Air Force Generals Nominated to Lead US Forces in Japan and Alaska

Air Force Generals Nominated to Lead US Forces in Japan and Alaska

March 25, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. forces in Japan and Alaska are slated to get new leaders, as the Pentagon announced March 25 that President Joe Biden has nominated two Air Force major generals for their third stars and new assignments. 

Maj. Gen. Stephen F. Jost has been tapped to take command of U.S. Forces Japan and the 5th Air Force, while Maj. Gen. Case A. Cunningham has been selected to lead Alaskan Command and the 11th Air Force. 

If confirmed, both Airmen will be tasked with leading subordinate commands—U.S. Forces Japan is under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, while Alaskan Command is under U.S. Northern Command. Both the 5th and 11th Air Forces are under Pacific Air Forces. 

Jost currently serves as commander of a different subordinate command, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command under U.S. Transportation Command. An F-16 and F-35 pilot, he has commanded at the squadron, group, and wing levels, and has spent most of the last five years in joint assignments. Prior to that, he spent almost two years in the Air Force’s F-35 Integration Office, including time as its director. 

As head of USFJ and the 5th Air Force, Jost would succeed Lt. Gen. Ricky N. Rupp in overseeing some 54,000 military personnel. 

If confirmed, Jost will take charge as profound changes in U.S.-Japan military cooperation look set to take place. Multiple media outlets, including the Financial Times and Reuters, reported this weekend that the two countries’ leaders—President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida—plan to announce a major restructuring of the U.S. military command in Japan in April. The goal will be to tighten operational planning and exercises between the two nations to combat China’s growing power. 

The Space Force is also expected to activate its component command within U.S. Forces Japan in 2024.

Cunningham, meanwhile, is poised to take on a triple-hatted assignment as head of Alaskan Command, the 11th Air Force, and the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Region. He would succeed Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, who has held the job since August 2022. 

Cunningham currently serves as commander of the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, overseeing the 57th Wing, 53rd Wing, 99th Air Base Wing, 505th Command and Control Wing, 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, the Nevada Test and Training Range, and the Air Force Joint Test Program Office. A former commander of the “Thunderbirds,” the Air Force’s air demonstration team, Cunningham has flown F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s. Prior to his current job, he was director of plans, programs, and requirements at Air Combat Command. Cunningham has led the Warfare Center through a transition to focus more on training to confront China.

If confirmed, Cunningham would command more than 22,000 service members and be responsible for monitoring and defending a key region that sees regular incursions by Russian aircraft approaching the NORAD Air Defense Identification Zone. What’s more, new NORAD and NORTHCOM commander Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot recently warned lawmakers that China could soon join Russia in probing the area. 

“What I’ve seen is a willingness and a desire by the Chinese to act up there (the Arctic),” Guillot said on March 14. “I expect to see air activity in the Alaska part of the Arctic as soon as this year, potentially. It’s a very big concern of mine.” 

The Chinese spy balloon that crossed the continental United States and generated international headlines in early 2023 first approached U.S. territory through Alaska.

Bombers Around the World: B-1s Land in Spain, B-52s at Diego Garcia

Bombers Around the World: B-1s Land in Spain, B-52s at Diego Garcia

March 25, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. Air Force bombers deployed across the globe this past weekend, as two B-52 Stratofortresses landed at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean on March 22 and two B-1 Lancers landed at Morón Air Base, Spain, on March 24. 

The pair of Bomber Task Force deployments, more than 5,000 miles apart, give Air Force Global Strike Command a presence in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, with relatively easy access to the Middle East as well. 

The B-52s flew into Diego Garcia from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., after a 30-hour direct flight. It is the first time the Air Force has announced a Bomber Task Force to Diego Garcia—a tiny island that is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory that services as a key base for the U.S. and U.K. militaries, which hosted American troops since the 1970s. B-1s landed there in 2021, and the last time a B-52 landed there was in 2020. 

“This deployment aims to enhance the readiness and training necessary to respond to any potential crisis or challenge across the globe, demonstrating the credibility of our forces to address a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in recent history,” Pacific Air Forces stated in a release. 

While the island is in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, the Air Force has used the island in the past as a base to send bombers into the U.S. Central Command area of operations. 

This latest bomber deployment for PACAF comes on the heels of B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., deploying to Guam at the end of January and operating there until March 6. 

The B-1s that landed in Spain came from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. While deployed, they will “generate sorties out of Morón AB and operate alongside numerous Allies and partners to increase interoperability and assure security commitments across the United States European Command area of responsibility,” a release from U.S. Air Forces in Europe stated. 

Reuters reported March 24 that the Russian defense ministry announced it scrambled a MiG-31 fighter to intercept two B-1 bombers headed toward the Russian border over the Barents Sea—the bombers reportedly turned around short of the border. Online flight trackers noted the bombers then flew on to Morón. USAFE did not immediately reply to a query from Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

As with PACAF, USAFE just recently had bombers in the region when B-1s from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., deployed to Sweden for a Bomber Task Force in late February before leaving March 1. 

The last Bomber Task Force deployment to Spain took place in March 2023. 

Congress to USAF: Not So Fast on Your Reorg Plans

Congress to USAF: Not So Fast on Your Reorg Plans

March 23, 2024 | By Greg Hadley and Chris Gordon

The Department of the Air Force’s plans to “reoptimize for great power competition” are meeting with skepticism in Congress, and lawmakers want more details before changes go into effect. Congress wants more detail from the Air Force and a six-month review on how its plans were developed, requirements included in the 2024 spending bill that passed the House and Senate March 22 and 23.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall and his leadership team unveiled a sweeping 24-point plan to “re-optimize for great power competition” at the AFA Warfare Symposium Feb. 12, and leaders have been talking up the overhaul ever since.

Among the changes: A major command shakeup including creating a new Integrated Capabilities Command for the Air Force, a new Space Futures Command for the Space Force, the re-introduction of warrant officers in the Air Force, new exercises and inspections to ensure unit readiness, and new deployment rotation models.  

But Congress wants a say in any major changes and the long-delayed 2024 appropriations bill made clear lawmakers concerns: “To date, the Department of the Air Force has not provided thorough justification for this reorganization, a comprehensive implementation plan, or detailed budgetary information necessary for the Subcommittees to assess this plan.” 

The bill directs that any 2024 spending used for those changes be “designated a congressional special interest item for the purpose of the Base for Reprogramming.” It also asks for its own six-month review of the decisions and the way in which leaders arrived at their conclusions.

By designating these matters as “special interest items,” Congress is asserting its oversight role. Typically, any such item costing more than $10 million must be reviewed by the chairmen and ranking members of four committees—the House and Senate’s Armed Services committees and the House and Senate Appropriations committees, according to the Congressional Research Service. How much reprogramming the Air Force is seeking in fiscal 2024 remains unclear; given the extent of the changes and the time it will take to work out details, most reprogramming will probably hit the fiscal 2025 budget, rather than fiscal 2024, which is already half over.

The new bill directs the Air Force to report, at least 30 days before formalizing any organizational changes, details explaining: 

  • How the change differ from the status quo 
  • How each phase of the change will be implemented and what each phase will cost 
  • Any new “offices, commands, or centers” to be established 
  • Any impacts to military and civilians position, itemized by location 
  • “the programmatic impacts of such decisions”  

An Air Force official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that not all that information is fully understood yet, but that the Department will keep Congress in the loop.

“We fully intend to keep Congress informed throughout the process, but we are at the early planning stages, and we have a lot more work to do to flesh out all the details,” the official said. 

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin acknowledged both the missing details and the need for congressional buy-in Feb. 28 during a speaking engagement at the Brookings Institution.

“How we engage Congress, how we engage the stakeholders, how we look internally to our Air Force in different ways to accomplish this that aren’t fiscally intensive is going to be key to this—which is why it may be unsatisfying to some because we’re rolling this out without having the actual signed official document on what the end state looks like,” he said.

Kendall said from the start he wants to minimize costs, including moves for Airmen and Guardians, but that some costs will be inevitable.

“I think we can do so in a way which minimizes cost,” he said. “We have nothing in the ’24 or the ’25 budget for any of these changes. If we need any funds in those periods, we’ll do it through reprogramming.” 

Lawmakers appear concerned that the changes could remove some jobs from their districts, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a defense budget analyst.

“Ultimately politics is about who gets what,” Harrison told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “So I understand it’s inevitable that Congress would want to get into issues like this because it affects which districts get which jobs.” 

Retired Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the former head of Air Force Futures, agreed.

“These are understandable fears, and it will be important for the Department to allay them, even though it may feel like it is unnecessary or already accomplished,” he said.

But retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said Congress is effectively meddling, which is likely to slow down needed changes and could add costs.

“The reorganization is a major positive step and the Air Force is taking responsible action by implementing it,” Deptula said. “It does not need Congress to inhibit its execution by excessive micromanagement.”

More Detail

In addition to reprogramming oversight, the bill directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a 180-day review of proposed organizational changes, as well as the process used to craft it, including: 

  • Factors considered in the reorganization 
  • Feedback from combatant commanders 
  • Analysis conducted to determine the key decision areas 
  • The business case analysis used and estimated costs involved 
  • Estimated time to implement the plan 
  • Criteria for success, including “interim operational capability and full operational capability” 
  • Whether input from a recent acquisition reform was considered 
  • The potential impact on joint and coalition forces 

Harrison said this report will likely require “a couple of people at least in the secretary’s office to just work with the GAO to make sure they give the GAO the information it needs and that they sell it in a way so that GAO report comes out not looking bad.”  

But any finding by GAO concluding that the process was flawed in any way could provide ammunition to skeptics seeking to derail the process, Harrison added, noting what appears to be a trend of congressional oversight spilling over into micromanagement. 

“I think the Pentagon ought to absolutely have the power to organize fources and organize the bureaucracy in the way they best see fit,” Harrison said. “Congress getting down and trying to micromanage how the Secretary of the Air Force organizes his office and all the different major commands within the Air Force, that is micromanagement, and that is not healthy. Of course, Congress should always be a check on the system, to make sure [the administration] doesn’t run awry and do something completely illogical. But you don’t want to be looking over folks’ shoulders, telling them every little decision that they need to make.” 

Deptula said more than question organization, Congress should be focused on finding the resources to ensure the Department of the Air Force has the funds it needs to enhance readiness and modernization. The Fiscal Responsibility Act, meanwhile, is poised to further crimp that cash flow.

“A reorganization alone cannot make up for over 30 years of inadequate funding of the Air Force, driven by arbitrary budget caps exacerbated by multiple continuing resolutions,” Deptula said. “Yes, Congress has oversight responsibilities, but they need to address the big picture reality of timely execution of their Constitutional responsibility to ‘provide for the common defense.’”

LRSO Nuclear Missile’s Development Extended, Funding Deferred

LRSO Nuclear Missile’s Development Extended, Funding Deferred

March 23, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force deducted $146.1 million in funding from its secretive AGM-181 Long Range Stand-Off missile program in fiscal 2025 but added more money back in later years, suggesting the program was either cut to meet the service’s spending caps or it has hit a technical problem. The development phase has been extended a year.

The LRSO will replace the 40-year-old AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile and eventually be the primary nuclear weapon for the upgraded B-52J Stratofortress and the new B-21 Raider.

Comparing Air Force budget documents for fiscal 2024 and 2025, LRSO’s procurement funds were cut $64.7 million for ’25 but increased more than $200 million in 2027. The request for research, development, test and evaluation was similarly cut in 2025 by $81.4 million, but an additional year of development, funded at $78 million in 2029, has been added. The previous budget called for development to end in fiscal 2028.

 Otherwise, the funding profiles laid out in the two budget requests are almost identical.

Budget documents indicate LRSO remains on track for a low-rate initial production decision in fiscal 2027, when production funding would surge from $295.5 million to $1.22 billion.

The missile passed its critical design review a year ago, and Air Force officials at the time said no major issues had been identified at that milestone. That suggests the funding rearrangement in 2025 was part of the Air Force’s solution to finding $2 billion in reductions necessitated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which capped spending across the government.

RTX’s Raytheon unit is developing LRSO, having prevailed over Lockheed Martin for the cost-plus development contract in 2021. The choice came somewhat early, as both companies were in the midst of parallel technology maturation and risk reduction (TMRR) efforts, but the Air Force determined that the Raytheon solution was superior and pressed on into source selection.

LRSO funding grows substantially in the late 2020s, as the program produces a planned 1,087 missiles. While little is known of the LRSO technology, the Air Force has said it will not be a hypersonic weapon and will rely on its stealth, range and maneuverability for its survivability.

President Joe Biden’s administration confirmed the need for LRSO in the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review after heavy speculation that it would terminate the program. U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. Anthony Cotton told the Senate Armed Services Committee last year that he was “quite pleased” with LRSO’s progress, but the subject didn’t come up in this year’s hearing on strategic forces, conducted on March 21, which quickly went into closed session. Cotton argued in 2023 that while the ALCM is still “reliable [and] safe,” it’s long outlasted its planned service life and is overdue for replacement.

The LRSO escaped termination, Pentagon officials have said, because of the rapid growth of China’s nuclear arsenal and the need to develop deterrence strategies that work in a world with three peer nuclear powers instead of just two.

Initial Operational Capability will likely coincide with the end of the ALCM program, and from spending profiles for the two systems, that seems likely to happen in 2029.

Budget documents backing up this year’s request say that there will be “fewer test activities” in FY25.

Developmental activities for the coming fiscal year include design validation and verification; nuclear certification; “all-up round technical integration, warhead integration and aircraft integration.” Additionally, “coordination with external test agencies” will continue “in preparation for operational and post-production flight testing.” Other activities include efforts to enhance reliability and “design for manufacturing,” in preparation for Production Readiness Reviews, as well as planning for logistics and support systems, production of “carriage and launcher equipment, trainers, test equipment and support equipment.”

LRSO Planned Funding (in millions)

Account20252026202720282029
Procurement$70.3$295.5$1,215$1,685$2,210
RDT&E$623.5$601.6$288.3$76.5$78
Source: Air Force budget documents

After fiscal 2029, it will cost $4.2 billion to complete LRSO production, the documents show.       

Although originally expected to cost about $10 million per missile, the LRSO is now expected to cost about $14 million each. However, the Air Force does not include unit production goals or program acquisition unit costs in its justification documents.

The Air Force describes the LRSO as able to penetrate the toughest integrated air defense systems “from significant stand-off range in support of the Air Force’s global attack capability and strategic deterrence core function.”

From fiscal ’23-‘26, the program is buying  “ancillary equipment, warhead support equipment and field trainers required to be in place for Initial Nuclear Surety Inspection (INSI).” This must be accomplished “prior to fielding the weapon system and attaining Initial Operational Capability.”

FY25 procurement funds will buy “components required for Radiation Lot Acceptance Testing (RLAT)” along with items for advanced procurement.”

Airmen Taste Agile Chow Employment With New Mobile Kitchen

Airmen Taste Agile Chow Employment With New Mobile Kitchen

March 22, 2024 | By David Roza

As the Air Force pursues a strategy called Agile Combat Employment (ACE), where small teams of Airmen launch and recover aircraft at remote or austere airfields, one question persists: what are they going to eat?

While the military often relies on packaged Meals Ready to Eat for nutrients in the field, Air National Guard units around the world are enjoying fresh, hot meals made with a new field kitchen that can serve hundreds of troops in a shorter amount of time, make more kinds of food, and run far more efficiently than its predecessors.

The box-shaped Expandable Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen takes up just one standard aviation cargo pallet. Once in position, two of its sides fold down to form the floor of the kitchen while a tent-like material forms the roof and walls. Two people can complete the process in less than 15 minutes, the 127th Wing noted in a March 7 press release.

“We can cook almost anything with this. It’s completely self-contained,” said Tech Sgt. Anthony Renaud, a services craftsman with the 127th Force Support Squadron (FSS).

Prior to E-SPEK, the Air Force used the SPEK, which took up the same amount of space, a 463L pallet, but took four hours and eight people to set up, Chief Master Sgt. Dawn Porter, 127th FSS services manager, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The tent covering was more complicated, and the floor was “like a puzzle,” said William Hague, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and vice president of Babington Technology, Inc., which makes both the SPEK and the E-SPEK.

“It can take several hours to get the system set up and operational, and just as long to break it down and re-pack it out,” he said. By contrast, the E-SPEK requires relatively little assembly.

“You don’t have to do anything but roll a generator outside, bring a power cable over, and literally within minutes you can be heating up your appliances and get ready to start cooking,” he explained.

e-spek
An Airman works in a deployed Expandable Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen (E-SPEK) during Southern Strike 2023 at the Combat Readiness Training Center, Gulfport, Mississippi, April 14, 2023. (Screenshot via U.S. Army National Guard Video by Spc. Benjamin Tomlinson)

On March 7, the 127th FSS put E-SPEK to the test, serving up fresh burgers and chocolate chip cookies for lunch at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich., within an hour of set-up. Last April, the Mississippi Air National Guard used one to make chicken, green beans, rolls, and more during Southern Strike 2023, a large-scale ACE exercise. 

“This gives our members an opportunity to get a piece of home, to get baked cookies, to get scrambled eggs on the go, to get baked chicken,” Tech. Sgt. William George, a services specialist for the Mississippi Air National Guard, said at the time. “Everything that you would normally get at home, we can do it out of this.”

The SPEK was state-of-the-art when it was first adopted in 2003, Hague said, but the E-SPEK has more appliances, including a griddle, a 30-gallon skillet, a convection oven, a heated serving line that allows food to stay out for longer, and a three-component sink that rotates to save space.

“Now you can prepare the food in appliances that feel like your home or a restaurant kitchen,” he said.

The new appliances represent more than just added convenience: it also reflects a change in Air Force strategy. When SPEK first came on the scene, the military needed a kitchen that could feed an engineer unit while they built a larger forward operating base, Hague explained. Once the equipment for a larger, more permanent kitchen arrived, the SPEK could be packed away.

That was in 2003, near the start of the Global War on Terror, where the military stood up sprawling air bases across the Middle East. But now, as the Air Force prepares for small airstrips that can be packed up quickly to avoid being targeted by missiles, there are no larger kitchens coming to save the day.

“Roast beef, roast turkey, roast chicken, meatloaf, beef stew fresh out of the kettle, all of those were not possible in the original SPEK,” Hague said, but they are with E-SPEK.

The E-SPEK could prove useful outside of combat. Earlier this month, the Alaska Air National Guard used it in the field during a simulated natural disaster response exercise.

“Disasters like this bring a lot of chaos and you don’t often know what to expect,” Staff Sgt. Kua Xiong, a culinary specialist, said in a release at the time. “Our goal is to make life easier for those affected by disasters like this and get them fed.”

Two E-SPEKs can be loaded onto a standard 20-foot shipping container, but they can also be moved by airlift, flatbed truck, or sling-loaded from the bottom of a Chinook or Black Hawk helicopter. Sling-loading can be particularly useful when, for example, flooding cuts off the roads during a natural disaster.

“It can go places, with this capability, that our normal mobile kitchen would not be able to by road,” Maj. Dustin Eaves, force support officer with Mississippi’s 186th Air Refueling Wing, said about sling-loading an E-SPEK. “We can move it where we want to, drop it exactly where we need to.”

e-spek
A Mississippi Army National Guard helicopter sling-loads an Expandable Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen (E-SPEK) at Hagler Army Heliport, Miss., April 5, 2023. (Screenshot via U.S. Army National Guard Video by 2nd Lt. Jarvis Mace)

But while the E-SPEK itself is mobile, it needs food, water, and gas to make meals. The exact space requirements for those ingredients vary wildly depending on the kinds of meals, the number of meals, and the size of the unit being served. They might require a refrigerated shipping container or a dry stores container, or a multi-temperature container with one half frozen and one-half dry store. Last July, the Guam Air National Guard tried to use the E-SPEK to feed fresh meals to troops, but they had to resort to MREs for two days when their water delivery truck broke down.  

All kitchens need food and water, but the E-SPEK needs about 75 to 80 percent less gas than a comparable, generator-powered, electric kitchen, Babington says on its website. Hague said a company of Marines got two heat-and-serve meals (pre-cooked entrées heated up with boiled water: not quite fresh but not MREs either) a day on less than five gallons of JP-8 fuel.

Other meals may require more or less power: Porter, the 127th FSS services manager, said the system needs 25 gallons for the initial start-up, followed by 10 gallons for a typical eight-hour day. But in general, greater fuel efficiency means the Air Force does not have to bring as much gas across the Pacific in the middle of a war. Future versions of E-SPECK could be even more efficient: Hague said Babington is working out how to power the kitchen using radio batteries fed by foldable solar panels.

e-spek
Airmen with the 155th Force Support Squadron, prepare setup, Sept. 19, 2023, during Expandable Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen training at the National Guard air base in Lincoln, Nebraska. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Alexander D. Schriner)

So far, 21 E-SPEKS have been delivered to various Air National Guard units, with a 22nd due to ship to Puerto Rico later this month. The first was delivered to Hawaii in February, 2023, and Hague expects the Guard will buy about 98 in total.

More E-SPEKs could be on the way. In February, Babington announced that the kitchen had been selected by AFWERX, a branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory, for its Expedient Basing Challenge, an effort to field technologies that can “significantly reduce base setup response times from weeks or months to just hours or days,” AFWERX said in its challenge description. On its wish list are “Food technologies to provide high-quality and nutritious food for quick preparation while minimizing the footprint and need for kitchen facilities.”

Having been selected by AFWERX, E-SPEK is now qualified for Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) procurement, meaning any Department of Defense organization can award contracts directly to Babington for the next 12 months with no competitive bidding or solicitation required, the company explained.

Beale AFB Getting New Battle Management Squadron as U-2s Prepare to Retire

Beale AFB Getting New Battle Management Squadron as U-2s Prepare to Retire

March 22, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

As Beale Air Force Base, Calif., prepares to bid farewell to its U-2 Dragon Lady fleet, it is poised to welcome a new battle management squadron, which will bring some 140 Airmen to the base starting in summer 2025.

The new squadron will stand up preceding the planned retirement of all 27 U-2 spy aircraft by fiscal 2026.

In a release, the Air Force announced the new squadron will integrate with the Common Mission Control Center at Beale, which falls under the 427th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. The CMCC will provide integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data using AI and machine learning to streamline decision-making and reduce human communication. The service wants to enhance battle management of both manned and unmanned aircraft.

However, it is unclear what will happen to the personnel associated with the U-2 fleet within the 9th RW.

“As we prepare to begin retiring the U-2 Dragon Lady, the Air Force continues to work the details for a future mission at Beale AFB,” a base spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine on March 22. “For now, the 9th Reconnaissance Wing will continue to execute our mission to train and deliver persistent integrated reconnaissance and combat capabilities for the United States.”

The Air Force stated that the stand-up of this new squadron at Beale AFB is a vital step in modernizing its battle management capabilities. The service hopes to carry out this mission, which will likely involve radar and system control for monitoring global airspace, across multiple theaters simultaneously from a location outside the theaters of operations in the future.

The strategy mirrors what the service did last year when it established the 728th Battle Management Control Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., as the base transitioned away from E-8C JSTARS surveillance aircraft. Activated in February 2023, the squadron provides command and control for aircraft in U.S. Central Command, facilitating aerial refueling positioning and tactical reconnaissance.

Alongside the squadron, Robins welcomed an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) squadron, a Spectrum Warfare group, and support units focused on the Advanced Battle Management System in its transition process. The first E-8 departed the base in 2022, and today, all 16 E-8 aircraft have been divested.

The U-2 spy plane first flew in the 1950s, conducting reconnaissance missions during a period of Soviet information blackout amid Cold War tensions. The fleet joined the 9th RW in 1976 and was upgraded in the 1980s. Today, they are rotated to operational detachments worldwide. Early this year, Beale AFB showcased a rare elephant walk featuring eight U-2s on its runway. The plane garnered national attention capturing high-resolution images of a Chinese spy balloon that was transiting the continental U.S. last year.

The plane’s departure follows the closing of the RQ-4 Global Hawk‘s reconnaissance mission at Beale. After nearly 20 years of serving at the base, the last RQ-4 drone left Beale in 2022. The RQ-4, including the Block 30 variants, were transferred to Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., and then sent to their manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, for upgrades to be modified into Range Hawks and assigned to the Test Resource Management Center by early 2025.

AFA Appoints Retired Lt. Gen. Burt Field as New CEO

AFA Appoints Retired Lt. Gen. Burt Field as New CEO

March 22, 2024

Retired Lt. Gen. Burt Field has been appointed President & Chief Executive Officer of the Air & Space Forces Association.

“Gen. Field is an outstanding and proven leader, whose extensive military, business, and non-profit volunteer experience make him the right leader to take AFA into its next chapter,” said AFA Chair of the Board Bernie Skoch. “Throughout our extensive interviewing and vetting process, he earned praise for his ability to see the big picture, to care about people, to build teams, and to achieve great things.” 

A 1979 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Field was an F-16 pilot and Weapons School graduate—and former Commandant—who served 35 years in uniform. During that time, he commanded at the squadron, wing, and Numbered Air Force levels, including as commander of U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force at Yokota, Japan, completing his service as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Plans, and Requirements (A3/5) at Air Force Headquarters.

Gen. Ryoichi Oriki, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, Japan (left) is provided an overview of the Joint Support Force headquarters operations by Lt. Gen. Burton M. Field, Deputy Commander, Joint Support Force. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Tiffany Dusterhoft

Following retirement, Field was Vice President for Strategic Planning at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, building on his Pentagon experience and a personal passion for strategy. He has also been active with the Falcon Foundation, which provides prep school scholarships to students whose initial applications to the Air Force Academy fall just shy of qualifying. The program has been highly successful in producing qualified USAFA graduates.  

“This is a crucial time in our nation’s history with the emergence of new threats and an ever more complex global environment,” Field said. “I’m excited to build on AFA’s history as a powerful advocate for air and space power and to support our Airmen, Guardians, and their Families in these challenging times.” 

Field will assume his new role April 1.  

“I’ve been passionate about strategy since I was A3/5 and I’ve enjoyed building on that since,” Field said. “Strategy in most companies is an ‘infinite game,’ as Simon Sinek would say. What do you want to achieve? Do your people have what they need to excel? What capabilities do you have? What capabilities do you need? And how do you execute on that and monitor progress along the way?”  

Strategic planning, Field said, yields priorities, objectives, and metrics for performance, all things he will emphasize as AFA’s next President & CEO.  

Field succeeds Lt. Gen. Bruce Wright, USAF (Ret.), who led the Association from 2019-2024.  

“The Board thanks Gen. Wright for his dedicated service over the past five years,” Skoch said. “His enthusiasm for Airmen, Guardians, and the Department of the Air Force will always be remembered.” 

Gen. Howell Estes—NORAD, Space Command Chief—Dies at 82

Gen. Howell Estes—NORAD, Space Command Chief—Dies at 82

March 22, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Gen. Howell M. Estes III, who served as the triple-hatted commander-in-chief of NORAD, U.S. Space Command, and Air Force Space Command in the late 1990s, died March 18.

Estes held a number of key jobs in the Air Force and the Department of Defense, notably as the Director of Operations for the Joint Staff and deputy chief of staff for Strategic Air Command during the 1991 Gulf War. He was also one of the first commanders of the 4450th Tactical Group, which flew the highly secret F-117 attack jet in the years before the stealth aircraft was publicly revealed.

Estes was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up as a self-described Air Force brat; his father, Howell Estes Jr., was an Air Force officer who also rose to the four-star rank and concluded his career as head of Military Airlift Command. Estes III graduated the Air Force Academy in 1965, and after earning his wings, was assigned as a backseat pilot in the F-4 Phantom II, which was then the Air Force’s newest frontline fighter.  

After a stateside tour, he deployed to Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, and flew as lead pilot in 169 combat missions in the Vietnam conflict, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross, ten Air Medals, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with the V device for valor.

After Vietnam, Estes flew in the European theater and then served as a staff officer in U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Estes wrote “Strategic and Doctrinal Implications of Deep Attack,” a concept of operations for the defense of Central Europe. He then commanded a training unit and a maintenance unit, served as a maintenance officer and a deputy wing commander.

After a stint at the Air War College—during which he also earned a Master’s in public administration from Auburn University—and the National War College, Estes was chosen to command the 4450th Tactical Group.

From 1984 to 1986, he built the secret F-117 stealth fighter unit up to nearly its ultimate size, developing tactics and preparing the aircraft for combat operational status. During that period, the 4450th flew the F-117 only at night and mostly over restricted areas to help conceal it. The unit flew the A-7 Corsair II both as a companion trainer for daylight proficiency training and as cover for its secret activities. Howell said this assignment was the “most exciting,” challenging, and rewarding of his career, after which he was promoted to brigadier general.

He spent a year as special assistant to the chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe, and then commanded the 14th Air Division of Strategic Air Command. That was followed by work on the Air Staff as the director of plans and programs for the deputy chief of staff for plans and resources, and then the operations deputy for headquarters, SAC at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. In that capacity, he supported B-52 missions in Operation Desert Storm.

After another planning stint at the Air Staff, he was named commander of 7th Air Force, a multi-hatted assignment which included being the deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea; the commander of the Air Component Command for the combined U.S.-Korean air forces; and deputy commander-in-chief, United Nations Command at Osan Air Base.

From there he took on the director of operations job for the Joint Staff, from late 1994 to August 1996.

Estes was then promoted to general and took on the multi-hatted command of NORAD, and U.S. and Air Force Space Commands. As commander of NORAD, he was responsible for U.S. and Canadian air sovereignty, as well as for providing tactical warning and attack assessment across the North Pole. As the U.S. space commander, he directed space control and support operations, including theater missile defense, and as the Air Force space commander he directed satellite control, space launch and ballistic missile operations, as well as all the support bases and facilities for those missions.  

Estes retired from the Air Force on Oct. 1, 1998. Across his career he amassed more than 4,500 flight hours and flew the F-4, A-7, F-117, F-16 and EC-135.

In retirement, Estes served on many corporate boards, including The Aerospace Corporation; Analytical Graphics; DigitalGlobe, of which he became chairman of the board in 2011; MAXAR Technologies, where he was elected chairman in 2019; and the Space Foundation. He was also a consultant to Northrop Grumman and ITT, and served as an advisor to the Defense Science Board and various other blue-ribbon commissions.

From left, U.S. Air Force Gen. (Ret) Howell Estes, Maj. Gen. Robert Skinner, and CMSgt (Ret) Charles Zimkas cut a birthday cake with an Air Force sword at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., Sep. 19, 2017. The event celebrated the Air Force’s 70th birthday and Air Force Space Command’s 35th birthday. Gen. Estes served as the ninth commander of Air Force Space Command from 1996-1998. U.S. Air Force photo/Dave Grim
Farewell, Warthog: A-10 Demo Team Announces Its Last Season

Farewell, Warthog: A-10 Demo Team Announces Its Last Season

March 21, 2024 | By David Roza

After more than four decades of performing around the world, the Air Force A-10C Demonstration Team announced that 2024 will be its final season. The 355th Wing located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., said the decision was a part of the Air Force’s divestment of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known as the “Warthog.”

“This will be the culmination of more than 40 years of demonstrations performed by dozens of pilots and teams at hundreds of air shows across multiple countries,” the wing said in a press release March 20. 

Though not as fast as other Air Force demo teams such as the F-22, F-35, and Air Force Thunderbirds, the A-10 dived low in simulated gun runs and displayed its tight turns and colorful paint schemes at airshows, where narrators extolled the aircraft’s historic role providing close air support to ground troops. 

This is not the first time the A-10 team has shut down. There used to be two demo teams, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, before both were deactivated in 2011, according to press materials. The jet flew in heritage flight formations in 2012 and 2017 before reactivating as a single-ship demonstration in 2018.

“It was the best job I had in my Air Force career,” former West Coast demo team pilot retired Lt. Col. Gregg Montijo told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Learned so much and met some great people.”

a-10 demo
U.S. Air Force Capt. Lindsay “MAD” Johnson, A-10C Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, flies over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, March 26, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens)

Montijo is part of a small club: he estimated fewer than 100 people ever had the opportunity to fly in the demo team. But they and other single-ship demo teams made an impact expanding the Air Force’s reach. More than 120 enlisted Airmen, 12 officers, and at least six F-16s are assigned to the Air Force Thunderbirds. By contrast, the A-10 Demo team has just one jet and 10 Airmen, including the pilot.

“I went to smaller air shows that other planes or shows could not support,” Montijo said. “Still have very fond memories of it all.”

Since entering service in the 1970s, the A-10 earned a reputation for busting tanks in Operation Desert Storm, saving friendly troops with precise close air support throughout the Global War on Terror, and bringing pilots home thanks to its rugged construction. 

The Warthog’s days are numbered as the Air Force seeks to retire the fleet by 2029. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base sent the first of its 78 A-10s to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, also known as The Boneyard, in February. The rest are due to retire over the next three to five years. 

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U.S. Air Force Capt. Lindsay “MAD” Johnson, A-10C Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, performs pre-flight inspections at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, March 24, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens)

The A-10 Demo Team still has 18 shows scheduled across the country from March 23 to Oct. 5. The current pilot, Maj. Lindsay “Mad” Johnson, took command of the team in 2022 after serving around the world and deploying to Afghanistan.

“While everybody knows us for the gun and its capabilities, the thing that we take most pride in as an A-10 community is protecting the lives of the men and women that are on the ground,” she told Business Insider in 2023.

The complete show schedule can be found here. 

“We encourage everyone with the opportunity to attend these remaining shows to see the A-10C Demonstration Team in action one final time,” wrote the 355th Wing.