Pentagon’s Only Aerial Spray Unit Tests Its Life-Saving Mission on New C-130J

April 3, 2024 | By David Roza

From fighting wildfires to landing on ice to hunting hurricanes, the C-130 transport plane has performed a wide range of missions outside its original purpose of ferrying troops and supplies into combat zones since it first flew in 1954. One of those missions is aerial spray, when a Hercules spritzes chemicals out the back that kill disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, prevent weeds from covering unexploded ordnance on testing ranges, and even to disperse oil spills.

The 910th Airlift Wing, based at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, is the Defense Department’s only large-area, fixed wing aerial spray unit, and late last month they took the mission into the future by testing their spray equipment on the new C-130J-30 Super Hercules, which is due to replace the wing’s current workhorse, the H model of the C-130.

“This is a huge win for Youngstown,” Tech. Sgt. Thomas Wiesen, an aerial spray system maintainer, said in a March 28 press release. “The future of our base is the J model and we needed to prove our spray systems could continue the mission on the new airframe.”

Senior Airman Dylan Miller, an aerial spray system maintainer assigned to the 910th Maintenance Squadron, caps the spray boom sleeve of the 910th Airlift Wing’s electronic modular aerial spray system on board a C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, visiting Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, March 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Noah J. Tancer)

The 910th does not have its own J models yet; those are slated to replace the Hs over the next three years starting this summer. For the test, reservists installed an electronic modular aerial spray system (EMASS) on a J model flown up from Keesler Air Force, Miss. Experts from the C-130 System Program Office at Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex helped adjust the J’s electrical system to power up the machine and install special troop doors so that the spray booms could stick out the side of the aircraft.

The EMASS itself is a new system: members of the 910th used it operationally for the first time in March 2023 to help create fire breaks for wildfire prevention and unexploded ordnance removal at the Utah Test and Training Range. The computerized EMASS sports electronically-controlled valves, which makes it easier to use than the 1980s-era MASS, where valves had to be closed by hand.

“With the EMASS you program in what you need and the computer does what you want it to do,” Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson, an aerial spray maintenance technician, said in a release at the time. “The computer is a game changer. What we can do now goes so much further than what we could before.”

Most of the spare parts for the MASS are no longer in production, and the older system could carry just 2,000 gallons, while the EMASS can carry up to 3,500 gallons. The 910th aims to replace all five of its legacy MASSs with five new EMASSs.

When the C-130J-30 took off from Youngstown with a water-filled EMASS on board on March 21, it was flown by test pilots from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., and crewed by spray-qualified loadmasters from Youngstown’s 757th Airlift Squadron. Airmen fastened droplet sample cards to the aircraft’s rear fuselage and tail to test how the EMASS sprayed water out of the J model. They also laid sample cards across Youngstown’s runway to test how the water drifted to Earth.

When testing wrapped up on March 25, the J had passed, but there are still some crew-related challenges to clear. The J model requires three crew members, two fewer than the H model, according to the Air Force.

“The J model currently seems as capable as an H model for aerial spray,” Lt. Col. Karl Haagsma, the chief entomologist assigned to the 757th Airlift Squadron, said in the release. “But there are some significant hurdles to be overcome due to redundancies in navigator and flight engineer positions.”

The Air Force employs medical entomologists—who study insects and the diseases they can carry—to protect the health of service members. In the years since the aerial spray mission began in 1973, the 910th Airlift Wing has responded to powerful storms such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where Airmen sprayed the chemical Dibrom over Louisiana to kill mosquitos and filth flies that hatch in the standing flood water left over from a storm.

“The targeted insects are capable of transmitting diseases such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile virus and malaria,” Lt. Col. Steve Olson, a 910th entomologist at the time, said in a release. “If not controlled, the probability people will contract these diseases, either in single incidents or in widespread outbreaks, increases greatly.”

A C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, sprays water during a low pass at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio, as part of a flight test of the 910th Airlift Wing’s unique electronic modular aerial spray system, March 25, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Donnie Hatheway III)

The crews flew before dusk and at night, when the mosquito population was most active, often as low as 150 feet to maximize the insecticide efficacy over the spray area. A gallon of Dibrom treats 128 to 256 acres, a rate of application that does not pose a hazard to humans, Olson said. The 910th uses only Environmental Protection Agency-registered materials, according to the Air Force, but Naled, the chemical that makes up Dibrom, is banned in Europe due to safety concerns.

One of the pilots at the time, Col. Jeffrey Van Dootingh, who later became commander of the 910th, recalled flying over downtown New Orleans “right between the big skyscrapers,” he told the Tribune Chronicle, an Ohio newspaper, in 2022. He said the linemen restoring electricity were particularly grateful for their work.

“They were getting up to 200 (mosquito) bites per minute,” he said. “After we sprayed, they were getting one or two. … I loved that mission because we got immediate feedback.”

Van Dootingh was also there when the 910th sprayed oil-dispersing agents over 30,000 acres of the Gulf of Mexico after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the largest marine oil spill in history. Dispersants purportedly make oil slicks biodegrade faster by dispersing them into tiny droplets. Scientists found that Corexit, the chemical used heavily as a dispersal agent after Deepwater, dramatically improved the air quality for first responders, but the jury is still out on whether it is actually more toxic to marine life than oil alone, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine wrote in 2019.

Crews have also sprayed herbicides over the Utah Test and Training Range to prevent weeds from covering up unexploded ordnance. None of these missions appear to be going away anytime soon, and now the 910th has new aircraft and technology to keep pace.

“We’ve known H-models for 20-plus years here,” said Master Sgt. Ethan Sanchez, a spray-qualified loadmaster with the 757th. “So us getting the J-model here and verifying our aerial spray system worked on it, I think, shines a light on our ability to adapt to a new airframe and bring our spray mission to the next level with that aircraft.”

Growing Commercial SATCOM Raises Trust Issues for Pentagon

April 3, 2024 | By Shaun Waterman

News last fall that SpaceX owner and CEO Elon Musk restricted the Ukrainian military’s use of his Starlink satellite broadband service to stymie an attack on Russian forces highlighted the extraordinary power wielded in that war by a single business owner with some outlandish ideas.

But beyond the antics and the angst associated with Musk and his controversial views, Starlink and its competitors are leading tectonic shifts in the commercial market for global satellite communications (SATCOM)—and driving emerging geopolitical risks for nation-state customers, including the U.S.

In the past five years, the private sector satellite market has mushroomed. Global connectivity, like earth observation, is now available from a small but growing international ecosystem of private sector players, including the low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations operated by Starlink and competitors OneWeb and Amazon’s Kuiper.

In some ways, this is nothing new, former Space Force deputy chief technology and innovation officer Charles Galbreath said. The U.S. military has for decades purchased as much as 90 percent of its SATCOM from the private sector.

“And I see that growing,” added Galbreath, a retired colonel who spent 30 years working on U.S. military space operations and is now a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.

SATCOM as a ‘Hybrid’ Capability

Just this past week, the Pentagon listed SATCOM as one of the half-dozen space mission areas it sees as inherently “hybrid”—where it will seek to use both private sector and government capabilities. “Whether that’s SATCOM, whether that’s imagery, whether that’s on-orbit servicing in the future, you name it, the commercial market is going to continue to grow. And the DOD, and particularly the Space Force, wants to continue to leverage that,” Galbreath said.

What is new, according to Space Force officials, is how global businesses are increasingly balancing international commercial or consumer markets against government and military contracts from the U.S. and its allies.

Even established satellite providers like Iridium, which has had a LEO constellation for a quarter century, are expanding their commercial services to better serve small- and medium-sized businesses in sectors like the Internet of Things (IoT), reducing their dependency on government and military customers.

Increasingly, commercial SATCOM providers are “paid by the global population, not paid by the Space Force, so their loyalties are to their bottom [line] dollar,” said Barbara Baker, the deputy program executive officer for military communications and position, navigation, and timing (PNT) at Space Systems Command.

But these New Space commercial players are also more innovative, developing new capabilities which the U.S. military could use, she told Air & Space Forces Magazine on the sidelines of SATELLITE 2024, a major space industry trade show in Washington, D.C.

“They’re not only innovating, they’re innovating way faster. They found a [global] marketplace” that could fund research and development, Baker said. “DOD can take advantage of that.”

**Image courtesy of Iridium Communications**

A Starlink Moment?

But in taking advantage of those innovative SATCOM capabilities, Galbreath said, the military needs to weigh possible geopolitical risks, like Starlink’s geofencing in Ukraine. Officials should “look at who else was using that system, and if they don’t like the other partners, back away, because there will be multiple providers available,” he said. Competition gives the government options, he added.

The risks are front and center in space acquisition at this moment, he noted, because of “the limited set, a growing set, but a limited set right now, [of suppliers for key services.] That places a lot more power in the hands of the folks that can deliver capabilities today.”

For instance, Galbreath noted, Starlink is the only company currently able to offer global broadband connectivity via a mega constellation in LEO.

“What is unique about Elon Musk’s situation with Starlink is right now they’re the only ones providing that type of capability,” he said. “As other competitors enter the market, and his monopoly is eroded, his outsized personal influence will quickly erode as well.”

Nonetheless, Galbreath also noted that walking away from Starlink might not be so simple, even once its competitors are fully operational. SpaceX, which launches and operates Starlink, is a major partner for the Space Force given its status as the only purveyor of reusable rockets and one of a small handful of launch providers.

“So he does have that additional leverage that’s potentially in play, which is why having a robust and industrial base with multiple providers is so critical” across all space mission areas, Galbreath said.

Multiple vendors offer the government options for different kinds of missions, said Lt. Col. Christopher Cox, branch chief for SATCOM, PNT and, space data network architecture at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration.

“There’s different types of [satellite] networks that are used for different purposes,” he said in a brief interview. A commercial broadband internet connection like Starlink might be appropriate for “morale and recreation. Those networks have one set of security considerations, one set of reliability considerations.” But the networks that supported operational missions are “high layer, exquisite, bespoke,” he said, “And the ultimate requirement for DOD is to be able to support that whole range of networks.”

Deciding which services can be used for which purposes isn’t always straightforward, noted Baker. “Depending on anti-jamming capability, depending on the threat environment, depending on issues like, which signal do I need? If it’s [Military Ka band], I can’t get that through commercial, so we have to look at all that … But it’s a tricky question, because it has to be part of an integrated picture.”

The Real Change

More tricky still, the new LEO constellations offer more than just point-to-point connectivity. Traditional geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite communications operated on a simple “bent pipe” principle, where the user terminal points up at a single satellite at a fixed position in the sky, which then sends its signal straight back down to a ground station connected to the network.

But because satellites in low Earth orbit move quickly across the sky, LEO constellations require orchestration: Satellites, user terminals, and ground control stations all need to be networked together and remotely managed.

This means the days are gone when the military could just buy bandwidth from satellite providers to power its own networks, according to acquisition officials and space industry executives.

“The real big change over the past few years has not been to LEO, but to [SATCOM as] a managed service,” Rick Lober, head of military and government business for satellite operator Hughes, said during a SATELLITE 2024 panel discussion.

A managed service puts a great deal of power in the hands of the provider, as the Ukrainians have discovered with Starlink, explained a former U.S official who has worked as a contractor there. “What they love about it is, it works out of the box,” they said. “You take it off the truck and in five minutes you’re online. … But that [user experience] is enabled by the same granular network management that makes it possible for him [Musk] to play God, to reach out and say, ‘You can use it here, but not there.’”

Starlink did not respond to a request for comment submitted through its parent company SpaceX.

A Support Forces of Ukraine soldier installing a Starlink terminal on July 21, 2022. **Credit: Support Forces of Ukraine Command**

Playing God

These issues are not unique to Starlink, Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. His company has run a LEO constellation providing managed services to customers including the U.S. government and military since 1998, but in most market segments they do not compete directly with Starlink.

Desch said he would be very reluctant to turn service off in any area, because doing so would cut off all Iridium devices there used by everyone—including humanitarian aid organizations and emergency communication systems for planes and trains.

Such a move could be a blunt instrument, especially in wartime, when the front line could move suddenly and unpredictably.

“In situations where other operators may be trying to make a choice between activities they like and those they don’t like,” he said, “I think they’re probably doing as much damage as they’re doing good by either turning the service off or leaving it on,” in a given locality.

The problem, Desch pointed out, is in any given geographical area where bad actors might be using Iridium service, good guys are too.

“In most cases we’re used more by the good guys than the bad guys,” he said. “And regardless, it’s impossible for us to tell them apart since we don’t provide direct service to the customer.”

Because Iridium is a network wholesaler, Desch explained, “We go to market through hundreds of third-party resellers,” and have limited visibility into who the end users are.

The safety-critical applications powered by Iridium and the communications they enable in disaster zones are still a humanitarian imperative anywhere on the planet, he said.

Iridium’s global coverage “is literally a life-or-death issue,” Desch added.

But he stressed that, “if I’m ever told that ‘Terrorists are using one of your devices,’ and given information for that specific device and asked to turn it off, it wouldn’t take anything more. … We would of course respond to lawful orders and would jump on any requests like that.”

Restricting service more broadly, though, would undermine the work the company had done over many years to build partnerships with its big customers.

“We’ve worked hard to build up trust in our service that we do things in a very consistent way. Legality is our starting point. We are an extremely ethical company that is transparent as a public company. We are balanced and fair, and as apolitical as we can be,” he said.

Taiwan

Other governments also appear to be hedging their geopolitical risk, up to and including supporting or launching their own Starlink competitors. The role of Starlink in the Ukraine conflict and Musk’s previous comments that Taiwan was an “integral part” of China, were reportedly a wake-up call for Taipei—especially when the terrestrial networks and undersea fiber optic cables which provide the island’s connectivity would be vulnerable in a shooting war with China.

According to the New York Times, Taipei broke off negotiations with Starlink when Musk balked at a requirement that he form a joint venture, with a majority local ownership, to operate on the island.

Officials say Taiwan is exploring its own LEO constellation, and has already launched two experimental satellites. In the meantime, a Taiwanese telecommunications provider has struck a deal with Starlink’s competitor OneWeb.

Embracing Change and Traditional Values to Win the Battle

April 3, 2024

The global environment is shifting and evolving at a pace unlike any we’ve ever seen before in our country’s history. Our armed forces must not only adapt to this new reality; they must also undergo nothing short of a reinvention in light of not only global realities and technological advances, but also societal and even philosophical changes.

None of this is unprecedented. Since our country’s founding, the United States and its armed forces have each continually adapted to changing norms with impressive resolve. At the same time, we’ve also held to the values and beliefs that have defined our country for nearly 250 years.

The reality of change also affects defense contractors like King Aerospace, which provides numerous MRO and contractor logistical support (CLS) services to the U.S. government and our military.

King Aerospace stands firm in its embrace of what could be termed ‘traditional’ values, including – above all – a commitment to God, Country and Family. “All my energy as a government defense contractor is focused on that mission,” says company Founder and Chairman Jerry King. “It’s a commitment to my country and it’s a commitment to touching lives and changing them for the better.”

That focus and commitment, he continues, isn’t always evident in the military procurement environment. “Over my 40 year career, I’ve been in a lot of facilities where there simply was no leadership within the organization, so very little work got done,” he says. “You could blatantly see money getting flushed down the toilet.”

‘We’re Fighting for Our Lives’

Those experiences, though not common, nonetheless point to a disquieting trend. Just as new global threats emerge to challenge U.S. supremacy and power, our country also faces significant political and social strife within its own borders. That may drive a sense of cynicism and lost purpose, even when supporting critical missions.

King Aerospace is proud to support many U.S. government and armed forces missions, including MRO services for U.S. Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 turboprop aircraft.

To overcome those attitudes, “We need to rock the boat,” says King. “As U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has noted, ‘We’re in a race. And we can’t just hope to win.’ We need to get ready for the challenges ahead, and that’s tough because I think we’ve grown complacent as a country.”

“But change cannot wait,” he emphasizes. “We’ve got to move forward as though we’re fighting for our lives.”

To survive, King Aerospace recognizes that it must also adapt with the times. Doing so, while also adhering to traditional values, “requires a values-based approach to embracing change,” notes James Keyes, author of Education is Freedom: The Future is in Your Hands.

Keyes, former CEO of 7-Eleven, Inc. and former chairman and CEO of Blockbuster Inc., is a close friend of King’s. The two men frequently discuss the importance of leadership and a commitment to service – messages that resonate in both the corporate world and the military procurement environment.

Doing so, however, requires a careful balance between embracing change while also maintaining the values that have brought past success. “A lot of companies and individuals rigidly cling to their values in resisting change of any form, because change is scary,” Keyes notes. “But if you believe strongly enough in your values, you know those values will carry you to a better solution.”

King Aerospace offers a diverse portfolio of services for government, VVIP and other clients across the U.S. and around the globe.

Knowing What’s Inside

Change often arises through challenges, Keyes continues, and challenges offer the opportunity to grow. “Entities that are struggling work harder,” he states. “Adversity is another form of change; it can bring about collapse, or it can be a wakeup call that restores confidence and clarity to weather through any storm.”

That also includes staying open to new ideas, even those that may initially seem contrary to the ‘traditional’ point of view. Keyes emphasized the importance of taking time to listen and learn from others.

“Knowledge is the antidote to fear,” Keyes says. “It’s the light we turn on in the dark so we can understand our situation. That mindset also applies to companies and organizations. Accept that change is inevitable; embrace it, even. Approach those changes with knowledge and understanding, and you can prevail over the competition.”

King hones these insights to three key points. “To succeed in any mission, you need strong leadership,” he says. “You need a strong culture able to inspire the hearts, souls and minds of your employees. And you need to constantly review your processes to ensure they are efficient and that they make sense.”

“Whether in the boardroom or in the hangar, I greatly appreciate Jim’s perspectives on what it takes to lead and to serve,” King adds. “We’ve each taken different paths on our journeys, but we both approach our mission in life with the same values.”

Keyes also complimented King Aerospace, and its founder, for maintaining their integrity throughout many challenges.

“I think Jerry stands above most of us mere mortals on the strength of his character, which is one quality you can’t teach in school,” he concludes. “It’s like picking up a can ofCoca-Cola; you do so because you know what’s inside it. The King Aerospace brand represents integrity, gratitude, humility and compassion. He’s built his entire company around those values.”

Learn more about King Aerospace.

F-15 Electronic Warfare System Completes Operational Testing, IOC Looms

April 2, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The secretive Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), which will provide jamming and electronic protection for the F-15 fleet until its eventual retirement, has completed initial operational test and evaluation and is cleared for full-rate production, with initial operational capability expected in about a year.

Air Force fiscal 2025 budget documents show procurement for the program concludes in 2029, after an investment of $1.8 billion.

The Air Force “recently completed” IOT&E, “validating” that the system works to the service’s expectations, BAE Systems said in a press release. BAE makes the EPAWSS under contract to Boeing, which manages F-15E upgrades and builds the new F-15EX. Both aircraft will carry the EPAWSS.

Air Force Selected Acquisition Reports show that “Required Assets Available,” which is equivalent to initial operational capability, is now expected in about a year. Operational units will be equipped with the kit starting in the next few months.

In its budget justifications, the Air Force said the “Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) and Full Rate Production (FRP) phases overlap in years FY 2024 through FY 2026 (following the FRP decision planned for FY 2024), providing a seamless transition to maintain the production schedule. Funding will be used to address Diminishing Manufacturing Sources (DMS) issues. EPAWSS’ designed service life (DSL) aligns with the DSL of the aircraft.”

The initial operational testing phase began in July 2023. The EPAWSS was tried out in an operational setting during the Northern Edge 2023 exercise, where, carried aboard two new F-15EX Eagle II fighters, it successfully demonstrated “cognitive” electronic warfare, the company said. Low-rate initial production of the system began in July 2022.

“Cognitive” EW applies artificial intelligence or machine learning to analyze signals from threat radars and other emitters and determine the best way to either jam or deceive them.

In the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation annual report, issued in February, the organization said it will publish “a classified report on its findings” from IOT&E “to support the full-rate production decision.”

The OT&E program determined the EPAWSS was “potentially suitable” for deployment, if the rate of “software anomalies requiring crew intervention” can be brought down.

“However, if those improvements do not rectify the inaccurate system status displayed in the cockpit, aircrews may lose confidence in EPAWSS and/ or may be unaware of an actual failure,” the director of OT&E said in the report.

The director of OT&E also said the EPAWSS needs to pass one more assessment of its cyber protections, which should be complete later this year. It recommended improvements to built-in test gear, which likely was accomplished prior to the completion of IOT&E.

The Air Force’s fiscal 2025 budget request calls for $824 million over the next five years to finish buying and installing EPAWSS on the 99 F-15E Strike Eagles the Air Force is retaining. The service will retire 100 F-15Es in the next few years but is buying 94 new F-15EXs to replace them. The documents did not specify how many aircraft will be fitted with EPAWSS, year by year.

The funding profile stated for EPAWSS covers only the F-15E fleet that will be modified with it. The F-15EX “comes with” the EPAWSS already installed, and its cost is factored into the procurement cost of that aircraft.

The EPAWSS “provides instantaneous full-spectrum [electronic warfare] capabilities—including radar warning, geolocation, situational awareness, and self-protection. The system enables freedom of maneuver and deeper penetration into battlespaces protected by modern integrated air defense systems,” BAE said. Air Force budget documents say the system can “detect, identify, locate, degrade, disrupt and defeat air-to-air and surface-to-air threats during operations within highly contested environments.”

The Air Force won’t say much about the specific capabilities or methods used by EPAWSS. But with it, those F-15s not already headed to retirement due to structural fatigue and detectability by modern radars should be able to survive at ranges much closer to enemy air defense systems than the F-15’s old electronic protection kit, the Tactical Electronic Warfare System. The TEWS comprises “three functionally obsolete” legacy electronic warfare sets, the Air Force said in its budget justifications. These are the AN/ALR-56C radar warning receiver; the AN/ALQ-135 internal countermeasures set and the AN/ALE-45 countermeasures dispenser set.

A senior Air Force official said EPAWSS “makes it possible to keep the F-15 in the fight for [a number of] years, instead of just doing Homeland Defense or [flying in] a low-threat environment.”

Along with the EPAWSS, the F-15E and EX will have twice as much chaff and flares onboard with which to spoof enemy radars and infrared tracking systems.

“Our close collaboration with the U.S. Air Force allows us to mature EPAWSS cognitive processing capabilities,” according to BAE program director Chip Mosle.

“By incrementally testing and fielding cognitive EW solutions to proven systems such as EPAWSS, we are enabling tactical spectrum overmatch against advanced threats that are unpredictable, evolving, and adaptable.”

The Northern Edge demo “tested EPAWSS’ ability to rapidly respond to previously unencountered electromagnetic threats,” BAE said.

“The tests challenged the system’s ability to process in-mission sensor data, create exquisite techniques, and optimize waveforms in real time. Furthermore, the [Northern Edge] environment challenged the system to execute the tasks in a dense, unpredictable electromagnetic spectrum at a theater-exercise level.”

F-35s Deploy to Poland to Keep ‘Safeguarding’ NATO

April 2, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Four U.S. Air Force F-35 fighters deployed to Poland on April 1 to help guard NATO’s eastern flank, keeping up a steady American presence in the region dating back to 2022 when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The F-35s came from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, and landed at Lask Air Base in central Poland, about 200 miles from the Ukrainian border and a little less than 600 miles from Kyiv. There they will be part of the “U.S.’s continued support to safeguarding NATO’s Eastern Flank,” according to a U.S. Air Forces in Europe release.

A stream of USAF fighters have rotated through Lask over the last two years, including:

F-15Es from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., starting in February 2022

F-22s from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, starting in August 2022

F-15Es from RAF Lakenheath, starting in November 2022

F-16s from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, starting in October 2023

That’s in addition to U.S. fighters that have deployed to Estonia, Romania, Iceland, and Germany in the past few years to bolster NATO air policing missions. A B-1 Lancer Bomber Task Force recently started at Morón Air Base, Spain, as well.

“Operating from forward locations allows U.S. Air Force Airmen to live, train, and operate alongside European counterparts while enabling NATO’s collective defense capabilities,” the USAFE release noted. “This capability is critical for a timely and coordinated response, if and when called upon.”

The air war over Ukraine has heated up in recent months—the Atlantic Council noted March 31 that Russia has launched “the largest bombing campaign of the war” in recent weeks, while at the same time the Ukrainians claim to have shot down 13 Russian aircraft in February alone, including fighters and valuable airborne early warning and control aircraft.

The intensity of the air campaign has even threatened NATO allies, as Poland claimed in late March that Russia violated its airspace with a cruise missile launched at western Ukraine. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in particular don’t have robust air forces of their own and rely on NATO allies to conduct air policing missions in the region to deter Russia.

Pentagon Wants to Make Commercial Space ‘Integral,’ Especially in These Areas

April 2, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Department of Defense wants to make commercial capabilities “integral” to its space architectures in a way that goes beyond how the Pentagon typically relies on contractors, with particular focus on more than a half dozen mission areas.

What’s more, the department made clear in its first-ever Commercial Space Integration Strategy released April 2 that it is prepared to protect those commercial assets in a conflict, a key signal to reassure industry.

The 16-page strategy, formulated by assistant secretary of defense for space policy John F. Plumb, reaffirms what Pentagon space leaders have been saying for months now: commercial satellites, ground control stations, networks, and operators will play an outsized role in the future of military space, especially as more and more companies join in and expand their operations in the booming sector.

“Deeper integration of commercial space solutions represents a conceptual shift away from legacy practices,” the strategy states. “ … Given the expansion of the commercial space sector and the proliferation of space capabilities, the Department will benefit by making commercial solutions integral—and not just supplementary—to national security space architectures.”

The strategy notes that the Pentagon and commercial companies already collaborate on programs like the Civil Reserve Air Fleet and the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement. But the department wants to go even further in space to “ensure access to commercial solutions across the spectrum of conflict,” not just during crisis.

There are multiple reasons for that, Mitchell Institute senior fellow and retired Space Force Col. Charles Galbreath suggested: the explosion of commercial interest in space, the unique characteristics of the space domain, and the small size of the Space Force.

Broadly, the Pentagon is open to working with commercial companies on any of the 13 defined mission areas laid out in the strategy. But because commercial space is inherently focused on technologies that are commercially viable outside of the government and some missions are inherent to the military, certain mission areas will be prioritized.

Most of those are “hybrid,” which Plumb told reporters means they will likely wind up being “50/50, some government and some commercial, pretty much even stevens.”

Hybrid mission areas include:

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)

Space domain awareness

Environmental monitoring

Spacecraft operations

Satellite communications

Cyberspace

“It is good to see space domain awareness explicitly in the hybrid category,” Galbreath said. “In the near future, we could see commercial products calling out hostile or irresponsible behavior in the same way we saw commercial ISR monitor Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The inclusion of spacecraft operations in the hybrid category lends more momentum to the idea the Space Force is exploring of relying on contractors to help fly its satellites. Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman recently said the service was considering the possibility.

One area is identified as primarily commercial: Space Access, Mobility, and Logistics. While there is growing interest and excitement around the possibility of in-orbit servicing of satellites, to include refueling, Plumb noted that for now, SAML largely refers to launch.

Given the tight bonds the Pentagon wants to build with commercial industry, the strategy lists four priorities it will pursue:

Ensure access to commercial solutions across the spectrum of conflict

Achieve integration prior to crisis

Establish the security conditions to integrate commercial space solutions, which means protecting commercial space assets under threat

Support the development of new commercial space solutions for use by the joint force

Galbreath praised the strategy for incorporating commercial space prior to conflict.

“As the saying goes, we go to war with the force we have,” he said, “so integrating the commercial providers into the mix early so we can incorporate them in wargames and exercises is essential to ensuring we can rely on them in conflict and work through any issues well in advance of an actual crises or conflict.”

The third priority will likely draw attention from companies who are worried their satellites will become targets if they contribute to government missions. The strategy states that “in appropriate circumstances, the use of military force to protect and defend commercial assets could be directed.”

It’s a question that military space leaders have been asked for months now, and while Saltzman has hinted the U.S. would protect commercial assets from attack much as the Navy protects shipping lanes, the strategy marks a definite, if open-ended, signal that the Pentagon is prepared to do so.

“The clear statement … is powerful. It still leaves open the range of military options including ground, maritime, air, cyber, and space,” Galbreath said.

In addition to military actions, the strategy notes three other ways it wants to protect commercial companies that collaborate with the Pentagon: establishing norms of behavior in space, sharing threat information, and financial compensation.

On the last front, the Pentagon pledges in the strategy to explore the possibility of U.S. government-provided war risk insurance for space like it does in the air and maritime domains.

Plumb declined to say when such insurance might be available, but he noted other kinds of financial protection that might be available to companies in case their satellites are targeted.

The release of the strategy likely signals the imminent release of the Space Force’s own commercial space strategy, which has been in the works for months. Saltzman said last week at the Mitchell Institute Spacepower Security Forum that he hoped to have the strategy released by the annual Space Symposium, which starts April 8.

“It is a little bit more focused on service-specific, acquisition-specific,” Plumb said. “And frankly, how he as a service chief wants to see his military service.”

Airmen and Guardians across North Dakota, Montana, Alaska Can Now Get Cold Weather Pay

April 2, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Editor’s Note: This story was updated April 5 to correct the pay amounts for those with and without dependents.

The Department of the Air Force will offer supplemental pay to Airmen and Guardians who endure harsh winter conditions to incentivize assignments at certain bases and offset the financial challenges from living at temperatures below -20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Effective April 1, the department’s Cold Weather Assignment Incentive Pay offers a one-time payment to Airmen and Guardians upon committing to serve one to three years at certain locations. The amount, ranging from $500 to $5,000, is regardless of rank or the nature of individual’s assignment, Air Force spokesperson Sarah Fiocco told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The initial payment is slated for July 1, but any troops signing an agreement to relocate to designated sites starting April 1 will qualify for the incentive.

According to the service release, qualified locations include:

Minot and Grand Forks Air Force Bases and Cavalier Space Force Station in North Dakota

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Clear Space Force Station, Eielson Air Force Base, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

Fiocco added that while these locations were chosen based on the 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone specified in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, other U.S. Air Force sites in foreign countries are currently undergoing a separate review.

Level	Temperature	Without Dependents	With Dependents	Locations
Level 1	Above -20℉ with additional substantiating need	$500	$1,000	N/A
Level 2	-20℉ through -29℉	$1,000	$2,000	Minot, Grand Forks, and Malmstrom AFBs, Cavalier SFS and JB Elmendorf-Richardson
Level 3	-30℉ through -39℉	$1,500	$3,000	N/A
Level 4	-40℉ through -49℉	$2,000	$4,000 (tour is unaccompanied for Clear SFS)	Eielson AFB and Clear SFS
Level 5	-50℉ and below	$2,500	$5,000

“Airmen and Guardians living in extremely cold conditions face unique out-of-pocket costs,” Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs in a statement. “We want to ensure Airmen, Guardians and their families have the resources needed to safely live and work in an extreme cold-weather environment.”

For deployments to Alaska, Airmen and Guardians have to commit to 12 months at Clear. Individuals without dependents need to sign up for at least a 24-month tour at Eielson and Elmendorf, while those with a family have to stay for 36 months, Fiocco said.

In 2022, Congress passed legislation authorizing but not requiring cold weather incentive pay for the military, spearheaded by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), with the aim of addressing mental health for troops stationed in Alaska. Although the FY23 NDAA included a provision for the service to provide Arctic Incentive Pay, no additional measures had been taken under this initiative, prompting lawmakers to urge Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in March to begin implementing the compensation for service members.

Since 2020, the Army has been offering a one-time payment of $1,000 to $4,000 called Remote and Austere Conditions Assignment Incentive Pay for soldiers serving in Alaska. With its new move, the Air Force is now also hoping to alleviate the financial burden of purchasing cold weather essentials such as gear, all-season or snow tires, engine block heaters, and emergency winter car kits.

“Anybody that has purchased a North Face jacket knows just how expensive it is to dress for winter,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), said in a statement. “I’m grateful to see this cold weather pay roll out to make these winters a little less expensive and stressful for our servicemen and women who are stationed here in North Dakota and already sacrificing so much to stand in the gap for our freedom.”

New Air Force Safety Plan Focuses on Nukes, Space, and ACE

April 2, 2024 | By David Roza

The Air Force Safety Center unveiled a new strategic plan meant to help keep pace as the Air Force writ large expands its operations in space, updates its nuclear inventory, and aims to move faster in combat than it ever has before.

“As safety leaders, it’s our job to ensure the safety enterprise is trained, agile, and ready to integrate new Air Force operational concepts to deter, and if needed defeat, great power competitors,” Maj. Gen. Sean Choquette, the Air Force’s chief of safety and commander of the safety center, said in an April 2 release. “Safety’s job is to prepare our forces with the resources and skills to make risk-informed decisions at home or in combat.”

The DAF Safety Strategic Plan 2024-2027 lays out six goals meant to keep safety in the front of mind for Airmen and Guardians. One of them is to strengthen nuclear surety, which is the term for keeping nuclear weapons safe, secure, and reliable.

The Air Force has struggled with nuclear surety in the past: in 2007, the service mistakenly flew nuclear weapons on a B-52 from North Dakota to Louisiana and left the bomber unguarded for about nine hours. That incident helped lead to new training procedures, standards, and the creation of Air Force Global Strike Command to oversee nuclear surety.

Airman 1st Class Jackson Ligon, left, and Senior Airman Jonathan Marinaccio, 341st Missile Maintenance Squadron technicians, connect a re-entry system to a spacer on an intercontinental ballistic missile during a Simulated Electronic Launch-Minuteman test at a launch facility near Great Falls, Mont. Senior Airman Daniel Brosam

Nearly 20 years later, the Air Force nuclear enterprise has major changes on the horizon as the service seeks to replace its aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile with the Sentinel ICBM. The Air Force also plans to buy at least 100 nuclear-capable B-21 bombers, and last month the F-35 fighter was certified to carry a nuclear bomb.

“Given the criticality of nuclear surety, the renewed focus on this capability, and the rapid growth of related programs, DAF Safety will continue ensuring the nuclear surety programs are correspondingly robust, comprehensive, and responsive to support this mission area,” the Center wrote.

The steps to get there involve developing a better nuclear surety operational assessment program; coordinating a plan to comply with new Defense Department standards, updating the Air Force’s nuclear surety policy, and upgrade the safety center’s mishap reporting system for “dull swords,” the term for nuclear events or deficiencies not categorized as an accident.

The Air Force Safety Center also seeks to integrate risk management into agile combat employment (ACE), the concept where small teams of Airmen launch and recover aircraft at remote or austere airfields, then relocate to avoid being targeted by enemy missiles. Many Airmen expect to carry out those operations without support and without connection to higher command, which is forcing a wider recalculation of risk across the service.

“We’re trying to teach our aeromedical evacuation members to assume risks that they probably would not have in the last 20 years when it comes to patient care,” one aeromedical evacuation Airman told Air & Space Forces Magazine in June.

“We are boiling down to old-school World War II tactics where we use rope, tape, and zip ties to pull submunitions off a runway all at once,” an Air Force Explosive Ordnance Technician added.

The Air Force Safety Center wants to update its framework for calculating risk in the age of ACE, which will start with a six-month evaluation of its risk management practices. The center aims to implement an initial version of an update plan within two years, followed by a full one within five.

But to be effective, whatever new plans are developed need to be practiced in the field.

“Ultimately, our safety mission success relies upon the disciplined approach of individual Airmen and Guardians—you are the vital component of the enterprise,” the center wrote.

U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to the 476th Maintenance Squadron load munitions onto an A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft during the fourth quarter weapons load competition at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, Jan. 7, 2022. Load competition participants are judged on speed, accuracy, safety and reliability when loading aircraft munitions. **Airman 1st Class Deanna Muir**

To get after that, the first goal of the plan is to fully integrate risk management into all training and operations. The goal involves reviewing the “safety enterprise processes” for irrelevant tasks, launching a public affairs campaign on safety and risk management, and formalizing safety principles and risk management as Air Force core competencies.

Another Air Force Safety Center goals is to keep pace with the Space Force. Its objectives include developing a plan of action and milestones, determining the authorities for overseeing space safety within the Air Force and the wider Defense Department, and conducting a baseline manpower study in support of the space enterprise.

Beyond keeping pace with the new changes, the safety center wants to get ahead of the curve by using machine learning models to analyze safety data, providing better analysis to commanders through data visualization, and working with wing or delta safety offices to improve their processes.

“Mishap reporting data is a lagging indicator and limited tool,” the center wrote. “Our intent is to develop analytical tools to assist commanders with proactive risk reduction, mishap prevention, and maximized readiness.”

The Air Force Safety Center’s last goal is to modernize the safety workforce, largely by revamping formal safety education such as the Air Force Safety University. The center plans to take a look at the university’s infrastructure, budget, and course catalog.

Over the next few years, the safety center will set up offices of responsibility to oversee implementation of its strategic plan.

“Measuring success must be done by measuring results and outcomes,” the center wrote. “Success is not measured by checking off milestones passed or objectives completed.”

Guard Asks Congress to Add F-15EX, F-35 Fighters Back to Budget

April 1, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The National Guard Bureau has asked Congress to consider adding six F-35s and six F-15EXs to the fiscal 2025 budget—jets the Air Force said it cut to fit within the Pentagon’s financial constraints.

The dozen fighters, at a cost of $1.35 billion, represent the biggest items on the Guard’s $2.66 billion Unfunded Priorities List; the annual, congressionally-mandated wishlists of the top things services or combatant commands would buy if they had extra money beyond the “official” budget, which went to Congress in early March. The Air National Guard portion of the list amounts to $2.3 billion; the remainder would fund Army National Guard military construction projects.

The Air Force itself did not request additional fighters in its wishlist as it has in recent years. Instead, its $3.5 billion list focused solely on readiness items such as spare parts, exercises, and military construction, and not big-ticket platforms like fighters.

In its actual budget request, the Air Force asked for only 42 F-35s, versus its usual benchmark of 48. Officials explained that the service had other priorities and prefers to wait for the Block 4 versions of the fighter. Critics claim the Air Force has gamed the UPL to get Congress to put more F-35s into its budget than requested.

Air National Guard projects are frequently included with the Headquarters Air Force list.

In its justification for the F-35 request, the Guard noted that Headquarters Air Force has in the past “supported procuring 48 F-35 aircraft [per] year into the 2030s” to modernize the force and support the National Defense Strategy, and that this is a level that F-35 prime Lockheed Martin “can produce for the Air Force.”

Air Force officials have said they needed to make cuts to their procurement budget to live within caps set by the Fiscal Responsibility—the Guard noted the fiscal restraints in its justification and said its addition would “complete the planned F-35 procurement of 48 for FY25 and completes the build of a sustainable ANG fleet of 5 combat squadrons for increased capacity … plus builds one ANG FTU (Flying Training Unit).”

Likewise, the Guard noted that the Air Force truncated its buys of the F-15EX, the bulk of which will serve with the Guard. The Air Force’s fiscal 2025 plan would buy only 18 F-15EXs instead of the 24 called for in the previous budget and end procurement there, at a total of 98 airplanes instead of the previous goal of 104.

Once again, fiscal constraints were cited as the cause of the cut.

“These additional 6 F-15EXs will complete the planned F-15EX FY25 procurement and maximize [Defense Industrial Base] output,” the budget justification states. “It completes the build of a sustainable ANG fleet of 3 combat squadrons for increased capacity in [the] INDOPACOM theater.”

The Air Force cut its buy to 98 F-15EXs after originally structuring the program to yield 188 of the jets, which are built by Boeing at its St. Louis, Mo. facilities.

The six F-35s would cost $660 million, while the six F-15EXs would cost $690 million, according to the document.

There is a longstanding tension between the Guard and Headquarters Air Force over how to best modernize the Guard. Over the decades, the ANG has complained that it has been equipped with hand-me-down equipment, even though necessity has compelled it to assume a daily operational role in meeting theater commander requirements. Air Force leaders have pledged the Guard will be equipped with new gear in parallel with the Active-Duty force.

Guard leaders have also balked at the Air Force’s divestment of older aircraft in recent years, notably A-10 attack jets. The reductions have fallen disproportionately on Guard units, and as the Air Force inventory has shrunk, a number of Guard units have lost their flying missions.

Other items on the Guard unfunded priority list include:

$350 million to “properly” support 16 C-130Js that were added to the ANG in fiscal 2023. There was “a shortfall” in the amount Congress provided in fiscal 2024 for these aircraft, and the UPL request “corrects that … and allows for the full recapitalization of 2 ANG C-130H units.”

$288 million for additional conformal fuel tanks for its F-15EXs, noting that initial lots of the aircraft are being bought without these tanks, on which weapons can be mounted, and this limits the fighters’ range and weapons capacity. “The NGB (National Guard Bureau) request is in addition to the 12 sets sought” by the Department of the Air Force, the Bureau noted, and the 54 total sets of tanks—two per aircraft—“will be enough for all ANG F-15EXs, as we are planned to have 54 F-15EXs in inventory.”

$153 million for weapon system sustainment, increasing the amount of the requirement funded from 86 percent to 92 percent, to keep it in line with Guard Bureau strategic guidance and Headquarters Air Force goals.

$110.4 million to add 803 full-time positions. These would include 113 additional recruiters, 83 Civil Engineers, 303 security forces and 304 maintainers. These additional billets would enable the Air Guard to “focus on providing ready Airmen to the Joint Force in support of campaigning and integrated deterrence.”

$52 million for an additional 4,600 flying hours.