King Aerospace Appeals to Military Prime Contractors

Feb. 1, 2022

Prime defense contractors represent some of the most prestigious names in aviation. They know what they’re doing. Think BAE Systems, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, General Dynamics, General Electric, Honeywell, Huntington Ingalls, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies and more. Yet, even these global, time-tested, industry leaders can find themselves in need of added support.

That’s where subcontractors come in. King Aerospace offers a case in point. While this contractor logistics support (CLS) provider occasionally serves as a prime contractor itself, its smaller size leads it to more frequently fill a subcontractor role. King Aerospace positions itself uniquely, saying it is really in the people business with a focus on making a positive difference in the lives of others. They just happen to work on aircraft (albeit often some extremely important aircraft).

King Aerospace has gained performance-based experience supporting the U.S. government and all branches of the military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy/Marine Corps, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security. Since many prime contractors request confidentiality about the subcontractor’s role, King Aerospace refrains from publicly sharing specifics. It simply notes its extensive, hands-on experience supporting government-operated, special-mission aircraft, primarily military derivatives of Boeing, DeHavilland and Beech King Air aircraft.

“Whether the aircraft is flying a top-level government official or conducting information-gathering flights over a demilitarized zone on the other side of the world, our support does not waver,” says Jarid King, president of King Aerospace Companies. “Our no-excuses approach ensures each mission receives the attention it deserves. Which means it gets our complete attention.”

CLS Is a Calling

Delivering CLS services can take King Aerospace to some risky places. The men and women who wear the King Aerospace wings could use the locations’ volatility and potential danger as an excuse, but they do not. They get the job done so members of the U.S. military can do theirs.

Most of the military aircraft King Aerospace supports are commercial derivative aircraft not originally designed for military needs. Its team understands how to modify and maintain these aircraft for the military’s use. It’s also more cost effective for the government – and taxpayers – than building military-specific aircraft and maintaining special parts for them. Aircraft CLS programs cover a wide scope of services from field support technicians who provide maintenance at the flight line to supply-chain management. King Aerospace does it all.

The military expects MROs to meet the highest standards as they manage and maintain government-owned aircraft fleets and subcontract work from major defense contractors. It helps that the expected highest-possible quality aligns with the operations King Aerospace has in place for its corporate and VVIP aircraft, including the Boeing Business Jet. King Aerospace has been honored as the Boeing Supplier of the Year for collaboration.

“That’s especially meaningful to us, because it acknowledges our ability to listen, problem solve and pull together as a team,” says Greg Mitchell, vice president of government services for King Aerospace Inc. “We approach CLS as our patriotic duty. We give it all we’ve got – and we do it well.”

Specialized logistics support directly speaks to King Aerospace’s maintenance abilities and company-wide passion for service to the men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces. Many King Aerospace team members are themselves veterans. They embrace the company’s long-stated passion for God, Country and Family.

“At King Aerospace our commitment to God, Country and Family is not sales rhetoric, but a way of life,” says Jerry King, company founder and chairman.

A Focus on the Why

King Kulture drives the excellence of the company’s services. Part of that is helping all team members find and follow their “why,” their internal motivation. Everyone involved in its contractor logistics support services understands their unique and valued roles. What they do each and every day, wherever they are in the world, helps ensure our troops’ readiness and America’s security, both today and tomorrow.

While many CLS providers average five to 10 years for contract retention, King Aerospace typically keeps contracts from 10 to 18 years. Because of this longevity, King Aerospace often acts as the stabilizing factor as military forces rotate in and out. It shepherds the new personnel as they transition in. More work frequently comes their way, a sign they are delivering at a high level.

Troops Only Fly If Aircraft Do

CLS helps ensure U.S. military troops’ mission readiness. Soldiers can’t fly if aircraft are grounded.

“CLS produces a dynamic environment,” says Jarid King. “You must be ready for anything, anytime – and time and again we’ve proven that we are.”

King Aerospace’s highly trained team members rapidly deploy wherever and whenever they are needed. The company operates AS9110C-certified facilities and FAA repair stations at Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX; Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM; and Camp Humphreys, South Korea. It also operates 24/7 logistics outposts around the world, including some of the most remote, hostile and harsh locations. Forward deployed locations can on rare occasion come under attack by opposing hostile forces. The company takes the protection of its personnel seriously and ensures appropriate measures are taken to minimize risks and threats.

“It’s no small thing to get parts and people into challenging environments where travel is restricted,” says Mitchell. “I’m proud of our dedicated, mission-focused team and how they continually strive to do the right thing for the right reasons and with the right attitude. The most commendable of all – they do it even when no one is looking.”

Lockheed Selects Alabama and Georgia as Production Sites If It Wins Next Tanker

Jan. 31, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

If Lockheed Martin wins the Air Force’s upcoming KC-Y tanker competition, the jets will be built in the U.S., in partnership with Airbus, at facilities in Alabama and Georgia, company LMXT director Larry Gallogly said Jan. 31.

“Green” Airbus A330 airliners would be assembled in Mobile, Ala., and then modified to a unique U.S. Air Force configuration of the Multi-Role Tanker Transport—already serving with 14 countries—at Lockheed’s L-10 building at its Marietta, Ga., plant, Gallogly told reporters on a conference call. The cavernous L-10 building hosted the C-5 Galaxy production line, and then the modification of the Galaxy fleet to the C-5M configuration, now complete.

Studies are underway to determine how much under-roof square footage would be needed to accommodate the A330 production effort in Mobile. No new construction is necessary at Marietta. Announcement ceremonies with the governors of both states took place during the day.

Lockheed announced the LMXT effort last September, and was leaning toward Mobile and Marietta as the build locations, but had not yet nailed down the particulars of construction at that time.

An undetermined number of initial KC-Y aircraft would be built as A330s at Toulouse, France and reconfigured outside Madrid, Spain, for military duty, Gallogly said. U.S. workers would train on the existing lines before the production enterprise is created in the U.S., to reduce the learning curve and get up to max production rate as quickly as possible. The two U.S. sites would build tankers only for the U.S. Air Force; international versions of the MRTT, including Canada’s, would still be built in Europe.

Airbus would do the majority of the engineering on the U.S.-unique versions, Gallogly said, building on its engineers’ intimate knowledge of the aircraft. Lockheed would also do some engineering on the U.S.-unique systems.

A total of about 1,300 jobs would be created across Alabama and Georgia, and Gallogly said the figure referred to “direct jobs” and isn’t inflated with “supply chain jobs or anything else.”

No “used” A330 airliners will be converted for the Air Force, as was done for Australia, Gallogly said: all the jets will be new-build. Converting used aircraft injects “a lot of uncertainty…in the process…when you open up a huge airplane,” he said.

“The customer wants uninterrupted recapitalization of their tanker fleet,” Gollogly reported, and assuming a win, Lockheed expects to begin delivering aircraft “in the 2029, 2030 timeframe.” He called that timeline “notional,” based on the company’s discussions with the Air Force and the service’s public requests for information so far. It takes two years to build an A330 and 18-24 months to convert one to an MRTT; Lockheed hopes, with rapid learning curve reductions, to quickly get down to 18 months for conversion at Marietta.

The Air Force is expected to issue a request for proposals about a year from now, in March, 2023, with an award in late 2024. The service wants between 140 to 160 KC-Y aircraft, which would complement the service’s KC-46 fleet and would replace most of the KC-135s still flying in the 2030s. The Air Force is not interested in a “clean sheet” or stealthy aircraft, and wants a non-developmental item, meaning the LMXT will compete with the KC-46, being the only large tankers in production. The jet will be “built in America, by Americans, for Americans,” and will comply with Buy American laws, Gollogly said.

Mobile was selected for the work because, Gallogly noted, Airbus made good on its promise in the last tanker competition to do airline work there, and the port in Mobile will make it easy to move large sections of the aircraft. There is also an established aerospace labor pool in the Mobile area. The Marietta facility has been a Lockheed production location for decades, with “an incredibly skilled workforce,” he said.

“We’re taking advantage of a highly capable, highly experienced” labor pool, he said. He said Lockheed claims a $8.3 billion economic impact across the two states, “with 24 facilities in Alabama, 22 throughout Georgia, and then all the supply chain jobs that go with it.”

While Lockheed will work to source as much content of the tanker as possible in the U.S., it recognizes that “there’s a very successful existing supply chain that supports the MRTT right now. So we don’t want to do anything that is going to increase the overall cost of the aircraft or induce any risk into our producing and performing with this aircraft.” He added, “This airplane has to work on day one.” Engines will be sourced from either Rolls Royce or GE Aviation in the U.S.

“There’s a lot of U.S. content on this aircraft already,” he added.

The LMXT would have an autonomous refueling capability, and by virtue of its large size, be able to go further with a larger load of fuel than the KC-46, Gallogly asserted. Two pallet stations on the MRTT’s lower level will be converted to fuel tanks to give the aircraft more offloadable fuel capacity, and the jet will be able to take off with all tanks full, he said. A large capacity is USAF’s “number one priority,” he said. “That’s the gap that needs to be filled…[and]…that’s what we have based our proposed configuration on.” The longer range and capacity is needed to multiply options in the Pacific theater, where distances are great, he said. It will have “almost 10,000 nautical miles of unrefueled range.”

The jet will also have a “full” Joint All-Domain Command and Control suite, he said, as the Air Force expects the jet to be “out there all the time” and functioning as a communications platform as well as a tanker. The JADC2 suite the Air Force wants is “far more than…just hanging a pod on the wing but…a more robust communication node.”

The JADC2 suite and self-defense capabilities would make the LMXT different from the MRTT. Gollogly also said the existing MRTT boom system would be retained; again, to minimize disruptions and risk from creating a new one.

Gollogly said that a “very senior” USAF official asked told him if the boom, and vision system would be retained, and when Gollogly said they would, the senior official said, “‘Good. Don’t mess up the boom.’” Gollogly said the LMXT would be unusual in that the U.S. is used to being the leader on a new system, which international customers then modify for their own use. In this case, it’s “little backwards” in that the foreign partner is the leader, but he counted this as a benefit, because Airbus and its customers have already dealt with the MRTT’s “growing pains,” and “bumps in the road.” The jet is already certified to pass fuel to the F-35 and F-22.

Broadly, Lockheed expects new specifications for the KC-Y.

“These will definitely not be ‘KC-X’ requirements,” Gollogly said, as those needs were determined “some time ago, in a very different geopolitical environment.”

Pentagon: US May Deploy Extra Troops to Eastern Europe Beyond 8,500 on Alert

Jan. 31, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Defense Department has already told 8,500 troops to prepare to deploy for a potential Ukraine contingency within five days. But even more American service members could soon be deployed to eastern Europe, either from the U.S. or from within the continent, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby confirmed Jan. 31.

Kirby’s comments came as clarification after President Joe Biden told reporters on Jan. 28 that he would be “moving troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term—not a lot.”

While Kirby refused to say how many troops could be deployed or where they might go, he did say that they would be separate from the 8,500 figure previously announced. Those troops, who have not actually been deployed yet, would be the U.S. contribution to a 40,000-member NATO Response Force, which requires consensus within the alliance to activate.

“The 8,500 troops that we talked about last week are part of our contribution to the NRF. The NRF has not been activated,” Kirby said. “What the President was talking about was the potential for additional U.S. troops to bolster the capabilities of some of our eastern flank NATO allies.”

Those troops, Kirby added, would be moved under a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and whatever country hosts them.

“You can’t just unilaterally decide to throw extra U.S. forces at a country. You want to make sure that they’re on board with it, and that you’ve had the appropriate conversations,” said Kirby. “And what I would tell you is that those sorts of conversations are ongoing.”

When asked for a rough estimate of how many troops might be deployed, Kirby declined, saying, “it would be inappropriate for me, since we are in active discussions with allies, to ballpark it right now.”

NATO allies in Eastern Europe and along the Black Sea have been publicly pushing for an increased U.S. presence in their countries, as Russia continues to mass forces along the Ukrainian border, fomenting fears of a potential invasion that would upend security in the region. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have all indicated a willingness to host more troops in the past few months.

“When it comes to bilateral agreements or arrangements with NATO allies, if they need additional capabilities, if they would want that, then we would work it out individually with each nation to make sure that we’re meeting the need as best they desire and can accommodate,” Kirby said.

Any troops deployed to the region would be under the command of Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, who serves as both head of U.S. European Command and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

But Kirby indicated that some of the troops deployed to eastern flank allies might already be in Europe underneath Wolters’ command.

“An option available to us is to use U.S. forces that are already in the European theater. You don’t necessarily have to flow in forces from the States or from even other theaters,” Kirby said. “We have tens of thousands of U.S. troops on European soils, both in a permanently based environment, as well as on rotational orders. And so we’re taking a look at the whole menu of opportunities available here and units available.”

There are also already U.S. forces who have deployed to eastern European nations in recent weeks. On Jan. 26, half a dozen USAF F-15Es landed in Estonia to aid NATO’s enhanced air policing mission, and on Jan. 4, F-16s from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, deployed to fly with Polish F-16s in Lithuania and with Belgian F-16s in Estonia, also as part of the air policing mission.

Pentagon Office Expands to Meet Demand for International Space Agreements

Jan. 31, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The demand for international space agreements is so high, just keeping up can be a challenge, said Space Force Col. Raj Agrawal.

Agrawal described how the department is responding to the heightened demand during the Jan. 27 episode of The Aerospace Corp.’s “The Space Policy Show.” He also mentioned other changes taking place at the Pentagon and at Space Force field commands to involve more countries in U.S. military space activities.

Chief of the Secretary of the Air Force’s International Affairs office’s Space Division since July 2021, Agrawal brought to the job experience working in five different air or air and space operations centers, where his role was “to use space to make everything else more effective,” he said. His deployments exposed him to the process of “allies and partners working together, fighting together, and building relationships.”

Serving in South Korea and in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility “with a whole host of allies and partners” introduced Agrawal to some of the international personnel he works with now. “A lot of those relationships have really become so important now in my current job,” Agrawal said. “We recognize each other from years ago being deployed together.”

Growing from a few people to more than 20 and still hiring, Agrawal said his division is “a very fast-moving, responsive division that focuses on what Gen. Raymond wants to achieve,” referring to Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond. The new jobs are part of the Space Force headquarters’ ultimate total of 600.

The division is “wholly focused” on helping the Space Force to build partnerships “and, what’s more, for us to build spacepower capacity,” Agrawal said. Traveling with Raymond when he meets with international counterparts, the division drafts partnership agreements based on the outcomes.

The department has also expanded international affairs to the Space Force’s three field commands—Space Operations Command, Space Systems Command, and Space Training and Readiness Command—which occupy the same organizational echelon as the Air Force’s major commands.

“So now each of the field commands have an international affairs partner mission and are making available all of the security cooperation tools that we have on the U.S. Air Force side, now on the U.S. Space Force side. It is thrilling to see happen,” Agrawal said. “If you could see inside the machine, I think you’d be impressed.”

Advantages of international cooperation to the U.S. include adding to what Agrawal refers to as “passive spacepower capacity.”

“We’re in a situation where we have limited budgets. We have a situation where we maybe we can’t get after all the things we want to get after … And the more we work together to build out our capacity, the more we can deter anyone that tries to hold our advantage in space at risk.”

Agrawal said one thing the department wants to do is build an architecture of space assets, or a “space order of battle, … that is interoperable with our … partners and also makes it so that any disruption of that space order of battle is a disruption to many nations, not just the U.S.”

For other countries, goals and advantages vary.

“Most nations that have any technological capability, they become more effective, and become more efficient, by integrating space … all across the spectrum of their power,” Agrawal said. “And they also recognize that there are nations such as China and Russia having disrupted that efficiency, and they want to partner with us.”

F-15EX Fires First Missile Successfully

Jan. 31, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The F-15EX successfully fired its first weapon on Jan. 25, launching an AIM-120D missile at a BQM-167 unmanned aerial target over the Gulf of Mexico, the Air Force announced.

Maj. Benjamin Naumann and Maj. Mark Smith, pilots with the 40th Flight Test Squadron, flew the fighter during the test fire, as part of the 53rd Wing’s Combat Archer—an air-to-air weapons system evaluation program.

The F-15EX “detected the drone using onboard sensors, acquired a weapons-quality track, and launched the missile at the target” as part of the test, the Air Force announced in a release. The shot was then determined to be a success.

“This was an end-to-end verification of the entire weapons system, which will pave the way for more complex missile shots in the future,” Colton Myers, F-15EX test project manager with the Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force, said in a statement.

The missile fire marks a major milestone for the F-15EX, which first arrived at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., for combined developmental and operational tests in March 2021.

Soon after, the new fighter participated in Northern Edge 21, a wargame in Alaska. The Eagle II posted a mixed record at the exercise, “shooting down” some adversaries but also getting shot down itself.

After Northern Edge, the fighter underwent “developmental flight and ground testing” that revealed several issues with its Suite 9 software system that were resolved. It deployed in October to Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., for a week’s worth of operational tests.

Combining developmental and operational testing “has been critical to our test success, allowing us to break the mold of ‘traditional’ testing, while ultimately resulting in an overall better product for the warfighter, and in a shorter timeline than if we adopted the traditional approach,” Myers said in a statement.

Right now, the Air Force has just two F-15EXs in its fleet, both at Eglin. In the coming years, though, that number will expand significantly. The Air Force signed a deal with Boeing to buy up to 144 of the jets in the next 15 years, though that number could change.

The fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act included 12 F-15EXs, and the 2022 NDAA authorized 17 more after the Pentagon asked for a dozen in its budget request. However, Congress has yet to pass an appropriations bill to actually increase funding for fiscal 2022.

Kendall: Air Force Still Digging Itself Out of ‘Readiness Hole’

Jan. 31, 2022 | By Greg Hadley

The Department of the Air Force is set to embark on a readiness review as it works to dig itself out of a “readiness hole,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said during a virtual Coffee Talk event with Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass.

During the Jan. 27 event, Kendall was asked by a viewer how he planned to address bureaucracy affecting maintenance by inhibiting acquisition of parts and equipment.

Kendall responded by noting that bureaucracy is just one of several problems facing the service’s sustainment enterprise and, by extension, its readiness.

“I’m very concerned about our readiness levels, our availability of the current fleet. Some fleets like our battle management fleet, AWACS as well, are not anywhere near where they need to be,” Kendall said.

Kendall cited multiple reasons for the sustainment problems, including “some issues … in terms of the IT system, how well it supports that in terms of delays and so on. There were supply line issues, in terms of the supply chain. There’s some issues with bureaucracy and a number of things,” Kendall said. “In some cases, we’re operating pretty old aircraft, and it’s hard to get the parts for them. It’s a long lead time to get them made for us because they’ve been out of production for a long time. So there’s a range of things there that we have to look at.”

Reports from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office have shown the availability and mission capable rates of Air Force aircraft declining over time. Data from the Air Force has also pegged the average age of the fleet at over 29 years old, with some of the battle management/C3 aircraft that Kendall referenced averaging more than 40 years old.

The E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) in particular has been frequently cited as an aging aircraft in need of replacement. Commander of Air Combat Command Gen. Mark D. Kelly noted in 2021 that “it takes a miracle … every day just to get it up in the air.”

All these readiness issues, Kendall said, are the result of sequestration—automatic spending cuts that started in 2013 and extended for nearly a decade.

“We dug a readiness hole during that period just because we didn’t have resources for it,” Kendall said. “And to be honest, we’re still digging our way out of it. Sequestration has been gone just a short period of time now, and I think we’re getting better. It’s a trade-off we have to make, between near-term operational capabilities and things longer [term] as we look at budgets, try to balance some of the costs.”

Kendall’s sense that the Air Force’s readiness issues are improving will be put to the test soon. “We’ve got a big readiness review coming up at headquarters here pretty shortly. We’ll be looking at all these issues,” he said.

Regardless of what the review finds, the department needs to take a more integrated approach to sustainment to ensure its aircraft are ready to fly, said Kendall.

“We need to basically design our systems for sustainment, for maintenance. We need to put the systems … in place that will support them efficiently,” Kendall said. “And frankly, we haven’t paid enough attention to that, at certain times and on certain programs, certainly.”

Ukraine Invasion Would Be ‘Horrific,’ But US Forces Meant to Reassure NATO

Jan. 28, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

American forces deployed to or on standby for Europe are meant to reassure NATO allies in the face of a huge Russian military buildup around Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a Jan. 28 press conference. And though he insisted that U.S. forces will not enter Ukraine, except those delivering war goods or to train Ukrainian soldiers, Austin emphasized that Russia will still face grave consequences if it doesn’t de-escalate what looks like a planned invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrayed more than 100,000 troops around Ukraine, and has “increased Russian naval activity in the Northern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea,” so he “clearly now has” the capability to invade Ukraine, or to seize “cities and significant territories,” Austin said. Russian military moves, accompanied by its “media spouting off now about alleged [anti-Russian] activities in Eastern Ukraine” and disinformation meant to create a “potential pretext” for strikes on Donbass or further incursions into Ukraine are “straight out of the Russian playbook,” he added.

“They’re not fooling us,” Austin said.

If Russia invades Ukraine, it will “violate the bedrock principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and self determination.” The U.S. and NATO “take this very seriously,” he said, repeating several times that the U.S. commitment to honoring its Article 5 mutual defense agreement with NATO allies is “ironclad.”

Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley told reporters, though, that this buildup “feels different” from previous Russian exercises or saber-rattling.

“This is larger in scale and scope … than anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” Milley said.

Austin warned Putin that a military move on Ukraine will “accomplish the very thing Russia says it does not want: A NATO alliance strengthened and resolved on its Western flank.”

The 8,500 alerted troops in the U.S. are “ready to go” if NATO activates them, Austin said. The U.S. forces in the region now “provide great value just by virtue of their presence” and “reassure our partners that we’re interested in helping them,” Austin said. However, he emphasized that “these are temporary deployments.”

Ukraine shares a border with four NATO allies—Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania—and the U.S. will defend its allies if necessary, Milley said.

But, “conflict is not inevitable,” Austin said. Putin can easily “de-escalate” and withdraw his forces. “There is still time and space for diplomacy.” Austin said the U.S. and NATO have “offered Russia a path away from crisis and toward greater security,” but whatever Putin decides, the U.S. “will stand with our allies and partners.”

In the meantime, Austin touted the provision of $2.7 billion worth of security aid to Ukraine since 2017, with $650 million of that within the last year, and said President Joe Biden has authorized $200 million more in the form of “additional Javelins and other anti-armor weapons, grenade launchers, large quantities of artillery and small arms, ammunition, and other equipment. Those deliveries are ongoing.”

Milley said it’s the policy of the U.S. to “continue to support an independent Ukraine,” and the U.S. will continue to “enhance” Ukraine’s ability to protect itself. He touted Ukraine’s 150,000 active duty troops are a “highly regarded territorial force” and militia, and have credible air defense bases, depots, and artillery.

“Their combat capabilities have improved since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea,” Milley asserted. But “they need additional help to defend themselves, especially from an invasion force the size of the one that Russia is currently massing, if Russia chooses to invade Ukraine.”

He warned Putin that an invasion “will not be cost-free in terms of casualties, or other significant effects.”

Milley said the U.S. has “zero” offensive capabilities or permanent forces in Ukraine, but has a small group of forces there to train Ukrainian troops in “tactics, techniques, and procedures.” NATO has “130-plus brigade maneuver forces, not including U.S. forces; 93 squadrons of high-end fighters, four carriers, [and] many more surface combatants” available. It’s a “very, very significant” force, he added.

If Russia “unleashed” its forces on Ukraine—“the ground maneuver force, the artillery, the ballistic missiles, the air forces, all of it packaged together, … it would result in a significant amount of casualties,” Milley said. In “dense urban environments, along roads and so forth … It would be horrific. It would be terrible.”

“The right answer here is a diplomatic solution,” he added.

GAO Warns Air Force: Think Twice Before Owning KC-46 Tanker Fix

Jan. 28, 2022 | By John A. Tirpak

The Government Accountability Office wants the Air Force to do more testing and evaluation of Boeing’s fix for the KC-46 Pegasus tanker’s Remote Vision System before proceeding with it, because the Air Force would be on the financial hook if it doesn’t work out.

In a new report released Jan. 27, the GAO said that Boeing’s fix for the RVS—one of a number of KC-46 deficiencies still being corrected—involves new technologies that may not yet be mature enough to move forward, posing a risk of cost and schedule growth.

Boeing has eaten more than $5.4 billion in overruns on the Pegasus. The company took a charge of $406 million on the program in the last quarter of 2021 that pertain to the RVS.

So far on the program, “the government’s financial risk has generally been limited to the ceiling price of its contract with Boeing,” the GAO said, but “the Air Force plans to close its review of the contractor’s proposed redesign and assume financial responsibility for it” without:

Assessing the system’s technology readiness level
Developing a plan to raise it to the appropriate TRL
“Integrating and testing the system prototype in an operational environment”

The GAO worries the Air Force will accept an RVS “that contains immature technologies and greater risk of cost and schedule growth.” The sooner the Air Force makes the technology assessments and fit-checks the system operationally, “the sooner it can identify design issues and proactively take steps to mitigate any further cost growth and delays in delivering promised capability.”

The Air Force disagreed, saying it needs to take an accelerated approach to the RVS in order to field it at the “speed of relevance.” It also took issue with the GAO’s findings overall, saying the audit agency suggests the new RVS doesn’t work, when “the Air Force made extraordinary efforts to ensure the RVS 2.0 design will meet warfighter requirements.” The service said the system will provide “significantly enhanced capability to the warfighter” when deployed. The design is “on track to meet all but one relevant contract requirement,” and Boeing and USAF are working “collaboratively on a corrective action plan,” USAF said.

The Air Force and Boeing are still working on “seven critical deficiencies,” which will delay the declaration of full-rate production on the KC-46 until “at least September 2024 and will contribute to nearly $1 billion” in cumulative cost growth, the GAO reported. However, the Air Force will have procured the majority of the planned 179 KC-46s “before the critical deficiencies are addressed” and full-rate production is declared, the audit agency said.

Of the seven, two are related to the RVS. Among the others, one has to do with excessive stiffness in the refueling boom; one is a flight management system instability; one has to do with cracks in a drain tube, while another is about cracks in the drain mast, and the last has to do with fuel system leaks. Previous problems with cargo pallet locks detaching and air duct clamps cracking have been resolved.

The deficiencies in the existing RVS, include:

The camera system—by which the boom operator, behind the cockpit, views the tanking operation—doesn’t deliver a clear picture of the boom as it makes contact with the receiving aircraft under all lighting conditions
This lack of clarity has caused some unintentional contacts with the receiving aircraft, which can damage the low observable features of stealth aircraft.
Although the RVS is supposed to provide a “3-D” image to the boom operator, depth perception has been a problem. On the KC-135 and KC-10, the boom operator views the tanking operation directly, through a window.

The Air Force is assuming more responsibility—and risk—for the program because it wants to go beyond the original requirements for the airplane. The RVS 2.0 is seen by the Air Force as a pathfinder for a future autonomous refueling system that won’t require a boom operator at all. When the Air Force asked for industry interest last summer in a KC-Y follow-on tanker, it said it’s interested in “autonomous” refueling. This will be especially important if a future “KC-Z” tanker is an uncrewed drone, although Air Mobility Command has been non-committal about the requirements for that aircraft. Tanking autonomy could also reduce crew needs on the KC-46.

The RVS 2.0 will allow the KC-46 to automatically see and identify an aircraft as it approaches the tanker, then configure the refueling system—boom angles, etc.—to match the approaching aircraft’s specific needs.

The service and Boeing agreed to a cost-sharing arrangement on the new system, which corrects Boeing’s deficiencies but answers newly-added service requirements. Boeing is releasing interim software updates on the way to the RVS 2.0.

In disputing the GAO’s findings, the Air Force said its memorandum of agreement with Boeing on the RVS 2.0 allows a “non-standard” approach to achieve an “accelerated timeline” to getting the capability fielded. The design was vetted “to a level of detail that exceeds” what would normally take place at a preliminary design review, USAF said. Moreover, the service said it’s “unlikely” that technical readiness assessment would discover “significant risks not already identified and tracked by the program,” and this step would probably add between six and 12 months to accomplish. That would be “either too late to affect the design” or delay RVS 2.0.

USAF uses “a robust Risk, Issue and Opportunity program,” with “tightly monitored Technical Performance Measures,” to obtain a solid understanding of the maturity of the critical technologies involved in RVS 2.0, the service said.

The Air Force likewise disagreed with GAO’s recommendation to develop technology maturation plans for RVS 2.0 technologies, for the same reason: It would cause delay.

There’s a “comprehensive plan” to burn down every “identified risk” in technology maturity, USAF said, and there are numerous reviews at various milestones to ensure this is happening.

Finally, the Air Force disagreed that there should be testing of an RVS “full prototype” on the KC-46 in an “operational environment” prior to closing the preliminary design review, saying this is “not practical.” The time it would take to get a prototype ready “is similar to the time necessary to get the first developmental test article.” Having to comply with this recommendation would add up to two years to the RVS fielding timetable, USAF said, and it’s unnecessary because “prototypes of the cameras have already flown,” with more flights already scheduled. The RVS 2.0 components have been tested in the laboratory and it’s been confirmed that the “flight environment will not result in degraded performance.” Besides, there will be the usual developmental and operational testing of the system, the Air Force said.

Even so, the Air Force has decided not to close the preliminary design review, service officials said, because the panoramic viewing system isn’t yet up to USAF’s comfort level.

Pentagon’s New Space Acquisition Arm to Take Shape in 2022

Jan. 28, 2022 | By Amanda Miller

The Space Force colonel headed to the Pentagon to lead in space architecture, science, and technology will take up a new role in a new office under a yet-to-be-confirmed new assistant secretary.

Starting in July as deputy executive director of the Space Architecture, Science, and Technology Directorate, Col. Eric J. Felt will report to the Department of the Air Force’s first assistant secretary for space acquisition. President Joe Biden has nominated former National Reconnaissance Office executive Frank Calvelli for assistant secretary.

Felt said in an interview that he plans to draw on his experience as director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate, both in terms of research and on the acquisition side.

“I’ve prototyped some of these new, faster, more efficient ways of doing acquisition,” Felt said. “If it works, the Space Force can then scale those up.”

Provided that Calvelli’s confirmation goes through, “I will be there with others to support him and stand up this office and make sure that we can effectively support the Space Force,” Felt said.

Addressing aspects of space acquisition that he expects to work on:

“We’ve got a lot of the critical capabilities—good things that we’re delivering under the current system—but there’s a lot of room for improvements,” Felt said. “What I’m hearing from our senior leadership is that we need to go faster—accelerate the pace of things to keep up with the threat.”

Felt mentioned the Space Enterprise Consortium, which facilitated faster contracting processes for small businesses, as one successful new acquisition strategy he was involved in. He also plans to draw on his championing of the security-focused DevSecOps approach to software development and showing that it’s “much more successful than the traditional waterfall approach.”