After 20 Years of War, Afghanistan Withdrawal is Officially Complete

Aug. 30, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The final U.S. Air Force C-17 has cleared Afghanistan airspace, officially completing the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan and marking the end of nearly 20 years of war, U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. announced Aug. 30.

“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans,” McKenzie said in a press briefing.

The departure also marks the end of a turbulent evacuation process that reached a crisis point in the past few weeks, as the Taliban seized control of the country.

Since then, thousands of Afghans fleeing Taliban rule swarmed Hamid Karzai International Airport, and more than 5,800 U.S. troops were deployed to secure the airfield and help evacuate Americans, Afghans, and other citizens from partner nations.

All told, around 123,000 civilians were evacuated since the mission began in late July, McKenzie said, with more than 79,000 leaving since Aug. 14. That figure includes more than 6,000 American civilians, “which we believe represents the vast majority of those who wanted to leave at this time,” he said.

When U.S. troops boarded the last flight out of Kabul, there were no more evacuees left in the airport, McKenzie said. But he did acknowledge that there are American civilians who were left behind, estimating that the total number is “in the very low hundreds.”

Some of those Americans, he said, did not wish to leave. Others could not reach the airport as the security situation devolved. At different times, the State Department urged Americans not to come to certain gates around the airport due to security threats, not from the Taliban but from the Islamic State-Khorasan branch.

ISIS-K, as the group is often called, launched a deadly attack Aug. 26, using a suicide bomber to kill 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans outside an airport gate. In response, the U.S. launched an airstrike that killed two ISIS-K planners and struck an explosive-laden truck in Kabul.

Those actions, McKenzie claimed Aug. 30, were “very disruptive to their attack plans” and were key in allowing the final U.S. planes to depart safely. Those final flights were also covered by what McKenzie called “overwhelming airpower” overhead.

The very final U.S. military flight out of Afghanistan left at 3:29 p.m. Eastern time, 11:59 p.m. locally, McKenzie said. The last two personnel on the ground were Army Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and U.S. acting ambassador to Afghanistan Ross L. Wilson.

As American troops departed, they were forced to destroy equipment to ensure it would not fall into Taliban hands. In addition to a number of Humvees and armored vehicles, troops also destroyed 73 aircraft—“most of them were non-mission-capable to begin with, but certainly they’ll never be able to be flown again,” McKenzie said.

Hurricane Ida Spares Most Gulf Region Air Force Bases

Aug. 30, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force bases in the Gulf of Mexico region reported minimal damage and no impact on missions as a result of Hurricane Ida, the largest hurricane ever to make landfall in the region. Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., is a designated relief staging area for the disaster and is serving as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s incident support base in the region.

Ida came ashore in Louisiana on Aug. 29, with a 15-foot storm surge and winds up to 150 miles per hour, just shy of being a Category 5 hurricane, the most powerful to make landfall in the state’s history. Power was out for more than one million Louisiana and Mississippi residents by midday Aug. 30, and one person was reported killed by a falling tree branch, but Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) told residents to prepare for a “much higher” casualty count.

Levees in the New Orleans region largely held, having been bolstered by some $40 billion worth of reconstruction and reinforcement in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the same region on the same day in 2005, inflicting massive damage on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

A damage assessment team is evaluating Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., near the point of impact, for storm damage, a base spokesperson said. However, “the base has survived the hurricane well, with minimal damage reported so far. Once the storm has cleared the area, assessment teams will continue to check for damage,” she said.

Keesler leadership is checking that “all personnel who sheltered on base and other personnel who reside in local communities are safe and are given the most up-to-date information to stay out of potentially dangerous areas,” the spokesperson said. Base emergency personnel “train year round for this type of situation,” said Lt. Col. David Mays, 81st Mission Support Group commander.

“Please know that our Airmen, Guardians, Sailors, Marines, and our mission partners here at Keesler are safe,” said 81st Training Wing commander Col. William Hunter. The base was prepared for the storm, and base personnel are getting it back to “normal operations as Ida makes its way further north,” he said.

Maxwell Air Force Base was designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Air Force North as an Incident Support Base for Ida. Between the evening of Aug. 27 and the morning of Aug. 30, some 230 FEMA emergency support tractor trailers arrived at the base for future deployment to hard-hit areas.

The base is also a staging area for the Army Corps of Engineers, which stands ready to respond to aid requests in the Southwest Region, a Maxwell spokesperson said. The trucks are carrying “water, meals, generators, and other equipment” for deployment “in a zone near the impacted areas,” with distribution determined by need, the spokesperson said. Some of the trucks will press on to Camp Shelby, near Hattiesburg, Miss., to be closer to the affected areas.

Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., a flying training base, did not evacuate aircraft, and a base spokesperson said the facility experienced high winds and heavy rainfall, but no damage, and no personnel were evacuated.

Barksdale Air Force Base, near Bossier City, La., did not fly its B-52s out ahead of the storm, nor did it receive any aircraft from other bases, and no personnel were evacuated, a base spokesperson said. Ida “passed the surrounding area and did not directly affect the installation,” she said. The 2nd Bomb Wing and the base are ready to respond to aid requests, she added.

An Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., spokesperson said no aircraft or personnel were evacuated there and the storm had “no impact” on base missions.

Ida was expected to continue north, still dropping heavy rainfall. Tennessee suffered severe flooding, and state officials there told residents to prepare for significant flash flooding. The base website for Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., instructed personnel to be prepared for flash flooding, possible tornadoes, and heavy thunderstorms as Ida moves north.

HASC Chair Wants New Cost Estimates Before Air Force Awards LRSO Procurement Deal

Aug. 30, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee is looking to stop the Air Force’s procurement of the nuclear Long-Range Standoff weapon system, at least until he gets some more information.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) released his chairman’s markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on Aug. 30, and included in it were a number of provisions related to the LRSO, the Air Force’s replacement for the nuclear AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile.

Should Smith’s provisions be included in the final version of the bill, the Air Force would not be able to award a procurement contract for the LRSO until the department’s Secretary provides updated cost estimates for the procurement portion of the program, certification that the Future Years Defense Program will include funding estimates based off that new cost estimate, and a copy of the department’s justification and approval for awarding a sole-source contract for the program.

The Air Force announced in April 2020 that it was proceeding with Raytheon as the sole-source contractor for the LRSO, unexpectedly ending Lockheed Martin’s efforts more than a year early. Several months later, the service awarded Raytheon a $2 billion contract to engineer and develop the next-generation air-launched nuclear missile.

In his markup, Smith specifically directed that the Air Force Secretary should address “how the Secretary will manage the cost of the program in the absence of competition.”

The chairman’s mark comes in the wake of several reports claiming costs are actually higher than the $10 billion figure estimated by the Congressional Budget Office in a 2017 report, which projected that cost to produce 1,000 missiles, for a unit cost of $10 million apiece.

Bloomberg News reported in July that the Pentagon’s Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation had estimated that development and procurement costs for the program would actually be $2 billion more than the Air Force’s estimate, and the Arms Control Association has pegged the cost of the new system, when counting the cost of refurbishing W80-4 warheads, at $20 billion.

The updates to those warheads is another concern Smith raised in his markup, which would require Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to brief the congressional service committees within 90 days of the NDAA being enacted on how potential delays updating the W80-4 could affect the LRSO’s initial operational capability.

The planned IOC for the LRSO is 2030, then-Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray told Congress in May.

Other issues Smith wants Kendall to address in a briefing are how the LRSO “may serve as a hedge to delays in other nuclear modernization efforts”; potentially changing the program’s budget profile to ensure it remains on schedule; and reconciling the differences between the Air Force’s and Pentagon’s differing cost estimates.

Smith’s markup also touched on the other next-generation component of the Air Force’s nuclear arsenal, the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. With GBSD set to conduct its first flight tests in 2023, Smith’s markup calls for the Air Force to conduct a review of the program’s cost, schedule, and execution, as well as its ability to “leverage digital engineering,” “implement industry best practices,” and take advantage of competition for contracts in the operations and maintenance phase.

Northrop Grumman was the only bidder for the GBSD contract. Initial operational capability for the GBSD is expected in 2029.

The full House Armed Services Committee is set to meet Sept. 1 to consider Smith’s markup.

Afghanistan Threat Remains High as Withdrawal Reaches Final Hours

Aug. 30, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The threat of another Islamic State-Khorasan attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, and on U.S. troops based there remains high, but Pentagon leaders say there is “still time” to evacuate remaining Americans before a self-imposed Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal.

With a terrorist attack declared “imminent,” the U.S. struck an explosive-laden truck Aug. 29. Later in the day, a U.S. Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) system repelled one of five rockets launched at the airport, with one rocket falling within the Kabul airfield and two landing nearby without incident.

Army Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor, Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations, said Aug. 30 the strike on the truck was necessary to prevent another “high-profile attack against both coalition/U.S. forces and other Afghan civilians,” though he declined to confirm reports of civilian casualties. “Commanders will always minimize collateral damage,” he added.

Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said the airstrike against the truck was conducted with “over the horizon” capabilities, but he would not name the origin of those assets and said only that discussions with neighboring nations were continuing. Past airstrikes are known to have originated from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a commute of some four hours each way. The Defense Department for months has attempted to secure basing agreements with countries in the region for easier intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and closer airstrikes.

Kirby said the capabilities are in place to evacuate the several hundred Americans still in Afghanistan, not including troops, even though just over a day remains to complete the mission.

“There is still time, and the State Department is still in touch with additional American citizens,” Kirby said. However, he declined to confirm how many Americans are trying to reach the airport as the clock runs out. Kirby also refused to say what time zone would be used for measuring the Aug. 31 deadline.

More than 122,000 Americans, coalition forces, and Afghans have now been evacuated since the mission began in late July, including 5,400 American citizens.

The Defense Department is coordinating a multi-staged operation to return Americans home and move Afghans to third countries for processing. Presently, 26,000 Afghans await forward movement and processing at six locations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Another 22,000 are being temporarily housed in three locations in the U.S. European Command AOR. In the U.S. homeland, U.S. Northern Command is managing 13,000 individuals at five locations.

Six flights to Dulles International Airport, Va., and Philadelphia International Airport are scheduled to take some 3,700 individuals to the United States.

Taylor said 28 flights departed the airport in the past 24 hours, evacuating just 1,200 individuals. He would not say if the reduced throughput of individuals was a result of their failure to reach the airport or the movement of equipment out of country on the departing aircraft.

Taylor also confirmed that DOD is destroying some assets on-site to prevent them from falling “into the hands of anybody else.”

Strategic Command Needs New Three-Way Deterrence Model, Deputy Commander Says

Aug. 27, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

U.S. Strategic Command is struggling to find a deterrence model that will work for three comparably armed nuclear powers, but it is not seeking to match Russia’s new kinds of nuclear weapons, which aren’t covered under existing treaties, said Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere.

The U.S. has “fairly coherent two-body deterrence models,” Bussiere said in a streaming seminar presented by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “We have decades of experience” within the Pentagon and academia providing a foundation for deterrence between the U.S. and Russia.

But as for a three-way Cold War that includes China, “that’s a dynamic I don’t think our nation has teased out,” he acknowledged. “That’s a challenge. … There’s some serious intellectual energy that needs to be applied to this problem.” He said the situation is on the minds of strategic leaders “24/7, 365.”

Bussiere reported that China is developing its nuclear capabilities at “a breathtaking pace” and has been conducting more ballistic missile tests, of various classes, than “all other countries combined.” China’s nuclear development is seeing “a rapid expansion, with purpose.” When pressed as to when “the crossover point”—when China actually deploys more nuclear weapons than Russia—will come, he said, “We believe, in the next few years.”

China and Russia have “different national objectives,” Bussiere noted, and need to be deterred differently. However, he also said, “We’re seeing indications that those nations are cooperating across different spectrums and presenting a cooperative deterrence model.”

Both China and Russia have “the ability to unilaterally escalate a conflict to any level of violence in any domain, in any geographic location, at any time, with any instrument of their national power. And I’d offer that we haven’t faced a … global situation like that in 30-plus years.”

China can no longer be viewed as a “lesser included case” because it will “soon surpass” Russia’s strategic capability. Yet, there is no framework under which to negotiate arms limits with China, and China has expressed no interest in creating one.

“We need to think about a deterrence theory that accounts for a three-party nuclear capability,” he noted. The U.S. invested “great intellectual input and energy” on bipolar deterrence 70 years ago and now needs to do the same for the new multipolar world.

“We need … a deep understanding of how we are going to deter two global nuclear powers that have global aspirations and impacts—and do that as we maintain the stability and provide extended deterrence,” he said.

China’s nuclear stockpile is still dwarfed by that of the U.S. and Russia, but Bussiere said, “We don’t approach it from purely a numbers game. It is what is operationally fielded, … status of forces, posture of those fielded forces. So it is not just a stockpile number.”

Bussiere admitted to being “baffled” by Russia’s development of new kinds of nuclear missiles, such as the nuclear-armed Kinzhal hypersonic missile and the Poseidon torpedo, which when launched against a coastline could cause a radioactive tsunami across a broad portion of a coastline. The U.S. has no analogous weapons, and Bussiere indicated there’s no plan to obtain them.

“I would not recommend that we try to develop in-kind systems,” he said, adding he can’t fathom why Russia would undertake their development “after agreeing to and extending the New START treaty.” But “it begs the question, why are they developing these capabilities? Why are they expanding their non-treaty accountable stockpiles?”

He said more discussion of this inscrutable development is needed among European NATO allies because it is a concern for countries in Russia’s “near abroad.”

Bussiere suggested “international attention to those exotic capabilities and [to] question the need, and why.” If the goal is to provide stability within different arms control treaties, “why would you need to develop those capabilities?”

But he doesn’t suggest answering those developments with something similar. Rather, “from a foundational [perspective], we need to make sure we have a safe, effective, and reliable triad that can provide a foundation of strategic deterrence.” He reiterated STRATCOM’s position that “we have bought all the operational margin in our current weapon systems that we can” and that life-extending the existing triad is neither cost-effective nor strategically desirable. He also emphasized that the existing nuclear arsenal can’t merely be decommissioned until the new one reaches service but instead must be kept “credible and reliable.”

Asked how the Army can help contribute to nuclear deterrence, Bussiere said he hopes the Army War College will contribute its “intellectual horsepower” to the discussion on deterrence in a multi-polar world “and continue to expand your capabilities and capacity that provide the conventional deterrence framework for approaching our adversaries.” The Army also has officers in STRATCOM who are “exquisite nuclear experts” who contribute to the mission “every day,” he added.

Cotton Relieves Ray at Top of Global Strike Command

Aug. 27, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Gen. Anthony J. Cotton received his fourth star and took charge of Air Force Global Strike Command on Aug. 27, pledging to shepherd the two Air Force legs of the nuclear triad through a “major transition,” a reference both to much-needed modernization and increasing strategic competition.

Cotton, a career missile and space officer, cited rising threats from Russia and China, pointedly noting reports that China has added numerous intercontinental ballistic missile silos and that Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to have modernized 80 percent of his nation’s nuclear arsenal.

But Cotton also noted the challenges facing the Air Force’s nuclear enterprise, citing modernization like the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and the Long Range Standoff weapon system, which will each take about a decade to mature. “We need to masterfully execute the modernization of the nuclear portfolio,” Cotton said. “We need to have agile technology infused in our systems, ready to adapt to future challenges. We also need to sustain our current force and keep it capable and ready until replacements arrive.”

AFGSC must heed the call of call to “accelerate change or lose” voiced by Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.

Cotton takes command of AFGSC after nearly two years as its deputy, serving under Gen. Timothy M. Ray, who retired in July and officially handed over the reins Aug. 27.

“Tony, I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate,” Ray said. “We never had to be boss and deputy, we were just two senior leaders trying to sort it all out. I couldn’t have asked for a better interlocutor, a better teammate to talk at the strategic level. … In our conversations, it was an instant connection.”

China and Russia, who Ray called “Dragon” and “Bear,” pose an existential threat that Global Strike will have to contend with for years to come, Ray said. “We’re entering an unprecedented time … that will pose probably one of the toughest strategic challenges to who we are.”

Brown, who presided over the promotion ceremony that immediately preceded the change of command, praised the leadership of both Ray and Cotton, saying they had instilled an innovative, responsive culture at Global Strike Command.

“There are a few things that the Air Force can never get wrong. Ensuring the safety, the security and the reliability of two-thirds of our nation’s nuclear triad is binary. We must never fail,” Brown said. “That is why Gen. Cotton is a perfect choice to inspire and lead this command into the future. Throughout Tony’s career, he has demonstrated great vision, courage, and leadership.”

In addition to serving as deputy commander, Cotton previously commanded the 20th Air Force, the 45th Space Wing, and the 341st Missile Wing. He also served as commander and president of Air University from 2018 to 2019.

That stint in charge of the 20th Air Force, Cotton said Aug. 27, was particularly meaningful to him, because it is the same numbered air force that his father served in throughout his own Air Force career.

“He was my biggest hero, and I’m blessed to follow in the footsteps of that Chief, my dad, Chief Master Sergeant James Cotton,” he said.

Cotton is the first Black commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, and one of only a handful of Black four-star generals in Air Force history. He acknowledged that Aug. 27, saying he was “humbled to stand on the shoulders of icons” like Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the first Black brigadier general in the service, Gen. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first Black four-star, Gen. Lloyd W. “Fig” Newton, Gen. Lester L. Lyles, Gen. Larry O. Spencer, Gen. Darren W. McDew and Brown, the first Black Chief of Staff. Cotton said each of them, as well as former Chiefs of Staff Gens. Larry D. Welch and Curtis E. LeMay, were all inspirational in his career.

Allied Space Chiefs Tout Partnership, Domain Awareness

Aug. 27, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The United States and its allies must partner more closely to ensure space domain awareness in an increasingly complex and important domain, leading military space leaders said during a panel discussion in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Space leaders representing 23 nations, including the the United Kingdom, Finland, Japan, France, Germany, and Chile, joined U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond on Aug. 26, sharing their perspectives and embracing their cooperative spirit. “What you’ll see with these partners is we exercise together, we train together, we wargame together, we build capabilities together for the first time,” Raymond said.

But speaking Aug. 25 at the National Space Symposium, Raymond said the partners can do more to integrate networks and information systems to advance their shared mission of assured access to space in the face of demonstrated anti-satellite capabilities developed by China and Russia.

Essential partnerships

German Lt. Gen. Klaus Habersetzer, speaking just a month after his country stood up the Bundeswehr Space Command, said partnership is essential. Germany merged its civilian and military space resources a decade ago and ramped up international cooperation. “The challenges are simply too big to tackle alone,” he said.

Habersetzer called for better organization and coordination of investment among the allies. “This command is a perfect platform, a prerequisite for personnel exchange, the development of common procedures, exchanging of experiences, lessons identified, and lessons learned, and last but not least, creating a common space situational awareness,” he said.

British Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said “operational collaboration,” including integrating capabilities, equipment and “getting people working together,” should be a common objective among the allies. De-classification could help in that process, he said.

“We would all recognize that there are some aspects of what goes on in space that have probably been too highly classified for too long, and there is a need to share that information,” he said. “In particular, share that information around domain awareness and what is going on.”

Wigston reiterated Britain’s call for the United Nations to establish norms of behavior in space as a coordinated response to Chinese and Russian anti-satellite weapons development.

“The UK believes strongly that an open and resilient international order is fundamental to all of our security and prosperity, and that means people playing by the rules,” he said.

The French, who stood up a space command in 2010 and developed a space defense strategy in 2019, sent liaison officer Col. Laurent Rigal to U.S. Space Command in July.

French Air Force Maj. Gen. Michel Friedling sees resiliency through redundant capabilities as one of the fruits of cooperation. “According to our strategy, we have a huge field of cooperation regarding space operations,” he said— “from strategic communication to the ability to operate together, which requires common vision of threats, but also compatible doctrines, interoperable procedures, and capabilities and shared space domain awareness.”

Adversary awareness

Finland’s Air Command chief Maj. Gen. Pasi Jokinen noted that today’s on-orbit systems do not “fully support operations in the northern latitudes.” Only through coordinated cooperation do the allies gain such capabilities, he said. “There’s a lot to defend in space, and cooperation and partnerships are required because nobody can do space alone.”

Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Gen. Shunji Izutsu said rules will prevent conflict. “Space is nowadays very, very crowded, and if a fight occurs in the space, it means a gunfight in a crowded city,” he said. “Rule-making is very, very important.”

Izutsu said the same common approach developed for international air traffic control 50 years ago should be applied to the space domain.

Raymond underscored the urgency of defining responsible behavior in space, touching on the five tenets released by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on July 7.

“It just goes back to every warfighting domain: There’s rules for safe and professional behavior, and we don’t have that today in space,” Raymond said, noting that publicly calling out bad actors has helped. “It’s been very valuable to have not just one country messaging but multiple countries messaging.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 10:02 a.m. on Aug. 30 to correct the rank for the Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Gen. Shunji Izutsu.

More Bases Accept Afghan Evacuees as Aug. 31 Deadline Looms

Aug. 27, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

More U.S. military bases are accepting Afghan evacuees as pressure mounts to complete the airlift mission out of Kabul following of the suicide attack that killed 13 U.S. troops.

The Pentagon announced Aug. 27 that Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., will join Marine Corps Base Quantico and Fort Pickett in Virginia in accepting refugees. The Pentagon also reported that the U.S. and its allies had evacuated 105,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14.

The Pentagon said the Aug. 26 ISIS-Khorasan suicide bomb attack outside the airport killed 13 U.S. troops, including 11 Marines, one Soldier, and one Sailor. Despite initial reports of two bombings, the investigation has determined there was just one explosion, said Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor, the Joint Staff’s deputy director of regional operations, in a briefing.

The attack did not stop evacuations, and about 8,000 people departed the airport the same day.

“We have seen firsthand how dangerous that mission is. But ISIS will not deter us from accomplishing this mission,” Taylor said. “We appreciate your thoughts and prayers for all of our service members who are carrying on this mission today. Above all, we remain focused on evacuating American citizens and other personnel designated by the Department of State, safeguarding the lives of those whom we are providing assistance, and keeping American troops safe.”

In the final days approaching the Aug. 31 deadline, troops will start to carry out their equipment and depart the country. There were still about 5,000 U.S. service members at the airport Aug. 27, but Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said the department will no longer announce exact numbers and capabilities as the mission winds down.

U.S. troops at the airport have begun controlled demolition of equipment at the airport to prevent it from falling into Taliban or ISIS-K hands, though radars and other capabilities required for air operations remain so that planes can continue flying until the last moment.

Kirby said U.S. forces will continue to fly out evacuees to rescue as many as possible. At least 5,000 evacuees were still awaiting flights Aug. 27.

“As we get closer, … you’re gonna see us begin to make those muscle movements to pull out our troops, and some of our equipment, as appropriate with any retrograde,” Kirby said. “What we want to do is preserve as much capability for as long as we can, both in terms of the security footprint, but also in terms of the ability … to move out evacuees.

“Lives are still the priority,” he said. “We will try to continue to get as many out as possible.”

What ‘Digital Force’ Really Means—and How to Build One

Aug. 27, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

Members of the military and the defense industry tackled what Air Force Brig. Gen. John M. Olson called the “ethereal or amorphous or ambiguous” concept of a “digital force” in a panel talk at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Aug. 25.

Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond announced his vision in May for the Space Force to become the first “digital service.” But, what does being a “digital force” really mean, and how do you build one?

Here’s what the panelists had to say:

Define It

One consensus: Data provides the backbone of a digital force.

A digital force is “powered by data, and the power has to be [at] your fingertips,” said Stephen Kitay, senior director of Microsoft’s cloud service Azure Space. That means “anytime, at any security level, anywhere in the world—or, off the world.”

Write Detailed Requirements

Often the ability to field a new system comes down to whether the digital infrastructure is ready to go, said Scott Nowlin, strategic systems chief engineer for Air and Space Force Solutions at BAE Systems.

“It really gets down to the requirements,” Nowlin said. For example, “How fast do you need it as a warfighter?” he asked. ”It’s not just the warfighting requirements—it’s the requirements for your digital infrastructure. … The No. 1 imperative is to help define those requirements, and a digital force, a data-intensive force, shouldn’t shy away from that.”

Measure Outcomes

Measuring the outcomes of programs or missions may be more difficult in the digital domain, but “it’s vitally important to ‘measure what matters,’” said Olson, who is both mobilization assistant to Raymond and the Space Force’s acting chief technology and innovation officer, highlighting an expression he likes to use.

Data may be the backbone, but “it’s what we do with that data” that really matters, Olson said—”Turning that into actionable information at the ‘speed of need.’” To do so, the services collectively need to “drive toward those metrics or measurements that allow us to know when we get there.”

Build In Scalability

Building a digital force applies to more than weapons systems or intelligence. Carol Erikson, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of systems engineering and digital transformation, says even “back-office functions” need to be addressed.

“In order to scale, we need to be able to apply these digital capabilities very specifically to the unique program requirements and mission areas that need the capabilities—but you also have to be able to expand across the whole enterprise,” Erikson said. “How do we manage the digital transformation of our business processes, our program management processes, our global supply chain processes, so that across the board all of our functions are operating at the ‘speed of relevance’?”

Break Down Data Barriers

The panelists cited barriers to accessing all the data that a service will need to become a “digital force,” including over-classification on the government side and legal agreements on the commercial side.

To help remedy that?

“Elevate the importance of addressing the security barriers,” Erikson said, including both the often long process of receiving approval to operate at a given security level; and the difficulty of exchanging data across security levels.

“What can we do to bridge the gap across all of our integrated systems so that we really can get access to that data?” Erikson said. “We have to have tough discussions about data covenants, and … standards—interoperability standards between models, or standard taxonomy across companies—that then can make it easier for our mission customers to, again, leverage that data to the most effectiveness.”