DOD Gives Services More Options for Measuring Body Composition

March 23, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

For the first time in years, the Pentagon has updated its Physical Fitness/Body Composition program, granting the services wider latitude to devise their own systems and tests.

DOD Instruction 1308.03, issued March 10, allows the respective services to measure body composition using “[body fat] calculations, waist-to-height ratio, abdominal circumference, height-weight screening, or any combination thereof.” The Defense Department previously mandated that all services use “circumference-based methods”—commonly referred to as the tape test.

There are still standards that have to be met, though. If services continue to use body fat calculations, they must set standards no higher than 26 percent and no lower than 18 percent for men, and no higher than 36 percent and no lower than 26 percent for women.

If the services choose to use height-weight screening, sometimes called body mass index, the upper standard has to be between 27.5 and 25, and the lower standard has to be at least 19.

If the services use circumference tests, they’ll have to “use evidence-based reference indexes corrected for height that are not biased against short or tall service members,” the instruction continues, recommending that any circumference test also incorporates height.

For years now, service members have complained that circumference tests don’t always accurately measure body fat. In some cases, service members say they have excelled during PT tests, only to fail the body measurement.

The new DOD instruction includes a clause seemingly addressing that issue as well, allowing the services to “implement policies that exempt personnel from negative consequences of exceeding body fat standards if high scores on physical fitness tests are attained.”

The Air Force made waves recently when images leaked on social media purported to show the service’s new scoring chart for waist-to-height ratio—any ratio between 0.40 to 0.49 would be deemed low risk; a number between 0.50 and 0.54 would be deemed a moderate risk while still meeting Air Force standards; and any number at 0.55 or above would be deemed high risk.

The Air Force surgeon general’s office stated at the time that any images released were “pre-decisional and subject to change.” The office has said it has settled on waist-to-height ratio as “the best available method for assessing body composition.”

The changes to the DOD instruction regarding physical fitness programs are less dramatic, but still telling. Whereas previous versions of the instruction included specific examples of exercises to measure aerobic capacity, muscular strength, and muscular endurance such as running, sit-ups, and pull-ups, the new instruction does not include any examples.

This shift comes after the Air Force introduced new alternate exercises into its PT test, as the Army presses forward with its new-look fitness test, and AS the Space Force looks to move away from the once-a-year test entirely, instead relying on wearable fitness trackers and software solutions to continuously monitor Guardians’ health.

The new instruction still calls for the services to test for cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance.

SASC Chair Watching to See How F-35 Performs in Europe

March 23, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on and the U.S. and NATO continue to bolster their eastern front, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he’ll be watching closely to see how the F-35 performs in Europe.

Speaking at a March 23 roundtable hosted by the Defense Writers Group, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said he remains committed to building out the fighter fleet. At the same time, he hinted that the coming months could play a key role in building his confidence in the program, which has simultaneously struggled with cost overruns and sustainment issues while earning praise for its performance.

“I think once we have reached the point of validation, and particularly observing what they do in Europe, we can be more confident going forward with the system,” Reed said. “But you know, we’re committed to that system, to getting the squadrons full and having it be part of our operational Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy.”

Reed’s comments come just days after Bloomberg reported that the Defense Department is trimming its budget request in 2023 to procure just 61 F-35s instead of 94 as originally planned. That figure is also lower than the request for 85 fighters in 2022, the 85 requested in 2021, and the 98 funded in 2020.

Asked about Bloomberg’s report, Reed once again pointed to the tension between capabilities and sustainment as a question “the Air Force is asking.”

“I have heard glowing comments from pilots and operators of the capacity of the aircraft to perform. I’ve also heard, as you have, of issues of maintenance, issues of cost, of sustainment—there’s extreme costs in sustainment,” said Reed. “So these aircraft are highly capable. But the question that we have asked, and I think the Air Force is asking: Are they sustainable, durable? And until they answer those questions, I think they’re not going to rush in and acquire a significant number. They’re on pace to … acquire another group this year.”

Reed also pointed to potential production delays associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Pentagon’s budget request, set to roll out March 28, may include a reduced buy of F-35s, the Lightning II has featured in the NATO response to Russia’s Ukraine invasion.

The U.S. deployed F-35s from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, on Feb. 16 to enhance NATO’s defense posture, and those jets were later sent to Romania and Poland, joining American F-15s and F-16s deployed there. The Netherlands also deployed a pair of its F-35s to Eastern Europe.

At the same time, Germany announced that it will buy 35 F-35s to bolster its air force as part of a larger overall boost in defense spending prompted by Russian aggression. Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Switzerland all are F-35 customers as well.

Just a few months prior, amid Russia’s buildup prior to invasion, the first American F-35 arrived in Europe as part of the 495th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K.

But even as the F-35 program continues to expand, Reed cautioned against celebrating it as a total success, saying there are lessons to be learned from its issues.

“Going back to the beginning of the F-35, it was—and you know, we’ve seen this before, so we should have been a little bit brighter, I guess—but it’s like the Swiss Army Knife of aircraft,” Reed said. “It’s for the Marine Corps—vertical lift. It’s for the Navy—carrier takeoff. It’s for the Air Force, who have a different context, and etc. And we took one aircraft, thought it would be cost effective to do one, and I think we’ve learned that that might not be the best approach.”

Jam-Resistant Waveform for Safer Battlefield Communications to Get First In-Space Test

March 23, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

Onboard an undisclosed host satellite launching in 2024, a Boeing-built prototype processor could become the “first space-based hub” of the military’s Protected Tactical Waveform for jam-resistant battlefield communications, the company says.

Boeing’s Protected Tactical SATCOM Prototype, or PTS-P, is meant to demonstrate better standoff distance, less latency, “and other mission-enabling capabilities” over existing tactical satellite communications, according to a statement by the company. The prototype has passed its critical design review, and Boeing predicts it will become the “first space-based hub of the U.S. military’s jam-resistant waveform.”

The Space Force’s Space Systems Command—in its prior incarnation as the Space and Missile Systems Center—awarded contracts in 2021 for in-space demonstrations to both Boeing and Northrop Grumman under the Protected Tactical SATCOM rapid prototyping program.

“We’re making great progress on this pacesetter program,” said Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, the deputy chief of Space Systems Command’s Tactical SATCOM Division, in the statement. “We’ve asked all industry partners to move fast—to build, iterate, demonstrate, and improve performance so we can deploy much faster than we typically would.”

Boeing’s subsidiary Millennium Space Systems is helping with the rapid prototyping. Part of the prototyping has been to make sure PTS-P is interoperable with other government equipment. The software-implemented Protected Tactical Waveform is expected to run on the military’s Wideband Global SATCOM constellation. Boeing also recently announced the next satellite in that constellation passed its critical design review as well.

The process of placing the PTS-P payload on the host satellite, and the associated testing, will start in 2023.

F-22 Pilot Safe After Landing Gear Mishap at Eglin

March 23, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

An F-22 pilot has been released from the hospital in good condition after an F-22’s landing gear collapsed during a March 22 landing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., 325th Fighter Wing public affairs said. The cause of the accident, which occurred at 10:25 a.m., is under investigation, and the unit is not releasing more information at this point. It is too soon to assess the extent of the damage to the aircraft, a spokesperson said.

An F-22 experienced an almost identical accident a year ago, on March 15, 2021. That accident also involved an F-22 of the 325th Fighter Wing at Eglin. The 325th has been operating out of Eglin since Hurricane Michael destroyed much of Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base in 2018.

The F-22 fleet, which now numbers 182 aircraft, has experienced 32 “Class A” mishaps and 50 “Class B” accidents over the past 21 years. A Class A accident involves a fatality, loss of the aircraft, or more than $2.5 million in damage. A Class B accident is one causing serious injury or between $500,000 and $2.5 million in damage. F-22 accidents of all kinds have increased substantially since 2015, and landing gear accidents are a common issue.

US Should Not Be Deterred by Putin, Should Send Aircraft to Ukraine, Former NATO Commander Says

March 22, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

Missteps by the West emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his latest Ukraine invasion, but the United States can still give Ukraine the weapons it needs to overcome Russian airpower, according to the participants in a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion March 22.

Retired Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove was NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, the last time Putin invaded Ukraine, annexing Crimea in 2014. During a diplomatic era with Russia, which he dubbed “hugging the bear,” Breedlove saw how measured assistance to Ukraine strengthened its land forces but left its air force vulnerable to the pummeling it now faces. Mitchell Institute Dean retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula likewise said the United States’ drawdown in airpower in the early 2000s incentivized Putin even after he invaded Georgia in 2008.

Both argued that more forceful power projection by the United States and NATO, even in the days leading up to Putin’s invasion, could have prevented the humanitarian disaster now underway. But, the U.S. and NATO can still give Ukraine powerful weaponry to take advantage of Russian battlefield disasters, they said, noting that Putin has said he will not stop with Ukraine.

“It’s bigger than Ukraine,” said Breedlove, citing the two draft treaties Putin sent to the United States and NATO on Dec. 17. The proposals called for removal of NATO troops and weapons from new members in Eastern Europe and a barring of future members such as Ukraine and Georgia.

“He wanted them to be signed and legally binding,” Breedlove said. “In fact, he basically demanded it. And when he did, he said, ‘Or, there will be other actions.’ We now know what that was. We see it playing out because we refused to sign them.”

Breedlove argued that Putin’s true goal is to “completely restructure the security architecture of Eastern Europe.”

“Mr. Putin has the initiative, and we don’t,” Breedlove said. “In our current state, our nation is completely deterred, and the NATO alliance is completely deterred, and Mr. Putin is not deterred.”

Breedlove argued that sanctions, as well as the threat of sanctions, have failed to stop Putin. Breedlove also said attempting to distinguish between offensive and defensive weapons is futile.

Deptula argued that Ukrainians are fighting “on behalf of the complete free world” and need to be supported as much as possible.

“We’re a superpower, and we need to start acting like one,” Deptula argued. “I think all is fair in providing weapons to Ukraine, up to direct U.S./NATO participation.”

Putin only recognizes strength, the panel argued, and he has alluded to his own deterrents, including tactical nuclear weapons, while U.S. government officials in recent days have cited threats to use chemical and biological weapons.

Even before the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the United States had been delivering ground-based weapons including anti-tank Javelins and Stinger anti-aircraft weapons, which are useful only for slow-moving aircraft, not Russian fighter jets. But Ukraine needs weapons that can shoot down Russian Su-30s, Su-34s, and Su-35s, said Deptula and Breedlove.

On March 8, Poland offered its remaining 23 MiG-29 jets to the United States for transfer to Ukraine, but the U.S. refused the arrangement as escalatory.

Head of U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters on March 10 issued a statement that the “the military usefulness of additional fixed wing air to Ukraine will be high-risk and low gain.”

Wolters insisted that Ukraine needs more anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, which DOD is currently working to facilitate as part of a new $800 million aid package signed by President Joe Biden on March 16.

The rejection of the Polish offer for MiGs continues to ripple through the halls of Congress and throughout the defense community. On March 21, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense promoted a video, narrated in English, with dramatic scenes of an outfitted Ukrainian fighter pilot walking over debris and approaching a jet damaged on the runway. The video called for donations of fighter aircraft to Ukraine to help protect its skies.

Both Deptula and Breedlove highlighted successes Ukrainian aircraft have demonstrated against Russian jets.

“They are still being held at bay by a relatively small number of [surface-to-air missiles] and a relatively small number of MiGs,” said Breedlove in response to a question from Air Force Magazine.

“The Ukrainians are absolutely capable of employing these airplanes—if they got them,” he added.

Breedlove recalled a 2014 delivery of U.S. radars to Ukraine.

“We thought they would struggle to employ them,” he said. “Within about six months of battle on the battlefield, they were teaching us new tactics, techniques, and procedures on how to use our equipment.”

Deptula also expressed confidence in the ingenuity of the Ukrainian Air Force.

“Ukrainian MiG-29s have been effective in shooting down Russian aggressors,” he said. “They are effective aircraft, and they would be put to effective use if they were given.”

Read, Listen, Watch: One Year Later, CSAF’s Leadership Library Still Growing

March 22, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

In March 2021, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. launched his “CSAF Leadership Library,” intended to “spark conversations for you with fellow Airmen, with your family, and with your friends,” Brown wrote in a letter to Airmen.

A year later, Brown has added 26 pieces of media to the library, including books, podcasts, films, and television series. The latest four, released March 22, highlight themes of diversity, inclusion, and professional development, as well as a continued focus on the pacing challenge leaders have repeatedly emphasized: China.

This is what Brown has to say about each selection:

The Legend: The Bessie Coleman Story, Gardner Doolittle

“This March, we celebrate Women’s History Month to recognize the significant impacts women have on Air Force history as airpower leaders and innovators. Decades before the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was signed in 1948, American women were already making significant impacts in aviation. … Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Coleman [is] the first African-American woman and woman of Native-American descent to earn her pilot’s license. ‘Queen Bess’ refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. Excluded from American flying schools because of her gender and race, she became nationally recognized for her daredevil flying stunts. Her achievements and contributions remain an inspiration and a symbol for our generation.”

Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams

Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging, Stefanie K. Johnson

“If you tuned in early to the Super Bowl for the flawless flyover to commemorate our Air Force’s 75th anniversary, you might have also caught the pregame montage featuring tennis great Billie Jean King. Her message was simple yet powerful: ‘It’s hard to understand inclusion until you have been excluded.’ ‘Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging’ challenges us to think uncomfortably and with curiosity about the intersection of leadership, diversity, and inclusion in our Air Force. Simply being a diverse organization is not enough. We need inclusive leaders to foster a culture where all our Airmen feel welcome, heard, and understood.”

CBS News Podcast Intelligence Matters: China's ambitions in the world and what they mean to U.S.

China’s Ambitions in the World and What They Mean to U.S., Michael Morell’s Intelligence Matters podcast

“Diversity and inclusion are competitive advantages for our Air Force. An inclusive, competitive mindset enables us to better understand our investments, solve our problems, impose dilemmas on potential adversaries, and manage risk. Consider this mindset as you listen to Michael Morell’s Intelligence Matters podcast … as an expert panel dissects China’s ambitions and strategy.”

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen

“Providing feedback and receiving feedback by shifting the way we measure, incentivize, and reward the Airmen for the future will be important. ‘Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well’ deep-dives into the phenomenon of feedback from the point of the view of the recipient and offers practical steps to ask for the right kind of feedback, identify triggers that prevent absorbing feedback, and even suggests ways to reject feedback.”

Arctic Edge Brings Army’s Patriot, Avenger Systems to Alaska for the First Time

March 22, 2022 | By Amy Hudson

Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska—The Army brought its Patriot surface-to-air missile system and short-range Avenger air defense system to Alaska for the first time to take part in the state’s largest joint force exercise, Arctic Edge, which wrapped up March 16.

The U.S. Northern Command exercise—and the inclusion of the Patriot and Avenger systems—were in the works long before Russia launched its war in Ukraine and caused tensions to skyrocket around the globe. But having the ground-based air defense systems in Alaska sends a clear message to adversaries who might consider striking the homeland.

“Having air defense forces in Alaska in cold weather times proves that we can do it,” said Army Maj. Gen. Frank M. Rice, commander of the South Carolina National Guard’s 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

“It sends a message to not only our adversaries but to our allies that we are willing and capable of defending the homeland,” Rice told Air Force Magazine during a recent visit to the base.

Officially known as the Phased Array Tracking to Intercept of Target, the Patriot has been heavily used in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Arctic Edge was the first time the system had been tested in extreme cold. The Florida National Guard’s Avenger air defense system also figured in the exercise, tasked with defending a drop zone from cruise missiles roughly a 40-minute drive away from where the Patriots are set up on another remote section of the base.

Some of the Soldiers participating had never seen snow before, let alone minus 30-degree temperatures, yet they took turns manning the equipment 24 hours a day.

“Being that this is such a different environment, such a rigid environment, the equipment has issues,” Rice said. “We’re looking at training issues—things that we have to do differently here than we would at home.”

One of the lessons learned early on was that everything in the Arctic takes longer. The Patriot needs a level, stable platform to operate, but that didn’t exist on site. The Army began rotating small groups of Soldiers to Alaska in 2018 to plan the defense design, Rice said. But because the ground is frozen for so much of the year, there is a very small window of time in which construction can take place.

“All construction happens here in the two-and-a-half months of summer before the ground freezes again,” Rice said. To prepare for the exercise, Army North built a concrete platform to hold the system, driving rods into the ground during the summer then placing a narrow 4-foot flag pole on top for snow plows to spot the rods once they were covered in snow.

Traveling the icy roads took 50 percent longer, leading to the remote area of Eielson where the various components of the Patriot MIM-104 air defense system were set up on the new concrete pad—even though the area had already been cleared by plows and sat surrounded by four-foot walls of snow—said Capt. Robert Mock, commander of the Texas National Guard’s 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Alpha Battery as he walked through a waist-deep trench in the heavy Alaskan snow. The battery’s Soldiers dug the trench so they could get from the radar system and command center to the launcher itself.

“As you train into an environment, you can get faster, but the first time you have to do it slow because there are slip and fall hazards everywhere,” Rice said. “It’s such a different environment from what we normally operate in that it takes some learning, and we’re making those gates.”

Mock said each fire unit can hold up to eight launchers at a time, but the battery was directed to bring a minimum engagement package, which included just two launchers

The Patriot fires a solid-fuel interceptor capable of destroying tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, or aircraft, with a range in excess of 60 miles, according to the Missile Defense Agency. Avenger, on the other hand, is intended for shorter-range, low-altitude air defense. It is equipped with a 50-caliber machine gun and two 360-degree rotating turrets with two missile pods capable of holding up to four Stinger missiles.

U.S. Army Specialist Michael Oneal, an Avenger crew member assigned to 1st Battalion, 265th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Florida Army National Guard, prepares a camouflage tarp to place over a staged Avenger air defense system during Exercise Arctic Edge 2022 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, March 10, 2022. The Avenger air defense system is a self-propelled surface-to-air missile system which provides mobile, short-range air defense protection for ground units against cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joseph P. LeVeille.

Lt. Col. Tina Madovoy, commander of the 265th Air Defense Artillery Battalion, praised the Soldiers’ ability to overcome the harsh conditions, noting that in less than a year, some of the battalion went from operating at the Army’s National Training Center in Southern California, where temperatures routinely hit 115 degrees, to the Arctic, where temps dipped to about minus 20 at night.

“We knew things were going to be more challenging coming up here,” Madovoy said. “Everything is harder to do with the cold—it’s just realizing how difficult it is to overcome some of the challenges. But our Soldiers are very innovative, and creative, and very capable. And we’ve overcome everything we’ve had to do so far.”

Capt. Eric Grant, the logistics officer with the 1st Battalion, 265th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, said that prior to the exercise, the Florida Guard spent months winterizing the equipment it would bring to Alaska, to include pre-installed heaters and battery maintainers.

“So, it’s not stock. It’s not typical. It was one of the largest Arctic, I guess, installs in the state of Florida to date, and all of this Arctic equipment will stay on the vehicles in case we do have to come back for another exercise.”

During the exercise, the ground-based air defense systems integrated with the F-22 Raptors on alert as part of U.S. air sovereignty missions; the air operations center; the Navy’s USS Curtis Wilbur guided-missile destroyer, which was providing command and control, and Canadian mid-range radars based out of the border town of Beaver Creek. The systems tracked F-16s from the Ohio Air National Guard’s 180th Fighter Wing, which deployed to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, along with some 100 Airmen to provide simulated adversary air.

180FW deploys to Alaska for AE22 — F-16 Fighting Falcons, assigned to the Ohio National Guard’s 180th Fighter Wing, sit on the flightline after a snowfall at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, during U.S. Northern Command Exercise Arctic Edge 2022, March 6, 2022. AE22 is a biennial defense exercise for U.S. Northern Command and Canadian Armed Forces designed to demonstrate and exercise a joint capability to rapidly deploy and operate in the Arctic. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Kregg York.

The objective during Arctic Edge was to work on tactics, techniques, and procedures for operating in such cold, harsh conditions, but officials did not rule out a live-fire exercise in the future.

“I don’t think that we’re limited in the scope of some of the things that we want to do in working together,” Lt. Gen. David A. Krumm, commander of the Alaskan Region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told Air Force Magazine. “I would just say that we want to make this larger. We want to make it more integrated.”

Krumm said the U.S. knows how to do missile defense, air defense, and ground defense, but that it is still working through exactly how to do all of those things in the Arctic region. “We have a very robust air defense with NORAD being here for so many decades,” he said. “This was just a very unique opportunity for us to integrate the maritime and land-based assets as well.”

That integration is key to defending the homeland, he emphasized.

“We are very fortunate this year, for the first time ever, to be able to get some of the air defense artillery assets up here to work together with our air operations center, with our fighter aircraft airborne,” he said. “We were able to operate and organize a common operating picture that allowed us to seamlessly work together to integrate ground-based air defenses, or GBAD, along with our air defenses, and for our pilots and our operators to train and work together in a different environment.”

Arctic Edge included some 1,000 U.S. and Canadian military personnel from more than 35 units. It’s linked to several other service-specific exercises that took place concurrently between February and March, including the National Guard’s Arctic Eagle, the U.S. Army’s Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Capability (JPMRC) exercise, and the U.S. Navy’s ICE-X.

Pentagon Acquisition Nominee Calls for ‘Much More Focus’ on Increasing Production Lines

March 22, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Pentagon and the defense industrial base need to up production lines for munitions, drones, and other key weapons systems—and quickly—the nominee to lead the Defense Department’s acquisition enterprise told a Senate panel March 22.

William LaPlante, nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, also agreed with several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing that more has to be done to increase competition and ensure future systems can be upgraded on the fly.

Most immediately, though, LaPlante advocated for more manufacturing across the board.

“I would say, to start with, we as a country have to have more hot production lines, period,” LaPlante told Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who raised the issue of supply chain choke points during a potential conflict.

In recent months, concerns over the strength of the defense industrial base have grown. The National Defense Industrial Association gave the base’s health and readiness a failing grade in February, and a recent DOD report sounded the alarm on consolidation potentially raising costs and risks to the supply chain.

In March, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond both referred to the industrial base as “fragile” and questioned whether it would be able to surge production if needed.

The question of surging production came up during LaPlante’s hearing, as Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) asked whether the Pentagon and Congress need to make immediate one-time investments to “expand production of key munitions” in the wake of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.

“Yes, we do. I believe—and Senator, you said the words ‘hot production lines’—I believe we need multiple hot production lines, whether it be munitions, UASs, and the like,” said LaPlante. “They, by themselves, are a deterrent, and we need to put much more focus on that across the board.”

That focus on munitions and unmanned aircraft systems—both of which the U.S. has sent to Ukraine as part of military aid packages—came up again when Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) asked LaPlante what he would change to bolster production and ensure more research and development projects don’t stall in what is commonly called the “Valley of Death.”

“One would be to up the production lines of the production lines we currently have—munitions, UASs—and just get them higher production,” LaPlante said. “But the second is working all the weapon systems across the Valley of Death, to make sure we’re injecting technology into the systems we have, because we have the program officers over here that have the weapon systems, and we have the technologists over here. We have to make that pipeline goal and make it a metric for success.”

LaPlante’s focus on increasing large-scale production is in line with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall’s stated focus on delivering real operational capabilities over “one or two leave-behind unmaintainable token prototypes that came out of an experiment.” LaPlante and Kendall previously worked together when LaPlante was the Air Force’s acquisition boss and Kendall was the acquisition chief for the Pentagon—in his opening statement March 22, LaPlante thanked Kendall for his mentorship.

LaPlante’s background in the Air Force came up again when he was asked by Inhofe which programs the DOD should take more risks with in hopes of encouraging innovation.

“We learned the lesson from both [USS] Ford, and we’d like to think we learned a lesson from F-35 that you have to have mature technologies; you have to be thoughtful in the design; and you have to adhere to independent cost estimates right from the beginning,” LaPlante said. “It takes a little bit of time at the beginning, saves a lot of trouble later.

“But to get innovation, what you have to do is we have to build the modular systems like we did for the B-21. And so once you have the open system, then you can be upgrading the technology very fast. And the technology that matures will earn its way on and you have continuous upgrades. It can be done.”

The development of the B-21, which is moving closer and closer to its first flight, has been held up as an example of innovation by many, including Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and then-Air Force Global Strike Command head Gen. Timothy M. Ray.

The B-21 “was designed with an open standard right from the beginning, such that continuous technology can be upgraded for the next decades to come. That should be in all our systems,” LaPlante told King.

LaPlante also noted that increased consolidation in the defense industry threatened to drive up prices and decrease competition. To combat that, he said, DOD needs to once again focus on operational capabilities and overcoming the Valley of Death.

“Small businesses and industry have to see that there’s skin in the game, that they have a viable line of business if they’re successful and innovative, [and] they don’t just get a one-off contract for a prototype,” LaPlante said.

LaPlante’s nomination faced little resistance in the SASC hearing, putting him one step closer to confirmation for a position that hasn’t had a permanent appointee since January 2021. Biden’s first pick for the job, Defense Innovation Unit head Michael Brown, withdrew his nomination amid scrutiny that he allegedly circumvented hiring regulations at DIU.

Air War Ramps Up in Russia-Ukraine Conflict as Russian PGMs Run Out

March 21, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

The air war is changing over Ukraine, with Russia picking up the pace of sorties but running low on precision-guided munitions, a senior defense official said March 21. Russia also has allegedly fired hypersonic weapons, a move possibly made to gain momentum after nearly a month of fighting and no major population centers under its control.

“They are beginning to face some inventory issues with precision-guided munitions,” a senior defense official told reporters on a telephone briefing, explaining the increased use by Russia of unguided bombs, or “dumb bombs.”

The official also said Russia is seeing increased fail rates of its PGMs.

“They’re just not operating. They’re failing. Either they’re failing to launch, or they’re failing to hit the target, or they’re failing to explode on contact,” the official added. “Why would you need a hypersonic missile fired from not that far away to hit a building?”

Pentagon officials have not confirmed Russian claims that it used hypersonic weapons March 19 and March 20 to hit an ammunition depot in the Carpathian Mountains of Southwestern Ukraine and a fuel depot in Kostiantynivka, in Donetsk oblast. The second strike was just beyond the contact line of territory that Russian-backed forces have controlled since 2014. Both strikes are believed to have been fired from aircraft operating from Russian airspace.

“It could be that they’re running low on precision-guided munitions and feel like they need to tap into that resource,” the official said. “It could be that they’re trying to send a message to the West, but also to Ukraine, and trying to gain some leverage at the negotiating table.”

Securing Air Defenses

In a televised interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on March 20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to sit down one on one at the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier in the week, Zelensky asked the American Congress for help obtaining the S-300 missile defense systems possessed by numerous Eastern European countries.

DOD has repeatedly said it is working to facilitate a transfer that would help Ukraine to better protect its skies. While visiting Slovakia on March 17, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III secured a willingness to transfer an S-300, but the following day Bulgaria’s prime minister emphatically refused to transfer its S-300 systems, or any lethal defense assistance, to Ukraine.

“These are active consultations,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said in a March 21 press briefing, “not only with that nation but many others about how to provide Ukraine the kinds of defensive capabilities, to include long-range air defense, that we know that they’re comfortable using, they’re trained on, that they already have in their inventory and whether that can be bolstered,” he explained.

Once secured, an S-300 could be in place in Ukraine within a week. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine already operates some Russian air defense systems, such as the S-300, but is in need of more “to blunt Russia’s aircraft and missile attacks.”

Austin plans to accompany President Joe Biden to a NATO leaders summit in Brussels on March 24, followed by meetings in Poland on March 25.

As DOD works to get Ukraine more air defense systems, the Pentagon has said it will not stand in the way of unilateral combat aircraft transfers. On March 8, the U.S. refused a deal to take possession of Polish MiG-29s for onward transfer to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia is stepping up its sorties.

“In the last 24-48 hours, we have seen air activity from both sides increase,” the senior defense official said.

The Pentagon assesses that Russia flew more than 300 sorties, but DOD declined to quantify the increase on the Ukrainian side. Ukraine had been flying as few as five to 10 daily sorties into contested airspace covered in large part by Russian surface-to-air missile systems.

After suffering more than 1,100 missile strikes, and with no NATO appetite for imposing a no-fly zone, Ukraine has increased its call for air defenses.

Russia may be attempting to strike more from the air before such systems are in place.

Russian ground forces are stalled outside Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port city that would help Russia form a land bridge from the Donbas region to Crimea. On March 21, Ukraine dismissed a Russian proposal to surrender Mariupol.

Thus far, Russia has taken control of just three cities, all in the south near heavily fortified Crimea. They are Kherson, Berdiansk, and Melitopol.

Russia is suffering setbacks in other tactical areas, the senior defense official said, from communications and command-and-control to logistical, sustainment, and surface-to-air integration.

“They are taking casualties every day,” the defense official said. “They are losing aircraft. They are losing armor and vehicles—there’s no doubt about that—tanks, [armored personnel carriers] APCs, artillery units, helicopters, fixed wing jets.”

The Pentagon assesses that Russia still retains just under 90 percent of its combat power. Likewise, Ukraine retains more than 90 percent of its own combat power thanks to constant replenishment from Western partners.

DOD expects a $300 million defense assistance package to run out by week’s end, but it is already sourcing an additional $800 million defense assistance package, the White House announced March 16.

“What we’re seeing is a near desperate attempt by the Russians to gain some momentum and try to turn the course of this in their favor,” the official said. “Right now, it doesn’t appear like they have a lot of leverage to negotiate with.”