How Sanctions Are Affecting Russia’s Defense Industrial Base

June 14, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The U.S. shouldn’t count on economic sanctions to cripple Russia’s defense industrial base or to prevent Russia from replacing military equipment lost or expended in Ukraine, according to a panel of experts.

Despite a shrinking economy—Russia’s gross domestic could contract as much as 10 percent—its “abilities to finance the war and its military remain pretty robust,” said Richard Connolly, director of the Eastern Advisory Group consulting firm and senior honorary fellow at the University of Birmingham, England. Connolly presented remarks during the Center for a New American Security’s 2022 National Security Conference on June 14.

Connolly and colleagues pointed out that sanctions haven’t affected Russia’s ability to export oil and gas, and that it’s even found new or expanded markets in places such as China, India, and Turkey.

“So the Russian state doesn’t look as though it’s going to run out of funds soon,” Connolly said. “Indeed, Russian ministry of defense data for the first four months of the year show that military spending has doubled what it was intended to [be] at the end of last year. And if it remains at this level for the rest of the year—which is a big if—Russia could end up spending … more on weapons and more on the war and have a smaller economy.”

While some people are “pinning their hopes on sanctions eroding the defense industry’s capacity,” that’s unlikely because the Russian industry usually stocks large reserves of components, Connolly said. Add to that the facts that much of the lost equipment was from the Soviet era and certain industry sectors are highly self-sufficient, and “it’s not going to take long to replace lost combat aircraft. It’s not going to take long to replace the modern ground equipment,” Connolly said.

Conservative data says Russia has lost only about 250 of its modern tanks built in the last decade and 16 modern aircraft. “Now put that into some context,” Connolly said. “Russia took delivery of around 400 new combat aircraft over the past decade. … So Russia is a long way off from having its military capacity completely undermined.”

Meanwhile, the self-sufficiency of certain sectors could insulate those from the effects of sanctions, such as nuclear weapons.

“I wouldn’t expect sanctions to affect Russia’s ability to build nuclear-powered submarines, ballistic missiles, etc.,” Connolly said.

He conceded that Russia could face more of a challenge replacing the estimated 3,000 long-range precision-guided munitions it had expended in Ukraine but said the industry is already “adjusting accordingly,” describing a missile factory adding 500 workers and around-the clock shifts.

“And we’re seeing reports of this all across the defense industry, suggesting, of course, that an absence of components is not yet a problem,” Connolly said.

Taken altogether, the evidence suggests that Russia’s “defense industrial enterprises will continue to produce in the months to come,” he said, “… and we should not underestimate the ability of its industry to adapt to these new and changing circumstances.”

Navy Unit Transfers Into Space Force, Becomes 10th Space Operations Squadron

June 14, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

More than a dozen satellites and the Navy unit that operated them transferred into the Space Force on June 6, when the Naval Satellite Operations Center became the 10th Space Operations Squadron.

The switch marked the first of several space-focused units transferring from the Army and Navy over to the Space Force, a process that began as soon as the new service stood up in December 2019.

After months of discussion, the Space Force announced in September 2021 a list of 15 Army and Navy units that would transfer over, units that contained 319 military and 259 civilian personnel. Later that month, the Space Force announced it would welcome 215 military and 259 civilian personnel from those units.

Those transfers were supposed to start with the beginning of fiscal 2022, but Congress’ delay in passing a new budget slowed the process down. An appropriations bill was finally passed in March, setting the stage for the June 6 Disestablishment and Assumption of Command Ceremony at Point Mugu, Calif.

“This activation marks the beginning of the Department of Defense’s consolidation of all narrow-band, wide-band, and protected SATCOM to include all associated responsibilities for training, acquisition, and sustainment activities under a single military service for the first time in history,” Space Force Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, head of Space Operations Command, said in a release.

The Naval Satellite Operations Center, or NAVSOC, first stood up in 1962 and has operated the Navy’s satellites—there are 13 at the moment, providing global narrowband communications.

“For 60 years, NAVSOC has advocated and advanced American maritime superiority,” said Vice Adm. Ross A. Myers, commander of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the 10th Fleet, during the ceremony. “NAVSOC enabled satellite communications to afford the United States and her allies the crucial ability to provide defensive measures, conduct over-the-horizon monitoring and targeting, and project combat power in areas of conflict and instability around the globe.”

All 13 of those satellites are now under the Space Force, including the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) satellite system, the Mobile User Objective System, and the Fleet Satellite Communications System. In addition to the satellites, NAVSOC also transferred over a facility at Laguna Peak, three miles from Point Mugu, that is responsible for the Space-Ground Link System and the satellites’ telemetry, tracking, and command operations.

The newly formed 10th Space Operations Squadron will continue with its existing missions while now falling under Space Delta 8, which handles USSF’s satellite communications enterprise.

“Space has become highly contested,” Col. Matthew Holston, commander of Space Delta 8, said at the transfer ceremony. “Our adversaries recognize our reliance on space, and they are actively seeking ways to create vulnerabilities to take away our competitive advantage. It is the 10th Space Force Operations Squadron that is on the front lines to guaranteeing our American way of life.”

According to a release, the 10th Space Operations Squadron was designated as such as a nod to its history as part of the 10th Fleet.

While NAVSOC is now part of the Space Force, the formal transfer of other units is still to come, including the Army’s 53rd Signal Battalion.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated June 15 to clarify which Army units will transfer into the Space Force.

Hawaiian Inter-Island ACE Helps PACAF Practice Close to Home

June 14, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii—Some Airmen consider the Marine Corps’ landing strip on the southeast side of Oahu island in Hawaii to be the most difficult to land on in the world. Surrounded on both sides by water and protected by a mountain range, the 7,800-foot runway is near a population center. Small islands rise from the waters of Kaneohe Bay.

It’s also perfect for practicing the Air Force’s concept of agile combat employment (ACE), which requires Airmen to practice landing in austere Pacific island locations as though they were in a contested environment.

“This is the most difficult airfield to land at in the world for C-17s,” said Maj. Niko Votipka, assistant director of operations for the 535th Air Mobility Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, as he circled around the southern tip of Oahu in a simulator after departing from Honolulu’s airport, which is co-located with the joint base.

“This is actually one of the strips that we do practice our assault landings on,” he said, a reference to flying low under radar and managing with minimal equipment and manpower.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii’s runway was not listed in the simulator’s database as an austere location for practicing ACE, but the former F-15 pilot who’d spent the past four years flying cargo to places such as Guam, Diego Garcia, the Marshall Islands, Thailand, and Alaska, immediately prepared to descend anyway.

“I’m wrapping the jet in to get to a downward position. I’m slowing the jet down. I’m also descending the jet,” he narrated above the simulated sound of the C-17’s four engines.

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor from the 19th Fighter Squadron taxis at Marine Corps Air Station Kanehoe Bay, Hawaii, during a training exercise. The F-22s were loaded with fuel that was off-loaded from a Nevada Air National Guard C-130 Hercules. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Thomas Cox.

“The reason that makes this approach so difficult, is because we have to fly it up against the mountains. We can’t fly over land because of local restrictions,” Votipka said, referring to agreements with the state and county. “Basically, we descend very, very fast, and we want to get the jet down as fast as possible and spend as little time close to the ground as possible.”

The pilot started announcing his actions over a beeping sound: slats out, flaps extended 75 percent.

“This is a lot tighter than when we fly most of our approaches,” he said, putting flaps out to 100 percent, pulling back power, and lowering the nose in the direction of the bright sand and nearby blue waters. Just past two white bars painted on the runway was where the assault landing needed to take place.

The jet’s head-up display (HUD) said 5 degrees above the horizon, nose low, with a green bar lit across the landing point Votipka was targeting.

A simulated female voice announced 50 feet from touchdown. Votipka cut power when he hit the ground hard and threw the engines into reverse throttle for a quick stop in approximately 1,500 feet.

“It’s normally very, very bumpy,” he said. “It’s violent.”

Confounding enemy targeting by quickly moving from island to island is hard and expensive to practice, but it’s a lot easier on the islands in U.S. territory, said Airmen who recently practiced ACE in Hawaii.

“It’s an added benefit of being here,” said Hawaii Air National Guard Master Sgt. Ryan Morita, superintendent of power support systems at the 154th Maintenance Squadron, which has 1,000 personnel assigned to it and is the largest Air National Guard wing in the nation.

“We have the geographical location—it’s expensive for us to go anywhere else,” Morita said of practicing ACE in Hawaii’s Pacific islands, the focus of Pacific Air Forces’ preparation to meet China’s pacing challenge.

“We have the benefit of having a channel or a body of water between us, and we can treat it as a hub and spoke,” he said of the string of islands, most of which have landing strips. “Having that body of water presents its challenges in itself.”

To prepare for the inter-island ACE exercise Ho’oikaika 22-1 in March, equipment was flown between three locations: two on Oahu and one on Hawaii’s big island, just like it would be for an ACE exercise in a remote American territory in the Pacific or with a partner nation.

And even though Hawaii could have all the infrastructure and equipment that the Air Force would ever need, in the exercise scenario, communications were cut, and teams were required to select the absolute minimum equipment and personnel to take to the spokes.

“It was simulated … but the equipment didn’t get to us,” Master Sgt. Brian Lampitoc, a maintenance crew chief in the Hawaii Air National Guard, said of the fast-paced, high-intensity exercise.

“It’s nonstop boots on the ground, running, just constantly,” Lampitoc said of the exercise, the third ACE exercise he has practiced in the past year. “I was amazed with combat comms and how quick they could just set up.”

The 26-year Air National Guard veteran said combat communications had set up equipment and had the base up and running within an hour at the Marine Corps landing strip known as “K-Bay” that was acting as a spoke.

Lampitoc, meanwhile, was operating with a skeleton crew when he got word from the hub that some equipment would not arrive.

“I was pretty much frustrated with that because I was like, ‘How do I get jets out of here if I don’t have equipment?’” he recalled.

The Hawaiian ACE exercise taught him to think more keenly about the bare minimum equipment he should bring.

“If a jet lands, and we don’t have the right equipment to get back on track, the assets won’t be able to get off the ground,” he said, describing a breakdown on landing that grounded a jet when he conducted a previous ACE exercise in Guam.

“It was a pretty big ask. And it was a pretty, really big task,” Morita recalled of the Ho’oikaika exercise, which also used the big island’s Hilo International Airport as an austere location.

To simulate an austere location at Hilo, security forces secured the airfield and civil engineering personnel set up a mobile kitchen, while pilots recovered aircraft themselves, exiting the cockpits and chalking their F-22s until maintainers could arrive.

Runners were even employed to fly between spoke locations when communications was down. The challenging exercise taught the integrated team of Active duty and Guard Airmen that they could still overcome challenges and execute the mission.

“We can adapt, we can overcome, [when] we have challenges and obstacles,” said Morita, who predicts that Hawaii will be used for more inter-island ACE exercises in the future. “I’m sure—we’re sure of it.”

Air Force: C-17 Crew Not at Fault in Deaths of Afghan Civilians Clinging to Aircraft

June 13, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

The crew of a C-17 did nothing to cause the deaths of Afghan civilians who tried to cling to the jet when it took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport in August 2021, the Air Force said June 13. Civilians fell off the aircraft, and remains were found in its landing gear well when it landed at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

In an email to members of the press, the Air Force announced the results of an inquiry by the judge advocates of Air Mobility Command and U.S. Central Command, as well as a review by the aircrew’s operational leadership, and based on evidence collected by USAF’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI). Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in the statement that the aircrew “acted appropriately and exercised sound judgment in their decision to get airborne as quickly as possible” in the Aug. 16, 2021, incident.

The C-17 had just landed, and had not yet offloaded its cargo of support equipment for the evacuation effort, when it was swarmed by civilians who had breached the airport’s perimeter, desperate to leave the country. Unprepared for this surge of people and unsure of hostile intentions, the C-17 crew opted to continue taxiing and take off.

“Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield” with all speed, the Air Force said at the time.

Video footage showed numerous people clinging to the fuselage, sponsons, and landing gear. Many let go before takeoff, but video of the incident appeared to show two or three people falling off the airplane from several hundred feet up as it climbed.

“Human remains” were found in the C-17’s wheel well when it landed at Al Udeid, Stefanek said. The aircraft—tail number 2-1109, and which had deployed from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.—was apparently undamaged.

The incident occurred “during an unprecedented evacuation where resources were constrained to ongoing security and evacuation activities” at Karzai International, Stefanek said. The OSI was asked to investigate, and upon the aircraft’s landing at Al Udeid, it “processed and documented the aircraft and the remains” and handed the scene off to “the host nation police, who declined further investigation,” she said.

The aircrew’s “operational leadership” reviewed the incident and determined that the crew acted appropriately in light of the circumstances. The AMC and CENTCOM judge advocates “concurred” that the aircrew complied with applicable rules and followed the rules of engagement “specific to the event and the overall law of armed conflict,” she reported.

The aircrew “faced an unprecedented and rapidly-deteriorating security situation,” Stefanek said, and the crew’s “airmanship and quick thinking ensured the safety of the crew and their aircraft.”

The aircrew sought “appropriate care and services to help cope with any trauma from this unprecedented experience” and returned to flight status later, she reported.

The Air Force evacuated more than 200,000 Afghan nationals out of the country between Aug. 14 and 25. At least one C-17 took off with more than 800 people onboard.

“This was a tragic event and our hearts go out to the families of the deceased,” Stefanek said.

Richardson Succeeds Bunch at AFMC, Promises Speed With Discipline

June 13, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Pledging to pursue “speed without sacrificing discipline” in the acquisition process, Gen. Duke Z. Richardson took command of Air Force Materiel Command on June 13, relieving Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., who has run the service’s acquisition, research, development, logistics, and test organization since 2019.

The change of command, which took place at the Museum of the U.S. Air Force at AFMC’s home of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, marked the third time Richardson, previously the top uniformed acquisition official on the Air Staff, has succeeded Bunch in a senior position.

In a ceremony presided over by Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and attended by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Richardson accepted the guidon from Bunch, saying he recognizes that “the threats to our nation and our way of life are real.” Richardson committed himself to “living and working according to our core values, … keeping the warfighter and the taxpayer at the forefront, … ensuring our work is tightly aligned to the Secretary’s and Chief’s priorities, … [and] to my personal credo, [to] make every day count, in order to fulfill our AFMC mission.”

Addressing the personnel of the command, Richardson pledged, “I will not let you down.”

Brown said there is “no one more qualified” to lead AFMC than Richardson, who enlisted in the service at age 18 and was later commissioned through Officer Training School. Richardson started out as a space avionics engineer and later was a program executive officer for fighters and bombers, was the vice commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, was the PEO for tankers and airlift aircraft—including the KC-46 program—and the PEO for executive transports, including the Air Force One replacement program. He served as a PEO during five different assignments.

Brown lauded Bunch as a “person of honesty, sincerity, and virtue, and a straight shooter” with a “reputation for excellence,” who served during “one of the most exciting but challenging times for this command.”

Bunch managed the launch of the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, hypersonics, and development of the B-21 bomber, Brown said, along with advances in sustainment, accelerating modernization, and keeping USAF “ahead of our competition.”

In a citation for the Distinguished Service Medal, Bunch was also praised for keeping AFMC running seamlessly during the COVID-19 pandemic and leading “the $5 billion effort” to rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., after its destruction by Hurricane Michael in 2018. He was also recognized for “driving digital innovation,” which led to the success of design efforts in the Sentinel ICBM system; for pushing efficiencies at USAF’s depot systems and saving over $500 million by reducing depot days; and for introducing directed energy programs and “realigning Air Force Research Laboratory’s $5 billion portfolio” of research efforts.

At AFMC, Brown said, Bunch “created a thriving culture of innovation and collaboration” and was a “huge advocate for our civilian Air Force workforce.” Bunch pursued initiatives in diversity, equity, and accessibility, Brown said, including a new equal opportunity employment model.

In his remarks, Bunch noted that the new National Defense Strategy and Kendall’s “operational imperatives” demand that AFMC be successful. He thanked AFMC personnel for their accomplishments on his watch to create “negative-pressure CONEX” containers to transport those with infectious diseases; the first flight of the F-15EX; bringing AFMC up to speed with telework; “our digital campaign”; defense procurement act work; nuclear modernization; remote distributed test operations; “S&T 2030 implementation”; keeping basic training going during COVID-19 by “setting up a tent city in a week”; female body armor; F-35 power module repairs; and “stepping into a non-doctrinal role” managing acquisition for the fledgling Space Force.

Bunch “led our Air Force into a digital transformation,” Brown added, which is the new standard for acquisition.

Bunch’s 38-year career started at the Air Force Academy. He went on to become a B-52 pilot and then a test pilot, qualifying in the B-2 and KC-135 as well; and later testing and managing elements of the F-35, Global Hawk, Airborne Laser, B-2, and F-22 munitions programs. He was the first commander of the Air Force Test Center, PEO for fighters and bombers, commander of the Air Force Security Assistance Center, and military deputy to the Air Force’s service acquisition executive.

Bunch has accepted the position of superintendent of Schools for New Hamblen County, Tenn.

SDA’s 10-Satellite Testbed to Host Experiments in Low Earth Orbit

June 13, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated June 14 to clarify that NExT is being “pulled out of” the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System, not replacing it.

The Space Development Agency is looking to buy 10 satellites capable of carrying experimental payloads to integrate into its National Defense Space Architecture, it announced June 10.

The planned new satellites are being referred to as the National Defense Space Architecture Experimental Testbed, or NExT, and will “demonstrate warfighter utility of emerging mission partner payloads prior to potential incorporation in future tranches,” according to an industry solicitation document.

“Tranche” refers to new batches of satellites the agency expects to launch every two years.

NExT is being “pulled out of” the Tranche 1 Demonstration and Experimentation System, or T1DES, that SDA first announced in October 2021, SDA director Derek M. Tournear said in a video announcing the change.

Like T1DES, NExT will be part of a larger low Earth orbit, or LEO, constellation that SDA is planning to build, highlighted by hundreds of satellites in the Transport Layer that will give the Pentagon a range of options for sharing information and serve as the “backbone” for joint all-domain command and control.

“NExT leverages the low latency data transfer and beyond line-of-sight command and control infrastructure established by the Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL) program to field and connect additional space vehicles with different mission payload configurations,” the solicitation states, copying language from the T1DES solicitation.

However, the new name signifies a shift in how the program is structured, Tournear said.

“NExT is a standalone tranche that looks very similar to what we had been calling [T1DES]. … We pulled it out completely to make that intentional. NExT is a standalone program independent of Tranche 1,” Tournear said. “It’s on its own timeline, and the whole goal is to treat it a little differently than we do our standard tranches.”

NExT is aiming for a first launch date of March 30, 2024, followed by subsequent launches in October 2024 and May 2025. NExT will also be different from T1DES in that its satellites will be launched as “rideshares” on other commercial launches instead of being carried on one specific rocket.

Like T1DES, though, SDA is only planning on awarding one contract for NExT, and the goal is still to use the satellites for government payloads that will test new technologies and capabilities.

Brown Visits Counterparts in Canada to Talk Arctic, NORAD Modernization, F-35

June 13, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. made a trip across the northern border, meeting Royal Canadian Air Force officials in Ottawa to discuss some of the key issues between the two services.

During the June 8-9 visit, Brown met with his RCAF counterpart, Lieutenant-General Al Meinzinger, and RCAF Chief of Fighter Capability Maj. Gen. Sylvain Ménard. The leaders discussed steps to modernize and increase coordination across NORAD “to provide continuous monitoring and surveillance capability,” a USAF release said.

Modernizing NORAD has been an area of interest for years now but got a boost in November 2021, when U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Canadian National Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan released a joint statement outlining their priorities for the effort, including better, more integrated command and control systems, investments in situational awareness, research and development, and capabilities to defeat aerospace threats.

In particular, that joint statement highlighted the need for “next-generation over-the-horizon radar systems that can dramatically improve early warning and persistent surveillance of North American airspace and approaches” to replace the aging North Warning System.

Details on that next-generation system have not been officially announced, but the Ottawa Citizen reported in April that Royal Canadian Air Force officers had briefed industry officials about plans to spend $1 billion on a new radar system to be built in southern Canada with over-the-horizon capabilities.

Also during Brown’s visit to Canada, RCAF officials raised the importance of the Arctic region, emphasizing how their country’s “insights have been vital to identifying new opportunities for cooperation.”

The U.S. and Canada have frequently collaborated in Arctic exercises and efforts. As the region becomes more and more contested by both Russia and China, and as the effects of climate change open it up for more competition, USAF has defined a strategy for the region and promised more investments.

“We are committed to working with the Royal Canadian Air Force on modernizing NORAD and on Arctic security to meet modern challenges in defense of North America,” Brown said in the statement. “Our continued collaboration is helping better prepare us to meet future challenges in the region together. I’m grateful for our partnership and look forward to building on our productive talks.”

During those discussions, Brown also “further welcomed” Canada’s decision to buy the F-35, the USAF readout states.

The Canadian government picked the F-35 in March as the preferred bidder for its next fighter jet, announcing plans to buy 88 of the fifth-generation aircraft. Deliveries would be slated to start in 2025.

However, the final contracts with Lockheed Martin have not been signed as negotiations are ongoing, and according to Global News, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi has warned that it is not guaranteed that a deal will be reached. Canada’s history with the F-35 is a fraught one. Initial plans from 2010 to buy 65 of the jets became a political issue, and then-candidate for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised on the campaign trail in 2015 to cancel any F-35 orders.

Now in office, Trudeau and his government have reversed course, but critics say they remain frustrated by the delays.

Brown, for his part, “noted that the increased capabilities and interoperability afforded by a common platform would bolster the continental defense partnership,” according to the USAF release. Should Canada finalize a deal for F-35s, it would join the U.S., Finland, Norway, and Denmark as Arctic nations that either operate or have agreed to buy F-35s.

Latest B-1 Bomber Task Force Deployed to Guam Hones Coordination With Allies

June 13, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam—U.S. and Japanese pilots exchanged silent high fives from their respective cockpits during the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron’s bomber task force mission to Guam.

“When we’re talking to any ally or partner out there, the procedures are standard—everything’s the same,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Carter, a B-1 pilot deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, from the 34th EBS at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

“It doesn’t feel like I’m working with one person or one country versus another. It’s just, we’re all up there,” Carter said on the flight line at Andersen next to one of the four B-1s that deployed recently and have been exercising with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Other partners and allies are to follow in the coming weeks.

“When we see each other through the cockpit windows, and we’re just doing our high-fives and fist bumps in the air, it seems like you’re just flying with someone else in your squadron,” he added. “And that’s kind of, I think, the biggest improvement with all this integration.”

In April 2020, the Air Force announced that it would stop its continuous bomber presence outside the continental United States, ending a 16-year run at Andersen. Since then, however, B-1s—with their three weapons bays and supersonic speeds—have made regular return visits on rotating bomber task force missions ranging from one to three months.

Practicing Pacific Skills

On a recent afternoon, two of the weapons bays on a B-1 were equipped with fuel tanks carrying 20,000 pounds each, capable of extending the flight time of the bomber over the vast distances of the Pacific.

bomber task force — Capt. Jack Maliska of the 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, describes the two 20,000-pound fuel tanks loaded into the weapons bay of a B-1 Lancer. Staff photo by Abraham Mahshie.

Even with the capacity to fly longer distances without refueling, crews typically refuel from a tanker multiple times on the 17-hour flight from Ellsworth to give younger Airmen the opportunity to practice aerial refueling.

Since the 34th EBS arrived, Airmen have also practiced addressing the unique challenges posed by the Pacific theater.

“Each region has its own nuances, where it just takes a different set of skills or processes to get to the right answer more efficiently,” said Carter, noting the different airspace, constructs, and international rules to follow. Other crew members noted how sudden rain showers during the coming typhoon season in Guam can double the stopping distance on the runway.

Carter explained how flying over the Pacific Ocean is not as disconnected from headquarters as it once was.

“Crossing these vast distances doesn’t seem as large or daunting anymore because of the amount of control, the amount of touch points you have,” he said, acknowledging the benefit of satellite communication. “So, you’re not really alone, and not afraid anymore.”

Allies Unite to Deter China

As China continues to rapidly grow its military capacity with a powerful defense manufacturing sector, the U.S.’s Pacific allies are increasingly integrating to keep up. That is especially true for a capability only provided by the U.S. Air Force: manned bombers.

“Countries are interested in doing some bomber missions with us,” Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said during an interview at PACAF headquarters at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

“We do a lot of bomber missions with the Japanese,” he said. “We’ve done some bomber missions with other countries in the region, and we’re trying to expand that as we go forward.”

Zack Cooper, research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said in an interview that Guam’s standoff location from China, in the second island chain, makes it an ideal location to host bombers.

“Bombers and fighters need very different runways—they need different support systems,” said Cooper. “As far as the bomber force goes, it means probably more focus for the Air Force on larger facilities that are a little bit further away, so places like Guam make a fair amount of sense.”

Anderson has four total runways. Its two main runways are 10,500 feet and 11,200 feet in length, while the newer northwestern runways, used for practicing austere exercises, are 4,200 feet and 9,000 feet. The B-1 requires about 8,000 feet to land.

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, helped to establish the continuous bomber presence on Guam in 2004, but he now believes the bomber task force (BTF) concept is proving efficient for the Air Force.

“It was expensive,” he said of maintaining a continuous bomber presence so far from the mainland.

“They figured with these bomber task forces, they can fly in a more random nature,” Deptula added. “It’s also one of the strengths that you can home-base your bombers in the continental United States, but you can forward-deploy them, if necessary, pretty rapidly.”

Wilsbach said that while Guam is the typical site for BTF missions, they can be done from other locations in the Pacific, such as Australia.

“We’ll have some other places that we can do bomber task force missions,” he said. “The bomber missions have been going pretty well in the Pacific.”

Capt. Jack Maliska, also deployed with the 34th EBS, said the Air Force’s concept of agile combat employment, or operating from austere locations, and the BTF concept both serve as a foundation for working with partners and allies.

“Flexibility is always the key to air power,” Maliska said. “Going forward, we’re helping build that foundation. It’s only going to help build that rapport. “

First-Ever F-35 Aggressor Squadron Stands Up at Nellis

June 10, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

More than three years after the Air Force first announced its intention to reactivate the 65th Aggressor Squadron with F-35 fighters, the unit formally stood up at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., on June 9.

During the reactivation ceremony, the squadron also unveiled the first F-35s assigned to the unit, painted with a unique pattern of dark and light gray.

Images of the fighter quickly circulated on social media.

More Photos of the J-20 representing F-35 aggressor aircraft pic.twitter.com/cNl89IruA8
— Fighterman_FFRC (@Fighterman_FFRC) June 10, 2022

Prior to the ceremony, commander of Air Combat Command Gen. Mark D. Kelly flew an F-15E against the unit’s first assigned F-35, piloted by its new commander, Lt. Col. Brandon Nauta.

“Due to the growing threat posed by [Chinese] fifth and sixth-gen fighter development, we must use a portion of our daily fifth-generation aircraft today at Langley, Elmendorf, Hill, Eielson, and now Nellis, to replicate adversary fifth-generation capabilities,” Kelly said, according to a release. “Precisely because we have this credible threat, when we do replicate a fifth-gen. adversary, it has to be done professionally. That’s the Aggressors.”

The 65th AS will provide USAF with fifth-generation “red air” to replicate the advanced threats posed by other fifth-gen fighters from China and Russia.

“Using the F-35 as an aggressor allows pilots to train against low-observable threats similar to what adversaries are developing,” Col. Scott Mills, 57th Operations Group commander, said in a statement.

The F-35s that will make up the 65th Aggressor Squadron are slated to be non-combat-coded aircraft—original plans called for nine to transfer from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

At Nellis, the fifth-gen fighters will help train students at the Air Force Weapons School and also assist in Red Flag exercises, among other exercises and training events. In doing so, they’ll also help train pilots from other services and allies, Mills said.

Officials had previously begun to integrate fifth-generation aggressors at Red Flag 21-3, using F-35s in the exercise alongside F-16s from the 64th Aggressor Squadron, but the 65th AS is the first aggressor squadron equipped with F-35s.