Air Force Academy Gets Its First Space Force Permanent Professor

May 2, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The U.S. Air Force Academy got its first Space Force permanent professor on April 29, as Col. Luke Sauter transferred over to the new service.

Sauter, the Academy’s astronautics department head, joined the Space Force in a transfer ceremony presided over by Brig. Gen. Linell A. Letendre, dean of the faculty, according to a USAFA press release.

“It has been an incredible point of pride for our entire Astronautics Department to play a role in developing space-focused officers for decades here at the Academy,” Sauter said in a statement. “It is certainly a historic day to have our first Space Force permanent professor assigned; I hope there will be many more to follow. To say I’m incredibly honored would be an understatement.”

“It’s important that our cadets see Guardians across our academy and that they have the opportunity to speak with Colonel Sauter and other leaders about the Space Force as they consider which branch of military service they would like to join,” Letendre said in a statement. ”As our first Space Force permanent professor, Colonel Sauter will bridge the gap between the needs of the Space Force and our curriculum as we build future leaders of character.”

Sauter’s transfer marks the latest milestone as the Space Force continues to integrate into the Air Force Academy. Incoming freshmen participate in a space introduction day that teaches them about opportunities in the Space Force. A Space Force detachment has stood up to help educate and interact with Cadets. And a new summer program called “Azimuth” is intended to recruit and evaluate Cadets in a similar way to how the Marine Corps’ “Leatherneck” program evaluates Naval Academy midshipmen who may become Marines.

In 2020, the academy graduated its first cohort of 86 Cadets into the Space Force, expanding that to 115 in 2021. Roughly 10 percent of every graduating class moving forward is expected to commission into the Space Force.

While Sauter is the Space Force’s first permanent professor at the Academy, he isn’t the first faculty member to be a part of the new service—as of November 2021, roughly 20 Space Force officers are authorized at USAFA, including Maj. Jamil Brown, a fellow in the Institute for Future Conflict who works as instructor in the political science department.

Col. Jeffrey Greenwood isn’t an instructor but serves as Space Force liaison to the Academy and commands the detachment that will one day include “academy military leaders and faculty members within the cadet wing, athletic department, Center for Character and Leadership Development, and prep school,” he said in a statement.

The Latest Adaptive Cycle Engine Testing is A Significant Step Forward

May 2, 2022

On March 26, 2007, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) publicly announced an effort to develop a new type of jet engine “that will enable pilots to switch from high speed combat maneuvers to long-range persistence mode as effortlessly as a bird in flight.”

That program was dubbed Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology, or ADVENT, and it was aimed squarely at pioneering the next generation of combat jet engines. Unlike the fixed, two-stream turbofan engines that had powered (and continue to power) the Air Force’s fighter fleets since the 1970s, ADVENT would seek to develop the technology necessary for a revolutionary three-stream adaptive cycle engine.

ADVENT proved the concept was feasible, leading the Air Force to move forward with industry on two more programs to further mature three-stream adaptive cycle engines. Almost exactly 15 years to the day after that first AFRL announcement, a flight-weight, adaptive cycle engine fired up for the first time in an Air Force test cell.

Engine manufacturer GE and the Air Force achieved the milestone on March 25 at Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee with GE’s XA100 engine. Ongoing tests there will be the most significant to date, with the goal of capturing engine performance data across the full flight envelope.

“It’s difficult to overstate just how important our collaboration with the Air Force has been throughout multiple adaptive engine programs,” says David Tweedie, GE’s general manager of Advanced Combat Engines. “It’s a joint success. The Air Force has been a true partner with GE the entire time.”

Tweedie says that the start of testing in an Air Force test cell is meaningful for several reasons.

“A significant amount of taxpayer dollars have been invested in this program. We don’t take that responsibility lightly and are demonstrating a tangible return on that investment.” More than $4 billion has been invested across industry since 2007 to mature this next generation of engines. Following ADVENT, the Air Force also initiated the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program and is now administering the ongoing Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). GE has been part of each of these programs.
“This testing also allows GE to build on our success to date and continue maturing the technology that separates this engine from anything that comes before it.” In December 2020, GE became the first engine manufacturer in the world to bring a flight-weight, three-stream adaptive cycle engine to test. Testing on a second example of this engine began in August of 2021. Both campaigns demonstrated engine performance that met the Air Force’s lofty goals of 25% better fuel efficiency, 10% more thrust and double the thermal management capacity of existing engines.
“Finally, we’re delivering what the Air Force challenged industry to do: build and test a product-relevant engine that can provide game-changing performance for the F-35.”

GE’s XA100 engine translates to 30% more range for the Air Force’s F-35A, 20-40% faster acceleration, and double the power and thermal management capacity versus existing engines. GE’s engine is also designed to bring these performance impacts to the carrier-based F-35C with no structural modifications to the aircraft.

That performance Tweedie says, “simply cannot be matched by legacy propulsion systems,” and preserves the asymmetric advantage the U.S. has held in propulsion over its adversaries—a critical strategic advantage in an increasingly competitive global environment.

An F-35A Lightning II from the 354th Fighter Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 117th Air Refueling Squadron, Forbes Field Air National Guard Base, Kansas, over the Indo-Pacific, March 10, 2022. Aircrews routinely fly missions aimed at sharpening the necessary skills needed to respond to emerging situations at a moment’s notice. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Yosselin Perla)

So, what’s next? Testing will continue in the coming months in the Air Force’s test cell as they work to gather performance data throughout the flight envelope, Tweedie says. Once the testing in completed there, GE is “ready to transition” to a low-risk Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) program—the last step before a fielded product. With a Fiscal Year 2024 EMD start, production engines would be available in Fiscal Year 2028.

“There are no shortcuts in this business,” Tweedie adds. “The Air Force had the foresight 15 years ago to begin the process of fielding the next generation of jet engine. GE was all-in to help achieve that reality in 2007, and we’re here today, still all-in. We’re ready to get this engine into the hands of the Warfighter, and now is the time to make the decisions to provide this operational capability.”

Air Force Ending Program for Career Airmen to Apply for Preferred Bases

April 29, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

Four years after first announcing a program meant to help career Airmen have a chance to move to their preferred base in the U.S., the Air Force is suspending the program starting June 1, citing budgetary constraints and a low rate of Airmen actually getting to where they wanted to go.

The end of the Base of Preference program was first detailed in a memo from Chief Master Sgt. Claudia Carcamo, the Air Force’s chief enlisted manager, leaked on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco page. An Air Force spokesperson subsequently confirmed the memo’s authenticity to Air Force Magazine.

Base of Preference was first introduced in April 2018 as a pilot program—Airmen with certain Air Force Speciality Codes could see openings available at other bases before they requested moves within the U.S., theoretically upping their chances of getting their preferred base by matching it to where a need was. Prior to that, Air Force Times reported, they submitted their preferred locations with no idea of whether there would be any job for them to fill.

In December 2018, the program was extended to all career fields. Airmen not in their first term of service needed at least 41 months on station before they could apply; and a full 48 months before they could PCS.

But according to Carcamo’s memo, the program failed more often than not in terms of actually getting Airmen to their preferred location.

“The BOP program has historically matched less than 30% of applicants to their desired location,” the memo states.

In response to a query from Air Force Magazine as to why that rate was so low, Air Force spokesperson Laurel Tingley cited several reasons why Airmen’s preferred bases aren’t always granted. For example, there may be no need for the Airman’s grade or AFSC at the new base; a move might cause manning issues at the old or new base; or the service member could be ineligible to PCS or already selected for another assignment.

There can also be too many Airmen applying for too few spots. Florida is especially popular as a requested locale—MacDill Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base, and Hurlburt Field were all among the top five requested BOP locations.

The memo gives no other reason for the program’s suspension, but when asked by Air Force Magazine, Tingley said that doing so will save the Air Force $8 million, “which will allow us to operate within the projected FY23 budget.”

Until May 31, career Airmen will still be able to submit Base of Preference applications to the Air Force Personnel Center. And Tingley noted that Airmen will still have a chance to voluntarily move after that by utilizing programs such as the EQUAL Plus Advertisements and Developmental Special Duty.

But while BOP is going away for career Airmen, it is still in place for first-term Airmen—they must complete eight months on station before applying and 12 months on station before moving; have satisfied certain time-in-service requirements based on their enlistment term; have a Career Job Reservation; and must reenlist within 30 days of being approved.

While career Airmen will have one less path to potentially move to a new location, top officials have said that they are looking to increase stability and limit PCS moves in hopes of retaining more talent.

Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, told Congress in February that the Air Force is emphasizing permanent change of assignment, in which Airmen change jobs without changing location, and its new remote work and telework policies.

Nearly All Airmen Discharged Over COVID-19 Vaccine Get General Discharges

April 29, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force has now separated 287 Airmen for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly all of them have received general discharges.

Of those booted from service, 281 received general discharges under honorable conditions—just shy of 98 percent. Five others received honorable discharges, and one got an entry-level discharge, acting deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services Gwendolyn R. Defilippi told the Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittee April 27.

The Space Force, meanwhile, has yet to discharge a single Guardian for vaccine refusal, USSF Chief Human Capital Officer Patricia Mulcahy told the congressional panel.

Every other service has kicked out more service members over the vaccine than the Air Force. The Marine Corps has separated 1,968 Marines; the Navy has discharged 798 Sailors; and the Army has booted 345 Soldiers.

The 287 Airmen separated represent roughly 0.05 percent of all Active-duty, Reserve, and Guard Airmen.

Under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, service members who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine cannot receive anything less than a general discharge under honorable conditions.

The services, however, have taken very different approaches beyond that. The Marine Corps has given 78 percent of those it separated a general discharge, while the Navy has given all honorable discharges. The Air Force has granted the fewest honorable discharges.

The differences between an honorable discharge and a general discharge under honorable conditions carry implications for the kinds of benefits the separated Airmen can take advantage of. While those with a general discharge can usually still receive medical benefits and home loans from the VA, they do not have access to the educational benefits from the GI Bill.

Normally, those with a general discharge are also prevented from being able to re-enlist in the service. However, Defilippi told Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) that “we … are interested in making sure that those who separate solely for the reason of a vaccine are able to re-enlist if they are able to comply with our vaccination requirements.”

According to the Department of the Air Force’s most recent statistics released April 25, 96.9 percent of the Total Force—including the Air Force and Space Force; Active-duty, Guard, and Reserve—are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19.

That still leaves roughly 15,500 Airmen and Guardians unvaccinated. More than 1,000 of those individuals have received a medical exemption, and more than 1,200 have an administrative exemption. The department has approved 46 religious accommodation requests while denying more than 5,500. Another 3,500 or so are still pending or under appeal.

What is EUCOM’s Ukraine Control Center?

April 29, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—Within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. European Command stood up a 24/7 operations center to coordinate the rapid delivery of defense assistance from dozens of nations to the front line inside Ukraine.

For the first time, the Defense Department described how the EUCOM Control Center Ukraine (ECCU) works during a briefing for journalists covering the Ukraine Defense Consultative Workshop at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on April 26, signaling a rapid evolution to changing battlefield needs.

“Quite simply, it’s a near soup-to-nuts of all things security systems [to be] delivered,” a senior defense official said of the Stuttgart, Germany-based ops center. “It’s a combination of a call center, a watch floor, meeting rooms. They execute a battle rhythm to support decision-makers as well as 24/7 engagement and coordination around the globe with about 40 to 60 people at any given time.”

Large rooms at EUCOM have been converted to the active watch floor, which tracks logistics, movements, timing flow rates, and communications with military commands such as U.S. Transportation Command.

A U.S. two-star Naval officer from EUCOM’s J-4 logistics directorate runs the ECCU with staff from 15 donor nations. Since March, it has worked in parallel with the United Kingdom’s International Donor Coordination Center (IDCC), run by a British one-star officer.

Ukrainian military liaisons also make up “fewer than five” of the ECCU staff.

“This robust, fast-evolving international effort has focused on the speed of delivery that ensures a credible, resilient, and combat-capable Ukraine military,” the defense official said.

Prior to President Joe Biden’s call for a $33 billion Ukraine supplemental security package April 28, the President had signed eight presidential drawdowns and provided $4 billion in defense aid. The ECCU worked with TRANSCOM to move each of those orders of war material from Defense Department warehouses in the United States to staging grounds in Europe and onward to NATO eastern front positions, where the material is trucked across the border into Ukraine.

Often, that has meant C-17s departing from Dover Air Force Base, Del., landing at Ramstein, and then repackaging to smaller C-130s for flights to front-line airfields. That way, the larger aircraft can quickly return to the U.S. and refill with additional defense assistance, an Air Mobility Command official told Air Force Magazine.

Initially, flights departed every other day, but the pace quickly ramped up to eight to 10 flights per day.

“At some points, it has spiked to nearly double that as we ramped up our coordination and logistics efforts to ensure that we’re meeting the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in near real time,” the senior defense official said.

“Our support has also expanded from a single path via air to a multimodal effort [including] air, ground, and rail over multiple routes,” the official said. “Once it crosses that border, [the Ukrainians] have a very diverse route—paths to getting their equipment to the fight—and they clearly seem to be very effective.”

The last point has taken on outsize importance recently. Following the visits of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken by rail to Kyiv, Russia bombed supply routes, hitting five rail stations in central and western Ukraine.

Another senior defense official at Ramstein told Air Force Magazine that as of April 27, the railway attacks had not impacted the transfer of defense assistance.

Defense and humanitarian assistance is known to flow through southeastern Poland, northern Romania, and Slovakia, although apart from the Poland route, it is not public to what degree the U.S. coordinates transfer through the other NATO countries bordering Ukraine.

The ECCU official said initially there was concern the assistance would fall into the wrong hands as it is not tracked once it crosses the Ukrainian border. But force protection and operational security are “baked into the equation” and have ensured timely delivery to the battlefield.

The front line, however, has shifted to the easternmost region of Ukraine, some 800 miles from the Polish border, to the Donbas region. The most recent $800 million in U.S. defense assistance to Ukraine announced April 21 includes 72 155mm Howitzer artillery pieces and 144,000 artillery rounds, along with 72 tactical vehicles to tow the weapons.

Despite the distance, the defense official was optimistic the Howitzers would be firing on Russian targets in short order.

“If you’re not seeing Howitzers shooting in the eastern part of Ukraine within a week, then there’s a problem. But I’ll bet you’re going to see them shooting within a week,” the official said.

As Ukraine’s defense needs have shifted to long-range weapons, the official told Air Force Magazine that while air defenses such as Stingers are still “part of the mix,” they are being requested “at a lower priority level.”

The defense official pointed to the 40 nations meeting with Ukraine’s defense minister and senior military in a nearby room at the Ramstein Officer’s Club that same day, noting the constant evolution of the ECCU to respond to the perceived next phase of the war.

“Needs-based is important, but staying ahead of the problem is really important,” the official said.

“They need this aid,” the official added of Ukraine’s war effort. “There’s a lot of capacity in the Russian military, even if they’re performing badly. There’s a lot of depth there.”

Ukraine Wants F-16s, But USAF Officials Say That’s ‘Not A Recipe for Success’

April 29, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—Ukraine is calling for modern American fighter jets to face Russia’s overwhelming air advantage in the contested skies over the war-torn country, but senior Air Force officials say American F-16s, which require lengthy training, are not yet part of the aid picture.

More than 40 nations gathered at Ramstein Air Base , Germany, on April 26 to consider what type of weapons to supply, including air power assistance such as F-16s, to Ukraine. The war is now shifting to the eastern front in the Donbas region, an area where long-range weapons are desperately needed.

Recently, however, the Ukrainian Air Force has expanded its request beyond Soviet-era jets they already know how to fly, such as MiG-29s and Su-24s. Ukraine is asking for modern American jets, including F-15s, F-16s, and “maybe” F-18s, to shift the air advantage to their side, according to a video posted on the Ukrainian Air Force Twitter page April 26, the day of the Ramstein meeting.

Senior defense officials, including U.S. Air Forces in Europe commander Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, spoke about the possibility of supplying American-made F-16s to Ukraine.

“That doesn’t happen fast,” Harrigian told Air Force Magazine during a pull-aside interview at the Ramstein Officer’s Club where the meeting was taking place.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to leverage what they have and offer them some other unique capabilities to make the problem challenging, and then there’s the longer-term view,” he added. “Clearly, they want to migrate from Russian capabilities to U.S., but that takes some time.”

On March 8, Poland offered to transfer its inventory of 23 MiG-29s to Ramstein, for the United States to give to Ukraine. The suggestion, made publicly by Poland’s foreign minister, was turned down by the Defense Department. Commander of U.S. European Command Air Force Gen. Tod. D. Wolters later issued a statement saying the move could be seen as “escalatory.”

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak told Air Force Magazine that making the MiG delivery would now require a consensus among NATO nations.

“It should be a decision taken by all [the] alliance, the NATO alliance,” Błaszczak said during a pull-aside interview before the start of the Ramstein meeting.

“I’m sure that more defense assistance is needed for Ukraine,” he said, adding that he believed the meeting would provide an avenue for getting more weapons to Ukraine. “My opinion, this meeting is a success, and it’s a very good initiative. So, I’m optimistic.”

Ukrainian officials have said their Soviet-era jets are not enough to evade modern Russian weapons.

“To effectively protect our territory, Ukraine requires at least one squadron of modern fighter jets, such as American-made F-16s or F-15s,” former commander of the Ukrainian Air Force Serhii Drozdov wrote in an April 19 opinion piece.

“According to our estimates, our pilots can learn to fly such jets at an accelerated pace of two to three weeks,” he added.

That’s an extremely accelerated timeline. The Basic course at the F-16 schoolhouse at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., takes about 9 months and includes academics, simulation training, and flight sorties. But even before students arrive at Luke, they must complete six months of basic flight training in the T-6, seven months in the T-38, and six to eight weeks learning basic fighter fundamentals and advanced fighter maneuvers in the AT-38.

Drozdov said the Soviet-made Polish MiGs had received some upgrades to meet NATO standards but that they still have “outdated radar and missile technologies.”

“Pilots would continue to be sitting ducks in these planes—easy targets for the enemy,” he wrote.

The U.S. Air Force’s 2023 budget plans to retire more than 200 F-15s, but the Air Force considers the aircraft to be beyond their useful service life, and in some cases, the aircraft have safety of flight issues and can no longer fly.

At an April 28 background briefing, a senior defense official told Air Force Magazine that the United States continues to provide or facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era spare parts to keep Ukrainian jets flying.

“This is an air force that relies principally on old Soviet aircraft. That’s what they’re used to flying. That’s what they’ve got in their fleet. That’s what we’re trying to help them keep in the air,” the official said. “I’m not going to speculate about the future of aircraft deliveries one way or the other.”

At a Ramstein background briefing, defense officials revealed that a variety of training activities are taking place in Germany and other countries outside of Ukraine.

The senior defense official said April 28 that the trainings are typically short, such as the six-day training for how to use Howitzers, enabling fighters to quickly return to the front line.

Still, a defense official from the EUCOM Control Center Ukraine (ECCU) at EUCOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, said at a Ramstein background briefing for journalists that enhancing Ukraine’s air power was a topic of conversation at Ramstein.

Harrigian confirmed that air power conversations were going on, but he cautioned that training on American jets might be a step too far.

“Collectively, we’ve got to step up and understand what the Ukrainians’ requirements are and find a way to get it to them and get it to them quick,” Harrigian said.

“You just don’t throw somebody an F-16 and wish them good luck,” he said. “That is not a recipe for success, and we want to set them up for success.”

F-35 Sustainment Is Improving, But Lawmakers’ Patience Is Growing Thin

April 28, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The troubled F-35 sustainment enterprise is getting better but is still falling short of the services’ goals for the program, officials told Congress on April 28. And lawmakers are running out of patience.

Leading the charge, House Armed Services Committee readiness panel chair Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) offered sharp criticism of the F-35 Joint Program Office, the Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, and even others in Congress who he said “get off on buying new planes” without considering their sustainment.

“The message for me—and I hope from my committee, and I know I’m going to raise hell in the full committee—is we’re not going to buy more planes until we figure out how to maintain them,” Garamendi warned. “It is a fool’s errand. It is a waste of money by the taxpayers. It’s a bright, shiny machine until it doesn’t work.”

Garamendi wasn’t alone in airing frustrations. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) called the program a “cash cow” for Lockheed Martin and argued that “we are incapable of turning off the spigot when something doesn’t work.” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), the subcommittee’s ranking member, cited a Government Accountability Office report also issued April 28 that found the F-35’s overall mission capable rate at less than 68 percent, calling it “unacceptable.”

In particular, lawmakers pressed Lt. Gen. Eric T. Fick, head of the JPO, and Steven J. Morani, acting assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, on two main issues related to F-35 sustainment—the F135 engine and the Autonomic Logistics Information System.

Starting in 2020, the F-35 program entered into what Fick termed a “power module crisis.” At one point, more than 40 fighters were grounded without an engine due to maintenance issues, then-acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Darlene Costello told Congress.

Engine Woes

The GAO report noted that as of February 2022, that number of grounded fighters is still at 36—and has stayed above 30 for months now. Those figures earned the ire of Garamendi, who blamed contractor Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of the F135 engine.

“If [Pratt & Whitney] is in the audience, and if they’re listening, watch out. I’m coming at you in a very angry mood,” Garamendi said. “You gave us an engine, and it doesn’t work. Or it worked for a little while until we get some dust around it, and then it doesn’t work. What the hell? What’s going on here?”

Fick previously said in July 2021 that the JPO is taking a three-pronged approach to address the issue of F-35 sustainment by shortening repair times at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., where the heavy maintenance center is, standing up repair operations at other facilities and keeping engines in planes longer. He reiterated that approach before the subcommittee, saying Tinker has reduced its turnaround time on engines by nearly half and that the “collective repair network, including our international facilities,” will deliver 122 power modules in 2022, compared to 77 in 2021.

Still, Fick also acknowledged that the fleet’s non-mission capable rate due to engine issues is too high, at 5 percent. And the new GAO report paints a grim picture of the future fleet if the Air Force and the JPO can’t get the engine problem under control. A baseline projection from January 2021 based off engine removal rates and depot capacity put the percentage of the F-35 fleet grounded in 2030 due to engine issues at 43 percent.

That figure would be much lower, a subsequent projection shows, if the Defense Department implemented its plans to reduce maintenance issues and funded solutions—down all the way to 3 percent. But the report warns that the projection is “highly dependent” on assumptions about funding, risk management, and that no more issues arise in the coming years.

Fick argued that the three initiatives from the program office are already having an effect and that the projections in the GAO report are outdated.

“The combined effect of those three initiatives all together brought our recovery from the power module crisis back from sometime in the 2030s to 2026,” Fick said. “So we have very, very deliberately worked … to back that crisis and turn it into something we can manage and not something that’s going to ground [43 percent] of the fleet. Now, a lot of those numbers weren’t in place by the time [GAO] wrote that report, because we have been moving that fast to make a difference across those three different lines of effort. So it’s not surprising to me that the report says what it does.”

The author of the report, Diana Maurer, also said “it looks like” the situation in 2030 will not be as “dire” as once feared. The director of the GAO’s defense capabilities and management team added that “we are waiting to see the full execution of what they want to do. But we have seen some improvements.”

ALIS Issues

Another major issue facing the F-35 sustainment enterprise has been the Autonomic Logistics Information System, or ALIS, the logistics system intended as a vast information-gathering system to track F-35 data in flight, meant to predict part failures and otherwise keep maintainers abreast of the health of each individual F-35.

Instead, the system was crippled by outdated technology, false alarms, laborious data entry requirements, and clumsy interfaces, and in January 2020, the JPO announced that it was dumping ALIS in favor of the new Operational Data Integrated Network.

At the time, Fick characterized the move from ALIS to ODIN as akin to flipping a switch. It’s a comparison he regrets now.

“Think of it as the dimmer switch now, instead of a binary light switch, as we move from one to the other—increasing capability, increasing cybersecurity, decreasing weight, increasing responsiveness—as we add those capabilities into the ecosystem,” Fick said.

That gradual process reached a key milestone recently, with the installation of 14 ODIN hardware systems to replace first-generation ALIS servers. And moving forward, Fick said, the JPO plans on delivering software updates faster and more regularly and “disaggregating the software from the underlying hardware” to reduce the labor associated with updates.

But while ALIS has been performing better, Maurer agreed, there is still no defined metric or goal for the program to meet, making any assessment of changes harder, she said. Establishing such standards is one of more than 20 recommendations the GAO has made on the F-35 that are still open.

“We do know that when we go out and we talk to maintainers in the field, they say that there’s still a good level of frustration in working with the system. … They will say that it’s getting better, but it’s not what it needs to be currently,” Maurer said.

Boeing Rolls Out Production T-7A, First New Jet Trainer in 60 Years

April 28, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Boeing unveiled the first T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer for the Air Force at its St. Louis, Mo., facilities April 28, revealing a jet bearing the tail flash of the 99th Flying Training Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, which will be the first unit to operate the new airplane. The first T-7A squadron is to be operational in 2024.

The “Red Hawk” name, its red tail, and the 99th all pay recognition to the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, some of whom were on hand for the ceremony. The canopy rail of the rollout jet was painted with the names of Red Tails commander, the late Brig. Gen. Charles McGee, and Lt. Col. George Hardy, who attended the event. Boeing showed videos honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and linking the jet to their legacy.

The first production Boeing T-7A Red Tail is pictured April 28, 2022. Boeing photo.

The T-7A has “already … revolutionized” how aircraft are designed and built, Boeing bombers and fighters vice president Steve Parker said, noting its digital design and the fact that the T-7 went from drawing board to first flight in 36 months. It “won’t be the last” new airplane designed this way, he said.

“It is history in the making,” Parker added, noting that the T-7 is the first new jet-powered trainer the Air Force has bought in more than 60 years.

Lt. Gen. Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, head of Air Education and Training Command, said AETC is in the process of “re-envisioning” how pilot training is done, and it is doing it “with the T-7 in mind.” The jet will take on the “fighter fundamentals” syllabus, along with much of the fighter and bomber training normally done on front-line equipment, thus freeing more front-line aircraft for battle and saving some of the cost of operating those more-expensive aircraft.

Webb called the T-7 “the relief pitcher” for the T-38, now in service more than 60 years. “We need the T-7,” he said. “We will have it for decades.”

Micael Johansen, president and CEO of Saab, Boeing’s T-7 partner which builds the center and aft fuselage, said the first aircraft shipsets from St. Louis and Sweden came together “in a precision join … in 30 minutes,” in a further testament to the soundness of the aircraft’s digital engineering. Saab is building new facilities in West Lafayette, Ind., to build T-7 components. The T-7 is the anchor for the company’s expansion into the U.S. market.

Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, superintendent of the Air Force Academy, said the T-7 is “the right tool” to put in the hands of USAF student pilots and called it a “game-changer” that will re-write pilot training.

Lt. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, USAF’s top uniformed acquisition official and nominee for promotion to four stars and command of Air Force Materiel Command, also attended, although he did not make remarks. Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. could not attend but was represented by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brown. Former and current program managers and acquisition officials who worked on the T-7 also attended.

The rollout came a day after Boeing revealed that it lost $367 million on the T-7A in the first quarter of 2022. Company president and CEO David L. Calhoun said the company bet big on fixed-price development contracts such as the T-7; and that he will think twice about doing so in the future. But he said the aircraft will be in service “for decades” and will be built in large numbers, and should eventually be profitable for Boeing. The jet also represents new work at St. Louis as programs such as Boeing’s F/A-18 wind down there.

New B-21 Raider Being Accelerated With Overlapping Development and Production

April 28, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force is accelerating the B-21 program, Northrop Grumman President and Chief Executive Officer Kathy Warden told reporters on a quarterly earnings call. The Air Force apparently permitted Northrop to discuss more of the highly classified program’s progress than in recent years.

Warden, talking with financial reporters April 28, said “the government is looking at layering” production of the Raider “on top of” its development phase. Despite the acknowledgement that the program is speeding up, production rates on the B-21 remain classified, she said. She noted that the B-21 effort has been successful enough to warrant a $67 million performance incentive fee for meeting an unnamed target in the first quarter.

Inflation has been playing havoc with other companies’ earnings because of fixed-price contracts, and to allay investor concerns, Warden also pointed out that while low-rate initial production of the B-21 is fixed-price, development is not.

Moreover, costs for full-rate production aircraft “have yet to be negotiated,” said David Keffer, Northop Grumman’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

As for the production phase, “you can think of that as notionally around the ’25-’26 timeframe—he middle part of the decade,” Warden said.

Air Force budget documents released earlier in April show the Air Force will spend $20 billion to build B-21s over the five-year future years defense plan.

The LRIP phase will begin in 2023, Keffer said, “and run in parallel with the EMD [engineering and manufacturing development] for a period of time.” He didn’t say when EMD would be concluded. Warden later said she doesn’t expect a “peak year” when revenues from the two phases will overlap. The company expects steadily increased revenues from the B-21 franchise through the decade, she said.

Keffer said the company marked “a $67 million favorable adjustment on the B-21 program, related to performance incentives” in the first quarter.

The B-21 is “currently in its cost-type EMD phase, with a variety of incentive fees which we accrue based on anticipated achievement.” The program is now in “a critical integration and test portion of the EMD phase, … and we continue to focus on production efficiencies,” Keffer said.

Under the initial 2015 contract, LRIP will include 21 aircraft in five lots. Warden confirmed that the B-21’s cost will come in under the Air Force’s initial ceiling production unit cost of $550 million in 2010 dollars. The last time the Air Force officially re-set the figure was in 2019, she said, when it was “a little over $600 million” average procurement unit cost. Using the CPI escalation method from 2010, it would be $741.69 million today. That, however, is the fixed-price limit of the initial contract, and full-rate units will have more recent inflation factored in. Still, Warden said she expects inflation will “modulate” in coming years.

“We continue to expect production to be priced and profitably executed within the program’s average procurement unit cost target,” she said.

She noted that the Air Force has “confirmed that the first aircraft has entered the ground test phase, paving the way for first flight. And there are five additional aircraft in various stages of assembly.”

This progress “is partly enabled by our digital design capabilities and advanced manufacturing technologies, which reduce risk ahead of the aircraft’s first flight,” Warden said. “Looking forward, we expect sales on the B-21 program to grow, as the EMD phase [progresses] into low-rate initial production. This assumption underpins our expectations for aeronautics revenue to be flat next year and return to growth in 2024.”

Warden said the greater detail provided had to do with making sure inflation’s role in the program is understood.

“This is an important thing for us to touch on, and it’s why we provided a bit more clarity on what production looks like on the B-21 program, as we are approaching that phase.”

Warden said, “We did bid a set quantity. That quantity is not something I can share, but it is a small portion of the overall program of record, … and that was bid as fixed-price. And as we put that bid together, of course, we at the time laid in some expectations about growth in inflation to adjust to the time period.”

She said, “We will continue to look at whether those assumptions still hold. I’ll remind you, we’re not really going to be into the production phase for a couple of years, in any significant way, and so we still have a good bit of time, and we expect that inflation is going to modulate. And we’ve not seen—based on the assumptions we’ve made today—a material impact to the program.”

Northrop Grumman will work to make sure it “executes to those quantities profitably.”

Asked if she thinks the government will shift away from fixed-price contracts, Warden said, “I think we’ve already seen that.”

The Air Force has shifted its thinking on the B-21, initially saying it would build 80-100 of the aircraft, then 100, and of late “at least 100,” although Air Force Global Strike Command officials have said the likely requirement is on the order of 145 aircraft.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has also set as an “operational imperative” the need to complement the B-21 with uncrewed aircraft that will escort it, providing electronic jamming, additional weapons, and likely defense suppression. No costs for that aspect of the program have been shared.