Two-Star General Convicted of Sexual Assault After Historic Military Trial

Two-Star General Convicted of Sexual Assault After Historic Military Trial

The former two-star commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory was convicted of abusive sexual contact following a historic court-martial of an Air Force general officer. His sentence is expected to be handed down on Monday.

Maj. Gen. William T. Cooley was found guilty of forcibly kissing his sister-in-law in a car Aug. 12, 2018, in Albuquerque, N.M. He was charged with one count of sexual assault under Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, with three specifications. His trial, which began April 18, is the first full court-martial and conviction of an Air Force general officer in the service’s 75-year history.

Cooley waved his right to a jury trial, leaving his fate in the hands of Col. Christina M. Jimenez, the senior military judge in the case and chief circuit military judge with the Air Force Trial Judiciary.

Over the course of five days, 10 witnesses testified, including the victim, family members, friends, and an expert in digital forensics. “Hundreds of electronic communications, including emails, voice mails, and text messages,” also were presented. Cooley opted not to testify.

The victim, who agreed to let the media disclose her relationship to Cooley without naming her, described the assault as an “F5 tornado … ruining everything in its path,” according to an Air Force press release.

She told the court that Cooley asked for a ride after a barbeque, during which he had been drinking, and “told her he fantasized about having sex with her,” according to the USAF release. “She alleged he pressed her up against the driver’s side window, forcibly kissing and groped her through her clothes.”

Cooley, who received his commission in 1988 and pinned on his second star one month before the incident, pleaded not guilty, denying the allegations.

On April 23, Jimenez found him guilty of one specification, forcibly “kissing [the victim] on the lips and tongue with an intent to gratify his sexual desire,” according to an Air Force press release. He was found not guilty of the other two specifications, “including causing her to touch him over his clothing and his alleged touching of her breasts and genitals through her clothes,” according to the release.

Commander of Air Force Materiel Command Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. removed Cooley from command of the Air Force Research Laboratory on Jan. 15, 2020, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to lead. He has served as a special assistant to AFMC commander since, focusing primarily on the the command’s Digital Campaign.

“As convening authority, I want to say thank you,” said Bunch in a statement after the trial. “Thank you to everyone who supported this process for their due diligence in the pursuit of justice, and for doing everything possible to protect both the victim’s rights and the rights of the accused to a fair trial.”

Cooley could now get as much as seven years in jail, potentially have to register as a sex offender, and face dismissal from the Air Force and withholding of pay, reported Air Force Times. His sentencing is expected April 25.

“This case clearly demonstrates the commitment of Air Force leaders to fully investigate the facts and hold Airmen of any rank accountable for their actions when they fail to uphold Air Force standards,” said Col. Eric Mejia, staff judge advocate for Air Force Materiel Command, in the release.

AFRL’s New Space Labs to Advance Hybrid Architecture, Space Domain Awareness

AFRL’s New Space Labs to Advance Hybrid Architecture, Space Domain Awareness

Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s two new space-oriented research labs will address two of the Space Force’s top priorities: improving space domain awareness and building a hybrid space architecture less vulnerable to attack.

AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate opened the 72-acre Skywave Technology Laboratory near existing radio antennas out on a remote part of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. The $3.5 million facility includes 3,500 square feet of lab and office space.

Members of the directorate’s field deployment team bounce radio waves and other electromagnetic radiation off the upper atmosphere to predict conditions in the near-Earth space environment and how the conditions might affect spacecraft. 

Becoming more aware of the conditions could help further the Space Force’s priority of space domain awareness, said the leader of the directorate, Col. Eric Felt, in a statement announcing the new lab. Monitoring the environment could help to differentiate natural effects on a satellite from unfriendly ones.

Electronic warfare, or EW, may pose a greater risk to satellites than kinetic ground-launched weapons, such as in Russia’s 2021 anti-satellite test. In a virtual talk by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on April 20, CSIS fellow and deputy director of its Aerospace Security Project Kaitlyn Johnson predicted as much.

Johnson pointed out how “critical this weapons technology has become in current and future warfare. So I think we will continue to see that expanded and developed, not just attacking GPS but also … communications satellites—and attacking the ground stations, not just the satellites themselves.”

In its 2022 report “Global Counterspace Capabilities,” the Secure World Foundation said Russia “places a high priority on integrating electronic warfare (EW) into military operations and has been investing heavily in modernizing” it. 

“Russia has a multitude of systems that can jam GPS receivers within a local area, potentially interfering with the guidance systems of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), guided missiles, and precision guided munitions,” according to the report. However, Russia hasn’t yet been known to interfere with GPS satellites directly through EW.

China, too, “places a heavy emphasis on electronic warfare” and “likely has significant EW counterspace capabilities against [the Global Navigation Satellite System] and satellite communications,” according to the report.

Hybrid Architecture

AFRL’s new simulation-focused RAPID lab for small satellites furthers Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall’s No. 1 “imperative” of building a more resilient, hybrid space architecture.

In the interest of providing “better, faster, and smarter space technology,” the Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development lab benefits both the Space Force’s Space Warfighting Analysis Center and its Space Systems Command. The lab will “offer a collaboration venue for government, industry, and academia experts to gather for the advancement of space technology development,” according to a statement by AFRL announcing the new lab.

Also located at Kirtland, the $7.3 million RAPID lab measures 14,000 square feet. About 12 people will work in the lab day to day, but it can accommodate 40 to 50 more in “collaborative simulation workspaces” for given projects.

“Through modeling and simulation, we’ll be able to rapidly test out programs without the time-consuming and more expensive process of building a satellite,” said Col. Jon Luminati, who leads the Integrated Experiments and Evaluation Division of the Space Vehicles Directorate.

The Space Warfighting Analysis Center, or SWAC, is working through force designs for the future resilient architecture. David Voss, director of SWAC’s Spectrum Warfare Center of Excellence, described the work in an interview as figuring out, “how do we make things interconnected and interoperable across the breadth of the role space could potentially play” across DOD.

Space Systems Command, meanwhile, is tasked with developing a constellation of missile-tracking satellites in medium Earth orbit, or MEO. These would, in part, add a “layer” of resiliency in case of disruptions to the legacy satellites in higher geosynchronous orbits or to the Space Development Agency’s planned lower constellation in low Earth orbit.

“Over the past two decades, we have explored the tremendous and ever-increasing military utility of small satellites,” said Felt, “and through the modeling and simulation and collaboration that will occur in RAPID we will take small satellites technology to another level.” 

New ICBM, Family Housing Get Big Boosts in Air Force’s 2023 Military Construction Budget

New ICBM, Family Housing Get Big Boosts in Air Force’s 2023 Military Construction Budget

Although the overall military construction request decreased from fiscal 2022 to 2023, spending on infrastructure for the Air Force’s new intercontinental ballistic missile more than quadrupled.

In 2022, the department requested $2.38 billion for projects across its Active-duty, Guard, and Reserve components. This year, it’s asking for $2.26 billion total, a decline of nearly five percent.

Of that, $444 million is devoted to projects related to the LGM-35A Sentinel, or as it was called until recently, the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. Specifically, the service wants to spend $89 million for a maintenance facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., $179 million for software and technology centers at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and $176 million for a command center, a missile handling complex, and approximately 2,550 acres of land at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Neb.

All told, the Sentinel-related projects represent nearly 20 percent of the entire 2023 MILCON budget, or one out of every five dollars. It’s also a dramatic expansion in construction for the program from a year ago—for 2022, the Air Force asked for $98 million for GBSD-related projects.

Military construction has become a more pressing concern for the Air Force in recent years—in 2021, officials estimated there was a $30 billion backlog of repairs, as previous budgets prioritized other needs and let facilities atrophy.

Most of the MILCON budget in 2023, though, is devoted to new missions that support the beddown or deployment of new systems—$1.57 billion out of the $2.26 billion, nearly 70 percent.

Included in that total are several projects for the B-21 Raider program. The Air Force is asking for authorizations of $328 million and appropriations of $218 million for Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., related to the B-21. Ellsworth is slated to be the initial B-21 operating base and the formal training unit, or “schoolhouse” for the bomber.

Other major projects included in the ’23 military construction budget include $191 million for the Air Force’s planned divert airfield on Tinian, one of the Northern Mariana Islands. The airfield, projected to be completed by 2025, will serve as an alternative to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam—the 2023 budget requests funds for a parking apron, fuel tanks, and further airfield development.

There is also $141 million for Kadena Air Base, Japan, to build a hangar for Helicopter Rescue Squadron Operations and a Helicopter Maintenance Unit, as well as a “corrosion control facility for painting large bodied aircraft.”

Within the U.S., there is $125 million for Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to build “a Weapons Generation Facility to reconstitute nuclear capability,” as well as $100 million to extend a runway at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.

While funding for military construction is down slightly in the latest budget request, the money for military family housing increases, from a $441 million request in 2022 to $588 million in 2023.

Much of that increase is devoted to construction improvements, to fund “the combination of required maintenance and repair together with improvements to bring the unit to contemporary standards.” In 2022, the Air Force asked for $105 million for such improvements. In 2023, that figure is more than double, at $230 million.

Most of that $230 million is slated to go to privatized housing through the Military Housing Privatization Initiative.

Long-Term Ukraine Aid to Be Discussed at Ramstein Meeting

Long-Term Ukraine Aid to Be Discussed at Ramstein Meeting

“Stakeholders” from up to 40 nations will meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on April 26, to discuss how to deliver extended and more lethal aid to Ukraine, the Pentagon said.

The meeting is “not a NATO ministerial” but instead a gathering of those interested in providing aid to Ukraine in its resistance to Russia’s invasion, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters April 22. More than 20 nations have accepted the invitation, he said.

The European Union, Finland, Georgia, and Sweden have been among the entities invited to participate in recent NATO meetings discussing the war in Ukraine.

 “One of the things that [Austin] wants” from the meeting is “the beginnings of a discussion with like-minded nations about long-term defense relationships that Ukraine will need going forward,” Kirby said.

“We obviously want to talk about what’s going on now. We certainly want to hear from … other nations about what they’re doing, in terms of immediate defense assistance, and how that might change,” Kirby said.

As the fighting in Ukraine enters “a new phase, … I think he also wants to take a longer, larger view of the defense relationships that Ukraine will need to have going forward, when the war is over.” This is an evolving issue and “that’s why we want to have the meeting,” Kirby said.

“Having more than 20 [nations] already agree” to attend “on relatively short notice, I think, is a powerful statement of the convening power of the United States and the importance that not only we but these other nations place on Ukraine’s defense needs going forward,” Kirby asserted.

There will be no NATO decisions resulting from the meeting about future U.S. force posture in Europe, Kirby said, because it is “not a NATO meeting.”

Austin does not have “a preset list of things” he wants participants to pledge, Kirby said.

“He wants to hear from allies and partners and … from the Ukrainians themselves about what … they’re doing and what they will need going forward. That’s why we’re calling it a ‘consultative group.’ So we can actually consult … but … we’re not going into this with a pre-cooked set of endings here.”

If specific decisions are not made, DOD hopes participants come up with “a framework for getting at specific decisions going forward,” Kirby said. He said that Austin will address the press at the conclusion of the meeting to explain “what we heard and what was learned.”

The meeting follows pleas from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the U.S. and other countries send heavier weapons and air defenses to aid in battling Russia. It also follows the White House pledging another $800 million in aid to Ukraine that includes artillery, artillery rounds, vehicles, and kamikaze drones that can destroy tanks. The U.S. has so far provided more than $3.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Kirby said the congressional authorization amounts for lethal aid to Ukraine are drawing down but are not yet nearing exhaustion. He said the Pentagon will be discussing new amounts with Congress shortly.

Asked if the Pentagon believes the war will end soon, Kirby said, “I don’t think anybody can predict how long this is going to go on.”

Because Russia is now “concentrating their efforts in a smaller geographic area” of the Donbas where there has been fighting for eight years and where Russia has been “occupying [territory] illegally, … we would expect that the fighting could be prolonged.”

The conflict could go on for weeks or “potentially … longer than that,” Kirby said, but “nobody wants to see that. The truth is, and I’m sure you’re tired of me saying this, … if Mr. Putin pulled his forces out and stopped this illegal invasion, and sat down in good faith with Mr. Zelensky,” the conflict “could be over now.”

“Clearly he has no intention of doing that. I understand that, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t still be said,” Kirby added.

Kirby also reiterated that the Phoenix Ghost unmanned, tank-killing aircraft the Pentagon said it would provide to Ukraine “was already under development by the U.S. Air Force” and was not developed for this conflict.

The system’s capabilities “happened to be very appropriate to the kind of fighting that we anticipate is going to go on in the Donbas region,” Kirby said. However, “it wasn’t pulled forward for the fight” in Ukraine.

The U.S. will provide 121 of the units, but Kirby could not give details. The Ukrainian military will need some training on the system “because it’s not in their inventory,” but Kirby said that could happen quickly, “and we’re going to accelerate delivery.” The training will be similar to that provided for the Switchblade tank-killing UAV, he said.

Air Force Releases ‘The Blueprint’ to Help Guide Airmen’s Careers

Air Force Releases ‘The Blueprint’ to Help Guide Airmen’s Careers

Basic information on the Air Force’s history and structure, details on core values and skills, links to information on professional development and other resources, all gathered into one place—that’s the idea behind “The Blueprint,” released by the Air Force on April 21 to help guide its enlisted force development.

A 32-page “living” document that will be updated regularly with new information and links, “The Blueprint” is 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.

The development of “The Blueprint” was one of the objectives laid out in the Air Force’s new Enlisted Force Development Action Plan released this January. Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass has pitched “The Blueprint” as necessary for a modern Air Force transitioning away from career development that expects Airmen to either get promoted or get out.

“When I grew up, we had more of a pyramid, if you will. And if you do all of these things in your career, ultimately, here’s how you become a senior noncommissioned officer or whatever,” Bass told Air Force Magazine in a January interview. “And I just don’t see things in that light anymore. We see them as a blueprint, and there’s many paths, many ways within an Airman’s career.”

To that end, three pages of “The Blueprint” detail different development opportunities for junior enlisted Airmen, noncommissioned officers, and senior NCOs. These include the Community College of the Air Force, Airman Leadership School, Special Duty, sister service enlisted professional military education, and even just a permanent change of station. At each point, the document also highlights the transition opportunities and resources available for those leaving the service.

“The Blueprint” also gathers links to the Air Force’s various resources for managing personal and professional development, from myFSS and myEval to programs for military families and spouses.

In addition to resources, the Blueprint also gathers the fundamental information Airmen will need in their careers, from the core competencies and Airman Leadership Qualities to explanations of how the broader structure of the Defense Department and Air Staff work.

“What I envision in my mind is a kind of a cradle-to-grave blueprint on an Airman’s career, from the time they start their career all the way through the end and, kind of, even off into after they separate and/or retire. … It’s just a roadmap for them to be involved in their own deliberate development of a career and also shares with them what they can expect,” Bass told Air Force Magazine.

“The Blueprint” is one of several foundational documents for the Air Force that are set to either be released or updated in the coming months. As outlined in the Enlisted Force Development Action Plan, the service also plans to update its “Blue Book,” which defines and breaks down the Air Force core values, and the “Brown Book,” which lays out the Enlisted Force Structure and establishes the standards, roles, and responsibilities for enlisted Airmen. 

In the summer of 2022, the service will also release its first ever “Purple Book,” detailing “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.

Dear Tomorrow: CMSAF’s Perspective on the Air Force of 2030

Dear Tomorrow: CMSAF’s Perspective on the Air Force of 2030

It’s always a bit of a risky undertaking to sit down and write about the future. 

If your predictions are overly positive, you’re an optimist; overly negative, you’re a pessimist. If they come true, then they are facts. If they don’t, they are metaphors.

Time, as always, will have the final say in the success of the steps we take today to ensure our continued success tomorrow. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury we have—the world, as we know it, is changing at an accelerated pace.

It was actually in 1982 when, American futurist, Richard Buckminster Fuller first proposed the “Knowledge Doubling Curve.” He noted that up until 1900, the sum total of human knowledge doubled about every 100 years. By the end of World War II, that rate had accelerated to every 25 years. Today, we double our knowledge roughly every year. 

That’s an amazing, and somewhat terrifying, accomplishment—especially when seen through a military lens. Our adversaries are modernizing fast, and looking to replace us on the world stage. As technology advances, our adversaries are taking ideation to execution faster and faster—and training their people how to employ these new systems in a high-end fight. 

To that end, we are also modernizing to ensure that our air dominance remains uncontested. However, in contrast, we aren’t just training our Airmen to use these systems, we are developing them to be the leaders our Air Force will need to win a strategic competition. 

That will be the one competitive advantage we will always have over our adversaries—our people. The more deliberately we develop them today, the more successful they will be tomorrow. We don’t need Airmen to simply execute tasks off a checklist. We need Airmen who can think critically, strategically, and operate with an innovative mindset. Future conflict will never look like it has in the past, and we need our Airmen to be adaptive at speed and scale. 

The Airmen we are building today will be the innovative problem solvers of 2030, and beyond. When we look at projections of what a strategic competition with a near-peer adversary could involve, it becomes clear that the Airmen of 2030 will need to have an innate ability to critically think through myriad situations, develop innovative ideas and solutions to address complex challenges, and maximize a teaming concept to ensure success across the entire enterprise. 

These skills will weigh heavily on future operations, as we build an Air Force that requires a deeper understanding of the digital environment from its Airmen. When looking out to 2030, the Airmen who will be serving will not only be digital natives, but they will have to be digitally literate on a level we have yet to experience. 

And given the speed and scale at which information will flow in the coming years, we have to take steps today to ensure our Airmen are resilient enough to handle the complex and adaptive systems of the future. Our people must have a sense of personal and professional grit to tackle the kinetic and non-kinetic environments that will no doubt play a role in future conflict. 

All of these things are integral to who we are today, and who we need to be, tomorrow. Regardless of what challenges we face in the future, taking the time today to invest in our Airmen and provide them with a Blueprint of their development is a strategy that will continue to net positive results. 

Our most competitive, most strategic, and most effective advantage against any adversary will always be our people. I am immensely proud of how far we have come as an Air Force, and genuinely optimistic about where we are headed. 

Congress’ Nuclear Adviser Wonders Whether Russia Is Stoking WW3

Congress’ Nuclear Adviser Wonders Whether Russia Is Stoking WW3

The whole point of Russia’s war in Ukraine could be to drag the West into World War 3, said the executive director of Congress’ Task Force on National and Homeland Security.

Peter Pry, who is also director of Congress’ U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, spoke to retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, during a livestreamed Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum on April 21.

The discussion took place just one day after Russia’s military said it tested its new nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which, according to The Associated Press, Putin said would give the West pause. Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said April 20 that the test was “routine and not a surprise,” confirming that Russia had “properly notified the United States under its New START treaty obligations.”

“We did not deem the test to be a threat to the United States or its allies,” Kirby said.

During the Mitchell event, however, Pry questioned whether Russia’s President Vladimir Putin may have become emboldened by the direction of the U.S.’s nuclear posture over the past 30 years: Whereas the U.S. has positioned itself to deter a nuclear war, Russia has prepared to wage a surprise attack. 

Pry was skeptical that Putin’s subordinates would balk at a nuclear strike. He said the U.S. should raise its readiness level in response to Russia’s doing so and argued that such a move could even spell the end of the war in Ukraine.

Peter Pry, director of Congress’ U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, and retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, participate in a livestreamed Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense Forum on April 21.

DEFCON 3

The involvement of three nuclear superpowers in the war in Ukraine—with China supporting Russia and the U.S. supplying arms to Ukraine—is “extremely alarming” and represents a “classical situation where we would have been concerned about the possibility of nuclear war,” Pry said. 

“I think the administration and the Intelligence Community are either lying or have misconstrued the strategic situation,” Pry said, referring to dismissals of Russia’s heightened nuclear readiness level “as basically bluster or bluffing. 

“And this has been used to justify keeping U.S. strategic nuclear forces at their lowest readiness level, DEFCON 5, which potentially makes them much more vulnerable to the surprise nuclear attack,” Pry said. 

He doesn’t believe the U.S. would know an attack was about to happen.

Russia’s “ICBM command and control arrangement is such that we can’t see those forces mobilizing because they are on a condition the Russians call ‘constant combat readiness.’ All the time, they’re ready to launch … Twenty-four/seven, 365 days a year, Vladimir Putin could push a button and launch most of his nuclear weapons in just a few minutes without any advanced preparation.” 

Pry said he thinks “the Intelligence Community is smart enough to know that. I hope they are. When I served in the CIA, we knew that the Russian strategic posture is very different from ours,” Pry said.

“Most Americans think of the Russian triad and the U.S. traid as basically the same, and they are not,” he continued. “Our strategic triad of bombers, missiles, and submarines is designed to deter nuclear war. Their nuclear triad of ballistic missiles, submarines, ICBMs, and bombers is designed to fight and win a nuclear war—particularly to achieve a surprise attack. To be able to beat us to the draw and strike us.

“That’s why, for example, most of their warheads [are for] ICBMs” which can carry up to 10 warheads, Pry said. On the other hand, the U.S. has the fewest warheads for its intercontinental ballistic missiles out of all three legs of the nuclear triad—400 total for its 400 Minuteman IIIs.

A “crippling blow to the United States” is possible by aiming just five nuclear warheads at the U.S., Pry said. “You could destroy the three bomber bases and the two ballistic missile submarine ports where most of our submarines are located on a day-to-day basis.”

Raising U.S. readiness could be a chance to end the war in Ukraine on peaceful terms, Pry argued. 

“Going up at least to DEFCON 3 would put [U.S. forces] in a more survivable posture and then communicate to Moscow, ‘Look, we’re mobilizing our forces because you guys have mobilized your forces. Neither of us wants to get in a nuclear war, so stand down your forces, and we’ll stand down ours,’” he said,

Space-Based Interceptors

Of course, that solution relies on the assumption that Russia doesn’t want to get into a nuclear war, of which Pry isn’t convinced.

“When I look at what the Russians are doing, you know, it’s almost like they are taking steps that are calculated to be provocative to the West and to get us to intervene in that war,” Pry said. “I keep thinking of the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805—Napoleon’s greatest victory where he managed to get the combined armies of Austria and Russia to attack him by feigning weakness. [He] had whole regiments run away from the Russians to lure them into attacking him on the Austerlitz battlefield, and then he dropped the hammer.

“Does Russia want Ukraine to become the bloodlands of a World War 3—[to] have NATO and the United States come in there and then use [Putin’s] 10-to-1 advantage in tactical nuclear weapons as a final solution to the problem with NATO and the United States?” Pry said in reply to an audience question.

“I mean, we might already be there in terms of Russia taking advantage of the correlation of forces that flavors it in terms of nuclear firepower.”

The U.S.’s increase to 64 ground-based ICBM interceptors amount to “a joke” against foreign arsenals, Pry said: “North Korea even can challenge the 64 GBIs. We’ve got to get serious about that. I think the space-based defenses are the way of technologically moving forward to a place where we may be able to better defend the homeland.

“We’ve got a U.S. Space Force. It ought to be about that—building a missile shield for the United States. Not just about anti-satellite activity, which seems to be what its chief function is now.”

Russia Sanctions 29 Americans, Including Mitchell Institute Dean

Russia Sanctions 29 Americans, Including Mitchell Institute Dean

The Russian government sanctioned 29 Americans on April 21, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula. 

The official announcement, released in Russian by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translated for the Air & Space Forces Association, reads: “In response to the constantly escalating anti-Russian sanctions implemented by the Biden Administration … we have created a stop list of 29 Americans, of which there are senior government representatives, business leaders, experts, and journalists, who together form an anti-Russian cabal.” 

Specifically, the sanctions limit the ability of the individuals to travel in Russia and would place any assets held in that country at risk. 

“The actions undertaken by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his military in Ukraine are beyond despicable … ,” said Deptula. “The community of peace-loving nations need to do everything in their power to support Ukraine in repelling the invading Russian forces, and to stop the atrocities they are committing against innocent men, women, and children.”

Deptula has repeatedly urged the United States to provide more weapons to Ukraine, saying the Biden administration should not be deterred by Putin’s threats. 

In a March 22 Mitchell Institute discussion with former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, retired Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, both leaders said missteps by the West emboldened Putin ahead of the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, but they emphasized it’s not too late to provide the weapons needed to overcome Russian air power. 

The sanctions come as the Biden Administration, also on April 21, pledged another $800 million in aid to Ukraine, including a new drone developed by the U.S. Air Force, vowing to ask Congress for even more funds as fighting continues.

F-15 and F-16 Jointly Test Legion Pod Infrared Tracker

F-15 and F-16 Jointly Test Legion Pod Infrared Tracker

An F-15 and an F-16 jointly and passively detected, tracked, and triangulated an aerial target using the infrared search-and-track Legion Pod on April 7, the Air Force’s 53rd test wing announced.

This capability will be useful as U.S. fighters go up against adversary aircraft having low-observable features that reduce their radar cross-section, making them hard to track and target using radar alone.

In the test, an F-15 and an F-16, each equipped with a Legion Pod, detected a target and then used the pod’s advanced datalink to “passively triangulate target position without the use of radar or other active ranging sources,” the 53rd Wing said in a press release. It was the first “multi-platform use” of the IRST pod, the unit said.

Infrared search-and-track technology “provides a key enabler in the long-range kill chain as well as the ability to locate targets in a multispectral domain,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy Castor, sensors program manager with the F-16 Operational Flight Program combined test force.

Any large-force scenario, he said, “includes multiple aircraft types, each with different viewpoints of the battlespace. The ability to share data” provides information “they would not be able to get, otherwise.”

The Legion Pod has a common interface that allows it to be mounted on any aircraft with minimum impact on that jet’s core software. This open-systems capability “opens the door for integration, with minimal effort, onto other fighter aircraft,” like the F-15EX, the 53rd Wing said.

Continued testing will explore “operationally relevant capabilities” with an advanced datalink, Castor said. The eventual goal is for any USAF aircraft to be able to carry and employ the Legion Pod.

The advanced datalink was first tested successfully during the Northern Edge exercise in April 2021, with a two-ship of F-15s. It was tested on a two-ship of F-16s at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in December 2021. The April 2022 test was the first using dissimilar aircraft types and represents “a milestone in the program’s ongoing progress,” the wing said.

The two-week evaluation was collaboratively run by the Combined Test Force, the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, the 40th Flight Test Squadron, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, and the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Command Test Center.