Maintenance Error Brought Down Eglin F-22, ACC Declines to Conduct Public Investigation Into Mishap

July 30, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

A maintenance error, committed after an F-22 was washed, affected its control inputs and caused the Raptor to crash May 15, 2020, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The pilot safely ejected, but the aircraft was totaled, with an estimated loss of $201 million, according to Air Combat Command.

ACC released limited information on the crash despite the significant loss to the Air Force’s fifth-generation fighter fleet, because unlike most major mishaps, the command did not conduct a publicly releasable investigation.

In a statement, the command said that “due to operational concerns,” ACC directed a Safety Investigation Board and a Commander Directed Investigation into the crash and did not complete an Accident Investigation Board report. The AIBs typically detail the circumstances concerning a crash as well as the AIB president’s determination of the cause.

The other two types of investigations are not released, so the limited information in a press release is the extent to which ACC is telling the public about what happened to the F-22. The Northwest Florida Daily News was the first to report on the cause of the crash.

Air Force Instruction 51-307 governs the Air Force’s aerospace and ground accident investigations. It requires the publicly releasable AIB for on-duty Class A mishaps—defined as incidents that cause a loss of life or more than $2.5 million in damage. But there’s an exception.

“This requirement may be waived by competent authority,” an ACC spokesperson said in a statement to Air Force Magazine. “In the case of the May 15 incident, the convening authority, ACC’s deputy commander, was the waiver authority for this provision. With the concurrence of Air Force Judge Advocate, who was the AFI approval authority, ACC’s deputy commander waived the requirement for an AIB.”

ACC said the Safety Investigation Board and the Commander Directed Investigation were “conducted to determine the cause of the accident and to prevent future mishaps.”

The full description of the crash is: “Upon takeoff, the pilot noticed a Flight Control System advisory and elected to continue with takeoff. Shortly after the aircraft became airborne, the pilot began having trouble controlling the aircraft and declared an emergency. While a recovery plan was being coordinated, the pilot continued to have issues with the aircraft and ejected.”

The pilot, who was assigned to the 43rd Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Wing, sustained minor injuries in the ejection. The incident was one of two involving fifth-generation fighters at the base. Less than a week later, on May 19, 2020, an F-35 crashed at Eglin. An AIB into that mishap stated that excessive landing speed, exacerbated by issues with the pilot’s helmet-mounted display, caused the crash.

Even though Air Education and Training Command conducted an AIB to investigate the second incident, the F-35 Joint Program Office said any corrective measures from the crash would remain secret.

While most Class A mishaps result in publicly released reports, it is not clear how often commanders waive the requirement to provide the public with the investigation. In fiscal 2020, the Air Force reported 29 total Class A mishaps with 14 aircraft destroyed. The public repository for AIBs lists nine reports for the destroyed aircraft. Air Education and Training Command did not conduct an AIB for an Afghan Air Force A-29 Super Tucano that crashed in Afghanistan since USAF did not own the aircraft. It is not clear what the remaining aircraft are.

Long-Serving Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin Dies at 87

July 30, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Former Michigan Senator Carl M. Levin, known for overseeing the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee for more than 10 years, over two separate spans, died July 29 in Detroit. He was 87.

Levin began his career as an attorney, professor, and assistant attorney general in Michigan and was elected to the Senate in 1978. He became the state’s longest-serving senator before retiring in 2015.

“Whether he was chairing a hearing on critical national security issues or working on behalf of his home state, he
believed that collaboration and compromise served our common purpose better than partisanship and political
brinkmanship,” Levin’s family said in a statement. “He was a clarion voice for a military strong enough to defend our nation and uphold American values.”

Levin first took over the Senate Armed Services Committee in 2001, later telling a Roll Call reporter that he had never served in the military and saw guiding the military as “a way of providing service.”

Throughout his time in the Senate, Levin was known for pressing for strong oversight of military procurement programs, nuclear nonproliferation through steps such as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and New START, and enacting the legislation that ended the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Levin visited ground zero at the Pentagon and supported the authorization to target al-Qaida in Afghanistan, though he opposed the invasion of Iraq.

Levin announced his planned retirement in 2013, saying he wanted to use his last term to “best serve my state and nation” by focusing on “fiscal pressures on our military readiness” during sequestration. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act was named the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act in both his honor and for the retiring representative from California. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer DDG-120 was named the USS Carl M. Levin in his honor in 2016.

In a statement, both the current chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee paid tribute to Levin. SASC Chairman Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said Levin was a friend who “tackled every challenge with character and integrity.”

“I was fortunate to travel with Carl many times to U.S. outposts and ships around the world, and I witnessed firsthand his concern for those who served,” Reed said. “He understood service and sacrifice, and his tireless advocacy for the troops has left a lasting legacy within our military.”

Ranking Member Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said Levin was a “rare Democrat who was totally independent and had no issue disagreeing with his party when he felt strongly. He was so strong on defense that I wondered why the Democrat leadership left him in that position—but he was so popular he would have been impossible to get rid of.”

Fire Season Now Year Round for the Guard, Hokanson Says

July 30, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Firefighting technology hasn’t changed much from the days when Chief of the National Guard Bureau Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson dropped buckets of water from a UH-60 Black Hawk, and his brother, a smokejumper, parachuted in to fight wildfires on foot.

What has changed is the number of fires—and their intensity.

“We used to talk about ‘fire season,’” Hokanson told a gaggle of journalists at the Pentagon on July 29 as fires raged in Oregon and California. “It’s really a ‘fire year’ now. Fires really almost go year round.”

About 500 Guard and Reserve members and 19 aircraft are helping state authorities respond to the Bootleg Fire in Oregon and the Dixie Fire in California. Combined, the fires have already torched over 600,000 acres. The Guard’s C-130 Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) are able to drop 3,000 pounds of retardant on a wildfire in less than five seconds, fly back, refill, and be in the air again in under 20 minutes.

“When you see a plane come in and leave that big red streak of fire retardant, we use our C-130s to do that,” said Hokanson.

To date, four MAFFS-equipped C-130s from three states have made 273 drops and flown 280 sorties.

In addition to the C-130’s fire retardant power, helicopters are called to deliver water buckets, like in the late ’90s when Hokanson was piloting fire crews.

“We use a lot of helicopters as well, with buckets, and they usually scoop up water nearby and drop it on the fire,” he said. “I used to do that when I was young and cool. So, it’s a pretty intense environment to do that.”

In anticipation of a larger wildfire season and more demand, fire crews from Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Arizona were trained earlier this year to provide backup, Hokanson said.

The force is always watching environmental conditions: snowfall, rain, wind, and humidity content in forests.

“When it reaches a certain level, of course, it’s very prone to fire,” he said.

Civilian fire crews used to be sufficient for fires in the fall, winter, and early spring, but now the Guard is needed more than ever before.

Hokanson said the Guard is using just 10 percent of its firefighting capacity, with a reach of up to 200 aircraft. The advanced training and the available aircraft are sufficient for the Guard to help states now, but resources will need to remain in place if the wildfire trend continues.

“We’re in a pretty good spot right now,” Hokanson said of the Guard members in nearby states who received advance training. “Most of those folks are already trained and ready to go.”

AFRL Looking for Contractors to Build Anti-UAS High-Powered Microwave

July 30, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force Research Laboratory is looking for contractors to develop a fieldable high-powered microwave system that can protect air bases by disabling or destroying hostile drones, according to a solicitation published July 28. The program will launch this fall, and AFRL wants a prototype system in 2023.

The program is called “Mjolnir,” the name of the hammer wielded by the Norse god Thor. It will build on the success of an existing experimental version, the Tactical High-power Operational Responder (THOR), and AFRL wanted a related name for the next version, according to an AFRL press release.

The THOR demonstrator “uses bursts of intense radio waves to disable small unmanned aircraft systems [sUAS] instantly,” AFRL said. An AFRL video posted on YouTube shows the THOR sweeping microwaves against a UAS swarmS, causing them to explode or fall out of the sky instantly, but at relatively close ranges to their intended targets.

AFRL’s THOR (Tactical High-power Operational Responder) is a prototype directed energy (DE) weapon used to disable the electronics in drones and was specifically engineered to counter multiple targets–such as a drone swarm–with rapid results. Credit: Air Force Research Laboratory YouTube page.

After a two-year experiment campaign, the AFRL team “has learned a lot about the benefits of the technology and how it can be improved,” said Amber Anderson, THOR program manager. The Mjolnir will be the follow-on system using the same technology, with improved capability, reliability, and “manufacturing readiness,” AFRL said.

The goal is a deployable system that can be “economically produced in large numbers,” THOR deputy program manager Adrian Lucero said, and to “grow a fledgling industry that will become critically important as the U.S. strives to maintain our electromagnetic spectrum superiority,” he said.

The announcement comes a week after AFRL published a paper on potential future directed energy systems called “Directed Energy Futures 2060.” The paper said the Air Force is looking for systems that can destroy swaths of UASs at once, rather than individually pointing directed-energy systems at them and destroying them one at a time.

AFRL is partnered with the Joint Counter-UAS Office and the Army’s Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office on the project, which is being managed out of Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, by AFRL’s Directed Energy Directorate, High Power Electromagnetics Division.

The solicitation specifies that AFRL wants “a single, near-production representative, cost-effective counter-unmanned aerial system (cUAS) that is suited to operational environments and performs at levels equal to or greater than” the THOR prototype. The program will capitalize on the earlier work and “enable future transition to a program of record.” A cost-plus, fixed-fee award is anticipated. AFRL estimates it will spend $14 million on the program in fiscal 2022 and $6 million in 2023, for a total of $20 million. Although one award is anticipated, more may be made.

Responses to the solicitation are due Sept. 13.

Northrop Grumman Earnings Up in Second Quarter, Strong on Space

July 29, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Strong performance in space systems helped Northrop Grumman achieve sales three percent higher than a year ago, company officers reported in a July 29 second-quarter earnings call with reporters. CEO Kathy Warden said the company’s prospects are rosy given strong support in Congress for not only a higher defense spending plan than the one requested, but also for Northrop Grumman’s programs, specifically.

Warden said Congress has endorsed the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) missile system, the B-21 bomber, the F-35 fighter, and the Navy’s Triton unmanned reconnaissance aircraft based on the RQ-4 Global Hawk. She expects an “integrated” new National Defense Strategy and Nuclear Posture Review “in the next six months or so” and is “pleased” that the Biden administration is reviewing both documents in tandem.

“It is the threat environment that should define the overall defense strategy and the role of the strategic deterrent,” she said, responding to how she sees the environment for the company’s strategic programs shaping up.

The administration has clearly stated that Russia is the pacing threat when it comes to nuclear capabilities, but China’s are rapidly growing, making the programs necessary, she said. “Recent intelligence … further supports that,” she added. The NPR will evaluate how well U.S. strategic systems “measure up against that threat.”

Given the assessment and the “affordability of the programs,” Warden said Northrop Grumman has “positioned our portfolio well” and that it “should line up” with the NDS and NPR.

She noted that the Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed a $25 billion increase over the requested $715 billion top line.

“We are making great progress on the GBSD program,” Warden said. “In the second quarter, the team officially closed out the EMD [engineering and manufacturing development] baseline review with our Air Force customer, and we completed the integrated baseline review,” which is a “critical step in setting cost and schedule baselines,” she said, calling it “an important milestone for the program.” The company also recently got a contract to continue supporting the Air Force’s 400 Minuteman III missiles until the GBSD is ready for service.

Warden highlighted Northrop Grumman’s role in the recent Northern Edge wargame, touting the company’s efforts in networking and connecting systems to be able to talk to each other toward a future joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) architecture. Responding to a question, she said she anticipates that JADC2 will be a large federated system of many contractors and platforms, rather than a “big bang” contract with a single company, at some point in the future.

She also noted that Northop Grumman is working on “several restricted programs,” which are apparently above and beyond the B-21 bomber. Chief Financial Officer David Keffer said, “Volume was higher on restricted programs and E-2D,” the Navy’s airborne warning and control airplane, and there was “lower volume in autonomous systems,” which include the Global Hawk and Triton.

Warden did not discuss the B-21, except to refer reporters to the Air Force’s recently released fact sheet and artist’s concept of the bomber, and to tout the program as performing well.

Aeronautics sales were “flat for the quarter,” Keffer said, as several programs, such as the F/A-18 and F-35, are entering a “plateau” of work. As provider of the rear fuselage of the F-35, Northrop Grumman’s work levels run ahead of those at prime manufacturer Lockheed Martin, Keffer pointed out.

Space systems drove Northrop Grumman’s high performance, with sales growing 34 percent in the second quarter and 32 percent year-to-date, “reflecting continued ramp-up on GBSD and the Next-Generation Interceptor,” Keffer reported, as well as the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module for NASA’s Gateway space station that will orbit the moon, plus work on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Pentagon’s Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared system (OPIR). Northrop Grumman is also partnered with Blue Origin on designing a human-rated moon lander spacecraft for the Artemis program—a lost bid that Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is still trying to get the contract for.

Warden said HALO is one of the company’s very few firm-fixed-price contracts, which the company went into because it already has built similar hardware for NASA and the risk was low. The company has demonstrated that “we will walk away” from a competition if the financial risk is too great, she said. She doesn’t see more fixed-price contracts on the horizon and said the practice may even be on the wane for the industry at large.

Watchdog: Afghan Air Force Already Losing Readiness Before US Withdrawal is Complete

July 29, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The effectiveness of the Afghan Air Force is already dropping even before the U.S. and coalition forces complete their withdrawal from the country, with the majority of the Afghan Air Force’s airframes losing readiness last month.

The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction on July 28 released its latest quarterly report to Congress, detailing several issues facing the health and effectiveness of Afghan forces. The AAF, long touted as one of the few success stories in the U.S.-led training mission, has been key to Afghan military capabilities. But that is waning as U.S. contractors leave and advisers are already gone from the country.

“Five of the seven airframes experienced decreases in readiness in the last month of the quarter [June],” wrote SIGAR’s John Sopko. “This coincided with the Taliban offensive and the withdrawal of U.S. and Coalition forces, including aircraft-maintenance contractors. The combined effect of the two appeared to reduce aircraft readiness rates.”

Specifically, the AAF’s AC-208 fleet had a 93 percent readiness rate in April and May, but that dropped to 63 percent in June. The UH-60 Black Hawk fleet went from 77 percent to 39 percent. The A-29 light attack aircraft and MD-530 attack helicopter, both key to striking Taliban fighters in the country, failed to meet readiness benchmarks.

It is not clear how the AAF can regain some of this readiness as contractors have left. Sopko said during a July 29 roundtable with reporters that AAF crews are a success story, showing they are “not only brave, but as competent as they could be,” but there are small numbers of them. More cannot be trained overnight—both pilots and mechanics need months to be trained.

U.S. officials have said they will continue supporting the AAF through funding and remote advising from over the horizon. Sopko said, however, that how that will occur it isn’t clear yet and that there will be limitations in effectiveness.

“You’ve got to be there sometimes, to help somebody with maintenance, or training, or whatever,” he said. “And it’s extremely difficult. … It’s a lot better, I personally feel, when you’re face to face and when the Afghans are face to face.”

Additionally, how in-depth maintenance will occur isn’t clear. Needed maintenance is possible, though difficult and expensive, to do out of the country. For example, if a helicopter engine needs to be fixed, it could be flown out of Afghanistan, fixed elsewhere, and then flown back in.

Afghan special forces—the other success story in the Afghan military—also are stretched extremely thin. Commandos are tasked with basic jobs that regular forces should do, such as route clearance and checkpoints, because regular Afghan army soldiers refuse to conduct operations if the special forces are not there, Sopko said.

Lessons Learned

Congress created SIGAR in 2008 to conduct oversight of reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, and Sopko has held the position since 2012. He has overseen dozens of reports outlining lessons learned, effective and ineffective projects, and other topics for Congress, and as the war winds down, he cites a lot of lessons learned for the military and the country at large.

Throughout the war, for example, the U.S. military was too focused on short-term goals for leaders who rotate in and out of the country as opposed to long-term efforts. The military went into Afghanistan thinking it could create a strong central government, but that was a “mistake.” The Pentagon poured money into the country, which created waste and corruption, and alienated the Afghan people without effectively supporting the military.

“If you expect the Afghan military to win the hearts and the minds of the Afghan people, you have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan military,” he said. “So if you don’t pay them, you don’t feed them, you don’t support them, you don’t give benefits to widows and orphans, … you don’t have medevac capabilities, then the average Afghan soldier is saying, ‘What the heck am I dying for?’”

U.S. leaders in Afghanistan didn’t focus enough on logistics, and every time a problem arose in the development of the Afghan military, “we changed the goalposts on how we were rating them,” he said.

Sopko said he has two words that can describe the mission in Afghanistan: “One is this ‘hubris’ that we can somehow take a country that was desolate in 2001 and turn it into a little Norway in [a short] timeframe. And the other thing is ‘mendacity.’ You know we exaggerated, we over-exaggerated, our generals did, our ambassadors did, all of our officials did, to Congress and the American people about, ‘We’re just turning the corner, we’re about ready to turn the corner.’ … Many of our generals talked about ‘just about ready to win.’ Well, we turned the corner so much, we did 360 degrees—we’re like a top.”

With the withdrawal almost complete, Americans need to understand what went wrong in Afghanistan, Sopko argued. Over the past 20 years, the U.S. undertook a redevelopment program in the country that was bigger than the Marshall Plan after World War II, and he expects something similar will happen again in the future.

“What we have identified in Afghanistan is relevant in other places of the world,” he said. “Don’t believe what you’re told by the generals or the ambassadors or people in the administration saying we’re never going to do this again. That’s exactly what we said after Vietnam, ‘We’re never going to do this again.’ And lo and behold, we did Iraq. And we did Afghanistan. We will do this again. And we really need to think and learn from the 20 years in Afghanistan.”

Guard to be Reimbursed for Capitol Mission in $2.1B Bill Cleared for Biden’s Signature

July 29, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

The House and Senate both passed a $2.1 billion emergency security supplemental bill July 29 that fully reimburses the National Guard for its role in protecting the U.S. Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection. It also provides relief for Afghan interpreters who helped the U.S. during the war and significantly increases the number of authorized Special Immigrant Visas.

The bill now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature with just two days left before the Guard’s funding runs out.

National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson told Pentagon reporters last month that readiness would be “significantly impacted” if Congress did not reimburse the Guard the $521 million spent during the unexpected five-month mission to protect the Capitol. “It’s critical for us to get it this year because the funding will be required for us to complete not only our drills but all operations and training we have scheduled,” he said at the time.

Partisan priorities had kept competing bills from advancing for weeks, with Republicans calling for a clean bill that only reimbursed the National Guard and Capitol Police expenses and Democrats calling for billions in security upgrades and other priorities like funding to support Afghan coalition translators.

But the Senate unanimously approved the legislation on Thursday, and the House voted 416 to 11 in its favor.

“By passing this bill, we have honored the service of the Capitol Police and the National Guard with the funding they need. And we have sent a clear message that we respect the hard work they do,” said House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).

The legislation also increases the number of Afghan Special Immigrant Visas by 8,000 and provides $1.125 billion for emergency transportation, housing, and other essential services for Afghans coming to the U.S. under the program.

“We have the responsibility to take care of the Capitol Police in the wake of their incredible service on January 6th and to reimburse our National Guard for costs incurred protecting the Capitol. We have the responsibility to pay for costs we have already incurred as a result of the pandemic. And we have the moral responsibility to stand with our Afghan partners who stood with us through two decades of war,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). “This bipartisan agreement addresses these critical needs, and it addresses them now because they cannot wait.”

Senior Editor Abraham Mahshie contributed to this story.

Here’s How Many Air Force, Space Force Bases are Affected by DOD’s New Mask Guidance

July 29, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Defense Department’s new guidance mandating the return of mask wearing in certain areas for all personnel, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, will impact the vast majority of Air Force and Space Force installations in the United States, an Air Force Magazine analysis shows.

More than 85 percent of CONUS Active-duty Air Force and Space Force bases and stations across the country fall in areas defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having “high” or “substantial” COVID-19 transmission, according to July 29 data from the CDC.

The DOD, following updated CDC guidance, on July 28 directed troops, civilians, contractors, and others to wear masks indoors at DOD installations if they are in areas with high or substantial transmission.

As of July 29, the CDC counts more than 69 percent of counties in the U.S. as having high or substantial transmission, including nearly 50 percent at high, the top tier. The CDC defines a high transmission rate as counties with at least 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period, while substantial is 50-99 new cases per 100,000 residents during the same time period.

But certain areas of the country are significantly more affected at the moment, and the Department of the Air Force’s installations fall in many. The entire state of Florida, home to four Air Force installations and two Space Force ones, is considered to have high or substantial transmission.

All of the department’s six installations in California fall in affected areas, as do all five in Colorado and all five in Texas. In particular, many of the largest bases by Air Force population, including Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and Shaw Air Force Base, S.C.; as well as Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, are in areas with high or substantial transmission.

Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., was originally not included in the affected areas, but the CDC’s updated data on the evening of July 29 pushed Sarpy County, where the base is located, into substantial transmission territory.

As of the evening of July 29, just 10 Air Force Bases and Space Force Stations located within the U.S. and its territories are in areas with “low” or “moderate” transmission, meaning the new mask mandate does not apply. Of those 10, half are located either in the mid-Atlantic or New England.

The following Active-duty installations are in areas with either low or moderate COVID-19 transmission, where personnel are not required to wear masks indoors if vaccinated:

Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.
Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.
Dover Air Force Base, Del.
Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.
Andersen Air Force Base, Guam
Joint Base Andrews, Md.
New Boston Space Force Station, N.H.
Cavalier Space Force Station, N.D.
Clear Space Force Station, Alaska
Headquarters Air Force, Va.

That leaves 62 other bases and stations in the U.S. in areas with substantial or high transmission. At the same time, President Joe Biden announced July 29 that he was directing the department to look into how and when it will make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for military members, a move that has been debated and discussed for weeks now.

COVID-19 transmission as of July 29. Centers for Disease Control screenshot.

Boeing Back to Profitability, Takes No Charge on KC-46 in Second Quarter

July 28, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

After six straight quarterly losses, Boeing reported profits of $755 million in the second quarter of 2021, a year after posting a $3.32 billion loss.

Boeing’s stock rose about five percent July 28 following the news. Boeing’s revenue rose $17 billion in the second quarter, up about 44 percent from the previous year, with much of the recovery stemming from its defense programs. The company did not report any new charges on programs that have recently faced losses, including the KC-46 tanker.

Interim Chief Financial Officer David A. Dohnalek said the KC-46 is being used more now that it is certified to refuel aircraft using the “joint force centerline hose-and-drogue system, which provides more daily operational capabilities.” The KC-46 is “of critical importance to our customer,” he said.

The company has reported $5 billion in cost overruns on the fixed-price KC-46 program so far, and the Air Force has said it is now beginning to look at a “bridge tanker” competition to replace remaining KC-135s once all KC-46s are delivered. Boeing is to supply 179 KC-46s to the Air Force.

Dohnalek also highlighted the first refueling of an F/A-18 by the company’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueling jet as more progress in its military programs. He said the first mating of an Air Force T-7 front and back halves “in under 30 minutes” verified Boeing’s “model-based and 3D” and digital approach to designing and building the advanced trainer. The company also made money on its P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol plane and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun, on a quarterly results call with reporters, said the company’s defense portfolio is diverse and performing well. Dohnalek said the global defense market “remains strong … and stable” despite pressure on defense budgets from COVID-19 spending, and he said the defense sector provides “critical stability” for the company as it tries to recover from the world downturn in airline sales and operations. He also touted progress with the Space Launch System for NASA.

“We will continue to work with the administration and work with Congress to ensure the necessary support for these key programs [is] in place,” Dohnalek said.

Calhoun said the commercial market is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic but that domestic airline travel is recovering strongly. However, international travel, particularly in the cross-Pacific and Asian regions, is still struggling, and he predicted it will be two or three years before that segment recovers to pre-pandemic levels. He touted success in getting re-certification of the troubled 737 MAX program as more airlines accept deferred deliveries of the jet and new orders come in. The market for freighter aircraft has increased eight percent in the last year, he reported, noting that 72 percent of air freight is now carried by dedicated freighters, versus 40 percent pre-pandemic.