Lawmakers: Congress, Air Force Must Work Together to Address Capacity Risk

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Congress needs to do a better job of providing the Air Force with steady, consistent funding; the Air Force needs to find ways to develop programs faster; and the two need to work together to ensure that the service can build capacity for both the present and the future, a pair of Airman-lawmakers said Sept. 20.

Rep. Kaialiʻi Kahele (D-Hawaii) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) offered bipartisan support for the Air Force and the importance of airpower at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference. Kahele is a member of the Air National Guard and has flown C-17s, while Pfluger is in the Air Force Reserve and has flown F-22s.

“The story needs to be told in a way that mentions that insatiable appetite, that demand for air power,” Pfluger said of the Air Force’s public perception. “When anything pops up around the world, what is the first phone call that’s made? It’s to air power. It’s to space power—it’s to the Department of Air Force. The political capital needed to send an airplane is not nearly as high as [what] would be required for boots on the ground or any sort of other method or other department or other domain.”

What Congress Can Do

Promoting air power in Congress could be especially critical, Kahele and Pfluger agreed, because of the threats posed by China and Russia and the possibility that the Pentagon will need to prepare to deter and fight on two fronts while staying within a budget.

“We may not need every service to have a two-front-war capacity, capability. That is the narrative that I think we need to coalesce around on the Hill,” Pfluger said. “That is what we can do something about with a limited-resource environment.”

The issue of the resources is particularly crucial for the Air Force given the need to modernize and build up capacity after decades of getting smaller and older, a fact highlighted by retired Col. Mark Gunzinger of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, who called the issue a “budget-driven spiral toward a hollow force.”

Part of the issue, all three agreed, is the practice of “pass-through” funding, whereby funds are routed through the Air Force to classified programs out of its control—making the service’s budget look larger than it is, especially compared to that of the Army and Navy.

Eliminating the pass through “is so important,” Kahele said. Removing it from the budget will create “transparency for the decision-makers on the Hill and for the American public.” In addition, it will help to restore parity in budgets. That will allow “the United States Air Force to be able to compete against the other branches. Historically, it has been one-third, one-third, one-third. But if you look at the Air Force’s budget as presented by the administration, it’s about $230 billion. That is not reflective of what the Air Force has money to spend on.”

All told, pass-through funding accounted for roughly $40 billion in the Air Force’s 2023 budget request. It’s an issue lawmakers have tried to address before, and Pfluger urged Airmen and Air Force supporters to contact members of Congress to push them to keep pressing the issue.

But even if pass-through funding changed, there would still be the problem that almost annually now, Congress fails to pass a budget by the start of the fiscal year, instead relying on continuing resolutions that keep the government open but funded at the previous year’s level.

Air Force leaders have frequently decried CRs, and said they prevents the service from starting new programs or doling out contracts in a regular, predictable manner, and Pfluger pledged that “we are committed to making sure that we can avoid those CRs … to allow policymakers inside the Department of Defense and Air Force to do what’s needed to deter.”

But Congress appears all but certain to need a continuing resolution to start fiscal 2023 on Oct. 1, and Kahele warned that a full budget and the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy for the Pentagon, may not pass until December, after the midterm elections in November.

What the Air Force Can Do

While Congress struggles with the budget, the Air Force could stand to change as well, both congressmen agreed, especially when it comes to breaking through the Pentagon’s notorious bureaucracy.

“Our request, from the other side of the river, is that the Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force move at the speed of relevancy to face these threats,” Pfluger said. “No longer can we afford to have 15-, 20-year programs like when I was part of the F-22. We have to move at the speed of relevancy when it comes to acquiring new weapons systems and getting them into an operational level of service.”

At the moment, Pfluger said, the Pentagon and the Air Force don’t account for political risk when formulating acquisition schedules. That can backfire when programs are delayed or face issues, Kahele added.

“In the conversations I’ve had on [the House Armed Services Committee] and seeing different members debate, I know that they get upset when we are not able to get the platforms on time, on schedule, what we ordered,” Kahele said. “And we can talk about F-35. We can talk about the KC-46. But it’s going to take a whole-of-government effort with the defense industry to be able to produce the platforms that we’ve ordered, and produce them on time and on schedule.”

Working Together

While both Congress and the Air Force can make improvements, it will all but certainly take time to get there. And in the meantime, there’s still the pressing issue of the service needing to confront current challenges and threats.

It’s an issue that requires both the executive and legislative branches of government to work together, Pfluger said, especially given the threats and risks involved.

“I think we do have a real problem with risk right now. Specifically when it comes to our fifth-generation fighters, when it comes to the transition between the B-2 and the B-21, are we going to be able to actually execute what the NDS states that we need to be ready to execute?” Pfluger said. “And this is a real decision that we’re going to have to make on both sides. … And we need to come together in both branches of government and have that clear-eyed discussion.”

Van Ovost: Time to Invest in Next Generation of Tankers, Airlifters

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force needs to start investing in its “next generation of strategic mobility and refueling assets,” U.S. Transportation Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said Sept. 20—and that means replacing the two pillars of those respective fleets.

“The C-17 has demonstrated its merits countless times, but the last one was delivered to the Air Force in 2013,” Van Ovost told reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference. “When we receive the last KC-46 at the end of this decade, we will still have hundreds of Eisenhower-era KC-135s in our fleet that must be recapitalized.”

Aerial Refueling

In June, the Air Force sent a request for information to the aviation industry launching the Advanced Aerial Refueling Family of Systems (AAR FoS) program. The program, intended to develop new and existing technologies to go on both current tankers and future ones, detailed some of the attributes it needs, including connectivity, survivability, and increased situational awareness.

Van Ovost called those required attributes “heartening” and detailed how TRANSCOM helped shape them with its own studies.

“We’ve been working with [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command], PACAF in particular, on how we would employ those airplanes … and what environment they will be in and what we’re refueling,” Van Ovost said. “It really sort of calculates what kind of airplanes we need, and in what positions.” The simulations also show whether “you can modulate how much more fuel they take; or if they take less fuel, would they have this or that, [and] what value would that be to the battlefield.”

Air Mobility Command, the Air Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense receive the results of those sturies, Van Ovost said, and will help inform the requirements for the service’s KC-Y “bridge tanker” and KC-Z programs. Requirements for KC-Y are set to be unveiled this fall, while work on the KC-Z future tanker begins in 2023, officials have said.

Van Ovost also detailed some of the capabilities she believes future tankers will need.

“I can tell you, spoiler alert, it’s got to be connected like the KC-46,” Van Ovost said. “Gone are the days where you can just go out there and go to an anchor orbit and just wait for someone to come. It has to be connected and have some sort of battlespace awareness, even if it’s MacGyvered on … because that is key to survivability.”

On top of that, maneuverability will matter so that the aircraft can be “in the fight, literally linked to everybody so that it can be of more value,” Van Ovost said.

And if tankers are in the fight, they’ll need some form of defense.

“I’m not saying you have to have an onboard defense, but have a defense,” Van Ovost said. “What is it? What’s the spectrum defense? What’s the kinetic defense? But that could look like multiple things. It could look like a loyal wingman. It could look like you’re on the network and someone else on that network sees it and takes care of it, and they aren’t anywhere close to you.”

All of those requirements, however, aren’t locked in, and Van Ovost said TRANSCOM will likely conduct wargames to test them in “more of a final stage.”

Mobility

While the push to replace the 60-year-old KC-135 has been going on for years now, the C-17 Globemaster III is relatively new in comparison, and the Air Force hasn’t sought to cut its fleet.

But while the average C-17 is decades younger than the KC-135, the airlifter has been used hard—with no obvious immediate successor.

“It’s been critical to the fight. But I’m aware that we’re using them a lot, and there are no [active production lines] for a capability like that—a roll-on, roll-off kind of capability” versus lifting, Van Ovost said of the C-17. “It makes a huge difference for throughput if you can roll on, roll off an airplane.”

Van Ovost also noted that the C-5 Galaxy, the Air Force’s largest airlifter, isn’t “getting any younger, either,” heightening the importance of keeping the C-17 fleet airworthy.

The Air Force has articulated plans to keep the C-17 in service through the 2050s—but Van Ovost suggested that TRANSCOM is already looking ahead to its successor.

“We need to be able to … consider in the concepts looking forward, how much stuff are we moving forward, what kinds of stuff, and what kinds of capabilities that airplane will need?” said Van Ovost. “So as we do these studies, we keep the airlift in the fight, and we keep pushing to the Air Force and refreshing what we think the next airlifter should look like.”

What exactly that will be, Van Ovost didn’t say. But she did point to the Air Force’s operational concept of agile combat employment—emphasizing smaller teams of multi-capable Airmen who can operate in remote or austere locations—along with similar ideas from the other services, as what will “really define” the aircraft’s requirement.

F-35 Pilot Recognized With 40th Anthony C. Shine Award

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Patrick Reardon

It took two years, but Maj. Matthew J. “Eraser” Riley, an F-35 pilot, finally received the Anthony C. Shine Award recognizing his combat prowess as a member of the 34th Fighter Squadron, 388th Fighter Wing, at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. Delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the award was presented by Gen. Mark D. Kelly, commander of Air Combat Command, at a private ceremony Sept. 20 during AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Md.

The Anthony C. Shine Award is given annually to a USAF fighter pilot major or below who most exemplifies the character, professionalism, and tactical proficiency of the award’s namesake. Shine flew more than 100 combat missions before his A-7 disappeared beneath a cloud covering the border of North Vietnam and Laos in 1972. He was declared missing in action, and, for the next 24 years, his wife and three children carried “the painful burden of uncertainty,” said Colleen Shine, who was 8 years old when her father vanished.

Colleen Shine’s determination to learn her father’s fate and bring peace of mind to her family led her on three trips to Vietnam after the war. Eventually, she was connected with someone who discovered pieces of his aircraft and a helmet bearing his name. The breakthrough reignited government searches, and in 1996, his remains were unearthed and repatriated to U.S. soil and buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lt. Col. Anthony C. Shine. Courtesy photo.

Bonnie Shine established the Anthony C. Shine Award in 1980. The award requires final approval by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and is presented by the recipient’s major command commander.

“Eraser [represents] the core values of our Air Force energy,” Kelly said before the award was presented. Shine’s “legacy will continue. I guarantee you, Colleen Shine and the team at ACC will make sure we continue honoring these aviators for years to come.”

Riley’s credits include being the deployed director of operations for the largest F-35 combat deployment to date, where he led 434 Airmen and 18 F-35 Lightning IIs supporting four bases and three areas of responsibility. He led 79 combat missions and employed 21 weapons in contact with enemies in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. At home, Riley participated in community events in which his squadron promoted the Air Force mission with more than 1,000 civilians.

Colleen Shine said the award recognizes not just remarkable pilots, but remarkable people. “Reading through Eraser’s nomination package,” she said, “I was awed by the phenomenal amount of responsibility he’s had in leading and executing a myriad of combat missions, managing risks quickly and effectively, then using that experience to create guides and combat survival launch plans that ensure others can live to fly and fight another day—this formidable fighter pilot recognizes what it means to serve someone bigger than himself.”

Riley is now a Combat Air Force Fellow at Headquarters Air Force in Washington, D.C. He thanked his leadership, family, and wife, as well as numerous members of the Shine family who gathered for the award.

“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “Thank you to everyone for coming out—not to celebrate me, but to celebrate the [Shine family].”

Military Spouses Gain Strength By Sticking Together

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Nick Adde

Sharene Brown knows firsthand the contributions military spouses make, and she’s committed to improving the lives of those challenged by the military lifestyle that came with marrying a military member.

“There is no doubt our spouses make a difference, serving alongside their Airmen and Guardians every day,” said Brown, the wife of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. “You—our spouses—are often the agents of change,” she said as she moderated a discussion Sept. 19 at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

Spouses have led the fights to improve child care, education, and health care, and they continue to lead the fight to ensure spouses can put their professional skills to use when they assume new jobs after permanent change of station moves.

Suzie Schwartz, wife of former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, was a professional before she became a volunteer and spouse advocate. She noted that employment opportunity is a key source of pride for her and others.

“I’m proud that I fought to be able to go to work,” Schwartz said. “I got in trouble for it, but we survived, and that’s not an issue anymore.”

Schwartz admitted she probably made a few enemies along the way, but expressed no regrets.

“I hope, I believe, and I know that I inspired others to find their voice and do their best to make a difference,” she said.

As a staffer for two U.S. senators, panelist Heba Abdelaal learned before she became an Air Force wife that spouses who contacted Capitol Hill offices where she worked typically did so as a last resort.

“Everything’s gone sideways, they don’t know where to turn for help—you’re their last resort,” Abdelaal told the audience.

“All those kinds of issues do have an impact on people, on their day-to-day ability to do their work and go in fully ready to meet whatever job requirements they’re going to have for the day,” she said.

No one solution will alleviate 100 percent of the problems that need to be addressed, she said. But working on both sides of the political aisle, both sides of Capitol Hill, and with the military and veterans service organizations is essential for finding the best path to resolution, she said.

Eddy Mentzer, a military spouse who works in community support programs at the Defense Department, provided the audience with pointers for addressing their primary concern—a lack of suitable employment.

Mentzer said the Pentagon plans to launch a funded fellowship program in which military spouses will be placed in paid positions with corporations and companies.

“There are organizations out there that are doing this right now, and they are having amazing success,” Mentzer said. “But the fact that the department, with congressional assistance, is able to build on what is already happening is huge.”

Mentzer said more information will be forthcoming by December.

Melissa Shaw, a Space Force spouse, said she and her husband—a former Soldier—had lived in six different homes in just 10 years of marriage. Two of their three children were born in other countries.

“I am never a victim to this lifestyle,” Shaw said. “Obviously, there are times when he doesn’t get a say in what he does. But when presented with choices, we make those choices together. And that makes me feel very empowered.”

Military spouse Kathleen Hedden, a medical professional by training and volunteer spouse advocate, offered advice on both the challenges and opportunities families face during overseas deployments.

The longstanding sponsorship program, Hedden said, proved invaluable in her case. “Just having someone let you know, ‘Hey, you’re going to need a two-phone authentication’ in order to keep access to a CONUS bank account,” was a good example of such advice, she said.

Professional licensure and reciprocity issues that are a headache in the States are enhanced significantly overseas, Hedden added. Questions about schools also loom.

“You don’t know what you don’t know,” Hedden said. “It’s been 13 months [since her family moved to Germany], but I still feel like I just got there.”

Hedden particularly appreciated the spouse who stepped forward when they first arrived in country riddled with jet lag, with two young children and a dog.

The woman called and said, “You’re going to get in the car, and I’m going to take you to the commissary,” Hedden said.

Hedden said she was merely going through the motions while the two loaded the cart up with groceries.

“When I woke up the next morning with at least six hours’ sleep, I was so grateful to open my fridge and have things I wanted, and things for the kids,” Hedden said. “Kindness is free. Give it out.”

First B-21 ‘Rollout‘ Planned for Early December

Sept. 20, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

The B-21 Raider will roll out of Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., plant in early December, Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said Sept. 20, but how much of the airplane will be visible remains to be seen.

During a press conference at AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber event in National Harbor, Md., Hunter said the new bomber will emerge from the factory “the first week of December,” meeting USAF’s forecast to roll it out this year. Sources have said labor and supply chain issues have held up many programs.

When asked if the entire aircraft will be revealed at the rollout, Maj. Gen. Jason R. Armagost, Global Strike Command’s director of strategic plans, programs and requirements, told Air & Space Forces Magazine, “probably not.”

“You probably won’t see it from all aspects,” he said. The Air Force doesn’t want China and other potential adversaries any more information about the aircraft than is necessary. He declined to say whether features of the airplane will be concealed with tarps, or whether the aircraft will only be visible through a hangar door. A Northrop Grumman spokesperson said “it will not be a limited reveal,” but as with the B-2, photographs will be restricted from some angles.

As to when first flight is expected, neither Hunter nor Armagost would specify, saying flight testing will be event-driven.

When the B-2 bomber rolled out in 1988, attendees were oriented such that they did not have a view of the rear deck of the aircraft, which featured an innovative new exhaust system to mask the jet’s infrared signature. However, journalists flew a small airplane over the plant and photographed it from above, making the concealment moot. The features were further exposed when taxi tests began.

Former Rapid Capabilities Office director and B-21 program executive officer Randall Walden, now an adviser to Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Logistics William LaPlante, has previously said a number of outside-the-factory activities for the first B-21 aircraft, such as engine run-ups and taxi tests, will swiftly be follow the rollout.

Calling the new bomber a “sixth-generation aircraft,” Northrop Grumman said in a press release that the roll-out will be an invitation-only event.

“Northrop Grumman is proud of our partnership with the U.S. Air Force as we deliver the B-21 Raider, a sixth-generation aircraft optimized for operations in highly contested environments,” said Tom Jones, corporate vice president and president for Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems.

Doug Young, sector vice president and general manager at Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, added: “The B-21 is the most advanced military aircraft ever built and is a product of pioneering innovation and technological excellence.”

The first B-21 is considered “production representative”—not a prototype. It will be very similar to the operational bomber, Armagost said.

Melissa A. Johnson, now directing the RCO, said the B-21’s open-architecture design will allow it to be modified and reconfigured as the threat changes.

Asked if the Air Force has advanced its thinking on how many B-21s will be built, Armagost reiterated the service’s usual comment that it plans to build “at least 100.”

As for a final figure, he said, “Fortunately, we don’t have to decide that now.”

The first B-2 Spirit bomber was delivered to its operating base of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., Dec. 17, 1993, the 90th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight.

‘We’re Not Ready’ to Fight China in Space and Cyber, Say Top U.S. Generals

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The United States is unprepared for a wartime fight with a peer adversary in the space and cyber domains, top U.S. generals said Sept. 20 at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

“The answer is no, we’re not ready,” Lt. Gen. Leah G. Lauderback, Air Force deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and cyber effects, said when posed the question by Lauren Barrett Knausenberger, the Department of the Air Force’s chief information officer.

At the end of 2015, the Chinese stood up the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (SSF). This newest part of China’s armed forces focuses on the “strategic frontiers” of space and cyber, including electromagnetic and information warfare.

Partially in response to these increased capabilities, the U.S. Space Force was created in 2019.

“As we pivot to China, what gives me concern is how fast they’re moving,” said Space Force Brig. Gen. Gregory J. Gagnon, the service’s director of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. “We have to tell that story. Because that’s the story that I think people who make resource decisions need to hear.”

According to Gagnon, the Chinese have over 260 satellites surveilling the Pacific.

“Why? To provide warning and to provide strike capability if directed by leadership,” he said.

The threat is a current one, not a distant prospect.

“We’re talking about the PRC, and Russia, and think about the spectrum of conflict. We clearly are in competition with both,” Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Kennedy Jr., commander of Air Forces Cyber, told a room of service members. “We’re being targeted. You, personally, are being targeted right now by our adversaries whether it’s via social networks, devices, or the information that you’re using to accomplish your mission.”

But the most concerning element of the Chinese SSF’s role has not been tested. The Department of Defense has a plan to connect all its data in a concept known as joint all-domain command and control (JADC2). The SSF’s brief is to be able to disrupt such a network.

The U.S. still has much work to do to protect and advance its electromagnetic spectrum operations, a key pillar for an interconnected military.

“We are nowhere near where we need to be with that,” Lauderback said. “We are just starting the sprint with the acquisition community and with the operational community. … It is something that we do not have a deep bench on at all. And we’ve got to do it.”

Brown: Need to Consider Allies When Analyzing Air Force’s Capacity

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force’s internal analysis has left Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. confident in the capacity of the service’s combat aircraft fleet—especially when considering what the United States’ partners and allies can bring to the fight.

Speaking with reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Brown also reaffirmed his vision of a “4+1” fleet of fighters and explained why the Air Force has shelved plans for an F-16 replacement for the time being.

Combat Capacity

With the Air Force’s fleet of planes getting older and smaller over time, a recent analysis from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies laid out the case that the service “lacks the force capacity, lethality, and survivability needed to fight a major war with China, plus deter nuclear threats and meet its other national defense requirements.”

In particular, retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula and retired Col. Mark A. Gunzinger, both USAF, focused their analysis on combat aircraft and concluded that the service’s focus on “capability over capacity” has resulted in a critical shortfall.

Asked about the Mitchell Institute paper, Brown pointed to the Air Force’s internal work analyzing its needs.

“The analysis we did in our own internal attack air study took a look at what the numbers would be. I understand Mitchell, and I haven’t talked to them—they are strong advocates that probably push it a bit harder,” Brown said. “But we’ve done a lot of analysis associated with this and understand … we can have some trade space between fourth-gen, fifth-gen, and overall capacity.”

And while the Mitchell Institute paper broke down the Air Force’s declining force size, it didn’t count the fighters and aircraft from allied nations, presenting an incomplete picture, Brown said.

“We do a lot of our own analysis as if we’re doing this by ourselves. … We cannot do this alone. And our partners have a lot of capacity and capability,” Brown said. “I would highlight the aspect of, I was with the Swiss attache today and he mentioned they just signed for the F-35. And so what we’re seeing is a lot of our partners actually have a lot of capabilities as well, more so than we have in the past, which for those concerned about capacity, you got to account for all the capacity within our allies and partners.”

Switzerland is just the one of the latest countries to move toward buying the F-35—the Czech Republic, Greece, Germany, and Canada have all taken steps to purchase the fifth-generation fighter in recent months, while Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the U.K., Finland, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore have either accepted F-35s into their fleets or are in line to do so.

In March, Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, then the head of U.S. European Command, predicted there would be 550 F-35s spread across Europe by 2030—that estimate marked an increase of 100 jets from his previous guess in June 2021, and it may already be outdated.

4+1

Brown also told reporters that he is “still committed” to his plan of reducing the Air Force’s fighter fleet to four main types—the F-35, the F-22, to be replaced by the Next Generation Air Dominance platform, the F-16, and the F-15 E/F-15EX.

The “plus one” in the “4+1” plan is the A-10, the beloved but aging close air support aircraft that leaders have frequently tried to divest, only to be blocked by Congress. Brown’s focus on that platform has been “less,” he said, “as we’ve been able to really start to focus on … the four fighters.”

That commitment to the four comes even as the Air Force revealed plans to accelerate its purchase of F-15EX fighters in the 2023 budget but then reduce the overall planned size of the fleet from 144 to 80.

“One of the things as we move forward is also looking at how the F-15EX [will] have a healthy fleet, and it’s a conversation we’re having not only in FY 23 but as we look forward and build the budget for 2024,” Brown said.

F-16 Replacement

The F-16 also remains a part of the Air Force’s plan for the foreseeable future, Brown said—officials indicated recently that the service will keep the fighter into the 2040s and that it is not necessary to launch its successor yet.

That successor, referred to as “MR-F” or “MR-X,” first showed up in planning documents in 2021 that indicated the Air Force was looking to an F-16 successor in the mid-2030s—but plans changed under Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Brown indicated.

“We didn’t have the secretary we have today. So it’s been a good dialogue between myself and Secretary Kendall as we work, and even when we talked about that capacity, that was not a decision we needed to make now,” Brown said. “My focus area right now is to ensure that we continue to modernize the fleet. And so as I look at some of the earlier block F-16s and go through various budget cycles, I don’t necessarily want to buy back a lot of capacity that we want to retire. I actually would like to buy new capability to replace that.

“And so that’s where my focus is as a chief right now. And then at some point, there may be potential to start talking about what might come after the F-16. Right now, it’s the F-35 we’re putting all of our energy into bringing online.”

Brown’s 5 Big Steps to Transforming His Air Force

Sept. 20, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Aggressive competitors, limited resources, and accelerating technological advances compel the Air Force to rapidly transform, as it has during other inflection points in its 75-year history, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said.

“We’ve done this before … we can do it again,” Brown said in his keynote address to AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

Two years into his term, Brown said the Air Force can no longer assume it has dominant capabilities and must be willing to constantly rethink its technology and processes and to “collaborate within and throughout” to achieve its goals.

“We must change … if we want to preserve our way of life,” Brown said, invoking his “accelerate change or lose” mantra.

“We already know how to accelerate,” he said.

The nation finds itself “in a pivotal period … one that is fundamentally reshaping the international security landscape,” he noted. While the U.S. focused on “violent extremists” for two decades, “our competitors focused on matching” the Air Force’s dominant capabilities.

The challenges are “not new … but the complexity and combination” are greater, he said. While “Our tactical skills are sharp … we need to reframe our thinking to meet the challenges we will face in the future.”

Brown said, “If we don’t get this right, together—if we fail to adapt—we risk our national security, our ideals, and the current rules-based international order.”

The Air Force’s cultural change will be in five areas, Brown said:

Mission Command. “We rewrote Air Force Doctrine Publication One,” Brown said, which requires “mutual trust, shared understanding, and clear commander’s intent.” It directs leaders to spell out their objectives for their Airmen and “then get out of their way,” he added. “We might think this is intuitive; I assure you, it is not.”
Force Generation. “We are transforming the way we deploy,” Brown said. The Air Force new Force Generation Concept, or AFFORGEN, will be operational Oct. 1, defining four stages of operational readiness: “Prepare, Ready, Available to Commit, and Reset.” Each stage runs six months in an overall two-year cycle for every unit. The goal of this system is to establish “discipline” in parsing airpower in sustainable ways, so commanders better understand the implications for downstream readiness when selecting units to deploy.
Agile Combat Employment. The old model of operating from large forward bases “will not work” because adversaries can focus their attacks on those few operational locations. ACE will increase survivability by distributing forces over a wide and shifting area. It “requires us to be lighter, leaner, and more agile,” Brown said, and he’s seen “great progress being made” in this area. Enabling capabilities and concepts will include “command and control, logistics under attack, and missile defense, to name a few.” Helping Airman to become more flexible and less narrow in their scope is a key to ACE. Multi-capable Airmen are a key to making ACE work, Brown said. The shift to multi-capable Airmen is “not a checklist,” he said, but a mindset.
Multi-capable Airmen. Brown said he wants to “crush bureaucratic hurdles” that hold Airmen back from accomplishing tasks outside their core specialties, creating a “more agile and lethal force.”
Applying the A-staff Construct at the Wing Level. In this model, A-1 is personnel, A-2 is intelligence, A-3 is operations, and so on. Using the model, Airmen and USAF units will more intuitively “plug into” the joint force when they deploy. This allows USAF to “train like we fight,” providing wings with “more rapid decision-making” and better responsiveness and aligning them in a way that mirrors that of USAF Headquarters and the other joint forces.

In the lead-up to USAF’s founding in 1947, service pioneers “pushed the limits, challenged the status quo,” and proved the value of airpower and the credibility of a separate air-oriented military branch, he said. “Giants” in airpower history such as Hap Arnold and Billy Mitchell “risked their reputations and their careers because they knew what was at stake.”

In the decades that followed, the Air Force continued to innovate, he said. From the Berlin Airlift to the creation of supersonic aircraft and rapid development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Air Force met the nation’s security challenges, Brown said, and will do so again now. The Air Force, industry, and academia pooled their talents to develop ICBMs in just two years, he noted.

To overcome greater numbers of Soviet forces, the Air Force invested in and rapidly fielded stealth aircraft and precision weapons, leading to its dominant performance in the 1991 Gulf War and across the ensuing 20 years, Brown said. In the Balkans, the Air Force used the B-2 stealth bomber for the first time and fielded an armed version of the Predator remotely piloted aircraft “in just 39 days,” he said.

Today, the Air Force is again confronted with challenges to its ability to control the skies, defend the homeland, and penetrate to any target it must hold at risk, he said. It must not be daunted.

“We’ve done this before,” he said. “We can do it again. … We must not rest on our laurels.”

While still “the most respected Air Force and Space Force” in the world, Brown said that status must be earned. The path to do that is through ever-greater collaboration among the services and with industry—and by empowering Airmen at every level to figure out solutions that achieve their commanders’ intent.

Brown said he will forgive mistakes made in pursuit of true innovations, “pushing through failure until finding success.”

“This has always been in our DNA,” he added. “With every new trial, no matter how difficult, we proved we could rise above any challenge … if we were willing to take risk.” Airmen must feel free to “challenge the status quo.”

Calling for experimentation, risk-taking, and “creating disruption at all levels,” he directed Airmen to pursue faster and better ways to accomplish the mission.

“We have done this no matter how seemingly impossible” the challenges, he said.

Brown cited several examples of Airmen who have risen to this challenge, including Senior Master Sgt. Brent Kenney of the 52nd Fighter Wing, who came up with a way to create potable water at a remote location using solar fabric and “an environmental water harvester,” saving USAF from having to dedicate “precious” cargo missions to delivering bottled water and saving on diesel generators.

Adaptation today requires “collective effort” and collaboration—both within the Air Force and with its partners and allies worldwide—to “understand the environment,” define the threat, share information, and “employ airpower.”

Toward that end, Brown is working toward a future force he calls “Integrated by Design,” which will “start with allies and partners in mind, versus … adapting to include partners and allies later.”

The Air Force “can’t do this alone,” he said. ”We must accelerate. Our window of opportunity is closing. … We have to … get beyond talking about what we want to do … and go do.”

AFRL and Air Force Test Center to Meet for Joint Summit on Autonomy

Sept. 20, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Test Center will host their first summit on autonomy, a weeklong session this fall to dive into the concept that is key to the service’s future strategy. The virtual meeting will include close to 100 AFRL, AFTC, and Department of Defense acquisitions officials, Maj. Gen. Heather L. Pringle, commander of AFRL, and Maj. Gen. Evan C. Dertien, commander of AFTC, told reporters Sept. 20 at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

“We haven’t taken a whole week to really roll up our sleeves and look at autonomy,” Pringle said.

DOD is accelerating its push for autonomous systems. In a contested environment, autonomous systems can lower the risk to Airmen while increasing the force brought to bear against an adversary. The AFRL and AFTC have expanded their partnership in recent years as part of the Air Force’s “Accelerate Change or Lose” concept.

While the two groups have worked together on distinct autonomous aircraft, the upcoming summit will be the first focused exchange on autonomy as a concept. The Air Force must separate the idea of autonomy, which should be “platform agnostic,” from work on individual programs, Pringle said. Past discussions have focused on specifics such as AFRL’s Skyborg program, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems, and collaborative combat aircraft (CCA).

“In the past, it’s been a potpourri of topics,” Pringle said. “This coming one in the fall is one week dedicated all in on autonomy: autonomy testing, autonomy development, [and] how are we going to continue to do this at scale. I’m really excited about it.”

The summit aims to facilitate exchanges between AFRL developers and AFTC testers who can help field their ideas.

“It’s really a working-level summit of all the experts that will be involved,” Dertien said. “What are the roadblocks we have to testing autonomy right now and getting it fielded. We’ll list eight or nine of those different roadblocks that we have or things that are slowing us down, and bring the people together to discuss it and figure out what we need to do to accelerate it.”

The AFTC has equipment to test new programs, such as the X-62A Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA), an F-16 that simulates the flight characteristics of different aircraft. In 2021, the X-62 added a new system, the System for Autonomous Control of Simulation (SACS), to assist the AFRL in developing autonomous systems. It has over 30 test sites across the country working on different aspects of development.

The AFTC has test flown every aircraft in the Air Force’s inventory in the service’s 75-year history. If future autonomous systems are to see action, the AFRL and ATFC must collaborate, the officials said.

“It’s really important to have a strong relationship and a close handoff for everything,” Pringle said.