B-21 Director Walden Leaving RCO to Advise LaPlante at Pentagon

B-21 Director Walden Leaving RCO to Advise LaPlante at Pentagon

July 12, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Randall G. Walden, head of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, where he has directed development of the B-21 bomber and the Advanced Battle Management System, is moving to a new job at the Pentagon to advise the DOD’s acquisition and sustainment chief, William A. LaPlante.

Walden, who is the director and program executive officer for the RCO, has been named “senior executive advisor” in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, according to a July 11 announcement from the Air Force.

The service could not immediately say whether a successor at the RCO had been determined.

LaPlante, formerly the Air Force’s acquisition executive, put Walden and the RCO in charge of B-21 development in 2015, when the Air Force selected Northrop Grumman to build what was then called the Long-Range Strike Bomber. LaPlante at the time described the choice of putting a major weapon system such as the B-21 under the RCO, rather than in a traditional program office, as a way to use lean management techniques with minimal Pentagon bureaucracy while taking advantage of the RCO’s ability to conduct projects in secret.

Pentagon leaders and cleared members of Congress alike have lauded the B-21 as a well-run program. The Air Force’s current service acquisition executive (SAE), Andrew Hunter, revealed in June that the B-21 is actually under budget.

Walden has reported that six B-21s are in construction at Northrop Grumman’s Palmdale, Calif., plant and that the first one will likely roll out in 2022. Walden had also predicted the first article would fly this summer, but Air Force officials have since walked back that prediction.  

The Air Force has disclosed relatively few other products of the RCO, but one noteworthy program was the X-37B mini-space plane, one of which broke its own on-orbit record July 6. The RCO also says it developed the integrated air defense system installed around the “National Capital Region” after the 9/11 attacks.

During Walden’s 20-year Air Force career as a flight test engineer, he worked at times on classified projects. He retired in 2002 and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service that same year, subsequently working on special access programs, in the RCO, and as the director of test and evaluation for USAF. He became head of the RCO in 2014.

LaPlante was determined to write a good contract for the B-21 that could adapt to a changing threat, and the fact that the award handily survived a protest from the losing Lockheed Martin-Boeing team could be called one of LaPlante’s signature achievements while he was the Air Force SAE. He insisted on an open architecture for the B-21, and while USAF secured a fixed-price contract for the initial aircraft, the development program was a cost-plus arrangement that rewarded Northrop Grumman for hitting milestones early.

Air Force Promotes Fewest Tech Sergeants in a Decade

Air Force Promotes Fewest Tech Sergeants in a Decade

July 12, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

A few days after warning that promotion rates for enlisted noncommissioned officers were likely to drop over the next several years, the Air Force Personnel Center announced the statistics from the 22E6 Air Force promotion cycle July 12—with the fewest number of Airmen getting promoted to technical sergeant in at least a decade.

All told, 5,430 staff sergeants were tapped to become tech sergeants, AFPC said in a release. The full list of those promoted will be released on myPers 8 a.m. Central time July 20.

The total number of those promoted represents a dramatic decline from 2021, when 9,422 Airmen were selected. At least 7,500 staff sergeants had been selected in each of the previous seven years, and even in leaner years such as 2014 and 2013, at least 5,500 Airmen were promoted. Air Force Magazine could not immediately confirm statistics from before 2012.

The lowest promotion rate for E-6s this decade still belongs to 2013—5,654 were selected out of 37,608, for a rate of 15.03 percent. By comparison, the 2022 cycle had 33,935 eligible candidates, making for a promotion rate of 16 percent.

From 2015 on, though, promotion rates for technical sergeant stayed consistently above 20 percent, sometimes exceeding 30 percent. 

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

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

“The majority of the experience decline was attributable to the Air Force trying to achieve an enlisted force structure with too many higher grades,” Col. James Barger, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency commander, said in a statement. “We also found that experience levels would continue to decline unless the Air Force lays in more junior Airmen allocations and fewer E5-E7 allocations.”

The goal, Barger said, is to reach a “healthier” distribution of Airmen across grades by fiscal 2025—seemingly indicating that lower promotion rates could continue for another two or three years. The service has already announced its lowest E-7 promotion rate in years—14.8 percent for 2022, down from 18.9 percent the year before and a decade-high of 29.6 percent in 2018.

AFPC noted in its release on E-6 promotions that this is the first cycle that incorporated the Promotion Recommendation Score. The new system, introduced in October 2021, is intended to better reward experience by getting rid of weighted scores for Enlisted Performance Reports, instead offering additional points for up to two older EPRs while still placing the most emphasis on the most recent one.

Potential E-6s this cycle also faced a new Promotion Fitness Examination for the first time. In December, the Air Force announced it was switching the test from 100 knowledge-based questions to 60 knowledge questions and 20 “situational judgment test” questions.

A number of other changes are being implemented to Air Force personnel management, such as the introduction of the Airman Leadership Qualities and their incorporation into feedback forms.

Air Force E-6 Promotion Rates Over the Years

YEARSELECTEDELIGIBLEPROMOTION RATE
20225,43033,93516.00
20219,42234,97326.94
20208,24628,35829.08
20199,46729,32832.28
20188,41627,55530.54
20178,16725,55231.96
20167,50133,56922.35
20158,44635,86323.55
20146,68438,34417.43
20135,65437,60815.03
20128,51837,40222.77
Sources: Air Force news releases, Air Force Times
B-2s Deploy to Australia for Bomber Task Force Mission

B-2s Deploy to Australia for Bomber Task Force Mission

July 12, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

A pair of B-2 bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., arrived in Australia on July 10, starting a new bomber task force mission in the Indo-Pacific just days after the Air Force completed its last one.

The B-2s from the 509th Bomb Wing landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley, according to a service press release, and will take part in “training missions and strategic deterrence missions with allies, partners and joint forces.”

“This deployment of the B-2 to Australia demonstrates and enhances the readiness and lethality of our long-range penetrating strike force,” Lt. Col. Andrew Kousgaard, 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, said in a statement. “We look forward to training and enhancing our interoperability with our RAAF teammates, as well as partners and allies across the Indo-Pacific as we meet PACAF objectives.”

The bombers’ deployment will also support the Enhanced Cooperation Initiative under the Force Posture Agreement first signed more than a decade ago by the U.S. and Australia.

Collaboration between the two nations has increased even more recently, with the announcement of the AUKUS agreement, which will include enhanced air and space cooperation, as the allies look to challenge Chinese influence in the region.

More concretely, recent bomber missions in the Indo-Pacific have included training with the Royal Australian Air Force. 

In 2020, Whiteman B-2s deployed to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia then flew over Australian training areas while Marines and Australian troops trained together to control the strikes. In 2016, a B-2 from Whiteman landed at RAAF Base Tindal. Most recently, B-1s that deployed to Guam in June conducted hot pit refueling operations with the RAAF in Australia.

Those B-1B Lancers arrived home to Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., on July 4 to finish their bomber task force rotation. Less than a week later, the B-2s from Whiteman arrived in Australia.

This past March, a B-2 from the 509th Bomb Wing became the first bomber of its kind to land at RAAF Base Amberley, part of a quick turnaround amid more than 50 hours of flying. During that mission, the B-2 integrated with Australian F-35s, EA-18 Growlers, and F/A-18F Super Hornets, as well as American F-16s and F-22s.

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., arrives in support of a bomber task force training exercise at Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley, Australia, July 10, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Dylan Nuckolls.
Construction of Gulf War Memorial Begins on the National Mall

Construction of Gulf War Memorial Begins on the National Mall

July 12, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The installation of a new monument in Washington, D.C., recognizing Gulf War veterans begins July 14 with the formal groundbreaking of the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial.

Situated on the National Mall to the north of the Lincoln Memorial, the new park-like monument will honor veterans who served on Active duty in support of the two operations. 

The memorial commemorates “the service and sacrifice” of the military personnel who from 1991 to 1992 “liberated Kuwait from Iraq and defended Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula from further invasion,” according to information from the National Desert Storm Memorial Association. Kuwait is the lead donor contributing to the memorial.

Derived from Gulf War veterans’ responses to a five-question survey, the monument’s design presents the war’s historical events and significance along with the “unique environmental and battle conditions experienced” by the troops who fought in it, according to the association. 

Survey replies led the association to conclude that the design should reflect the war’s desert environment; should include a statue of Soldiers wearing chemical warfare protective gear; and should represent the war’s so-called “left hook” maneuver by ground troops—a trick by which the U.S. Army cut off supplies and prompted Iraqi forces’ retreat. 

After consideration, the association chose not to feature the names of service members who died in the war because doing so “would omit the names of so many of our comrades who were lost outside of the parameters” of the dates bookending the two operations; and because its educational purpose is distinct from that of monuments such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which is meant instead as “a place of mourning, healing, and reconciliation.”

Gulf War
An artist’s rendering of the National Desert Storm and Desert Shield Memorial. Image courtesy of the National Desert Storm Memorial Association.

“This memorial represents and includes many degrees of sacrifice,” according to the association, including that of those who died in theater, those who since died as a result, “and those who are currently suffering as a result of their honorable service.”

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies, served as a principal architect of Desert Storm’s air campaign and said the war was historically significant because, among other reasons, it “set expectations for low casualties,” “presaged the age of precision weapons,” marked the first use of a joint force concept of operations, and was the first time “airpower was the key force” in achieving victory.

The association intends to complete the memorial’s construction by Veterans Day of 2024. The groundbreaking will be livestreamed at www.ndswm.org/live at 10 a.m. Eastern time July 14. 

Active-Duty Fighter, Tanker Squadrons Join Guard Wings in NJ, NH

Active-Duty Fighter, Tanker Squadrons Join Guard Wings in NJ, NH

July 11, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

Two Active-duty squadrons joined wings of the Air National Guard in ceremonies July 8. The 306th Fighter Squadron became an associate of New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing, and the 64th Air Refueling Squadron activated under the auspices of New Hampshire’s 157th Air Refueling Wing.

The approximately 50 Active-duty Airmen of the 306th Fighter Squadron represent the 10th and final fighter squadron to associate with a Guard or Reserve wing under Air Combat Command’s restructuring to achieve the objective of “total force integration,” according to a news release from the New Jersey Air National Guard.

A spokesperson for the wing confirmed that the Active-duty Airmen and their families will move to the area of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., where the wing has its base at Atlantic City International Airport.  

Col. Derek B. Routt, commander of New Jersey’s 177th Fighter Wing, called the concept of total force integration “a critical piece of our nation’s combat readiness” in the release. The new squadron’s maintainers, pilots, and support personnel will become “fully integrated” into the wing and “support the increased maintenance requirements of the 177th’s F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft fleet, bolstering the fleet’s flying combat readiness.” 

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel O’Neal, 306th Fighter Squadron commander, second from right, greets his family after the activation ceremony for the newly installed 306th Fighter Squadron on July 8, 2022 at the 177th Fighter Wing, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. O’Neal will lead approximately 50 active duty Airmen, including pilots and maintainers, in bolstering the Air Force air combat mission.

Assigning Active-duty personnel to the wing allows Air Combat Command (ACC) to gain “more experienced fighter pilots,” while the Guard or Reserve unit on the receiving end “benefits from the infusion of people and flying hours provided by the regular Air Force,” said Lt. Col. Anthony M. Mulia, deputy commander of ACC’s 495th Fighter Group, which is supplying the Active-duty personnel to the Guard wing. 

In such a relationship, called an Active association, the Active-duty Air Force provides personnel while the host Guard or Reserve wing supplies the equipment, according to the release. 

At Pease Air National Guard Base in Newington, N.H., the 64th Air Refueling Squadron reactivated July 8 to fly KC-46 refueling missions under the state’s 157th Air Refueling Wing with its 12 Pegasus tankers. The 64th ARS was originally at Pease “in support of the since-divested KC-135,” according to a news release.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have you all back,” said Maj. Gen. David J. Mikolaities, adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard, in the release, while also recognizing the support of the state’s congressional delegation. The new squadron will amount to about 160 Airmen by December 2023.

The wing displayed one of its KC-46s nicknamed “Spirt of Portsmouth” for the ceremony, its tail painted red, white, and blue and overlaid with a 16-foot-tall National Guard Minuteman logo.

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works Sees Value in MUM-T, Autonomous Aircraft

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works Sees Value in MUM-T, Autonomous Aircraft

July 11, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Teams of autonomous aircraft collaborating with a crewed airplane, in which each aircraft in the formation performs a unique mission on its own, is far more effective than the so-called “loyal wingman” approach, in which a piloted aircraft pairs with just one similarly-equipped, autonomous multimission aircraft—or so Lockheed Martin has concluded. It also found cost effectiveness in pairing expensive but survivable uncrewed systems with relatively cheap ones.

So said John Clark, the new head of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs unit, or Skunk Works. Clark, who has had a career with the ADP unit in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and uncrewed aircraft, has been running the unit since April, when previous general manager Jeff Babione retired.

The concept is the same one the Air Force has been touting with its Next Generation Air Dominance program, which the service calls a “family” of systems that can collaboratively defeat a high-level adversary. The industry has come to refer to manned-unmanned teaming by the acronym MUM-T.

Lockheed Martin has applied its “pretty formidable operational analysis” capability to looking at many approaches to future air combat with an eye toward the “value proposition,” Clark said in a Zoom call with defense reporters.

The company concluded that pairing a high-end crewed aircraft with a number of uncrewed types “matched” to it in speed and stealth, along with a number of less costly or even expendable platforms, offers the most effective combination against a peer adversary’s air defenses, Clark said. He said the uncrewed aircraft work best in a “detached” way, in which they function independently, rather than in an “attached” way, in which they effectively depend on direction from the crewed airplane. The uncrewed aircraft need freedom of maneuver, he said.

The combination is a winner in the context of “the first 10 days” of a fight with a peer adversary, Clark said. “That’s where you’re going to make a difference.”

That period will also be the riskiest period of a war, and “these team members, that are uncrewed, we can take more risk with them … Being able to get better intelligence data, or, if we really need to take out an important command-and-control node in the adversary’s air capability, maybe these systems—even though they’re higher-end—they’re going to go on a one-way mission to ensure that system is taken out. And that unlocks a lot of other capabilities.”

The best results in the analysis were achieved “when you started to have a distributed team. And when that distributed team was operating each with their own unique roles,” Clark said.

He made an analogy to a disciplined soccer team spread out over a wide area moving the ball toward the goal, versus a team of youngsters all crowded around the ball. The latter draws defenders’ attention to where the ball is, he observed.

One “adjunct” of the team would be a highly stealthy platform that would fly ahead of the formation with four or so AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) to shoot down defenders, Clark said. He described it as a “remote weapon station” for the manned aircraft, further back.   

Clark said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall “has started to expand on the CONOPS” for NGAD wherein “you actually have systems that are speed matched—they are signature matched” with the main, crewed airplane. “So the price point goes up … but you’re likely to get them back each time because they’re better equipped.” At the same time, “expendable” or “attritable” aircraft would also be part of the formation, low enough in cost that their loss or deliberate destruction wouldn’t be too onerous, he said. He drew a distinction between those terms, saying attritables are higher-cost than expendables.

“There’s an opportunity there” for saving money with expendable aircraft, he said, but they must be “survivability matched,” meaning that while they might not keep up with the fastest members of the formation, they won’t tip off the defenders about where to look for the rest of the team.   

Another conclusion was that the human pilot in the formation shouldn’t have to do too much work to manage the other aircraft, as the pilot already has a “pretty heavy burden” dealing with the unfolding air battle. So the level of autonomy for the other aircraft must be high, Clark said.

Clark said Lockheed Martin is deep in evaluating what specific missions the collaborative aircraft should be performing, such as electronic warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses, and secure communications.  

“In a basic” formation, he said, “you’re going to be looking at two to four of these adjunct systems.” But in defining what’s in the formation, “the challenge is, where do you draw the boundary, because there are multiple, interconnected nodes that are all collaborating with one another.”

Maybe, he said, “some of those systems are around NGAD, but maybe there are some systems that are farther ahead with IRSTs [infrared search-and-track devices] on it, and those IRSTs are providing information and cuing being pushed back” to the fleet, “or maybe they have small AMTI [air moving target indication] radars on them, providing an air picture flowing back to other systems carrying weapons and working in conjunction with NGAD.”

The boundaries of the distributed team “gets a little bit tricky,” Clark said, especially when satellites or surface vessels are also involved as sensing systems.

“We’re really looking at bigger than … the loyal wingman” concept, he said. “We have to capitalize on everything in JADO [joint all-domain operations] … to link these systems together and focus more on the data.”

Clark said munitions carried by the collaborative aircraft will have a big effect on the types of formations and the missions they’ll have, or whether they come back to be re-used.

“We have looked at” scenarios in which the uncrewed aircraft “actually ends with a bang, and we take advantage of everything it has up until that point.”

Everyone doing analysis of the future air battle comes to a common conclusion that “there’s not enough weapons close to the fight,” Clark said. The collaborative formation brings more weapons forward, he said, and “weapons are more effective” the closer they are to the target when launched. Less can go wrong—fewer get detected, shot down, or jammed or go off course—when that’s the case, he said.

Today’s fifth-generation aircraft have to carry their weapons internally to be stealthy, Clark said, and unmanned adjuncts could be an extra magazine. The fourth-generation F-15EX, though, will have to shoot from far short of the battle line “because their survivability is compromised,” forcing them to shoot more expensive standoff munitions, he said.

Autonomous adjuncts could be operational in “the next three [to] four years,” Clark said.

Because “expendables … have a lower price point … we’re looking at ways to get them out there much sooner, to have that option available … for our folks in the Pacific to have that tool in their toolbox, should they need it.”

In the medium term—“the early 2030s”—the rest of the concept could be fleshed out with operational craft, Clark said. It meshes well with USAF’s agile combat employment model, because uncrewed aircraft could operate from a variety of basing options.

Air Force Warns of Lower NCO Promotion Rates in Coming Years

Air Force Warns of Lower NCO Promotion Rates in Coming Years

July 11, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is expecting lower promotion rates for some enlisted noncommissioned officers—and that drop could last several years, the service announced July 7.

In particular, grades E-5 through E-7 will be affected, according to a service press release, due to recent enlisted grade structure revisions and high retention.

The announcement from the Air Force comes just a few months after the service announced its lowest E-7 promotion rate in years—14.8 percent, down from 18.9 percent the year before and a decade-high of 29.6 percent in 2018.

At the time of announcing the recent E-7 rate, the Air Force Personnel Center noted that an enlisted grade structure revision had resulted in a 0.5 percent decrease in master sergeant authorizations, while the number of eligible technical sergeants increased. AFPC did not, however, give any indication as to whether other grades would also be affected or if the trend would continue over time.

E-5 and E-6 promotion rates for 2022 have not been released yet—AFPC took to social media July 11 to announce that the public release for E-6s is coming the week of July 18-22—but given the expected trends, they’ll presumably fall short of 2021’s numbers, a 35.06 percent promotion rate for E-5s and a 26.94 percent rate for E-6s. In recent years, those figures have regularly stayed above 25 percent.

A number of factors are likely to keep promotion rates low. In addition to the enlisted grade structure revisions, the Air Force saw retention spike amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the service’s end strength is projected to be mostly flat in the coming years, after rising modestly over the previous several years.

All of that combined will make for fewer opportunities for promotion—but the Air Force says that is necessary to combat a decline in experience among Airmen.

“The majority of the experience decline was attributable to the Air Force trying to achieve an enlisted force structure with too many higher grades,” Col. James Barger, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency commander, said in a release. “We also found that experience levels would continue to decline unless the Air Force lays in more junior Airmen allocations and fewer E5-E7 allocations.”

The goal, Barger said, is to reach a “healthier” distribution of Airmen across grades by fiscal 2025—seemingly indicating that lower promotion rates could continue for another two or three years. Air Force leaders say such moves will ensure that Airmen gain valuable experience in their current grades before moving on to more supervisory roles—an average of one extra year each at E-5 and E-6.

“We value the experience Airmen bring to their work centers and we want to ensure we are aligning our enlisted force grade structure appropriately,” Lt. Gen. Caroline Miller, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, said in a release. “Although this news may be discouraging for some, this revision is absolutely needed and allows us to grow the Air Force our nation needs.” 

These moves coincide with other changes to Air Force personnel management, such as the introduction of the Airman Leadership Qualities, their incorporation into feedback forms, and changes to how Enlisted Performance Reports are scored in the Enlisted Evaluation System. The service also unveiled its new Enlisted Force Development Action Plan on Jan. 12, outlining 28 force development objectives to be completed over the next two years.

At the same time, the service’s recruiting leaders have started expressing concerns about the challenges of getting new Airmen—the Pentagon as a whole is facing a recruiting problem across the military. If the Air Force misses its recruiting goals in the coming years, that could make balancing the enlisted corps across grades even harder.

Air Force E-7 Promotion Rates Over the Years

YearEligiblePromotedPercentage Rate
202227,2964,04014.80
202124,7214,67618.92
202022,2864,64920.86
201919,4224,73324.37
201820,8666,17629.60
201720,1695,16625.61
201621,5045,01923.34
201523,6195,30122.44
201422,6784,07317.96
201337,6085,65415.03
201219,8095,46427.58
201119,5386,61833.87
201021,8295,42424.85
Unleashing Tech so Airmen Can ‘Train as They Fight’

Unleashing Tech so Airmen Can ‘Train as They Fight’

July 11, 2022

Air Force leaders want Airmen to train as they fight, but the barriers to executing true distributed mission operations are everywhere: simulators and networks need to communicate, combat systems need to talk to simulators, international partners need access to one or another component of the live, virtual, and constructive training continuum.

The Air Force is looking for answers. The answers may lie in a legacy program under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, that enabled Navy training with joint and allied partners. Called the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), HII developed and matured in partnership with the Navy, it offers a comprehensive toolset for solving the Air Force’s LVC training challenges, said Michael Aldinger, vice president and Air Force lead for HII’s LVC Solutions Group.

“The Air Force and Navy DMO programs are focused on ‘Train as you Fight,’” Aldinger said. “The concept is to prepare the warfighter to execute their missions successfully. The training systems we integrate are concurrent with the platforms in the field, so our distributed architectures enable the warfighter to train with the teams they’re going to deploy with, preparing them to successfully conduct their missions.”

To fight as a joint force, Airmen must train that way. Here’s how to unlock the barriers to joint-all-domain training.

LVC integrates—live action operators, others operating in simulators (virtual), and constructive simulations injected into both training domains. The goal is the most realistic training possible, so when warfighters find themselves in the middle of action, they are already well versed in what to do. 

“A critical aspect of integrating these domains together is developing interoperability standards based on training objectives,” Aldinger said. “HII’s enterprise approach utilizes common standards, tools, and procedures for the entire spectrum of training, so it can scale from the unit level all the way to the joint and even coalition level. It’s one single set of tools to govern all levels up to and including very large scale.”

An LVC enterprise training architecture provides an interconnected network that enables effective distributed mission operations.

 “The value of distributed mission operations is that disparate simulators located at bases throughout the world are interoperable and interconnected, providing our warfighters the means to train together as a team from multiple locations. That is why DMO provides an ideal solution for achieving warfighter readiness,” Aldinger added.

HII developed its technology and enterprise architecture approach for more than a decade developing the NCTE.

“In 2021, the Navy executed a large-scale, two-week exercise using our LVC enterprise approach with 25 ships and 25,000 participants, including live aircraft and simulators, live ships at sea, and live ships dockside that were all pulled into one, single event,” Aldinger said. “This capability enables training at the unit level for ships, small team training for air, joint training across services, and coalition partners like Australia, Japan, and UK, all together in large-scale exercises.”

A Canadian coalition tactical air control party member operates within a simultaneously live, virtual, and constructive environment allowing warfighters to prepare to wage war, and then practice doing so in a realistic simulation so that they can learn how to be combat effective during Coalition VIRTUAL FLAG 22-1 at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Oct. 24 – Nov. 5, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Deb Henley)

An enterprise architecture that embraces open-source solutions is critical for overcoming the current limitations to speed and agility that are essential for effective warfighter training.

“HII’s enterprise approach to LVC removes the proprietary aspect of existing solutions,” Aldinger said. “The Air Force has been clear that proprietary solutions impact agility and speed because it keeps solutions in the hands of the few. That limits innovation because only one specific contractor can evolve a designated program to solve a problem.”

But nonproprietary solutions are better aligned to the stated goals of Air Force leadership.

“Nonproprietary solutions are important because everyone has access to the data,” Aldinger said. “With the disparate solutions out there today, everyone is developing their own solution, and you’re not all building toward a common goal. That limits who can contribute effectively. If we want to realize the innovation the Air Force is requesting, all-inclusive stakeholder involvement is going to be critical.”

Nonproprietary solutions enable new and advancing technologies to be applied to distributed mission operations across the enterprise.  

“DMO has evolved dramatically, but there’s so much more that can still be done with developing technologies such as AI/ML,” Aldinger said. “You hear a lot from the Air Force, ‘We need more innovation,’ and by eliminating the proprietary nature of their programs, they will get more innovation, agility, and speed, because now you have stakeholders solely focused on the warfighter and getting the right technical solutions in place.”

Everything becomes easier once there is a common interface and connecting mechanism, Aldinger said. 

“With the LVC enterprise, we utilize common tools to support all aspects of the event life cycle, from training system standards compliance evaluation through to event coordination and distributed execution,” he explained. “Then, after the event is over, there are tools to evaluate the performance of the pilots. [The LVC enterprise] offers a very broad spectrum of capability that is really at the center of defining the training framework.”

This is especially critical for developing and integrating training for Fifth Generation weapons systems and platforms.

“Fifth Generation brings a whole new level of training fidelity and capability to the Air Force,” Aldinger said. “If we’re going to be successful with the integration and operations of the F-35 and beyond, we must improve testing fidelity, as well. Instead of having two separate environments for testing and training, they can unify these two into one common, high-fidelity architecture.”

That will save money across the enterprise, Aldinger said.

“An enterprise approach is going to reduce the cost of maintenance and sustainment, improve stakeholder collaboration and innovation, and focus your team on an all-domain future,” Aldinger said. “There’s going to be substantial cost savings in that alone.”

But the savings and benefits extend beyond that, as the Air Force delves deeper into developing the joint, all-domain command and control capabilities envisioned as the future of integrated joint warfare.  

“The future of training is joint all domain, whether it be subsurface, surface, air, space, or cyberspace,” Aldinger said. “Today, all these domains are being trained separately and across the commands. As we head into the future, it must all be within an enterprise architecture so that we are training the warfighter and preparing them to win.”

At Thule Air Base, Lucky Charms Keep the Lights on for Missile Defense

At Thule Air Base, Lucky Charms Keep the Lights on for Missile Defense

July 11, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

At Thule Air Base, Greenland, 695 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the ice has broken, and the once-yearly resupply and construction season has begun under 24 hours of daylight. Renovations have begun on half-century-old dormitories, and favorite sundries such as Lucky Charms cereal keep morale high for the 141 Airmen and Guardians who help to assure America is safe from attack over the polar ice cap.

A heavy fog permeated the base on a recent afternoon, delaying outbound flights during the busy transition season, when service members rotate after a one-year stint at the northernmost Air Force base in the world and one of its most austere operating locations. But with the summer ice thaw, the base’s port is accessible to supply ships for a short three-month window.

Airmen and Guardians at Thule balance the responsibilities that come with a vital missile warning and missile defense mission with the mental resiliency required to sustain minus-12-degree average winter temperatures in total darkness, or days at a time indoors during deadly snowstorms between September and May that sometimes give little warning before a mandatory shelter-in-place.

At Thule, high morale helps keep the lights on.

“We’ve got to keep the lights on and got to keep the mission on, and nobody wants to freeze to death in the winter,” installation commander and 821st Space Base Group commander U.S. Space Force Col. Heather L. McGee told Air Force Magazine by phone from Thule in the final week of her command.

McGee’s role as installation commander includes supporting the missile defense and space surveillance missions of the 12th Space Warning Squadron and the tracking station operated by the 23rd Space Operations Squadron, Detachment 1.

“Thule is truly a unique and exciting place to be, and part of it is within the group, the family that we have here,” McGee said.

“You can think of me as like the mayor of a town,” McGee said of the base community that includes up to 450 contractors and civilian and military personnel from Denmark, Canada, and Greenland. “We provide all the support functions so that space mission can function, so the scientists can come up here and do their research, and so the Space Force and Air Force can project power, or project forces, from this unique Arctic location.”

Most personnel at the 821st Space Base Group Serve oversee the contractors who maintain base operations and repair equipment. Other Airmen and Guardians handle communications, personnel, medical services, logistics, civil engineering, air traffic control, aircraft and vehicle maintenance, weather, and security forces.

McGee said the tight support network and powerful mission give Airmen and Guardians a sense of purpose.

“It’s very remote, but we do have a very important mission, and I think it just gives people a real sense of accomplishment to be here,” McGee said.

Service members pass their personal time achieving personal and professional goals. Many have trained for triathlons and Ironman competitions or completed advanced degrees online. Every day are different social events and intramural sports coupled with access to a state-of-the-art gymnasium, pool, and a new hockey rink.

Summer temperatures ranging from the 30s to 50s encourage service members to get outdoors for “Thule Trippin’,” activities that include running, hiking nearby Mount Dundas, and riding all-terrain vehicles.

Even the simplest American creature comforts motivate service members.

“Today, we are offloading cargo,” McGee said during a July 8 phone interview. “A lot of our bulk food came in today, and that’s always exciting to get, so we got some supplies like cold cereal, which we didn’t have for a while.”

Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Rice Chex made the shipment, along with material for a dormitory renovation and soon, a $3 million backup generator to prevent power loss in the winter.

“The base was built in 1951, so some of these buildings have been around since then,” McGee said.

Renovations will modernize the dorms to improve the quality of life of Airmen and Guardians.

Perhaps one of the most important changes that happened during McGee’s tenure was the beta test by the Air Force Research Laboratory to install satellite internet by accessing the polar-orbiting low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites of the OneWeb constellation.

“Because we’re so far north, the connection is really good. So, these terminals have enabled a much faster—for Thule standards—internet connection,” she said, noting that service members are no longer frustrated trying to take online classes. “It’s a huge morale booster when you can download a TV show or talk to your family.”

Critical Data for Decision-Makers

Retired Col. Stuart Pettis, a Thule commander from 2015 to 2016 when the base operated under the Air Force’s 21st Space Wing, said the most important element of the 254 square-mile Thule Defense Area is a 13-story phased-array radar 12 miles north of the base.

“It’s kind of like a cube with one side mashed in a little bit, and that’s the array face,” Pettis explained of the radar operated by the 12th SWS. “It has all these little antennas. They work together to pulse out energy that’s in a wave form that goes out, and that’s the radar.”

The radar looks out over the North Pole and provides the initial ground-based warning if any potential missile attacks were to be launched from Russia. The Thule radar would confirm data gathered by Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellites that would first detect a missile launch.

Thule is home to many of the missile defense sensors of Space Delta 4 and command and control sensors of Space Delta 6, providing those capabilities for North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Thule’s data can provide the Secretary of Defense valuable minutes in the event of a crisis.

“The data is critical because it provides warning time so they can make decisions,” said Pettis, who now oversees Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education programs at the Air & Space Forces Association.

“When I was there, I had no discipline problems because everyone was very motivated, and it was a really neat culture,” Pettis added. “It’s a great opportunity. They’re going to get a lot more responsibility there than they might have at a big base.”

McGee said that in her year, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond and commander of U.S. Space Command Army Gen. James H. Dickinson both visited to underscore the importance of the mission and location.

“Dickinson went to 12th 1SWS and even climbed up on the roof there and was really engaged in what we were doing here and very interested in our mission and our infrastructure,” McGee said.

For all the challenges of being away from home and family at the frigid top of the earth, McGee said her final few weeks have been reflective.

“This is a hard assignment, a year here. It’s hard,” she said. “I started feeling a little sad that a lot of things that we do as a group, I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not going to see these people anymore. I’m not going to be around them.’”

McGee feels deep bonds with the 141 Airmen and Guardians she worked closely with the past year at Thule. She also feels a deep sense of accomplishment helping them meet their goals for the next assignment, next promotion, or getting a coveted job.

“I’m going to miss leading and being a part of this team because it is really a unique, close-knit, very professional team that’s very engaging, and helped me get through my time here without my family because they’ve been like a family to me,” she said. “People here, they’re passionate about what they do. They’re dedicated. It takes a very resilient Airman or Guardian to be up here, and the people that are here are truly knocking it out of the park.”

Editor’s note: This story was corrected at 12:15 a.m. Eastern time July 12 to reflect that squadrons under the Thule installation commander’s authority are not based in Colorado; and to clarify the nature and ownership of the command and control sensors at Thule.