Space and Missile Systems Center Commander Retires Ahead of Changeover to Space Force

July 27, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Air Force Lt. Gen. John F. Thompson announced his retirement July 27 as the longest-serving commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center ahead of its redesignation as the Space Force’s Space Systems Command later this summer.

Thompson paved the way for the standup of the Space Force field command, but he will not hand over the reins but instead retire as commander of the acquisition center at Los Angeles Air Force Base effective Aug. 1 after 36 years in the Air Force.

Over four years at SMC, Thompson oversaw development, delivery, and acquisition of space warfighting capabilities to the tune of $9 billion annually, some 85 percent of the nation’s space budget. Thompson also served as commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, in Air Force Systems Command, in Air Force Materiel Command, and in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.

The SSC standup will not be affected by Thompson’s retirement. Current Vice Commander Brig. Gen. D. Jason Cothern will take over for Thompson until a new three-star general officer is confirmed.

President Biden nominated Maj. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein in July to serve as the first commander of Space Systems Command. Guetlein is currently deputy director at the National Reconnaissance Office. Once SSC is formally stood up, launch operations at Patrick Space Force Base, Fla., and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., will be realigned under his command.

Space Force did not immediately reply to an inquiry from Air Force Magazine.

USAF to Increase Arctic Investment as Strategy, Wargames Outline Needs in the Region

July 27, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force spends around $6 billion a year on systems and priorities focused on the Arctic, a number that is expected to grow as the region’s importance rises and the Department of the Air Force’s first-ever Arctic Strategy hits its one-year anniversary.

While the exact number is difficult to determine, because USAF is a “global Air Force, … our latest estimates are that we’re spending a pretty decent amount, certainly, out of the Department of the Air Force’s budget on things that are clearly related to Arctic security, Arctic operations,” said Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote during a July 27 Wilson Center event on the importance of the region.

That number will grow as the Air Force does things such as modernizing the North Warning System of radar sites, which has been “put off for too long. So we know that we’re going to have to work with our partners in Canada to be able to do that,” he said.

The Air Force, through recent wargames, has found that “We’re not nearly as secure and safe as we may be thinking we are, especially in the avenues of approaches over the Arctic,” Hinote said. The region is the shortest route for competitors, and “our views of the Arctic as a strategic buffer is eroding” because of military actions by Russia and China as well as the impacts of climate change.

Air Force wargames have shown that conflict starts in the region “when one side is doing something that somebody else is not aware of,” demonstrating the importance of awareness across the region, he said. These events have changed the Air Force’s perception. Previous wargames have focused on great power competition in Europe and the Pacific, “and one of the things that we felt like we did not understand as well [was] how that competition would spill over into the Arctic, how our competitors would use the Arctic in a way of doing something strategically bad for the United States and for our allies and partners,” Hinote said.

Arctic nations are collectively seeing the importance of the region militarily and working together on ways to increase these indications and warnings. The U.S. and Norway, for example, are collaborating on launching new polar-orbit satellites to improve space surveillance of the region.

“We also see ways of getting synergy between the investments that our allies and partners are making in things they’re doing as well,” Hinote said. “But I think it’s important that the American people know, it’s not like we’re not spending a decent amount of money up in the Arctic, because there’s a pretty good amount that’s going up there right now.”

The Department of the Air Force is responsible for about 80 percent of the overall Defense Department’s resources to the region, “so we’re up there with some amount of real capability, and that’s an important part to homeland defense.”

The U.S.-and-Norway collaboration is just one example of the cost-sharing opportunities that can increase capability without the Department of the Air Force having to shoulder the entire financial burden, said Lt. Gen. William J. Liquori Jr., the Space Force’s deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, requirements, and analysis.

“We’re trying to do what we can to maximize the resources that we’re able to deliver to this region, and others, through partnerships as well as our own individual budget in some cases,” he said. “We spend some in our budget, and then a partner spends in their budget as well … ultimately delivering more capability than either of us could do on our own.”

The Department of the Air Force in July 2020 unveiled its first-ever Arctic Strategy, which outlined the importance of the region as Russia builds up its military presence and China looks to normalize its own presence there. As the strategy passes its one-year anniversary, the department is working to implement it. This effort will be a “lifetime effort for us—we got a lot more to go,” Hinote said.

Wilson Center

Pace of US Airstrikes in Afghanistan Increases as Taliban Violence Continues

July 27, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. aircraft are increasing the pace of airstrikes targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan after nearly all American troops have left the country, as the level of violence in the country continues to rise.

More than 95 percent of the U.S. withdrawal process is complete—a number that has stayed steady over the past several weeks, according to U.S. Central Command’s latest update. CENTCOM boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., during a July 25 visit to Kabul, said the U.S. military’s assistance to Afghan forces also will remain steady as the Aug. 31 deadline for the full withdrawal approaches.

“The United States has increased airstrikes in the support of Afghan forces over the last several days, and we’re prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks,” McKenzie said in a CENTCOM release. “I reassured the government that we are continuing to provide airstrikes in defense of ANDSF forces under attack by the Taliban, contract logistics support both here in Kabul and over-the-horizon in the region, funding for them, intelligence sharing, and advising and assisting through security consultations at the strategic level.”

A July 27 release from the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing provides a glimpse of how USAF aircraft are supplying this over-the-horizon strike support.

In recent weeks, about half of the F-15Es from the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron forward deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, to “support the Resolute Support mission set and improve the defensive posture in the Arabian Peninsula,” said Capt. Trey Pollard, F-15E fighter weapons systems officer with the 494th EFS, in the release.

F-15E missions included “covering routine vulnerability periods, providing alert capability, and other flexible mission sets as necessary,” he said.

For these missions, KC-10 Extenders from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron worked closely with the 494th. This included a KC-10 flying with F-15Es to Afghanistan and staying with them as a dedicated tanker, the release states. KC-10s also flew to the region to refuel fighters from other bases.

Once the 494th EFS was set to redeploy, a KC-10 brought most of the Airmen and related equipment home and refueled the seven F-15Es on the way back.

“Without the KC-10 to help, they were hard pressed to make the trip all in one go,” 908th EARS Operations Officer Maj. Austin Bentley said in the release. “They would have had to load the cargo and passengers on another grey tail to get the equipment and maintainers and ground personnel back, and would need a KC-135, or even two, to get enough gas to the fighters to make the trip.”

During the press conference in Kabul, McKenzie provided additional insight into how U.S. support for the Afghan Air Force will continue.

“We continue to provide contract maintenance and logistics support here in Kabul to maintain Afghan defense capabilities, including their aviation capability,” he said. “We continue to provide maintenance, advising them from over the horizon, and we’re prepared to execute over-the-horizon aircraft maintenance and refurbishment with aircraft that will be flown to a third country, repaired, and returned to service in Afghanistan with the Afghan Air Force.”

AMC Blocks Tail Flashes for Its KC-46s, Pushing Heritage Aside to Better Manage the Fleet

July 27, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

For decades, the Air Force gray-tailed aircraft have displayed their home base and heritage with a small graphic on the plane’s tail, but that tradition will come to an end for much of the service’s next-generation tanker fleet.

Air Mobility Command has ended the policy of allowing tail flashes on the Active-duty KC-46s, a step that will make it easier for the command to manage its fleet of tankers from base to base. This means the KC-46s based at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., will not have the white-and-black “MCCONNELL” graphic that the KC-135s had for decades at the base.

“Identifying markers such as tail-flashes need to be repainted when aircraft are reassigned to other bases,” AMC said in a statement. “For example, when KC-135s are transferred to and from Kadena AB, [Japan], to Fairchild [Air Force Base, Wash.,] or McConnell AFB as part of their corrosion management program, their tail flashes need to be repainted.”

The change only applies to the KC-46 because it is the command’s only new fleet of aircraft. All other AMC aircraft already have the tail flashes. AMC, in a statement, said it is also reviewing its policy for placing dedicated crew chief or flying crew chief names on aircraft. KC-135s, for example, often have a black outline with the names of crew chiefs on the fuselage next to command seals.

AMC’s governing document for the policy states that “only mandatory markings are approved and all markings will stay as manufacturer produced. Waivers, changes, or optional marking requests will not be approved.” The only approved markings are the U.S. flag, the National Star, Radio Call Numbers, and “U.S. Air Force” on the fuselage.

While some tanker units, such as the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, are known for nose art on their aircraft, AMC policy states that only “Internal Nose Art,” such as on the interiors of landing gear doors or weapons bays, would be authorized.

Air Force Magazine, in recent visits to current and future KC-46 bases, spoke to several pilots and maintainers about the policy. Lt. Col. Nicholas Arthur, commander of the 2nd Air Refueling Squadron at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., said it is “kind of a bummer,” but there are several reasons the command is moving away from tail flashes that make sense for the health of the fleet. Maintainers are interested in finding ways to still apply dedicated crew chief names to the aircraft, using stickers or magnets inside.

“There’s something valuable about being able to put someone’s name on the jet and take ownership and have pride. … It’s small, but if it gets someone excited, [then] it gives them some pride in what they’re doing,” he said.

At Mildenhall, the nose art helped add some “camaraderie and morale and some bind to the unit. That, ‘Hey, this is our unit. That’s my jet,’” said Master Sgt. Sydney Melton, the 605th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron KC-46 lead production superintendent at McGuire. McGuire’s KC-10s didn’t have the crew chief names on the aircraft, but there is discussion of implementing it when KC-46s are up and running, provided the policy allows it.

The policy only applies to AMC aircraft. Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air Education and Training Command KC-46s are not subject to the limitations. Some units, such as the 157th Air Refueling Wing at Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., have already applied tail flashes to some of their KC-46s. AETC’s Altus Air Force Base, Okla., has red-and-yellow tail flashes and the “Triangle Y,” a call-back to the wing’s World War II heritage, on the tails of its KC-46s along with the crew chief name.

Frank Kendall Confirmed as 26th Secretary of the Air Force

July 26, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Senate on July 26 confirmed Frank Kendall to be the 26th Secretary of the Air Force, ending a nomination process stalled by holds from three senators.

Kendall was confirmed by voice vote almost three months after President Joe Biden tapped him for the role. The same day as the vote, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) lifted his hold on Kendall after the Air Force committed to retain and modernize A-10s at Selfridge Air National Guard base in his state, The Detroit News reported.

Kendall, the former No. 3 official in the Pentagon in the Obama administration, will take over a service pressing Congress for permission to retire aging airframes and overhaul its fleet to prepare for future conflict with near-peer countries, such as China.

Earlier this month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) lifted her hold on the nomination after Kendall pledged to extend an ethics agreement. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee also placed a hold on the nomination for undisclosed reasons.

The holds were a surprise delay on a nomination that initially appeared set to breeze through the Senate following a favorable May 25 confirmation hearing.

Kendall will take the reins of the Department of the Air Force from acting Secretary John P. Roth, who has held the role in a temporary capacity for 187 days. Previous Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett stepped down at the end of the Trump administration.

As the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics from 2012 to 2016, Kendall oversaw the Defense Department’s weapons purchases, development, sustainment, and logistics. When he left the job, Congress split the role into two separate jobs for acquisition and sustainment. He also was the deputy undersecretary and acting undersecretary.

He served as an advisor to Biden during his presidential campaign on national security and defense issues. Kendall also was vice president of engineering for the then-Raytheon Co. and was a managing partner at Renaissance Strategic Advisors.

Last week, the Senate also confirmed Gina Ortiz Jones to be the next undersecretary of the Air Force, where she will be Kendall’s No. 2.

Afghanistan and Iraq War Veterans Exposed to Toxins Could Be Helped by New Bill

July 26, 2021 | By

Air Force Maj. Brian Liebenow arrived to a secret staging point at a former Soviet base in Uzbekistan on Oct. 6, 2001, for an intense mission that would last just over two months. There, as a member of the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, he briefed the special operators flying MH-53 and Chinook missions into Afghanistan to assist in the overthrow of the Taliban.

“The Taliban were really on their heels,” Liebenow, now 46, told Air Force Magazine, his voice raspy from multiple throat surgeries and frequent intubation.

Many of those special operators are now dying of cancers and suffering from respiratory, skin, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and other disorders believed to be related to the toxic exposures they faced at the Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, known as K2, but their treatment is not covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The same is true for hundreds of thousands exposed to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq.

When non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer struck Liebenow in 2003, he was still serving in the Air Force, and his medical expenses were fully covered.

“I felt really lucky that I was diagnosed while I was Active duty and I got all of my treatment paid for,” Liebenow recalled after seeing a Facebook page of veterans fighting to overcome VA coverage denials.

Millions of other Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans exposed to burn pits, airborne hazards, particulate matter, and other toxins are unable to receive pre-screening tests and must pay their own medical expenses if they left the service and cannot prove their ailment is service-related. A new bill before Congress could change that.

‘An Urgent Crisis’

The Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021, an omnibus bill of 15 pieces of legislation that passed out of the House Veterans Affairs Committee in June, would require medical tests and presumption of service-related diseases so that veterans don’t have to prove their ailment was related to their service.

“We are in an urgent crisis with people, who are dying of cancer, not getting covered by the VA,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said during a recent media call hosted by the Defense Writers Group.

“As a consequence, they have to use their own money and are going into bankruptcy and losing their homes and going into other financial ruin just to protect their health and well being,” she said. Another Congress is too long to wait, she said. “It has to be done this Congress, and it needs to be done as soon as possible.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee member threw her weight behind the bill, which includes parts of her own Senate bill that had been vocally endorsed by activist comedian Jon Stewart. Stewart was instrumental in getting similar legislation passed for 9/11 first responders.

“I’m excited to see if they can keep our whole legislation in this larger toxic exposure package,” Gillibrand said. “I’m optimistic with the strong bipartisan support that we have. We will get a vote on our bill, and it will pass. And I think it’ll pass in this Congress.”

The so-called PACT Act sponsored by House Veterans Affairs committee chairman Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) passed out of committee in June and now has 35 co-sponsors.

“Chairman Takano has made this a priority,” an HVAC staffer told Air Force Magazine, citing the chairman’s commitment and success in passing the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019.

“There’s a presumptive condition determination process that’s being revamped that will incorporate a science review board,” another staffer explained, noting the entire VA process will be accelerated. “We would force their hand if the legislation passes the House and Senate and is signed by the President.”

But a looming problem remains, which has sunk all previous bills and staffers declined to discuss: cost.

‘A Family Tradition’

Liebenow came from a military family. His sister was an officer in the Army. His dad served six years and two tours in Vietnam as a Marine. And his grandfather, William ‘Bud’ Liebenow, was a naval officer during World War II.

“He was skipper of the PT boat that rescued JFK after their boat was cut in two by a Japanese destroyer in the South Pacific,” Liebenow recalled. “Serving in the military is sort of a family tradition.”

Since the Air Force wasn’t represented yet in his family, Liebenow went to the Air Force Academy and graduated in 1998. He didn’t have any grand aspirations.

“I was hoping to put in 20 years, but unfortunately cancer had other plans,” he said.

When he first arrived to K2, Liebenow slept on a cot alongside other Soldiers and Airmen in an old Soviet aircraft hangar. About a month later, he moved into a muddy tent city. Chemicals oozed up from the ground. Berms built around the encampment were known to emit radiation.

Declassified Defense Department documents from July 2020 reveal the Pentagon knew that the site of the forward operating base was heavily contaminated. It was a bombed-out chemical weapons factory where jet fuel had been dumped indiscriminately and radiation levels were unsafe. Still, it was the closest place Americans could begin the invasion to uproot Taliban rule.

Liebenow’s last few weeks at K2 were miserable. He threw up at night. Diarrhea repeatedly forced him into the snowy outhouse. Finally, he was put in an Army medical tent. He was so badly dehydrated that he required five IV bags. He recovered before returning to the U.S., where he married.

The rashes and itching didn’t start until he was deployed to Kandahar in 2002.

He did another brief rotation in Afghanistan, returning stateside in June 2002. He tried to have children for a year before he was told he had a low sperm count and could not conceive. By September 2003, not even two years after his deployment to K2, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and began chemotherapy and radiation. Liebenow was 28.

Air Force Maj. Brian Liebenow recovers after a chemotherapy treatment in December 2003. Courtesy of Brian Liebenow.

“About a year after radiation is when I slowly started being paralyzed on my left side and losing feeling on the right,” he said. He was medically retired from the Air Force in 2006.

The reaction to radiation grew to include severe headaches, bone damage that led to the amputation of his left arm, and skin cancer.

Still, Liebenow’s wife and their adopted daughter remained at his side. His countless surgeries were paid for by the Department of Veterans Affairs. But many of his comrades at K2 and others who served and were exposed to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan are still denied coverage.

Gillibrand estimates there are now 238,000 veterans on Afghanistan and Iraq burn pit registries. “And almost all of them are denied basic health care and coverage,” she said. Meanwhile, the K2 veterans group Stronghold Freedom Foundation estimates that there are about 2,500 Afghanistan war veterans who served at K2 but never set foot in Afghanistan and therefore do not qualify for service-related coverage.

“It seems like a no-brainer to me,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like a tremendous amount of money to support these people, even if they cannot definitively prove that their medical issues were caused by K2, to give them coverage because they answered the call right after 9/11.”

‘The Political Will is in Our Favor’

The cohort of service members who deployed to K2 would be covered under the PACT Act as would 3.5 million Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Companion legislation known as the COST of War Act is also moving through the Senate.

“The bills do enough for us to get our foot in the door. At least the near-universal denials will probably stop,” said former Army Staff Sgt. Mark T. Jackson, a K2 veteran working on behalf of the Stronghold Freedom Foundation.

Jackson praised VA Secretary Denis McDonough for adding several specific diseases to the VA rules for veterans of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, but he said more must be done.

He worries cost will again kill the bill.

“I have been told privately that the cost of this bill is prohibitive, making it unpalatable for some in the House and Senate,” he said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to numerous inquiries from Air Force Magazine. The HVAC staffers also declined to provide information related to cost, but still expressed optimism.

“It seems like there is the political will right now to get this done,” an HVAC staffer told Air Force Magazine. “The chairman wants to get this done once and for all.”

The bill includes more than 23 presumptive conditions, including respiratory ailments, cancers, and reproductive issues.

Gillibrand likens it to the 9/11 legislation, a good starting point at which veterans can be helped right away, in some cases two decades after their exposure.

“I’m optimistic that we can keep our bill intact if it is reduced in size in terms of the number of diseases that are covered,” she said, noting how the 9/11 legislation took five years to conduct epidemiological studies.

“We will do the same thing with burn pits if necessary, and we will make sure all diseases are covered,” she said. “The sooner, the better.”

Lockheed Martin Takes $225 Million Loss on Secret Aeronautics Program

July 26, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Lockheed Martin took a $225 million loss on a classified developmental aeronautics program, company officers disclosed in a July 26 second-quarter results call with reporters, but the program is moving forward, and the company expects it to enter production.

Company officers also said the unit cost of the F-35A will likely go up in the next lot contract and that the program will be “rebaselined” over the next couple years with a more stretched-out delivery schedule, and signaled a phase-out to the U-2 spyplane. They also said they expect to close out any Federal Trade Commission concerns and conclude their planned acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, announced last December, by the end of this year.

The charge on the classified program came after a May “deep dive” with government and company auditors, Lockheed Martin Chief Financial Officer Kenneth R. Possenriede said during the earnings call. About 40 percent of the cost of the secret project has already been spent, he noted, with the remainder “embedded in the new estimate to complete” the program.

Neither Possenriede nor CEO James D. Taiclet could provide many details about the project due to classification. Taiclet did refer to “all the customers”—plural—“that are going to utilize this,” suggesting multiple services will be buyers. The project is being done at Lockheed’s aeronautics division, versus its Space or Missiles and Fire Control units.

“It will be a good program for the Lockheed Martin Corporation,” Taiclet said.

The program “we think … will be successful from a schedule and performance standpoint, and it will ultimately turn into a production program. And we also think there are additional opportunities out there;” thus, “I think … there is still a very strong business case given these associate opportunities,” Taiclet said. “We feel comfortable” with the status of the program.

Neither Taiclet nor Possenriede connected the classified project to the Next-Generation Air Dominance program, which Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr told lawmakers last month will be a multirole fighter. In response to a question, Possenriede said the company is unable to talk about its work on NGAD, except to point out that the Air Force has said the F-35 will not be cut to pay for NGAD.

The charge caused Lockheed Martin’s earnings for the quarter to come in below expectations, and its per-share price fell three percent in the hours after the announcement.

Possenreide said a number of Lockheed Martin classified aeronautics and space programs are expected to grow and enter production.

“We see the classified portion of Lockheed Martin growing faster than the nonclassified portion,” he said. The company’s “Skunk Works” advanced development unit is going to be “a larger part of the aeronautics” business.

Taiclet said Lockheed Martin seeks to lead the industry in creating all-domain networks, starting with its own products—“the ones we control”—and making them “the leading-edge, and therefore, most attractive ways to allocate the budget in all the domains that we serve.” Lockheed Martin’s platforms will become “way more competitive, way more attractive, using the network effect to get more value for the money … irrespective of how much the top line grows.”

The goal of the U.S. military will be to build “a network effect as broadly as you can across, frankly, all the platforms out there, eventually. But we’re building a roadmap internally to Lockheed Martin because these are the platforms we can control. [We will] install, trial, demonstrate, and then produce these products. At the same time, … we’re open to collaborating with our industry partners.”

New systems “can and must have an open architecture,” he said. “This is a matter of leadership, and speed, and performance, and that’s where Lockheed Martin can take a great position going forward.”

Possenriede said the F-35 is “right now in the midst of a … production re-baselining” due to the pandemic and progress in getting the Tech Refresh 3 on Lot 15 and the Block 4 configuration in production with Lot 16. This year’s deliveries will be between 133 and 139 aircraft, he said, with specifics coming in October, after an agreement is reached with the Joint Program Office.

The plan was to build 169 F-35s in 2022, but it is “highly likely” that Lockheed Martin will build fewer, Possenriede said. “This re-baselining may take two to three years.”

The “production plateau”—the steady-state maximum rate, which Possenriede said is probably around 170 aircraft—will be “slightly pushed out to the right, and elongated, in the next couple of years.” This will present an “opportunity” for sustainment, he said. He also said Lockheed Martin expects to respond to a government request for proposals for performance-based logistics soon.

Taiclet said Lockheed Martin has invested $500 million to date to improve F-35 sustainability costs and has “personally met with each of the service Chiefs and the Chairman” of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to build support for a “cooperative” approach to getting the costs under control.

Lockheed Martin has reduced by 40 percent the sustainment costs “that we can control,” and “we’re going to shoot for another 40 percent over the next five years,” Taiclet said. Some 60 percent is “propulsion and military/government cost,” he added.

“If we don’t have an all-in strategy, together, to address this, we’re not going to hit the goals” of getting the operating cost to $25,000 per year by 2025, Taiclet asserted.

Possenriede said he’s hopeful that Lockheed Martin will be under some kind of performance-based logistics contract for the F-35 early in 2022. But “this is not likely to be a top-line enhancement play for us. That’s probably all embedded,” or baked-in cost. He said the F-35 sustainment business will expand sharply in a few years, when more than 1,000 of the fighters will be in service worldwide.

Switzerland’s order for 36 F-35s was a “big, big win for us,” Possenriede said, and the jet is well positioned in competitions in Finland and Canada, he said.

Lockheed Martin is in negotiations on the next lots of F-35s, and Possenriede said the B and C model sticker will likely stay the same or “continue to come down the learning curve.” But the A model used by the Air Force will probably rise, he said.

“The ‘A’ variant, … due to where we are in learning, with inflation and the added capabilities that they want on the aircraft, it is likely you’ll see a … modest increase in price versus where we are today.” Lockheed Martin aeronautics Executive Vice President Gregory M. Ulmer hinted at a price increase due to inflation and capabilities growth earlier this year.

Among other Air Force programs, the F-16 international sales backlog is 128 aircraft and will “continue to grow,” Possenreide said. Taiclet said the U-2 spyplane’s “sunset” is in the “not-too-distant future,” although the Air Force has gone back and forth about whether it plans to retire or retain the U-2 beyond the middle of the 2020s. Taiclet also said that while the F-22 “sunset” is in sight, it will still get updates and modifications, though not to the degree previously thought. The Air Force recently said it plans to start phasing out the F-22 in about 2030.

Taiclet said the last issues with the Federal Trade Commission regarding the company’s acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne are being wrapped up and he expects it to be completed by the end of the year. Lockheed Martin has made assurances that Aerojet Rocketdyne will remain a “merchant supplier” of solid rocket motors to anyone in the industry who wants to work with the company. The government had expressed concern that Lockheed Martin would exclude competitors from using Aerojet Rocketdyne products, a problem since only one other solid rocket motors supplier exists—Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems, formerly Orbital ATK.

Biden: US Combat Mission in Iraq to End This Year

July 26, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end by the end of the year, though U.S. forces will continue to help Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State group, President Joe Biden announced July 26.

Biden, appearing alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi at the White House, said the American combat mission in Iraq will end, but U.S. forces will “continue to train, advise, and assist, and help deal with ISIS as it arrives.”

“We’re also committed to our security cooperation. Our shared fight against ISIS is critical for the stability of the region, and our counterterrorism operation will continue, even as we shift to this new phase,” Biden said.

The decision stems from the fourth “Strategic Dialogue” with high-level U.S. and Iraqi officials, which is ongoing in Washington, D.C.

A U.S. administration official said July 23 that Iraq had requested the end of the U.S. combat mission, “and we very much agree.”

The U.S. military has about 2,500 troops in Iraq, along with another 900 in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. The Biden Administration did not announce how many troops would leave or when. The specific timeline is a main focus of the talks in Washington. Before the White House meeting, al-Kadhimi told the Associated Press that his country no longer needs American combat forces on the ground, though he wants U.S. training and intelligence gathering to remain.

“The war against ISIS and the readiness of our forces requires a special timetable, and this depends on the negotiations that we will conduct in Washington,” he said.

Biden said in the coming months there will be multiple changes of command and other “adjustments” to the U.S. military’s force structure within the country.

U.S. forces in Iraq have repeatedly come under attack by Iranian-backed militias, which are using small drones to target U.S. troops at major operating bases such as al-Asad Air Base and the international airport in Erbil. In late June, USAF F-15E and F-16 aircraft conducted airstrikes targeting these militias located on the Iraq-Syria border in a mission Iraqi officials said was a violation of their country’s sovereignty.

The announcement to end the combat mission in Iraq comes as U.S. forces have nearly finished the full withdrawal from Afghanistan, with about 95 percent of that retrograde complete as of July 20, according to U.S. Central Command.

USAF Pauses Plan for Davis-Monthan Centers of Excellence as Congress Looks to Block A-10 Cuts

July 26, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is already suspending plans to send aircraft and personnel to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., after Congress signaled its intent to block the service from retiring A-10s.

The service announced June 30 that it intended to move A-10s and HH-60s to Davis-Monthan from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and create close air support and rescue “Centers of Excellence” at the Arizona base. The moves required approval from Congress to retire 42 A-10s, including 35 at Davis-Monthan, in fiscal 2022, but the Senate Armed Services Committee in its markup of the defense policy bill moved to block that reduction.

On July 23, just over four weeks after the initial announcement, the Air Force said it is placing the Centers of Excellence on hold as it awaits congressional action. The Air Force, in a press release, said it needs approval to retire the A-10 to “create the fiscal and manpower flexibility required to design and field the future force needed to meet combatant commander requirements.”

Air Combat Command boss Gen. Mark D. Kelly in an opinion piece published in Defense News said the service’s fighter fleet has gotten both smaller and older, noting that while the U.S. has punted modernization further down the field, adversaries have not.

“In the past three decades potential adversaries have dramatically upgraded their fleets and air defenses while these single-mission aircraft have become increasingly vulnerable to threats and prohibitively costly to fly and repair,” wrote Kelly.

He acknowledged that the transition from single- to multi-mission aircraft will be a challenge and will not happen overnight, but said the transition is critical if the U.S. hopes to compete in a high-end conflict.

“The only thing tougher than getting smaller and older is to then add in the wrong mix of capabilities. So the Fighter Roadmap ensures that we field a ‘combat relevant fleet’ that can compete and fight anytime, anywhere.

“To do this, we must manage our platforms, including the F-15C and A-10. ‘Right-sizing’ a fleet is not panicked divestiture. Modernization will keep many of these warhorses relevant for years to come: upgraded wings for 218 A-10s, F-15C structural repairs, F-15E and F-16 radar upgrades along with F-22 modernization to complement continued F-15EX and F-35 procurement, plus the development of the Next Generation Air Dominance family of systems critical to those highly contested environments we’ll need to compete in 2030 and beyond,” wrote Kelly.

Even though SASC’s markup of the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act added $25 billion to the Defense Department’s budget request, it also blocked the bulk of the divestments the Air Force proposed. The markup specified a $272 million increase to the Air Force’s operation and maintenance budget to restore the A-10s. The bill also calls for a report on close air support mission effectiveness.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said he secured the prohibition on retiring the A-10s, saying in a press release that the measure also includes a provision requiring the Air Force to maintain a high mission capable rate in the fleet.

Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth, in announcing the original plan, said the Arizona base would “play a critical role in reshaping U.S. air power as home to the Air Force’s close air support and rescue Centers of Excellence. This realignment will consolidate all A-10 and HH-60 test, training, and weapon school activity at one location, allowing Airmen in these mission areas to train together for future threats.”

The plan would move 14 A-10s and 21 HH-60s from Nellis to Davis-Monthan and close the 354th Fighter Squadron. The service wants to cut its A-10 fleet from 281 aircraft to 218, reducing its operational squadrons from nine to seven. The remaining A-10s would be upgraded with new wings.

Retiring the aircraft “frees up nearly a thousand Airmen, maintainers and operators, that we can then transition into future platforms, specifically the F-35,” said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for plans and programs, during a June 22 Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee hearing. “As we look at the F-35, we are having resource issues, mostly with manpower … We have to start replacing some platforms.”