GE’s AETP Engine Completes Milestone Tests as Air Force Faces Decision on F-35

Sept. 14, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

GE Aviation announced that it completed milestone tests for the engine it hopes will power Air Force fighters well into the future.

The Air Force launched the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) in 2016 to field a new generation of jet power plants, awarding development contracts to GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney. GE calls its offering the XA100, which the company hopes the Air Force will soon select for the F-35A. That would open up the possibility of the engine entering service in the Navy’s F-35C.

The Block 4 upgrades to the F-35A may draw too much power for the current engine, Pratt & Whitney’s F135, to handle.

The completed tests on the XA100, which were done at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), Tenn., from March to August, simulated flight conditions. It is one of the final steps before the acquisition process.

“We now stand ready to transition to an engineering and manufacturing development program and bring this engine to the field with the F-35 before the end of this decade,” GE’s David Tweedie said in a statement.

The adaptive engines under development use new technology, such as a third stream of air. This enables the engine to operate in a high-thrust mode and high-efficiency mode that can increase both speed and range, and provide better heat management.

“This engine isn’t a concept, proposal, or research program,” Tweedie said. “This is a flight-weight, highly product-relevant engine that would provide the F-35 with 30% more range, greater than 20% faster acceleration, and significant mission systems growth to harness the F-35’s full capabilities for Block 4 upgrades, and beyond. The XA100 is the only F-35 propulsion modernization option that has been built, fully tested, and evaluated against Air Force performance targets, and the only option that provides the Air Force the capability it needs to outpace its adversaries for decades to come.”

Pratt & Whitney responded to the news, saying in a statement that its AETP engine, the XA101, remains on schedule in its development. It also includes advanced features present in GE’s engine, but Pratt & Whitney thinks that rather than the F-35, its AETP engine is best suited to the future fighters of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. Accordingly, its engine technologies will likely be folded into an early-stage program called Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) for use in NGAD.

Instead of an entirely new engine for future F-35s, Pratt & Whitney is offering an upgrade to its existing F135 power plant, the Enhanced Engine Package (EEP).

Pratt & Whitney argues that putting GE’s XA100 into an existing, single-engine aircraft is too risky and costly.

“A new engine will cost billions more, introduce unnecessary safety risks, damage alliances with key international partners and is late to need,” Pratt & Whitney said in a statement.

GE insists that its new engine has already proven itself and points to past experience re-engining a single-engine aircraft: The company originally lost out to Pratt & Whitney on the F-16’s power plant before providing GE propulsion in some later variants.

“Re-engining a tactical fighter aircraft is a big deal, but it has been done before—it has been done many times before successfully—including the F-16, which is a single-engine tactical fighter,” Tweedie told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

But during a Defense News conference, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said continuing the AETP program could bring it to over $6 billion in total, forcing the Air Force to buy fewer F-35s in a time of constrained budgets.

“I don’t want to continue to spend money on an engine that we’re not going to develop and take into production,” Kendall added. “We just need to make a decision, decide what to do, and get on with it.”

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Kristina L. Schneider

Sept. 14, 2022 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 19 to 21 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Kristina L. Schneider, a fire protection journeyman for the 179th Airlift Wing, Ohio Air National Guard, at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.

For the past 10 years, Schneider’s civilian role has been as a full-time paramedic for the city of Cleveland. But since 2018 when she enlisted in the Air National Guard (the day before her 40th birthday when she would become unable to enlist) her resume as a first responder expanded and she was made an Air Force firefighter. That’s been her Air Force job ever since, including last year when she was deployed in Kuwait for Operation Spartan Shield.

During the evacuation of Afghanistan, Schneider’s medical experience from her civilian job was desperately recruited. She was forward-deployed from Kuwait to Qatar to support the emergency medical response needed in Operation Allies Refuge. Schneider was the lead paramedic on the team, which also included three pararescue (PJ) medics and was crucial in supporting the medical treatment of 12,000 patients and evacuation of 54,000 Afghan refugees.

“There was [an influx] of people creating airplanes [with] anywhere from 350 to 450 people arriving … every hour,” Schneider said. “It was crazy. And those planes would sit there on the runway. It was just miles of airplanes with people waiting to get off.”

Because of the long wait times for disembarking and the harsh conditions faced during the evacuation, the Afghan refugees were malnourished, dehydrated, overheated, or—most commonly—some combination of all three. Some were recovering from gunshot or shrapnel wounds. Others were suffering from a gastrointestinal virus going around. But Al Udeid Air Base hadn’t prepared for such large quantities of patients arriving at once.

“The first week was very intense because we didn’t have the supplies we needed,” Schneider said. “We needed fans. We needed cots. … I mean, anything from baby supplies and diapers to bandages and blankets, [that] was all needed.”

Her team adapted, worked days up to 16 hours long, and remained as calm as possible by focusing on one patient at a time. The emergency calls were constant for the two-week evacuation, but Schneider said the level of morale on her team remained as high as she could have hoped.

“I was very lucky to work with who I worked with. The Air Force PJs were awesome,” she said. “We had good camaraderie.”

Schneider credited her ability to perform so efficiently during the operation to her decade of experience as a civilian paramedic in inner-city Cleveland. She also emphasized the value that Air National Guard members bring to the Air Force.

“One thing I love pointing out is that because I have been able to do both—my civilian career and Air National Guard—while in the Air Force, [I have been able] to bring more to the table,” she said. “If I was just trained on one thing, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. I was able to bring what I learned outside the Air Force, and I helped out the Air Force.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year in 2022 below:        

DOD Needs $42B to Overcome Inflation in 2023, Study Says

Sept. 13, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Pentagon budget would need to increase by at least $42 billion to discount the cost of inflation, three former Defense Department comptrollers warn in a report released Sept. 13 by the National Defense Industrial Association.

The report came out as the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that prices rose 8.3 percent year-over-year in August, and as the chances of Congress completing a defense bill by the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 look increasingly unlikely. Without an approved spending bill, the Pentagon will once again have to rely on stopgap spending measures known as continuing resolutions.

The President’s 2023 budget request sought $773 billion for defense, an increase of $30.7 billion, or 4.1 percent, over the 2022 enacted budget. However, continuing inflation has made that increase look outdated.

“What happens in the upcoming months, of course, is uncertain, so we all have to be prepared to adjust if we need to,” said Christopher Sherwood, a Department of Defense spokesman, in an email. “Our budget was finalized in mid-January, before Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine spiked energy prices, wheat prices, and further disrupted global supply chains. We worked closely with the Office of Management and Budget on this issue, and agreed that protecting our buying power is important.”

But even before the 2023 budget, price hikes following the COVID-19 pandemic had dented Pentagon budgets. While DOD saw increased investment in 2022, inflation ate away all of the increase.

The NDIA report, authored by former Pentagon comptrollers John E. Whitley, David L. Norquist, and Lisa S. Disbrow, said Congress would need to approve a budget of at least $815 billion for fiscal 2023 to make up for lost buying power as a result of inflation.

“When Congress enacted the FY 2022 budget, it was expected, based on inflation when that budget was developed, to provide over $22 billion in new net program growth—a real buying power increase,” the report states. “In reality, inflation has eroded all of that buying power and the FY 2022 budget will buy less defense capability than the FY 2021 budget was expected to buy.”

Inflation was also higher than forecasted in 2021.

After years of low inflation of around 2 percent per year, the actual inflation rate has run 9 percent over what Pentagon predicted for the past two years, according to the report. All told, inflation will cost DOD over $110 billion in buying power from fiscal 2021 to 2023.

“Whether the cost is initially born by DOD or industry will depend on how the contract is written, but left unfunded, the inevitable consequence for national defense is the same,” the report states.

If Congress fails to pass a budget by the end of the month, a CR would avert a government shutdown. But CRs typically freeze spending at current levels, halting “new starts”—projects or activities that were not previously funded or authorized in the prior year’s budget and delaying planned increases.

“These stopgap measures cause substantial and widespread disruptions across national security, impacting operations and readiness,” NDIA, the Aerospace Industries Association, and Professional Services Council wrote in a letter to the leadership of the Senate and House appropriations committees on Sept. 12.

The NDIA report and association’s letter to Congressional leadership acknowledge the likelihood of a CR, but say harm to the nation’s defense and industry could be mitigated if Congress allowed new starts and procurement quantity changes to be included.

“The best inflation buster we have is on-time appropriations,” said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks at the Reagan Institute in May. “What we don’t want is an added topline that’s filled with new programs that we can’t support or afford in the out-years, and that doesn’t cover inflation.”

The latest inflation and budgetary concerns come at the same time as the Defense Department and its contractors struggle to overcome supply chain and labor market shortages that have also affected the broader economy.

“The Department continues to assess the impacts of inflation and will continue to work with both the Administration and the Congress to address resource implications,” said Sherwood, the DOD spokesman.

Saltzman: Space Force Must Invest in Test and Training Technology

Sept. 13, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force doesn’t just need a more resilient satellite architecture, it also needs more and better ways to test and train Guardians to operate in a contested domain, the nominee to be the next chief of space operations told the Senate Armed Services Committee Sept. 13.

For months now, Space Force leaders have stressed the need for larger numbers of satellites spread across orbits, as China and Russia pursue capabilities to turn space from a relatively benign environment where the U.S. can operate freely to a warfighting domain.

Building a resilient force will require significant investment, said Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, nominee to be the next Chief of Space Operations.

“There [are] substantial capabilities in test and training infrastructure that we need to invest in,” Saltzman said. “If we have exquisite weapons systems, exquisite systems on orbit to provide joint capabilities, but our Guardians and our operators don’t have the skills, the training, the experience they need to make the most out of those systems, then I feel like we’re not really fully combat ready, fully ready to do those critical mission tasks.”

Asked by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a former astronaut, to clarify, Saltzman offered several examples: “We don’t have simulators that allow our operators to practice their tactics against a thinking adversary, even if it’s a simulated adversary,” he said. “. We don’t have good simulators. We don’t have ranges where they can routinely practice their tradecraft. We don’t have the ability to link multiple units together so they can practice the coordination that’s necessary to do large force employments, if you will.”

Saltzman, now the deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear, has stressed the need for more advanced training techniques and opportunities for Guardians before. Selected over several more senior three-stars to succeed Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, he would become the Space Force’s second CSO if confirmed by the Senate.

As CSO, Saltzman would have the power and influence to direct more funds toward training and simulation under his authority to recruit, train, and equip the force. But legislators continue to express concern about the Space Force’s long-term budget plans. USSF’s Future Years Defense Plan projects growth in 2023 and 2024, but flatten and then declines in the years that follow.

Saltzman did not comment on the FYDP, noting only the need for more investments in the near-future.

“We’re continuing to build and design a more resilient, defendable architecture,” he said. “Launch prices are coming down. We’re doing distributed architectures because they’re more resilient. We’re trying to think about ways to disaggregate our payloads so they’re not as easy targets. So all of that is new investment and new force design. And so it’s going to come with a transition from our legacy capabilities to these new architectures.”

Beyond the satellites in space, Saltzman also said there is a need for greater resiliency in the Space Force’s ground stations, from which Guardians operate the satellites.

“When I look at the software, the monitoring of those networks, I think there are still some gaps that we need to fill,” Saltzman said. “When I think about space domain awareness and the number of sensors worldwide that we’re going to need in order to effectively evaluate and determine what’s on orbit and where it is and what it’s doing—and then the tools, the software tools on the ground to take all that data in and turn that data into information and decision-quality information, those are some near-term issues that I think we’re going to have to address from a software and a hardware standpoint.”

Classified Counter-space

While lawmakers asked Saltzman several times about resiliency, a few also touched on the service’s ability to strike back and hold adversaries’ capabilities at risk.

Little is publicly known about the Space Force’s offensive capabilities, most of which are classified, and Saltzman acknowledged that lack of transparency can make deterrence harder.

“It’s hard to deter … an adversary, if they don’t know the capabilities there,” Saltzman told Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “The problem is if we think too much about revealing capabilities that are vulnerable, that we might be jeopardizing those capabilities. If confirmed as the CSO, I would welcome an opportunity in a classified environment to talk about some of those trade-offs.”

Raymond has decried over-classification since becoming CSO, and pledged to develop a strategy for declassification. But the issue persists, as demonstrated when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Saltzman if the U.S. has the anti-satellite weapons it needs to deter Russia and China.

“I think the best way to answer that is, for the current conditions, I think we have suitable capabilities,” Saltzman said. “But I think the security situation is changing dynamically and I’d really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you in a classified environment on the specific details.”

Space Guard

Beyond the Space Force’s capabilities, Senators also asked Saltzman several times for his thoughts on how the service should organize its reserve or part-time components.

Currently, the Space Force’s proposal is for a single hybrid component of full-time and part-time Guardians called the “Space Component.”

On the other hand, a number of lawmakers and advocates have pushed to establish a new Space National Guard, saying it is needed to ensure Airmen currently performing space missions in Air National Guard units aren’t left behind.

Finally, Raymond has suggested the possibility of maintaining the status quo, with ANG units providing support for the space mission.

Saltzman, for his part, didn’t tip his hand in favor of one idea over the others.

“The key is that there are pros and cons and advantages and opportunities in each of these that are slightly different,” Saltzman. “And so what’s important is that we take the time to evaluate all of the second- and third-order effects to make sure we optimize the capabilities, optimize their long term viability, the training, the recruiting, the retention of that expertise. And if confirmed as the Chief of Space Operations, what I’d like to do is work with the committee, work with the other stakeholders to really evaluate all of those nuances to make sure we optimize the organizational structure.”

Thunderbirds, Warbirds Flyovers Planned to Celebrate 75th Anniversary of USAF

Sept. 13, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Flyovers of current and historic Air Force aircraft and the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team will highlight the service’s 75th Anniversary Tattoo at Audi Field, Washington D.C. on Sept. 15, the Pentagon announced.

The event will feature “a scheduled flyover of current and historic aircraft representative of our nation’s airpower advantage over time,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a Sept. 13 press briefing. Besides the Thunderbirds, Ryder said flyovers of World War II-era aircraft such as the B-17 and B-25 bombers and P-51 fighter will take place. The demonstrations will be mark the climax of the event, between 6:45 pm and 6:55 pm Eastern time, Ryder said.

The event, which is free to the public, will also include performances by the U.S. Air Force Band, the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard, and country music star Andy Grammer, USAF announced.

Attending the event will be Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, other USAF and U.S. Space Force leaders, and air chiefs invited from nations worldwide, marking the start of a global air chiefs conference hosted by Brown to coincide with the Air Force’s birthday celebration.

The anniversary will further be marked by AFA’s Air, Space and Cyber conference at National Harbor, Md. Sept. 19-21.

“This year marks our 75th anniversary and my hope is that Americans across the country and across the globe have the opportunity to see the U.S. Air Force in action as we celebrate this historic milestone,” Brown said. “Airmen will always be there to provide America with the Airpower it needs to defend the nation, help diplomacy proceed from a position of strength, reassure our partners and allies, and deter or defeat our adversaries.”

Though there is no charge for admission, the public must obtain free tickets in advance through USAF’s anniversary website. The tattoo will be livestreamed by the USAF Band on YouTube.

The “tattoo” gets its name from a 17th century European tradition of summoning soldiers with military drumlines, evolving over time into a display of military pride and professionalism.

The host of the event is the Air Force’s 11th Wing at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is the modern name for what was originally called “The Flying Fields at Anacostia” in southwest Washington, D.C. The wing performs ceremonial duties through the Air Force Band, U.S. Air Force Honor Guard and U.S Air Force Chaplain Corps at nearby Arlington National Cemetery.

The Thunderbirds play the role of goodwill ambassadors for the Air Force, demonstrating the precision capabilities of USAF pilots and the F-16 fighter.

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Monica Figueroa Santos

Sept. 13, 2022 | By Patrick Reardon

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 19 to 21 in National Harbor, Md. Air & Space Forces Magazine is highlighting one each weekday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Monica A. Figueroa Santos, senior nuclear command and control emergency actions controller for the 341st Missile Wing Command Post at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Air Force and command post regulations dictate that senior controllers must be NCOs or have a skill level of 7. So when Figueroa Santos was endorsed by the wing commander for a senior controller position at Malmstrom as an A1C, she was being asked to fill responsibilities two ranks above her paygrade. The grounds for such elevated trust: her extreme attention to detail and protocol, no matter the mission.

Those qualifications were recognized during a Nuclear Surety Inspection that occurred while she was still a junior controller. It was only her fifth week post-certification and although she was still green in her field, she was selected for inspection.

“I was really nervous,” Figueroa Santos said. “[My staff sergeant] really motivated me and prepped me. Even though I was certified, there was still so much that I didn’t know.”

During the three-hour higher headquarters scenario and exam, Figueroa Santos noticed an error they had made. She pointed it out to her senior controller and asked them to check the regulations—an “integrity move” that impressed the inspectors.

“Even though I did make mistakes during the inspection, I was able to prove to the inspectors that I know what I’m doing, and I’m not just going to blindly follow my higher-ups,” she said. “[One] inspector told me that a lot of times when he does the inspections, the junior controllers are too scared to speak up [and just] go with the flow. [But he] saw me challenging what others were doing. He was very impressed with that—[it was] something that he hasn’t seen somebody do before.”

SrA Monica Figueroa Santos, 341st Missile Wing Command Post senior nuclear command and control emergency actions controller, poses for a photo July 26, 2022 at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Mary Bowers. This photo has been altered for security purposes by blurring out identification badges.

Figueroa Santos’ integrity led to the team yielding zero write-ups and her recognition as a Superior Performer by the Air Force Global Strike Command Inspector General. The level of veracity she displayed during the inspection should be the gold standard for Airmen on a mission as sensitive as Malmstrom’s.

“We have a nuclear mission. We’re not allowed to make mistakes. So you just have to know your stuff,” Figueroa Santos said.

After demonstrating her competency during the NSI, Figueroa Santos was endorsed to become a senior controller as an Airman First Class. She continued to play by the rulebook, not the rank-book. Her meticulous adherence to rules helped avert wing mission failure by generating 74 emergency alerts, briefing four organizations, and securing $17.1 billion worth of assets spread across a 13,800-mile area of responsibility.

She also proved her ability to adapt to emergencies without compromising regulations. She led the support of six civilian search-and-rescue missions, one of which saved the lives of two active-duty Airmen who had fallen off a cliff while hiking.

“It’s very rare, actually, to have a search-and-rescue [be for] our own people,” she said. “It was a great team effort. And I was proud to be a part of that.”

While Figueroa Santos’ position defies standard rank regulations, her approach to those positions doesn’t. Compromising integrity to save face isn’t in her nature.

“I get that from my dad,” she said, adding that her ROTC training at the University of South Florida helped embed her “perfectionism” even deeper into her actions. She is upholding of the Air Force’s standards, and that makes her recognition as an Outstanding Airman of the Year markedly deserved.

“Prior to this, I didn’t even know the ‘12 Outstanding Airmen’ was a thing,” Figueroa Santos said. “It wasn’t something I was shooting for.”

“You know, one of the core values in the Air Force is integrity,” she added. “You always have to have integrity. You don’t ever want to get complacent with what you do. Because when you get complacent, that’s when mistakes happen. And it could really cost us a lot.”

Meet the other Outstanding Airmen of the Year in 2022 below:      

Tackling the Air Force’s Joint All Domain Training Needs

Sept. 13, 2022 | By Scott King

U.S. defense strategy anticipates increasingly joint operations in which Air Force jets, Navy ships and submarines, and Army and Marine Corps ground operations are so tightly integrated that rival forces will be overwhelmed. But to fight that way, the armed services must first train and practice, leveraging live, virtual, and constructive simulation elements to master the art of the possible – and they must be sure those systems are built with cybersecurity in mind.

HII has been working these problems for decades. HII’s development and operation of the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), the Navy’s Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) Training Program, provides scalable Government-owned solutions that facilitate unit- to fleet-wide, joint, and coalition training. HII is leveraging these solutions with their existing USAF DMO and range programs to achieve best of breed training architectures, providing DoD with a viable framework for Joint All Domain Operations training.

“The more we interconnect advanced training and weapons systems into a single environment, the greater the value of the data in the environment,” said John Bell, technical director of HII’s LVC Solutions Group. And the value doesn’t just rise for the Department of Defense, but to potential adversaries seeking an edge in future combat. “We recognize that as a critical consideration in our development of new simulation and training systems,” Bell said. If it’s digital, someone is going to try to hack it, so protecting the enterprise training solution is a primary concern.

“Protecting data is a major challenge,” Bell said. “It’s one of our highest priorities for our DOD customers, so we follow advanced cybersecurity engineering and architecture processes. We’re constantly working on new ways to secure our systems to ensure they’re protected.”

The Navy’s Enterprise Network Guard is a key part of that strategy, a cross-domain solution to connect classified information across multiple enterprise training networks for the Navy.

“The Enterprise Network Guard provides new capabilities that we don’t have in traditional cross-domain solutions,” Bell said. “HII has been conducting site certification and testing of the Guard by integrating and sharing data securely with our coalition partners in the NCTE.”

Armed services must leverage live, virtual, and constructive simulation elements to master the art of the possible – and they must be sure those systems are built with cybersecurity in mind. Here’s how HII has tackled this demand.

The Enterprise Network Guard is on track to become certified by the National Security Agency as a “Raise the Bar”-compliant cross-domain solution (CDS).

“’Raise the Bar’ is a new set of requirements for cross domain solutions to improve security and prevent the inadvertent disclosure of data,” Bell said. “We recently completed successful site-testing of the Enterprise Network Guard, which is significant because it proves the Guard meets Raise the Bar standards and is ready for use in distributed joint and coalition training exercises.”

According to Bell, the Enterprise Network Guard is well-suited to be a future cross-domain solution for the Air Force and other services.

“There are significant challenges that come with integrating multiple levels of security, from multiple domains and for a variety of training systems across networks,” Bell said. “This is one of the biggest challenges facing the Air Force today and our experience working with the Guard gives us the capabilities, insights, and experience needed to address those challenges.”

HII is also experienced in integrating live training ranges into a single enterprise solution for networking and communications. Recently, HII has been upgrading current USAF range architecture to an interconnected enterprise range infrastructure.

“Currently, the Air Force’s live training ranges are operating under legacy networks and legacy communication systems,” Bell said. “We’re applying our proven enterprise training architecture to the Air Force by integrating their live training ranges into a Live Mission Operations Network (LMON). This will enable the Air Force to train more effectively by bringing in the new live range training systems of the future with advanced platforms such as the F-35 and other fifth-gen fighters.”

An enterprise network for the Air Force’s Live Mission Operations Network will enable greater efficiency in operations because it can be run from a single network operations and security center.

“Our standardized solutions optimize the hardware and software at every range to meet individual requirements, while not having to reinvent the wheel at every single range,” Bell said. “This demonstrates that we can leverage our open architectures and standards to develop enterprise solutions that are applicable across the globe, both at-scale and for immediate use.”

HII has experience working with Air Force platforms, having already integrated the B-1, B-52, E-8C Joint STARS, E-3 AWACS, and RC-135 Rivet Joint into NCTE exercises.

“The integration of Air Force platforms into NCTE exercises was effective because we used our Joint Simulation Bus (JBUS) system to create interoperability capabilities between the platforms,” Bell said. “The Navy and the Air Force now routinely train in joint exercises using both Air Force and Navy assets, just like we would in war. This experience gives us insight into what it takes to bring multiple Air Force platforms into a single integrated environment that enables Joint All Domain Operations of the future.”

Bioweapons Designed by AI: a ‘Very Near-Term Concern,’ Schmidt Says

Sept. 12, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

Artificial intelligence could bring about “biological conflict,” said former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who co-chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

Schmidt spoke with defense reporters Sept. 12 as he helped release a new paper from his tech-oriented nonprofit think tank, the Special Competitive Studies Project. Schmidt launched the think tank with staff from the commission in order to continue the commission’s work.

AI’s applicability to biological warfare is “something which we don’t talk about very much,” Schmidt said, but it poses grave risks. “It’s going to be possible for bad actors to take the large databases of how biology works and use it to generate things which hurt human beings,” Schmidt said, calling that risk “a very near-term concern.”

Schmidt cited viruses as one example: “The database of viruses can be expanded greatly by using AI techniques, which will generate new chemistry, which can generate new viruses.”

The new paper, “Mid-Decade Challenges to National Competitiveness,” says advances in biology could empower individuals to formulate pathogens and, therefore, “increase uncertainty about which actions are taken by a state, by those acting on behalf of a state, or those acting on their own.”

Having recently been appointed to a new commission on bioterrorism that hadn’t yet met, Schmidt didn’t want to elaborate more.

His prediction echoes prospects described in a recent experiment by Collaborations Pharmaceuticals, a drug company, which modified its AI for ruling out toxicity in new drug formulas to instead generate formulas for toxic substances.

Only “vaguely aware of security concerns around work with pathogens or toxic chemicals” at the outset, according to the paper, the researchers tried the experiment after being invited to take part in a conference on chemical and biological weapons. They later concluded that they had been “naive in thinking about the potential misuse.”

“Even our projects on Ebola and neurotoxins … had not set our alarm bells ringing,” they wrote.

For the experiment, they trained commercially available AI, which they had designed, with data from a publicly available database of molecules. They chose to “drive the generative model towards compounds such as the nerve agent VX, one of the most toxic chemical warfare agents developed during the twentieth century.”

It worked: “In less than 6 hours after starting on our in-house server, our model generated 40,000 molecules that scored within our desired threshold.”

Among those were not only VX itself “but also many other known chemical warfare agents”—and others likely more toxic.

The potential misuse of biological databases stays front of mind within DOD’s own in-house project to digitize decades of medical slides for AI-enabled research. The department’s Joint Pathology Center houses the world’s most extensive repository of diseased tissue samples. Its leaders envision AI algorithms learning to predict a patient’s prognosis—whether a cancer patient, for example, could get by with just monitoring or would need aggressive treatment.

Its director, pathologist Army Col. Joel T. Moncur, said in a past interview that the center had prioritized “privacy, security, and ethics” in designing the project.

The Defense Innovation Board, which Schmidt chaired at the time, recommended “enhancements” to the center’s repository to make the specimens even more suitable for AI research—beyond the center’s ongoing effort to create high-resolution digital images of physical slides—in part by linking the slides to the individual’s medical records. The records would undergo “de-identification.”

Brazilian Airmen Deepen Ties in U.S. Visit

Sept. 12, 2022 | By Chris Gordon

The Brazilian Air Force is increasing engagements with the United States in recent years, led by its partnership with the New York Air National Guard, which began in 2019. This week, more than 100 mid-career officers from Brazil’s Air Force Command and Staff College (ECEMAR) and Air Command and Staff Studies (CCEM) program are in the U.S. for meetings and briefings, beginning with a brief from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Retired Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, president of the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), framed the discussion around allied cooperation. “We have to be very focused together with our allies, with our friends, to defend our nations, to defend our citizens, and to provide opportunities of safety and freedom,” he said. “We know we share those values with the Brazilian Air Force.”

Mitchell’s dean, retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, explained to the officers that the U.S. Air Force’s emerging concepts of operations, including developing joint all-domain command and control systems and processes, the future Next Generation Air Dominance systems, and agile combat employment. He also discussed budgetary realities that have left the U.S. Air Force “the smallest, oldest, and least ready in its history.”

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.), dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, greets members of the Brazilian Air Force at the Air & Space Forces Association headquarters in Arlington, Va., Sept. 12, 2022. Staff photo by Mike Tsukamoto.

While that smaller U.S. Air Force is still far larger than Brazil’s, the issues of technology, capability, and capacity to operate are common. “I know these numbers seem big to you, but we have different defense strategies,” Deptula said. The United States is a global power, and in global competition, he said, numbers matter.

But at the same time, “Many of the issues that America’s aerospace forces face are ones that are confronting Brazil’s aerospace community,” he said.

The Air National Guard’s engagement with Brazil is part of the Department of Defense’s State Partnership Program, which pairs units from DOD’s 54 state and territorial National Guard organizations with 93 partnered countries.

In August’s Exercise Tapio, more than 1,000 Brazilian forces and 100 U.S. Airmen took part. U.S. aircraft included an HC-130J, two C-17s, and three HH-60 helicopters. The exercise focused on combat search and rescue, aerial refueling, and close air support missions. A-10 pilots from the Maryland Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Squadron joined the mix, flying with their counterparts in Brazilian A-1 and A-29 aircraft. Members of the Oregon National Guard also joined in.

Deptula said international exercises help build crucial bridges between nations. “Friends and allies, in partnership with America, provide all involved mutual strategic advantages,” Deptula said. “The more thinking we share on issues regarding our aerospace forces, the safer and [more] secure we and our partners will be.”

In addition to Deptula, the Brazilians also were briefed on space and unmanned systems topics by the Mitchell Institute’s Chris Stone, senior fellow for space studies, and Caitlin Lee, senior fellow for UAV and autonomy studies.

President of the Air & Space Forces Association retired Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright addresses members of the Brazilian Air Force at the Air & Space Forces Association headquarters in Arlington, Va., Sept. 12, 2022. Staff photo by Mike Tsukamoto.

Sharing insight with allied air forces is part of the Mitchell mission to advance air power understanding. “We’ve hosted many air chiefs, leadership, and delegations from partner nations around the world—the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Australia, among others,” Deptula said. “Those interactions always bring us closer in understanding their challenges, and we reciprocate with the leading-edge ideas that our Air and Space Forces are pursuing. This was an opportunity to have a much broader officer-level interaction with future aerospace leaders on where we see air and space power evolving.”

Deptula noted that air and space power apply in all domains and all regions around the world. For example, while some might see the INDOPACOM region as being inherently naval in nature, owing to the vastness of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, 100 percent of the region—including all of Asia—is covered by the air and space domains.

One of the ways the U.S. and allies will gain advantage in the future is through the development of new technologies that increase complexity for adversaries while improving the ability to communicate and share data and targeting information across domains and with international partners.

JADC2 is a defense-wide concept for connecting any sensor with any shooter across a “network of networks,” using machine learning and artificial intelligence, he said. The Air Force is working hard to figure out how to do that, he said, and its Advanced Battle Management System is its system for trying to achieve that aim. The other services are also pursuing the means to connect.

JADC2 will require secure communications essential to everything from targeting to timing for all services, using technologies such as new high-speed laser communications between satellites.