Why a Continuing Resolution in 2023 Would Be ‘Particularly Negative’

May 17, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Department of the Air Force leaders have not been shy in the past about voicing the issues caused by the use of continuing resolutions to fund the federal government.

But addressing the lawmakers responsible for passing an annual budget, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall made the case May 17 that a CR in the upcoming 2023 fiscal year would have “a particularly negative effect,” especially when it comes to the issue that has dominated debate in Congress recently: inflation.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Kendall and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond both took time in their opening statements to tout the need for a new budget before Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

“We … request the committee’s leadership and support in avoiding a continuing resolution, which would seriously compound any issues we have with inflation,” Kendall said.

Asked by committee chair Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) to clarify, Kendall explained that operating under a CR, which keeps spending levels frozen at the previous year’s level, would limit the Defense Department’s ability to adjust for the impacts of inflation, which has surged in recent months and already led DOD officials to acknowledge that their 2023 request was built off an assumed inflation rate that has thus far proven inaccurate.

“The thing that’s unique about this year is that inflation is occurring and is somewhat unpredictable, and a CR locks you into a previous year’s level of funding when prices are increasing. So you need to get to a point where you can make some adjustments because of that,” Kendall said.

“We want to work with the Congress. We did include some inflation assumptions in our budget submission, but there is a reasonable possibility that inflation will be a bit higher than that. And we want to be able to work with the committee and the Congress to make some adjustments as we understand what FY 23 actually is. We don’t want to speculate right now what that will be, but we do want to deal with it when the time comes. A CR would make that even more difficult.”

Kendall’s assurances about working with Congress on the inflation issue echo those made by DOD comptroller Michael J. McCord, who pledged to lawmakers in April that the department would reassess and come back to Congress with updated numbers in the months ahead.

Such an approach, however, would be stymied by a CR, and despite Pentagon officials repeatedly bemoaning their impacts, CRs are more often than not needed to keep the government open, as Congress has passed one every year since 1997. This past year, Congress didn’t pass a budget until March—more than five months into the fiscal year.

But it’s not just inflation that looms as a pressing concern if CRs are used in 2023, both Kendall and Raymond said.

For one, the Space Force is projected to receive a major budget boost in 2023—its request represents a 36 percent bump over 2022. Any CR would delay those funds, deferring the service’s growth.

“The Space Force has … been charged to ensure our nation has enduring advantages and security in a new and rapidly changing warfighting domain. With your continued support, and an on-time appropriations bill, Guardians will deliver,” Raymond said in his opening statement.

And for the Air Force, a CR could also delay the service’s ability to procure badly needed new capabilities such as the E-7 Wedgetail. The Air Force has asked to divest a large portion of its aging E-3 Sentry fleet and replace them with Wedgetails, with delivery starting in 2027, but lawmakers have expressed concern about the “gap” in ISR capabilities that will result.

Staring down that four-year wait until the Wedgetail is ready, the Air Force is “looking at ways to try to accelerate that process, and we’re trying to be as creative about that as we can be,” Kendall said. But with the E-7 being a new start for the service, a CR would prolong the process.

“A continuing resolution will be a problem for us in terms of getting that going, so if we could do something to avoid that issue, and to accelerate getting those funds on contract, that would be very helpful,” Kendall said.

ARRW Flies at Hypersonic Speeds in First Successful Test

May 16, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force conducted its first successful test of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, on May 14, snapping a streak of three consecutive failed tests and giving the beleaguered hypersonics program a much needed boost.

Off the coast of Southern California, the AGM-183A ARRW separated from the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress, according to an Air Force release, then its booster ignited and burned for an “expected duration,” flying at hypersonic speeds—at least five times the speed of sound.

The 419th Flight Test Squadron and the Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., executed the test.

“The test team made sure we executed this test flawlessly,” Lt. Col. Michael Jungquist, 419th FLTS commander and GPB CTF director, said in a statement. “Our highly-skilled team made history on this first air-launched hypersonic weapon. We’re doing everything we can to get this game-changing weapon to the warfighter as soon as possible.”

ARRW’s success comes after more than a year of setbacks for the program. The missile failed three booster flight tests in 2021—failing to leave the pylon in April, separating but failing to fire its booster in July, and once again not separating from the plane in December. That led the Air Force to strip funds for procurement of the missile from its 2022 and 2023 budget requests.

And while officials maintained that they were committed to the program in the short-term, they left its future open-ended.

“[We’re] not walking away. It’s funded in FY 23,” Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, deputy assistant secretary for budget, told reporters during the 2023 budget rollout, referring to research funds. “And then we’ll make an assessment after that.”

At the same time, the Air Force shifted the majority of its research funding in 2023 to the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile. After spending upwards of $300 million in 2021 and 2022 on ARRW, the service’s budget request for 2023 is just $114.98 million. HACM, meanwhile, saw its funding spike to $316.89 million.

The two systems have fundamental differences. ARRW is a boost-glide weapon that is fired into the atmosphere and uses the energy from its rocket to fly toward its target, while HACM uses air-breathing engine technology for propulsion.

With this successful test of ARRW, Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins, Air Force program executive officer for weapons, released a statement projecting confidence about the Air Force’s hypersonics efforts.

”This was a major accomplishment by the ARRW team, for the weapons enterprise, and our Air Force,” Collins said. “The team’s tenacity, expertise, and commitment were key in overcoming the past year’s challenges to get us to the recent success. We are ready to build on what we’ve learned and continue moving hypersonics forward.”

Air Force’s Biggest MILCON Contract Ever on Record Goes to Tyndall Rebuild

May 16, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

It’s been more than three-and-a-half years since Hurricane Michael pummeled Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., severely damaging or destroying 95 percent of the base’s 1,300 structures.

On May 10, the base took a major step in its long build back to become the “Base of the Future” with the awarding of a $532 million military construction contract.

Including contingencies and contract oversight, the contract’s total cost is $604 million, the Air Force said in a release, making it the largest military construction contract on record in the Air Force database, which dates to 2008.

Those hundreds of millions of dollars will go toward 11 projects to support the flight line for Tyndall’s F-35s, including:

Three aircraft maintenance unit hangars
Maintenance fuel cell hangar
Weapons load training hangar
Group headquarters
Squadron maintenance complex
Flight simulator facility
Corrosion control facility
Parking apron
Aircraft support equipment storage

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to Hensel Phelps, a Colorado-based construction company that ranks as one of the nation’s biggest construction contractors. The Army Corps of Engineers is partnering with the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Natural Disaster Recovery Division in the reconstruction.

“The rebuild gives us the unique opportunity to reimagine how we accommodate the needs of the F-35,” said Col. Travis Leighton, the Natural Disaster Recovery Division chief. “We’re leveraging cutting-edge technology to increase cybersecurity and perimeter defense, enhance base safety, and equip Airmen to execute the missions of today and tomorrow.”

Construction on the projects is slated to begin in late summer 2022. No projected end date was given.

As part of its “Base of the Future” concept, the buildings being constructed as part of these projects will be wind-resistant up to 165 miles per hour and have finished floor elevations that account for up to seven feet of future sea level rise. They’ll also have “smart” building technologies such as occupancy sensors.

While this contract award is the Air Force’s biggest one ever, it represents just a portion of the funds needed to rebuild Tyndall. In fiscal 2019 and 2020, Congress appropriated $5.3 billion in military construction for the service to build back both Tyndall and Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., which was devastated by major flooding around the same time.

The majority of that $5.3 billion was for Tyndall, with estimates at the time ranging from $4.3 billion and $4.9 billion. However, officials told lawmakers in early May that they need still more money for the rebuilding processes—the Air Force’s 2023 MILCON budget request included an unfunded priority of $286 million for natural disaster recovery at Tyndall, Offutt, and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., and Brig. Gen. William H. Kale III, the Air Force director of civil engineers, said more money will likely be requested in fiscal 2024 as well.

It will take a little bit longer after that for the rebuilding process to wrap up—Kale projected an end date in 2027 or 2028.

The Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Zone 1 contract awarded May 10, 2022, will deliver three aircraft maintenance unit hangars, a squadron maintenance complex, flight simulator facility, group headquarters, weapons load training hangar and more in support of the F-35A Lightning II mission. U.S. Air Force graphic

Three Air Force Academy Cadets at Risk of Not Graduating Over COVID Vaccine Refusal

May 16, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

A dozen Cadets from the Air Force Academy have refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including three seniors who won’t be allowed to graduate in nine days unless they get the shot, a spokesperson for the Academy confirmed to Air Force Magazine

USAFA’s graduation ceremony is scheduled for May 25, with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III scheduled to give the commencement address. On May 14, the Associated Press reported that four seniors were at risk of not graduating or commissioning into the service. Since then, one of the Cadets has decided to take the vaccine, Academy spokesperson Dean Miller said.

The remaining three will have until May 25 to change their minds, with Miller saying they will be allowed to graduate as long as they are at least partially vaccinated and make “a commitment to the full regimen.”

Should they continue to refuse the vaccine, they will be subject to disenrollment and potentially forced to reimburse the government for their tuition costs, similar to how other Cadets removed from the Academy as juniors or seniors owe either service obligations or tuition repayment.

It is not up to the Academy, however, whether any Cadets who are disenrolled need to pay reimbursements. That decision is made by the Air Force Review Boards Agency director, Miller said.

Among the non-seniors who are still not vaccinated, two are juniors, one is a sophomore, and six are freshmen. Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, superintendent of the Academy, has given Cadets until Aug. 1 to begin a COVID-19 vaccine regimen or face disenrollment.

As of May 10, the Air Force had separated 369 Active-duty Airmen for refusing the vaccine. Those who have been separated cannot receive anything less than a general discharge under honorable conditions under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

Roughly 1,900 service members across the Active duty, Reserve, and Guard have received medical, administrative, or religious accommodations to the requirement. Thousands more have sought religious waivers to avoid getting the vaccine, but so far only 73 had been granted one, with the vast majority being rejected. The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that all the Cadets who have refused the vaccine have also had their accommodation requests denied.

The Pentagon and the Department of the Air Force have repeatedly insisted they can require service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine or face separation, citing the other vaccinations service members are required to receive and potential impacts on readiness if they fail to do so.

A number of Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, however, have mounted legal challenges against the mandate, with varying results. In February, a federal judge in Georgia blocked the Air Force from enforcing the mandate or from taking action against an officer at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. A federal court in Ohio followed suit in April for 18 Airmen, the majority of whom are stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that the Air Force could take disciplinary action against a Reserve officer from California.

US Troops Return to Somalia as Al-Shabab Threat Increases

May 16, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

President Joe Biden approved a Defense Department request to return “under 500” American forces to Somalia, where the al-Shabab terrorist group has grown in wealth and influence and increased the tempo of its attacks since American troops pulled out in January 2021.

A senior administration official told members of the press May 16 that al-Shabab posed a danger to the American homeland and to U.S. interests in East Africa.

Al-Shabab has killed a dozen Americans in East Africa, including three in a January 2020 cross-border attack on a U.S. position in Manda Bay, Kenya. In his April 14, 2021 speech announcing the U.S. withdraw from Afghanistan, President Biden said the U.S. would target growing terrorist affiliates expanding safe havens in places such as Africa.

In the 15 months since President Donald J. Trump removed 750 U.S. troops from providing a training and counterterrorism presence in Somalia, U.S. forces have commuted from nearby countries to fulfill the mission, posing increased risk and diminishing the efficacy, the official said.

“Al-Shabab, the terrorist group in Somalia that is al-Qaida’s largest, wealthiest, and deadliest affiliate, has unfortunately only grown stronger,” the official said, describing the “abrupt and sudden transition to a rotational presence.”

The rotational presence has meant a heavy burden on security forces protecting U.S. special forces as they train the elite Somali Army unit known as Danab to fight al-Shabab themselves. It has also required additional airlift for movements into and out of Somalia and harmed the effectiveness of the U.S. training.

“Rotational periods of a certain number of weeks or months are consumed, in part, by transporting and unpacking equipment, then by packing it back up at the end, and then by a re-set period,” the official said.

The non-permanent nature of the presence has also increased risks to special operators.

“That rotational presence with which we were left created a very real force protection risk,” the official said. “The President made this decision to increase the safety and effectiveness of our special operators.”

American troops were ordered out of Mogadishu but continued flying intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions from Baledogle Airfield northwest of the capital, a Somali Air Force official told Air Force Magazine in January.

Airstrikes against al-Shabab leaders have markedly diminished since troops withdrew. That, too, would change, according to a report from the New York Times.

The report indicates that DOD sought and received presidential authority to target about a dozen terrorist leaders.

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters at a May 16 briefing that that the train-and-assist mission would not directly involve American soldiers in fighting on the ground in Somalia.

“Our forces are not now, nor will they be, directly engaged in combat operations,” he said. “The purpose here is to enable a more effective fight against al-Shabab by local forces.”

Kirby said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III did not believe the episodic nature of training was the most effective way to counter the “heightened threat” posed by al-Shabab.

In response to a question from Air Force Magazine, Kirby said the move may lead to a reduced need for U.S. Air Forces Africa’s airlift support.

“By having a persistent presence, it’s possible there will be a diminution, if you will, on transport back and forth,” he said. “This is not going to make a huge difference resource wise.”

U.S. Air Forces Africa did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Air Force Magazine, and U.S. Africa Command declined to comment.

The official who briefed the media May 17 said “under 500” U.S. troops will be deployed to Somalia on a “persistent” basis. The official did not describe what types of troops would be deployed, or from what service, only that the troops will relocate from other East African nations.

The U.S. maintains an East African force presence in both Kenya and Djibouti, home to the only U.S. base on the continent, Camp Lemonnier.

“It’s overall roughly the same resource and personnel commitment as we currently have in that part of Africa for counterterrorism purposes,” the official said while providing no timeline for the return of U.S. forces to Somalia.

The official likened the restoration of the training and counterterrorism mission to one conducted by the U.S. Air Force and special operators in Niger at Air Base 101 in Niamey and Air Base 201 in Agadez, where several hundred heavily protected troops train local forces to fight terrorists.

“This approach aligns with what we’re doing elsewhere on the African continent, including in Niger, where U.S. forces are training and equipping the Armed Forces of Niger to conduct effective operations to counter terrorist there such as [coalition group] JNIM and ISIS-West Africa,” the official said. “Big picture, there is much work to be done in Somalia with respect to counterterrorism.”

Somalia’s successful presidential election May 15 was a stabilizing factor ahead of the announcement, the official indicated, noting the restoration of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to the presidency, who previously served from 2012 to 2017.

No timeline was given for the movement of U.S. forces back to Somalia, but Kirby said the restoration of Somalia rotations will not constitute a deployment.

“It’s not a deployment,” he said. “This is a change in the posture. It’s about putting troops back into Somalia on a persistent basis. It’s not a deployment with an end date.”

Space Force to Add Three Intelligence Squadrons—‘Billets Are Already in Place’

May 16, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The Space Force plans to add three new intelligence squadrons in the next two years, said Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of the service’s Space Operations Command.

The additions would double the number of squadrons in Space Delta 7, whose intel Guardians already work on missile warning and defense, electronic warfare, and research and development.

In an online discussion hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, Whiting described the advances the Space Force has made in intelligence since becoming the sixth military service.

Organizationally like a major command in the Air Force, the Colorado-based Space Operations Command, a field command, sits “at the nexus” of the Space Force and the newly re-created U.S. Space Command, Whiting explained.

Possessing “all the the operational capability in the Space Force,” SpOC, as it’s known for short, also serves as the Space Force’s component within U.S. Space Command—the combatant command’s largest component assigned there from any of the military services.

Describing SpOC’s work, Whiting said, “Think of missions like space domain awareness, electromagnetic warfare, missile warning, operational-level command and control, defensive cyber capabilities, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, satellite communications, precision, navigation, and timing, orbital warfare—and then we also run the bases from which we operate.”

Adding more intelligence activities would contribute to the command’s priority of being “ISR-led and cyber secure,” Whiting said.

Governments such as China’s and Russia’s can attack satellites in orbit, but they and others such as North Korea or Iran could also mount cyberattacks—considered the “soft underbelly” of the U.S. satellite infrastructure—because of the “lower bar to entry,” Whiting said.

Citing Russia’s 1,500 pieces of “long-lived debris” that it created in a demonstration of a ground-launched anti-satellite weapon in November 2021, “we have to do everything in SpOC relative to the threat now,” Whiting said. “We have to be informed about that threat so that our operations can continue to be sustained in the face of those threats.”

Intelligence is the area in which Whiting said he believes the Space Force has made the most progress since its creation in December 2019.

“When we stood up the Space Force, we went all around the U.S. Air Force to find all the places that intelligence was being done, either for space or from space, and we brought all of that in, in partnership with the Air Force, and it all transferred over to the Space Force,” Whiting said.

That formed Space Delta 7, the command’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance delta, which has detachments that embed within each of the command’s other numbered deltas.

“So if you’re the Delta 4 commander at Buckley [Space Force Base] outside of Denver and you have the global missile warning responsibility, your S-2 function—your intel function—is actually a detachment of that Delta 7. And that major who runs that detachment … they take their day-to-day direction from Delta 4,” Whiting said.

He said the plan to add three more intelligence squadrons is “all fully funded—all the billets are already in place.”

The new squadrons will include a threat analysis squadron, a targeting squadron, and a PED squadron, short for processing, exploitation, and dissemination.

“So we are really getting after the intel requirements that our space warfighters need, and those intel Guardians are just leading the way for us, and we’re very, very proud of what they’ve done.”

Mitchell Institute’s New UAV Study Center Looks at Drones in a China Fight

May 15, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous aircraft may provide a solution to operating in heavily contested domains such as the Taiwan Straits, according to a panel of expert who suggested operationalizing artificial intelligence for such purposes sooner rather than later. The group gathered virtually May 12 to help launch the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ new Center for UAV and Autonomy Studies (MI-UAS). The Mitchell Institute is part of AFA.

“China, in particular, has developed networks of very long-range missiles, electronic warfare systems, and other power projection capabilities that could severely limit or even prevent the ability of the U.S. to defend its interests in the Indo-Pacific,” said Caitlin Lee, Mitchell Institute senior fellow for UAV and Autonomy Studies and head of the new center.

“UAVs may have an important role to play in this fight,” Lee added.

Experts gather virtually, May 12, 2022, to help launch the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ new Center for UAV and Autonomy Studies (MI-UAS). The Mitchell Institute is part of AFA.

UAVs such as the Reaper and Predator have already reduced risks to aircrews and operate at a lower cost than manned aircraft, she said.

But operationalizing UAVs for great power competition—and achieving Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s operational imperatives of uncrewed aircraft being part of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter and the B-21 bomber platforms—will require a change in the way the Defense Department thinks about the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

“Everybody knows the extensive anti-access/area denial capabilities that China has deployed over the last 20-plus years are going to be brought to bear,” said David Ochmanek, a defense researcher at RAND Corp.

Ochmanek described a hypothetical U.S. defense of Taiwan that would face intense attacks by China on U.S. bases with accurate ballistic and cruise missiles; world-class integrated air defense; increasingly capable fighters and fighter aircrews; and attacks on American space-based sensors and command-and-control.

But the Obama-era deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development saw a way to counter such an offensive.

“Imagine 1,000 unmanned UAVs over Taiwan and over the Taiwan Strait,” Ochmanek posed.

The small aircraft would fly at a high, sub-sonic speed, with a radar signature indistinguishable from an F-35’s. The UAVs would fly in front performing a sensing mission while manned aircraft flew in the rear.

“Imagine now being an SA-21 [missile defense system] operator on the mainland of China, or on one of the surface action groups trying to predict [what will happen],” he said, noting that the UAVs would also gather and share target data, while others could be equipped with jamming devices.

“Your scopes are flooded with these things that you’ve got to kill,” Ochmanek said. “If you don’t kill those sensors, we’re going to find you, and if we find you, we’re going to kill you.”

Tim Grayson, special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, said getting to that point will require diversifying the missions on which UAVs are employed.

“If we start looking at really diversifying the types of missions, you could get to the point where as the price goes down, I can afford to take more risk with it,” he said.

The Air Force could then use the platforms to attack manned aircraft, expensive surface-to-air missile systems, and jammers.

“At that point in time, I can start thinking about missions entirely differently, … prioritizing mission effectiveness over survivability,” Grayson said.

He argued that with Global Hawk, the Air Force already operates an autonomous UAV conducting an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission.

Getting to that envisioned point in time within years, rather than decades, means operationalizing autonomous UAVs today, Ochmanek said, asking rhetorically how 10,000 Uber drivers are managed on the island of Manhattan.

“It’s not Mildred sitting in a switchboard saying, ‘Joe, you go to the corner of 42nd and Broadway.’ No, it’s the AI,” he said, referring to artificial intelligence. “It’s not that hard, given the state of current computing, to imagine a system where the targeting grid is commanding and controlling itself.”

While the discussion participants agreed that human oversight is still required, they argued that AI is ready for some missions today, but that certification and doctrine will need to catch up.

“We know there are some missions where the autonomy and the AI is mature enough to be able to use now,” Grayson said.

“What we’re missing is what I’ll generically call the DOTMLPF,” he added—the acronym for doctrine, organization, training, material, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities. The Air Force will need to develop testing, certification, and ways for Airmen to train with UAVs and to adjust techniques, tactics, procedures, and doctrine.

“We cannot wait until we’ve solved all of those problems to move out and do some of this,” Grayson said. “We’ve got to start working the operationalization and fielding of this today.”

On NATO’s Eastern Flank, Navy Growlers Highlight Air Force’s Electronic Warfare Gap

May 13, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Navy E/A-18 Growlers are conducting NATO enhanced air policing in Eastern Europe near Ukraine to show Russia that the U.S. stands ready with electronic warfare capabilities. But what the Navy is doing also highlights what the Air Force can’t.

Pilots from Navy Electronic Attack Squadron 134, or VAQ-134—nicknamed “Garudas”—who spoke to Air Force Magazine at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, said they were practicing integration with Air Force F-16s and flying NATO missions with EW pods turned off.

But soon, Navy divestment will eliminate that joint force capability before the Air Force replaces it.

“We can employ air to air, but we can also collect [electronic support measures] data and employ in the electromagnetic spectrum, both offensively and defensively,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Mays while showing off an E/A-18 Growler deployed to Spangdahlem from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash.

“We have a unique set of skills that mix fourth-gen fighters with an [EW] platform,” added Mays, wearing the Garudas’ characteristic maroon-accented green flight suit. “We maintain that capability, but we’re not using those currently.”

Lt. Cmdr. James Corrin, also a Growler pilot deployed to Spangdahlem, explained that the aircraft are postured defensively in a transparent way meant to demonstrate to adversaries the U.S. joint force capabilities positioned on NATO’s eastern flank.

“There’s no confusion about what we’re doing here,” he said. “Those all have capabilities that could be used. But at this point, we’re just maintaining our air policing and that defensive posture.”

The Navy pilots are, however, preparing for local flights and discussing with local F-16 squadrons how to better integrate their capabilities into the joint force. They also stand ready to use EW, if needed.

“We’re just giving more options to NATO,” Corrin said.

VAQ-134 is an expeditionary squadron divided evenly between carriers and joint force support. The Growler is a modified F/A-18 with foldable wings for use on a carrier, and it carries EW pods in place of most munitions. For the NATO mission, the platform is armed with AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The unit had been readying for deployment to Japan on a regular force rotation when they were directed in March to support the Russia deterrence effort on NATO’s borders.

When the Growlers’ deployment was announced, a senior defense official insisted that the aircraft would not assist Ukraine by suppression of enemy air defenses or jamming Russian cruise missiles within their range.

“They are not there to engage Russian assets. That is not the goal,” the official told journalists in a March 28 telephone briefing. “They are there, as all of the other aircraft that we have devoted to this mission, … to reinforce our deterrence posture on the eastern flank.”

The USS Harry S. Truman‘s carrier air wing, including squadrons of Marine Corps F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and Navy EA-18 Growlers, also included electronic warfare capabilities, the defense official said. The Air Force does not have assets with dedicated electronic warfare capabilities on the eastern flank.

An Air Force Capability Gap

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said the deployments highlight a gap in Air Force capabilities ever since the retirement of the F-4G Phantom in 1996 and the EF-111 Raven in 1998.

“Part of the impact of decommissioning the EF-111 force was that a very experienced electronic warfare crew force or personnel were scattered to the four winds,” said Deptula, who as commander of Operation Northern Watch in Iraq in 1998-99 regularly employed the Growler’s predecessor, the EA-6B Prowler, to jam Iraqi acquisition radars of its surface-to-air missile systems.

“The Air Force tried to make the case that stealth was a form of electronic warfare, and it really is not,” Deptula explained.

“A key characteristic of electronic warfare is to be able to move and counter move,” he added. “There are other elements of electronic warfare that we want to be able to conduct from platforms designed solely to do that.”

In recent years, Air Combat Command head Gen. Mark D. Kelly has said China’s and Russia’s EW gains keep him up at night. Air Force leaders have also voiced concerns that development of new electronic warfare and electromagnetic spectrum operations are moving too slowly. In June 2021, ACC stood up the 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to pursue dominance in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Fifth-generation F-22 and F-35 fighters have inherent electronic warfare capabilities. In February, the Air Force said that it had achieved initial operating capability of the Legion Pod, an infrared search-and-track sensor designed for integration with the F-15C Eagle. All F-16s can carry self-defense jamming pods, while F-16CJs have upgraded EW sensors for suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) with AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM).

A Department of the Air Force spokesperson told Air Force Magazine that the Air Force relies on a memorandum with the Navy to maintain five expeditionary VAQ squadrons for use in joint missions that require offensive EW operations.

“Air Force EW efforts are still primarily focused on maintaining and updating platform-specific self-protection capabilities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Deptula said that’s not enough.

“Less than 25 percent of our combat force are made up of those advanced technology platforms,” he said. “You don’t have sufficient electronic warfare capability.”

L3 Technologies is helping the Air Force to develop the EC-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft to provide improved electronic attack capabilities, but ACC does not plan to field the first five platforms until 2023. Still, the Air Force described the EC-37B attack capability as “limited.”

“The Air Force’s Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) focus is primarily centered on defensive capabilities to limit detection and increase aircraft survivability with an effort to conduct limited Electromagnetic Attack (EA) via the EC-130H/EC-37B,” the Air Force said in a statement.

The Air Force is planning a range of new systems, including the F-15’s Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), but most are defensive.

Deptula believes the Air Force decision not to develop EW comes from an empty promise from the other services.

“Part of what drove the elimination of the EF-111, and the reduction in focus on electronic warfare, was the belief that joint warfare, our joint brothers and sisters, would pick up the load,” Deptula said. “The other services have not.”

And the Navy Growlers now integrating with the Air Force on the eastern flank will soon go away.

The fiscal 2023 defense budget plans for the Navy to divest all of its non-carrier-based Growlers by fiscal 2025. The Air Force did not say how its memorandum with the Navy would be honored if the joint force Growlers are divested.

Ukraine does not have EW aircraft of its own, and nearby U.S. Growlers lack the authority to engage their pods in support of Ukraine. DOD has, however, included in recent aid packages to Ukraine nondescript “electronic jamming equipment.”

Deptula said the war waged by Russia in Ukraine highlights the need for aircraft with SEAD capabilities “across a spectrum of conflict” to fight peer adversaries.

“This is the kind of capability that we need to be able to prepare for the future contingencies that we might have to face,” he said.

“[Are] all you need … these new modern fighters? No, you need more than that,” he said. “Even though these aircraft are not survivable in the highest demanding fight, they can be used in other contingencies where electronic warfare is so important.”

Kendall Sees Room to Change Space Force FYDP—But Not F-35 Plan

May 13, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force’s budget got a big bump in the Pentagon’s 2023 budget request, with a topline of $24.5 billion—36 percent more than fiscal 2022’s enacted level.

And even more money in the years ahead is likely, according to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

“I do not anticipate the future budgets will remain flat or go down for the Space Force—quite the opposite,” Kendall told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee May 13.

If Kendall’s prediction is accurate, it would contradict the numbers laid out in the Pentagon’s Future Years Defense Plan, which projects spending five years in advance. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chair of the panel, noted in questioning Kendall that the overall FYDP for the Space Force is “basically flat, rising a bit in 2024 before falling below the 2023 proposed budget level.”

While McCollum expressed concern that the FYDP projections don’t “reflect what it will actually take to deliver successful acquisitions and programs,” Kendall indicated that the numbers are subject to change as the Space Force matures and leaders get a better sense of what they need.

“We still have to define our requirements. We have to make sure that the programs we put in place … are structured for success so that we don’t have massive schedule and cost overruns. We all want to avoid that,” Kendall said. “There are opportunities through emerging technologies and commercial best practices that I think will make that possible. But we’re going to still have to be disciplined, and we’re going to have to be smart about how we invest in space. I think that’s the picture that we see coming. At this point, I think the [2023] budget is a good start toward those types of architectures and gives us the resources we need to decide what next steps we need to take.”

The FYDP is primarily a “planning tool,” according to the Congressional Research Service, that “allows DOD and the military services to plan for anticipated changes to programs or priorities.” But it can be changed, and former Pentagon and Air Force comptroller Robert F. Hale, in a report on the DOD budgeting process for Brookings, found that FYDPs “do not always capture changes beyond the budget year, especially increases associated with newer and more sophisticated weapons.”

The Space Force, meanwhile, is in the process of absorbing the Space Development Agency, a move that accounts for a sizable chunk of the increase in the 2023 budget. There are also one-time costs associated with interservice transfers expected to come onboard in the next year or so.

Even still, the service and SDA are dedicated to building out a constellation of hundreds of satellites in low-Earth orbit, called the National Defense Space Architecture, for missile warning, communications, data coverage and sharing, and other capabilities. While these spacecraft will be smaller and less expensive than previous military satellites, there will be far more to create a distributed, resilient architecture.

The SDA is also planning to follow a two-year cycle in rolling out new capabilities, a rapid pace that will require steady funding as well.

But while the Space Force’s budget is likely to change from the FYDP, one aspect of the future plan that likely won’t, Kendall told lawmakers, is the Air Force’s reduced buy of F-35s in 2024.

The Air Force surprised some when it cut its requested purchase of F-35s in 2023 from 48 planes in previous years all the way down to 33. In 2024, though, the FYDP shows that request going even lower, to 29, before rising again.

As he has done before, Kendall insisted that these reductions don’t mean the Air Force is backing away from the F-35, predicting that the service will be buying the fifth-generation fighter for 15 years to come.

But he also indicated that the FYDP is unlikely to change.

“The reduction we took this year, and we will probably extend that to next year, was based on a number of factors,” Kendall said. “There were a number of things we need to do in the TacAir portfolio. One of them was to buy out the remaining number of inventory of F-15EXs that we need, for the capabilities that the F-15EX will provide. We want to increase the funding for the Next Generation Air Dominance [platform] which will be the follow on to the F-22. We’ve got some other programs we need to move forward as well.

“We also are very interested—we’re insistent on getting the Block 4 capabilities for F-35, and the contractor has been late in delivering them so far. So we want to see evidence that they will be able to accomplish that before we increase the production, so that was a major factor as well.”

The Block 4 update to the F-35, which would include the latest hardware and software modernizations, needs the Technical Refresh 3 upgrade to “unlock” its updates. However, that has taken Lockheed Martin longer than expected to develop.

Early on in his tenure, Kendall noted that he had dealt with issues in the Joint Strike Fighter program before, when he was undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics. His solution then was to cap purchases for several years to put pressure on Lockheed Martin and to avoid buying jets that would later need to be modernized.