New Brown and Blue Books: Air Force Releases Updates to Foundational Documents

New Brown and Blue Books: Air Force Releases Updates to Foundational Documents

May 6, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Two of the Air Force’s foundational documents received updates May 6, as the service released new versions of its Blue and Brown Books—“The Profession of Arms: Our Core Values” and “The Enlisted Force Structure,” respectively.

The release of the new texts, which lay down many of the core concepts that shape and define the Air Force, comes as the service faces a pivotal moment, transitioning away from conflict in the Middle East to competition with great powers like China and Russia—a change senior leaders say brings massive stakes that will require some fundamental changes.

As the Air Force looks to its future, it must also revisit some “foundational things that every Airman [needs] to know,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass told Air Force Magazine.

“In order for us to have talented Airmen that we need in the Air Force of 2030, we can’t just … walk through the motions and haphazardly get after stuff and update as needed,” Bass told Air Force Magazine. “We need to be deliberate about every single thing that we’re doing.”

She added, “There were some foundational things that we have to get back to, in my mind, the basics … And in the same sense, there is a lot of aspiration and futures and design-thinking and talk in this document that will help us get after our Air Force really being forward-thinking for the long game.”

The new Books are available now online, and according to a Facebook post from Bass, physical copies are being ordered for all new accessions, professional military education centers, and combat aviation advisors. Commands will also receive details on how to get hard copies, Bass added.

Blue

In the mid 1990s, the Air Force was struggling “in the wake of several … ethical and moral challenges.” In 1994, a pair of F-15s shot down two Army helicopters in a tragic case of friendly fire, killing 26 service members and civilians. A little over a month later, there was a highly publicized fatal B-52 crash partially blamed on leadership failing to discipline a reckless pilot. Readiness seemed to be in decline, raising fears of a “hollow force.”

Looking to revitalize the force, Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman turned to Gen. Billy J. Boles, head of Air Education and Training Command. Together, they identified and codified three core values—integrity, service, and excellence. Those values, and the principles behind them, formed the basis for a slim pamphlet distributed throughout the force that came to be known as the “Little Blue Book.”

The Little Blue Book is itself an evolution of Air Force Regulation 30-1, “Air Force Standards,” released in 1983. And as the years passed, the book has continued to evolve, ranging from more than 35 pages to less than 15.

The 2022 Blue Book is 16 pages and shares certain fundamentals with previous versions, including the Airman’s Creed, the Code of Conduct, and the Air Force Oaths. It also shares the same core values:  Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do. 

There are, however, several tweaks. Included in the new version is a paragraph in the introduction reiterating that Airmen have a responsibility to not engage in or tolerate “harassment, sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, bullying, extremism, and discrimination,” as they run contrary to the core values.

This addition is in line with one of the recommendations from the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military that was accepted by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III.

The new Blue Book also adds a section under the core value of Integrity First, highlighting the importance of humility.

“A person of integrity grasps and is sobered by the extraordinary task of defending the Constitution of the United States,” the new paragraph reads. “We practice humility by putting others before ourselves. We seek to add value through community and humanitarian support. We serve with gratitude and without arrogance.”

The revision also includes a new section detailing four reasons why the core values are articulated and recognized:

  • Tell us the price of admission to the Air Force itself;
  • Point to what is universal and unchanging in the Profession of Arms;
  • Help us get a fix on the ethical climate of an organization;
  • Serve as beacons vectoring us back to the path of professional conduct.

The new Blue Book closes with the Air Force’s new mission statement, released in 2021: “To fly, fight, and win … Air power anytime, anywhere.”

Gone from this update is a section included in the 2015 version titled “Respect.” However, references to respect are scattered throughout the document, including an expanded section under “Service Before Self.” All told, the word “respect” is used 26 times, compared to 15 times in the 2015 version.

Brown

For years now, alongside the Little Blue Book has been the Little Brown Book, or as it is formally known, Air Force Instruction 36-2618, “The Enlisted Force Structure.” Distributed to Airmen at Basic Military Training, the handbook spells out the “professional standards and roles and responsibilities for each enlisted rank,” laying down the structure that governs more than 265,000 enlisted Airmen.

The new Brown Book is 28 pages, and like the new Blue Book, shares some similarities with its predecessors, including a description of the expectations and duties for each rank and enlisted tier—junior Airmen, noncommissioned officers, and senior noncommissioned officers. 

It also carries over descriptions of specific enlisted positions like First Sergeant, Senior Enlisted Leader, and Career Field Manager, and breaks down “career-broadening opportunities” like recruiter, AFROTC Training Instructor, Professional Military Education instructor and Curriculum Developer, and Airmen Development Advisors.

However, the new Brown Book includes expanded sections detailing the Air Force’s core missions, the Air Force Speciality Codes, and the concept of multi-capable Airmen—a key part of the Air Force’s new Agile Combat Employment Concept. 

The update also links back to the Blue Book by including the Airman’s Creed, the oath of enlistment, and the core values. It too emphasizes that all Airmen have a responsibility to help foster “a culture of respect and trust,” and adds sections on teamwork, leadership, and “followership.”

The publication also includes a new chapter dedicated to the Air Force’s 24 foundational competencies and 10 Airman Leadership Qualities, which will form the basis for the service’s feedback, evaluation, and development.

The ALQs, in particular, “represent the performance characteristics we want to define, develop, incentivize, and measure in our Airmen,” Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, said in a recent Air Force release. 

They include job proficiency, initiative, adaptability, inclusion and teamwork, emotional intelligence, communication, stewardship, accountability, decision making, and innovation, and including them in the document that defines the DNA of the enlisted force is a natural fit. But it’s not just enlisted Airmen who will need to study the ALQs.

“I think I’m as equally excited as you are with this synergy idea, this idea that when we evaluate Airmen, we’re going to use these things that [Chief of Staff] Gen. [Charles Q.] Brown helped us coin as Airmen Leadership Qualities,” Kelly told Bass during a virtual Coffee Talk in June 2021. “Not officer leadership qualities, not enlisted leadership qualities, they’re Airmen Leadership Qualities. … Those were developed both from our Air Force foundational competencies that our Air Education and Training Command produces, but also with an eye towards the future.”

Purple

As Air Force leaders continue to push for modernization across the force, Bass has been vocal in her belief that that push can’t just be about equipment. 

“While our pacing threats might be modernizing pretty fast, the one competitive advantage that we have that nobody else has is our people,” Bass said. “And that is what consistently makes us the best, and we can’t take that for granted. We’ve got to continue to hone in on that, capitalize on that, modernize some of our pieces and processes that might not otherwise allow us to keep the best talent in our Air Force.”

In support of that goal, the new Blue and Brown Books are just the latest development. Two weeks ago, the Air Force released “The Blueprint,” a 32-page “living” document intended to be a resource and reference for enlisted Airmen throughout their careers, presenting essential information on everything from Air Force Specialty Codes to different programs Airmen can tap into when leaving the service.

Bass calls it a “cradle-to-grave blueprint on an Airman’s career,” noting its also an objective under the Enlisted Force Development Action Plan. Having all these new documents, intended to be foundational and released in close succession, is all part of the plan.

“We’ve got to think about the long game, and we have to play the long game,” Bass said. “And if we’re going to tap the Airmen that we need, whether it’s 2030, 2035, 2040, it has to be deliberate. Because it’s just not gonna happen any other way, unless we really have some strategy and we really get after the action piece on focusing on and synergizing all the different great efforts that we’re doing to develop our Airmen of today.”

There’s still one more foundational document to come—the “Purple Book.” As detailed in the Action Plan, the Purple Book will include “values, capabilities, and warfighting concepts of the Joint Force team and [connect] Air Force doctrine to the Department of Defense purpose and mission.”

The Air Force’s push to tie itself more deeply to the Joint Force has been underway for years now—the vision of a tightly integrated joint force was perhaps the defining legacy of former Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. And the Purple Book, targeted for release this summer, will look to identify, codify, and develop the different ways Airmen can further that goal.

“Our team will work with the J7 [joint force development] to help develop a Purple Book that will be focused on how do we develop the joint leaders that we need, that are able to talk joint, train joint, and to some degree, understand and integrate more and have the synergies that we need with our brothers and sisters from the other services,” Bass said.

What a NATO Bid by Finland Could Mean for US Air Force Arctic Cooperation

What a NATO Bid by Finland Could Mean for US Air Force Arctic Cooperation

May 6, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Finnish fighter pilots take off, land, and fly in harsh Arctic conditions routinely—all within range of Russian air defenses. They often share these specialized capabilities with the U.S. Air Force to hone Arctic agile combat employment (ACE) concepts. But as the Nordic nation contemplates a NATO bid, Finland worries it could be left in the cold if Russia attacks before a potential Article 5 protection is triggered.

“We have to be ready to defend ourselves against Russia,” a Finnish defense official said at an April 26 background briefing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where more than 40 nations gathered to discuss how to better support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

“There [aren’t] any ‘in the meanwhile’ security guarantees,” the official added, speaking to journalists on the condition of anonymity.

Finnish defense officials told Air Force Magazine that Finland’s joining NATO would lead to a deeper U.S. Arctic cooperation and Air Force integration, a necessity in a world where Arctic air power is rising in importance.

“There’s absolutely room for integration,” the Finnish defense official said.

The official cited Finland’s decision to purchase the F-35 as a central piece in a strengthening partnership between the air forces of the United States and Finland.

“You could say the F-35 is a Nordic fighter, and it has a big meaning for the future,” the official said, referring to the selection of the Joint Strike Fighter by Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

The official said Finland’s “suspicions” about Russia were affirmed when Russia invaded Ukraine, raising popular support for joining NATO to nearly 70 percent, its highest ever. The official said the Finnish parliament was reviewing defense material provided in April and that parties were formulating their positions. But Russia could still thwart a NATO bid with an attack.

Sharing a 900-mile border with Russia and with close proximity to Russian air and naval assets near St. Petersburg, Finland for decades has been developing the means to defend itself, creating an Arctic expertise that can benefit the United States.

“We know the Arctic. We know our neighbors. So, we have a lot of understanding competencies concerning these areas that would be an easy benefit for the U.S. armed forces to cooperate with us,” Finland air and defense attaché Col. Petteri Seppala told Air Force Magazine in an interview at the Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C.

Arctic Agile Combat Employment

Finnish combat pilots must hone skills to operate in harsh winter conditions as a basic operational necessity, including taking off in snowstorms, flying in clouds, and landing on icy runways. In recent years, the Defense Department and most of the military services have received new Arctic strategies. That shift in focus is bringing the U.S. Air Force and a small, yet capable, Finnish Air Force closer together, the Finnish air attaché to the United States told Air Force Magazine.

“The cold climate and high technology, they are not a good combination every time,” the attaché said. “There are ways to do it. It’s not as easy as if you are flying in the California sun all the time.”

The challenge of flying in winter Arctic conditions is one that Finnish pilots know well. Because of Finland’s aviator preparation, its air force is able to use one-third of the maintainers required by the U.S. Air Force, Seppala said.

As the Russian threat rises, and Arctic warfighting skills become more urgent, the Finnish Air Force has experience and tactics it shares with the U.S. Air Force in exchange for help to fill its own capability gaps.

The U.S. Air Force’s new ACE concept, which relies on multi-capable Airmen who can quickly get to and operate in austere locations, “has been the basic ideology of operating the Finnish Air Force,” Seppala said, describing Finland’s own version of ACE, which is complicated by Finland’s geographic proximity to Russian anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) weapons. In fact, almost all of Finland’s air bases are inside the A2/AD bubble created by Russia.

“So, we have to be able to be agile. We have to be able to be fast. We have to be able to do every possible method and tool to be able to operate inside that bubble,” Seppala said. “That is the reason that the U.S. Air Force was really interested in doing some cooperation with us, because we had done it all the time. And we are still doing it.”

U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), headquartered at Ramstein, coordinates cooperation with Finland and has seen a host of benefits in recent years.

“Finland’s air forces have a great deal of knowledge and innovation they share with the U.S. Air Force about dispersal operations and other concepts related to agile combat employment,” a USAFE spokesperson told Air Force Magazine, noting that Finnish defense and air attachés in Washington also have delivered briefings to U.S. Air Force staff.

Finland is a “key contributor” to the Arctic Challenge exercise series and to trilateral training aimed at enhancing interoperability with the U.S. and Swedish Air Force. Finland’s biennial premier Arctic exercise is its own version of Red Flag with partners Norway and Sweden, and the participation of Denmark and USAFE, scheduled to be held again in 2023.

Finland’s northernmost Lapland region of mires and forests is similar to parts of Canada and Alaska with vast air spaces for maneuvering but a challenging environment with extreme climates.

Finland’s Air Force has been flying since 1918. A small but “really efficient” service of 2,000 airmen operate 62 F/A-18s, command-and-control aircraft, and air transport over a vast and sparsely inhabited territory that reaches into the Arctic and along the border with Russia, explained Seppala. Finland plans to upgrade its Air Force with 64 F-35s by 2028. Aircraft will begin arriving in 2025 with full operational capability expected by 2031.

“The Finnish Defence Forces, and if we talk about the air forces, especially, they are even more interoperable with NATO than some of the member air forces are,” Seppala said.

Finland’s adoption of the F-35 is believed by both sides to be an avenue to deepen opportunities for interoperability, joint training, and refinement of Arctic skills.

“We gain a great deal of insight every time we get the chance to train with Finland,” the USAFE spokesperson said. “Given the importance of the Finnish Air Force in U.S. Air Force efforts to grow our knowledge and experience in Arctic operations, we expect plenty of opportunities for combined exercises between Finnish and U.S. F-35 aircraft.”

Once Finland phases in its F-35 fleet, Seppala expects a host of integrated exercises, to include virtual exercises and flying with Alaskan F–35s. This will complement existing exercises in which Finnish F/A-18s practice refueling with USAF KC-135s.

The Russian Threat

The Nordic country is particularly worried that Russia could attack its territory as a way of preventing the 30 NATO members from agreeing to admit Finland.

“We don’t have bombers. We don’t have tankers. We don’t have an AWACS. So, we lack many capabilities,” Seppala said. “That is the reason that we really need to have good, close, deep cooperation with some of our key partners.”

While observing defense exercises in Finland on May 4, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said the United Kingdom would help defend Finland if it were attacked by Russia while awaiting NATO membership. Wallace made a similar guarantee in April to Sweden, which is expected to jointly submit an application to join NATO alongside Finland.

The United States has not publicly made such a guarantee, but the Defense Department said it would “find ways” to come to Finland’s aid.

“Both Finland and Sweden are close and valued defense partners of the United States and of NATO,” DOD spokesperson Marine Corps Lt. Col. Anton T. Semelroth told Air Force Magazine in a statement.

“Our militaries have worked together for many years,” he added. “We are confident that we could find ways to address any concerns either country may have about the period of time between a NATO membership application and their potential accession to the Alliance.”

Even defense assistance comes with limitations, as Ukraine is learning. Russia is already using hybrid warfare techniques against Finland, including cyber, information, and other measures, Seppala said.

“We are prepared for them. We are prepared to deter them, and we are prepared to fight back,” said Seppala. “But of course, the deterrence would be much better if there would be some friends supporting us.”

A Space Internet Experiment for the Arctic is Among VanHerck’s Priorities

A Space Internet Experiment for the Arctic is Among VanHerck’s Priorities

May 5, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

A new experiment integrating commercial satellites with military networks for tactical and strategic communications is one of U.S. Northern Command chief Gen. Glen D. VanHerck’s priorities. The experiment should be concluded within the year, he said during a press briefing.

Speaking from Alaska with Pentagon reporters via telecom May 5, VanHerck said the $50 million experiment being conducted with satellite internet providers OneWeb and Starlink is “for additional communications capabilities in the Arctic.” If successful, the capability could fill “some of the gaps we see” in operating in the Arctic region.

“Starlink and OneWeb have fielded satellite constellations in low earth orbit to provide data and voice communications capabilities. The Department has been gracious enough to give us funding for terminals [that] we have … in some locations in the Arctic that we’re currently evaluating. Their viability and capability to provide the command and control that we need” is being evaluated “from a tactical level … all the way to the strategic level,” VanHerck said, adding that he was planning to visit one of those companies after the press event.

VanHerck and U.S. Strategic Command chief Adm. Charles “Chas” A. Richard were in Alaska for a number of conferences with allies and partners about operating in the Arctic.

“We’re going to … take a look at what” the satellite companies can “offer for us, and the capabilities, and how much they’re moving forward,” VanHerck added. “I look forward to continuing to partner with the department throughout this test to increase our communications capabilities.”

Asked what the next steps of the experiment will be, and on what timeframe, VanHerck said, “I think we’ll be done inside the year. The next step is to provide terminals through the services to integrate …platforms and capabilities, and also within communications nodes, such as command posts and operation centers, to allow us to share data and information, and also with our allies and partners.”

STRATCOM put the experiment on its unfunded priorities list in 2020, prompting Congress to grant the funding, VanHerck said.

“It is absolutely one of my priorities to move out with the testing we’re currently doing, [with] the terminals we’ve fielded right now,” he said.

The Air Force solicited companies to do such a commercial satellite communications demonstration in late January, to explore data and communications through geosynchronous, medium, and low orbit constellations, using a common terminal. The Air Force asked companies to make proposals that would allow switching between space internet providers at need and ruled out proposals that would rely exclusively on a single company or constellation.

The experiment is an outgrowth of an Air Force Research Laboratory program, started in 2017, called DEUCSI, for Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet. Between two and five additional, multi-band, multi-orbit experiments are planned over the next two years.

VanHerck said the capability is a crucial need above 55 degrees north latitude. The arrangement is seen by the Air Force as a possible path to a quickly-fielded capability in the region, “on a par with” the kind of communications available at lower latitudes, the Air Force said in its January solicitation. The Air Force also said it will entertain proposals for companies that are launching new constellations but have not yet done so.

Altus Evacuates 33 Aircraft Ahead of Storms, But No Damage Sustained

Altus Evacuates 33 Aircraft Ahead of Storms, But No Damage Sustained

May 5, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Altus Air Force Base, Okla., evacuated 33 aircraft of the 97th Air Mobility Wing ahead of severe storms on May 3 and 4 and secured the remaining aircraft on base in hangars, but there was no damage and the full complement of aircraft had returned by May 5.

Due to operational security, the base could not say where its KC-135s, C-17s, and KC-46s were flown to, other than locations chosen “based on availability, proximity, and capability.” Those not evacuated or secured were already away at other locations.

There was no damage and no injury at the base during the harsh weather. Several bouts of severe weather—including thunderstorms producing large hailstones and tornadoes—moved across the south central part of the country over the last few days. Since Hurricane Michael destroyed Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., in 2018—heavily damaging many aircraft, including F-22 fighters—the Air Force has increasingly opted to evacuate aircraft when severe weather threatens.

AFRL Investigates the Actual Space Environment While Simulating It on the Ground

AFRL Investigates the Actual Space Environment While Simulating It on the Ground

May 5, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

As the Air Force Research Laboratory is studying the space environment in space, it’s also building a new device to simulate the space environment in a lab.

Both activities could help the Space Force predict and track the well being of satellites. 

AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., is building a “multi-energy electron source” that emits radiation in dozens of different wavelengths all at once. 

A postdoctoral scientist with the directorate, Miles Bengtson, invented the electron device while he was a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder. The directorate’s Spacecraft Charging and Instrument Calibration Lab brought Bengtson onboard to advance the electron device to operational status, according to an AFRL release.

Bombardment by the likes of electron radiation can degrade a satellite’s performance.

“The problem” with how labs conventionally recreate such radiation for experiments is that the electron sources “are monoenergetic only,” Bengtson said in the release. “They only emit electrons at one energy,” or wavelength, “whereas the space environment contains electrons distributed across all energies, simultaneously.”

space environment
Miles Bengtson, an Air Force Research Laboratory postdoctoral scientist, stands next to the vacuum chamber in the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate’s Spacecraft Charging and Instrument Calibration Lab at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., in which the multi-energy electron source is developed and tested. Photo courtesy of AFRL.

The availability of the new testing environment could translate to faster adoption of new construction materials and better experiments to study materials, electronic charging, and other aspects of spacecraft affected by the space environment.

Physicist Ryan Hoffmann, who leads the Spacecraft Charging and Instrument Calibration Lab, said in the release that so far, two prototypes of the new electron device “have demonstrated basic functionality” and that an advanced prototype being built “will be very close to a fully operational model.”

Studying Space From the Ground

Meanwhile, the 72-acre Skywave Technology Laboratory, located on a remote parcel at Kirtland, is getting a better grip on the space environment itself. 

The lab’s two antenna setups include a transmission tower with a measuring device; and a long array of poles amounting to a high frequency radar. Both setups beam electromagnetic transmissions into the plasma of Earth’s ionosphere, “propagating” the beams—refracting and scattering them—off the subatomic particles comprising the plasma. 

The “state of the plasma,” such as its density and any disturbances, can interfere with space communications, said Todd Parris, chief of the Space Vehicles Directorate’s Geospace Environment Impacts and Application Branch, in an emailed reply to a query by Air Force Magazine.

Officially opened in April, the Skywave lab “will focus mainly on the radio impacts to space services,” Parris said. 

Parris confirmed that knowledge of the space environment could help the Space Force distinguish between an electronic attack on a satellite and the environment’s natural effects. Understanding environmental electromagnetic interference “is usually the first step in attributing the effects on a spacecraft—ruling in, or ruling out, the space environment,” he said.

Air Force Expands Retention Bonuses to More Than 60 Career Fields. Here They Are.

Air Force Expands Retention Bonuses to More Than 60 Career Fields. Here They Are.

May 5, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Airmen and Guardians across 63 different career fields are eligible for selective retention bonuses in fiscal 2022, according to new Department of the Air Force documents—the most since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SRB program is aimed at incentivizing re-enlistment for experienced Air Force and Space Force service members in career fields that are undermanned or that come with high training price tags. View the full list of qualifying AFSCs here.

However, as the pandemic led to economic uncertainty for many, retention spiked to a 20-year high in 2020. That led the department to slash the number of Air Force Speciality Codes eligible for SRBs, from 72 all the way down to 37.

A mid-2021 update to the program upped the number of eligible AFSCs to 40. Now DAF has expanded the list of eligible AFSCs again as the pandemic’s impacts have waned, the broader workforce has seen a record number of resignations, recruiting faces downward trends, and the Air Force has separated more than 350 Airmen for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

A dozen of the eligible career fields are within the Space Force, ranging from certain intelligence analysts to cyber operations. That marks a dramatic expansion from the last list, when just one Space Force code was included.

The other 51 in the Air Force include everything from explosive ordnance disposal to dental hygienist. Among the new career fields added this year are:

  • Cyber warfare operations
  • Cryptologic language analysis for Farsi
  • Certain kinds of maintenance for F-35s, B-52s, RC-135s, and E-3s
  • Engineering
  • Public affairs
  • Aerospace Medical Service

The size of the bonuses paid out to Airmen and Guardians who reenlist depends on several factors. DOD policy sets the total as the service member’s monthly basic pay at the time of reenlistment multiplied by the number of years of the reenlistment (capped at six years) multiplied by a factor set by the Air Force based on the urgency and importance of manning in the career field. That factor, however, can vary within a career field based on the service member’s “zone”—the amount of experience they have, split into four tiers.

As in years past, the Air Force has capped the SRB at $100,000, with a career cap of $360,000.

This marks the second update to an Air Force bonus program in recent weeks—in early April, the service announced it was expanding its Initial Enlistment Bonus program for new recruits. That expansion also targeted maintainers for bombers and refuelers.

As always, the department is still offering bonuses both to entice and retain Airmen in hard-to-fill fields such as special warfare; explosive ordnance disposal; and survival, evasion, resistance and escape.

New Pentagon Acquisition Boss Plans Deep Dive Into Sentinel ICBM: ‘Still a Significant Risk’

New Pentagon Acquisition Boss Plans Deep Dive Into Sentinel ICBM: ‘Still a Significant Risk’

May 5, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Pentagon’s newly installed acquisition czar is planning “deep dives” into efforts to modernize each leg of the nuclear triad, starting with the program he views as having the most significant risk—the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, known until recently as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent.

William LaPlante, who was confirmed as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment in early April, has only been on the job a few weeks. But in testifying before the Senate Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee May 4, LaPlante was prompted by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) to offer first impressions of the Sentinel ICBM program’s progress.

Noting that it has been several years since he conducted a “deep dive into the program,” LaPlante went on to say that of the nuclear modernization efforts ongoing—including the B-21 bomber and the Columbia-class submarine—Sentinel, or GBSD, still has the furthest to go.

“They’re somewhat early—one or two years into the engineering, manufacturing, and development—trying to get to a first flight,” LaPlante noted. “I would say, of the three legs and where they are in their EMD, they’re the earliest along, so that means there’s still a significant risk.

“What are the risk areas? The risk areas are [radiation-hardened] electronics. The risk areas are the infrastructure, and all the rest of it. And I intend to look into it. And I will give you that assessment of where that is. I’m going to do a deep dive on all three of the legs, but I’m starting with GBSD.”

The Air Force has pushed forward with the Sentinel program over the past several years, despite some external opposition, with officials repeatedly saying the current land-based portion of the triad, the Minuteman III, cannot be extended any further without risking the credibility of the intercontinental ballistic missile force.

That push continues in the service’s fiscal 2023 budget request. The Air Force is asking for $3.6 billion for the Sentinel program, along with $444 million in military construction to support the program’s infrastructure. As of now, the plan is for the program to reach initial operational capability by 2029.

Any delays to that timeline—or delays to any of the other ongoing modernization efforts—will have real-world impacts, Adm. Charles “Chas” A. Richard, head of U.S. Strategic Command, warned the Senate panel. 

“Weapons program delays have driven us past the point where it is possible to fully mitigate operational risks,” Richard said. “In some cases, we’re simply left to assess the damage to our deterrent. Further programmatic delays, budget shortfalls, or policy decisions to lower operational requirements to meet infrastructure capacity will result in operational consequences.”

Already, Richard warned, the U.S. has a “deterrence and assurance gap against the threat of limited nuclear employment.” That issue, Richard said, has been highlighted in recent months by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threats to use low-yield nuclear weapons; and by China’s “strategic breakout” in rapidly and massively upgrading its nuclear arsenal.

Facing those threats, Richard called for reconsideration of “a low-yield, non-ballistic capability that does not require visible generation,” referring to the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear program that was recently canceled by President Joe Biden’s administration. 

Vermont ANG F-35s Deploy to Europe for First Time

Vermont ANG F-35s Deploy to Europe for First Time

May 4, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

F-35s from the Vermont Air National Guard arrived in Europe to support the NATO air policing mission, marking the first overseas deployment of the Vermont ANG fighters.

Airmen from the 158th Fighter Wing departed from South Burlington, Vt., on April 29, and the F-35s landed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, on May 2, according to Air Force releases.

At Spangdahlem, the fifth-generation fighters will replace six F-35s from the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, that arrived in Europe in February in response to Russia’s increasing aggression toward Ukraine and NATO’s eastern flank.

Since then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a crisis across the continent, and the Air Force has deployed F-35s, F-16s, F-15s, and B-52s throughout Eastern Europe. 

As the invasion has dragged on for longer than expected, however, USAF has started to rotate new aircraft and Airmen into the region to relieve that first wave of deployments. F-16s from Aviano Air Base, Italy, recently landed in Romania to switch places with F-16s from Spangdahlem.

The Associated Press reported that eight F-35As and more than 200 Airmen from the Vermont ANG are now in Europe. That marks a fast turnaround for the group, which is just a few months removed from becoming a fully operational F-35 unit. All told, the 158th FW has 20 F-35s, the last of which was delivered in 2020. Vermont is the first Air National Guard unit to receive the F-35.

“Being called upon only four months out of conversion to an operational F-35 fighter wing is a testament to our team, their professionalism, commitment, and proven capabilities,” Col. David Shevchik, commander of the 158th Fighter Wing, said in a statement. “It is when we are needed most that we are at our best. The Green Mountain Boys are ready and proud to answer this call, and we’re grateful for the support of our families, employers, and communities.”

The F-35 has played a key role in the Air Force’s response to Russia’s aggression. The Hill F-35s flew hundreds of sorties as part of NATO’s air policing mission, sometimes scrambling in response to Russian aircraft that violated international norms in air space near Poland. And top officials have said they’re watching the airframe’s performance closely.

New Official Art Reveals Advanced F-22 Capabilities, Possibly JATM

New Official Art Reveals Advanced F-22 Capabilities, Possibly JATM

May 4, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

An artist’s concept of the Lockheed Martin F-22, posted on Instagram by Gen. Mark D. Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, offers an official glimpse of new capabilities for the Raptor, including a possible first look at the highly classified AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile.

The image, released April 27, portrays three F-22s flying in formation, each carrying what appear to be stealthy extended-range fuel tanks and slender outer wing pods with a chiseled aperture at their leading edges. In the picture, one of the F-22s has launched a missile, which is neither an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile nor an AIM-9X Sidewinder, the two air-to-air missiles known to be qualified for the fighter.

The tanks seem to be the same ones described in new Air Force budget documents, while the pods are likely to be an infrared search and track and/or electronic warfare system. The only new missile publicly identified for the F-22 is the JATM.   

The Air Force has spent more than $12 billion to continually upgrade the F-22 since production of the fighter ended in 2010. Revelations such as Kelly’s image usually precede new systems operating where they can be seen publicly.  

Kelly did not comment on the new features of the F-22 shown in the artwork. The post accompanying the image noted that the 15th anniversary of the first 12-minute airshow demonstration of the F-22, flown by demo pilot Paul D. “Max” Moga, now a brigadier general who is Commandant of Cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Kelly noted that, at the time, the F-22 was the only operational fifth-generation fighter in the world and the first to combine “maneuverability, stealth, and supercruise” in a single airframe.   

F-22
Aviation photographer James Reeder captured a photo of an Air Force F-22 Raptor, 411th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., with mysterious pods displayed on underwing mounts. Photo by James Reeder.

When asked if the artwork is meant to show new F-22 systems, an ACC spokesperson replied, “We need every combat platform to go farther, sense farther, and shoot farther. This illustration is simply an artist rendering of an F-22 aircraft with any number of future capabilities.” The comment obliquely confirms that the illustration shows range-extending fuel, sensors, and weapons.

Images of an F-22 flying with the new outer-wing pods have circulated on the internet in recent weeks, taken near Lockheed’s Palmdale, Calif., facility, home of its Skunk Works advanced development shop. The Air Force has previously declined comment on what they might be. Asked recently about the pods and other images that show F-22s, F-35s, and F-117s flying with highly reflective silvery appliques, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. answered only, “They’re for test.”

While external stores seem counter to the idea of radar low observability—and the reason why the F-22, F-35, and F-117 carry weapons internally—Lockheed’s early 2000s proposal of an FB-22 bomber variant of the Raptor included stealthy external fuel tanks and stealthy outer-wing pods that could open and release a non-stealthy munition. The potential for stealth aircraft carrying stores externally while preserving their low observability thus dates back at least 20 years.     

The Air Force’s justifications for the fiscal 2023 budget request identify the new fuel tanks as the Low Drag Tank and Pylon system (LDTP), which USAF calls a “critical capability” to maintaining air superiority. The new tanks and pylons extend the F-22’s range while preserving its “lethality and survivability,” USAF said. They allow the F-22 to fly supersonically yet stealthily, but can also be jettisoned using “smart rack pneumatic technology,” apparently producing a stealthy-smooth surface after the tanks have been released.

The F-22 has operated for many years with 600-gallon tanks—and is not stealthy while carrying them— but when released for dogfighting, the attachment surface is not smooth, thus worsening the F-22’s radar cross section.

Providing the F-22 with an infrared search and track (IRST) system has been an Air Force priority almost since the Raptor entered service, as such a system provides an important way to spot an adversary whose radar cross section has been reduced.   

In 2017, Lockheed F-22 program manager Ken Merchant told Air Force Magazine, “We really don’t have the real estate” inside the F-22 for a system like the F-35’s electro-optical targeting system, or EOTS, noting at the time, “we’re looking at other options.” Due to secrecy, Merchant could not say more.

Because an IRST couldn’t go on the F-22’s nose or under the chin of the aircraft—as they are on most fighters that have them—the two pods would provide full coverage to the front, as well as expanded capability to the sides.

It’s also likely that the pods have some kind of electronic warfare function. Lockheed’s “Legion Pod” IRST, which has flown on the F-15, has considerable unused internal space that the company has said could be used for other sensors, functions, or fuel. In fact, company literature mentions that the Legion Pod has “other sensors” but doesn’t describe them.

In 2002, Lockheed Martin proposed—and the Air Force seriously considered—a derivative of the F-22 to be used as a medium bomber. The FB-22 would have carried extra fuel in larger delta wings, and extra munitions in stealthy underwing weapon pods that would have opened to released non-stealthy bombs and missiles. The concept indicated that Lockheed had found a way to carry underwing stores, which usually create a huge radar reflection, and still be stealthy. In this Lockheed Martin artist concept, the FB-22 also carries stealth AGM-158 JASSM missiles to take out enemy air defenses.

The Navy signaled in its fiscal 2023 budget request that it is reducing the size of its F/A-18 Growler fleet, on which the Air Force depends for stand-in jamming, suggesting that USAF will meet that need in another way.

The JATM, the existence of which was first revealed at an Air Force Life Cycle Management Center industry conference in 2019, is also being developed by Lockheed Martin, and is set to begin replacing the AIM-120 AMRAAM sometime soon. When it was first mentioned, the Air Force said it would achieve initial operational capability in 2022. The JATM has been described by USAF officials as having sharply expanded range over the AMRAAM, to match or exceed the capability of newer versions of China’s PL-15, which outranges the AMRAAM and has diminished the F-22’s “first look, first shot” capability.

It’s also believed the JATM, which will be adopted by the Navy as well, has a multi-mode seeker, with both radar and infrared capabilities, with heightened resistance to jamming. Industry observers have speculated the missile will have a novel propulsion system, but the ACC artwork doesn’t show an air intake or unusual propulsive apertures, as on Lockheed’s “Cuda” advanced missile.  

The artwork published by Kelly suggests the new missile will fit inside the F-22’s weapons bay, meaning it will not be appreciably larger than AMRAAM. The artwork may be deliberately misleading, however. The image also suggests a modular, “stacked” propulsion system, meaning the missile could be configured for longer- or shorter-ranged missions.

Air Force budget documents specifically say that the F-22 will make use of technologies developed for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems, and it is likely that the F-22, as USAF’s primary stealth air dominance craft, will also be a testbed for some of those technologies. Service officials have said that while the F-22 is slated to retire circa 2030, its capabilities will be updated to keep it dominant until it is replaced by the NGAD.

ACC is also planning to put capability in the F-22 for a helmet-mounted cuing system, but the new F-22 art isn’t detailed enough to show whether the pilot portrayed in the fighter is wearing such a helmet.

The ACC comment that the artwork shows “any number” of new capabilities also hints that there may be more in the image than meets the eye. The silvery appliques that Brown referred to as being tested on the aircraft might be new stealth materials that would be concealed by the F-22’s special low-visibility paint. The image may also reveal new apertures for side-looking sensors on the fuselage and wings.

The Air Force is asking Congress to let it retire 33 of its oldest F-22s in fiscal 2023, saying the jets would cost too much to upgrade to the latest combat configuration; Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall pegged that cost as $50 million apiece, or about $1.65 billion, during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week.

AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies argues that the F-22s, though destined for retirement in seven years, should get the upgrades.

Kendall said he wants “‘first and foremost, to deter any act of aggression, and if necessary, defeat it,’” said retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute.

“The most cost-effective move the Air Force could make today to increase the quality of its force to meet the China threat is to upgrade the 33 Block 20 F-22s to match the rest of the F-22 force,” Deptula said. “NGAD will not be available in any meaningful quantity for over a decade.”

Quoting Kendall as saying he wants to get “‘as much quality into the force as I can, as fast as I can,’” Deptula said adding the older F-22s to the update would “provide an additional squadron of the world’s most effective fighters to our Air Force.”