State Department Approves Sale of New, Updated F-15s to Israel

State Department Approves Sale of New, Updated F-15s to Israel

Aug. 13, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The State Department approved a raft of foreign military sales to Israel on Aug. 13, including an $18 billion deal for up to 50 new F-15 fighters and upgrades to 25 existing F-15I models, plus engines, radars, and other equipment. 

The deal requires congressional approval, and would provide F-15IA aircraft, similar to the U.S. Air Force’s F-15EX Eagle II, the most advanced version of the F-15. Under the agreement, Israel would buy 25 of the fighters, with options for 25 more, according to reports. 

In addition, Israel is seeking “mid-life update modification kits” for its F-15I aircraft, creating an F-15I+ program. Israel would also acquire 120 F110-GE-129 engines, 75 APG-82(V)1 active electronically scanned array radars, and other equipment, with a total estimated value of $18.82 billion. 

“Incorporating F-15IAs into the Israel Air Force’s fleet of fighter aircraft will enhance Israel’s interoperability with U.S. systems and bolster Israel’s aerial capabilities to meet current and future enemy threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats,” the State Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a release. “Israel will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.” 

“The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” the release stated. 

Israel has been eyeing a variant of the F-15EX since 2018, though a formal request to the U.S. did not come until 2023. The Israeli Air Force also wants to buy more F-35Is, its variant of the F-35. 

A 142nd Wing F-15EX Eagle II, tail 008, takes off from Portland Air National Guard Base, Ore. on July 12, 2024. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Nichole Sanchez

In addition to the F-15s, the State Department also approved the sale of up to 30 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs) to Israel, at the cost of $102.5 million. 

“AMRAAMs are a key aerial combat capability used to defend against airborne threats, such as the missile and drone salvo launched at Israel on April 14,” the State Department release notes. “The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future enemy threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats.” 

During the April attack, Iran launched more than 100 ballistic missiles, 30 land-attack cruise missiles, and 150 drones against Israel. Israeli ground-based missile defense systems, F-15s, and F-35s all helped intercept some of those threats, and the U.S. and other allies intervened as well, with American F-15Es and F-16s in particular downing some 70 Iranian drones. 

The State Department’s approval of the sales comes as Israel and its allies await another potential attack by Iran in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. The White House has said a wave of missiles and drones could come as soon as this week, warning that it is preparing for a “significant” attack. 

NORAD Boss Calls for Better Arctic Awareness

NORAD Boss Calls for Better Arctic Awareness

Aug. 13, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Air Force Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, called for greater domain awareness in the Arctic in the wake of recent approaches to North America by Chinese and Russian bombers. 

Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers accompanied two Chinese H-6 strategic bombers into the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in July, the first such incident on record. “What happened a few weeks ago shows another expansion of Chinese presence in the Arctic,” Guillot said at the Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 7. “They claim to be a near Arctic nation and their maritime activities have been increasing over the last decade, but this is the first significant show of presence in the air domain.” 

More incursions and approaches seem likely. Guillot warned in March that he sees “a willingness and a desire by the Chinese to act up there” in the Arctic. The Russians also pose a threat, he said, noting the approach of Russian bombers from the northeast—near Greenland and Iceland—as opposed to their more familiar approaches from the northwest, near Alaska. 

“The presence of a competitor in a different domain from a different avenue of approach is noteworthy to us,” he said. 

Guillot said he conducted a 90-day review of NORAD and NORTHCOM after taking command in February, adding: “The first takeaway is that all of the initiatives and endeavors that my predecessor, Gen. Glen VanHerck, undertook to improve domain awareness from the seabed all the way to space were exactly right and need to remain on track.”  

VanHerck fought for greater funding in the High North during his NORAD tenure, and his drive gained urgency after a Chinese spy balloon slipped past NORAD radars and then transited the continental U.S. in early 2023 before it was shot down over the Atlantic. 

“I have concerns, as I have articulated for three years, about my ability to provide threat warning and attack assessment with the threats to our homeland,” VanHerck told lawmakers in March 2023. “That increases the risk of escalation and strategic deterrence failure. Those are significant challenges for me.” 

Guillot praised VanHerck for his “considerable efforts,” and said it is the “right move” to complete projects like new over-the-horizon radars, long-range mobile radars, and communications networks. 

Incursions into air defense indication zones are not the same as entering U.S. or Canadian airspace; the ADIZ is a buffer zone in which aircraft must identify themselves. Guillot said NORAD is “accustomed to this activity, and we’re poised 24/7 to counter it.” 

Countering that behavior requires forces to be on alert to respond when needed, and that has implications for force size as well as posture. Guillot said he is working to find the right balance of “just-in-time” and “just-in-case” forces. 

“In some cases, I think we might have too many just-in-case forces, which are truly necessary, but if you have too many of them, you start to have capability just sitting on alert,” Guillot said. Air Force units can be stressed by such constant need. 

“The fighters, tankers and AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System planes] that sit on alert, I think there can be some adjustments there, where we can take some of the forces that are sitting on alert, hand them back to the services to increase readiness,” he said. As long, he added, “as we have the right triggers and authorities to bring them back.” 

Space Force Payload Launches Aboard Allied Satellite in Historic First

Space Force Payload Launches Aboard Allied Satellite in Historic First

Aug. 12, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 9, carrying a historic collaboration between the U.S. Space Force and a foreign ally—two satellites procured by Space Norway that will host USSF payloads for Arctic communications. 

The launch marked the first time an operational Space Force payload has deployed on a foreign-owned satellite, a collaboration USSF leaders say will save millions of dollars. 

The Enhanced Polar Systems-Recapitalization payload will provide tactical, extremely high-frequency satellite communications to U.S. forces operating in the High North, where the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Milstar satellites don’t offer full coverage.

The original EPS system is still on orbit, hosted by two classified satellites, according to a Pentagon acquisition report. Its projected service life is 10 years—but polar elements for successor programs like Evolved Strategic SATCOM and Protected Tactical SATCOM are not scheduled to launch for years. The Department of the Air Force decided to procure new EPS payloads as a stopgap in 2017. 

The challenge was cost. Two years later, the U.S. Air Force and the Norwegian Ministry of Defense signed a memorandum of agreement to join forces on the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission, laying the groundwork for a long and complicated partnership. Space Norway, a commercial company owned by the Norwegian government, procured the satellites from Northrop Grumman, which also made the EPS-R payloads. Additional payloads for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and ViaSat, a satellite communications company, are also on board

In July 2023, the Rand Corporation wrote in an analysis of Air Force security cooperation projects with allies, including EPS-R: “The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission effort experienced budgetary, bureaucratic, regulatory, cultural, and technical barriers, with bureaucratic and regulatory barriers being the most problematic.” It took almost two years to finalize the memorandum of agreement, even with leaders pressuring acquisition officials to get the deal done. 

While the Space Force hoped to have the satellites and their payloads on orbit by early 2023, delays pushed the timeline back. Not until May 2023 did the U.S. accept the ground system for the program. When the payloads passed their final tests, the stage was set for the Aug. 9 launch. 

One of two Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission satellites carrying payloads for Space Norway and the U.S. Space Force. Image courtesy of Space Norway.

According to Space Force budget documents, USSF plans “on-orbit testing, operational utility evaluation, and operations acceptance” in fiscal 2025. 

In a release after the launch, Northrop Grumman noted that it is providing two Satellite Control Systems in Norway for Space Norway to operate, suggesting the U.S. Space Force will not be responsible for operating the satellites themselves.  

Space Systems Command did not immediately respond to a query from Air & Space Forces Magazine seeking additional operational details. 

Future international projects are already in the forecast. In 2020, the service signed an agreement with Japan to host space domain awareness payloads on the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. Those payloads have already been delivered to Japan and are awaiting launch, which is currently projected for fiscal 2025. Rand analysts noted in their report that the payload going on QZSS will provide “a space domain awareness capability that the United States arguably did not need but pursued for the overall sake of cooperation.” 

International complexity will continue to be a challenge. Rand analysts noted that “the large size and complexity of these programs, as well as the lack of a single voice across the U.S. space [security cooperation] enterprise, challenge the scale and pace of collaboration.” 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off carrying two Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission satellites for Space Norway and the U.S. Space Force. Image courtesy of Space Norway.
Rise8 Launches a Revolution in Software Delivery

Rise8 Launches a Revolution in Software Delivery

Aug. 12, 2024 | By Adam Stone

In a software-defined world—where everything from cars, to aircraft radars, to weapons systems runs on software—speed is everything. When software development lags, there are consequences.

“When we use bad software to conduct critical missions, bad things happen,” said Airman-turned-bureaucracy hacker, Bryon Kroger, CEO and Founder of Rise8. “Missions fail…the wrong people die—innocent civilians, Airmen, Soldiers.”

When new technology is introduced to the military and government environment, it must survive a series of tests and checks before it gains the necessary “Authority to Operate” (ATO). Each time major elements are updated, the ATO must be renewed, adding time and expense to the software delivery process. It’s not hard to understand why; when a recent update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike went awry, faulty code crashed computers worldwide.

“Traditionally, any change in a line of code into production in the Air Force is a six-month minimum to get through the process—usually closer to 18,” Kroger said.

Those delays can cost lives. In one instance Kroger experienced while still serving as an Active duty intelligence officer, fixes were in place for a known software flaw—but the bad code remained in action due to the clunky, legacy updating process.

The incident changed Kroger’s career path and led him to be among the co-founders of the Air Force’s Kessel Run, DOD’s first software factory. There, he helped pioneer a process to develop a continuous ATO or ongoing authorization for continuous delivery after achieving initial ATO. Kroger dubbed this “cATO” and the new process ensured that through continuous compliance, software updates could push from development to production in days or even hours, rather than waiting weeks, months, and years. 

The legacy process “is causing risk,” Kroger said. A continuous ATO is all about “decreasing risk—and making the mission more effective.”

A cATO replaces conventional point-in-time security and stability reviews with continuous risk assessment and monitoring, employing automated tests into the development process. Properly implemented, apps can rapidly respond to mission need with no risk to security or reliability.

The Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) commands and controls the broad spectrum of what air power brings to the fight: Global Vigilance, Global Reach, and Global Power. Located at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, the CAOC provides the command and control of airpower throughout the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility; a 21 nation region stretching from Northeast Africa across the Middle East to Central and South Asia. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jessica Montano.
The Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) commands and controls the broad spectrum of what air power brings to the fight: Global Vigilance, Global Reach, and Global Power. Located at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, the CAOC provides the command and control of airpower throughout the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility; a 21 nation region stretching from Northeast Africa across the Middle East to Central and South Asia. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jessica Montano.

How do you obtain a cATO?

A Defense Department methodology for cATOs is already defined. It requires an assessment plan, processes to support ongoing assessments, and continuous risk monitoring.

Yet Kroger said organizational and cultural design also need to be part of the story. To iterate software in quick one-week sprints, developers and users need to work closely together, and the developer should fully integrate the Risk Management Framework, a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standard, into development and test procedures.

Short sprints reduce the number and complexity of changes in each iterative version of the software, enabling faster turnaround.

“As you incentivize smaller changes, then people start releasing much more quickly,” Kroger said. To support that, developers should forge cross-functional DevOps teams, combining security, compliance, and the testers themselves. “At Kessel Run,” Kroger said, “we actually had the test squadrons embed their testers into our software development teams.”

These structural changes create a “virtuous cycle, whereby when you need software updates — like let’s say you discover a security vulnerability — I can get a fix out in minutes,” he said. “That fundamentally changes your paradigm.”

What makes cATO challenging?

Automated test is a major time saver. In traditional waterfall development, “most of the work we have the test squadrons doing [is] catching software regressions—things that machines should and could be doing,” Kroger said. Automation can incorporate Risk Management Framework requirements into the test and integration process, enabling test squadrons to “work on the harder problems.”

Developers and program managers like the approach—once they get used to it. But until they have firsthand experience with it, they can be leery.

“People learn through doing,” Kroger explained. “The best culture transformation happens through doing.”

Program Managers and Executive Officers need not wring their hands trying to figure it all out, he advised. At Rise8, the approach is to build confidence slowly and intentionally.

“Let’s pick an application on a production environment, and let’s go through the process together,” Kroger said. “We’ll give you access to our work backlogs, our code repositories, the scanning tool sets that we’re using, the pipelines. We’ll even let you control the rule sets. We’re going to give you more access than you’ve ever had before.”

With hands-on experience, he said, DOD development, security, integration, and compliance teams will discover the power in a continuous Authority to Operate and how it answers urgent warfighter needs.

“The process works if you’re very disciplined about it,” Kroger said. “You do it in a way that is concurrent with your software development lifecycle.”

PHOTOS: F-22s Make Historic Tour Across Three South China Sea Allies

PHOTOS: F-22s Make Historic Tour Across Three South China Sea Allies

Aug. 12, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

F-22 Raptors from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., landed in Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines last week, in a widespread display of fifth-generation airpower across crucial regions in the Indo-Pacific. 

The F-22s, designated the 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, recently wrapped up Pitch Black, an air combat exercise, in Australia. From there, they deployed throughout the region as part of an exercise dubbed Iron Blade. 

Four fighters went to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Air Force Base, Indonesia, on Aug. 6. U.S. Airmen and members of the Indonesian Air Force trained together and conducted hot-pit refueling. The Indonesian Air Force wrote on social media that this is the first time F-22s have landed in Indonesia. 

On the same day, four fighters landed at Rimba Air Force Base, Brunei, to kick off three days of briefings, static displays, and tours. This was also the first time F-22s have landed in Brunei, a small nation on the South China Sea—this March, USAF F-35s became the first fifth-generation fighters to land there. 

Finally, on Aug. 8, six F-22s landed at Basa Air Base in the Philippines. Two participated in formation flights with Philippine Air Force FA-50 fighters, according to the PAF. Basa, newly renovated to accommodate more aircraft, has hosted American fighters over the past few years as part of Cope Thunder exercises between the two nations. 

In each visit, the F-22s were supported by C-130 cargo aircraft carrying parts and personnel. 

Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines each occupy key strategic territory along the South China Sea, and the U.S. Air Force has sought to bolster ties with all three through deployments and exercises in recent years—part of a concerted effort to build partnerships and counter the growing influence of China in the region. The F-22 remains one of the most potent symbols of American airpower, and Raptors are currently stationed at Kadena Air Base, Japan, as part of a rotation of fighters through the base. 

Air Force, Boeing Ink $2.5 Billion Deal for First E-7s

Air Force, Boeing Ink $2.5 Billion Deal for First E-7s

Aug. 12, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force has ordered its first E-7A Wedgetail battle management and command and control aircraft, announcing Aug. 9 it has agreed to a deal with Boeing worth $2.56 billion for two platforms. The service says the deal is for “operationally representative prototype E-7A weapons systems” which Boeing plans to deliver in fiscal 2028.

“This agreement is a significant win for our warfighters, paving the way for ensuring the Air Force’s ability to provide advanced airborne moving target indication in the coming years,” Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Andrew Hunter said in a news release.

The aerospace giant and the Air Force had been hung up on the price for the first E-7As for months, delaying the fielding of aircraft, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said earlier this year. The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a price last month but the amount was not disclosed. The service and Boeing already had a contract for an unspecified amount to purchase and adapt the aircraft, which was originally designed for the Royal Australian Air Force, to U.S. Air Force requirements.

The E-7A will become the Air Force’s next-generation airborne early warning and control aircraft, which will also provide “moving target indication capabilities.” The E-7A is part of the service’s vision of a DAF Battle Network of connected sensors and shooters in multiple domains to be able to fight across the vast distances of the Pacific, its contribution to the Pentagon’s Combined All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) effort. The E-7 will replace the aging E-3 Sentry AWACS, which by the time of its planned retirement towards the end of the decade will have served in the Air Force for half a century.

“Its advanced multi-role electronically scanned array radar will enhance airborne battle management, providing improved situational awareness and enabling long-range kill chains with potential peer adversaries,” the Air Force said of the E-7A in the release announcing the deal.

The E-7As will allow the service to ditch its E-3s, which, in addition to having an increasingly obsolete radar, are also based on an 1950s-era airframe design. The E-3 suffers from a lack of parts and maintenance issues, Air Force leaders say. The E-7A is based on the Boeing 737-700 NG commercial airframe, while the distinctive radar is built by Northrop Grumman. The Royal Air Force is also buying the E-7, and the variants of the platform are in service with the Republic of Korea Air Force, Turkish Air Force, and the RAAF.

Hunter said the E-7A is “an exemplar of our ability to leverage and support the expertise and investments of our partners and allies to support our common security objectives.”

The Air Force has had its crews training on Australian E-7s since 2022 through an exchange program that embeds Airmen in the Royal Australian Air Force. The crews were recently put to the test in the joint Pitch Black exercise.

“For us, the purpose is really to get a familiarity of the E-7A Wedgetail from the Australians who have been operating it for a long time,” U.S. Air Force Maj. Oliver Ngayan, 2 Squadron E-7A Wedgetail air battle manager, said in a July 29 news release. “We integrate into their unit to learn how they operate the E-7A and take back that knowledge to develop our own procedures.”

In a statement, Boeing said the contract award includes “lifecycle development, training, and support for the Air Force’s E-7A fleet.” For now, the Air Force plans to have a fleet of 26 E-7As. The service said the prototype aircraft will “inform a planned production decision in FY 26.”

In the long term, the Department of the Air Force believes space-based capabilities will increasingly replace AWACS aircraft such as the E-3 and E-7.

A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail aircraft assigned to the No. 2 Squadron based in Williamtown, Australia, sits next to a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry assigned to the 552nd Air Control Wing, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., prior to a Weapons School Integration mission at Nellis AFB, Nev., June 7, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Brianna Vetro
Surging Demand Has Airmen Interpreters Feeling the Pinch

Surging Demand Has Airmen Interpreters Feeling the Pinch

Aug. 12, 2024 | By David Roza

Philippine Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Jimmy Larida has partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps in 34 exercises over the course of his career, but something special happened in 2022 during the large-scale exercise called Kamandag 6. 

Unlike previous editions, this one featured Language-Enabled Airman Program (LEAP) scholars, a program in the Air Force Culture and Language Center (AFCLC) where Airmen and Guardians with significant experience in a foreign language can serve as cultural and linguistic experts for their fellow service members.

At Kamandag 6, LEAP scholars helped bridge the cultural gap between the American and Filipino Marines and translate military jargon so the two camps could work more closely together. Larida said the LEAP scholars “are truly one of us.”

“It has made a huge difference,” he said in an October press release. “My marines trust them, and my marines are drawn to them. This needs to happen, every single time from here on out.”

leap scholar
U.S. Marine Corps 1st Sgt. Kimberly Barton and U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Ramchand Francisco, a Tagalog linguist attached to the 11th MEU, speak during a leadership symposium as part of KAMANDAG 6 at Camp Rodolfo Punsalang, Palawan, Philippines, Oct. 5, 2022. (U.S. Marine Corps photo By Sgt. Dana Beesley)

That kind of connection not only helps at a tactical exercise, it is also an essential part of the U.S. National Defense Strategy, which notes integration with partners and allies as a cornerstone of deterring near-peer rivals such as Russia and China, especially considering the vast areas of the Pacific and Europe that the U.S. cannot secure alone.

“Mathematically, I’m not sure that any of this actually works if we’re not able to work at the highest levels of integration with our partners and allies,” said AFCLC head and retired Air Force Col. Walter Ward.

The program is in high demand; there are 3,750 LEAP scholars across 101 languages, and 2,000 of those scholars are fully trained in the program while the rest are in development. About 70 percent of those 2,000 scholars have used their skills in work with allies and partners, according to AFCLC data.

“I will never do another bilateral exercise without requesting the language and cultural expertise that LEAP was able to provide,” U.S. Marine Corps Col. Thomas Siverts said after Kamandag 6.

The problem is that there are only so many LEAP scholars to go around, especially in Japanese and Ukrainian, the demand for which “has gone through the roof in the last couple of years,” Ward said. While AFCLC has new mechanisms to track demand and stretch the capability of LEAP scholars, the best long-term solution may be to accelerate LEAP’s growth.

“Do we need to get bigger and do we need to get bigger faster? Yes,” Ward said, acknowledging the Air Force has a long list of priorities to juggle. “If we have a strategy that hinges on incorporating partners and allies, at every stage of planning, campaigning and force development … I can’t see a pathway without those skills.”

Constant Conversations

Back at AFCLC headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., about 20 employees manage nearly 4,000 LEAP scholars around the world. The center came up with its own system for military units to request LEAP assistance and for AFCLC to fill those requests without tasking authority or owning forces. Under the training partnership request process (TPR), requesting units fill out a form online specifying the rank and language of the LEAP scholar they need and how long they need the scholar for. Then the center matches a scholar to the request.

Besides streamlining the process, the system also helps track LEAP demand: AFCLC fills a request from combatant commands every 1.19 days said Chris Chesser, chief of the center’s language division. On top of that, LEAP scholars use a self-reporting utilization tool to document how they use their language and culture skills outside of the TPR process. 

“From just the past two years, LEAP scholars have self-reported utilization in 123 countries and 79 languages,” Chesser said.

But some languages have fewer scholars to meet the demand than others. There are just 241 Japanese LEAP scholars helping build a partnership with Japan, a bond that U.S. Indo-Pacific Command leaders say is crucial to security in the region. As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on, so too does the demand for the 64 Ukrainian LEAP scholars who can help.

“There’s just no shortage of demand,” said Ward, to the extent that AFCLC is cross-training Russian speakers with some Ukrainian skills to try to swell the ranks. 

The Air Force could hire more interpreters, but they may not speak aircraft maintenance, acquisition, medicine, or other military subjects the U.S. needs to work on with partners.

“Contract interpreters speak the target language and presumably English, but every LEAP scholar speaks at least three languages: English, the target language, and Air Force,” Ward said. “Your typical dinnertime conversation probably didn’t involve words like fragmentary warhead or load-bearing capacity. So even if you speak a language, it can fall apart quickly when a conversation is technical and time-compressed.”

To try to stretch the capability of existing LEAP scholars, AFCLC is developing a flight lead/wingman concept, where a trained-up LEAP scholar oversees two colleagues who took the Defense Language Proficiency Test in Ukrainian, for example, but who may not have passed through LEAP’s language and culture mentorship or immersion programs.

“Take the expert that has specialized training to others who are willing and able and have some talent,” Ward explained. “They can coach them up and make the same assets go a lot further.”

leap scholar
Language-enabled Airmen support medical training initiatives with Japanese Self-Defense Forces partners at Kadena Air Base, Japan, November 2023. (Courtesy Photo)

Next Steps

Interest in joining LEAP is high: every year the program gets about four applications for each one of the roughly 400 new spots it can support. Speaking in early July in the middle of the year’s application window, Ward said the program had received 20 percent more applications in 2024 than it had the year before with two weeks still left to go.

The program’s current mandate is to grow to about 4,000 LEAP scholars by 2026, but Ward said their model is highly scalable, “and we could grow that to whatever number that you want.”

In the meantime, AFCLC hopes to establish better metrics for tracking language and culture competencies across the service. Today, the system does not track those skills for Airmen and Guardians after they graduate basic military training, Ward explained.

“If we mean what we say about interoperability with partners and allies, we can’t let that talent be dormant out there,” he said. “We’ve got to find it and deliberately develop it.”

The retired colonel made a business case for LEAP: where a contract interpreter can cost more than $100 per hour on top of the logistics of moving them to the requesting unit’s location, a LEAP scholar “will recover every penny that we will ever spend on their development and then some.”

Language and culture skills, he added, “is as essential to the application of lethal effects as it is to basic partnership-building and coming to the agreements that we need to go apply them,” he said. “This is the asymmetric capability that our adversaries can’t match and can’t counter.”

Chinese Rocket Breaks Up in Orbit, Scattering Debris

Chinese Rocket Breaks Up in Orbit, Scattering Debris

Aug. 9, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A Chinese rocket carrying the first satellites in a planned communications constellation intended to rival Starlink broke up in low-Earth orbit this week, spreading debris across the orbital regime and worrying experts. 

The Long March 6A rocket launched Aug. 6 had successfully deployed 18 satellites for the Qianfan, or “Thousand Sails,” communications constellation when it broke up in space. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said the launch was a complete success, but observers noted that the rocket’s second stage appeared to break apart.  

SPACECOM and U.S. Space Forces-Space both confirmed the reports, with SPACECOM saying it was tracking 300 pieces of debris. LeoLabs, a collision avoidance and space tracking company, said on social media that the breakup resulted in “at least 700 debris fragments and potentially more than 900.” 

SPACECOM reported “no immediate threats” from the debris. But the altitude of the rocket when it broke up—between 700 and 800 kilometers above the Earth—is a cause for concern, retired Air Force Col. Jack Anthony told Air & Space Forces Magazine. 

“Whatever they create, debris-wise, is going to stick around for a very, very long time as it slowly, ever so slowly, descends towards the atmosphere,” Anthony said. “We’re talking tens of decades of this stuff. … As it comes down, it’s charging through other orbital regimes where there are productive satellites operating, or other pieces of debris, perhaps a big rocket stage. And if they [collide] at these velocities—what we call hyper velocity—it will create a lot more debris.” 

Particularly troubling is that the rocket was ferrying satellites into a polar orbit, said retired Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Taverney, former vice commander of Air Force Space Command. “We don’t have a lot of debris in polar orbits,” Taverney said. “Most of the debris we’ve had are in nonpolar orbits. Polar orbits are an important orbit, and these debris pieces are going into polar orbit,” dirtying a formerly clean regime. 

The Long March 6A is a new system, and experts say problems are to be expected with any new rocket. But after seven launches, a pattern is now emerging: The upper stage of the 6A has released debris in four of those launches, with the number of pieces ranging from 50 or so hundreds. 

“It appears that on every one of those launches, that rocket has had … multiple pieces of debris created out there,” Taverney said. “And that’s got to be a concern not just to us, but to China too, I would think.” 

China reportedly has more launches planned using Long March 6A and the Qianfan constellation is designed to eventually comprise14,000 satellites.

“They’re going to launch a huge constellation, right? Lots and lots of launches. They start throwing 50 pieces of debris up every launch, it’s going to be a concern,” Taverney said. 

Worries about space debris continue to grow as the number and scale of satellite constellations increase, particularly in low-Earth orbit. The more satellites and debris, the greater the likelihood of collisions, which Anthony said risk a chain reaction that could produce debris on a scale never seen before. 

The Space Force, NASA, and commercial companies are studying the idea of debris removal, and the U.S. has pledged to follow “tenets of responsible behavior” in space, including limiting the amount of debris it generates in the first place. But it’s not clear if China will follow suit.

Taverney said it’s more likely China will simply stick with the 6A through its early struggles. 

“The Chinese are much more risk tolerant,” he said. “They’re willing to go and take risks because they’re a different kind of society. Crashing and burning is not as big a deal to them. It is a big deal to them—don’t get me wrong. But they go earlier in the risk profile than, say, a U.S. company.”

Even so, the challenges China has experienced so far must be worrying to them, Taverney said. “Even with China’s risk tolerance, I can’t believe that they’re not concerned.”  

US and Australia Making ‘Significant Progress’ on New Hypersonic Weapon

US and Australia Making ‘Significant Progress’ on New Hypersonic Weapon

Aug. 9, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

After more than 15 years of collaboration, the U.S. and Australia are now gaining ground in perfecting a new air-breathing cruise missile traveling five times the speed of sound that will be launched from a fighter aircraft. This hypersonic munition is designed to target high-value, time-sensitive objectives, with the Pentagon seeking to close the gap on China and Russia’s technology development.

“We’re … working collaboratively on cutting edge hypersonic technologies that will provide critical advantage to the warfighter,” a senior defense official told reporters at the Pentagon on Aug 5. “Australia and the U.S. are making significant progress in design and ground testing to develop an air-launched hypersonic weapon under the Southern Cross integrated flight research experiment, or SCIFiRE.”

The two countries agreed to collaborate on hypersonic research in 2007, kicking off the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program. By 2020, the program evolved into SCIFiRE, focusing on advancing the new air-breathing system. This new weapon is poised to have a “Mach 5-class precision strike missile powered by scramjet engine.”

Scramjet, a type of air-breathing engine that uses oxygen from air to burn fuel, represents a “significant leap” for hypersonic weapons, John Venable, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said. The missile’s Mach 5 speed makes it much harder for air defenses to intercept due to the reduced response time.

“Anybody can hit a fastball if they know it’s coming; the problem arises when you don’t know it’s coming,” Venable told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “That’s the great gift of this scramjet cruise missile—the speed. At Mach 5, or 50 miles a minute, a missile launched from 25 miles away gives you less than 30 seconds to detect and intercept it, and that’s pretty heady expectations.”

The U.S. Air Force was previously developing hypersonic missiles under two programs: the AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) and the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). Due to inconsistent test results, the ARRW program was scrapped last year, and the focus is now solely on HACM. This shift adds weight to the current U.S.-Australia partnership, as HACM collaborates with SCIFiRE for flight testing.

“Looking forward, the U.S. and Australia are working towards expanding this deep collaboration and transitioning the partnership on SCIFiRE and HACM to a fielded combat capability,” noted the joint statement of the two countries’ ministerial consultations on Aug 6. “Australia will consider HACM as a potential pathway to field its first air-launched hypersonic weapon.”

A Government Accountability Office report from June revealed that several of HACM’s planned missile tests will be held in Australia, using the country’s F/A-18 Hornets. The Pentagon has previously struggled to find hypersonic test ranges due to limited airspace and unexpected aircraft or ships appearing in the range.

“For air testing, you need a vast expanse of airspace, either over water or land, that allows you to conduct tests when and where you need to,” said Venable. “Australia has that space, and many of their ranges are over land. That alone is a major reason for wanting to develop this program in collaboration with Australia, the ability for us to use their facilities.”

The munitions will be launched from fighters such as the F-35A Lightning II, EA-18G Growler, and P-8A Poseidon, according to the Royal Australian Air Force. Venable, a long-time fighter pilot with 25 years in the USAF, added that the F-15E, F-15EX, and F-16 should also be capable of firing these missiles.

These high-speed, highly maneuverable air-breathing weapons can achieve longer ranges compared to traditional rocket-based systems, which carry both fuel and oxidizer. China And Russia are known to be “well ahead” of this scramjet technology, almost across the board.

“We were ahead of the world around 2010, but funding cuts stalled our progress for nearly a decade,” said Venable. “During that time, China and Russia made some significant advancements on the technology development.”

Despite the countries’ recent progress, though, there is currently no evidence that they have fielded the scramjet capabilities yet.

With the U.S. and Australia’s partnership, the Pentagon now expects to begin fielding munitions starting in fiscal 2027. Once Australia is also equipped, the two allies’ closest partners, including the U.K., Canada, and New Zealand, could be expected to purchase them.

“I would imagine that once this is developed, the Five Eyes nations will probably have access to it and may acquire it in the future,” said Venable. “But because it’s such high-end technology, it will be closely held, and will be kept under tighter control from other nations.”