Lawmakers Have One Month to Hash Out Future of Space National Guard

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Members of Congress have set up a collision course in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, fielding opposing language in the law’s House and Senate versions that make the future of a space National Guard component unclear with 28 days remaining before the start of the new fiscal year.

The Senate version of the NDAA simply renames the Air National Guard the “Air and Space National Guard,” while the House version would create a new “Space National Guard.”

Colorado representatives Doug Lamborn (R) and Jason Crow (D) cosponsored the amendment proposing to establish the Space National Guard that won approval in the House on Sept. 1.

“There has been widespread and ongoing interest in and support for creating a Space National Guard,” Lamborn told Air Force Magazine in a statement, noting that Colorado has more National Guard units and personnel conducting space operations than any other state.

“After waiting for a plan for two years, we decided to act,” he added. “The Space National Guard will bring operational mission readiness and provide equipped, surge-to-war capabilities that are vital for our nation.”

The House amendment would realign the National Guard units already working on space missions under the Space National Guard.

National Guard Association spokesman John Goheen told Air Force Magazine that creating a Space National Guard is the best decision for the Guard, Space Force, and national security.

“It makes the most sense to give the Space Force a surge capability with a reserve Space National Guard,” he said.

“The space professionals, if they’re not already in the Space Force, they’re moving to the Space Force. But right now, the space professionals in the National Guard have been left behind,” he explained, noting that space Air National Guard units in eight states no longer have a liaison to the appropriate space professionals they once worked with.

Those Airmen and units moved to the Space Force long ago.

Goheen says simply renaming the Air National Guard will not fix the problem. A new National Guard component must be created with a chain of command linking to the correct Space Force personnel.

“It’s not good for the professional development or their continued development to keep them in the Air Guard,” he said.

The Lamborn/Crow amendment would not explicitly fix the chain of command issue but instead leave the responsibility to the Secretary of the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau to stand up the Space National Guard within 18 months.

Lamborn said he expected the cost of the limitation to be “minimal.” The act does not establish a Space Force Reserve. The Air Force and National Guard Bureau are to make a recommendation on creating that reserve component.

Space professionals in limbo

Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard USAF Maj. Gen. James O. Eifert recently told Air Force Magazine that his 114th Space Control Squadron is full of private-sector space professionals from Florida’s historic Space Coast who are waiting for the creation of a Space National Guard.

“We really have to create a Space National Guard because the current relationship is not tenable for a healthy future,” he said. “What we do need is we need to have that direct relationship between the Space Force and the Guardians that are currently in the Air National Guard.”

An estimated 2,000 space professionals are in National Guard units in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, Ohio, and Guam.

“Currently, National Guard Bureau and Air Force Reserve personnel are aligned to support the Space Force and remain critical to the space mission performed by the U.S. military,” a Space Force spokesperson told Air Force Magazine.

“The Department of the Air Force continues to work with partners across the Department of Defense, Office of Management and Budget, Air Force Reserve, National Guard Bureau, and Congress to define the way ahead, which will be outlined in a report to Congress,” the spokesperson added.

That report to Congress was due in March and has not yet been made public.

The National Guard Bureau declined to comment on pending legislation since the two NDAA versions must now be hammered out between negotiators.

Goheen says such silence could be a reason why lawmakers do not understand the gravity of the decision before them.

“Once the House and the Senate name their negotiators, we can communicate with those individuals, and they will go behind closed doors and hammer out this in a room,” he said. “I don’t know where ‘Air and Space National Guard’ came from. I don’t know where it came from, but it needs to go away.”

‘Azimuth’ May Become the Space Force’s Cadet Selection Tool

Sept. 2, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—The Air Force Academy hopes to tempt—and test—potential future Space Force Guardians with a summer program called “Azimuth” much in the way the Marine Corps’ “Leatherneck” program evaluates Naval Academy midshipmen who may become Marines.

Yet “Azimuth” would go beyond just evaluating prospective Guardians by also helping to inform and motivate cadets—in part, with unique opportunities that would only become available in real life to future astronauts.

Pending approval of a three-week pilot by senior Academy leaders, Azimuth would kick off in the summer of 2022 with 20-30 cadets, delivered in weekly segments each intended to “motivate, inform, and evaluate,” Space Force liaison to the Academy Col. Jeffrey Greenwood told Air Force Magazine.

“We would do things that are getting cadets excited about space in general,” Greenwood said.

Ideas for Week 1, considered the motivational week, include experiences simulating what it’s like to go to space, such as a “zero-G” free-fall, virtual reality, or scuba training—“very much like what the NASA pre-astronaut program would be,” Greenwood said. “A lot of this, the fun motivational stuff, came from, ‘What are astronauts going through?’”

Critics have told Greenwood that astronaut training has no relationship to the jobs Guardians are now doing, but he counters that it may in the future.

“We also don’t jump out of airplanes as Air Force members, but that is one of our airmanship programs here at the Air Force Academy,” he said. “The reasoning or rationale behind doing things [is] eventually, someday, we might have a human spaceflight mission. So not only is it very motivational for cadets to get them excited about space in general, but it may have applicability in the long term.”

Greenwood is working with the head of the astronautics department at the Academy, Col. Luke Sauter, who counts among his students’ activities controlling an active satellite in orbit.

“Azimuth is the summer program that we’re coming up with to really give more cadets exposure,” Sauter explained during a visit to his classroom, which is encircled by models of past Academy satellites and situated near a clean room where cadets build the next Academy satellite to place in orbit.

“It’s a chance to get motivated, excited, informed about space—but also evaluate them to see if they’re the kind of people we want in the Space Force,” he added.

Week 2, conceived as the informative week, might involve visiting some of the military space facilities near Colorado Springs, current home to U.S. Space Command and two of the Space Force’s field commands, Space Operations Command and Space Training and Readiness Command. Cadets would have the opportunity to speak to Guardians and learn what they do.

Week 2 also might include aspects of their curriculum, such as orbitology and warfighting in the space domain.

“At the end of that week, we would have some type of wargames where they’re starting to use the strategy piece of everything that they learned in that week,” Greenwood said, describing how cadets could compete against each other as red teams and blue teams.

Week 3 is the evaluation week. It could include teamwork training, tests such as leadership reaction and high ropes courses, a maze, and possibly sensory deprivation training.

“We just want to understand their propensity for being able to understand and do well in our environment, as space Guardians,” Greenwood said.

Another difference between Leatherneck and Azimuth is when in their academic careers students decide which service to pursue. Leatherneck takes place between a student’s junior and senior year, with students deciding if they want to become a Marine during their senior year. Air Force Academy cadets must decide in their junior year, meaning the program must take place the summer after their sophomore year.

“The problem with that is it’s really still very early in their time here,” Greenwood said. “They’ve had two years’ worth of academics under them. They haven’t even taken their core astro course yet. It’s somewhat difficult to have to make them have to step up and say, ‘Yep, I want to go Space Force.’”

Space Force leadership shows liking

Greenwood said Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson was recently briefed on the proposal and expressed his support.

“He is just standing by ready to support with whatever we need to get this rolling,” Greenwood said.

The program would culminate in an ROTC-like interview experience.

“So, rolling into their junior year, we’ve got their record, we’ve got how they did during Azimuth, and we’ve got an interview under their belt,” Greenwood said. “We kind of have a pretty decent pool that we’re now looking at to make our selections during that junior year.”

With the formal paperwork to be filed in September, Greenwood expects approval for the pilot program in the next couple of months. Once approval is granted, the Academy will reach back out to students who have expressed interest in Space Force and have been taking part in mentorship programs during their first two years.

“Azimuth would be a screening program. You would know that you were a candidate for the Space Force by entering the Azimuth program,” Greenwood said.

Greenwood said the Pentagon is still evaluating how to divvy up high-scoring candidates between the Space Force and Air Force. Internal debates are taking place between Air Force and Space Force personnel chiefs and the Department of the Air Force assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, he said.

“We’re still working out at the Pentagon level between the A1 and S1 and MR, really how we make the selections,” he said. “There’s some inner fighting right now that we’ve got to work through, in terms of, you know, ensuring that the Air Force and the Space Force get their fair share of talent.”

Ultimately, someone 150 cadets of a class of 1,000 may be invited to participate in Azimuth, a number large enough for the Academy to whittle down selections to the available 96 Space Force slots it has to fill.

The program will add to the spectrum of summer opportunities designed to prepare cadets for careers in the Space Force, Sauter said.

“We are helping to inform cadets about what these careers look like,” he said. “We have many opportunities where we send cadets to Space Force jobs, to Air Force research jobs, to contractors that are working for the Space Force, to give them a feel of, ‘What does real life look like?’ And so, we get them excited and informed during the summer, and then they’ll come back here even more jazzed.”

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Jamonica Smith

Sept. 2, 2021

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 20 to 22 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each workday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Jamonica Smith, a Raven team member at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

Smith led Raven and fly-away security teams for the deactivation of four forward operating bases in Afghanistan, contributing to the United States and Taliban peace treaty. She conducted a humanitarian mission in support of the United States Agency for International Development, where she ensured the safe delivery of 370,000 pounds of coronavirus equipment and medicine, improving the quality of life for Yemen’s locals.

While deployed, she directed 34 special operations and aircrew members during a ground attack at Forward Operating Base Shank. Her fearlessness enabled a combat evacuation, protecting numerous lives and $167 million in Department of Defense assets.

She also volunteered countless hours as a domestic violence response team member where she staffed crisis support lines for more than 80 hours and instructed five training seminars in efforts to mitigate the impacts of abuse in the local community.

Senior Airman Jamonica Smith led Raven and fly-away security teams for the deactivation of four forward operating bases in Afghanistan, contributing to the United States and Taliban peace treaty.

Read more about other Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021:

Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco

Ukraine, US Sign Defense Deal Amid Russian Threat

Sept. 1, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knows what it means to fight the Russians, and he came to Washington asking for more military assistance to help keep Russian President Vladimir Putin from encroaching further on Europe.

In Oval Office remarks with Zelensky on Sept. 1, President Joe Biden made note of a $60 million security assistance package that included Javelin anti-tank missiles, and he underscored why Ukraine matters to U.S. interests.

“Ukraine and the United States have a similar value system and the strong commitment to the fulfillment of a promise … and that is a Europe whole, free, and at peace,” Biden said.

Zelensky, in turn, stated a number of the security challenges he intended to discuss with Biden, from help repelling Russia’s proxy war in eastern Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea, to threatened energy security once the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is activated. He also asked for Biden’s “vision of Ukraine’s chances to join NATO.”

The meeting comes one day after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and his Ukranian counterpart signed a new defense cooperation deal at the Pentagon aimed at improving Ukraine’s military institutions and capabilities. Ukraine, the largest democracy in Eastern Europe, has been occupied and engaged in conflict with Russian-backed separatists for eight years following the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. Since then, the United States has provided $2.5 billion in security assistance.

“We again call on Russia to end its occupation of Crimea and to stop perpetuating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and we will continue to stand with you in the face of this Russian aggression,” Austin said in his welcoming remarks, during Zelensky’s and Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran’s visit to the Pentagon.

The agreement outlined strategic priorities to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression, including through training and exercises and defense sector reforms that would improve NATO interoperability. It also will include increased cooperation in regards to cybersecurity, national security systems, and defense intelligence.

Prior to his first meeting with Biden, Zelensky described to Air Force Magazine the challenges he faces as his country is occupied by Russian proxies, barraged by hybrid warfare attacks, and threatened by 80,000 Russian troops on the border.

“We agreed to an increase of military assistance and cooperation in many areas of security and defense,” Zelensky said at an event in Mount Vernon, Va., after meeting Austin.

“This is just the direction, the framework,” he added. “I need more substance.”

Tactics and Strategy

Zelensky explained that the framework agreement would be broken into specifics by an American and Ukrainian team, and he said Austin committed to visit Ukraine. The Ukrainian president said the “political will” existed, and he believed closer defense cooperation would be forthcoming.

“There is no political procrastination—another year, another year—this is about tactics and strategy,” he said.

Defense cooperation with Ukraine has been close since Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula, seizing a vital port and 60 percent of the Ukrainian Navy. Putin has continued to back separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, cutting off a sliver of Ukrainian territory and flooding it with anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

All the while, Zelensky has called for a pathway to NATO entry and lethal security assistance from the United States.

Those calls grew louder in April, when Russia massed 100,000 troops, tanks, and attack helicopters on the Ukrainian border, waiting weeks before describing the event as a military exercise and pulling some troops back. Zelensky said Aug. 31 that most of those troops remain.

U.S. assistance has evolved to meet the needs of the Ukrainian military, Pentagon officials told Air Force Magazine, providing anti-sniper equipment, night vision and thermal goggles to protect against elite Russian sniper units, and medical equipment to save the lives of soldiers wounded on the front line.

The low-intensity conflict has seen numerous violations since a cease-fire agreement was signed in Minsk in 2015.

Zelensky tempered the lofty ambition of joining NATO with short-term needs: more training, exercises, and professionalization.

“We are not asking for any gifts. We need opportunities,” he said at Mount Vernon. “For our specialists, for the Ukrainian Army, the Ministry of National Security, our security institutions.”

He also called for assistance in cybersecurity and information security.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Air Force Magazine during a pull-aside interview that Zelensky and Austin discussed how to meet Ukraine’s needs and keep a buffer of democracy in Eastern Europe.

“In the meeting between the President and the Secretary of Defense, we discussed some specific areas of how this framework agreement will be unfolded,” Kuleba said.

“It will make our army stronger. It will make us more capable of deterring Russia militarily if Russia decides to advance,” he explained. “The stronger our army is, the higher the price of aggression for Russia will become.”

Kuleba called the $60 million aid package an important message of support.

“It’s a very specific gesture made for the president,” he said. “It’s both political, but also very practical, and it’s a perfect match.”

Former American ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor told Air Force Magazine the disparate Ukrainian security services will need to consolidate for coordination with the states to improve.

“The security assistance that we provide could be better integrated into the Ministry of Defense, with better cooperation, coordination, conversations between the Ministry of Defense and the Department [of Defense],” Taylor said, underscoring the value of the cooperation agreement.

Taylor, who was ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 and then again from 2019 to 2020, said America’s tailored military assistance to Ukraine is helping to deter Russia.

“The javelins are a very powerful, effective deterrent to the Russians, and the Russians, apparently, respect them. They are backing away from the range,” he said of Russian tanks positioned just outside the Donbas front line.

“Ukraine is where the Russians attack first,” Taylor added. “Whether it’s militarily or whether it’s election meddling, whether it’s hacking into electrical grids, they start in Ukraine. … They try it, and if it works in Ukraine, they try it out in Europe. And then they try it out in the United States.”

Outstanding Airmen of the Year: Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco

Sept. 1, 2021

The Air Force’s 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2021 will be formally recognized at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference from Sept. 20 to 22 in National Harbor, Md. Air Force Magazine is highlighting one each workday from now until the conference begins. Today, we honor Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco, a career development journeyman from the 50th Force Support Squadron at Schriever Space Force Base, Colo.

Pacheco, an Airman tasked with supporting the U.S. Space Force, led a three-member team to ensure 1,800 personnel actions were completed on time. Additionally, he directed 30 permanent changes of station amid a global pandemic, ensuring mission critical personnel arrived at their next station.

Pacheco’s expertise led him to drive the first-ever virtual Enlisted Forced Distribution Panel, with 138 eligible members and 23 allocations.

Pacheco energized professional development courses and instructed in-house training to 135 Airmen across the installation. Senior Airman Pacheco was chosen for the Air Force Cycling team to support the Air Force’s “We Are All Recruiters” program in the Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa with an attendance of 15,000 members, during which he completed 510 miles.

outstanding airmen of the year — Senior Airman Giovanni Pacheco led a three-member team to ensure 1,800 personnel actions were completed on time. USAF

HASC Approves Defense Budget Increase, Space National Guard

Sept. 1, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The House Armed Services Committee worked through its markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act on Sept. 1, largely agreeing with its Senate counterpart on the overall top line of the Pentagon’s budget but breaking with it in regards to the establishment of a Space National Guard.

In a solidly bipartisan vote, the House panel agreed to boost the top line of the defense budget, adding an extra $23.9 billion to the administration’s request of $715 billion for the Pentagon, for a total of $738.9 billion.

The House committee approved the increase in the form of an amendment from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), 42-17. The bump closely follows a July vote from the Senate Armed Services Committee to approve a markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act with a $740.3 billion top line.

The armed services committees’ top lines mark a rebuke of President Joe Biden’s budget, which Republicans have criticized for not increasing enough over the 2021 NDAA to keep pace with inflation.

A sizable minority of Democrats on the House panel crossed party lines to vote for the increase as well, with many citing their concern over keeping pace with China’s growth.

“With the President’s budget, I have been saying ever since it was released, that it does not do enough,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said. “We needed three to five percent real growth, and I want to applaud Mr. Rogers … in finally doing what we need to do to deal with China.”

Also on Sept. 1, the House Armed Services Committee voted to include the establishment of a Space National Guard, setting up a potential conflict with its Senate counterpart’s version of the bill.

Reps. Jason Crow (D) and Doug Lamborn (R), both from Colorado, announced on Aug. 30 their intent to introduce the Space National Guard Establishment Act, and Crow included the legislation as an amendment in the full committee markup of the bill Sept. 1.

Crow’s amendment was included in a bloc of amendments that was quickly approved in a non-controversial voice vote.

Yet while the proposal met little resistance from HASC, it seemingly conflicts with the final markup of the NDAA approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee in July. That markup specifically proposed changing the name of the Air National Guard to the Air and Space National Guard, signaling that a separate Space Guard would not be happening.

Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees’ versions of the NDAA still have to be approved by their respective chambers. If there are still differences between the two, a conference committee will have to draft compromise legislation.

The question of a Reserve or Guard component for the Space Force has been debated since soon after the establishment of the new service in December 2019.

As early as February 2020, National Guard officials pushed for a separate Space National Guard, calling it a natural extension of the Air National Guard’s and Army National Guard’s work and arguing that it would be cost-neutral.

Analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office contested that claim, saying a separate Space National Guard would actually cost the Department of Defense an extra $100 million per year.

In the 2021 NDAA, Congress asked the Air and Space Forces to submit a report by March detailing how to organize Guard and Reserve personnel in the Space Force. That report was completed in June, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond told lawmakers, but it remains in the Office of Management and Budget.

While military leaders have mostly endorsed the idea of a Space National Guard, members of Congress have been more divided on the issue, with some questioning the cost and the need for states to have military space operations.

Proponents have said, however, that not every state will need to have a Space National Guard component. Eight states—Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Ohio—as well as Guam have National Guard space units, encompassing more than 1,000 personnel.

For Crow and Lamborn, in particular, the issue of a Space National Guard is a local one—Colorado is a space hub, with the largest number of Guard members conducting space missions of any state.

Austin and Milley Tell Afghanistan Veterans: ‘Your Service Matters’

Sept. 1, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The service of more than 800,000 Afghanistan War veterans was not in vain, and it helped protect America from a terrorist attack for 20 years, senior Pentagon officials said Sept. 1.

“Right now, it’s time to thank all of those who served in this war,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told members of the media. “We will never forget what you did and what you gave.”

Austin reflected on the 20-year-long conflict that began with the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11 and eventually cost 2,461 American service members their lives and wounded more than 20,000.

Austin said the evacuation mission, which rescued 124,000 Afghans and third-country civilians and about 6,000 American citizens and concluded just before midnight Aug. 30, was “heroic” and “historic” under trying and dangerous conditions.

“They were operating in an immensely dangerous and dynamic environment, but our troops were tireless, fearless, and selfless,” he said. “They ran an international airport, they sped up visas, they fed the hungry, they comforted the desperate, and they got plane after plane after plane into the sky.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley said a total of 778 sorties were flown, including 387 U.S. military C-17 and C-130 aircraft and 391 non-military aircraft.

Thirteen service members were killed during the evacuation operation when an Islamic State-Khorasan group suicide bomber detonated at the southeast gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, in one of the worst attacks on Americans in Afghanistan during the 20-year war.

“Those Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines gave their lives so that others may live free,” Milley said. The Afghan refugees “will now live in freedom because of American bloodshed on their behalf.”

Both leaders admitted there would be time for after-action reports and lessons learned from the Afghanistan experience, but that its core mission had been achieved.

“Our counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan, in the region, over 20 years, has protected the American people from terrorist attack,” Milley said. “It is now our mission to ensure that we continue our intelligence efforts, continue our counterterrorism efforts, continue our military efforts to protect the American people for the next 20 years.”

Having evacuated all military personnel and aircraft from Afghanistan and with no basing agreement in the region, the U.S. military counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan now relies on “over-the-horizon” capabilities, such as drone flights from Gulf bases located four hours away.

The Pentagon for months has attempted to secure a basing agreement in neighboring countries to facilitate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance as well as strike capabilities. After leaving the press briefing room, Milley told Air Force Magazine progress is being made in that effort.

However, any future possibility of cooperation with the Taliban remains unclear.

“We were working with the Taliban on a very narrow set of issues, and it was just that, to get as many people out as we possibly could,” Austin said in the briefing room. “I would not make any leaps of logic to broader issues.”

Milley, who has met with Taliban leadership in the past year, said counterterrorism cooperation against ISIS-K was “possible.”

“I can tell you, from personal experience, that this is a ruthless group from the past, and whether or not they change remains to be seen,” Milley said of the Taliban. Pressed on prospects for cooperation, he said it was “possible.”

The mission to evacuate any remaining Americans and Afghans is now a diplomatic one with interagency partners. Austin said he will travel to Gulf nations to thank regional partners for their assistance in the evacuation effort.

It is believed that there are up to 200 American citizens in Afghanistan who desire to leave, along with several thousand Afghans.

Milley said there are currently 20,000 evacuees at seven bases in five countries in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility; 23,000 evacuees at seven staging points in four U.S. European Command countries; and 20,000 Afghans at eight U.S. military bases waiting for processing.

Both leaders acknowledged the pain and anger that American veterans of the Afghanistan War may now be facing.

“We are all conflicted with feelings of pain and anger, sorrow and sadness, combined with pride and resilience,” Milley said. “One thing I am certain of for any Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine, and their family, your service matters. And it was not in vain.”

The Air Force and JTT-NG: A Situational Awareness Match Made in Heaven

Sept. 1, 2021

Leonardo DRS has developed the world’s smallest and most capable integrated broadcast service (IBS) solution in what is the new Joint Tactical Terminal (JTT-NG). With more capability packed into a smaller form, the system represents the best long-term solution for the Air Force in terms of performance and IBS connectivity.

But how did we get here? Let’s move some years backward in time.

Early in the 21st century, a U.S. Air Force fighter jet is scrambled to support operations. During the mission briefing, the pilot speaks to commanders on the ground for a situational update and enters the coordinates of U.S. ground forces he has been tasked to support along with enemy targets in the immediate area.

It will be the last time the pilot is able to communicate directly with the U.S. unit on the ground or receive real-time situational data until reaching the target area. The information provided to the pilot during the long flight to the target was from a reporting chain made up of multiple communication waypoints. When the aircraft arrives on target, the pilot relies on voice communications and information relayed to him by a host of different lines of communication by way of multiple terminals.

While this continues to be a standard method of communication between air crews and ground forces for the U.S. military, it is increasingly becoming a more dangerous way to operate as adversaries gain better technology to strike faster and more accurately, quickly changing what is happening on the battlefield. When a pilot is unable to communicate in real-time with troops on the battlefield or receive updated operations information, confusion can occur, and lives can be lost.

The current network of disparate radios and terminals used by the U.S. military are primarily line-of-sight, single-channel systems able to perform only a single function at a time. The result is a costly collection of equipment with limited simultaneous functionality that also adds weight at the expense of ordnance and station time and puts a high-power burden on the aircraft. These systems cannot transmit critical data at long distances when airborne forwarders are not available or when operations are in or around mountains.

The needs in the air and on the ground change quickly, and many systems were rushed to the battlefield to meet requirements. Many of the technologies are still in use today and remain proprietary, hindering interoperability, causing mixed messages, and potentially slowing communications.

For aircraft with weight and power restrictions, this standard of business can present a multitude of problems. Relying on too many radios along with the associated weight and power requirements can become a platform-level problem, allowing installation of less capability on an aircraft. Air crews must decide which capability they can afford for a specific mission.

Leonardo DRS currently deploys its legacy tactical terminals on nearly all U.S. Air Force aircraft including special operation forces, bombers, tankers, and rescue aircraft.

Services trying to outfit their aircraft with the best gear are in a predicament because the technology is limited. It also can cost more than $300,000 per radio, with each plane requiring numerous radios.

Moreover, all these systems require modification, integration, test, logistics and sustainment support, and the price tag to integrate them and keep them updated and running significantly outweighs the acquisition costs.

Leonardo DRS has concentrated on solving this problem for the past 20 years. In July 2020, the U.S. Army chose the company’s next-generation Joint Tactical Terminal (JTT-NG) as the integrated broadcast service (IBS) solution for replacing aging systems.

As the world’s smallest and most capable IBS transceiver, the device ensures that military services keep pace with evolving technical advancements. With more capability packed into a smaller form, the JTT-NG represents the best long-term solution for the Air Force in terms of performance and IBS connectivity.

Here are just a few of the transceiver’s impressive vital statistics. Unparalleled in situational awareness, the JTT-NG can receive millions of threat, survivor and blue force tracking reports daily. It can receive, process and send over 800,000 messages per day. In short, the JTT-NG provides the most comprehensive near-real-time battlespace awareness to the warfighter.

JTT-NG is the only modular integrated broadcast service receive-and-transmit terminal available today. The system can be expanded to support future waveforms, guaranteeing it is equipped with the latest technology to counter the threats of tomorrow.

“This software-defined tactical terminal features open architecture and interoperable designs to support backward and forward compatibility and modular upgrades to incorporate additional functionality as it becomes available,” said Larry Ezell, Senior Vice President General Manager of the Leonardo DRS Airborne & Intelligence Systems business. “These benefits come at a fraction of the cost of legacy solutions.”

The JTT-NG represents a two-thirds reduction in size, weight, and power requirements. By significantly reducing SWaP and enhancing the terminal’s performance features, Leonardo DRS has developed the best way possible for air crews and ground troops to communicate more easily in real time.

In addition to solving these problems, the company offers the systems at a lower price than legacy solutions. More capable terminals that can perform multiple functions with less size, weight and power mean more “bang for a customer’s buck” and peace of mind.

The same communication capabilities required for pilots are also needed for maritime and ground operations. The JTT-NG will also enable use of the system in a command-and-control capacity by maneuver forces in tactical operation centers.

“Our tactical terminal solutions fulfill a critical need in the battlespace, providing actionable intelligence data via satellite communications that allow U.S. military and allied forces to identify targets with speed and accuracy while remaining out of harm’s way,” Ezell said.

Biden Defends Decision to Leave Americans in Afghanistan, Says Withdrawal Marks ‘End of an Era’ of Remaking Countries

Aug. 31, 2021 | By Amy Hudson and Abraham Mahshie

President Joe Biden spoke to the American people Aug. 31, one day after the final military flight left Kabul, to say that some 200 Americans remained in Afghanistan but that the military mission had ended and “over-the-horizon” capabilities will now fight terrorism in the country.

More than 100,000 Afghan and third-country civilians evacuated along with 5,500 Americans in 17 days of round-the-clock military flights, a “mission of mercy” Biden said was necessitated by President Donald Trump’s Feb. 29, 2020, agreement with the Taliban to vacate by May 1, 2021.

“Everything changed” by the time he took office, Biden said. “The Taliban onslaught was coming.”

Biden said he took “full responsibility” for the decision to pull out the final troops, even though that meant some 200 Americans were left behind. He said the U.S. government “reached out 19 times” since March, issuing warnings and offering to help them leave, but many were dual citizens and “longtime residents” of Afghanistan who initially “decided to stay because of their family roots” in the country.

“For those remaining Americans, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out,” Biden said, citing the diplomatic work ahead, albeit without an embassy in Kabul, to secure safe passage on commercial flights and via overland routes.

“Now, we believe that about 100 to 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan with some intention to leave,” he said. “The bottom line: 90 percent of Americans in Afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave.”

The President said the “assumption” that more than 300,000 trained and equipped Afghan Armed Forces would secure the country was wrong. He thanked the military, American diplomats, and intelligence personnel for the operation to evacuate more than 120,000 total personnel since July.

“We completed one of the biggest airlifts in history, with more than 120,000 people evacuated to safety. That number is more than double what most experts felt was possible,” Biden said. “No nation. No nation has ever done anything like it in all of history. Only the United States had the capacity and the will and the ability to do it, and we did it today. The extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals.

Biden quoted U.S. Central Command boss Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., saying “this is the way the mission was designed,” parrying criticisms about the crowds frantically trying to reach the airport in the days leading up to the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal.

“It was designed to operate under severe stress and attack, and that’s what it did,” he said. “Leaving August the 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives.”

Biden blamed the chaotic evacuation on the Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban, which he said did not require the Taliban to work with the Afghan government, but it did authorize “the release of 5,000 prisoners last year, including some of the Taliban’s top war commanders, among those who just took control of Afghanistan.”

“By the time I came to office, the Taliban was in its strongest military position since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country. The previous administration’s agreement said that if we stuck to the May 1 deadline that they had signed on to leave, the Taliban wouldn’t attack any American forces. But if we stayed, all bets were off,” Biden said. “So we were left with the simple decision: Either follow through on the commitment made by the last administration and leave Afghanistan, or say we weren’t leaving and commit another tens of thousands more troops going back to war. That was the choice—the real choice: between leaving or escalating. I was not going to extend this forever war. And I was not extending a forever exit.”

Biden’s address from the White House dining room came hours after he witnessed the dignified return at Dover Air Force Base, Del., of the remains of the 13 service members killed in an Aug. 26 Islamic State-Khorasan attack outside a gate leading into the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. He also honored the 2,461 total fallen Americans and more than 20,000 injured during the 20-year conflict.

The President said the military would turn to great power competition with Russia and China while continuing to root out terrorists seeking safe haven elsewhere, such as the Middle East and Africa.

“There’s nothing China or Russia would rather have … in this competition than for the United States to be bogged down another decade in Afghanistan,” Biden said. “As we turn the page on the foreign policy that has guided our nation the last two decades, we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. To me, there are two that are paramount. First, we must set missions with clear, achievable goals, not ones we will never reach. And second, we must stay clearly focused on the fundamental national security interests of the United States of America.”

In declaring the end of the war in Afghanistan, Biden said an era of rebuilding countries had also come to an end. He acknowledged that the Afghanistan mission to root out terrorists and to stop future attacks on the homeland “morphed” into a nation-building effort aimed at creating a “democratic, cohesive, and united Afghanistan,” something he said hadn’t been accomplished over many centuries.

“This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan,” the President said. “It’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries.”

However, the President also issued a strong warning to terrorists everywhere, saying the U.S. does not need boots on the ground to enact revenge.

“For anyone who gets the wrong idea, let me say clearly, to those who wish America harm, to those who engage in terrorism against us or our allies, know this: The United States will never rest. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth, and … you will pay the ultimate price.”

However, Biden’s speech did little to assuage critics, who blasted the decision to leave Americans behind.

“President Biden’s words today were hollow. One American left behind is one too many. The fact is President Biden abandoned Americans in Afghanistan—leaving them at the mercy of the Taliban and ISIS-K,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement released following Biden’s address. “The President made a promise to the American people that he would stay until every American was out. Today, he shamefully tried to paint his failure as a success. This isn’t the end of a war—the terrorists still exist and they killed 13 American service members last week. They will not stop because the President arbitrarily picked a date.”