Half of Air Force Advanced STEM Billets Go Unfilled or Require Waivers

Half of Air Force Advanced STEM Billets Go Unfilled or Require Waivers

Aug. 21, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

Half of the Air Force’s billets that call for advanced academic degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math are either unfilled or filled by someone who doesn’t hold the degree. At the same time, the Air Force has the fewest general officers with advanced STEM degrees in 30 years.

A group from the Air Force Research Laboratory quantified the deficiencies in STEM officers as part of their effort to implement the Air Force’s “Science and Technology Strategy: Strengthening USAF Science and Technology for 2030 and Beyond” from 2019 to 2021, according to a news release.

The group made recommendations about improving the pipeline of uniformed personnel with technical backgrounds, and a number of efforts are helping the service to build more technically savvy forces.

“In the past, there was a big push for Airmen with technical degrees, and [that] hasn’t gone by the wayside, but maybe that emphasis has decreased a little bit,” Col. Daniel Gallton, chief of the science and engineering division inside the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, said in the release. 

Letting the numbers decline could put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage, Gallton said: “When you start looking at some of our near peers like China—China has been pushing a lot of advanced academic degrees.”

Air Force general officers are half as likely to have an advanced STEM degree as leaders at Fortune 500 companies, the researchers found—15 percent compared to 30 percent. 

“If you could look at fill-rates for positions coded for STEM masters or doctorates, they only have STEM [advanced academic degree members about 50 percent of the time,” said Col. Mario Serna Jr., deputy director of innovation and technology integration at the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office’s Field Support Unit, in the release. The billets go unfilled or someone without the degree receives a waiver to serve in the role.

“In either case, it is an example of not having enough STEM advanced degree holders at a time when the battlefield is strongly one of technology innovation,” Serna said.

To begin addressing the issue, AFRL’s team hosted a panel discussion earlier this month at the Wright Dialogue With Industry 2022 and plans another discussion Oct. 13 on “how best to structure the [science and engineering] career field.”

Even before the AFRL team became aware of the extent of the problem, the 2030 strategy document laid out bullet points for how to build a pipeline of tech-savvy Airmen, including to “purposefully manage” the career fields; support opportunities for the “technical military workforce” to “broaden its technical expertise and expand its warfighter perspective”; and to start filling technical billets at the general officer level.

Giving officers ways to try new things in a “failure-tolerant environment” can help to broaden expertise, according to the release. Examples have included Edison Grants that fund a year of research experiments and Project Arc, described as assigning scientists and engineers to work closely with operators at 13 bases in nine states “to promote innovation and enhance mission efficiency.”

More programs the Department of the Air Force is trying out to develop the STEM workforce include University Affiliated Research Centers, the AFRL Regional Research Hub network, and the Space Force’s University Partnership Program.

644th Combat Comms Squadron Takes on an F-35 ACE Challenge

644th Combat Comms Squadron Takes on an F-35 ACE Challenge

Aug. 19, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

For 30 days in April and May, a group of expeditionary communications technicians got together at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, with one task: Find a way for the F-35 to transfer data on remote or contested Pacific islands.

Often referred to as a “flying computer,” the F-35 has sophisticated technological capabilities, but it also requires datalink connections to use and share vast quantities of information at high speed. When the F-35 lands at U.S. Air Force bases, it unloads its data to a server known as the Air Force Network, or AFNet. Maintainers and operators can then study that information to service the jet and record mission data for future planning.

Access to such servers does not exist on remote Pacific islands where the fifth-generation fighter would have to operate to exercise the concept of agile combat employment, or ACE.

But leaders of the 644th Combat Communications Squadron at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, heard Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s call to take risks, and to not be afraid to fail, and they proposed a unique test and evaluation to address the problem.

Suddenly, bureaucracy melted away.

“When Gen. Brown says, ‘Accelerate change or lose’—when he says, ‘Hey, get rid of bureaucracy’—to me, that is like carte blanche,” 644th CBCS commander Lt. Col. Anthony Butler told Air Force Magazine in a June interview at Andersen.

“We are empowered to get after these problems that have been problems for a long time,” he added.

Butler knew that the kind of network a combat communications squadron sets up in an expeditionary environment is limited in bandwidth and the applications it can perform.

“The F-35 is essentially a flying data center,” he said.

“There are a lot of network dependencies that we [need] to allow that F-35 to function at its peak level,” he added. “That was one of the challenges when I came to this job that I saw: ‘Hey, advanced technologies, advanced applications, being put in an austere location,’ and me, as an expeditionary communicator, enabling that capability.”

Butler started a working group to approach the problem. With PACAF funding, a team of five spent 30 days at Eielson for a test and evaluation of existing expeditionary capabilities with the F-35.

We Just Have to Ask, ‘Pretty Please’

The 644th comms personnel got together and talked about what the requirements would be and what limiting factors they faced. They reached out to several units, including the Defense Information Systems Agency, the 26th Network Operations Squadron (26th NOS), the 83rd NOS, the 690th NOS, the 561st NOS, and Lockheed Martin contractors to explain to them how the F-35 information systems work and the data flows and timelines required to achieve the mission.

“We were tasked by PACAF … to come up with a solution that would enable the F-35s to operate solely off our technical communication networks,” Capt. Antonio Payne, who served as the team leader, said in a July telephone interview.

“What’s different about this AOR [area of responsibility] is there’s a bunch of islands where a bunch of jets and a bunch of people go to,” said Tech. Sgt. Austin Jeanneret, explaining how the model they sought to design needed to work for the ACE hub-and-spoke concept. That meant setting up a deployed base location with several sites, all remote, all using the same expeditionary network.

The jets would not be co-located with the combat communications systems at the hub.

Jeanneret has spent nine years of the dozen in his Air Force career setting up expeditionary communications networks with nothing more than the 560 pounds of equipment in the kit. He was after a solution that would work for F-35s from the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and some foreign nations.

“If they forward deployed out, no matter where that be, they can still reach back into that location that we’re primarily at,” he said of the hub.

First the team looked at the requirements.

“What are your data timelines?” he said was the first question asked of the Lockheed Martin contacts. “You need to get information from Point A to Point B in what amount of time with what amount of speed, and you need to have all that available in what time?”

The principal challenge was that expeditionary communications use a technical communications network typically designed to allow access to just voice and email. The combat communications network could talk to AFNet, but not access its services. Getting that access, even within the Air Force, required technical know-how, politeness, and patience.

“We just have to ask, ‘Pretty please, can we get access?’ Then you run into a lot of bureaucracy, and then at the end of it, you get access,” he said of the steps taken to request more satellite bandwidth to run the operation.

Tech. Sgt. Michael Lopez, a radio frequency transmission systems operator, was charged with setting up satellite communications terminals at Eielson, simulating a deployed environment. The hub had an 8-foot inflatable GATR satellite antenna while the spokes had smaller satellite dishes.

Then, Eielson switched its data transmission to the combat communications network.

“It was a lot of data, but I don’t think it’s something that we’ve ever looked at before,” he said. “We kind of had to see how much data was going through it to see if we needed to increase that with our service provider.”

The team gathered the data, ran tests, monitored the timing and data flows being pushed, and assured that those were available back to the warfighters.

“We needed to kind of know and kind of stretch to see how much the F-35 on our system, how much data they were using up,” said Payne. “And if they were using it, would we also be able to provide services to other people that will be operating on our network?”

In all, the technical communications networks pushed through roughly 50 gigabytes of data from about 100 F-35 sorties over seven days.

“That F-35 was able to pass all the data it needed to pass to the locations it needed to pass and to the platforms it needed to pass it to over our expeditionary kit using military satellite communications, and that was the first time,” said Butler.

“You talk about folks at the lowest levels being enabled? Yeah, like I said, this was led by a captain, three tech sergeants, and a civilian,” he added. “I’ve seen the benefit of leaders empowering their folks. Giving left limits, giving right limits, and giving them commander’s intent. And watching the amazing things they did.”

With a small adjustment to the kits, the 644th Comms team created a solution for PACAF’s F-35 operations wherever they may fly globally.

“We created a solution where a tactical network can communicate to a tactical network, and then that main tactical network connecting to AFNet,” said Jeanneret. “That was the biggest win out of this.”

Butler said PACAF employed the lessons learned in planning for the Valiant Shield exercise in June, which used F-35s in hub-and-spoke operations on the island of Palau in the South Pacific.

“You know about certain bases if you are an adversary,” Jeanneret said. “What this enables us to do is drop an F-35 anywhere around the globe at any time.”

Space Force Hopes for Wear Testing of Uniforms in Spring 2023

Space Force Hopes for Wear Testing of Uniforms in Spring 2023

Aug. 19, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

DAYTON, Ohio—Right now, just six prototypes of the Space Force’s service dress uniform exist—the two debuted by male and female officers in September 2021, two more for enlisted male and female Guardians, one for Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, and one for Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman.

In the next several months, the service and the Air Force Uniform Office plan to expand those numbers—and draw ever closer to getting the new duds out to every Guardian, leaders said during the Life Cycle Industry Days conference.

Since the uniforms first debuted at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in 2021, the Space Force has taken them on roadshows and tweaked some elements of the design, particularly the collar and the pants.

The next step is “fit testing,” said Catherine Lovelady, change management team lead.

“So that is next where they roll out … about 30 different sizes for males and females. And we’ll have people come in and try them on and see how are they fitting,” Lovelady said. “And they might have to do some pattern adjustments to it after that.”

After that comes “wear testing,” which involves making “another set of 100 uniforms that will actually be worn by Guardians for at least three times a week for three months, to see what did they feel like, what did they like, not like, and if any kind of changes need to be made from there,” Lovelady said.

From there, the Air Force Uniform Office will confirm the details and “specs” of the design before sending them to the Defense Logistics Agency, which will put the uniform into production.

The timeline on fit and wear testing is still a little unsettled due to supply chain issues that have plagued the process—and other military branches—for months now. Tracy Roan, head of the Uniform Office, previously noted that her team wasn’t even slated to receive fabric for test assets until “late summer.”

Tentatively, however, the Space Force is now planning on fit testing taking place “somewhere between November and January. … And then, once we complete that, we’ll move to wear testing, which we hope to be in the spring [of 2023].”

All the while, Lovelady said, the Space Force has continued to receive positive feedback on the design of the uniforms, which incorporates symbols such as the USSF delta logo, a standing collar on the dark blue—nearly black—jacket, and a row of six offset buttons representing the six U.S. armed services. 

In particular, Guardians have liked how the new uniforms allow for more movement than the traditional service dress uniforms, Lovelady said.

“One of the things that Tracy and [the Air Force Uniform Office] did is they’ve gone out and looked at different fabrics,” Lovelady said. “So our material actually has some stretch to it. It’s not the same polywool that has been used in the past. It’s still a polywool, but it has lycra. … So it’s much more comfortable. People can move in it. 

“And especially with ours being a little bit more tighter through the [torso] because it’s essentially double breasted, it comes over, and it allows them that movement. I mean, when we went out on the roadshows, our female officers were like, ‘Look, I could do calisthenics in it.’ And people really, they put it on, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, this feels so good.’ So we really had it well received.”

The emphasis on designing uniforms specifically for female Guardians has been a frequent theme from Space Force leaders throughout the rollout.

“Quite frankly, in the past, and I’m a retired military member, uniforms didn’t fit women necessarily as well as a lot of people would like,” Lovelady said. “And that has been really driven really by the top down. Our senior leadership wants to make sure that women have a uniform that fits appropriately and looks appropriate on them.

“And you’ll notice that with ours, we did a lot of things like, typically, women’s shirts close one way and men’s shirts close the other. And so when you look at the design of ours, it has that asymmetric look to it. We intentionally made it so it’s the same for both males and females. So when you see them at a distance, it’s not like on the males, the asymmetry goes one way and on females the other way. So it looks the same, but they wear appropriately for females.”

B-52s Land at RAF Fairford for Bomber Task Force Mission

B-52s Land at RAF Fairford for Bomber Task Force Mission

Aug. 18, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Multiple B-52 bombers from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., arrived at RAF Fairford, England, on Aug. 18 as part of a bomber task force mission in Europe, U.S. Air Forces in Europe announced.

“These Bomber Task Force missions across Europe provide a great opportunity to improve our combined readiness, promote interoperability and demonstrate our global power projection alongside our Allies,” Gen. James Hecker, commander of USAFE-AFAFRICA, said in a statement. “Our ultimate strength in the European area of operations is a joint-force lethality—our ability to train and operate with our Allies and partners as one layered, capable and credible combat team.”

Flying into Fairford, the B-52s from the 5th Bomb Wing got a quick start on that training with allies, integrating with fighters from Norway and Sweden.

For Sweden, in particular, the integration marks another milestone as the country continues to progress toward NATO membership.

“Witnessing our nation’s Gripen fighter aircraft flying alongside several of America’s most powerful military aircraft visually depicts the strength and solidarity of NATO,” Maj. Gen. Carl-Johan Edström, commander of the Swedish Air Force, said in a statement. “These moments truly capture the military power that exists within NATO—as individual nations, but, more importantly, as a unified Alliance.”

Media reports in the United Kingdom noted four of the iconic bombers landing at Fairford, garnering considerable attention from locals.

“Our strategic bomber missions demonstrate our always ready, global strike capability,” Lt. Col Ryan Loucks, 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron BTF commander. “The B-52 remains a universally recognized symbol of America’s assurances to our Allies and partners.”

This marks the second time this year B-52s from Minot have flown to RAF Fairford for a bomber task force mission. In February, four of the bombers arrived in Europe. Prior to that, B-1B bombers from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, deployed to RAF Fairford in November 2021.

RAF Fairford is the only forward operating location for U.S. bombers in Europe, so bomber task forces are usually based from there, with the aircraft flying missions across the continent and sometimes farther in a projection of U.S. air power and as an opportunity for aircrews to integrate with allies and partners.

This most recent BTF marks the first one the Air Force has announced since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, raising security concerns across the region and leading NATO to significantly increase its air policing and air shielding missions along its eastern flank. USAFE’s release on the mission made no mention of Russia, and it is unclear if the B-52s will fly over Eastern Europe during their time in the region.

b-52 mission
A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., lands at RAF Fairford, England, Aug 18, 2022. Royal Air Force photo.
Report: Air Force, Other Services Need to Clarify Tattoo Policies, Waiver Process

Report: Air Force, Other Services Need to Clarify Tattoo Policies, Waiver Process

Aug. 18, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

All of the armed services, including the Air Force and Space Force, should update their policies to give recruits and service members more clarity on the waiver process for tattoos, according to a new report released Aug. 17.

The Government Accountability Office conducted the study, which Congress requested as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act. The study looked at the tattoo policies of the Air Force, Space Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Specifically, the report was meant to evaluate the impact of those policies and the waiver process on recruiting and retention.

The report made no conclusions about how much the services’ tattoo policies were affecting recruiting and retention, noting that the services’ recruiting and retention data “do not include tattoo-specific data or other information that would allow an assessment of whether tattoo policies have a direct effect on recruitment and retention.”

Instead, different services have conducted limited assessments or studies over the years that have shaped their policies. For example, the Air Force Recruiting Service conducted surveys in 2016 and 2021. Both concluded that a number of recruits or applicants had tattoos that would require review or potentially be disqualifying from service.

Both of those surveys led the Air Force to loosen its tattoo policy, a general trend across the services in recent years as the military looks to keep pace with a target population that is increasingly inked. Recent studies have suggested that roughly four out of every 10 young Americans have a tattoo, and many have multiple.

Now, almost every service allows troops to have at least some kind of tattoo everywhere but the head and neck, the GAO report found. And the Space Force is even easing off that restriction, announcing in May that Guardians will be allowed to have a single small tattoo on the back of the neck.

But while policies continue to loosen, there are still some restrictions. Service members and recruits can apply for waivers to those restrictions, but the GAO report found that most of the services, including the Air Force and Space Force, do not include enough information on the waiver process in their policies.

Specifically, both the Air Force and Space Force don’t clearly specify the “requirements for requests and conditions for waiver approval” for recruits, the GAO report found. For Airmen and Guardians already in the service, there’s even less information on the process, including what kinds of tattoos may be eligible for a waiver.

The GAO report concluded by recommending that each of the services, including USAF and USSF, update its respective tattoo policy “to better ensure that it clearly documents whether waivers to the tattoo policy are available for both recruits and service members; and provides clear guidance on tattoos eligible for waivers, the waiver approval authority, requirements for requesting a waiver, and on any other conditions required for waiver consideration or approval.”

The report indicates that all the services agreed with the recommendation.

The push to make policies less restrictive and to give more clarity on the waiver process comes as the military’s leaders warn that recruiting is facing a crisis. Air Force Recruiting Service commander Maj. Gen. Ed Thomas recently likened the current environment to a “week-to-week dogfight,” and the service has dramatically increased the number of career fields in which it is offering an enlistment bonus in hopes of enticing recruits.

Rolls-Royce Supports USAF with Experience, Innovation

Rolls-Royce Supports USAF with Experience, Innovation

Aug. 18, 2022 | By Adam Stone

The roots of innovation trace back to World War I. Rolls-Royce’s predecessor company in Indianapolis, the Allison Engine Company, adapted early automobile engines for the De Havilland DH-4, a single-engine, two-seat biplane bomber. Later, Allison designed and manufactured thousands of engines for such legendary American military aircraft as the P-51, P-38, P-39, P-40, and others, and provided engines for the British Spitfire. Throughout the history of its Indianapolis operations, Allison and later Rolls-Royce have remained a trusted Air Force partner through technological, economic, and military revolutions—including the acquisition and name change.

“When Rolls-Royce acquired Allison in 1995, it picked up that legacy and tradition of supporting first the Army Air Corps, and later the U.S. Air Force,” said Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson (retired), senior vice president of business development at Rolls-Royce North America. “From the very start with this company, there was an innovative mindset—a determination to stay on the leading edge of technology and capabilities in support of warfighters.”

Engine making is and was always part science, part art. There is a reason just a few companies today can build high-tech jet engines. “There are fewer, in fact, than nations with nuclear arms,” he said. No wonder, he adds, that “Even today, the Russians and Chinese still try to steal our technology—they can’t match it on their own.”

That long-standing engineering culture helps ensure that Rolls-Royce delivers today—on its promises, with its technology, under any conditions, from extreme heat to destructive sands, to bone-chilling cold.

“There is a lot of technology that goes into this, as well as the ability to test and modify, to work out the wrinkles,” he said. “We use our long history, our experience, to optimize these engines in ways that others cannot.”

One reason, Roberson said: The deep, direct ties between Rolls-Royce employees and their Air Force customers. Roberson spent 34 years as a USAF fighter pilot and commander. “I was a part of the Air Force for half of the time that the Air Force had been in existence,” he mused. “I grew up with it.” Now he gets a thrill from continuing to contribute.

“As an industry partner for the Air Force, it is critically important for us to understand their needs and desires, where they’re trying to go and how best to help them get there. The years spent servicing those engines, upgrading those engines, helping to improve capabilities—that tight relationship and our daily side-by-side work—all that gives us a deep understanding of the culture of the United States Air Force.”

Rolls-Royce engines power the C-130, the workhorse transport and its derivatives, and the versatile CV-22 tiltrotor, as well as the unmanned Global Hawk long-endurance, high-altitude, remotely piloted surveillance aircraft.

C-130J airframes have flown more than 2 million flight hours performing airlift, search and rescue, special ops, electronic warfare, and other needs. “It is critically important and super versatile aircraft,” Roberson said. Whether older -H models or newer C-130Js, “I have no doubt we will be supporting C-130s for at least the next 20 or 30 years.”

Rolls-Royce was a pioneer in vertical lift, powering the Marine Corps’ AV-8B Harriers as well as the V-22 and the engineering enabling those engines to direct their thrust through the transition from horizontal to vertical flight and back again—among the most complex engine technologies. Rolls-Royce also provides the vertical lift capability for the F-35B Lightning II.

“We are the leader in understanding how to take off vertically and transition to horizontal flight,” Roberson said. “When you tilt it from one orientation to another, when you transition from vertical operation to horizontal operation, these are extremely complex conversions. Rolls-Royce’s experience is unparalleled.”

No less unique is the B-52, and Rolls-Royce continues to evolve engine capabilities. Engineers work to improve the propulsion, and to deliver more electrical power to support emerging systems.

“These advanced electronic systems that are important for survival in engagements with the enemy, the systems that are needed to put precision fires on a target—all of that requires additional power,” Roberson said. “We are constantly improving, constantly upgrading and advancing to provide what the Air Force needs to conduct the modern fight.”

Rolls-Royce is at the heart of an effort to keep the B-52 Stratofortress flying until it approaches the century mark. To do that, Rolls matched the proven engines from its business-jet business to the rigorous requirements demanded of a long-range bomber. Advanced engineering made that easy.

“The ability to digitally manipulate the data that we have on our engine made a big difference in the competition,” Roberson said. “Suppose a question came up: ‘What if we needed more power for this or that?’ Our ability to digitally analyze the B-52 allowed us to very accurately predict what we could or could not do, and what the impacts and potential cost implications would be. All of that allowed us to be very precise and responsive both to the Air Force and to Boeing.”

Rolls-Royce is likewise applying those technologies to manufacturing, using digital twins to model performance and predict maintenance, and applying digital engineering and advanced materials and manufacturing processes to reduce parts count, increase reliability, and boost performance.

“In some cases, we’ve leveraged modern manufacturing and materials technology to reduce the thousands of parts that make up an engine by a significant amount,” Roberson said.

“We’re delivering better fuel efficiency and longer flight times, but with less maintenance and greater reliability,” he said.

Looking Ahead

Military aircraft must fly under often difficult conditions, often under extreme heat, cold, and in dirty, sub-optimal environs. Combat conditions only make the demands more intense. “We work hard to give the Air Force engines that do what they need to do in combat,” Roberson said. “That requires a lot of engineering prowess.”

Modern technologies like additive manufacturing enables fewer parts, and new materials, such as coatings, can last longer and reduce downtime. Digital engineering is the key enabler, because it makes it possible to experiment using digital models rather than real life, so that in the long term, “We can manufacture parts in innovative, new ways, much more quickly, and much more reliably,” Roberson said.

“Technology now is allowing us to achieve greater levels of performance in higher-temperature engines than we ever could before,” Roberson said. Further down the road, Rolls-Royce is working on hybrid-electric flight, a solution Roberson said could give pilots greater stealth, as they switch to the quieter electric mode when approaching enemy positions. And the reduced heat profile of an electric engine would also reduce the likelihood of detection.

“This company is absolutely committed to hybrid electric and electric flight for the future,” Roberson said. “We always want to be on the leading edge.”

A Trusted Partnership

Throughout the history of its Indianapolis operations, Allison and later Rolls-Royce, which acquired the company in 1995, has remained a trusted Air Force partner.

1917Early American military pilots begin flying DH.4 aircraft, initially powered by Rolls-Royce Eagle engines. Later versions featured Liberty powerplants, which were based on race car engines, from Allison Engine Co. in Indianapolis.
1942Allison opens new factory in Indianapolis, Indiana, to produce V-1710 piston engines. These engines would power P-51, P-38, P-39, P-40 and other aircraft during and after World War II. Later versions of the P-51s would be powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, iconic for their use in RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes.
1947Allison begins producing J33 engines, which will go on to power the P-80 Shooting Star, the Air Force’s first operational jet fighter, as well as the F-94 Starfire and the T-33 jet trainer. Allison produced nearly 7,000 J33 engines. Its later J35 engines would become the primary powerplant for the F-84 Thunderjet and F-89 Scorpion.
1956First production C-130A aircraft are delivered to the Air Force, the first among more than 2,600 aircraft to be produced in the C-130 line. The initial aircraft were powered by four T56 turboprop engines from the Allison factories in Indianapolis. The T56 becomes one of the longest production engines in aviation history, with over 18,000 engines produced.
1968First flight of the USAF A-7D Corsair II, powered by a single Allison TF41 turbofan engine, a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Spey. A-7D aircraft flew in the Air Force fleet for more than 20 years.
1985An Allison engine, designated T406 and later renamed as the Rolls-Royce AE 1107C, is selected to power the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft.
1995Rolls-Royce purchases Allison Engine Co. with U.S. Government approval, officially joining two companies with a long, intertwined history of aerospace collaboration.
1996First flight of the C-130J, powered by four Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 turboprop engines.
1998First flight of the Global Hawk UAV aircraft, powered by a single Rolls-Royce AE 3007H turbofan engine.
2006First operational CV-22 aircraft delivered to Air Force at Kirtland AFB, powered by Rolls-Royce AE 1107C turboshaft engines.
2019Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 engines surpass 8 million engine flight hours on the C-130J fleet.
2021Air Force selects Rolls-Royce F130 engines, to be produced in Indianapolis, for B-52 engine replacement.

AFSOC Grounds CV-22 Osprey Fleet Over Safety Issue

AFSOC Grounds CV-22 Osprey Fleet Over Safety Issue

Aug. 17, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force Special Operations Command grounded its CV-22 Osprey fleet Aug. 16 as part of a safety stand down, with no timeline set for the aircraft to begin flying again, the command confirmed to Air Force Magazine.

The stand down, ordered by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, comes after two incidents of “hard clutch engagement” in the past six weeks, AFSOC spokesperson Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse said in an emailed statement.

News of the stand down was first reported by Breaking Defense.

Hard clutch engagement involves the clutch connecting the rotor gear box to the engine slipping, then catching hard, causing the aircraft to lurch.

The two incidents in the past six weeks came after two in the previous five years, Heyse said. No injuries have been reported as a result of the incidents, “due in large part to the skill and professionalism of our Air Commandos who operate the CV-22,” Heyse said.

AFSOC hadn’t yet gathered enough engineering data analysis to identify the cause of the issue, “so it’s unknown if it’s mechanical, design, software or some combination of any of those,” Heyse said.

And until a root cause is determined and risk control measures are put in place, “no AFSOC CV-22s will fly,” she said. Ultimately, “the goal is to determine a viable long term materiel solution,” she added.

The Marine Corps and Navy both operate their own versions of the Osprey, and AFSOC has been in contact with Naval Air Systems Command about the issue, Heyse said, deferring comment on any stand down of those aircraft to the respective services.

AFSOC has more than 50 Ospreys in its fleet, based out of Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., Hurlburt Field, Fla., Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., RAF Mildenhall, U.K., and Yokota Air Base, Japan. The CV-22’s tiltrotor design allows it to take off and land vertically but pivot its engines forward for higher-speed and longer-range horizontal flight.

The aircraft has generated controversy with its safety record, however. Within the past six months, nine Marines have died in two separate crashes on board the MV-22 Osprey.

The CV-22’s stand down marks the second such grounding of Air Force planes in recent weeks, as Air Combat Command just recently cleared its F-35As to begin flying again after conducting inspections for a faulty ejection seat part.

Promotion Rate for Staff Sergeants Hits Lowest Point Since 1997

Promotion Rate for Staff Sergeants Hits Lowest Point Since 1997

Aug. 17, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force’s recent trend of low promotion rates for enlisted noncommissioned officers continued Aug. 17, as the service announced it had tapped just 9,706 senior airmen out of 45,991 eligible to become staff sergeants—a 21.1 percent promotion rate.

That mark is the lowest in nearly a quarter of a century, according to data provided by the Air Force Personnel Center to Air Force Magazine. In 1997, just 18.66 percent of eligible senior airmen were selected.

The low promotion rate was driven by both an unusually high number of eligible senior airmen—the most since 1998—and a relatively low total number of Airmen selected—the fewest since 2014, and just the second time this century when fewer than 10,000 were picked.

This year’s numbers also represent a dramatic shift from just a few years ago, when the service promoted roughly half of those eligible in 2018 and 2019. Even as recently as 2020, the promotion rate was 41.58 percent, just shy of double the 2022 rate. 

The 2014 cycle is the only other one since 2000 to have a rate below 30 percent.

The official release of those who were selected for promotion will take place at 8 a.m. Central time Aug. 25, according to AFPC. The list will be available on the Air Forces Personnel Center website’s Enlisted Promotion page, the Air Force Portal, and myPers.

The Air Force uses Weighted Airman Promotion System (WAPS) tests for E-5s. The test was revamped in 2022, going from 100 knowledge-based questions to 60 knowledge questions and 20 “situational judgment test” questions. The service also changed how it evaluated Enlisted Promotion Reports.

While the Space Force has moved to promotion boards for all its noncommissioned officers, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has previously said her office is considering whether to do away with WAPS after moving to boards for ranks E-7 through E-9.

Regardless, enlisted promotion rates have been down for many NCO ranks this year. The service promoted its fewest tech sergeants in a decade, and the promotion rate for master sergeant was the lowest it’s been since 2010.

And those numbers are unlikely to rebound in the near future, the service has warned, as a result of high retention amid the COVID-19 pandemic, end strength numbers plateauing, and recent enlisted grade structure revisions.

In particular, leaders say the grade structure revisions were necessary to combat a decline in experience among Airmen in the NCO corps.

“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 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.”

The goal, Barger said, is to reach a “healthier” distribution of Airmen across grades by fiscal 2025—seemingly indicating that lower promotion rates could continue for another two or three years.

YEARSELECTEDELIGIBLEPROMOTION RATE
20229,70645,99121.10
202115,66044,66335.06
202013,86433,34141.58
201914,23529,17948.79
201815,66930,65151.12
201714,18132,00644.31
201616,50639,06442.25
201513,26939,26033.80
20149,40336,73925.59
201311,21234,07832.90
201213,44833,06040.68
201111,33726,54942.70
201013,51828,51047.41
200915,22330,57449.79
200812,20928,09843.45
200715,13036,60841.33
200613,29837,07135.87
200514,61436,40540.14
200413,62533,30640.91
200313,65127,41649.79
200219,44830,88062.98
200120,79332,17064.63
200019,60538,65450.72
199916,05344,10936.39
199811,03348,71922.65
19979,85452,82018.66
Source: Air Force Personnel Center
With FMS, Air Force Looks to Integrate With Allies Earlier and in New Ways

With FMS, Air Force Looks to Integrate With Allies Earlier and in New Ways

Aug. 17, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

DAYTON, Ohio—With a new policy in hand, the Air Force’s Foreign Military Sales enterprise is looking to go beyond selling USAF systems to allies and partner nations—and instead to help them develop their own capabilities.

Such an approach, deemed “non-program of record acquisitions,” is part of a larger shift in FMS toward more and earlier integration with other countries, Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, director of the Air Force security assistance and cooperation directorate, told reporters at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference.

“Over the last decade, in particular, we’ve seen a significant shift to partners not only wanting to get in earlier, but in a lot of cases, actually wanting to get into doing platforms or designs that we aren’t flying,” Cropsey said. 

In the past, “we typically didn’t sell weapons systems to foreign partners until after Milestone C, when we had basically a production capability up and running, and we had already gone through all of our wickets, testing and everything else, so that we had a good, stable product that we knew that we were going to be able to provide,” Cropsey said. And when it came to systems that the Air Force wasn’t producing for itself, there was little, if any, way to help.

But now, with the new “non-program of record acquisition” policy—implemented in the past year—Cropsey and his team are able to “pull in a foreign partner nation’s money from a funding perspective and marry that up with somebody else’s money and actually form a collective program around those shared requirements,” he said.

While there have been other ways for partners to work with the Air Force to develop new systems and capabilities, such as international agreements, Cropsey noted that being able to do so through Foreign Military Sales will create more opportunities for more countries.

“The fact that we’ve now added that capability from a policy perspective into what we’re capable of doing in the FMS portfolio, I think is a big benefit to our partners, because the FMS side of this business is by far the the larger … when it comes to the number of countries that we have involved and the size of the dollars associated with it,” Cropsey said.

The most high-profile example of this new policy to date has been L3Harris’ electronic warfare suite for the F-16, called Viper Shield. While the U.S. Air Force has chosen Northrop Grumman to equip its F-16s with the Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite, USAF and Lockheed Martin selected Viper Shield to go on the F-16V, designed solely for FMS.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. made reference to Viper Shield in a speech in July at the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, saying the process “brought together partners from the Indo-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.”

But still more can be done, Brown said, as he laid out his vision for “Integrated by Design,” a process by which the Air Force will “start with allies and partners in mind versus building U.S. first, then adapting to include allies and partners.”

A key portion of integration by design, Brown stressed, is Foreign Military Sales, and in bilateral talks with allies, he said he has frequently heard that the U.S. must improve its FMS.

“I will tell you, this is something we are working on,” Brown pledged.

And even beyond non-program of record acquisitions, there will be other ways for the enterprise to innovate, he indicated.

“There are opportunities to leverage or change existing policies to enable us to work together to align investments, capabilities, and approaches, so together, we can optimize our innovation and industrial capacities,” Brown said. “And together, we should look deeper at our capability development and export policies to see where we can either open up or change policies to better align efforts.”