Whiting Calls for ‘Space Fires’ in Rare Hint About Offensive Weapons

Aug. 8, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

U.S. Space Command needs “space fires,” its commander said this week, the latest indication that the Pentagon is growing more comfortable talking about offensive weapons in space.

“We need space fires to enable us to establish space superiority,” said Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, speaking Aug. 6 at the Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.

The term “fires” refers to “available weapons and other systems to create a specific lethal or nonlethal effect on a target” in joint doctrine. In space, that means weapons that could either destroy, deny, disrupt, deceive, or degrade adversaries’ satellites.

Whiting listed space fires as the top of his Integrated Priorities List, which SPACECOM submitted to the Pentagon to help frame requirements for the fiscal 2027 budget. The list summarizes the operational needs of his combatant command.

“The purpose of it is to inform the services and defense agencies of our warfighting needs as they prepare their budget and acquisition plans,” Whiting said, part of SPACECOM’s larger push to “pivot” and prepare for 2040.

“Integrated space fires” was also in the command’s fiscal 2026 list, submitted last year but only quietly disclosed in public. By speaking out, Whiting signaled that talking about offensive space weapons is no longer completely taboo.

Retired Air Force Col. Jennifer Reeves, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies’ Space Center of Excellence (MISpaCE), said this should not be a surprise to anyone thinking seriously about modern warfare. “Fires happen in all warfighting domains, and space has been declared a warfighting domain,” Reeves said. “Yet there is this sort of moratorium still that we are not talking about offensive action in space. So in my opinion, [Whiting is] using very doctrinal terms to sort of broach a subject that is wildly uncomfortable.”

A few counterspace systems are already in the Pentagon’s arsenal, mostly jamming and other electronic warfare solutions that can limit space capability for a time in a given place, said retired Space Force Col. Charles Galbreath, another senior fellow at Mitchell’s Space Center.

“But that’s not what [Whiting is] talking about,” he added. “He’s talking about expanding the envelope of that capability set to address the no-kidding threats that are coming from adversaries’ use of space and adversaries’ growth of counterspace capabilities.”

Whiting added no detail on what kinds of space fires he wants. But the command’s continued push for more suggests that existing systems aren’t enough to counter growing capabilities and threats posed by China, Russia, and others.

Whiting has called China’s advances a “strategic breakout” in space, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite its expense, has not stopped Russian President Vladimir Putin from investing in counterspace weapons.

“Their aggressive actions in space directly threaten our systems,” Whiting said.

China is rapidly expanding its counterspace capabilities, including ground-launched anti-satellite missiles, as shown in this illustration. **Mike Tsukamoto/staff and Pixabay**

Those growing threats have also led Pentagon space leaders to talk more and more about the actions the U.S. must take to deter conflict in space. Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman made “responsible counterspace campaigning” a central tenet of his “Competitive Endurance” theory. And then-Maj. Gen. David N. Miller, director of operations, training, and force development for U.S. Space Command said in 2023 that the command needs to “demonstrate our capability to win.”

Part of that is having capabilities to provide “precision tracking, custody, and, if necessary, targeting information in order to disrupt space-enabled threats,” said Miller at the time, before moving on to become head of Space Operations Command, where he provides forces to Whiting.

On Aug. 6, Whiting listed “enhanced battlespace awareness for space operations” as another priority, specifically “in support of space fires.”

Galbreath said a range of new weapons are possible, both kinetic and non-kinetic. “There are different levels of capability that might be achievable even within kinetic,” he said. “It’s not necessarily ‘all kinetic is bad in space all the time.’ We’ve got to look at all these options. There are certainly some advantages to some non-kinetics. Jamming and lasers, you can get more shots per craft, plus it doesn’t potentially generate any form of debris, and it can also be reversible. So there are some definite advantages from an escalation perspective to non-kinetic, nonlethal forms of fire.”

But kinetic weapons may also have their place, he said. What Whiting did in raising the specter of space fires was to help spark a “long overdue” conversation, Galbreath and Reeves agreed.

F-22s Land in Middle East, Countering Iran and its Proxies

Aug. 8, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Air Force F-22 Raptors are now in the Middle East “to address threats posed by Iran and Iranian-backed groups” against Israel and American troops in the region, U.S. Central Command announced Aug. 8.

The Pentagon added U.S. forces in the region after Iran vowed to avenge the Jan. 30 killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh by a bomb smuggled into the house in Tehran where he was staying. Iran says the attack was carried out by Israel, which has not publicly claimed responsibility.

Iran’s promised retaliation could include direct strikes from its territory and indirect attacks through its proxy forces. Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, which controls southern Lebanon and the Lebanese border with Israel, may also launch attacks. In recent weeks, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have experienced a rocket attacks from Iranian-aligned militias there.

The F-22s are the most advanced fighter aircraft among a rapid infusion of fresh forces to the region, including U.S. warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. The U.S. may also bolster land-based ballistic missile defenses in the region.

Around a dozen F-22s arrived at a base in the Middle East from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Covering a distance of more than 5,600 nautical miles, the F-22s made the trek across North America and the Atlantic Ocean, stopped at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and then traveled across the Mediterranean Sea. They reached their temporary home in the region with the help of tanker aircraft on Aug. 8.

A spokesperson for Air Forces Central (AFCENT) declined to say where the F-22s or any other U.S. fighters in the region are based, citing operational security.

The additional military firepower is intended to fend off or deter an attack from Iran and its proxies on Israelis. It is also intended to better defend U.S. troops.

“The United States will not tolerate attacks on our personnel in the region,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III during a press conference on Aug. 7. “We’ve adjusted our military posture to strengthen our force protection and to reinforce our ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel and to remain prepared to respond to any contingency.” Austin said an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East would “reinforce our defensive air support capabilities there.”

The F-22 is the Air Force’s premier, fifth-generation air superiority fighter.

“They can be a very invaluable defensive platform,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said of the deployment of F-22s to the Middle East. “They add a maneuverability [and] additional systems that allow the commander to have more versatile options. And I think it sends a very clear signal to the region that we want to see tensions de-escalate. And it sends a really powerful message of deterrence.”

A rocket attack on Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, on Aug. 5 injured four U.S. service members and one U.S. contractor, Singh said Aug. 8. U.S. defense officials originally said seven Americans were injured. The Pentagon has attributed the attack on Al Asad to an Iranian-aligned Shia militia group.

Since October, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel, there have been 180 attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan, according to the Pentagon. Three Soldiers were killed in an attack on Tower 22 in Jordan, which supports the Al Taft Garrison in Eastern Syria. The U.S. conducted an airstrike in Iraq on a one-way attack drone facility used by an Iranian-aligned militia on July 30.

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and the group took 250 hostages. Israel responded with a prolonged attack on Hamas in Gaza with the stated purpose of destroying Hamas. The campaign has resulted in the deaths of nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, whose numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The F-22s’ arrival in the Middle East comes days after the U.S. Navy flew about a dozen F/A-18 Super Hornets from the aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt to an air base in the region, bringing the fighters closer to Israel and to U.S. forces stationed in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. The F/A-18s’ relocation is temporary, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine, and the jets will return to the Theodore Roosevelt before it plans to depart the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operating theater in roughly a week. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is en route from the Pacific and will replace the Roosevelt, the Pentagon says.

F/A-18s can operate from either land or an aircraft carrier. The advantage is that land bases support flight operations around the clock, while aircraft carriers typically conduct air operations just 12 hours a day. The Roosevelt has been operating in the Gulf of Oman, a much greater distance from Israel and U.S. ground troops than the air bases in the region.

The F-22s add to substantial U.S. Air Force assets already in the region, including:

F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.

F-16s from the 510th Fighter Squadron deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy.

A-10s from the 107th Fighter Squadron at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich.

The U.S. has also moved more aerial refueling tankers to the Middle East to support the bulked-up airpower, U.S. officials said.

Austin and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant discussed the deployment of the F-22s in a call on Aug. 8, the Pentagon said.

“Secretary Austin made clear that while a war is not inevitable and that de-escalation is the preferred course of action, the U.S. would defend Israel if it were attacked,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said in a readout of the call.

In April, U.S. Air Force fighters shot down more than 80 drones launched by Iran against Israel, contributing to a highly successful allied defense that neutralized some 300 missiles and drones launched by Iran. Among the U.S. jets in the April 13-14 operation were F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron. The A-10s now in the region have only limited air-to-air capability, but they can threaten surface forces on land and even ships at sea.

“These posture adjustments add to our already broad range of capabilities in the region, and we remain ready to deploy on short notice to meet evolving threats to our security, our partners or our interests,” Austin said.

The Theodore Roosevelt has been in the region for the past month having diverted from the Pacific. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship that also carries fixed-wing aircraft, along with its Amphibious Ready Group and onboard Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the eastern Mediterranean.

“I’ve been focused on is making sure that we’re doing everything we can to put measures in place to protect our troops and also make sure that we’re in a good position to aid in the defense of Israel if called upon to do that, so you’ve seen us do a number of things to strengthen our force posture,” Austin said. “I’m in constant communications with my commanders in the region and also with our allies as well. So we’ll see how this evolves.”

Two F-22 Raptors fly over the Middle East, Aug. 8, 2024. Photo courtesy U.S. Central Command

Humble Beginnings Offer Lessons in Service to Our Country

Aug. 8, 2024

Every team member at King Aerospace is proud to serve their country and answer the needs of its government and armed forces, as demonstrated by their commitment to servant leadership and devotion to God, Country, and Family at locations across the U.S. and around the globe.

Those values are also exemplified by Bo Wafford, author of “From First Life to the Last Hunt” and a longtime friend of the King family. Although it’s been 50 years since he retired from the U.S. Air Force, he’s quick to share how his service changed his life and his perspective.

“The Air Force grew me up,” Wafford says with a slight chuckle.

Born into poverty during the Great Depression, Wafford learned at a young age the values of hard work and serving others. From picking cotton in Oklahoma (when he was supposed to be in elementary school in Texas) to helping out on the family farm and performing whatever other odd jobs he could find, Wafford did everything he could to help support his parents and four siblings.

Once he turned 17, and with just an eighth grade education—but also an intuitive sense of working with machinery—Wafford moved with a friend to Fort Worth to find steadier employment. That ultimately led him to Temco Aircraft Company, where he built airplanes used in the Korean War.

While he liked the job, Temco’s military contract lapsed with the end of that war, and he was soon out of work. Wafford then opted to enlist in the U.S. Air Force in November 1953, where after basic training he went to school to become an aircraft mechanic.

“My education was very limited before that,” he shares, “but I could figure out anything mechanical, and I always liked airplanes.”

Wafford graduated near the top of his class in May 1954. Following his first assignment in Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador maintaining the T-33 Shooting Star (he was supposed to go to Germany, but he switched with another airman to be that much closer to home) Wafford later served in Europe, and at bases in Texas, California and Florida.

In addition to earning his flight engineer wings on the C-124 Globemaster (“Old Shaky”) and C-141 Starlifter, Wafford also found time not only to get married and start a family, but also to become a private pilot and instrument flight instructor.

Lessons learned in the service complemented Wafford’s upbringing and the importance of hard work and perseverance. He earned several promotions throughout his 21-year USAF career before retiring in 1974 as a master sergeant.

“Anything that needed doing, I was ready to do it,” he says. “I didn’t slough off. That got me ahead of some people who were certainly a lot smarter than I was.”

Taking the Show on the Road

A similar commitment to purpose, resourcefulness, and service is a hallmark of King Aerospace. Among the ways the company demonstrates this mission-critical focus is through “Roadshow” teams offering expert, on-demand, and on-site maintenance and repair services wherever needed.

Comprised of the best technicians and maintenance professionals, these teams may spend anywhere from a few days to several months on-site, performing time-sensitive repairs, scheduled maintenance and other tasks requested by the customer on aircraft ranging from turboprops to large jets.

Recently, King Aerospace Roadshow crews arrived at military installations in the Midwest to provide specialized periodic depot maintenance (PDM)—from fuel tank and wing/body fairing inspections to advanced avionics work—on special purpose aircraft based on a widebody commercial platform.

At locations across the country and around the world, King Aerospace “Roadshow” teams perform on-site maintenance and other tasks requested by the customer on aircraft ranging from turboprops to large jets.

Those successful outings resulted in several additional Roadshow opportunities this year, including on-site services for a highly specialized VVIP aircraft. No matter what is required or where the need may be, King Aerospace is ready to answer our country’s call.

That can-do spirit echoes Wafford’s experiences in the military, where he learned above all, “to appreciate people older than me and to do my job,” advice he also shares with today’s airmen.

“If I was sitting around during flight check as a mechanic and the floor needed sweeping, I’d grab a broom and start sweeping,” he continues. “People would ask why, and I’d say, ‘it needs sweeping and I’m not doing anything right now, but they’re still paying me to work.'”

Service to Country, Service to All

After his retirement from the USAF, Wafford applied his lifelong interest in the great outdoors to become an acclaimed hunting guide, from the woods at the Y.O. Ranch in Mountain Home, Texas, to around the globe in locations including Australia, Uruguay, and Alaska.

It was on one of those hunts where Wafford met King Aerospace Founder and Chairman Jerry Allan King-Echeverria, an experience that led to a decadeslong relationship between their two families.

Wafford has even helped support the company through another one of his interests, traveling with King Aerospace to feed Texas barbecue (with meat from his own hunts) to service members and their families at an Air Force base in Florida and a U.S. Navy installation in Washington State.

“The squadron commander [in Texas] wasn’t sure at first about us feeding everyone,” recalls King. “There were other contractors on the base, and he didn’t want to get in trouble. I told him, ‘That’s okay, we’ll feed them too!'”

“Jerry is very much a gentleman,” Wafford adds. “He’s one of the most important and influential people I know, but at those barbecues he’d sit in the background and watch. It was his party, but the party wasn’t about him. He just wanted everyone to enjoy themselves.”

Those travels also provided Wafford the chance to share his lessons of the importance of service with Jarid King, who Wafford has watched grow up from a seven-year-old boy to become a father, a pilot and now the president of King Aerospace.

“He’s really turned out to be a nice young man,” he says of Jarid. “Coming from that family, he could not be anything else. Lots of sons don’t mature quite like how their [fathers] did, but Jarid is incredibly sharp, very responsible and very knowledgeable about the company. I think they’re in very good hands.”

How AI and Software Are Driving Two of the Air Force’s Biggest Programs

Aug. 7, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Advances in artificial intelligence and software development will be key to two of the Air Force’s top programs: the DAF Battle Network, which connects sensors and shooters around the globe, and Collaborative Combat Aircraft autonomous drones, service acquisition executive Andrew Hunter said Aug. 7

Speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies for Defense conference, Hunter touted both programs as success stories for changes in the service’s acquisition process and areas where the Pentagon can take advantage of broad interest in the technologies.

“There’s a huge investment being made that we can capitalize on and leverage,” Hunter said. “And so we’re doing exactly that when it comes to our DAF Battle Network for command, control, communications, and battle management purposes, and also for our autonomy efforts with our Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. And we continue to leverage that.”

Hunter did not, however, mention the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter that Secretary Frank Kendall recently said the Air Force was “taking a pause” on to reassess.

DAF Battle Network

During a panel discussion with undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment William LaPlante, Hunter was asked how the Air Force is using new “pathways” to develop and field software outside of the traditional Pentagon acquisition process.

His first example was the DAF Battle Network, the expansive effort that encompasses the department’s Advanced Battle Management System and more, part of the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) initiative.

“We’ve used the software pathway quite a bit for our DAF Battle Network, which is kind of the big picture evolution of where we’re going with ABMS program, as an enterprise capability to share information, not just within the Department of the Air Force, but also with the joint force, with allies and partners as well,” Hunter said. “So a lot of those efforts have been software pathway programs. And I think that’s been really helpful to us, it’s been effective. It’s allowed us to be more agile.”

He added that a large part of that success has been the creation of large “vendor pools with modular open systems architectures.” This has allowed the Air Force to award contracts for work on the network in chunks, boosting competition.

In July 2022, for example, the Air Force awarded 27 companies an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, multiple-award contract worth up to $950 million for CJADC2 capabilities. A few months later, it selected five companies to be part of its “ABMS Digital Infrastructure Consortium.”

Some of those companies are major contractors, like L3Harris, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. Others, however, are much smaller or less traditionally involved in defense, and Hunter said they all have a role to play.

That could prove especially important as the kinds of software the Air Force needs evolve.

“When I talk about the DAF Battle Network, you’re talking about a global operational experience—many, many thousands of things happening, essentially simultaneously,” he said. “We absolutely are going to do more and more AI to execute that successfully, even though that AI is essentially there to support human decision-makers.”

CCA

Like the DAF Battle Network, Collaborative Combat Aircraft will need artificial intelligence to automate low-level tasks and allow Airmen to focus on “higher-level interventions,” Hunter said.

The two programs are also similar in that Air Force officials have stressed the importance of competition among vendors looking to build Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

The Air Force and industry established common understandings and architectures for CCAs in particular, which help the program feel “really good and really valid” for all competitors, even those who have not yet won a contract, Hunter said.

And while General Atomics and Anduril were picked to design the first increment of CCAs, other companies are still involved in developing the software that will fly the aircraft, officials told reporters at last month’s Life Cycle Industry Days conference.

The end result, Hunter said, has been an “exemplar” of a program. That descriptor comes even as the program most closely associated with CCA—NGAD—faces an uncertain future. It appears CCA may also be leading leaders to consider changes for NGAD, as Kendall has pushed for smaller contractors to be involved in new aircraft design and technology.

Two B-1 Bombers Fly to and from Ellsworth to Train with Japanese Fighters

Aug. 7, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Two B-1 Lancers crossed the Pacific on Aug. 1 and 2 to join Japanese fighters in a tactical mission aimed to “deter adversaries” in the airspace between South Korea and Japan.

The long-range bombers were joined by two F-16s from the 35th Fighter Squadron and four F-15s from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force for a one-day training event Aug 2. Capt. Rachel Buitrago, a spokesperson for the 7th Air Force, confirmed the bombers were from the 34th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

“Launching missions like these from Ellsworth validates our unique capability to hold any target at risk, anywhere on the globe, at a moment’s notice,” Lt. Col. Robert Wasil, 34th Bomb Squadron commander, in a release. “Most importantly, it reassures our Allies and partners while forcing our potential adversaries to reconsider their actions.”

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 34th Bomb Squadron undergoes pre-flight inspections on the flightline prior to takeoff for a CONUS-TO-CONUS mission at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., Aug. 1, 2024. The B-1B Lancer is a long-range, multi-role bomber that carries the largest payload of precision guided and unguided munitions in the U.S. Air Force’s inventory. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Alec Carlberg)

The bombers were refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker en route to their Indo-Pacific mission on Aug 1. The Lancers returned to South Dakota by the next day, the squadron’s spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“Rapid deployment and long-range strike are two critical capabilities the B-1 provides to combatant commanders,” said Wasil.

The release stated that the B-1 bombers’ mission was aimed at demonstrating the crew’s readiness to “employ lethal capabilities” and maintaining an operation posture across the globe.

“This bilateral training with our Japanese partners allows our aircrew members to strengthen our interoperability in a wide range of capabilities, including air-to-air combat, air-to-air refueling, air-to-ground strikes, and command and control,” Lt. Col. Sean Murphy, 35th Fighter Squadron commander, said in a release. “By training together, both air forces learn how to effectively coordinate with each other and manage complex operations to achieve our strategic objectives in the region.”

The “complex and realistic training” with the bombers also reinforced the two nations’ ability to cooperate and respond in a joint way. Just last week, the Pentagon announced plans to reorganize U.S. Forces Japan as a joint force headquarters under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to better coordinate security activities in and around Japan.

“One of the most valuable resources we have is the ability to train on advanced tactics, techniques, and procedures, capitalizing on the strengths of the combined force to meet the demands of the operating environment,” said Col. Andreas Ziegler, director of 7th Air Force Operations and Plans.

A B-1B Lancer assigned to the 34th Bomb Squadron receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker during a CONUS-to-CONUS bomber mission Aug. 1, 2024. Courtesy photo

American bombers have been a regular presence in the Indo-Pacific this year through drills and exercises with regional partners. In June, a B-1 bomber participated in a one-day drill with South Korean F-15Ks, releasing live 500-pound GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) for the first time in seven years. In April, two B-52 Stratofortresses flew across the southwest of Kyushu Island near the East China Sea, alongside fighters from the U.S., Japan, and South Korea.

“The more we can participate in multi-lateral training… the better our readiness to defend against any adversary as a combined force,” Zieglar said.

The U.S. is also bolstering advanced fighter presence at Japan’s southwest islands, those closest to Taiwan and the South China Sea. Kadena Air Base will house 36 F-15EX aircraft, a much upgraded version of the F-15, replacing a patchwork of combat jets that has deployed there since older F-15C/D models were retired. The Pentagon is also adding four dozen F-35As to Misawa Air Base to substitute 36 F-16s, making Misawa the first foreign base in the Indo-Pacific to host the fifth-generation fighters.

New Air Force Warrant Officer Selectees Skew Older, Higher-Ranked

Aug. 7, 2024 | By David Roza

The first new Air Force warrant officer selectees in more than half a century are mostly men in their mid- to late-30s and at the rank of master sergeant and above, according to data provided to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Last week, the Air Force announced 78 selectees to attend the newly created Warrant Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. starting this October. The original goal was 60 selectees in two classes, but officials decided to widen the pool to 78 over three classes after seeing the high quality of the applicants, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The first eight-week class starts in October, the second in January, and the third at some point in the spring of 2025, with the first graduates expected to arrive at their new duty stations in early 2025.

The Air Force and Space Force are the only military services currently without warrant officers, who fill technical rather than leadership functions in the other military branches. But today, the Air Force sees the reintroduction of warrant officers as a way to maintain an edge in two fast-moving technical fields: information technology and cybersecurity.

“With perishable skills, like cyber, like IT, where the technology is moving so rapidly, folks who are experts in that can’t afford to be sent off to a leadership course for eight or nine months,” Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said April 9.

More than 490 Airmen sought spots at the school after applications opened in April, of whom about 57 were quickly turned away due to not meeting eligibility requirements or having incomplete applications. Though applicants could come from any career field, they had to meet several qualifications in cybersecurity and information technology. They also had to hold a minimum rank of staff sergeant, one year of active federal service, and be the age of 42 or younger.

The selectees came from a range of career fields. On the Active-duty side, these included cyber defense and cyber warfare, health services management, special investigations, aircraft armament, fusion analysis, and scientific applications. While the Air National Guard list of AFSCs represented by its 12 selectees were not available, the Air Force Reserve’s three primary selectees included two cyber warfare specialists and one cyber defense specialist.

Air Force Warrant Officer Selectees by Component

Component	Selectees
Active	63
Reserve	3
Guard	12
Total	78

Air Force Warrant Officer Selectees By Rank

Component	E-5	E-6	E-7	E-8
Active	8	21	32	2
Reserve		1	1	1
Guard		6	6
Total	8	28	39	3

Air Force Warrant Officer Selectees By Gender

Component	Male	Female
Active	61	2
Reserve	3
Guard	12
Total	76	2

Air Force Warrant Officer Selectees By Age*

Component	20-25	26-29	30-34	35-39	40+
Active	1	8	25	23	6
Reserve				2	1
Total	1	8	25	25	7

* Data on the age of Air National Guard warrant officer selectees was not available.

Austin: USAF Will Increase Bomber Deployments to Australia

Aug. 6, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

ANNAPOLIS, Md.—The U.S. is finalizing an agreement to increase its aircraft presence, particularly its bombers, in Australia, part of a raft of developments the two countries discussed during the U.S.-Australia Ministerial Consultations on Aug. 6.

“We’re … increasing the presence of rotational U.S. forces in Australia,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said at a joint press conference following the meeting. “All this will mean more maritime patrol aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft operating from bases across northern Australia. It will also mean more frequent rotational bomber deployments.”

The U.S. Air Force has regularly deployed bombers and fighters to Australia’s northern bases, including RAAF Tindal and Darwin, for joint training with Australian jets and regional exercises with other partners across the Indo-Pacific. It has been two years, however, since the last USAF Bomber Task Force deployment to Australia.

Earlier this year, Reuters suggested the Pentagon is constructing infrastructure in Australia to project power into the South China Sea amid rising tensions from Beijing. The report stated that documents for a U.S. military tender at RAAF Tindal include plans for facilities to house six B-52 bombers and refueling aircraft.

“The presence of American force posture in our nation provides an enormous opportunity to work with our neighbors in the region,” Australian Minister for Defense Richard Marles said at the press conference. “What this is doing is allowing us to do a much greater range of activities and operations and exercises with our partners, and we spoke about that today—with Japan, for example—where we’ve committed to doing a much greater amount of trilateral exercises between our three countries.”

Austin and Marles met with Japanese defense minister Minoru Kihara in May to announce plans to extend the three nations’ joint F-35 exercises including Bushido Guardian in Japan and Pitch Black in Australia, from 2025 to 2026. The trio agreed to conduct the first combined live-fire air-and-missile exercise in 2027, along with developing a joint air defense architecture to counter growing air and missile threats in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australian and American officials also discussed munitions during the consultations, specifically building and acquiring additional U.S.-manufactured precision-guided weapons, including the Army missiles previously supplied to Ukraine to enhance its long-range attacks.

“We’re doubling down on our defense industrial base cooperation, and this includes supporting Australia’s guided weapons and explosive ordinance enterprise,” said Austin. “By the end of the year, we’re aiming to sign two memorandums of understanding on critical munitions.”

One of the agreements will allow Australia to begin locally manufacturing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, or GMLRS, by 2025. Earlier this year, the Australian Defense Ministry signed a $37.4 million AUD ($24.3 million USD) contract with Lockheed Martin Australia to start production of these precision-guided missiles next year.

Another MOU expected to be signed by December will cover the “co-production, co-sustainment, and co-development” of Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). The ammunition represents the Army’s next-generation precision fires weapon, with initial deliveries starting at the end of last year.

“And as we accelerate altogether on PrSM, we agreed to stand up a joint program office in early 2025,” said Austin, without specifying the planned location of the JPO. “Together, these efforts will help ensure that we have the capability and the capacity that we’ll need for decades to come.”

“These are important milestones which will see Australia gain the technology we need to establish a sovereign industry, providing opportunities for a highly-skilled workforce,” Marles said about the U.S. produced weapons back in January.

Air Force Tries Out New Pylon on B-1, Transforming Bomber into ‘Hypersonic Testbed’

Aug. 6, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force has begun using a new Boeing pylon to test a variety of weapons on the B-1 Lancer, the 412th Test Wing announced this week, and now has a second way—besides the B-52—to test large weapons like hypersonic missiles.

The Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylon streamlines weapons tests because its modular attach points can be repositioned, reducing the need for unique pylons and making it possible to test weapons for which an appropriate pylon may not exist. Designers and testers liken it to a “Lego” pylon.

“We met the intent of Congress … and we now have a B-1 hypersonic testbed,” Joseph Stupic, senior materiel leader for the B-1 bomber division, told reporters at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference in Dayton, Ohio, last week. Congress provided additional hypersonic testbed funds last year.

Boeing, which developed the LAM, envisioned the pylon as relieving the B-52 of hypersonic weapon assessments, as test B-52s are fully engaged with evaluating new engines, radars, communications systems, and navigation gear for its B-52J upgrade, as well as the AGM-181 Long-Range Stand-Off nuclear weapon.

Stupik said the Air Force has done a number of tests with the LAM so far, and it has “worked well.” Those included a 2,000-pound GBU-31 test in February, as well as “a bunch of flights” to qualify the LAM for the 5,000-pound GBU-72 Joint Direct Attack Munition advanced penetrator.

“We actually flew it behind a tanker to see what the handling qualities were with a large store on the outside” of a B-1, Stupik said.

Boeing built four LAMs, and Stupik said the Air Force has been using one at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., where two B-1Bs are earmarked for flight test.

“We can put it on either one of the test jets out at Edwards. So it’s swappable right now,” he said.

“We’ve only qualified the one hard point,” which is in the location of a former external-carriage hardpoint originally meant for cruise missiles, “but we could put it on either test jet at Edwards,” Stupik said. The hardpoint seems to be the same location on which B-1s carry the AN/AAQ-33 Sniper AT targeting pod.

The LAM can accommodate weapons weighing up to 7,500 pounds, Boeing said in revealing the pylon to reporters at the Oklahoma Air Logistics Complex in May 2023.

The Air Force has seemingly stopped test-flying the large AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), all the flights of which were made off a B-52, but has not yet begun heavy testing of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM), a smaller, air-breathing missile meant to be carried by fighters.

At the time of the LAM’s unveiling, Boeing said a B-1 could carry 24 HACMs internally and 12 on LAMs mounted externally, for a loadout of 36 weapons. Likewise, it could carry 36 AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSMs) in the same configuration. The JASSM is physically and functionally similar to the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), and Air Force officials have increasingly talked about the B-1 taking on an antishipping role in recent years.

According to an Edwards press release, “while the B-1B was chosen due to aircraft availability at Edwards, the LAM can be modified for attachment to a variety of other aircraft if the need were to arise.” The LAM is “one of several ways teams at Edwards are working with private industry to provide an innovative increase in test infrastructure.”

In recent years, insufficient test infrastructure has been pegged the Government Accountability Office as one of the key limiting factors preventing the Air Force from speedier testing of a tsunami of new aircraft and weapons.

The LAM project “also gives test professionals valuable experience in applying engineering and analysis objectives that could be applied to future programs,” the Edwards release states.

New Weather Satellites Will Start Feeding Data to Warfighters This Fall

Aug. 6, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force expects to finish calibrating and start using its newest weather satellite this fall, the head of Space Systems Command’s space sensing directorate said.

The first Weather System Follow-on—Microwave satellite, built by Ball Aerospace, launched in April and is meant to measure things like ocean surface winds, tropical cyclone intensity, sea ice, soil moisture, and snow depth, as well as low Earth orbit (LEO) energetic charged particles.

The WSF-M launch came just one month after the Space Force launched an Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Weather Systems (EWS) cubesat built by Orion Space Systems to demonstrate the technology.

Both programs are meant to replace the aging Defense Meteorological Support Program, which has been in orbit since the 1960s and is scheduled to reach the end of its service life in 2026.

“Both have had great success quickly getting through their checkouts and starting to produce data and getting the calibrations right,” said Space Sensing director Col. Robert Davis, speaking July 25 at a virtual event held by the National Security Space Association.

Davis said more launches are to come for both programs—another EWS satellite, this one built by General Atomics, will launch in 2025, followed by a second WSF-M satellite in 2026 and another EWS satellite after that. General Atomics announced July 11 that it has received a contract to build the second operational demonstration EWS satellite.

“But then we have a question,” Davis said. “What comes after those two disaggregated systems that are replacing DMSP?” Davis sees a future that leverages more weather data from commercial satellite operators.

Weather satellites are used for everything from flight plans to humanitarian and disaster relief operations, and the importance of accurate weather is seen as growing.

The answer likely lies with exploiting civil and commercial technologies and systems, he suggested. SSC launched a market research study earlier this year and held an industry day in May, and while the results are not finalized, Davis offered an optimistic view on how much commercial can help.

“There’s a lot of exploit already happening in this area between civil and international. Other things are out there that we might be able to exploit,” he said. “But really what we’re really focused on for this study is, what can we buy? There’s emerging weather capabilities out there in the commercial market. And so we’re very interested in exploring those to see what kind of requirements can we solve for the nation, for the warfighter, with a different approach that provides resiliency and provides economies of scale and whatnot to build this more efficiently.”

The Space Force has already transferred multiple satellites over from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Davis said the partnership between the two organizations is “great” and “a close collaboration.”

The question of how much commercial industry can help is not a settled one. The Space Force’s Commercial Space Strategy, released this spring, ranked space-based environmental monitoring as a priority, but fifth on a list of eight mission areas where it believes commercial capabilities exist and it sees a need to integrate them.

Late last year, AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies produced a study arguing that the Space Force should seek help from industry—but should also field its own satellites.

A conceptional drawing of the Weather System Follow-on – Microwave (WSF-M) satellite. Graphic courtesy of Ball Aerospace

“The value of having assured access to DOD-owned and -operated SBEM capabilities cannot be overstated,” wrote the study’s authors, Douglas A. Birkey and Charles Galbreath. “The warfighter cannot risk a commercial provider imposing policies or politics that limit how their systems might be used in combat or whether they can be used in a particular conflict.”

In another study, a 2023 policy paper by two other Mitchell fellows, Tim Ryan and Scott Brodeu argued that commercial weather satellite data “is not a substitute for a DMSP replacement system, nor does it provide the necessary organic SBEM capabilities DOD requires.”

Davis agreed that Pentagon-owned systems have great value, but also said commercial capabilities can be adapted to answer the Space Force’s requirements.

“We completely recognize that it might not be a perfect fit based on what commercial has provided,” Davis said. “But we have to make sure we’re asking those tough questions about what can we do with the commercial and move forward and partner with commercial to tailor their offerings to meet our requirements.”