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.” 

Air Force’s New ABMS Czar Talks Integration Challenges, Initial Assessments

Air Force’s New ABMS Czar Talks Integration Challenges, Initial Assessments

Nov. 30, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

A little more than two months into his new job as the Air Force’s program executive officer overseeing acquisition for the service’s ambitious Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), Brig. Gen. Luke C.G. Cropsey has identified three integration issues he’ll have to help solve—but is still assessing which of the many efforts in his new portfolio he wants to pursue first.

Speaking with reporters during a roundtable Nov. 29, Cropsey defined his two goals as separate but related: getting to “survivable” command and control while deploying C2 capabilities that “support a combatant commander’s scheme of maneuver.”

It’s all part of a broader effort across the Pentagon to create joint all-domain command and control, or JADC2—a network of networks that connects sensors, shooters, and battle managers across the globe, a so-called “Internet of Military Things.” 

ABMS is the Air Force’s contribution to JADC2, but for several years now, the department has lacked a centralized authority to coordinate and integrate efforts. Upon taking office, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall criticized the program for an over-emphasis on experimentation, saying its focus needed to be on delivering operational capabilities. 

Kendall pushed that effort further with one of his operational imperatives, calling for “operationally optimized” ABMS. And in September, he installed Cropsey as the authority responsible for coordinating efforts across command, control, communications, and battle management (C3BM). 

Given the sprawling, ambitious nature of both ABMS and JADC2, Cropsey’s job is “the hardest acquisition job I’ve ever given anybody,” Kendall said at the time. 

It also requires Cropsey to interface with other services, program executive officers, and researchers and developers as they all try to integrate their efforts into a cohesive whole. 

Such integration faces three challenges, Cropsey said. The first involves ensuring that all the hardware and software the Air Force uses across its weapon systems can connect. 

“The technical integration challenge that we have is how do we combine all those different parts and pieces across that whole kill chain—across those find, fix, track, target, engage and assessment activities—so that we can make the effects that we need to happen actually a reality,” Cropsey said. 

The second is about building networks and infrastructure designed to integrate with each other and pass data, while still being secure. 

And the final challenge might be the broadest—finding a way to integrate requirements and capabilities within a process from a different era. 

“If you think about the way that we plan, we do requirements, we budget, we do acquisition programs, they’re all kind of weapons systems-centric in the way that we think about and execute them,” Cropsey said. “This problem is fundamentally different in the sense that we’re trying to do a horizontal integration problem across all of those individual platforms, in order to create [connection] across the battle space.”

That last part could prove especially tricky as Cropsey’s job will involve working with many other PEOs in charge of their own programs. 

“On the one hand, every single PEO is a direct report to the [service acquisition executive], and it’s that way for a reason. So the first thing I’ll say is I’m absolutely not going to get in between one PEO and the SAE as some kind of an intermediate stop,” Cropsey said. 

“But what is happening, and I think in a very healthy kind of way, is we’re having, I think, a very frank dialogue and discussion about ‘Hey, how do you do this in a horizontally integrating way inside of the structure that we’ve built? … What does that look like? How do we do it? What authorities does the integrating PEO need to be able to execute at the … architectural level?” 

That architectural level may sometimes mean additional requirements for programs, to ensure they can connect to ABMS. And in the course of conversations, Cropsey said, he and other PEOs are considering how to incorporate and get the resources necessary for those requirements. 

Helping to inform those requirements is Bryan Tipton, who previously served as chief architect of the Rapid Capabilities Office and has now been tapped as chief of engineering for the C3BM effort. In creating the program executive office, Cropsey explained, Kendall combined the ABMS efforts of the RCO and the Chief Architect’s Office, as well as the systems engineer role with the chief architect role. 

“We have a program executive officer who has combined PEO and architecture authorities. And we have a chief of engineering that is both the chief architect and the chief system engineer,” Cropsey said. “And so the integration of those roles is going to be important to make sure that we have a correlation between the architecture element and the product.” 

Tipton and Cropsey work closely together to coordinate acquisition and engineering efforts, Cropsey said—and that starts with determining which capabilities and programs they think they can accomplish quickly, and which need more time to develop. 

“Dr. Tipton, he’s wanting a set of assessments around answering that question over the next couple of months,” Cropsey said. “And actually one of the few [things] that I owe the Secretary the next time I see him—my marching orders are to kind of have that initial set of go-dos. I call it kind of the ‘start-change-stop’ analysis for what we have going on. And then are there other things that are missing to get that we need to get after? … That assessment is what we need to try to get after in the next two or three months.” 

RAF Mildenhall Hosts Retirement Ceremony for KC-135 Honoring ‘Wolff Pack’ WWII B-17 Crew

RAF Mildenhall Hosts Retirement Ceremony for KC-135 Honoring ‘Wolff Pack’ WWII B-17 Crew

Nov. 30, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force hosted an unusual retirement ceremony Nov. 23 at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. Instead of honoring the distinguished career of an Airman, the 100th Air Refueling Wing honored an aircraft. After 59 years, KC-135 Stratotanker tail code 63-7999 transitioned to its next career—the aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

During the retirement ceremony, service members and guests at RAF Mildenhall affixed a retirement “pin” to the aircraft and signed the fuselage before it headed back to the United States. The ceremony was narrated by Staff Sgt. Damon Hadbavny of the 100th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron; presided over by Col. David Hood, the 100th Maintenance Group commander; and featured guest speaker Robert Paley, the 100th Air Refueling Wing’s historian, according to the wing.

The KC-135 tail code 7999 carried “Wolff Pack” nose art in honor of Capt. Robert H. “Bob” Wolff, a pilot with the 100th Bomb Group during World War II. The unit earned the nickname the “Bloody Hundredth” due to extensive losses during the war.

The airplane spent 59 years in service with the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar; McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.; Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; and Kadena Air Base, Japan, before going to RAF Mildenhall. It recorded 3,000 sorties and 15,000 flying hours after entering service Nov. 13, 1963, though complete records are unavailable.

It was the first retirement of a KC-135 at RAF Mildenhall, the base said.

The story of the plane’s nose art and its history made the aircraft special to the team at RAF Mildenhall, according to the base. From July 1943, Wolff was stationed at RAF Thorpe Abbotts, a now-defunct air base about 30 miles from RAF Mildenhall. Wolff and his crew—dubbed the “Wolff Pack”—were assigned to the 418th Bomb Squadron within the 100th Bomb Group.

Wolff and his crew were part of a harrowing mission to attack the Regensburg aircraft factory in Germany in a bombing run led by then-colonel Curtis LeMay. Nine aircraft were lost when the bombers came under attack, and Wolff’s B-17 was damaged.

Robert H. Wolff’s crew of the 100th Bomb Group with their B-17 Flying Fortress. Left to right they are: Back Row: Ira Bardman, Alfred Clark, William ‘Casey’ Casebolt, James Brady Arthur ‘Eagle’ Eggleston, Willis ‘Browny’ Brown Front Row: Charles ‘Stu’ Stuart, Fredric ‘Buzz’ White, Bob Wolff, Lawrence ‘Mac’ McDonell. Photo courtesy American Air Museum in Britain.

On Sept. 16, 1943, the Wolff Pack were sent on a bombing run to a target in France, but as they attempted to divert to their secondary target due to poor weather, they were hit by enemy fire.

The B-17 turned back toward England but eventually lost three of its four engines.

“We were on fire,” Wolff said in an interview in 2015. “The B-17 won’t fly on one engine.”

Wolff was able to successfully ditch his plane off the coast of France in a water landing, and his crew climbed out.

According to Wolff, he stayed in the cockpit, turning off switches as the plane began to sink.

“Finally, I had enough of that and dove out the window on the pilot’s left side—which is pretty tight—but apparently, I went through it with my metal helmet on and everything else!” Wolff, now 101, said in an Air Force profile of him in 2022.

Originally, Wolff thought he had made it to friendly territory.

“I landed in the water and climbed up on the wing, which was still there,” Wolff said in the 2015 interview. “Here’s this French fishing boat coming, I thought, ‘Oh we’ve got it made.’ I looked around, and there’s this German patrol boat, a 30-foot boat with a machine gun on the bow and a guy standing there, and I thought, oh, four-letter word.”

Wolff was captured by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft III prisoner of war camp, which was run by the Luftwaffe. After 19 months, Wolff was freed from German captivity. Wolff received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.

“I remember the day one of the 3rd Army tanks came in and knocked the gate down,” Wolff said in 2022. “It was April 29, 1945, and that tank disappeared under the bodies of every guy who could climb on top of it!”

In May of 2012, the 100th Air Refueling Wing unveiled its nose art honoring Wolff and his crew on tail code 7999, the wing said. Other 100th Air Refueling Wing aircraft have nose art honoring crews from the 100th Bomb Group. According to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, Wolff’s plane was shot down before his crew could add “Wolff Pack” nose art to their B-17.

In 2015 Wolff saw the KC-135 that carried the Wolff Pack nose art at a 100th Bomb Group reunion.

“They’ve kept it all these years, and I feel honored,” Wolff said earlier this year. “I had a boat and also named it ‘Wolff Pack,’ with the same insignia. I’ve since sold it, but my son has got a boat and named it ‘Wolff Pack 2’ I guess we want to keep that name with us forever.”

According to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the name will stay despite the retirement of the KC-135 that carried the moniker.

“Wolff Pack nose art itself will live on at RAF Mildenhall, as it will be transferred to another tanker waiting to bear its legacy nose art,” the wing said.

PHOTOS: Eight B-2s Gather for Rare ‘Elephant Walk’ of Stealth Bomber

PHOTOS: Eight B-2s Gather for Rare ‘Elephant Walk’ of Stealth Bomber

Nov. 30, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Eight of the Air Force’s 20 B-2s assembled on one runway at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., on Nov. 7, for an extremely rare “elephant walk” of the service’s stealth bomber. 

The gathering of B-2s from the 509th Bomb Wing, along with the Air National Guard’s 131st Bomb Wing, capped Exercise Spirit Vigilance, one of a series of “Vigilance” exercises that bomb wings across the Air Force perform throughout the year. “Elephant walks” involve aircraft taxiing in a close formation before rapidly taking off in a show of air power. 

“Exercise Spirit Vigilance is a routine exercise that serves to develop and challenge the skills of the 509th Bomb Wing and ensure our combat mission readiness,” a 509th BW spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

However, it is relatively uncommon for the Air Force to conduct bomber-only elephant walks. Eight B-52s from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., lined up for one in October 2020, and five B-52s participated in one in Guam in April 2020. But there have been no recent public reports of a B-2 elephant walk until now. 

The occasion garnered extra attention, as members of the community around Whiteman were invited to watch from near the flight line, according to images shared by the 509th BW. 

The B-2 entered service in the early 1990s as the Air Force’s first stealth bomber, and fewer than two dozen were produced. After a crash in 2008, the fleet was reduced to just 20 aircraft, meaning the elephant walk at Whiteman included 40 percent of the Air Force’s entire inventory of B-2s. 

According to a 509th BW press release, Exercise Spirit Vigilance tested Airmen’s ability to rapidly prepare and deploy the B-2 “under greater scrutiny and time restraints than the normal day-to-day flying mission,” with the goal of promoting “resilience, innovation, competitiveness, and process improvement.” 

“The B-2 bomber has never been more relevant than it is now. This plane was conceived at the height of the Cold War. Now we find ourselves 30 years later, and the B-2 is in the mission for which it was created: great power competition,” 509th Operations Group commander Col. Geoffrey Steeves said in a video explaining Spirit Vigilance. “An exercise like this is a reminder that the 509th Bomb Wing and the 131st Bomb Wing are ready and willing to execute its mission of nuclear operations and global strike, anytime, anywhere.”