LISTEN: New Details from the Audio of the Chinese Spy Balloon Shoot Down

LISTEN: New Details from the Audio of the Chinese Spy Balloon Shoot Down

Feb. 7, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Days after a U.S. Air Force F-22 shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina, new details are coming to light, aided by the work of hobbyists.

Unlike some U.S. military missions in combat zones, flight trackers and ordinary citizens were able to monitor radio frequencies and air-tracking services as the F-22 Raptor scored its first known air-to-air kill, firing a missile from 58,000 feet and ending the weeklong saga of a Chinese balloon floating over the United States.

“FRANK01, Splash one!” an F-22 Raptor pilot from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. called out after the balloon was hit with an AIM-9X Sidewinder.

“The balloon is completely destroyed!” a pilot adds.

An Air Force spokesperson and a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine the audio communications were authentic.

“The audio is authentic and depicts communication from the 1st Fighter Wing pilot confirming the aerial target was destroyed,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “It’s important to clarify this audio is communication between the pilot and air traffic control that can be heard by anyone on the same frequency.”

On the afternoon of Feb. 4, it soon became apparent that the shoot-down of the balloon was imminent. Local airports in South Carolina were closed. The Federal Aviation Administration closed airspace for a “national security effort.” President Joe Biden gave a thumbs up as he boarded Air Force One when asked if the U.S. was going to shoot down the balloon .

Recordings of radio transmissions, synced up with video, shed new light on how the engagement went down. Media, aviation enthusiasts, and local citizens were ready to capture the moment.

At 2:39 pm Eastern time, an F-22, callsign FRANK01, took out the balloon with an AIM-9X Sidewinder, which has an advanced infrared tracking system to pinpoint its target. The missile appeared to hit the area where the balloon is connected to its surveillance payload, shredding the balloon and causing the payload to fall around 60,000 feet into the ocean.

F-15C Eagles from Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass., callsigns, EAGLE01 and EAGLE02, helped coordinate the F-22’s shot, which was taken six miles off the coast. The F-15s then monitored the balloon debris as it fell, using their sensor pods to pinpoint its location. A search is now underway by the Navy and Coast Guard to gather up pieces of the balloon.

“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military brought down the balloon at the first available opportunity over U.S. territorial waters while protecting American lives, and maximizing the prospects of recovering the payload,” Stefanek added. “Work is underway now by the military to collect and recover the payload.”

SASC Reveals Members, Chairs of Its 7 Subcommittees

SASC Reveals Members, Chairs of Its 7 Subcommittees

Feb. 7, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate Armed Services Committee announced the leadership and rosters for its seven subcommittees on Feb. 7, with five panels getting new chairs and the influential Airland subcommittee welcoming four new members. 

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is the new chair of the Airland panel, which oversees both Army and Air Force planning and operations policy and programs (with some exceptions). Kelly, who succeeds Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), is a retired Navy captain and astronaut and represents a state with a robust seven military installations—including Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Luke Air Force Base.  

Kelly has been an outspoken in advocating against retiring A-10 close air support jets, fighting Air Force efforts to divest the airplanes. He’s also supported establishing a Space National Guard and has sought more information on the Armed Overwatch program. 

Kelly will lead an 11-member panel with several new faces, especially on the Republican side—Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) are all new additions to the subcommittee. 

Fischer, who is also the top Republican on the Strategic Forces subcommittee, represents Offutt Air Force Base, home of U.S. Strategic Command and much of the Air Force’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance fleet. 

Mullin also represents a large Air Force population: Oklahoma hosts Altus Air Force Base, Tinker Air Force Base, Vance Air Force Base, and Will Rogers Air National Guard Base. C-17s, KC-135s, E-3s, T-1s, T-6s, T-38s, F-16s, and MC-12s are all based in the state, and Will Rogers is slated to host the schoolhouse for the new Sky Warden aircraft. The service also relies on the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex to perform maintenance for dozens of kinds of aircraft.  

Mullin is one of three freshman Senators to join the committee, alongside Ted Budd (N.C.), and Eric Schmitt (Mo.). All three are on the Emerging Threats and Capabilities subcommittee. 

The Emerging Threats subcommittee, which oversees policies and programs related to science and technology, special operations, intelligence, and more, will be chaired by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who shifted from her post atop the Personnel subcommittee. 

Replacing Gillibrand atop the Personnel subcommittee is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Meanwhile, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) flipped their seats; Kaine will now lead the Seapower and Readiness subcommittee and Hirono will head Management Support. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the only new face among the panel’s top Republicans, will be the ranking member on the Personnel subcommittee. 

Senate Armed Services Committee Subcommittee Rosters

Airland   

  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)—Chair 
  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 
  • Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) 
  • Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) 
  • Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) 
  • Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) 
  • Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) 
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) 
  • Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) 
  • Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) 

Cybersecurity  

  • Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.)—Chair 
  • Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) 
  • Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) 
  • Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) 
  • Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)  
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) 
  • Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) 
  • Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) 

Emerging Threats and Capabilities  

  • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)—Chair 
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) 
  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) 
  • Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) 
  • Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) 
  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)  
  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) 
  • Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) 
  • Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) 
  • Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) 

Personnel  

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—Chai 
  • Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 
  • Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) 
  • Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) 
  • Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)  
  • Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) 
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) 
  • Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.)  

Readiness and Management Support   

  • Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)—Chair 
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) 
  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 
  • Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) 
  • Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) 
  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.)  
  • Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) 
  • Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) 
  • Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) 
  • Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) 

Seapower 

  • Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)—Chair 
  • Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) 
  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 
  • Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) 
  • Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) 
  • Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) 
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) 
  • Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) 
  • Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) 
  • Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) 

Strategic Forces  

  • Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)—Chair 
  • Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.)—Ranking Member 
  • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) 
  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) 
  • Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) 
  • Sen. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) 
  • Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) 
  • Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) 
  • Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) 
  • Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) 
  • Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) 
China Now Has More ICBM Launchers than the US

China Now Has More ICBM Launchers than the US

Feb. 7, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

China officially surpassed the U.S. in total land-based nuclear missile launchers, U.S. Strategic Command told Congress last month, but the American nuclear triad still comprises greater stockpiles of missiles and warheads. 

The Jan. 26 letter from STRATCOM Commander Gen. Anthony J. Cotton came in response to a statute in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Pentagon to notify the Senate and House Armed Services Committees if it determined that China has more land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, ICBM warheads, or ICBM launchers than the U.S. 

As of October 2022, Cotton wrote, China had more launchers. He did not specify exactly how many launchers China has. 

The change shows China’s rapid expansion in nuclear capabilities. In 2021, satellite images showed China was building 250 to 300 new ICBM silos in three different missile fields, although whether some or any of the silos are actually armed is unclear. The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) also has dozens of mobile missile launchers, or transporter erector launcher (TEL) vehicles. 

The U.S. has 400 Minutemen III ICBMs in silos spread across three missile fields and no land-based mobile missile launchers. Its ICBMs are capped under treaty with Russia. The U.S. also has nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines and nuclear-capable bombers. 

Cotton said China is developing a “bona fide” nuclear triad during his confirmation hearing. The PLA is developing a nuclear air-launched ballistic missile, a potential new class or subtype of submarine, and a secretive H-20 long-range bomber. 

Still, the most recent China Military Power Report from the Pentagon estimates that the Chinese have just six ballistic missile submarines, compared to 14 for the U.S. Navy, and that China only recently began fielding its H-6N nuclear-capable bomber. By contrast, the the U.S. Air Force has more than 90 nuclear-capable B-2 and B-52 bombers.

STRATCOM’s letter to lawmakers focused solely on land-based launchers. 

China is building up nuclear weapons and infrastructure at what former Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray described called a “breathtaking” pace, leading the Pentagon to estimate China’s future arsenal will reach 1,500 warheads by 2035. That has Cotton and others contemplating a future with two “near-peer” nuclear adversaries in China and Russia. 

While more than triple China’s current stockpile of around 400 warheads, the projected total is still far less than the 3,700 nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal.

“We can be confident that we still retain vast stocks far in excess of what the [Chinese Communist Party’s] ambitions suggest they will be to achieve in the near term,” said Dr. Melanie W. Sisson, a foreign policy fellow at the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 7. 

Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney, director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) at Air University, said that China must also deal with issues of command and control between its armed services. In a prior interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine he agreed that China will not match U.S. stockpiles in the near term.

Still, the fact that China now has more land-based missile launchers was met with concern in the Capitol. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, noted it in his opening statement Feb. 7 and issued a statement alongside Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), chair of the HASC strategic forces subcommittee; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), ranking member of the SASC strategic forces subcommittee. 

“This should serve as a wake-up call for the United States,” the four lawmakers said. “It is not an understatement to say that the Chinese nuclear modernization program is advancing faster than most believed possible. We have no time to waste in adjusting our nuclear force posture to deter both Russia and China. This will have to mean higher numbers and new capabilities.” 

Ukraine Has More Pressing Needs Than F-16s, Top Senator Says

Ukraine Has More Pressing Needs Than F-16s, Top Senator Says

Feb. 7, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Although Ukrainian officials insist they need modern combat aircraft like F-16s to repel Russia’s invasion, the jets wouldn’t make a “critical difference in the fight,” and Ukraine has more urgent needs, Senate Armed Services Committee chair Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said Feb. 7.

In an online Defense Writers Group discussion, Reed also discussed the possibility of deep defense budget cuts and Congressional reactions to the Chinese surveillance balloon that recently crossed the U.S. 

F-16s to Ukraine?

When evaluating any lethal aid request from Ukraine, the U.S. needs to determine whether it would make a difference “in their fighting model,” Reed said. And F-16s “at this juncture … are not the most pressing need” for Ukrainian forces.

Rather, “ammunition, fighting vehicles—the tanks, I think, will be more decisive—indirect fire, the longer-range rocket system, HIMARS … all of that will have a more immediate impact” than fighters, and would be “much more easily adapted” into Ukrainian forces, Reed argued.

The air defense situation in Ukraine also wouldn’t allow for F-16s to be used “effectively” yet, Reed said.

The Ukrainians “have jet aircraft right now; Russian models that they use. They fly them infrequently, because the airspace is not permissive. It’s extremely difficult to get up in the air,” he explained.

“What they do is take off and fly at treetop levels until they reach their target, and they bounce up to the safest [altitude at which] they can drop their ordnance,” and try to return to base.

“They’ve lost some pilots doing that,” he said.

“So you have to ask yourself,” Reed continued: “what would the F-16 add? You’re not going to be able to take advantage of its range, its altitude, and those things because the airspace is not at all permissive.”

However, Reed did leave open the possibility of considering F-16s for the long term.

Beyond the question of F-16s, though, Ukraine is getting “a significant integration of advice and assistance coming from the West, not just the United States, but NATO, almost on a minute-by-minute basis,” Reed said. “And that advice, I think, is very, very helpful for them. We tend to focus on hardware rather than advice, assistance, intelligence, helping them connect their software etc. That might be more vital in this context, than an F-16.”

The senior lawmaker did say he is in favor of sending Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), to Ukraine, because ATACMS “can hit back further” than the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) the U.S. has previously given.

“What the Russians have done is they’ve moved back some of their command and control centers and depots to avoid the GMLRS. … So we have to get longer range systems in [to] disrupt their command and control, and supply,” Reed said.

Amid speculation and reports of a fresh offensive from the Russians, Reed said he thinks Ukraine “will hold” and go on an offensive of its own when equipped with the tanks and armored vehicle package just announced. Reed also praised the Ukrainians for showing “great ingenuity in taking the equipment we’ve given them and keeping it running,” and for their work with electronic warfare.

Should that offensive succeed in pushing the Russians to the point that they are “retreating en masse” and “nonfunctional,” Reed said he sees heightened danger of nuclear weapons being used by Russia, especially if the Ukrainians advance on Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.

“That’s where this discussion would heat up tremendously within the Kremlin,“ he said, before noting “it’s not that easy” to guess what Russia would do in those circumstances.

Congress

For the U.S., the biggest lesson learned from Ukraine was that the industrial base was not adequately configured to surge munitions production, and this is something Congress will be taking up in the coming year, Reed said.

The idea that weapon systems will be immediately canceled “if we determine it is not effective” for U.S. forces, “… that’s not going to happen immediately,” he added.

Reed also expressed skepticism about a proposal from some Republicans to cap defense spending at fiscal 2022 levels—which would mark a 10 percent cut—as a bargaining chip for raising the national debt limit.

“It would be a roughly $70-$80 billion cut,” Reed said, “at a time we’re in the midst of supporting active conflict; at a time we are seeing … provocative behavior by the Chinese. … I don’t think that would be an appropriate number and I don’t think it will receive a lot of bipartisan support here in the Senate.”

Chinese Balloon

Asked about the Chinese reconnaissance balloon that an Air Force F-22 shot down Feb. 5, Reed said he believes the situation was “handled very well” to avoid endangering people on the ground, and President Joe Biden “took steps to minimize whatever it was meant to gather” in the way of intelligence.

Like other members of Congress, Reed said he’s puzzled about why China sent the balloon, since “they can actually get probably more information from the satellites that are already flying above us than from a balloon. So it’s very difficult to determine why they did this.”

He also said one of the questions needing attention is “what was the point, and who ordered it? … What was the motivation? … What were they trying to accomplish? And what does that signal to us?” about China’s power structure.

“This could be one of those situations where this was not a policy decision made by [Chinese president Xi Jinping], but something below, and I think we have to look at that,” Reed suggested.

But the U.S. military is now recovering the surveillance package carried by the balloon, and “at the end of the day, we’ll probably gain more intelligence from this operation than the Chinese,”  which makes it “an awkward moment for them.”

Congress will be briefed on the incident next week.

One likely outcome is that Congress will insist on “denying any access to our airspace by China or anyone else,” Reed said. Congress will “certainly look” at any capability gaps exposed by the incident.

Investigation: Cracked Fan Blade on B-1 Caused Massive Fireball, Sent Shrapnel Flying

Investigation: Cracked Fan Blade on B-1 Caused Massive Fireball, Sent Shrapnel Flying

Feb. 6, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

A cracked engine part sparked a massive fire that caused shrapnel and burn injuries to an Airman and nearly $15 million in serious damages to a B-1B Lancer bomber last spring.

The bomber’s jet engine was running as mechanics at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, were working on its hydraulics April 20, 2022, according to a recently released Air Force Investigation Board report.

The B-1’s pilots first noticed an issue when the plane was attempting a “hot” refuel with its engines running when a nozzle malfunctioned. The Airmen called in propulsion specialists, who after fiddling with the throttles, determined the issue was resolved for the moment. After the issue popped up again, further investigation by Airmen determined there was a hydraulic issue that needed to be addressed. Maintainers began work on the system and looked to be solving the plane’s issue.

The crew was running the engine “to check proper operations of the engine hydraulic pump and to ensure it did not leak fluid” in accordance with technical orders, the Air Force investigation report reads. 

During the check, the number one engine on the plane’s left side “catastrophically failed,” which ejected a fan disk from the intake and served fuel lines. A massive fire ensued. The fan disk eventually landed over 500 feet away from the B-1, according to the Air Force.

The Air Force’s investigation found that “high-cycle fatigue”—caused when the plane accelerates and decelerates—of the 2nd stage fan disk began to cause a crack. Like many cases of unsuspected metal fatigue, the fan disk became a ticking time bomb. Investigators found the crack grew nearly an inch before it finally completely broke apart, causing disastrous damage to the engine and plane and injuring Airmen.

“The fireball rose approximately 200 feet into the air and ejected parts of the engine and cowling up to 1,000 feet away,” the Air Force report states. The fire engulfed 50 feet of the left wing.

Video purportedly showing the fire was posted to the unofficial “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page, though the Air Force never confirmed the video’s veracity.

Damage to the B-1’s left wing and number one engine after the fire. U.S. Air Force photo

The fan disk was at only one-quarter of its projected service life, the report said.

The Air Force said it could not find the root cause of the high-cycle fatigue that caused the initial crack and turned the GE-made engine into a shrapnel-spitting inferno. The investigation said all Airmen involved followed proper procedures and were fully qualified to perform the work.

“No factors substantially contributed to this mishap,” the investigation concluded.

It is unclear what happened to the plane in question, tail number 85-0089, though the report said it suffered “extensive fire damage.” The Airman injured in the incident was treated at a local hospital for minor wounds.

The B-1 fleet, which has an average age of 35 years, has been flown hard during its service life. B-1s had a mission-capable rate of just over 40 percent in 2021, a far lower percentage than the much older B-52 and stealth B-2 had, though B-2s are currently grounded due to safety concerns.

New ‘Total Force’ Airforce.com Site Highlights Guard and Reserve Opportunities

New ‘Total Force’ Airforce.com Site Highlights Guard and Reserve Opportunities

Feb. 6, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force now has a single website to manage all its recruiting needs, covering Active Duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve recruiting. Legacy sites goang.com and afreserve.com will now direct users to the central airforce.com site.

By approaching recruiting centrally as a Total Force, Air Force Recruiting Service is simplifying the picture the Air Force presents to potential recruits.

“We’re trying to portray the Air Force as an organization where you can serve in many different capacities,” AFRS marketing director Barry Dickey told Air & Space Forces Magazine in an interview. “Having all of those options and all that information on one website—I can be in the Guard, serve part-time and have a state mission that helps my local area a lot, or I can be a full-time … deployable Airman and travel around the world and do those things—we wanted to make sure that we were telling that story in one single location. And that anybody that went on there could find out all of the information they wanted on a single site.” 

A new “Ways to Serve” page highlights part-time and full-time careers and visitors can explore the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve in more detail. The Guard page ifeatures several videos highlighting personal stories from Guardsmen. 

Updated “Benefits,” “Locations,” and “How to Join” pages, along with information on the different opportunities and requirements broken down by component, are included, and the initial online application process is now standardized across all components.  

“The new Total Force application explains the overall process, directs all applicants to one simplified, secure form to select which component they’re most interested in, and follows a few simple steps to capture necessary information for recruiters,” AFRS stated in a release. 

The decision to transition to one central site started in 2021, Dickey said, as the AFRS took over marketing for all the different components. Conducting market research, the service found that “a lot of people know the components, but they don’t know a lot about them or how they’re different,” Dickey said. 

“So we wanted to highlight those differences, just to show that there are multiple ways that you can serve in the Air Force. And then if you’re a currently serving Airmen, there’s a continuum of service that you can fall back on if you want to stay in a blue uniform. … What our research showed was that there just wasn’t a lot of knowledge about the specifics of the components out there.” 

The airforce.com domain is already the most viewed and searched among the three, and by not relegating the Guard and Reserve to separate sites, all components can benefit. Data showed airforce.com averaged around 2 million users per month—24 million or so per year–compared with 3.7 million per year for GoANG.com, and a slightly smaller number for afreserve.com. 

“Our thought is just to drive more traffic to content about the Guard or the Reserve—we can do it better through airforce.com than we could through those other two websites,” Dickey said, adding that one website increases the service’s marketing buying power, with only one site to advertise and funnel people to. 

Beyond buying power, though, Dickey said the new consolidated site is part of a shift toward a more unified, recruit-friendly approach. 

“I think we’ve realized we have a better consolidated message across the board if we focus on trying to fit the needs of a person who wants to come into the service,” Dickey said. “And we can do that through things like this new total force airforce.com. It’s just a better user experience for them, and we think we can meet the needs of the components through this methodology.” 

Air Force Recruiting commander Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas said in a statement that the new site will showcase “the unique strengths, opportunities—and importantly, the flexibilities—of each component in one place.” 

The emphasis on flexibility could be especially key as the Air Force looks to entice recruits in a competitive job market. The service barely met its Active-Duty recruiting goals for fiscal 2022 and fell short for the Guard and Reserve. 

Things are off to a better start in 2023—a Pentagon spokesman said Feb. 6 that in the first quarter of the fiscal year, the Air National Guard increased accessions in 11 percent year-over-year. 

NORAD Missed Previous Chinese Spy Balloons: ‘A Domain Awareness Gap We Have to Figure Out’

NORAD Missed Previous Chinese Spy Balloons: ‘A Domain Awareness Gap We Have to Figure Out’

Feb. 6, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

Chinese surveillance balloons have previously entered U.S. airspace but went undetected by the Pentagon, the commander in charge of protecting American skies said Feb. 6.

The revelation comes as the Pentagon has sought to explain how a Chinese surveillance balloon was able to float over North America last week, getting far enough into U.S. airspace that the military said it was unsafe to shoot down without risking injuries to civilians on the ground.

“As NORAD commander, it’s my responsibility to detect threats to North America,” Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the head of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), told reporters. “I will tell you that we did not detect those threats. And that’s a domain awareness gap that we have to figure out.”

Pentagon officials said Feb. 4 surveillance balloons had entered U.S. airspace at least four times in recent years, during both President Joe Biden’s and President Donald Trump’s administrations. The intelligence community eventually made “us aware of those balloons that were previously approaching North America or transited North America,” according to VanHerck, but NORAD did not know about those cases in real-time, showing a deficiency in protecting American skies.

This most recent balloon sparked domestic and international uproar. It first entered the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Jan. 28, before traversing the Aleutian Islands, entering Canada, and reentering the United States over northern Idaho on Jan. 31, U.S. officials said. VanHerck said the balloon was “up to” 200 feet tall and had a “jet airline type” payload of a couple thousand pounds.

The NORAD commander said when the balloon was near the Aleutian Islands and approaching Alaska, the U.S. “could not take immediate action because it was not demonstrating hostile act or hostile intent.” But the situation changed once it flew over the continental U.S.

Biden ordered the balloon shot down Feb. 2. By that point, the balloon was visible to civilians on the ground and was operating over U.S. nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. But military commanders thought shooting the balloon down might cause serious damage on the ground.

The U.S. waited for the balloon to drift off the coast of South Carolina before an F-22 shot it down with an AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

VanHerck said “this balloon did not present a physical military threat to North America,” which is why the U.S. did not shoot it down when it was first detected and waited until the issue was raised to the highest levels of the government.

American officials have stressed the balloon did not pose a risk to U.S. citizens—as long as it remained airborne—throughout the entire time it transited North America. The U.S. “covered” and “minimized any collection” of intelligence by the balloon, VanHerck said. U.S. officials have declined to identify the balloon’s payload, though they have said it is clearly a surveillance asset. China claims it was a rogue weather balloon and the U.S. violated international law by shooting it down.

National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby dismissed those claims as disingenuous Feb. 6.

“In fact, that’s why we did it about six miles off the coast, inside our territorial airspace, so that we could comply with international law,” Kirby told reporters, “unlike the Chinese who didn’t comply with international law by flying it over sovereign U.S. airspace.”

VanHerck declined to specify how and when the intelligence community first informed the military about the previous balloons, noting he will be testifying before Congress to explain the situation. Members of both parties have demanded further details, and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the entire upper chamber will be briefed on the matter. Kirby said the previous cases were “brief” and “nothing like we saw last week.”

The revelation that NORAD failed to notice the previous incidents rather than simply not publicizing them shows a clear gap in America’s air defenses, which the Defense Department now hopes to plug with some of the information gathered from the debris of the balloon, scattered over about 1,500 square meters in 50 feet of water, as well as from information gleaned during its flight.

“We utilized multiple capabilities to ensure we collected and utilized the opportunity to close intel gaps,” VanHerck said.

Even after the first balloon was being tracked, “speculation” of a second balloon over North America led NORAD to launch Canadian and American fighters to conduct a visual search, according to VanHerck.

The Biden administration is willing to brief Trump administration officials about balloon incidents, according to Kirby. The Chinese government acknowledged that it has another balloon over Latin America. A senior defense official said Feb. 4 there were previous cases across five continents. It is unclear if any part of the U.S. government tracked previous Chinese balloons in real time.

Once the decision was made to shoot down the balloon, the mission was largely up to the Air Force, supported by additional assets under U.S. Northern Command. Aircraft included tankers from Oregon, Montana, South Carolina, and North Carolina and F-15s from Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass.

An F-22 Raptor, callsign FRANK01, from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., engaged the balloon with an AIM-9X Sidewinder, hitting the target. Other F-22s from Langley also took part in the mission, with at least one flying in support under a LUKE01 callsign, according to VanHerck. NORTHCOM said Feb. 4 that the F-22s involved in the shoot-down included FRANK01 and FRANK02. The callsigns were a nod to Lt. Frank Luke, Jr., a World War 1 Ace and Medal of Honor recipient nicknamed the “Arizona Balloon Buster.”

The aircraft used an AIM-9, rather than a more advanced AIM-120 AMRAAM for “safety considerations” because the AMRAAM has a larger warhead, VanHerck said. U.S. officials have said the F-22 fired its missile from 58,000 feet, and VanHerck said he was not aware of any air-to-air other engagements occurring at that altitude.

VanHerck said it was up to Langley’s 1st Fighter Wing to determine if the F-22 should receive a black balloon painted on the side, denoting a kill.

Undisclosed Number of CV-22s Grounded Until Clutch Components Are Replaced

Undisclosed Number of CV-22s Grounded Until Clutch Components Are Replaced

Feb. 6, 2023 | By Greg Hadley

A little more than five months after Air Force Special Operations Command briefly stopped flying its CV-22s over a safety issue, an undisclosed number of Ospreys across the service will be grounded until maintainers can replace components that have exceeded a new flight-hour limit.  

The V-22 Joint Program Office said Feb. 4 it is imposing flight-hour limits on V-22 input quill assemblies; if installed assemblies exceed that limit, aircraft will remain grounded until the parts are swapped out. Precisely how many aircraft are affected or what the new flight hour limit is were not disclosed. 

The input quill assembly is part of the prop rotor transmission, which includes the gearbox and clutch, and transmits power from the engine to the Osprey’s massive propellers.  

Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 2022, Air Force CV-22s suffered “hard clutch engagement” incidents. At the time, then-AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife explained that the problem would begin with a slipping clutch, which caused a fail-safe feature in the system to transfer power from one engine to the other, as if the first engine was no longer engaged. However, because the clutch was only slipping, and not disengaged, it was suddenly re-engaging, generating enormous spikes in torque. 

Such incidents result in “kind of a Christmas tree of lights, caution lights, in the cockpit, and some pretty squirrely flight control inputs,” Slife said at an AFA Warfighters in Action event in September 2022.  

The problem is relatively rare, and the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy did not understand the root cause until the summer of 2022. AFSOC had only experienced two instances of hard clutch engagement in the prior five years, but then saw two in quick succession, convincing Slife to suspend flights. 

“My stand down was really an opportunity for us to bring some attention to this in the engineering enterprise and with our industry partners, because the approach up to this point has been: Until we understand the root cause, there’s really nothing we can do about it,” Slife said. “And my view is we may not understand why it’s happening, but we absolutely know that it is happening. And so we need to take a closer look at what is happening and maybe remove some of the precursor events to each one of these.” 

At the time, only AFSOC took action, and after two weeks lifted its restrictions. But on Feb. 4, the V-22 JPO imposed the change, saying it is working on “24 initiatives, such as data mining, laboratory and flight testing, and hardware redesign” with the aim of implementing short-, medium-, and long-term solutions. 

“It was a result of these efforts that we identified and implemented the time limit for the Input Quill Assembly,” a statement from the office reads, adding that other relevant findings will also be used to improve the V-22’s safety. 

The office did not immediately respond to an Air & Space Forces Magazine query as to whether the input quill assembly was identified as the root cause of the hard clutch engagement issue, but Defense One reported that manufacturer Bell-Boeing is working on a complete redesign of the clutch. 

B-2 Fleet Remains Grounded, Limiting Participation At Red Flag

B-2 Fleet Remains Grounded, Limiting Participation At Red Flag

Feb. 5, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.—The B-2 Spirit remains grounded due to safety issues—and the plane’s stand-down is beginning to disrupt planned operations.

According to information provided to the media, the stealth strategic bomber from the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., was originally scheduled to participate in the latest iteration of Red Flag, the Air Force’s principal combat training exercise, in January and February. However, more than a month after a crash in December, the planes are still deemed unfit to fly, barring extraordinary circumstances.

“The safety stand-down is still in effect,“ Master Sgt. Beth Del Veccino, a spokesperson for the 509th Bomb Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine on Feb. 3. “We do not have new information regarding the status of the B-2 fleet; however, we remain ready to execute any tasking as directed by the commander-in-chief or other higher authority.“

Since the B-2 cannot fly unless absolutely necessary, the Air Force brought the plane’s crews to Nellis Air Force Base and virtually simulated the aircraft in Red Flag 23-1, which is occurring over three test ranges and the Pacific Ocean. B-2 aircraft participated in Red Flag in 2022, 2021, and in other previous iterations of the exercise.

“The B-2 aircrew are here mission planning,” said Col. Jared Hutchinson, the commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron, which coordinates Red Flag. “What we’re doing is we’re injecting B-2 virtual tracks into our system so that they can be planned, executed, and debriefed to. But there’s no actual B-2s flying.”

The 509th Bomb Wing confirmed its crews were at Red Flag in a limited capacity. 

“We sent 509th Bomb Wing personnel, including B-2 pilots, to participate in Red Flag Nellis 23-1,” Phill Stuart, the chief of command information for the 509th Bomb Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Our personnel are part of the mission planning cell for RF 23-1.”

Hutchinson added that the situation was an outlier.

“The extent of the virtual aspect of Red Flag is about what I just said,” Hutchinson said when asked if any other aircraft were being simulated, though he said Red Flag does add “more exquisite capabilities” virtually.

B-2s have been grounded since a Dec. 10 incident in which one of the aircraft suffered an in-flight malfunction and then was damaged during what the 509th Bomb Wing termed a “successful” emergency landing at Whiteman Air Force Base. The aircraft partially veered off the runway and was damaged in a fire, though Air Force officials have declined to provide more details.

The aircraft remained stuck on Whiteman Air Force Base’s lone runway before the airstrip was finally cleared Dec. 21 for operations of the other aircraft housed at Whiteman, the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the T-38 Talon.

The mishap was the second B-2 crash in a little over a year. Another aircraft blocked the runway in September 2021 after a similar accident in which the plane experienced an issue while airborne before being damaged upon landing. That crash was caused by a hydraulic issue and worn landing gear springs, according to an Air Force investigation. The Air Force has not said if it suspects the two crashes are related.