USAF Seeks ‘Transformational’ Change in 2023 Budget as It Looks to Keep Pace With China

USAF Seeks ‘Transformational’ Change in 2023 Budget as It Looks to Keep Pace With China

March 28, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie and John A. Tirpak

The Department of the Air Force is requesting $234.1 billion in its 2023 budget request, of which $40.1 billion is “pass-through funds,” or money the services will never see, while $169.5 billion is for USAF and $24.5 billion is for the Space Force. The budget request looks to cut 240 aircraft, including 33 fifth-generation F-22 stealth fighters and the majority of the AWACS fleet, to pay for additional research and development, long-delayed nuclear modernization programs, and the growing Space Force. It also significantly reduces the F-35 buy.

The 2023 budget request represents a $12 billion increase over the $182 billion enacted by Congress in 2022—one of the largest increases in years. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the 2023 request attempts a “transformational” change in the services, motivated by China’s rapid modernization and taking into account Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Service leaders view the 2023 request as a prelude to even more profound “transformational” changes in fiscal 2024.

Research, development, test, and evaluation would get a 20 percent boost when compared to the 2022 budget request, while procurement would get a 15 percent increase. Operations and maintenance would go up four percent, while military personnel accounts and military construction would increase by 2.3 percent and two percent, respectively.

The service would pay for much of the R&D increase by retiring some 140 aircraft, including the bulk of the E-3 AWACS and E-8 J STARS fleets, and about a sixth of the inventory of Air Force’s premier air superiority fighter the F-22. USAF would also transfer 100 MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft to an unnamed federal agency, so its total reduction comes to 240 airplanes. On the plus side, it is buying 82 new aircraft, for a net change of 158 fewer airplanes.

In last year’s budget request, USAF wanted to retire 201 airplanes and buy 91. Congress allowed all of the divestments, with the exception of 42 A-10 Warthogs.

Kendall said the service can’t afford to wait for transformative change achieved in small, incremental steps.

“What drives that is the threat,” he told reporters in an embargoed March 25 budget briefing. “We need to move aggressively.” Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown’s “accelerate or change” motto “is very apt,” Kendall said. “What you’ll see in the budget is part of the transformation that we’re trying to achieve.” Despite the “acute concern” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China remains “the pacing threat,” he emphasized.   

Kendall said the budget was built expecting “aggression” from Russia against Ukraine or China against Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific. “Those of us who had access to the intelligence were not surprised by what happened,” he said. “And so, our planning took into account that this type of event could occur.”

While the services for many years funded their war consumption and recapitalization of lost assets under the “Overseas Contingency Operations” account, such funding is now either funded through the base budget or a special congressional appropriation.

The boost in R&D, however, is only a “down payment” on future capabilities, he said. There will be more “hard choices” coming in the fiscal year 2024 budget and the outyears, Kendall warned.

The budget makes a big payment on the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) increasing funds by $1.1 billion as the service moves toward an initial operational capability date of 2029. It also adds $354 million to the B-21 bomber program to continue engineering, manufacturing, and development and to support nuclear certification. The Space Force budget, meanwhile, invests heavy in missile warning and tracking, air and ground moving target technology, and space domain awareness, senior Air Force leadership told journalists at the budget preview briefing.

While air mobility is largely set, Kendall noted, “the transformation is more focused” on “the tactical side and the global strike side.”

The budget only provides for 33 F-35 fighters, versus previous years’ requests for 48, and Congress’ frequent adds above even that level. Kendall said the reduction was to buy some time for Lockheed Martin to fix problems with the Technical Refresh 3 upgrade that makes the Block 4 version possible. He insisted that the Air Force “remains committed” to the F-35 and to the total buy of 1,763. “We’ll probably be buying the F-35 another 15 years,” he said.

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said the F-35 buy is the “smallest number in years.

The budget also calls for a speed-up in the acquisition of the F-15EX, which doubles from 12 bought last year to 24 in FY’23. Kendall said there’s an “opportunity” to replace the existing F-15C fleet with F-15EX, and the plan is to buy them as swiftly as possible.

“Given an F-35A production line that today can build 80 F-35As annually, this is truly high-risk to a vital program,” Deptula said. “The choice to accelerate purchases of the F-15EX—a valuable, but technologically inferior airplane—is helpful, but not adequate to shore up the Air Force’s declining combat capacity. USAF’s FY23 budget request results in numbers less than those required to sustain existing force structure. Congress should not allow that to happen.”

The 33 F-22s being retired are of the Block 20 model, and are used as training airplanes. It would be too costly to modernize them to a combat-capable configuration, said USAF budget director Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III. Even so, the F-22 fleet would get $344 million for sensor upgrades and other improvements.

“When you put it all together, we ended up deciding to take a reduction of F-35s,” Kendall said of the overall tactical plan.

There’s also $113 million in a line item for “Autonomous Collaborative Programs,” the unmanned tactical and strategic platforms Kendall sees as complementing the B-21 and Next-Generation Air Dominance fleets. Though he noted it’s not yet a program of record.

Kendall explained that while Russia posed “an acute concern,” in planning the budget, “the pacing challenge is still China.”

Research and development accounts for 25 percent of the total Department of the Air Force budget, or $49.2 billion, divided between $33.4 billion for the Air Force and $15.8 million for the Space Force.

GBSD tops the Air Force category with a $3.6 billion investment, followed by the B-21 at $3.25 billion.

Research, Development, Test and Evaluation investment also calls for a $1.66 billion investment in the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) sixth-generation fighter and $1.08 billion in the F-35A. The NGAD investment is for advanced sensors and air vehicle technology.

Hypersonics research is proposed to receive $577 million divided between fighter-launched Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) and the bomber-launched Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). Kendall has said he plans to reduce the emphasis on hypersonics because while they are an asymmetric necessity for China, USAF has different priorities. Peccia said that most of the $138 million increase would be directed toward HACM.

The Space Force will absorb the Space Development Agency (SDA) budget in 2023, and invest an additional $1 billion for the ground and geosynchronous orbit space segments of the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) missile warning system, a constellation of new satellites. In all, Next Gen OPIR would be slated for $3.48 billion.

Another $1 billion would go to resilient missile warning and missile tracking to address hypersonic weapons and maneuverable reentry vehicles. Meanwhile, $987 million would go toward missile warning and tracking. On the acquisition side, the Space Force proposes a $1.1 billion investment in three additional National Security Space launches and $314 million for three SDA launches.

The Air Force end strength will decrease by 4,900 to 510,400 in fiscal 23, with Kendall indicating that would happen by attrition. The Space Force will add 200 Guardians to its ranks.

Airmen will receive a 4.6 percent pay raise, a 4.2 percent basic allowance housing raise, and a fund of $300,000 will be created for basic needs allowance that Airmen can apply for under special economic circumstances. Inflation in the budget accounts for some $6.3 billion, or a rate of 2.2 percent, in line with government standards.

While the President’s Budget is a wish list until it passes Congress, Kendall was hopeful that like last year he will get the divestments he needs to transform the services for the future.

“As we go forward, I think they’re going to be some hard choices. We are going to do some divestments,” said Kendall. “That change will continue, we have to do that. We have to really get rid of what I’ll call legacy equipment in order to have the resources to modernize.”

The Air Force Association praised the decision to fund long-delayed strategic nuclear modernization programs, such as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent and B-21 bomber, as well as the boost in R&D funds. However, AFA president, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, said the budget is insufficient to meet the growing demand for airpower around the globe.

“The Air Force budget remains flat at a time when it is shouldering costs for two legs of the nuclear triad and three decades of deferred modernization,” Wright said in a statement. “The United States justifiably surged investment in our land components funding to deal with Afghanistan and Iraq; to do that, the nation took risk and deferred investment in air and space. Now it is time to surge air and space to solve today’s threat-based demands.

US, Ukrainian leaders Meet in Warsaw as Russia Ramps Up Air Attacks on Ukraine

US, Ukrainian leaders Meet in Warsaw as Russia Ramps Up Air Attacks on Ukraine

March 26, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

As Russia ramps up its air campaign on Ukraine, U.S. and Ukrainian leaders met in Warsaw to find ways to fight back Russian aggression.

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a photo on March 26 of U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III meeting with himself and other Ukrainian leaders. “This special 2+2 format allows us to seek practical decisions in both political and defense spheres in order to fortify Ukraine’s ability to fight back Russian aggression,” he said.

The meeting comes after President Joe Biden called a NATO leaders summit, followed by meetings with European and G-7 counterparts, to unite allies and partners in the ongoing sanctions against Russian leaders.

The Pentagon said March 25 that Russia had dug into defensive positions around Kyiv, instead focusing its land and air effort on “liberating” the Donbas region. But Ukraine may have taken back Kherson from Russia and the Ukrainian Navy blew up a re-supply ship at the port of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine’s recent moves could drive a wedge in Russia’s effort to lockdown the eastern region of the country, home to a large minority of Russian speakers. Russia has surrounded the port city of Mariupol for days, a missing link that would connect occupied Donbas with Crimea. For weeks, Defense Department officials have pointed to a perceived effort by Russia to lock down the south and pin down Ukrainian forces in the Joint Forces Operation area, where they have operated since Russia invaded in 2014.

“The Donbas is really where they’re … focused right now, on the ground and in the air,” a senior defense official told reporters March 25.

“They have tried to make up for the fact that they haven’t been able to move well on the ground by the increasing use of airstrikes, and missile strikes, and artillery strikes on population centers,” the official added. “They don’t appear to want to pursue Kyiv as aggressively, or frankly, at all.”

Moscow has fired more than 1,250 missiles into Ukraine, and despite reporting about high fail rates for its air-launched cruise missiles and a depleting missile inventory, DOD assesses that Russia still has over half its fire power.

Russia claimed March 25 that its first wartime objective has been achieved.

“The combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal—the liberation of Donbass,” Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, said in a statement.

The Defense Department rated Russia’s combat power as 85 to 90 percent of its pre-positioned strength. Recent DOD assessments of Ukraine’s combat power were estimated at 90 percent, based on constant replenishment from Western partners.

The defense official said parts of the $800 million defense package signed by President Joe Biden March 16 have started arriving in Ukraine, with additional shipments of anti-tank Javelins and anti-aircraft Stingers arriving in Europe in the coming days.

“Another flight arrived in the region today,” the defense official said in response to a question from Air Force Magazine.

Long-range air defense systems promised by Biden in a public address following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech to Congress have yet to arrive. Likewise, after the U.S. rejected an offer by Poland March 8 to help transfer MiG-29s, the official clarified that “the United States is not putting a veto on people giving the Ukrainians aircraft.”

Even without the SAMS and aircraft it says it needs, Ukraine is still holding off the Russian advance.

Ukraine appears to be making headway in the south of the country, where Russian forces moving north from Crimea made their strongest advance and took the city of Kherson early in the month-long war.

“Kherson is actually contested territory again,” the official said.

Losing Kherson would split Russian forces and hinder an attack on Odesa. Russia also suffered a blow in another city it controls in the south, the port city of Berdyansk, where a Russian warship that had been resupplying troops was blown up pier side by the Ukrainian Navy.

DOD asserted that the Russian aim in the east could be motivated by an effort to consolidate gains, unless they are undone.

“They are putting their priorities and their effort in the east of Ukraine. And that’s where still, there remains a lot of heavy fighting,” the official said. “We think they are trying to … secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table.”

Air Force Stands Up New Information Warfare Training Unit

Air Force Stands Up New Information Warfare Training Unit

March 25, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is looking to revamp the way it trains Airmen for information warfare with the establishment of a new wing-level organization.

The Information Warfare Training and Research Initiative Detachment, known as Det. 1, stood up by Air Combat Command in a March 22 ceremony at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. It will connect Airmen from different locations to conduct training and research on IW, according to an ACC press release.

The organization is the product of several years of collaboration between ACC, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Concepts, Development, and Management, as they worked with academic groups to develop new ways of training for information warfare.

That push is part of a broader overall trend within the service to beef up its capabilities and expertise in electronic warfare. Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. warned in January that the Air Force has been “asleep at the wheel” when it comes to electromagnetic spectrum warfare.

Maj. Gen. Daniel L. Simpson, Air Force assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, remarked in February that the service has to “make up for 20 years of neglect,” and experts have agreed that over the course of time, the Pentagon has not invested enough in training for EW.

The new detachment is aimed at accelerating and boosting the training programs and opportunities already in place, ACC said, by “designing and building training environments and linking Airmen across the world to enable operators and researchers to experiment, test, and train in the information environment and electromagnetic spectrum,” according to a release.

As a hybrid wing-level organization, the detachment will be a subordinate unit of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and will maintain operating locations at Davis-Monthan, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and at the 67th Cyberspace Wing in Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.

Distributed across multiple locations, the unit will be able to connect to more Airmen for more regular training.

Already, ACC and its partners have hosted 22 information warfare-focused events, with Airmen, Guardians, joint partners, and members of academia and industry joining in experiments and training. The events have enabled information warfare training for larger Air Force missions like air superiority or ISR.

“We’ve adapted a ‘build, learn, correct, repeat’ model,” Col. Christopher Budde, chief of ACC’s information warfare division, said in a statement. “We are experimenting with sustainable processes and events in quick succession to scale conceptual ideas, operationally test them, then integrate these processes across the larger federated enterprise.”

These events can span locations, allowing for IW-focused units and Airmen to get training no matter where they are. They will also help Det. 1 to “rethink traditional training and research models,” ACC said.

“If we want to be a resolute world power, we must not only compete in the global commons but also compete and win in contested sovereigns,” ACC commander Gen. Mark D. Kelly said in a statement. “Most competition, if not all combat, will take place in the electromagnetic spectrum. Focusing our offensive and defensive capabilities in the digitally-enabled domain is critical to honing our lethality in strategic competition.”

Arctic Hasn’t Gotten Enough in Past Pentagon Budgets, VanHerck Says. Will That Change in 2023?

Arctic Hasn’t Gotten Enough in Past Pentagon Budgets, VanHerck Says. Will That Change in 2023?

March 25, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. Northern Command boss Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, who has pushed for the Pentagon to allocate more resources to the Arctic region in its annual budget, hopes to see a “significant” funding boost for domain awareness in 2023.

Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 24, just four days before the 2023 budget request is released, VanHerck fielded plenty of questions from lawmakers concerned about the Arctic, a region of increasing importance where the melting ice cap, natural resources, and shipping lanes are all contested by the U.S., Russia, and even China, among other nations.

In June 2021, VanHerck told the Congressional panel that the budget only “inched” progress forward in the region, adding that “we didn’t move the ball very far down the field this year in the budget with regards to resources in the Arctic.”

Nine months later, his concerns about investments remain.

“We have not seen the funding that I would like to see with regards to the Arctic,” VanHerck told Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska).

Sullivan then noted, as VanHerck also has, that the services are at least paying more attention to the region—the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Department of the Air Force have all released strategic plans for the Arctic, some for the very first time, in the past few years.

But thus far, the money hasn’t matched those strategies, Sullivan and VanHerck said.

“I look forward to seeing the ‘23 budget,” VanHerck said. “The Arctic is strategic in nature. We must be persistent there to compete. That’s a part of … integrated deterrence.”

The Pentagon will rollout the fiscal 2023 budget request on March 28, and VanHerck indicated he hadn’t yet seen what it entails for the Arctic.

“Without seeing the ‘23 budget, I really can’t give you a full assessment of what we’re going to see for infrastructure support. I believe we will see additional domain awareness capabilities significantly funded with the ‘23 budget, but I look forward to seeing that,” VanHerck said. “I would assess that there may still be some work to do with regards to the strategies that each of the services have … put out, and the department strategy. But when the budget comes out, I’ll give you the final assessment.”

Domain awareness in the Arctic has been a stated priority for DOD for several years now. Billy Mitchell famously said that, “Alaska is the most central place in the world for aircraft operations.” It is closer to China than Hawaii, where Pacific Air Forces is headquarters is located, and when the ice freezes over in the winter, there are places where you can actually walk from U.S. to Russian territory.

But operating in the Arctic is always a challenge due to the harsh conditions and relative lack of infrastructure. There are actually more roads in the state of New Jersey, than there are in all of Alaska, even though if if placed Alaska on a map of the lower 48 it would stretch from Jacksonville, Fla., to San Francisco, Lt. Gen. David A. Krumm, the most senior military officer in Alaska, told Air Force Magazine.

Infrastructure is one area where VanHerck sees a need for investment, so the U.S. can continue to be a persistent presence in the region.

“We do need a presence, and fuel north of Dutch Harbor would do that, as would infrastructure and communications capabilities,” VanHerck said. “I look forward to working with the Canadians on their part of this. They need to be part of it as well, not only the Department of Defense, especially on the infrastructure piece.”

Both Russia and China, which is not technically an Arctic nation, have become increasingly aggressive in asserting their presence in the region.

“The Chinese are active in the Arctic,” VanHerck told lawmakers. “Each of the last five years, they’ve sent a vessel under the guise of a research vessel into the Arctic for military purposes, we assess. … And so they’re there. They’re influencing nations, they want to change and influence international norms and behavior as well.”

There is also the threat that Russia and China could pose by launching a missile to fly over the region to strike the U.S. In such a crisis, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed VanHerck on how he would coordinate with other combatant commands.

“I’m comfortable with the way the unified campaign plan is currently laid out. We have outstanding relationships with Canada, outstanding relationships with [U.S. European Command] and [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command]. I do think we need to look at, based on threat changes, how we would command and control those capabilities,” VanHerck replied.

“The threats to the homeland today do not reside in my area of responsibility. They are actually existing in other areas of responsibility, such as the INDOPACOM area of responsibility and the EUCOM area of responsibility. So I do think there’s potential gaps and seams that we need to make sure that we close those in a time of crisis and conflict to ensure we don’t have challenges that were unaccounted for.”

Gen. Charles G. Boyd, Former POW, Dies at 83

Gen. Charles G. Boyd, Former POW, Dies at 83

March 24, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

Gen. Charles G. Boyd, the only Vietnam-era prisoner of war to become a four-star general, died March 23 at the age of 83. Boyd was also a former vice commander of 8th Air Force, commander of Air University, and deputy commander of U.S. European Command.

Born in Iowa, Boyd entered the Air Force in 1959 through the aviation cadet program. He learned to fly the F-100 Super Sabre and F-105 Thunderchief, and was deployed to Southeast Asia in November 1965.

On April 22, 1966, Boyd volunteered for an unusually dangerous mission to attack surface-to-air missile sites around Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital, in an F-105D. According to his citation for the Air Force Cross—the highest decoration after the Medal of Honor—Boyd, on his 105th mission over the North, bravely pressed the attack repeatedly through heavy enemy fire, including close calls with two SAMS. After repeated passes, he was hit. Ejecting at high speed, the force of the wind tore his helmet off, and shortly after landing in a rice paddy, he was captured.

Boyd spent the next seven years as a prisoner of the North Vietnamese, enduring torture, brutal interrogation, solitary confinement, malnutrition, and illness. For 18 months, he was imprisoned adjacent to Navy flyer John McCain, who later became a U.S. senator and Republican presidential candidate.

Boyd was among the 50 or so prisoners forced to walk through the capital in the 1966 “Hanoi March,” a propaganda event in which downed pilots were humiliated and struck by civilians lining the march route, showing that Hanoi refused to be bound by the Geneva Convention banning such treatment.

Boyd was repatriated in 1973 after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. He resumed his Air Force career, taking four years to heal up from his injuries, earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and attend the Air War College. Due to malnutrition during his captivity, Boyd’s eyesight wasn’t good enough to allow him to resume USAF flying duties, although he flew private aircraft for many years afterwards.

Over the next 12 years, Boyd rose rapidly through the ranks, holding staff and command assignments in the Pentagon and Europe. From December 1986 until June of 1988 he was vice commander of 8th Air Force; from 1990-1992 he commanded Air University; and in his last post he was deputy commander-in-chief of U.S. European Command, retiring in August 1995 as a four-star general.

Boyd remained an active voice in national security after his Air Force career. He served as a strategy consultant to Rep. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House; and in 1998, he served as director of the Hart-Rudman commission assessing U.S. security needs for the 21st century. Seven months before the 9/11 attacks, the panel presciently called for the creation of a federal department much like the eventual Department of Homeland Security to monitor terrorism and protect against it.

He later became senior vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, as its Washington program director. He also worked as a director at various defense and intelligence-oriented companies, was CEO of the Business Executives for National Security, and was chair of the Center for the National Interest think tank.

Boyd wrote that fighter pilots were uniquely suited to endure the ravages of being POWs, as they were accustomed to facing battle relying almost entirely on their own wits and resources.

“It should not seem surprising that this breed of men would be as well-equipped as anyone to cope with the special problems of isolation,” Boyd said. The enemy “thought they could ‘divide and conquer;’ that without collective leadership we would not be able to maintain our resistance and resolve. But they did not reckon with the individual integrity of the American fighter pilot.” The endurance of American POWs in Vietnam is “a testimony to the individual spirit,” Boyd said. “We returned with our mental health …because the highest degree of achievement is possible only when man is imbued with a spirit of individualism.”

Air Force Association President, retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, said “Gen. Boyd was an inspirational figure, in his warrior spirit, his incredible endurance under brutal conditions, and his intellectual gifts to the national security community. An exemplary leader for generations of Airmen, he inspired us in every encounter.”

Retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, worked for Boyd from 1988 to 1989 and remained in contact with him throughout his life. “Gen. Boyd was a giant of an Airman” who “exuded thoughtfulness in all the aspects of the word,” Deptula said. “From the perspective of complete evaluation of all aspects of a situation, to the empathy of man who had consideration for others’ perspectives. … He took me flying in his T-34 not that long ago, and he was at home in the air. May he Rest In Peace in his final resting place in the clouds. He was a true warrior, scholar, leader, Airman, and will be dearly missed.”

Hackers Attacked Satellite Terminals Through Management Network, Viasat Officials Say

Hackers Attacked Satellite Terminals Through Management Network, Viasat Officials Say

March 24, 2022 | By Shaun Waterman

The cyberattack that cut communications for thousands of European users of Viasat’s satellite broadband service last month was carried out by hackers compromising and exploiting the system that manages customer terminals, two Viasat officials told Air Force Magazine.

The attack, which happened as Russian forces rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, affected tens of thousands of terminals in Ukraine and across Europe, which were part of the KA-SAT network, a satellite broadband asset that Viasat bought last year from French satcom giant Eutelsat. End users affected included some in the Ukrainian military, and the attack dramatically demonstrated the vulnerability of commercial satellite communications capabilities on which the U.S. military increasingly relies.

“The terminal management network … that manages the KA-SAT network, and manages other Eutelsat networks—that network was penetrated,” said one Viasat official. “And from there, the hackers were able to launch an attack against the terminals using the normal function of the management plane of the network.”

The official added that Viasat shared information about the hack with DOD and law enforcement agencies. Viasat is one of the commercial satcom companies that are part of the Commercial Integration Cell, or CIC. Located at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., the CIC is based in the Combined Space Operations Center, part of U.S. Space Command, and exists to share “real‐time and near real‐time information … during daily routine operations and to enable rapid, informed response to critical unplanned space events,” according to a fact sheet from Vandenberg public affairs.

Under the transition agreement governing the KA-SAT acquisition, the KA-SAT networks had continued to be managed by Skylogic SPA, an Italian subsidiary of Eutelsat, along with other Eutelsat networks, the Viasat officials said.

The first official contended that the attack would not have succeeded on the global network directly managed by Viasat. “The controls that we have on our … Viasat operated networks would have stopped this. These events that we saw on this [KA-SAT] network, the same effects would not have worked on our global network.”

The Viasat officials said that the attack did not affect users of the KA-SAT network who bought their broadband directly from Viasat, only users inherited as part of the Eutelsat deal.

“Even on that [KA-SAT] network, none of our mobility and none of our government customers were affected—the controls we have around those users kept them safe,” said the first official.

Although the timing of the attack—as Russian tanks rolled across the border—might appear highly suggestive, the Viasat officials said they were not in a position to attribute it to any particular actor.

This week, a senior White House official told reporters that the U.S. government was not yet making any public attribution, either. “We have not yet attributed that attack, but we’re carefully looking at it because … of the impact not only in Ukraine but also in satellite communication systems in Europe as well,” Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technologies Anne Neuberger said at a briefing March 21.

She added that the sophistication of the attack, along with its timing, were “certainly factors that … we’re looking at carefully as we look at who is responsible.”

The attack compromised the management plane—the part of the network that controls customer terminals to ensure they can communicate with the satellite, the Viasat officials said. The hackers had abused that functionality to change the software configuration on the terminals and render them inoperable.

But, contrary to some early reports, the attack did not brick the terminals. “It did not make them permanently inoperable,” said the second official. “Every single terminal that was knocked off the air can be brought back with a software update.” Although the network is generally capable of updating terminals over the air, by downloading new software via the satellite link, many of the terminals attacked cannot be brought back online by the customer, and so can’t get the required update over the air. Those will have to be updated by tech support staff, the first official said.

Viasat is replacing some terminals altogether, but only as a matter of convenience, the first official added. “In some cases, it’s easier to just ship new terminals than it is to send a tech out. So there’s a combination of some we’re restoring over the air, some where a tech has to come out and restore, and some where we’re just shipping new terminals.”

Viasat has not disclosed the exact number of terminals affected, but the second official said it was “tens of thousands.” The company said no customer or end-user data was compromised.

Viasat’s response to the hack had been complicated by a number of factors, the officials said. KA-SAT had been a “bandwidth wholesaler,” making deals with distributors and resellers in each European market.

“In the case of the Ukrainian military, in some instances, but also some other users in other countries, they bought commercial [satcom] services through the distributors and then used them for the military,” said the first official. “Because of the distributor relationship, there was a level of abstraction between us and those customers. And so we didn’t even necessarily know who the customers were, or how they were using these assets.”

Moreover, the fact that the distributors had the customer relationship with the end user complicated the process of refurbishing or replacing the inoperable terminals, the first official added. “As we restore the terminals, we send them to the distributors, and it’s the distributors’ responsibility to send them to the users.” Some distributors were “fantastic. And they get them right out to the users.” Others faced challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or other factors and are “sitting on them in their warehouses.”

Despite this, Viasat was now bringing “thousands of terminals back online per day, and will have the network completely restocked and back to full capacity within a few weeks,” the first official said.

The attack prompted a warning to U.S. satellite operators from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, the DHS agency responsible for working with the private sector to protect vital American industries such as telecommunications and health care.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 3:15 p.m. on March 25 to correct some technical issues with how the KA-SAT network and other assets were described.

Whiteman B-2 Flies to Australia and Back, Conducts Training with RAAF

Whiteman B-2 Flies to Australia and Back, Conducts Training with RAAF

March 24, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

A B-2 bomber flew from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., to Australia and back over the course of more than 50 hours recently, integrating with five different fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force along the way. 

The B-2 Spirit from the 509th Bomb Wing became on March 23 the first such bomber to land at Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley, Pacific Air Forces announced in a press release.

While in Australian airspace, the B-2 refueled from a KC-135 tanker from the Alaska Air National Guard, then integrated with American F-16Cs and Australian F-35s, EA-18 Growlers, and F/A-18F Super Hornets as part of training operations.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command boss Adm. John C. Aquilino and Royal Australian Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Joe Iervasi were on hand to observe the B-2 on the ground after it landed. After a crew change, the bomber took off again, integrating with American F-22s from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, before returning home to Whiteman.

“This is the most consequential theater with the most challenging security issues, … and advancing our interoperability with critical allies like Australia is critical to maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Aquilino said in a statement. “There are many aspects that are going on daily to continue to move the security relationship forward in a positive way to provide deterrence, prevent war, and maintain peace and stability within the region.” 

In a Facebook post, Whiteman officials said the B-2 was assigned to the 393rd Bomb Squadron and that the mission lasted a total of 53 hours.

B-2s have flown training missions over Australia several times over the past few years. In 2020, Whiteman B-2s deployed to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia and then flew over Australian training areas while Marines and Australian troops trained together to control the strikes. In 2016, a B-2 from Whiteman landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal.

A B-1B Lancer also flew over Australia in 2021 to train with RAAF tankers. B-1 Lancers also operated out of Diego Garcia for the first time in 15 years this past fall.

Biden Promises Response if Russia Uses Chemical Weapons in Ukraine, Calls for Continued NATO Unity

Biden Promises Response if Russia Uses Chemical Weapons in Ukraine, Calls for Continued NATO Unity

March 24, 2022 | By Abraham Mahshie

President Joe Biden warned that the United States will respond if Russia uses chemical weapons against Ukraine. Biden also promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, provide $1 billion in humanitarian support to Ukraine, and a impose a new round of sanctions against Russian politicians, entities, and defense companies.

“Putin was banking on NATO being split,” said Biden, in Europe accompanied by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III.

Biden said he called for the March 24 unscheduled NATO leaders summit, and subsequent meetings with European and G-7 counterparts, in order to keep allies and partners united in the punishing sanctions regiment against Russian President Vladimir Putin since “Russia began its carnage in Ukraine” one month prior, on Feb. 24.

“He didn’t think we could sustain this cohesion. NATO has never, never been more united than it is today,” he added, reflecting on December and January phone calls with Putin. “Putin is getting exactly the opposite of what he intended to have as a consequence of going into Ukraine.”

Biden also said he is working with European leaders on ways the United States can provide food and energy security amid worries created by the Russia-Ukraine war. Both Russia and Ukraine are major providers of wheat to Europe, and many European countries depend on Russian oil and gas. The U.S. has ended imports of Russian oil and gas and hopes to export more liquefied natural gas to European ports to help allies reduce their purchase of Russian energy.

The new sanctions against Russia, in unison with the European Union, target more than 400 individuals and entities. Included are more than 300 members of the Russian legislative body Duma, oligarchs, and defense companies.

Biden made note of the more than $2 billion in defense assistance already provided to Ukraine, including air defense systems, armor, and ammunition that continues to flow into Ukraine through a variety of secret overland routes from NATO eastern flank countries. The President announced no new defense package or materials, and the $800 million package of additional military support, signed March 16, has yet to begin delivery.

Biden also said 100,000 Ukrainian refugees will be permitted to immigrate to the United States with a focus on reuniting families. European countries have already absorbed more than 3.5 million refugees from the conflict. Biden is set to travel to Poland, the largest recipient of Ukrainian refugees, March 25 and March 26 for meetings with leaders and to visit refugee camps.

Much speculation has arisen as to the possibility that Biden might somehow try to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which would require either Zelenskyy to leave the besieged capital or for Biden to fly into an active war zone.

After beginning to describe his itinerary, Biden reversed course and said that he hopes to “see a lot of people.”

The President refused to admit that his early ruling out of direct military intervention before the start of the invasion had emboldened Putin, and he dismissed a reporter’s assertion that American sanctions were meant to deter an invasion by Russia.

“I did not say that … sanctions would deter him. Sanctions never deter,” Biden said, noting that the “maintenance of sanctions” for the entire year would stop Putin.

“The single most important thing is for us to stay unified, and the world to continue to focus on what a brute this guy is, and all the innocent people’s lives that are being lost and ruined,” Biden continued.

On China, Biden said that during his recent call with President Xi Jinping, he made it clear that economic access to the United States and European Union would be “in significant jeopardy” should China choose to provide economic or military assistance to Russia.

The President ended by emphasizing that the alliance must hold strong if it is to stop Putin:

“We have to stay fully, totally, thoroughly united,” he said.

‘Boxed Into a Corner,’ Russia Could Be a Counterspace Wild Card

‘Boxed Into a Corner,’ Russia Could Be a Counterspace Wild Card

March 24, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

China’s space infrastructure has made it more of a military match for the U.S. than Russia, in terms of space, but Russia presents more of an “unknown,” especially as it’s “boxed into a corner” in its invasion of Ukraine, said a top Space Force intelligence officer. 

Maj. Gen. Leah G. Lauderback spoke during the Defense One/Nextgov Intelligence Summit streamed March 24. 

As the Space Force’s senior intelligence officer for its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance “enterprise,” which amounts to about 800 people, she said she tries to instill a “warfighting mentality”—specifically, “How do we defend the capabilities that we have?”

Russia made a dramatic offensive demonstration when it launched a kinetic anti-satellite weapon at one of its own derelict satellites in November 2021, creating a debris field of more than 1,500 objects in low Earth orbit. As of February, that debris was causing so-called “squalls” of conjunctions, or close approaches, with satellites. An estimated 40,000 conjunctions were to take place in the first week of April alone.

Russia also has demonstrated a satellite that flew close to a U.S. satellite, Lauderback said: “They had what we assessed as a counterspace capability essentially flying near one of our capabilities and following us around.”

The Space Force’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war has included gathering intelligence to present to U.S. Space Command and U.S. European Command along with services such as GPS. “It’s battle space awareness. It’s missile warning—it’s things of that nature,” Lauderback said. “Communications. I say that’s a huge one—that we support all the other warfighters out there.”

But an intelligence officer really wants to “understand the adversary,” Lauderback said, and the Space Force is also tasked with “observing, and watching, and being able to try to characterize what is happening in the Ukraine crisis.”

While she gauged China as “more of a rational actor at this point,” she estimated that “Russia is more of an actor that I feel is unknown, and maybe more of a concern, about being boxed into a corner”—a situation in which “you’re not a hundred percent certain what it is that they will do.”

Russia also doesn’t have as high a stake in the orbital environment as the U.S. and China.

“Russia does not use it nearly as much,” Lauderback said. “They are very good at what they do from a space perspective and a counterspace perspective, but they are less dependent on it.”

China, on the other hand, has observed the U.S.’s use of space since it came into play in the Gulf War, and “has truly built a capability and a counter space capability,” making it “truly the challenge” from the Space Force’s perspective.

“I mean, it’s incredible to see,” Lauderback said. “It’s not just about their counterspace—that does threaten us—but it’s also how they use their space capabilities, their intelligence collection capabilities. Because what are they using that for? Of course, they’re using that to track us.”

Unlike Russia’s trend, that advancement could lead to dependency.

The difference, “is that China has an overwhelming capability, and they need it,” she said. “They’re going to be, at some point, dependent on their own use [of] space.”