Space Startup’s Rocket Explodes After Launching From Vandenberg

Sept. 3, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Space Launch Delta 30 was forced to terminate the first test flight of space startup Firefly Aerospace’s rocket due to an anomaly Sept. 2, resulting in a dramatic explosion over the Pacific Ocean near Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.

Firefly was testing its Alpha rocket, designed to carry small satellites into orbit, for the first time. Launching out of Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 2 West, the 95-foot vehicle successfully lifted off and ascended for roughly two-and-a-half minutes, as seen in live-streamed video, before abruptly exploding, just moments after flight control operators said it had reached supersonic speeds.

In a press release, Space Launch Delta 30 public affairs said it terminated the flight after a reported anomaly. Firefly issued its own statement saying it was “too early to draw conclusions as to the root cause” of the anomaly.

Both organizations reported no injuries, though Space Launch Delta 30 did issue a statement warning local residents that there could be debris as a result of the explosion. Recreational areas, including beaches on the base, will remain closed while an investigation takes place, and if residents spot debris, they are instructed to stay at least 50 feet away.

Photos and videos of the flight reported by NASASpaceFlight.com and the Santa Maria Times appear to show the rocket spinning in midair in the moments leading up to its explosion.

“While we did not meet all of our mission objectives, we did achieve a number of them: successful first stage ignition, liftoff of the pad, progression to supersonic speed, and we obtained a substantial amount of flight data,” Firefly said in its statement.

Firefly took over one of Vandenberg’s launch pads in 2018, when the Delta II rocket, operated by NASA and the Air Force, was officially retired.

Originally, the startup planned for its first launch in the third quarter of 2019. That timeline was delayed, however, with the COVID-19 pandemic playing a large role. In its Sept. 2 statement, the company thanked Vandenberg personnel and Space Launch Delta 30 for their “partnership” and promised “further updates as more information becomes available.”

What Drove Air Force Software Chief Chaillan to Quit

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Tobias Naegele

Nicolas M. Chaillan, the first-ever chief software officer of the Air Force, announced his resignation Sept. 2 in a candid LinkedIn post citing, as the final straw in his decision, diminished support for investing in the technologies needed to enable joint all-domain command and control.

Chaillan came to the Air Force in 2018 following a stint at Homeland Security and a successful career as a technology entrepreneur. Joining several other technology-savvy tech civilian leaders in the Department of the Air Force, including former acquisition assistant secretary Will Roper, Chief Information Officer Lauren Barrett Knausenberger, and Chief Architect of the Air Force Preston Dunlap, he championed rapid software development embodied by the DevSecOps agile software movement and chafed at conventional “waterfall” development processes that produce slower results.

DevSecOps breaks development down into manageable pieces and pushes iterative improvements out in periodic sprints, while waterfall development delivers updates far more slowly. The difference can be compared to the difference between an old Windows XT computer and today’s Windows 10 or iPhone operating systems, for which updates are rolled out continuously.

As Chief Software Officer, Chaillan helped lead the DOD Enterprise DevSecOps Initiative; Platform One, an open-source DevSecOps development platform; implementation of a zero-trust security architecture focused on securing data rather than the network perimeter; new acquisition agreements to accelerate acquisition of software development services; and the successful use of Kubernetes and containerization in legacy weapons platforms such as the U-2 spy plane, which culminated in the ability to do over-the-air software updates while the U-2 was flying.

“We demonstrated that a small group of people can turn the largest ship in the world through grit, wit and hard work,” he wrote. “If the Department of Defense can do this, so can any U.S. organization!”

But he also ran into barriers. At a recent AFA Gabriel Chapter lunch, he said resistance and a frequent lack of understanding frustrated his efforts and expressed worry that the Air Force and Space Force might go their own separate ways in software development.

“I’m actually very concerned with the Space Force starting to potentially drift away from the Air Force,” he told that gathering. “It would really be a big mistake, compounding the existing silos between the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and fourth estate.”

Military assignment policies rankled him as he watched inexperienced officers try to take on projects that demanded technology experience and understanding they couldn’t deliver. But Chaillan was unable to overcome the frustrations inherent in so large a bureaucracy, and he bristled over counterproductive assignment policies that put people unfamiliar with information technology development in charge of technical projects.

“Please stop putting a major or [lieutenant colonel] (despite their devotion, exceptional attitude, and culture) in charge” of technical projects affecting millions of users “when they have no previous experience in that field,” he wrote. “We would not put a pilot in the cockpit without extensive flight training; why would we expect someone with no IT experience to be close to successful?”

Likewise, he butted heads with service leadership over the value of investing in technology and “prioritizing IT basic issues for the Department,” he wrote. “A lack of response and alignment is certainly a contributor to my accelerated exit. There have been continuous and exhausting fights to chase after funding ‘out-of-hide,’ because we are not enabled to fix enterprise IT teams within Program Offices. Worse, some are starting to use the size of the DoD as an excuse to claim that Enterprise Services cannot succeed in the Department. That is false.”

But the last straw was a lack of support for JADC2. “One of the main reasons for my decision was the failure of OSD and the Joint Staff to deliver on their own alleged top priority, JADC2—they couldn’t ‘walk the walk,’” he wrote. “I put my reputation on the line when I shared that I was asked by the Joint Staff to join the JADC2 team as their CSO. They wanted me to help deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within 4 months so that we would finally have a tangible deliverable to show for JADC2, not just redundant and siloed work performed by each of the DoD services or vaporware/stale documents. After a massive undertaking … based on demands from our warfighters and [combatant commands], I had just started the work … when I was told by the Joint Staff that there was no FY22 funding to support the MVP after all.”

Instead, he wrote, DOD continues to invest in parallel architectures and system stacks without benefit. Each service pursues its own direction not for the betterment of defense, he said, but to support egos and “a thirst for power.”

“DOD must do better,” he wrote. “There are 100,000 software developers in the DOD. We are the largest software organization on the planet, and we have almost no shared repositories and little to no collaboration across DoD Services. We need diversity of options if there are tangible benefits to duplicating work. Not because of silos created purposefully to allow senior officials to satisfy their thirst for power.”

As a parent, he worries about a future in which the U.S. faces a Chinese nation that is bigger and growing faster. “Twenty years from now, our children … will have no chance competing in a world where China has the drastic advantage of population over the U.S.,” he wrote. “If the U.S. can’t match the booming, hardworking population in China, then we have to win by being smarter, more efficient, and forward-leaning through agility, rapid prototyping and innovation. We have to be ahead and lead. We can’t afford to be behind.”

House Panel Addresses Women in the Draft, Waivers for Generals in NDAA Markup

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

In a marathon session that started Sept. 1 and stretched into the early morning hours of Sept. 2, the House Armed Services Committee approved its markup of the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act as representatives spent the better part of 16 hours debating and voting on amendments on everything from the top line of the defense budget to the recent events in Afghanistan to waivers for retired generals hoping to become Secretary of Defense.

The biggest adjustment came from an amendment offered by ranking member Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who proposed increasing the budget’s top line some $23.9 billion over the $715 billion requested. That increase was approved 42-17, with many Democrats crossing party lines in a rebuke of President Joe Biden’s budget.

Beyond that major change, however, scores of other amendments were also considered and added to the bill.

Afghanistan

As widely expected and reported before the Sept. 1 markup, House Republicans filed a barrage of amendments related to the last few weeks of the Afghanistan War as President Joe Biden oversaw a withdrawal that turned chaotic and deadly when the Taliban seized control of Kabul and an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. troops.

Many of the amendments were agreed to on a bipartisan basis, such as prohibiting the transfer of money or goods to the Taliban; requiring the Pentagon to brief Congress on terrorism threats in the country now that the U.S. presence on the ground is gone; asking for reports on the number of Americans remaining in Afghanistan who wish to be evacuated and the military equipment left behind during the withdrawal; and establishing a bipartisan commission to study lessons learned from the 20-year war.

Some, however, provoked sharp partisan debate as Republicans criticized Biden’s actions and Democrats sought to defend him. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a retired rear admiral in the Navy, introduced an amendment seeking a report from the DOD inspector general on any potential political motivations that went into the decision to withdraw troops. While Jackson insisted his amendment was “not a shot at President Biden and his administration,” the committee’s chair, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) retorted that regardless of intent, it would have that effect, calling the notion of Biden being politically motivated to leave Afghanistan “offensive.”

Jackson’s amendment was defeated by voice vote, as was an amendment from Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), which he said would “express a lack of confidence in President Biden’s performance as commander-in-chief during this withdrawal.” Waltz’s amendment also sparked intense debate.

Women in the draft

The House committee also voted to approve an amendment from Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) requiring women to register for the military draft, on a 35-24 line.

The provision was also included in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the NDAA. After years of debate over all women ages 18 to 25 registering, the requirement is now closer than ever to becoming law, representing a major overhaul of the Selective Service System.

There has not been a military draft in the U.S. since 1975, but should a draft become necessary, “we need man, woman, gay, straight, any religion, Black, white, brown. We need everybody, all hands on deck,” Waltz said before voting for the amendment.

National Guard

HASC split on a pair of amendments offered in relation to the National Guard, agreeing to one but rejecting the other.

The amendment that was approved, offered by Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), proposed prohibiting the deployment of any state’s National Guard across state lines if the mission was funded by “non-governmental grant, donation or private source of funding, unless for emergency or disaster relief efforts.”

Escobar’s amendment comes on the heels of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem using a $1 million donation from a prominent Republican booster to deploy her state’s National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border. Escobar didn’t explicitly call out Noem’s actions in speaking on her amendment, but she did make reference to the National Guard being “rented out.”

The amendment that was rejected came from Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) as he sought to eliminate a provision in the chairman’s mark that would put the Washington, D.C., National Guard under authority of the mayor of Washington, D.C., instead of the president.

Debate on Kelly’s amendment quickly turned to questions of D.C.’s push for statehood and unique constitutional status, but in the end, it was voted down 31-28 on a party-line basis, keeping the provision intact as it heads to the full House.

Waivers for generals

In a move he said was designed to reinforce civilian leadership of the Defense Department, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) introduced an amendment establishing a new requirement that retired officers ranked brigadier general and above must be out of the military for 10 years before they are allowed to become Secretary of Defense, up from the current seven-year waiting period.

Gallagher’s proposal also calls for a three-fourths vote in both the House and Senate to grant a waiver to the 10-year rule.

Since World War II, Congress has granted only three waivers to the seven-year rule—George C. Marshall in 1950, James Mattis in 2017, and Lloyd J. Austin III in 2021. Gallagher pointed to the fact that two of those retired generals, Mattis and Lloyd, were granted waivers in the past four years—along Austin currently serving as Defense Secretary—as proof that what once was seen as an exception is dangerously close to becoming the norm. His amendment was approved by the committee.

Lawmakers Have One Month to Hash Out Future of Space National Guard

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Members of Congress have set up a collision course in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, fielding opposing language in the law’s House and Senate versions that make the future of a space National Guard component unclear with 28 days remaining before the start of the new fiscal year.

The Senate version of the NDAA simply renames the Air National Guard the “Air and Space National Guard,” while the House version would create a new “Space National Guard.”

Colorado representatives Doug Lamborn (R) and Jason Crow (D) cosponsored the amendment proposing to establish the Space National Guard that won approval in the House on Sept. 1.

“There has been widespread and ongoing interest in and support for creating a Space National Guard,” Lamborn told Air Force Magazine in a statement, noting that Colorado has more National Guard units and personnel conducting space operations than any other state.

“After waiting for a plan for two years, we decided to act,” he added. “The Space National Guard will bring operational mission readiness and provide equipped, surge-to-war capabilities that are vital for our nation.”

The House amendment would realign the National Guard units already working on space missions under the Space National Guard.

National Guard Association spokesman John Goheen told Air Force Magazine that creating a Space National Guard is the best decision for the Guard, Space Force, and national security.

“It makes the most sense to give the Space Force a surge capability with a reserve Space National Guard,” he said.

“The space professionals, if they’re not already in the Space Force, they’re moving to the Space Force. But right now, the space professionals in the National Guard have been left behind,” he explained, noting that space Air National Guard units in eight states no longer have a liaison to the appropriate space professionals they once worked with.

Those Airmen and units moved to the Space Force long ago.

Goheen says simply renaming the Air National Guard will not fix the problem. A new National Guard component must be created with a chain of command linking to the correct Space Force personnel.

“It’s not good for the professional development or their continued development to keep them in the Air Guard,” he said.

The Lamborn/Crow amendment would not explicitly fix the chain of command issue but instead leave the responsibility to the Secretary of the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau to stand up the Space National Guard within 18 months.

Lamborn said he expected the cost of the limitation to be “minimal.” The act does not establish a Space Force Reserve. The Air Force and National Guard Bureau are to make a recommendation on creating that reserve component.

Space professionals in limbo

Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard USAF Maj. Gen. James O. Eifert recently told Air Force Magazine that his 114th Space Control Squadron is full of private-sector space professionals from Florida’s historic Space Coast who are waiting for the creation of a Space National Guard.

“We really have to create a Space National Guard because the current relationship is not tenable for a healthy future,” he said. “What we do need is we need to have that direct relationship between the Space Force and the Guardians that are currently in the Air National Guard.”

An estimated 2,000 space professionals are in National Guard units in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, Ohio, and Guam.

“Currently, National Guard Bureau and Air Force Reserve personnel are aligned to support the Space Force and remain critical to the space mission performed by the U.S. military,” a Space Force spokesperson told Air Force Magazine.

“The Department of the Air Force continues to work with partners across the Department of Defense, Office of Management and Budget, Air Force Reserve, National Guard Bureau, and Congress to define the way ahead, which will be outlined in a report to Congress,” the spokesperson added.

That report to Congress was due in March and has not yet been made public.

The National Guard Bureau declined to comment on pending legislation since the two NDAA versions must now be hammered out between negotiators.

Goheen says such silence could be a reason why lawmakers do not understand the gravity of the decision before them.

“Once the House and the Senate name their negotiators, we can communicate with those individuals, and they will go behind closed doors and hammer out this in a room,” he said. “I don’t know where ‘Air and Space National Guard’ came from. I don’t know where it came from, but it needs to go away.”

‘Azimuth’ May Become the Space Force’s Cadet Selection Tool

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The Air Force Academy hopes to tempt—and test—potential future Space Force Guardians with a summer program called “Azimuth” much in the way the Marine Corps’ “Leatherneck” program evaluates Naval Academy midshipmen who may become Marines.

Yet “Azimuth” would go beyond just evaluating prospective Guardians by also helping to inform and motivate cadets—in part, with unique opportunities that would only become available in real life to future astronauts.

Pending approval of a three-week pilot by senior Academy leaders, Azimuth would kick off in the summer of 2022 with 20-30 cadets, delivered in weekly segments each intended to “motivate, inform, and evaluate,” Space Force liaison to the Academy Col. Jeffrey Greenwood told Air Force Magazine.

“We would do things that are getting cadets excited about space in general,” Greenwood said.

Ideas for Week 1, considered the motivational week, include experiences simulating what it’s like to go to space, such as a “zero-G” free-fall, virtual reality, or scuba training—“very much like what the NASA pre-astronaut program would be,” Greenwood said. “A lot of this, the fun motivational stuff, came from, ‘What are astronauts going through?’”

Critics have told Greenwood that astronaut training has no relationship to the jobs Guardians are now doing, but he counters that it may in the future.

“We also don’t jump out of airplanes as Air Force members, but that is one of our airmanship programs here at the Air Force Academy,” he said. “The reasoning or rationale behind doing things [is] eventually, someday, we might have a human spaceflight mission. So not only is it very motivational for cadets to get them excited about space in general, but it may have applicability in the long term.”

Greenwood is working with the head of the astronautics department at the Academy, Col. Luke Sauter, who counts among his students’ activities controlling an active satellite in orbit.

“Azimuth is the summer program that we’re coming up with to really give more cadets exposure,” Sauter explained during a visit to his classroom, which is encircled by models of past Academy satellites and situated near a clean room where cadets build the next Academy satellite to place in orbit.

“It’s a chance to get motivated, excited, informed about space—but also evaluate them to see if they’re the kind of people we want in the Space Force,” he added.

Week 2, conceived as the informative week, might involve visiting some of the military space facilities near Colorado Springs, current home to U.S. Space Command and two of the Space Force’s field commands, Space Operations Command and Space Training and Readiness Command. Cadets would have the opportunity to speak to Guardians and learn what they do.

Week 2 also might include aspects of their curriculum, such as orbitology and warfighting in the space domain.

“At the end of that week, we would have some type of wargames where they’re starting to use the strategy piece of everything that they learned in that week,” Greenwood said, describing how cadets could compete against each other as red teams and blue teams.

Week 3 is the evaluation week. It could include teamwork training, tests such as leadership reaction and high ropes courses, a maze, and possibly sensory deprivation training.

“We just want to understand their propensity for being able to understand and do well in our environment, as space Guardians,” Greenwood said.

Another difference between Leatherneck and Azimuth is when in their academic careers students decide which service to pursue. Leatherneck takes place between a student’s junior and senior year, with students deciding if they want to become a Marine during their senior year. Air Force Academy cadets must decide in their junior year, meaning the program must take place the summer after their sophomore year.

“The problem with that is it’s really still very early in their time here,” Greenwood said. “They’ve had two years’ worth of academics under them. They haven’t even taken their core astro course yet. It’s somewhat difficult to have to make them have to step up and say, ‘Yep, I want to go Space Force.’”

Space Force leadership shows liking

Greenwood said Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson was recently briefed on the proposal and expressed his support.

“He is just standing by ready to support with whatever we need to get this rolling,” Greenwood said.

The program would culminate in an ROTC-like interview experience.

“So, rolling into their junior year, we’ve got their record, we’ve got how they did during Azimuth, and we’ve got an interview under their belt,” Greenwood said. “We kind of have a pretty decent pool that we’re now looking at to make our selections during that junior year.”

With the formal paperwork to be filed in September, Greenwood expects approval for the pilot program in the next couple of months. Once approval is granted, the Academy will reach back out to students who have expressed interest in Space Force and have been taking part in mentorship programs during their first two years.

“Azimuth would be a screening program. You would know that you were a candidate for the Space Force by entering the Azimuth program,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood said the Pentagon is still evaluating how to divvy up high-scoring candidates between the Space Force and Air Force. Internal debates are taking place between Air Force and Space Force personnel chiefs and the Department of the Air Force assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, he said.

“We’re still working out at the Pentagon level between the A1 and S1 and MR, really how we make the selections,” he said. “There’s some inner fighting right now that we’ve got to work through, in terms of, you know, ensuring that the Air Force and the Space Force get their fair share of talent.”

Ultimately, someone 150 cadets of a class of 1,000 may be invited to participate in Azimuth, a number large enough for the Academy to whittle down selections to the available 96 Space Force slots it has to fill.

The program will add to the spectrum of summer opportunities designed to prepare cadets for careers in the Space Force, Sauter said.

“We are helping to inform cadets about what these careers look like,” he said. “We have many opportunities where we send cadets to Space Force jobs, to Air Force research jobs, to contractors that are working for the Space Force, to give them a feel of, ‘What does real life look like?’ And so, we get them excited and informed during the summer, and then they’ll come back here even more jazzed.”

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Jamonica Smith

Sept. 2, 2021

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 20 to 22 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each workday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Jamonica Smith, a Raven team member at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

Smith led Raven and fly-away security teams for the deactivation of four forward operating bases in Afghanistan, contributing to the United States and Taliban peace treaty. She conducted a humanitarian mission in support of the United States Agency for International Development, where she ensured the safe delivery of 370,000 pounds of coronavirus equipment and medicine, improving the quality of life for Yemen’s locals.

While deployed, she directed 34 special operations and aircrew members during a ground attack at Forward Operating Base Shank. Her fearlessness enabled a combat evacuation, protecting numerous lives and $167 million in Department of Defense assets.

She also volunteered countless hours as a domestic violence response team member where she staffed crisis support lines for more than 80 hours and instructed five training seminars in efforts to mitigate the impacts of abuse in the local community.

Senior Airman Jamonica Smith led Raven and fly-away security teams for the deactivation of four forward operating bases in Afghanistan, contributing to the United States and Taliban peace treaty.

Read more about other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021:

Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco

Ukraine, US Sign Defense Deal Amid Russian Threat

Sept. 1, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knows what it means to fight the Russians, and he came to Washington asking for more military assistance to help keep Russian President Vladimir Putin from encroaching further on Europe.

In Oval Office remarks with Zelensky on Sept. 1, President Joe Biden made note of a $60 million security assistance package that included Javelin anti-tank missiles, and he underscored why Ukraine matters to U.S. interests.

“Ukraine and the United States have a similar value system and the strong commitment to the fulfillment of a promise … and that is a Europe whole, free, and at peace,” Biden said.

Zelensky, in turn, stated a number of the security challenges he intended to discuss with Biden, from help repelling Russia’s proxy war in eastern Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea, to threatened energy security once the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is activated. He also asked for Biden’s “vision of Ukraine’s chances to join NATO.”

The meeting comes one day after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and his Ukranian counterpart signed a new defense cooperation deal at the Pentagon aimed at improving Ukraine’s military institutions and capabilities. Ukraine, the largest democracy in Eastern Europe, has been occupied and engaged in conflict with Russian-backed separatists for eight years following the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. Since then, the United States has provided $2.5 billion in security assistance.

“We again call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea and to stop perpetuating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and we will continue to stand with you in the face of this Russian aggression,” Austin said in his welcoming remarks, during Zelensky’s and Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran’s visit to the Pentagon.

The agreement outlined strategic priorities to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression, including through training and exercises and defense sector reforms that would improve NATO interoperability. It also will include increased cooperation in regards to cybersecurity, national security systems, and defense intelligence.

Prior to his first meeting with Biden, Zelensky described to Air Force Magazine the challenges he faces as his country is occupied by Russian proxies, barraged by hybrid warfare attacks, and threatened by 80,000 Russian troops on the border.

“We agreed to an increase of military assistance and cooperation in many areas of security and defense,” Zelensky said at an event in Mount Vernon, Va., after meeting Austin.

“This is just the direction, the framework,” he added. “I need more substance.”

Tactics and Strategy

Zelensky explained that the framework agreement would be broken into specifics by an American and Ukrainian team, and he said Austin committed to visit Ukraine. The Ukrainian president said the “political will” existed, and he believed closer defense cooperation would be forthcoming.

“There is no political procrastination—another year, another year—this is about tactics and strategy,” he said.

Defense cooperation with Ukraine has been close since Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula, seizing a vital port and 60 percent of the Ukrainian Navy. Putin has continued to back separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, cutting off a sliver of Ukrainian territory and flooding it with anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

All the while, Zelensky has called for a pathway to NATO entry and lethal security assistance from the United States.

Those calls grew louder in April, when Russia massed 100,000 troops, tanks, and attack helicopters on the Ukrainian border, waiting weeks before describing the event as a military exercise and pulling some troops back. Zelensky said Aug. 31 that most of those troops remain.

U.S. assistance has evolved to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military, Pentagon officials told Air Force Magazine, providing anti-sniper equipment, night vision and thermal goggles to protect against elite Russian sniper units, and medical equipment to save the lives of soldiers wounded on the front line.

The low-intensity conflict has seen numerous violations since a cease-fire agreement was signed in Minsk in 2015.

Zelensky tempered the lofty ambition of joining NATO with short-term needs: more training, exercises, and professionalization.

“We are not asking for any gifts. We need opportunities,” he said at Mount Vernon. “For our specialists, for the Ukrainian Army, the Ministry of National Security, our security institutions.”

He also called for assistance in cybersecurity and information security.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Air Force Magazine during a pull-aside interview that Zelensky and Austin discussed how to meet Ukraine’s needs and keep a buffer of democracy in Eastern Europe.

“In the meeting between the President and the Secretary of Defense, we discussed some specific areas of how this framework agreement will be unfolded,” Kuleba said.

“It will make our army stronger. It will make us more capable of deterring Russia militarily if Russia decides to advance,” he explained. “The stronger our army is, the higher the price of aggression for Russia will become.”

Kuleba called the $60 million aid package an important message of support.

“It’s a very specific gesture made for the president,” he said. “It’s both political, but also very practical, and it’s a perfect match.”

Former American ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor told Air Force Magazine the disparate Ukrainian security services will need to consolidate for coordination with the states to improve.

“The security assistance that we provide could be better integrated into the Ministry of Defense, with better cooperation, coordination, conversations between the Ministry of Defense and the Department [of Defense],” Taylor said, underscoring the value of the cooperation agreement.

Taylor, who was ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and then again from 2019 to 2020, said America’s tailored military assistance to Ukraine is helping to deter Russia.

“The javelins are a very powerful, effective deterrent to the Russians, and the Russians, apparently, respect them. They are backing away from the range,” he said of Russian tanks positioned just outside the Donbas front line.

“Ukraine is where the Russians attack first,” Taylor added. “Whether it’s militarily or whether it’s election meddling, whether it’s hacking into electrical grids, they start in Ukraine. … They try it, and if it works in Ukraine, they try it out in Europe. And then they try it out in the United States.”

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco

Sept. 1, 2021

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 20 to 22 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each workday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco, a career development journeyman from the 50th Force Support Squadron at Schriever Space Force Base, Colo.

Pacheco, an Airman tasked with supporting the U.S. Space Force, led a three-member team to ensure 1,800 personnel actions were completed on time. Additionally, he directed 30 permanent changes of station amid a global pandemic, ensuring mission critical personnel arrived at their next station.

Pacheco’s expertise led him to drive the first-ever virtual Enlisted Forced Distribution Panel, with 138 eligible members and 23 allocations.

Pacheco energized professional development courses and instructed in-house training to 135 Airmen across the installation. Senior Airman Pacheco was chosen for the Air Force Cycling team to support the Air Force’s “We Are All Recruiters” program in the Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa with an attendance of 15,000 members, during which he completed 510 miles.

outstanding airmen of the year — Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco led a three-member team to ensure 1,800 personnel actions were completed on time. USAF

HASC Approves Defense Budget Increase, Space National Guard

Sept. 1, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The House Armed Services Committee worked through its markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on Sept. 1, largely agreeing with its Senate counterpart on the overall top line of the Pentagon’s budget but breaking with it in regards to the establishment of a Space National Guard.

In a solidly bipartisan vote, the House panel agreed to boost the top line of the defense budget, adding an extra $23.9 billion to the administration’s request of $715 billion for the Pentagon, for a total of $738.9 billion.

The House committee approved the increase in the form of an amendment from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), 42-17. The bump closely follows a July vote from the Senate Armed Services Committee to approve a markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act with a $740.3 billion top line.

The armed services committees’ top lines mark a rebuke of President Joe Biden’s budget, which Republicans have criticized for not increasing enough over the 2021 NDAA to keep pace with inflation.

A sizable minority of Democrats on the House panel crossed party lines to vote for the increase as well, with many citing their concern over keeping pace with China’s growth.

“With the President’s budget, I have been saying ever since it was released, that it does not do enough,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said. “We needed three to five percent real growth, and I want to applaud Mr. Rogers … in finally doing what we need to do to deal with China.”

Also on Sept. 1, the House Armed Services Committee voted to include the establishment of a Space National Guard, setting up a potential conflict with its Senate counterpart’s version of the bill.

Reps. Jason Crow (D) and Doug Lamborn (R), both from Colorado, announced on Aug. 30 their intent to introduce the Space National Guard Establishment Act, and Crow included the legislation as an amendment in the full committee markup of the bill Sept. 1.

Crow’s amendment was included in a bloc of amendments that was quickly approved in a non-controversial voice vote.

Yet while the proposal met little resistance from HASC, it seemingly conflicts with the final markup of the NDAA approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee in July. That markup specifically proposed changing the name of the Air National Guard to the Air and Space National Guard, signaling that a separate Space Guard would not be happening.

Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees’ versions of the NDAA still have to be approved by their respective chambers. If there are still differences between the two, a conference committee will have to draft compromise legislation.

The question of a Reserve or Guard component for the Space Force has been debated since soon after the establishment of the new service in December 2019.

As early as February 2020, National Guard officials pushed for a separate Space National Guard, calling it a natural extension of the Air National Guard’s and Army National Guard’s work and arguing that it would be cost-neutral.

Analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office contested that claim, saying a separate Space National Guard would actually cost the Department of Defense an extra $100 million per year.

In the 2021 NDAA, Congress asked the Air and Space Forces to submit a report by March detailing how to organize Guard and Reserve personnel in the Space Force. That report was completed in June, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond told lawmakers, but it remains in the Office of Management and Budget.

While military leaders have mostly endorsed the idea of a Space National Guard, members of Congress have been more divided on the issue, with some questioning the cost and the need for states to have military space operations.

Proponents have said, however, that not every state will need to have a Space National Guard component. Eight states—Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Ohio—as well as Guam have National Guard space units, encompassing more than 1,000 personnel.

For Crow and Lamborn, in particular, the issue of a Space National Guard is a local one—Colorado is a space hub, with the largest number of Guard members conducting space missions of any state.