no fifth-generation fighters permanently based in East Asia. And the lack of an advanced replacement for the F-15Cs at Kadena highlights the service’s need for more capacity, some observers have argued. 

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the move demonstrates “consistent underfunding of the Air Force over 30 years.” The lack of an immediate, ready-to-go successor for the aged F-15s at the base shows the “neglect and shortsightedness” of “Presidential, Congressional, and Department of Defense leadership decisions made over the past three decades.” In recent years, to pay for new system development, the Air Force has had to “cut its force structure with no replacements,” he said. Thus, the vacuum left by the retirements “should not be a surprise.”