Eielson Days Away from Achieving Full Complement of F-35s

April 13, 2022 | By Amy Hudson

Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, will receive its final two F-35 strike fighters in the coming days, making it the Air Force’s second fully-equipped combat-coded F-35 wing and the first for Pacific Air Forces.

Once the beddown is complete, Eielson will have a total of 54 strike fighters in two squadrons. Eleventh Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. David A. Krumm told Air Force Magazine that when combined with the two squadrons of F-22s at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska will have more operational fifth-generation assets than anywhere else in the world.

Krumm channeled Gen. William “Billy” Mitchell’s prescient 1935 comment to Congress: “Whoever holds Alaska will hold the world.” The line is drummed into every Airmen and Guardian assigned there, and it is often quoted by senior Air Force leaders. From the two major Air Force bases in Alaska, USAF fighters are within an eight-hour sortie to any place in the northern hemisphere, Krumm noted. And, the massive Joint Pacific Alaskan Range Complex, which is roughly the size of Indiana, also provides unique training space, allowing crews to “fully test out those fifth-generation capabilities,” he added.

“It’s a synergy of being able to organize, train, and equip in a place that few others can replicate along with the ability to then go to the sound of gunfire wherever we’re needed,” Krumm said.

Three more F-35As are delivered to the 354th Fighter Wing at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, on March 29, 2022. The wing needs two more aircraft to complete its beddown of 54 strike fighters. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jose Miguel T. Tamondong

Acclimating to the Arctic

The Air Force selected Eielson to be home to the first operational overseas F-35s in 2016 and the 354th Fighter Wing accepted the first two aircraft in April 2020.

“We’ve stood up our F-35s here an order of magnitude faster and more aggressively than any other F-35 base. And, we’ve done it at 50 below” zero, 354th FW commander Col. David J. Berkland told Air Force Magazine during a March visit to Eielson. “There’s a certain pride of doing things up here in the extreme Arctic environment” that motivates Airmen.

To prepare for the fighters, the Air Force spent $600 million on 39 military construction projects at Eielson, to include individual heated shelters to protect the aircraft and aircrew from the elements. With temperatures regularly dipping well below zero, aircraft parked outside won’t function properly, and maintainers can’t work on them outside most of the year without risk of frostbite. Berkland compared the shelters to a hospital operating room.

“Our maintainers take great pride in those facilities,” he said. “And with these airplanes being stealth, everything on them is just pristine. And the maintainers make sure it stays that way.”

Even after the last aircraft arrive, however, it will take some time before the service declares initial operational capability.

“The stand-up and the buildup, I would argue, is still definitely ongoing,” said Lt. Col. Samuel Chipman, commander of the 355th Fighter Squadron, which will receive the final two aircraft this month. “The F-35 community, if you look at it and compare it to the F-16 community or the A-10 community, has definitely not matured yet. There is not enough experience to go around … For instance, a lot of my guys are young captains. They are extremely motivated and extremely focused on what they do when it comes to the mission, [but] they are still extremely inexperienced.”

Chipman acknowledged the squadron’s 33-percent experience rate is “extremely low,” saying he’d love to have it above 50 percent, and preferably close to 75 percent. “It’s a little bit of a heavy lift right now, because we’re literally building both an F-35 squadron and [we’re] also building the F-35 community at the same time,” added Chipman, who served as the director of operations for the 356th Fighter Squadron as it was bedding down its Lightning IIs, before moving across the street to lead the 355th. “[The] good news is, they’re not conflicting with each other.”

He often tells his pilots, that if they can fly out of Eielson, which is located about 100 miles from the Arctic circle, they can fly anywhere in the world.

“It’s nothing for us to land on a snow-covered runway. It’s nothing for us to apply the brakes on this aircraft, either taxiing or on rollout from landing,” and not get a response. “That is a normal thing here and we pride ourselves” on being able to handle it, he said.

Learning to operate in such an environment takes practice, which is part part of the reason the wing’s operational tempo is so high. Berkland said the 354th Fighter Wing flies 44 F-35 training sorties a day, plus another 14 daily lines with its F-16 Aggressors. Both F-35 squadrons have already deployed with the jets: the 356th Fighter Squadron went to Exercise Cope North at Andersen Air Fore Base, Guam, in 2021, while the 355th recently returned from its own deployment to Guam.

“It’s awesome to be able to have that kind of communication, which is really key,” noted Chipman. “Although we’re separated by buildings and a roadway, we definitely … stay in touch and we make sure that lessons learned are getting passed.”

Part 1: Q&A with Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom on the Future Fighter Fleet

April 13, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie and Tobias Naegele

Air Force Magazine Editor in Chief Tobias Naegele and Pentagon Editor Abraham Mahshie sat down with Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, for an exclusive interview that touched on everything from the the Next-Generation Air Dominance platform to the Air Force’s plans to replace the aging AWACS fleet.

This is part one of that interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Lt. Gen. David Nahom: Even though there’s a lot of money at play, these are resource challenge times. … There [are] some significant investment items the Air Force has to make, and we have some significant things weighing us down, No. 1 of which is the nuclear recapitalization.

We’ve been talking about, for years, what a nuclear bow wave is going to look like. Well, it’s here. And, you know, it’s not just RDT&E money anymore, it’s procurement of the nuclear articles that are inside the FYDP—so GBSD and B-21, and LRSO, associated NC3, as well, including the E-4 recap. And these are some significant budget items that are zero fail, and they’re 100 percent funded, and they should be; Our nation needs that.

The Air Force is old. [Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.] will talk about an aging fleet of 30 years plus, and I’ll tell you, an aging fleet comes with challenges. It gets very expensive; Our … weapon system sustainment costs go up in excess of inflation every year. And it’s money that we struggle every year to make sure that, not only can we meet the WSS that we have, but meet the WSS as it increases. And every year, that’s a challenge.

Aging and excess infrastructure—we as an Air Force have gotten smaller over the years, but our infrastructure has stayed relatively static, and that certainly comes with a bill. So there’s challenges.

The Air Force has never been more in demand. And you look at what the combatant commanders ask of our Air Force around the world, it’s flattering, because they actually see what work we do and our Airmen do every day. But I’ll tell you, it’s exhausting. It’s exhausting on our airframes, exhausting on our people. And it not only affects the ability to recapitalize our assets, but also certainly works against our readiness. And so those are concerns going forward.

… I think if you look at some of the big things that you expect an Air Force to do—air superiority, I think we’re heading in the right direction. I really do. The Secretary outlined his operational imperatives, and you talk about the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems, and where we’re going with that, I think our strategic direction is in the right place.

There are going to be some funding challenges along the way. But it is exactly what is expected of our Air Force and I think we’re on a path to make sure we can secure air superiority at a time and place of our choosing against any adversary worldwide. … The Chief outlined last year a 4+1 [approach], we’re kind of talking four right now. Because we can talk about the A-10, but when you talk about the Next Generation Air Dominance and the family of systems associated, certainly the F-22 in the meantime until that’s ready, the F-35, the F-15 platform, and then the F-16 low-cost platform. I think we could talk about each one of those individually.

The nation also expects global strike. I think not only with B-21, but with some of the advancements in the F-35, certainly the F-15EX, many of our advanced weapons, the Air Force is going to continue to make sure that we can strike any point on the planet at a time and place of our choosing.

And the last big category I’ll say is rapid global mobility. What happened in Afghanistan over the summer was not by accident. And no other Air Force could have pulled that off. …

The one question you may have is on the tankers. We are committed to recapitalizing the tanker fleet, the KC-46, and ensuring we eventually get the older tanker platforms out of service. Right now, you’re seeing us starting to divest the KC-10s to make room for the KC-46. And obviously we’re going to continue to chip away at the KC-135s, many of them that were built in the early 60s. So they’re aging platforms, and we need to recapitalize. The KC-46 is a wonderful jet. It’s developing well. We’ve still got some work to do with the Remote Vision System, and we’re working very closely with the manufacturer on that. ..

Air Force Magazine: Let’s do a two-minute elevator speech on the five-year defense program. So we understand that we’re going to bring down the F-35s, we’re investing in NGAD, and we’re paying for nuclear, and so on. But some of that, … like the F-35, we can’t see, where does that go in Year 2, 3, 4, 5? … We’re not asking you to go line item by line item.

Nahom: Yeah, in general, the F-35 is gonna be a big one. Because, as you saw, the number is a little lower than it was last year.

Air Force Magazine: A lot lower.

Nahom: I will say, though, … we have not backed off our investment in the F-35. … When the F-35 was first brought on as a developmental program 20-plus years ago, there was a different threat. And as the threat has evolved, the systems that we need to put on the F-35 have evolved. And there’s a cost there. When you talk about getting to the next block of the F-35, and the systems we need for a peer fight, we are investing quite a bit of money on the F-35, and we intend to get not only that capability, but eventually get the capacity we need too. There are limits though. Would we have bought more F-35s if we had more resources? Yes, absolutely.

The Chief has been very consistent, and going back to [former Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein] too, we’ve said we seek 72 new fighters a year. And what does 72 new fighters a year do? … Our fighter fleet age continues to rise. When you get to 70-plus fighters, we actually start taking the age down, and we start getting some of these older platforms [out].

I tell you, we never intended for some of these platforms to be in service this long. I mean, there’s no reason F-15Cs—and I grew up in the F-15C—there’s no reason we should still be flying it right now. We should have recapitalized those squadrons with new airframes by now. So we’ve got to get to the numbers.

Now, the threat says we’ve got to get to the [future] capability. In a perfect world, would I like the capability and a lot more F-35s—and [F-15]EXs? Absolutely. But, right now we’ve got to concentrate on making sure we get the F-35 we need. We continue the development, and then we buy as many as we can. And if we can get more, then there’s some goodness there.

Air Force Magazine: Do you anticipate that we get to 72 at the end of the FYDP? I mean this year, you’re at 57, so you’re nowhere close. The last few years you’ve been at 60 … So when do we start seeing 72?

Nahom: We’re going to get as much as the resources allow. We know we need the numbers. If you look at our fighter fleets right now, we’re trying to get the F-15Cs retired as quickly as possible. We can talk about the A-10s later. There’s certainly some older block F-16s and older lot F-15Es and older Raptors.

Air Force Magazine: Are you going to divest?

Nahom: We have to, because if you keep them, you’re going to spend some money. And we have to make sure that we’re not only getting the capabilities we need with some of the modern systems, but we also can’t waste money on aging systems that are not going to give us the years and the capability we need. And so there’s a balance there.

Air Force Magazine: So that’s why you’re looking to divest those F-22s?

Nahom: There’s just not a payoff. Now, I will say there’s a lot of money invested in the F-22, because we’re modernizing the F-22 in many ways, because it’s going to be our air superiority hedge for our nation for the next decade. It just is. And we have to make sure we modernize that appropriately.

So there is good money invested in the Raptor program, as well as modernization in F-16s, to get certain systems on the F-16s. There’s money still in the F-15Es, and certainly the F-15EX and associated systems with that. So we have a lot of investment in our fighter portfolio. Do I wish there was more numbers? Absolutely. I tell you, if you look at the average age of our fighter fleet, and you look at the average age of other fighter fleets around the world, including our Navy and our Marine Corps fighter fleets, and some of our closest allies, we’re nearly twice the age of all those fleets. And it’s just, it’s not where we want to be right now. And the only way to do that is to buy new—or have missions go away. But going back to that conversation about the combatant commanders and what they need out of the Air Force, we can’t reduce the size of fleets.

Air Force Magazine: So in one sense, you’re stuck kind of saying the only way to do that is buy new, and we’re buying less new?

Nahom: There’s a balance there. Because, should I just buy all new and then not modernize the F-35 systems to where the threat is telling us we have to modernize it to? Well, that wouldn’t be smart either.

The problem is when you look at our budget, especially with many of these upgrades and systems that are of the classified nature and we don’t discuss them openly, they’re very critical to make sure we can meet the threat. And we are very well invested there. So there’s a balance there. Again, do I wish we were buying more new fighters? Absolutely. But I think given the resources that we had in this POM cycle and where we invested, we’re pretty comfortable with where we invested.

New Air Force Leave Policy Gives Time off for Fertility Treatments, Sexual Assault Recovery, More

April 13, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Department of the Air Force updated its leave policies in early April, adding time off for Airmen and Guardians seeking fertility treatments, recovering after a sexual assault, or preparing for employment in civilian life.

Under the April 6 update to DAF Instruction 36-3003, commanders can approve up to 35 days of permissive temporary duty at a military medical treatment facility for service members seeking fertility treatments. Those 35 days do not have to be consecutive and can be split up if recommended by a medical advisor. The new policy is open to male and female Airmen and Guardians.

There are six military medical treatment facilities where service members can seek fertility treatments:

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Md
Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Womack Army Medical Center, Fayetteville, N.C.
Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Wash.
San Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas
Naval Medical Center San Diego, San Diego, Calif.

“My wife and I have had our own struggles with starting a family, so I recognize what a strain this can be on our Airmen and Guardians, personally and financially,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly support this program, and I hope our teammates take full advantage of it.”

According to an Air Force release, the policy change was advocated for by the Women’s Initiative Team, part of the department’s Barrier Analysis Working Group, or BAWG. The BAWG has established seven subgroups to study specific barriers facing minorities in the service and to propose efforts to address those barriers.

“I am passionate about this because I believe in taking care of our Airmen and Guardians,” USSF Chief Master Sgt. Martha Burkhead, the WIT lead for this initiative, said in a statement. “I have had several members struggle with fertility issues and can attest to the rippling effects it has across the military.”

Another update included in the leave program is a policy allowing commanders to authorize up to 30 days of convalescent leave for Airmen and Guardians who are survivors of sexual assault. That change is in line with one of the recommendations from the Pentagon’s independent review commission on sexual assault in the military, which Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III accepted and directed the services to implement.

Other updates include changes in leave policy for Airmen and Guardians set to transition out of the service. One allows PTDY for such service members who are within a year of retirement and want to attend a DOD-sponsored employment seminar under the Transition Assistance Program “when the member cannot schedule one locally.” Another allows for non-chargeable leave for service members participating in the SkillBridge program, which offers civilian employment training for service members in their last 180 days of Active-duty service.

China and Russia Space Fleets Grow by 70 Percent in Two Years, DIA Report Says

April 12, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

China and Russia have dramatically boosted their presence in space in the past several years, increasing security concerns for the U.S. now and in the future, according to a new report from the Defense Intelligence Agency.

In particular, the “Challenges to Security in Space” report highlighted the dangers of China seeking to use counterspace operations to cripple U.S. military capabilities, and the potential military implications of China and Russia increasing exploration and use of cislunar space, the moon, and beyond.

“Evidence of both nations’ intent to undercut the United States and allied leadership in the space domain can be seen in the growth of combined in-orbit assets of China and Russia, which grew approximately 70 percent in just two years,” Kevin Ryder, Defense Intelligence Agency senior analyst for space and counterspace, said in an April 12 press briefing. “This recent and continuing expansion follows a more than 200 percent increase between 2015 and 2018.”

The first “Challenges to Security in Space” report was published by the DIA in 2019. The 2022 follow-on, based largely on public information and press reports, “examines the expansion of space operations and details Earth-focused space services, as well as growing efforts to explore the moon and beyond,” said John Huth, DIA defense intelligence officer for space and counterspace.

The expanded focus on moon exploration is a new addition to the latest version, with the report noting that if China and Russia are successful in their effort there, “it will likely lead to attempts … to exploit the moon’s natural resources.”

The national security implications of such attempts for the U.S. are still unknown, Huth and Ryder said. But particularly for China, any lunar capabilities have to be watched with caution, they said.

“What we’ve seen so far has been more civilian in nature. However, China emphasizes in their writings civil-military integration and dual-use purpose space capabilities. So while we do understand that right now, it is civil in nature, we continue to monitor for any possibility of military activity,” Ryder said.

“Technologies that are used for scientific purposes, to get somebody to another body, i.e. the moon, could also have that dual-purpose or that military-civil fusion aspect that could translate into military capabilities, but we’re not seeing that right now,” Huth added.

China has hopes to land its astronauts on the moon by the mid-2030s, while China and Russia have combined forces for plans for a lunar research base with construction starting by 2025.

More immediately, the report stresses that China perceives the U.S. as reliant on its space-based capabilities in conflict—without them, the Chinese believe the U.S. and its allies would struggle with precision-guided munitions, reconnaissance, communication, navigation, and missile warning.

As a result, China has sought to incorporate space and counterspace operations into its broader military, viewing space superiority as a “critical component to conduct modern ‘informatized warfare’,” the report states.

With the dramatic expansion of in-orbit assets for both Russia and China comes concerns about space situational awareness, as “the probability of collisions of massive derelict objects in low Earth orbit is growing and almost certainly will continue through at least 2030,” the report states.

Part of that is due to the sheer number of vehicles currently in orbit and slated to launch in the coming years. But Russia and China have both also amped up anxieties with anti-satellite tests. Russia’s most recent such test in November 2021 was an early challenge for U.S. Space Command’s domain awareness, and the report notes that the Russians are reportedly developing an air-launched anti-satellite weapon.

China, meanwhile, “probably intends to pursue additional ASAT weapons that are able to destroy satellites up to” geosynchronous orbit, the report states.

Such weapons can create massive debris fields, making them one of the key issues for the future of space identified in the report.

Hicks to Congress: Be Patient, Allow Some Failures in New Development Programs Like Hypersonics

April 12, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks urged Congress to be more patient with the Pentagon as it develops new systems, like hypersonic missiles.

Speaking during an April 12 Defense Writers Group breakfast, Hicks touted the recent successful test of the Lockheed Martin version of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC), which set a new record for hypersonic flight under scramjet power. The March flight test likely achieved about 327 seconds of hypersonic flight under scramjet power, versus 200 seconds achieved by the Boeing X-51 Waverider in 2010, based on figures provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Despite multiple failures of the Air Force’s AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), Hicks said “the biggest concern I would have right now” is that the U.S. “used to be first in class” at a willingness to “test, learn a little, test, fail, learn some more.”

The Pentagon sees “real resistance … on Capitol Hill” to that approach, “and so you get curtailment of programs, … concerns over concurrency, concerns about technically risky approaches.”

The U.S., she said, “has to be willing to fail. I think this is a place we want to increase the trust the Congress has in the Department, as it goes after improvements and capabilities.”

She added that it’s not the Defense Department’s approach to hypersonics to “match dollar for dollar, …or munition-to-munition” with adversaries.

“It is to understand how hypersonic systems fit into the way in which we would prosecute the most effective operations,” she said. “That’s really important to understand.”

Asked if she favors curtailing any hypersonics programs and advancing others that have been more successful, Hicks said, “I think we were pretty clear in our budget request about that portfolio. I’ll let that stand.”

The Air Force’s 2023 budget request emphasizes HAWC over the boost-glide AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, but USAF budget director Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III said the service is “not walking away” from ARRW—yet. Peccia said the service is continuing to assess that program.

Hicks also cited “good conversations” with the Air Force and Northrop Grumman at the B-21 factory in Palmdale, Calif., last week, saying she can report that the program is on time “and there are no barriers …to get in the way of Northrop staying on schedule.”

The B-21 is “a good exemplar—but not the only one—where we’re seeing the promise of ‘digital thread’ [methods] both on cost and schedule.” The program will be studied to “see what we can learn from” that approach to provide better value to the taxpayer, she said.

Hicks was asked where her next trip will be to, and she said “back to California, … very soon,” possibly indicating that the rollout of the B-21, predicted for the April/May timeframe, will happen on schedule.

Pentagon: ‘Roughly 8 to 10 Flights a Day’ Full of Aid for Ukraine Pouring into Europe

April 12, 2022 | By Greg Hadley and John A. Tirpak

Roughly eight to 10 flights full of supplies and equipment for Ukraine are landing in Eastern Europe every day, Pentagon press secretary John F. Kirby told reporters on April 12, as the U.S. and other nations race to get their aid packages into the hands of Ukrainians combatting Russia’s invasion.

“There’s more than 30 other nations contributing various amounts of material—some weapons, some not, some a mix, and we are helping coordinate the deliveries into Ukraine of all that material, not just ours, but of others at various trans-shipment sites in the region,” Kirby said during a briefing hosted by the State Department’s Brussels Media Hub. “And that flow continues.”

All told, more than two dozen countries ranging from Japan to Canada to North Macedonia have pledged to send billions of dollars worth of military equipment to Ukraine, presenting a daunting logistical challenge as those nations look to deliver that equipment at speed.

It’s an issue that U.S. Transportation Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost addressed several times at the end of March when appearing before Congress.

“We work very closely with European Command as they integrate with Ukraine and prioritize the needs of Ukraine, so that we are able to ship and get [material] close to Ukraine and onward-moved very quickly, as we manage not only the nodes or the airports and seaports to get stuff there, but the people that work there and the flow in,” Van Ovost said during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing.

In a Senate hearing, Gen. Tod D. Wolters, head of U.S. European Command, praised TRANSCOM for delivering “miracles at the point of need” in the Ukraine-Russia war. Similarly, Kirby touted the Defense Department’s ability to track, ship, and deliver aid.

“There’s roughly eight to 10 flights a day coming in to these trans-shipment sites from all over the world. And that stuff is not sitting around in warehouses,” Kirby said. “We’re helping get it on pallets and helping it get on trucks and helping it get into Ukraine every single day.”

In mid-March, President Joe Biden authorized an $800 million package of defensive assistance for Ukraine, followed by another $100 million in early April. Kirby said on April 12 that the Pentagon expected those packages to be completed in a matter of days and delivered “by the middle of this month.”

Speaking during a Defense Writers Group event on April 12, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said there are packages of U.S. military aid to Ukraine soon to be announced that will include longer-ranged weapons than have been provided so far. She did not name the weapons.

“Those are presidential decisions,” Hicks said of the new aid packages, and “I don’t want to get in front of those.” However, the Pentagon is “moving quickly” on weapons that would “provide a little more range and distance” than what has been given to date, and “you’ll see more in the coming days,” she told defense reporters.

The new weapons would be in addition to Javelin man-portable anti-tank weapons and Stinger shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons, Hicks said. She said Stingers and Javelins, as well as artillery rounds and “other ammunition” are “incredibly important” to Ukraine, noting, “We’ve moved a lot of that, and that will continue,” she said.

When asked if the U.S. would provide weapons that Ukraine could launch into Russia, Hicks said the U.S. is in continuing talks with Britain and 30 other countries about how best to provide “capability that the Ukrainians request” that sends “a clear signal, in terms of the U.S./Russian dynamic.”

Ukraine has requested aircraft, or a NATO-established no-fly zone over the country, as well as other weapons.

The U.S. is reviewing “a wide range of systems,” for Ukraine, she said. In addition to weapons and cash aid, the U.S. has been providing intelligence assistance to Ukraine, “which I would call ‘high-end’ help,” Hicks said.

The urgency to get that equipment into Ukraine fast has increased as Russia has begun to reposition its forces and focus its efforts on eastern Ukraine, raising fears that the war’s brutality could increase even more and become, in the words of one Pentagon official, a “knife fight.”

“We are mindful of the time,” Kirby acknowledged, noting the Pentagon has shortened the time it takes to actually get equipment into Ukrainian hands “down to between four to six days.”

Calling that speed “unprecedented” across his time in the Pentagon, Kirby did note that not all shipments have been that fast.

One of the most high-profile pieces of the U.S. defensive aid packages being sent is the batch of Switchblade drones—loitering munitions that are sometimes referred to as “kamikaze” drones. The Pentagon confirmed on April 6 that a small number of Ukrainian troops, already in the U.S. for professional military education, were being trained to operate the Switchblades, and on April 10, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III held a video call with those service members on the same day they were slated to return home.

“He … wanted to know [how] they felt the training went, and he was quite gratified to hear that they were pleased by what they were trained on, not just in terms of Switchblade, but other things,” Kirby said of Austin’s conversation with the Ukrainians. “So, we are continuing to try to get the Ukrainians the systems and the weapons that they need, that they’re using most effectively.”

Air Force Expands Enlistment Bonuses to Six New Career Fields

April 11, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

More future Airmen will be eligible for enlistment bonuses in fiscal 2022, as the Air Force expands its Initial Enlistment Bonus program to include more skillsets.

The expansion of the IEB includes six new Air Force Specialty Codes, with bonuses of $3,000 for four-year contracts and $6,000 for six-year contracts.

Specifically, the following Air Force Speciality Codes were added to the service’s list of hard-to-fill fields, the Air Force Recruiting Service told Air Force Magazine:

2A534, Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance
2A632, Aerospace Ground Equipment
2W031, Munitions Systems
2W131, Aircraft Armament Systems
1D731R, Radio Frequency Transmission Systems
9TMAGE, Mechanical or Electrical Aptitude Area

More than a dozen different AFSCs are now included in the IEB program for 2022, ranging from special warfare operators to linguists to maintainers.

In addition, the service is offering bonuses ranging from $12,000 to $20,000 for four different career fields within cyber and IT, depending on the recruit’s highest level of certification.

The Air Force is also offering a new “Quick Ship” option, where an already fully-qualified applicant will get $8,000 to fill a short-notice Basic Military Training vacancy and ship out within five days or less.

“Quick Ship” will be available to recruits from April 11 to Sept. 30, 2022.

Enlistment bonuses are paid to recruits after they successfully complete the training specified in their contract and sign in at their first permanent duty station.

The expansion of bonuses available comes just a few months after Maj. Gen. Edward W. Thomas Jr., AFRS commander, told multiple media outlets that the Air Force is facing headwinds in recruiting, exacerbated by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back in September 2021, Thomas told reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference that while the entire department was on track to reach its recruiting goals in 2021, the “long-term trends are concerning,” pointing to recent studies showing propensity for military service reaching historic lows.

Meanwhile, Col. Jason Scott, chief of the operations division at AFRS, told Federal News Network in January that the service’s pipeline of “qualified and waiting” recruits—those who are waiting for a spot in a certain career field to open up—is about half of what it normally is. Such recruits would be prime candidates for the “Quick Ship” bonus.

The full list of speciality codes eligible for initial enlistment bonuses is as follows:

AFSC	DESCRIPTION	6-YEAR BONUS	4-YEAR BONUS
1A8X1	Airborne Linguist	$20,000	N/A
1N3XX	Crypto Linguist	$18,000	N/A
1D731R	Radio Frequency Transmission Systems	$6,000	$3,000
1T0X1	SERE	$40,000	N/A
2A534	Refuel/Bomber Aircraft Maintenance	$6,000	$3,000
2A632	Aerospace Ground Equipment	$6,000	$3,000
2W031	Munitions Systems	$6,000	$3,000
2W131	Aircraft Armament Systems	$6,000	$3,000
3D0X2	Cyber System Operations	$12,000-$20,000	N/A
3D0X3	Cyber Surety	$12,000-$20,000	N/A
3D1X1	Client Systems	$12,000-$20,000	N/A
3D1X2	Cyber Transport Systems	$12,000-$20,000	N/A
3E8X1	EOD	$50,000	N/A
9T500	Special Warfare Operator Enlistment	$50,000	N/A
9TMAGE	Any Mechanical or Electrical Aptitude Area	$6,000	$3,000
AFRS QUICK SHIP	Any AFSC	$8,000	$8,000

Source: USAF

New Pilot Bonuses Could Be Worth Up to $420K

April 11, 2022 | By Amy Hudson

Active-duty pilots who renew their contracts can earn up to $420,000 through the service’s 2022 Aviation Bonus program.

The Air Force aviation bonus program helps the service shape pilot force through financial incentives, geared to experienced rated officers, including crewed aircraft pilots, remotely piloted aircraft pilots, air battle managers, and combat systems officers. This year, Recon/Surveillance/Electronic Warfare pilots also are eligible for the bonuses, and the service is offering tiered commitments with some shorter terms of just three to four years.

“Airpower will always be in high demand, and our operational readiness hinges on retaining a force of skilled and experienced aviators,” said Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. in a release. “As we explore and employ a variety of tools to assist in the production, retention, and absorption of aviators, these incentives are one element of ensuring we have the force to meet current and future mission requirements.”

Eligible lieutenant colonels and below have until Aug. 31 to apply for the 2022 aviation bonus. Bonuses will be paid within three weeks after applications are approved, the Air Force said.

The richest bonuses are available to fighter (11F), bomber (11B), special operations (11S), mobility (11M), C2ISR (11R), and rescue helicopter pilots (11H) whose Active-duty service commitment expires in fiscal 2022. They can qualify for varying amounts depending on how long they commit to stay in uniform:

Three to four years: $105,000 and $140,000
Five to seven years: $175,00 to $245,000
Eight to 12 years: $280,000 to $420,000

For remotely piloted aircraft pilots (11U, 18X), Air Battle Managers (13B), and Combat Systems Operators (12B, 12F, 12S, 12H, 12R, and 12U) the bonuses are smaller, but still substantial:

Three to four years: $45,000 to $60,000
Five to seven years: $125,000 to $175,000
Eight to 12 years: $240,000 to $360,000

The Air Force also is offering an experience bonus for aviators whose prior aviation bonus is expired or expires this year, as well as for pilots whose Active-duty service commitment was completed prior to this year but who have not previously signed an aviation bonus contract. Fighter, bomber, special operations, mobility, reconnaissance, and helicopter rescue pilots in those categories qualify for $105,000 to $420,000 depending on the length of their commitment; RPA pilots in those categories qualify for $45,000 to $300,000.

To qualify for the aviation bonuses, officers must be cleared for operational flying duty.

480th Fighter Squadron Rapidly Deploys to Deter Russia on the Black Sea

April 11, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

FETESTI AIR BASE, Romania—As Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Ukraine in early February, amassing some 150,000 troops along its border, worrying NATO allies, the U.S. Air Force needed to reassure eastern flank Allies, and fast.

The 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, answered the call. They had one week to deploy to Romania with eight F-16Cs, 150 service members, and a million pounds of equipment. Seven days later, they were flying.

“Usually these things takes months to plan,” said 1st Lt. Jayce Webster, project manager for the mission support group

“We had to plan airlift, plan ground movements, we had to plan the layout of everything within a week,” he said. “So, when you talk about that agile combat, we were able to do that before the jets landed, and we started running.”

The 86th Air Base, as Fetesti is also known, also received a rotation of two F-35s as part of the air policing mission in mid-February.

Romania is rapidly building up this base with new construction, but it’s not yet ready for new tenants. There are only hangers to accommodate the Romanian F-16s, so scheduling maintenance is hard.

Still, the Black Sea ally was eager to welcome the added air power. Romania cleared out a building, initially provided all the aircraft fuel, and shared the few spare parts that coincided with their own earlier model F-16 Block 15s.

The 30-year-old U.S. aircraft require regular maintenance on wiring and computer systems to stay fully operational. To limit downtime during the five-day wait for spare parts, an aircraft is designated to be “cannibalized” for parts.

“It’s just the avionics side, it breaks more often,” said Master Sgt. Christopher Paden, maintenance production superintendent. “The targeting systems, the digital flight control computer is a common part we change.”

Now, close to 200 U.S. service members are helping to fly four daily NATO enhanced Air Policing sorties with Allies, protecting NATO’s skies alongside Romanian F-16s and MiG-21s, and British and Italian Eurofighters at nearby Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base.

“It’s a daily integration with a partner nation,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. William Parks, 480th Fighter Squadron detachment commander, who uses a building where Romanian Airmen live and work.

The Romanian Air Force is looking to build its fleet of approximately two dozen MiG-21 Lancers with 49 second-hand F-16s in coming years. It’s already taken possession of 17 F-16s.

NATO began enhanced Air Policing over the skies and Black Sea coast of Romania and Bulgaria in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine. The mission differs from Baltic Air Policing, which began in 2004, and protects the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which do not have their own combat jets.

“We’re here just on the enhanced part of that air patrol, an extra visible and forward symbol to show U.S., Romanian, and NATO unity,” Parks said.

The mission includes training and exercising with Romanian pilots, what’s known as “enhanced vigilance.”

“Because of the info exchange, the experience exchange,” with USAF pilots, “… our troops get kind of like a second wind going towards progress,” said Romanian Lt. Alex Nasturel.

Fetesti Air Base is just over 50 miles from the coast of the Black Sea, which is now threatened by a heavy Russian air- and sea-presence. Non-Black Sea NATO ships are forbidden from entering during wartime due to the Montreux Convention, and U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights over international air space on the Black Sea are believed to have ceased.

Russian fighter jets in recent weeks have tested NATO air space, causing NATO aircraft to scramble in response.

With Putin repositioning his troops in the east and south of Ukraine, Romania has also begun to move armored vehicles and land forces to its border with Ukraine.

Small villages dot the expansive green fields near the Romanian 86th Air Base. Its symbol, the prickly-leafed pink thistle flower, protrudes through the grass in and around the base in the chilly spring.

Despite living at a hotel an hour away in Constanta, along a strip of beach crowded with bars and clubs, the Spangdahlem Airmen avoid the nightlife. Their focus is on mission.

Early the morning of April 9, before the 480th even began making its trademark jalapeno popcorn, Maj. Jared “Roam” Aschenbrenner and Capt. Sean “Sega” Sheldon were in a dark room watching slides and getting their “step brief” from Parks, who identified the Combat Air Patrol (CAP) zone in eastern Romania butting up against the border of Ukraine for the pilots to patrol. They would keep an undisclosed buffer distance from the border in accordance with NATO standards. Just across the Ukrainian border is the region of Odesa, thought to be a prime target in Putin’s quest to cut Ukraine off from the sea and grab a prized port.

The total time for the CAP was four hours, meaning the pilots would make a 10-minute commute to the center of the country to hit a tanker over the Carpathian Mountains before finishing their sortie and high fiving their replacement enhanced Air Policing pair before returning to Fetesti.

On their F-16C Block 50s were AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, should they be needed. While air encounters have occurred between Russians and other NATO partners, Parks assured the Americans are trained to de-escalate. So far, the Russians have diverted after each intercept without incident.

“We’re here, we’re present, we’re showing that NATO’s borders are secure,” said Parks, who also flies patrols. “If an intercept has to occur, our primary job is to be de-escalatory. Let’s go out, let’s identify this person. Let’s make sure he gets turned around and back to whatever nation or host country that aircraft is out of.”

With the sun just over the horizon as the hour neared the 0815 departure, 17 maintainers stood back from the two aircraft. Their job was done.

The aircraft’s GE engine had been roaring for some 40 minutes as all the checks were run. The chalks were pulled, and the two jets began to taxi, one behind the other. In minutes, they were airborne, launching in quick succession, then banking slightly left and rising almost vertically into the orange-hued clouds.