CSAF Outlines the Air Force’s New Deployment Model

Aug. 4, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is overhauling its force generation and deployment model. The aim is to provide a standardized schedule that both Airmen and combatant commands can understand while also providing enough down time for rest and training.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., in an exclusive interview with Air Force Magazine, outlined the new Air Force Force Generation (AFFORGEN) model, which he said will be “better aligned with how we present Airmen and airpower to support the joint operations, while at the same time, it actually preserves some of that readiness, not only for today, but for the future.”

The model, which the Air Force expects to reach initial operational capability in fiscal 2023, is broken down into four “bins,” each lasting six months for a total 24-month cycle. These include:

“Available to Commit.” This is when a unit is deployed, or ready to go at a moment’s notice for things such as short-notice task force or dynamic force employment deployments. “Commit is our traditional, you’re deployed, or you’re on the bubble, you’re ready to go,” Brown said.
“Reset.” After the six-month deployment or standing-by for operations, these Airmen will have six months to come home and take a breath. “Reconnect to your family, but also look at your basic skill sets you need to, depending on what the commitments are, if you got deployed or not. So it’s a chance for you to reset,” Brown said.
“Prepare.” After six months of rest and a focus on the basics, Airmen will then rotate into a six-month phase in which they increase their preparation for a possible future deployment. “Now you start to up your level of training and expanding beyond just your unit and start to work with others,” Brown said.
“Ready” After preparing, the next six-month phase will have Airmen in a “ready” phase in which the focus is on high-end, more intense, multi-unit training. This would include things such as participating in a certification exercise with multiple wings, capstone exercises such as Red Flag, Red Flag-Alaska, or the USAF Weapons School. This is the time to ensure Airmen at peak readiness are able to move back to the deployment, or “Commit,” phase.

While the goal is to have AFFORGEN reach IOC in fiscal 2023, some units are already starting to move toward it, because the Air Force can’t just “flip the switch and go, ‘OK, … so we’re starting today,’” Brown said.

“The thing that this is going to help us out with is, our United States Air Force is very popular,” Brown said. “And so we get asked, we get pulled into a lot of things. But I want to be able to use this to have a little bit of discipline about how we do things, how we communicate to the Joint Force, so we can preserve readiness.”

Under previous force generation models, such as the air expeditionary force, the Air Force was often stretched thin, with high demand, low dwell time, and low corresponding readiness.

“We would actually rip ourselves apart to satisfy all the requirements,” Brown said. “And what we found is each of the [major commands], depending if you are fighter vs. bomber vs. ISR vs. mobility—we’re all doing things just a little bit differently.”

The Air Force needs to standardize its force generation model across these MAJCOMs, Brown said.

“Part of our discussion with the MAJCOM commanders … was, ‘We’ve got to have a standard model that we all use, that we can talk about, and be on the same page, particularly as we talk to the Joint Staff,’” Brown said.

As the Air Force moves toward Agile Combat Employment and begins operating from different locations without the same established presence that Airmen are used to at major Middle East bases, the deployment model of a fighter unit needs to align with that of combat support units to better enable those operations, Brown said.

“Think about it: For the past 30 years, we’ve been going to the same bases, and things are already established,” he said. “Well, we’ve got to look at these things differently now. This is why Agile Combat Employment comes into this factor as well, because you’re going to go someplace that may not already have everything set up. It’s going to be fairly austere. You’ve got to have that capability to be able do this and to align the aviation package with the agile combat support.”

Details Released About Pentagon Attack that Left Officer Dead

Aug. 4, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Law enforcement officials identified both the officer killed and the suspect who died in an Aug. 3 attack at a bus stop outside the Pentagon. Officials also announced that a civilian bystander was injured during the incident.

Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer George Gonzalez was at the Metro bus platform outside the building’s main entrance Aug. 3 when the suspect, Austin William Lanz, 27, exited a bus and attacked Gonzalez with a knife “immediately, without provocation,” according to a series of tweets from the FBI’s Washington field office.

A struggle ensued, the FBI stated, in which Lanz mortally wounded Gonzalez then used the officer’s weapon to shoot himself. Other PFPA officers engaged Lanz, and gunfire was exchanged, with Lanz dying at the scene.

The FBI also stated that a civilian bystander was injured during the incident but did not specify whether the person was shot and if so, whether the person was shot by Lanz or PFPA officers. The civilian was transported to the hospital and later released.

In a series of tweets Aug. 4, the PFPA remembered Gonzalez as a “die-hard” fan of the New York Yankees and a “gregarious officer, [who] was well-liked and respected by his fellow officers.”

An Army veteran, Gonzalez also served in the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Transportation Security Administration before joining the PFPA in 2018. He held the rank of Senior Officer. The Army issued a tweet Aug. 4 commemorating Gonzalez, saying, “We mourn the loss of Officer Gonzalez and salute his life of service and bravery. Rest In Peace, Soldier.”

We mourn the loss of Officer Gonzalez and salute his life of service and bravery. Rest In Peace, Soldier. https://t.co/R5lKyM9tMW
— U.S. Army (@USArmy) August 4, 2021

“His life was one of service,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing. “A veteran of both the police and the military, he lost his life protecting those who protect the nation.”

According to reports from Military.com and The Associated Press, Lanz, a Georgia resident, briefly enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 2012 but was dismissed within a month and never earned the title Marine.

He had a history of criminal behavior, including an April incident in which he was arrested for breaking into a neighbor’s home then attacked two sheriff’s deputies without provocation in the intake area, according to the AP. Online court records show he was charged with aggravated battery on a police officer, unlawful acts in a penal institution, obstruction of law enforcement, and terroristic threats/acts, in addition to criminal trespassing and burglary charges, but posted bail in May. The charges against him are still listed as pending.

Kelly: Downed Airmen May Have to Get Themselves to Safe Areas

Aug. 4, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The combat search-and-rescue mission will be extremely challenging in a fight against a peer adversary, and the focus may have to shift to downed Airmen finding their own way to safety, Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly said Aug. 3.

The future of CSAR is “a tough, tough equation,” Kelly said during a Life Cycle Industry Days seminar run by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The mission may have to change given the long distances and enormous expanses of water in the Indo-Pacific theater and the “speed, the vulnerability, and the range of our current rescue platforms.”

Air Combat Command is “looking at it from the lens of … how much can the isolated personnel get themselves out or get themselves to a place where they can be recovered, as much as how the recovery force is going to get to them.”

He noted that if a pilot needed a stealthy F-35 to get to a well protected location, “it’s going to be tough to get in that same chunk of airspace with the [rescue] equipment we have.” The challenge is to come up with “avenues and means for the isolated personnel to help themselves, if at all possible, to get to a more opportune location” for recovery.

Many rescue operations have been spearheaded by an A-10 flying top cover for the recovery and managing the movement of CSAR assets into and out of the rescue area. The A-10 was “great” at this in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Kelly said many lives were saved because an A-10 “took charge overhead.”

But he also said the Air Force’s planned inventory of A-10s is “more than enough” to meet its close air support and other needs and that the seven squadrons the service will retain into the early 2030s is not the way to build the Air Force of the future. Lacking stealth, the A-10 can’t get into those areas where a fifth-generation jet such as the F-35 can go.

“The fact of the matter is, as we sit here today, I have exactly zero A-10s in the Middle East, for a couple of reasons. One, the distance is too far to go from our Middle East basing to places like Afghanistan, over the horizon. Two, the threat in and around Syria—the Russians’ air defense systems—[is] too great to operate in, so we essentially had to bring them home.”

Given the considerations of distance and threat, and applying them “to places like the Asia-Pacific, the distances just become greater and the threat becomes infinitely greater,” Kelly said, indicating the A-10’s ability to help with CSAR in that region will continue to diminish. While he respects the “phenomenal performance” of the A-10, there’s an “ever-decreasing of the niche areas where it can operate, day in and day out.”

The Air Force will put new wings and avionics on 218 A-10s, which Kelly noted is 34 more than the F-22s in inventory, but of them, he emphasized, “I have zero engaged.”

For Korea, where one A-10 squadron is available to defend the demilitarized zone, seven squadrons is not only “more than enough,” it’s “more than the South Korean peninsula can hold,” in terms of locations to base the jets.

Kelly said China is “our pacing threat. If we’re going to keep pace with what they’re doing, … you’re not going to do it by refurbishing a fleet of 40-year-old, single-mission, 210-knot airplanes. You’re just not, regardless of how much they’re loved and the great performance they’ve done.”

USAF Not Looking at ‘MQ-Next’ as a Direct MQ-9 Replacement, Outlines Reaper Upgrades

Aug. 3, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is starting to field some enhanced capabilities for the MQ-9 Reaper fleet that will better prepare it to operate in more denied environments while also moving away from the idea of an “MQ-Next” direct follow-on for the remotely piloted aircraft.

While the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has released two requests for information looking at future RPA capabilities, those requests for information were just “market research,” not the beginning of an MQ-9 replacement, said Col. William S. Rogers, the program executive officer for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and special operations forces, during a virtual AFLCMC media event Aug. 3. One RFI looked at what type of multirole RPA members of private industry could produce, and the other looked at airborne sensing and high-value asset protection.

“We’re really providing information at this point, up to Air Force futures and the Air Staff, [to help] them try to decide how that future medium-altitude UAS capability could fit into the overall force design for the Air Force,” Rogers said. “So, at this point, short answer is there’s no direct replacement termed MQ-Next.”

In the meantime, AFLCMC has laid out its timeline for an overall suite of updates for the MQ-9, called the “MQ-9 multi-domain operations,” or M2DO configuration, which includes improved communications, increased power, autonomous takeoff and landing, and eventually increased use of artificial intelligence to make the Reaper more relevant in a high-end fight.

“The M2DO configuration is really envisioned to mature the MQ-9 and really keep its relevancy through the planned divestiture of the MQ-9 later in the 2030, 2035 timeframe,” said Col. Mike Jiru, the senior materiel leader for the Medium Altitude UAS Division at AFLCMC. “So as we’re experiencing right now, the MQ-9 conducts both a counter [violent extremist organization] mission and then looks at missions in what we’ll call the ‘gray zone.’”

This, for example, includes operations conducted by the recently stood up 25th Attack Group now operating out of Romania. These missions, in more contested environments with Russia nearby, are “obviously very different than the original design criteria of the MQ-9, which was air dominance wherever it flew. So given that, there’s recognition that we have to do something to ensure that the MQ-9 remains relevant. It’s never going to be a penetrating ISR asset that’s going to go into China or anything like that,” Jiru said.

First, M2DO is focused on improving the MQ-9’s ability to communicate. This includes bringing on the Link 16 datalink and improving its command and control “resiliency” through the use of different waveforms and an improved modem both within the aircraft and with the ground systems. Additionally, AFLCMC is looking to bring on open mission systems, including the Stellar Relay computer system, as the first internet protocol “backbone” for the aircraft, with interfaces at each pylon “enabling a really plug-on-and-play sort of aspect,” Jiru said.

The Air Force is also looking to double the amount of power the MQ-9 can distribute so it can bring on “an enhanced suite of mission capabilities” and have the ability for high-power computing. This “opens up the ability of the MQ-9 to be a host for significantly advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and autonomy algorithms,” he said.

AFLCMC is working with the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to support its development of a “smart sensor,” with demonstration expected in exercises over the next year that will serve as “both a cornerstone for the department’s development of a suite of autonomy algorithms, but then also looking at how does an MQ-9 as a surrogate vehicle help inform the future development of AI and the integration of that AI into the overall fight,” Jiru said.

The Air Force is already bringing on anti-jamming GPS capability, with retrofits underway.

“So that suite of M2DO configurations really is what the Air Force is depending upon to ensure that the MQ-9 remains relevant in its expanding role through the 2030-35 timeframe,” Jiru said.

The Air Force is planning on installing the M2DO configuration on 71 aircraft, but that is a “dial” that will be adjusted depending on budget constraints, he said.

Below is a schedule for upcoming MQ-9 enhancements:

Anti-jam GPS: Fielding underway
Enhanced power: Fielding to begin in the first quarter of fiscal 2023
Command and control elements: 2023
Link 16: The first quarter of 2024
Stellar Relay: The third quarter of 2024.
Automatic takeoff and landing for the MQ-9 fleet is also in a continuous development effort over the next several years, Jiru said.

Protest of HH-60W Upgrade Contract Could Limit, Delay New Systems for the Helicopter

Aug. 3, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is assessing the impact of a judge’s ruling contesting the award of an almost $1 billion contract for HH-60W Jolly Green II upgrades to determine if the service can delay some upgrades or not do some of them at all. The new combat rescue helicopter is preparing for initial operational testing and evaluation.

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge recently supported a Sierra Nevada Corp. protest to the February sole-source contract award to Sikorsky for a suite of upgrades to the brand-new helicopter. The upgrades would include new systems such as countermeasures, anti-jam GPS, blue force trackers, and data links, among others.

Sierra Nevada Corp. claimed the Air Force violated competition rules when awarding the contract to Sikorsky, calling on the Air Force to accept multiple bids, Inside Defense reported.

Col. William Rogers, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s program executive officer for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and special operations forces, said during an Aug. 3 virtual media event that the Air Force’s legal and contracting teams are assessing the options going forward on the upgrades.

“We’re working through the impacts and what the ruling truly means in terms of if there are certain things we could do or won’t do in terms of capability upgrades,” Rogers said.

A joint Air Force and Sikorsky team in April wrapped up developmental testing, and the Air Force is now in an “in-between stage” of addressing some issues before initial operational test and evaluation begins in October. This includes making sure the system’s data is ready and ensuring crews will be in the right place. Additionally, the Air Force is doing some advanced testing on the helicopter’s radar warning receiver and getting the aircraft’s gun ready for testing after some “challenges” in earlier tests.

The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center was able to conduct some operational tests on the HH-60W during developmental testing, including capabilities such as air-to-air refueling. About 36 percent of the IOT&E test points have already been collected.

IOT&E is expected to start in October and run through March 2022.

Dickinson Calls for International Norms in Space, Citing ‘Provocative’ Actions by Adversaries

Aug. 3, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

U.S. Space Command boss Gen. James H. Dickinson called for international norms of behavior in space to protect against “provocative, aggressive” actions by adversaries.

“The behavior of some of our adversaries in space may surprise you,” Dickinson said Aug. 3 during the Navy League of the United States’ annual Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Md. “If similar actions have been taken in other domains, they’d likely be considered provocative, aggressive, or maybe even irresponsible.”

With an area of responsibility that extends hundreds of thousands of miles into space, Dickinson narrowed his focus on a region in space where gravitational forces cancel each other. The so-called Lagrange points between the Earth and the moon are “strategically vital waystations” where spacecraft can remain indefinitely using a small amount of fuel, he said.

“A maritime analog to Lagrange points would be the strategic importance of several very small islands in the Pacific,” Dickinson said.

But unlike maritime treaties that bind nations to predictable behaviors at sea, the space domain does not have the same set of rules, and adversaries are violating safe standoff distances and behaviors, he said.

In recent years, China fired a land-based missile at a dead satellite, destroying it and leaving thousands of pieces to orbit the Earth. Russia, too, tested a space-based capability to align with the orbit of an American spy satellite, requiring the satellite to expend fuel to maneuver away. The Russian “nesting doll” Kosmos 2543 satellite had previously tested a capability to fire a projectile in space.

The implications are profound for the satellite communications, position-navigation-and-timing, and missile warning systems.

In July, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III signed a Tenets of Responsible Behavior in Space memo with guidelines limiting the generation of long-lived debris and maintaining safe separation and safe trajectory.

“As more actors come to space, the domain is changing, with an increased risk of collisions as well as of miscalculations or misunderstandings,” the memo read.

Dickinson called for additional guidelines consistent with a December United Nations resolution calling for international norms in space.

“My hope is that we are on a glide path to soon have some independent international agreement that would support that,” Dickinson said.

The SPACECOM commander also called for the U.S. to have a “position of strength” that could pressure adversaries to adhere to norms, much in the same way the Navy does in the Pacific.

“The protection of our space assets, I think we can agree in this room, is critical,” the commander said. “We don’t have centuries, or even decades, to get to the same level of agreement.”

Kelly: First Low-Cost Attritables will be in Stealth Red Air Role; No F-35 Cuts Planned

Aug. 3, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force’s first application of low-cost attritable aircraft systems will likely be as stealthy adversaries for fifth-generation fighters, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said at an industry conference Aug. 3.

The initial “’toe in the water’ is in our adversary air replication,” Kelly said in the online Life Cycle Industry Days seminar put on by the Air Force’s Life Cycle Management Center. “That is the area I’m most interested in.”

Kelly also discussed cyber vulnerabilities of fighters and said he’s unaware of any move to curtail the total number of F-35 fighters.

It’s very expensive to put up a stealthy adversary for F-22s and F-35s to go against in mock combat, Kelly said, given that the choice is mostly limited to other F-22s and F-35s.

“Right now, … we cannot generate enough adversary air to really … stress” the Air Force’s fifth-generation combat aviators, he explained, because the cost per flying hour is prohibitive. What would be a “low-cost” alternative? Anything that costs “a dollar less than what I’d be putting up” of a manned nature, he added.

But “there are some solutions and promising technologies out there where I could essentially put up a low-observable and jamming platform with a significant amount of endurance,” at “roughly 25 percent of what it would cost me for a manned” adversary, he said. “That, to me, is ‘low cost.’”

As for the percentage of the future force that LCAAS will comprise, Kelly said it’s too soon to tell. The adversary platform is “step one of step many,” he said. He chafed generally at the idea of a “low-cost” aircraft because “nothing is cheap,” and said the Air Force will think carefully about what that means, but said the term “attritable” defines the role of such airplanes. They will be used when the mission demands them or where the cost of putting “a human son or daughter” at risk is too high.

Kelly also said the Air Force will be in the remotely piloted aircraft business broadly “for the forseeable future,” noting that the MQ-9 and RQ-170 fleet of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike drones are “still operating … for obvious reasons.”

Low-cost Attritable Aircraft Systems, though, will be “a growth industry,” he added.

Asked about cyber vulnerabilities of fifth-gen aircraft, Kelly said he’s actually more worried about their support systems, “because as soon as I plug in a compromised support system, I could end up compromising the entire airplane.”

Kelly said he appreciates the F-35, which has performed well through “18 months of combat in the Middle East, with thousands and thousands of sorties,” and thousands of weapons expended, “but we need to migrate away” from systems that consume 80 percent of their cost in sustainability.

However, he isn’t aware of anyone in the Air Force promoting the idea of curtailing the planned number of F-35s to be purchased, which was set at 1,763 back in 2001.

“We have migrated from, in 30 years, … 4,000 fighters to 2,000 fighters, from [an average of] eight years old to 28 years old. We’ve gone from a force very focused on peer engagement to one optimized for counterinsurgency.” A 28-year-old fleet is “not optimized” for the peer fight, he said.

In that context, the F-35 helps reduce the average age of the fleet; it’s designed for a peer war; and “I need every airframe, and aviator, and piece of equipment, and maintainer, and sustainer that I can get.”

“I haven’t met the person who walks around with a banner saying, ‘I’m trying to reduce the numbers.’ I have a lot of folks … trying to balance the budget … and risk, but I haven’t met anyone in the Pentagon who says, ‘I’m here to reduce the number of F-35s,’” he said.

Police Officer, Attacker Killed at Pentagon Bus Stop

Aug. 3, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

A Pentagon Force Protection Agency officer reportedly died of stab wounds, and the attacker was shot and killed by responding officers, on Aug. 3 at a bus stop outside the Pentagon.

At 10:37 a.m., the Pentagon police officer was attacked at the metro bus platform outside the building’s main entrance. Gunfire was exchanged, causing several casualties, PFPA Chief Woodrow G. Kusse said during a briefing. The officer was then rushed to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where the officer later died.

On Aug. 4, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency identified the officer killed as George Gonzalez, an Army veteran who also served in the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Transportation Security Administration before joining the PFPA in 2018. He held the rank of Senior Officer.

End of Watch Aug. 3, 2021.
Last night, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency observed End of Watch for Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez who was tragically killed yesterday during the incident at the Pentagon bus platform. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/lmTqIuqCir
— Pentagon Force Protection Agency (@PFPAOfficial) August 4, 2021

The Associated Press cited “multiple law enforcement officials” who identified the suspected attacker as 27-year-old Austin William Lanz of Georgia, who had briefly enlisted in the Marine Corps but never served.

The Pentagon briefly locked down, but at 12:11 p.m., the PFPA tweeted that the lockdown had been lifted, with the metro station and Corridor 2, which leads to the metro station, still closed.

The major bus and metro station serves as an interchange for multiple transit agencies. Videos and photos emerging online show first responders providing aid to an individual near a Washington, D.C., metro bus.

Despite some initial reports that a suspect fled, Kusse said the scene was secure and there was no need for a search after the incident. Kusse said it is premature to say whether the incident was related to terrorism, noting the investigation is ongoing. He said an “exchange” of gunfire occurred but didn’t specify whether the attacker had a gun.

“We don’t know what the motivation was,” he said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III was at the White House for a scheduled meeting with President Joe Biden when the incident occurred, Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said. Staff at the White House informed Austin of the event, and he visited the Pentagon police operations center to “check in with them” when he returned to the building.

Austin “very clearly was concerned about the incident, about the potential for violence right here on the Pentagon Reservation, [and] certainly [he] was very concerned about any casualties that occurred,” Kirby said.

Austin ordered the flags at the Pentagon to be flown at half staff following the incident.

“This fallen officer died in the line of duty, helping protect the tens of thousands of people who work in—and who visit—the Pentagon on a daily basis,” Austin said in a statement. “He and his fellow officers are members of the Pentagon family and known to us all as professional, skilled, and brave. This tragic death today is a stark reminder of the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make. We are forever grateful for that service and the courage with which it is rendered.”

It is the first serious incident of violence at the Pentagon since 2010, when John Patrick Bedell shot and wounded two Pentagon police officers at a security checkpoint near the site of the Tuesday incident. The officers also returned fire in 2010, killing Bedell.

Kusse, during the briefing, said it was too soon to speculate whether the Pentagon would need more security at the metro and bus stations in the aftermath of the incident.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated at 6:01 p.m. with additional information from the Pentagon; and at 7:53 p.m. citing the alleged suspect‘s identity according to The Associated Press.

NF-16D VISTA Redesignated an ‘X’ Plane to Test Skyborg

Aug. 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

There’s a new X-plane in the Air Force’s fleet.

The Air Force Test Pilot School in June redesignated the NF-16D Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft as the X-62A, allowing the aircraft to be used for testing the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Skyborg program.

The aircraft, originally a Block 30 F-16, has been heavily modified and upgraded since its first flight in 1992 to give pilots a way to simulate different flying conditions as well as the characteristics of other aircraft, according to a USAF release.

“For more than two decades VISTA has been a vital asset for the USAF TPS [Test Pilot School] and the embodiment of our goal to be part of the cutting edge of flight test and aerospace technology,” said William Gray, VISTA and TPS chief test pilot, in the release. “It has given almost a thousand students and staff members the opportunity to practice testing aircraft with dangerously poor flying qualities, and to execute risk-reduction flight test programs for advanced technologies.”

The Air Force is now replacing the aircraft’s VISTA Simulation System with the System for Autonomous Control of Simulation, the release states.

“The redesignation reflects the research done on the aircraft over the past almost 30 years, as well as acknowledges the major upgrade program that is ongoing to support future USAF autonomy testing,” said Chris Cotting, USAF TPS director of research, in the release.

AFRL’s Skyborg is a suite of hardware and software aimed at developing the Air Force’s use of teaming manned and unmanned aircraft, also known as a “loyal wingman.” The system made its first flight on a Kratos UTAP-22 Mako air vehicle in April. In December 2020, the Air Force awarded Kratos, Boeing, and General Atomics contracts to continue with the effort.

Skyborg is one of four Air Force “Vanguard” programs—top research projects that USAF believes will be unique and useful. Others include the Golden Horde weapons swarm, Navigation Technology Satellite-3, and the “rocket cargo” space mobility effort.

The famed “X” designation is for aircraft that are designed for “testing configurations of a radical nature,” Edwards said in the release. The X-62 is now part of an exclusive club that has helped shape cutting-edge aeronautical research for decades, including the Bell X-1, which was the first airplane to break the sound barrier, and the hypersonic X-15. Other more recent examples include the X-37 space plane, the hypersonic X-51 Waverider, and the second-most-recent X-61 Gremlins.