Gen. Howell Estes—NORAD, Space Command Chief—Dies at 82

Gen. Howell Estes—NORAD, Space Command Chief—Dies at 82

Gen. Howell M. Estes III, who served as the triple-hatted commander-in-chief of NORAD, U.S. Space Command, and Air Force Space Command in the late 1990s, died March 18.

Estes held a number of key jobs in the Air Force and the Department of Defense, notably as the Director of Operations for the Joint Staff and deputy chief of staff for Strategic Air Command during the 1991 Gulf War. He was also one of the first commanders of the 4450th Tactical Group, which flew the highly secret F-117 attack jet in the years before the stealth aircraft was publicly revealed.

Estes was born in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up as a self-described Air Force brat; his father, Howell Estes Jr., was an Air Force officer who also rose to the four-star rank and concluded his career as head of Military Airlift Command. Estes III graduated the Air Force Academy in 1965, and after earning his wings, was assigned as a backseat pilot in the F-4 Phantom II, which was then the Air Force’s newest frontline fighter.  

After a stateside tour, he deployed to Korat Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, and flew as lead pilot in 169 combat missions in the Vietnam conflict, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross, ten Air Medals, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with the V device for valor.

After Vietnam, Estes flew in the European theater and then served as a staff officer in U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Estes wrote “Strategic and Doctrinal Implications of Deep Attack,” a concept of operations for the defense of Central Europe. He then commanded a training unit and a maintenance unit, served as a maintenance officer and a deputy wing commander.

After a stint at the Air War College—during which he also earned a Master’s in public administration from Auburn University—and the National War College, Estes was chosen to command the 4450th Tactical Group.

From 1984 to 1986, he built the secret F-117 stealth fighter unit up to nearly its ultimate size, developing tactics and preparing the aircraft for combat operational status. During that period, the 4450th flew the F-117 only at night and mostly over restricted areas to help conceal it. The unit flew the A-7 Corsair II both as a companion trainer for daylight proficiency training and as cover for its secret activities. Howell said this assignment was the “most exciting,” challenging, and rewarding of his career, after which he was promoted to brigadier general.

He spent a year as special assistant to the chief of staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe, and then commanded the 14th Air Division of Strategic Air Command. That was followed by work on the Air Staff as the director of plans and programs for the deputy chief of staff for plans and resources, and then the operations deputy for headquarters, SAC at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. In that capacity, he supported B-52 missions in Operation Desert Storm.

After another planning stint at the Air Staff, he was named commander of 7th Air Force, a multi-hatted assignment which included being the deputy commander of U.S. Forces Korea; the commander of the Air Component Command for the combined U.S.-Korean air forces; and deputy commander-in-chief, United Nations Command at Osan Air Base.

From there he took on the director of operations job for the Joint Staff, from late 1994 to August 1996.

Estes was then promoted to general and took on the multi-hatted command of NORAD, and U.S. and Air Force Space Commands. As commander of NORAD, he was responsible for U.S. and Canadian air sovereignty, as well as for providing tactical warning and attack assessment across the North Pole. As the U.S. space commander, he directed space control and support operations, including theater missile defense, and as the Air Force space commander he directed satellite control, space launch and ballistic missile operations, as well as all the support bases and facilities for those missions.  

Estes retired from the Air Force on Oct. 1, 1998. Across his career he amassed more than 4,500 flight hours and flew the F-4, A-7, F-117, F-16 and EC-135.

In retirement, Estes served on many corporate boards, including The Aerospace Corporation; Analytical Graphics; DigitalGlobe, of which he became chairman of the board in 2011; MAXAR Technologies, where he was elected chairman in 2019; and the Space Foundation. He was also a consultant to Northrop Grumman and ITT, and served as an advisor to the Defense Science Board and various other blue-ribbon commissions.

From left, U.S. Air Force Gen. (Ret) Howell Estes, Maj. Gen. Robert Skinner, and CMSgt (Ret) Charles Zimkas cut a birthday cake with an Air Force sword at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., Sep. 19, 2017. The event celebrated the Air Force’s 70th birthday and Air Force Space Command’s 35th birthday. Gen. Estes served as the ninth commander of Air Force Space Command from 1996-1998. U.S. Air Force photo/Dave Grim
Farewell, Warthog: A-10 Demo Team Announces Its Last Season

Farewell, Warthog: A-10 Demo Team Announces Its Last Season

After more than four decades of performing around the world, the Air Force A-10C Demonstration Team announced that 2024 will be its final season. The 355th Wing located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., said the decision was a part of the Air Force’s divestment of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known as the “Warthog.”

“This will be the culmination of more than 40 years of demonstrations performed by dozens of pilots and teams at hundreds of air shows across multiple countries,” the wing said in a press release March 20. 

Though not as fast as other Air Force demo teams such as the F-22, F-35, and Air Force Thunderbirds, the A-10 dived low in simulated gun runs and displayed its tight turns and colorful paint schemes at airshows, where narrators extolled the aircraft’s historic role providing close air support to ground troops. 

This is not the first time the A-10 team has shut down. There used to be two demo teams, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast, before both were deactivated in 2011, according to press materials. The jet flew in heritage flight formations in 2012 and 2017 before reactivating as a single-ship demonstration in 2018.

“It was the best job I had in my Air Force career,” former West Coast demo team pilot retired Lt. Col. Gregg Montijo told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “Learned so much and met some great people.”

a-10 demo
U.S. Air Force Capt. Lindsay “MAD” Johnson, A-10C Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, flies over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, March 26, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens)

Montijo is part of a small club: he estimated fewer than 100 people ever had the opportunity to fly in the demo team. But they and other single-ship demo teams made an impact expanding the Air Force’s reach. More than 120 enlisted Airmen, 12 officers, and at least six F-16s are assigned to the Air Force Thunderbirds. By contrast, the A-10 Demo team has just one jet and 10 Airmen, including the pilot.

“I went to smaller air shows that other planes or shows could not support,” Montijo said. “Still have very fond memories of it all.”

Since entering service in the 1970s, the A-10 earned a reputation for busting tanks in Operation Desert Storm, saving friendly troops with precise close air support throughout the Global War on Terror, and bringing pilots home thanks to its rugged construction. 

The Warthog’s days are numbered as the Air Force seeks to retire the fleet by 2029. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base sent the first of its 78 A-10s to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, also known as The Boneyard, in February. The rest are due to retire over the next three to five years. 

a-10 demo team
U.S. Air Force Capt. Lindsay “MAD” Johnson, A-10C Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, performs pre-flight inspections at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, March 24, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens)

The A-10 Demo Team still has 18 shows scheduled across the country from March 23 to Oct. 5. The current pilot, Maj. Lindsay “Mad” Johnson, took command of the team in 2022 after serving around the world and deploying to Afghanistan.

“While everybody knows us for the gun and its capabilities, the thing that we take most pride in as an A-10 community is protecting the lives of the men and women that are on the ground,” she told Business Insider in 2023.

The complete show schedule can be found here

“We encourage everyone with the opportunity to attend these remaining shows to see the A-10C Demonstration Team in action one final time,” wrote the 355th Wing.

‘Flying IEDs’: Combatant Commanders Tell Congress Small Drones Are a Big Problem

‘Flying IEDs’: Combatant Commanders Tell Congress Small Drones Are a Big Problem

Russia is producing more than 100 Iranian-designed drones a week for its ongoing war in Ukraine, a top U.S. military commander told Congress, providing a fresh example of how small drones are changing modern warfare across the globe.

U.S. Central Command boss Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said that Russia initially asked Iran for one-way attack drones, specifically the Shahed-136. To boost the supply, Iran helped Russia build a factory in Russian territory. 

“The relationship between Iran and Russia, that really started when they asked for them to provide the one-way attack UASs,” Kurrila told the House Armed Services Committee March 21. “They started providing complete systems, and they built an actual factory in Russia, and those same Shahed-136—a very capable system—are now going at a rate of over 100 a week from Russia into Ukraine.”

The Shahad-136 has added to the threat to U.S. partners and potentially American forces themselves. It was just one of an array of systems featured in combatant commanders’ testimony to Congress in the past few weeks as they discussed threats from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

To try to counter the growing drone threat, Ukraine has employed new systems, such as acoustic detection networks made up of thousands of cell phones, according to Gen. James B. Hecker, the head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa. Ukraine and Russia are locked in a battle of electronic warfare to try to counter the drones effectively and without having to use expensive air defense weapons, according to analysts.

In the Middle East, where U.S. troops have been attacked by drones and rockets in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan—where three Soldiers were killed in an attack—American forces are using a range of defensive systems, including short-range Coyote air defense systems and even netting to protect bases.

One novel system that has been deployed is a 50-kilowatt high-energy laser air defense system. Kurilla said three of those experimental systems mounted on armored Stryker vehicles have been sent to Iraq.

The Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense, or DE M-SHORAD, is a short-range system theoretically capable of tackling small drones and rockets. Breaking Defense first reported the deployment of the developmental Army system to the Middle East, which complements the deployment of Patriot anti-missile systems and the THAAD anti-missile system that have also been sent to deal with more sophisticated threats.

“We are experimenting with those, and the best and most effective way to use those is to help them learn from that to be able to make better systems,” Kurilla said.

“Directed energy is not the panacea,” Kurilla added, noting that the systems are costly. “It will be part of a layered defense. We have to be able to get further out with it to be able to bring down these systems when it’s only costing a dollar a shot, minus acquisition, to be able to do that. But I would tell you what’s worse than shooting a $1 million missile at a $20,000 drone is that $20,000 drone hitting a $2 billion ship with 300 sailors on it.”

The ongoing clashes with Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea have dramatized that point. The U.S. has deployed warships and an aircraft carrier to the region. The U.S. has had to use F-18 fighters firing expensive air-to-air missiles to knock down the drones. Navy AEGIS-equipped surface vessels are firing the Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) at drones, effective air defense weapons, but ones that cost roughly $2 million a piece.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet with drone kill markings displayed on its side prepares for flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, March 12, 2024. U.S. Navy photo

CENTCOM understands how useful cheap drones can be. Air Forces Central is trying to put its own low-cost, experimental drones into operational use with its Task Force 99 unit.

The drone threat is a problem in Asia, too. “What we do have to do is move forward on our directed energy path to be able to get on the right side of this cost curve,” Adm. John C. Aquilino, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the House Armed Services Committee on March 20.

Drones are not just a problem in faraway locations. In the U.S., mysterious drone swarms have appeared near Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va, as first reported by The War Zone, posing a surprising dilemma for Gen. Gregory Guillot, the new head of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command. Guillot, the former deputy commander of CENTCOM, launched a 90-day assessment of homeland defense upon taking command in February. Guillot said the drone incursions at Joint Base Langley-Eustis were the “centerpiece” of that assessment.

“To tell the truth, the counter-UAS mission has dominated that so far in the first month,” Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 14. “Of course, I knew it was an issue coming from another combatant command where we faced that threat in a very different way because of the environment. But I wasn’t prepared for the number of incursions that I see.”

There are alternatives to relying on defenses alone to take down drones, however.

“There are all kinds of point defense solutions,” Caitlin Lee, the director of the acquisition and technology policy program at the RAND Corporation, told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “I think there’s a broader complementary approach. There are state backers, entire networks of logistics supply chains, and even training that are backing the militants and violent extremist organizations that are using these drone capabilities and other low-cost munitions. And so I think there’s a real need to get left of launch on the drone fight.”

Added Lee: “We got really good at hunting down IED networks. Well, drones are flying IEDs.”

INDOPACOM Boss on China: ‘Haven’t Faced a Threat Like This Since World War II’

INDOPACOM Boss on China: ‘Haven’t Faced a Threat Like This Since World War II’

After nearly three years with a front-row seat to China’s burgeoning military capabilities, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command offered a parting warning to lawmakers on the country’s expanding geopolitical objectives.

“What we all have to understand is we haven’t faced a threat like this since World War II.” Navy Adm. John C. Aquilino told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 21. “Their actions are becoming much more belligerent, their rhetoric is more clear. They have now articulated that the feature at Second Thomas Shoal is sovereign territory of the People’s Republic of China.”

The Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea has long been a subject of territorial dispute between China, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

In written testimony, Aquilino warned that Beijing continues its “aggressive military buildup, modernization, and coercive gray-zone operations,” all indications pointing to President Xi Jinping’s directive to be “ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.”

Aquilino’s appearances before Congress this week for a series of posture hearings will be his last as the top commander in the Indo-Pacific; Adm. Samuel Paparo was confirmed three weeks ago as the new INDOPACOM commander.

Earlier this month, China announced a 7.2 percent increase in its defense budget to 1.6 trillion yuan ($222 billion), continuing a steady annual uptick since 2020 and making the country the world’s second-largest defense spender after the U.S. Yet Aquilino echoed other analysts and experts who have suggested China’s actual defense spending is likely much higher.

“They’ve increased their defense budget 7.2 percent this year, that’s three years in a row they’ve increased it and I’m not sure that’s a very transparent number,” Aquilino said. “My assessment is they’re actually spending more on defense than they articulate.”

In its annual reports on Chinese military power, the Pentagon has noted that China now has the world’s largest Navy, boasting over 370 ships and submarines. And while experts have noted this assessment overlooks the fact that America’s naval tonnage surpasses China’s by a 2-to-1 ratio due to the larger size of U.S. vessels, Aquilino said his focus is on modernization and current production.

“The issue is what’s coming off the assembly line, and it’s significant,” Aquilino said. “Ten more ships, high-end warships alone this year, cruisers, destroyers. Full-rate production for J-20s, increased missile system satellite systems. To me, that’s the metric.” 

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force is upgrading the Chengdu J-20, China’s response to the Lockheed Martin F-22 and the nation’s inaugural fifth-generation stealth fighters. In February, the Chinese military released a photo showcasing a fleet of at least six fighters in an elephant walk display.

Aquilino added that the PLA is “soon to be the world’s largest Air Force,” despite the Pentagon’s latest assessment reporting that the country possesses far less combat aircraft than the U.S. Air Force. INDOPACOM did not immediately respond to Air & Space Forces Magazine’s request to clarify whether Aquilino was using number of troops, aircraft, or budget for his comparison.

Also becoming more alarming is China’s actions in and over the South China Sea, highlighted earlier this month when the Phillippines accused the Chinese coast guard of using water cannons and obstructing a Philippine resupply mission in the region, dubbing it “the most serious incident yet.” Aquilino highlighted the country’s “bullying behavior” stretching from India to Malaysia and Vietnam, and emphasized that the U.S. would respond in line with the defense treaty agreement.

“The firehosing of our Philippine allies, the ramming of their ships and preventing their ability to resupply their sailors on the Sierra Madre, as well as restricting their ability to utilize the resources inside their Exclusive Economic Zone is all counter to international law,” Aquilino said. “We continue to articulate that Article Five of the mutual defense treaty applies if the Philippines, as our allies, were to be attacked.”

The U.S. continues to hold military exercises with the Philippines, including their biggest annual exercise ‘Balikatan.’ In November, the two nations conducted aerial exercise over the contested South China Sea region with U.S. F-15 Eagles and Philippines Air Force FA-50s.

More and more countries are responding the China’s aggressive behavior and looking to secure their interests in the region.

“We’re seeing it from U.K. and EU nations, more of them are going to deploy to the Pacific,” Aquilino said. “The centrality of [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] is important to the region, and it’s not that they’re not seeing it. It’s a concern about speaking out and being at risk for follow on PRC, economic coercion, and other behaviors that will negatively impact their nation.”

One General’s Quest to Vibe Check Air Force Culture

One General’s Quest to Vibe Check Air Force Culture

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J.—Most Air Force conferences focus on tactics and technology, but an event held at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center headquarters earlier this year focused on so-called “soft” skills: listening, mentoring, team-building, and connecting with people.

More than 100 USAFEC squadron, group, and wing commanders and senior enlisted leaders from as far as Guam and Germany attended the four-day conference, with the goal of sharpening their tools for building strong unit culture at their home stations.

“We’re not going to directly tell you what you should do or what you should think about culture in your units,” USAFEC commander Maj. Gen. John Klein told the participants. “Really it’s a tool bag, and you can choose the tools that you need based on the situation you face to help you intentionally engineer the culture of your squadron.”

The conference is part of a larger effort Klein started that he calls “Forging Warrior Hearts,” which aims to use culture to strengthen Airmen for challenges both at home and in a possible war with China, which experts warn could be bloodier than any conflict the U.S. military has faced in decades.

Gen. Mike Minihan, Klein’s boss and the head of Air Mobility Command, has championed the phrase “warrior heart,” which emphasizes holistic fitness, teamwork, and “the will to win.” Klein took the idea a step further after a string of deaths by suicide and drug overdose at JBMDL in late 2022 and early 2023. Mental health providers were overloaded, and the support programs rolled out by the Air Force over the years seemed insufficient.

“It made me start thinking, ‘How can we get upstream of this problem?’” he said. “A lot of our programs and messaging were reactive, on the right side of the spectrum. How do we proactively forge true mental health, instead of reactively treating mental illness?”

The answer, Klein argued, is to build up the sense of connection and pride Airmen feel about themselves, their unit, and their mission—strong unit culture.

“You can probably walk into a section and you can tell ‘hey something’s really good here,’” he said at the conference. “There’s a vibe, there’s a spring in their step, and you can just sense the pride, the purpose, the connectedness there in that group, amongst those Airmen.”

U.S Air Force Maj. Gen. John M. Klein, U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center commander, speaks to members of the 621 Contengency Response Wing at an all call, Feb. 21, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Levi Reynolds)

Forging Warrior Hearts is meant to push leaders to engineer strong cultures in their units. But culture and vibes are subjective in an Air Force where flight hours, equipment availability, and other objective results mean everything. Even defining culture is open to interpretation. Klein defined it as “how things are done around here” while his command chief, Chief Master Sgt. Courtney Freeman, defined it as “that’s not how things are done around here.”

“You tell a maintainer to go fix an airplane and they can see with their eyes and know with their actions that they corrected something or moved the needle,” USAFEC command chief Chief Master Sgt. Courtney Freeman told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “With culture, that’s a hard thing to do. You can’t necessarily put your finger on it. You can’t touch it.”

So why fly USAFEC leaders around the world and take precious time away from their units for something that won’t show up on a readiness report? Because it touches everything that does, Klein said. A unit with strong culture, he believes, performs better.

“It’s an investment in the institution of the Air Force,” he said. “How senior leaders talk about our profession—and what we talk about—has an impact upon how our Airmen perform their duties and how they find their way. They are tomorrow’s Air Force, so this is our institutional imperative.”

A Loneliness Epidemic

JBMDL is not the only Air Force base affected by suicide. Sixty-four active-duty Airmen died by suicide in 2022, 51 in 2021, 81 in 2020, and 82 in 2019. Klein believes unit culture plays a key role. He cited the 19th-century sociologist Émil Durkheim, who found that higher rates of suicide corresponded with lower levels of social integration among groups of Catholic and Protestant Europeans. Speakers at the conference traced a similar thread in America today.

“We are in an epidemic of loneliness,” said Dr. Kimberly Dickman, an assistant professor who teaches human relationships and sexuality at the U.S. Air Force Academy. 

Dickman cited a 2023 U.S. Surgeon General report that attributed growing isolation to multiple factors, including:

  • smaller families
  • declining attendance in labor unions, religious groups, and community organizations
  • rising economic insecurity
  • heavy use of smartphones, the internet and other technologies that can isolate individuals
  • the COVID-19 pandemic

Loneliness is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death, wrote U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

“The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,” he noted. “And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.”

Loneliness can affect any age group, but data shows higher rates among young adults in their late teens and early 20s—the same age group of many Airmen and Guardians. As of March 2023, 43 percent of the active duty enlisted Air Force and Space Force were below the age of 26. Those young troops account for about half of all military suicides, according to a 2023 report made by the Pentagon’s Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC).

minot
Airmen try to stay warm before launching an aircraft at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Jan 26, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman J.T. Armstrong)

Social isolation is not the only factor in mental health. Many Airmen do not have enough money for food and housing, while others struggle with staff shortages, dilapidated dormitories, not enough slots for child care, and faulty computer programs that disrupt vital work tasks, SPRIRC found.

Indeed, when asked what he would fix immediately, one staff sergeant at the conference spoke for many of his peers when he answered “more people.” 

“If I could wave a magic wand, it would definitely just be more people to take stress away from each person,” he said. “That way they will have energy to go out after work instead of just sitting at home taking a nap and becoming introverted.”

Staffing, rent prices, and child care slots are not entirely under a wing commander’s control, but Klein said strong connections can help leaders act on them before they become a crisis, and develop more effective solutions.

“Those types of issues don’t emerge overnight,” he said. “They can be very complex, and if the leaders are not paying attention to those things that are important for the health and well-being of our Airmen and their families, then it’s entropy: things can slip and slide until it becomes a problem.”

‘We Had to Create Space for That”

2017 was a difficult time for then-Brig. Gen. John Nichols and Chief Master Sgt. James Lyda to take command at the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. The wing had suffered seven deaths by suicide over the past 14 months, and an eighth occurred shortly after the change of command.

“It was pretty heinous, we had people running each other off the road, we had people who were not just getting DUIs but getting DUIs and killing civilians on the road,” the now-retired Lyda said at the conference. “It was a tough place to be.”

Isolation was part of the problem: a survey found that the most common complaint among Airmen at Whiteman was “I don’t fit in, I don’t feel like I belong, I’m not connected to the mission and I don’t have a purpose,” Lyda recalled.

The general and the chief decided that they were “going to get out of our offices and connect with Airmen,” he said.

air force culture
Retired Chief Master Sgt. James Lyda speaks at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center’s Culture Conference at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Jan. 31, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Hicks)

Their first order of business was to host a weekly get-together for all Airmen and their families at the base club, where Lyda said he and Nichols talked with every single Airman individually. 

“We didn’t do it because we were going to fix it, because we weren’t,” the chief said. “We did it to set an example. So that our seniors and our masters and our lieutenant colonels and our majors would buy into it. Whatever your boss finds interesting, you find fascinating, right?”

It paid off: Lyda said the base went from eight suicides in 16 months to zero in the next 24. 

“It was amazing the culture shift that happened when we started reconnecting with people on a real level,” he said.

It worked in the Army too. During his time leading infantry and Ranger battalions, Army Col. Michael Kloepper found that fewer Soldiers reported anxiety on health and wellness surveys when they felt connected with their squad. But building connections requires time and space.

“When you create space for people to work out together, and then go eat together, there’s something really tight there,” Kloepper said at the conference. “We had to create space for that: no meetings before 9:30 so that people have time to eat together. And we had to invest in our dining facilities because people were choosing to go eat at other places because the food wasn’t very good.”

Connections often happen naturally on deployments, said Staff Sgt. Richard Gregory, a distribution supervisor with the 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron at JBMDL. 

“You build a wild amount of camaraderie when you’re deployed, just because you have to find ways to have fun,” he said. “People come to stateside bases and it’s a little different here, no one wants to hang out.”

When he was stationed at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., for example, Gregory often spent weekends going to the beach or hanging out in the city rather than staying on the base. But at rural locations such as JBMDL, where there are not as many opportunities to have fun off-base, Gregory said he appreciated his squadron commander putting together group 5k runs and an event called “Combat Dining-Out,” where squadron members got together for water gun fights, food, and drinks.

“Everyone’s on the same level pretty much at that point, so that was actually really enjoyable,” he said. “Those don’t happen at every base. They’re pretty rare.”

air force culture
Airmen from the 31st Fighter Wing participate in the Combat Dining Out May 24, 2019 at Aviano Air Base, Italy. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Waggoner)

Which activities work best for building cohesion is open to debate. When Klein and Freeman first laid out the basics of Forging Warrior Hearts in a memo and an op-ed last May, commenters on the popular unofficial Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco rebuked many of their suggested activities, such as formation runs, group physical training, blues inspections, wing parades, and bringing roommates back into dorm rooms.

Still, some at the conference thought the ideas had merit: preparing for blues inspections brings Airmen closer together to check each other’s uniforms; unexpected rewards such as a day-off for the best-dressed can build good habits; PT gets the endorphins flowing; and while roommates can be annoying, they can also form strong bonds with each other.

No matter what tools or activities a leader chooses, Klein emphasized that a one-off event is not enough to improve unit culture: it takes consistent effort.

“The trap is the business of the day-to-day,” he said. “So you’ve got to have a plan. Otherwise you’re overcome by events.”

Blindspots

Cohesion acts as insurance against what Kloepper called “trust-denigrating behaviors:” DUIs, suicides, drug abuse, sexual assault and harassment, discrimination, and other negative outcomes. But it can also provide a first line of defense so that Airmen do not have to rely on mental health services to overcome day-to-day challenges.

Kloepper envisioned “a continuum of care” where service members can discuss those day-to-day hardships, such as a failed test or a breakup, with their peers and mentors, saving limited mental health resources for more serious issues or chronic conditions. Then-Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass advocated for a similar system.

“When I talk to our mental health providers, they tell me that out of every 10 Airmen that come to mental health, only two need clinical mental health support; the other eight just need to know someone cares,” Bass said at a leadership symposium in February. “There is a shortage of mental health providers, but there is not a shortage of leaders and wingmen. We have to embrace community and talk to one another.”

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Benjamin Kellum, a crew chief assigned to the 6th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, teaches Airman 1st Class Jacob Scott, a crew chief assigned to the 6th AMXS, about components on a KC-135 Stratotanker at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, Jan. 16, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Michael Killian)

Staff Sgt Edlin Rodriguez-Medina, also of the 87th Logistics Readiness Squadron, felt the power of a caring mentor after he moved to a new assignment at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Prior to that, Rodriguez-Medina was stationed in Honduras unaccompanied for a year, and he was having difficulty readjusting to life as a father in a new unit while also preparing for a promotion to staff sergeant and all the responsibilities of being a new NCO.

“I can’t say I was going through the best time in my career,” he said, but an experienced staff sergeant helped him get through it. “He had a great heart and could pretty much mold you to be the best version of yourself. I think just having him by my side and having one-on-one conversations with him definitely helped out.”

The importance of building relationships is not new. The legendary Air Force fighter pilot Brig. Gen. Robin Olds wrote in his memoir about learning it from his predecessors, men like Gens. Carl ‘Tooey’ Spaatz and Jimmy Doolittle, then using it to change the culture of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing during the Vietnam War.

“When we weren’t flying, I was stalking through the base, looking over their shoulders, visiting the squadrons and hanging out with them at the O-club,” he wrote. “Pretty soon, I knew all of their names.”

The data bears it out. In its 2023 report, the SPRIRC found that “military personnel who positively view their leadership report better physical and mental health, reduced mental health stigma, and increased engagement in help-seeking behaviors.”

But while strong leadership is celebrated in the Air Force, the skills for fostering connection and trust can go to seed amid institutional blindspots and the daily struggle to meet requirements. 

“Sometimes, organizations have mechanisms to quietly defeat programs to improve them,” said Dr. Daniel Connelly, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who teaches leadership at the Air Command and Staff College. “It’s important for any military to educate its leaders so they can identify such mechanisms and creatively respond to the challenges they present.”

Several of the speakers at the culture conference went over basic techniques for building connections, such as making eye contact, sharing vulnerability, developing emotional intelligence, and giving positive reinforcement. Do Air Force leadership schools need to teach those lessons better? 

“I think everybody knows that culture is important,” Klein said. “And in a lot of cases, people just need to be reminded.”

air force culture
USAFEC Culture Conference attendees gather for a group photo at Joint Base Mcguire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Jan. 31, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Robert Hicks)

As proof, a survey taken before the conference showed that 67 percent of the participants rated their squadron culture as “strong” or “extremely strong,” but many of them reassessed after three days at the conference.

“Sitting in your office at your squadron, you did the survey and said ‘hey I think we’re great’” one participant said. “And then you spend a little time here talking about it and went ‘h, I think I’ve got a little bit of work to do.’”

Blindspots are inevitable, which is why subordinates must feel safe calling them out, said retired Maj. Gen. Dondi Costin, former Air Force Chief of Chaplains.

“As a general rule, we think we’re doing better than our people think we’re doing,” he said. “So just ask them. Trust me, they will tell you. Maybe not at first. They’re scared of you, which might be the first problem.”

Willing to Die for Each Other

Ultimately, “Forging Warrior Hearts” is meant to help prepare the Air Force for war. Klein hopes cultivating resilience and strong bonds at home will help Airmen get through challenges not only in-garrison, but also in conflict. 

“If it’s not aligned to your mission and who you are as a unit, then it’s just a club,” Klein said.

In the same vein, Kloepper said task cohesion—where members of a group share a sense of purpose—is more powerful than social cohesion, where members of a group feel familiar with each other.

“When you share a common sense of purpose, you’re willing to die for each other, for somebody with whom you have nothing in common in background but everything in common in values, standards, and purpose,” he said.

eagle team
The 621st Mobility Support Operations Squadron air mobility liaison officers and expeditionary air/ground liaison element (EAGLE) team members, ruck march together during Exercise SWAMP AVENGER at North Field, South Carolina, May 24, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Warner)

After the conference ended and the participants scattered to their units, how will Klein know if USAFEC’s investment paid off?  The general said leaders will be expected to report back on how they are owning culture in their usual biweekly activity report, and Klein and Freeman will see for themselves if it’s effective during their regular base visits.

“You can feel it when you walk in,” Freeman said. “You can get a sense talking with the Airmen, talking with the leadership. It’s something that you feel when you go into formations.”

It is subjective, but “some think that the most important qualities in a military’s life and performance never can be described in purely numerical terms,” said Connelly, the Air University leadership professor.

Klein and Freeman’s tenure at the helm of USAFEC will end this summer, but Klein hopes the culture conference will continue afterwards in some form. In fact, he said attendees told him they wanted a version of the conference every time the center changes command teams.

“It would be a starting point for the new set,” Klein said. “I would like to see that, but it’s up to the next commander.”

The general hopes the wider Air Force adopts a similar mindset where leaders “own” the culture of their units and proactively nurture it. 

“Culture needs to come to the forefront of all of our minds as leaders,” he said. “I think what good culture boils down to is trust and belief: when you get people believing in what they’re doing, and in each other, you’re in a good place.” 

Space Force Wants Operational Capability for Tactically Responsive Space in 2025

Space Force Wants Operational Capability for Tactically Responsive Space in 2025

Editor’s Note: This story was updated March 26 after Space Systems Command clarified its statement to note that TacRS is not a formal acquisition program and thus does not have a formal IOC date.

The Space Force is expanding the scope of its upcoming mission to launch a satellite on 24 hours’ notice—and hopes to reach an initial operational capability for the effort, dubbed “Tactically Responsive Space,” in fiscal 2025. 

Budget documents released this month revealed new details on USSF’s plans to build on the success of last year’s “Victus Nox” mission, which offered ground-breaking proof that the Space Force can respond swiftly to changes in the domain and the needs of combatant commanders. 

Next up is “Victus Haze,” first announced last August. Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman has said that mission must go even faster than Victus Nox, which took a satellite from warehouse to orbit in just five days, putting it into orbit just 27 hours after receiving launch orders. 

“I still think we have margin in the schedule,” Saltzman said at the AFA Warfare Symposium in February. “And so in Victus Haze, we’re going to set some standards that say nope, we’ve got to compress this more.” 

Victus Haze will also add complexity, including multiple mission components, according to Space Force budget documents. USSF is requesting $30.05 million for Tactically Responsive Space in 2025, including funds to “support the planned launches and operations of the two VICTUS HAZE missions that will be ready for call-up in the second quarter of FY25.” 

An official from the TacRS program office declined to offer details on Victus Haze due to ongoing contract negotiations.  “What we can say is that an additional opportunity was approved to expand the scope of the VICTUS HAZE mission,” the offical said. 

A Defense Innovation Unit official told reporters at the Satellite 2024 Conference this week that contracts for Victus Haze will likely go out in the “next couple of weeks,” Breaking Defense reported. Budget documents project a contract award in May. 

After Victus Haze, the Space Force wants to “provide initial operational capabilities starting in FY 2025” and keep pressing forward with Victus Sol, with launch slated for the first half of fiscal 2026, according to budget documents. 

“We consider VICTUS SOL to be our first operational mission as it will address a stated Combatant Command need,” the TacRS program official said. “We are currently developing our overarching TacRS acquisition strategy which includes operational readiness milestones for specific mission sets based on demonstrated proficiencies across our space, ground, and operations segments.”

victus nox
An image from video shows payload deployment as Firefly Aerospace successfully launched the U.S. Space Force’s VICTUS NOX mission with 24-hour notice, demonstrating a critical capability for the United States to rapidly respond to on-orbit needs during a conflict or in response to a national security threat. Firefly Aerospace

Details of the Victus Sol mission are not yet clear, but broadly speaking, the Space Force wants the mission to build on its ability “to launch within 24 hours of notice, match the orbital plane of a previously unknown object, and conduct rendezvous and proximity operations for inspection and characterization on an operationally relevant timeline,” according to budget documents. 

Planning for a fourth “Victus” mission will start in fiscal 2025. 

As China and Russia continue to develop new counterspace weapons and capabilities to deploy in space, Space Force leaders say they need the ability to respond at a pace that far exceeds the years it usually takes to develop and launch military satellites. Falling launch costs and expanded satellite manufacturing have helped make that vision more affordable.  

Saltzman and other USSF leaders have noted that Victus Nox and subsequent Victus missions will help the service refine its procedures and move faster. Ultimately, though, the program official said the service won’t need to repeat the entire process of contracting, storing, moving, and launching satellites for TacRS to work.  

“In the future, not all TacRS missions will be launched within 24 hours as some missions are being designed to take advantage of on-orbit, pre-positioning, and rapid manifesting opportunities,” they said. 

Push for More Pentagon Budget Flexibility Faces Fierce Criticism from Senator

Push for More Pentagon Budget Flexibility Faces Fierce Criticism from Senator

A panel of experts who recently completed a two-year review of the Pentagon’s system for planning and executing budgets concluded that the Department of Defense needs more budget flexibility to cope with accelerating threats.

But that recommendation is already facing resistance on Capitol Hill, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) argued during a March 20 hearing that the Pentagon already has too much funding flexibility, and that the massive cost overrun on the Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile proves it.

Warren, who has repeatedly criticized the cost of nuclear modernization and what she views as Pentagon overspending in general, said giving DOD more latitude to reprogram funds is “a terrible idea” during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss the report of the Commission on Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution Reform.

Other committee members thanked the panelists for their two years of work on the PPBE commission and said they were willing to help see some recommendations through to law, but many said they felt Congress has already given sufficient authorities to accelerate programs for rapid prototyping.

Warren, meanwhile, asserted that the initial cost estimate of Sentinel was low-balled to gain congressional approval, and that the new Nunn-McCurdy breach—when the Air Force estimated the program will cost 37 percent more than expected—“may be worse than that.”

The Air Force reported the overrun will mean the Sentinel program, baselined at $93.5 billion, will now cost $118 billion and take two years longer than expected. The service said it expected to be able to use more of the Minuteman III missile’s infrastructure for Sentinel, but that bad wiring, foundation problems, and other costs, largely civil engineering, were underestimated at the program outset.

If the Pentagon is given “more tools to cover up its mistakes, then I think it becomes even more tempting to lowball the costs and the risks of a new program. This looks to me like the perfect recipe for mismanaging tens of billions of dollars,” Warren said. “The Pentagon arguably has too much flexibility as it is, when it comes to taxpayer dollars.”

The 394-page report from the PPBE commission was released March 6 and offered 28 recommendations on how the Pentagon’s acquisition system should be changed to better “keep up or keep ahead” of China and other world competitors, panel co-chair and former Pentagon comptroller Robert Hale said at the hearing.

The recommendations called for an overhaul of how the Defense Department sets requirements, organizes program data and delegates authority to program officers. It urges new business systems, more informational engagements between the Pentagon and Congress, consolidation of budget program elements into portfolios, and new databases that both can access to stay on top of projects. The commission recommended re-naming the enterprise the “Defense Resourcing System.”

If implemented, the changes would also work to “mitigate” the effects of continuing resolutions, which keeps funding frozen at the previous year’s levels, said co-chair and former undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment Ellen Lord. Hale explained that the new rules would allow new programs to start under CRs and permit about five percent of operating monies to overlap fiscal years, to avoid mad-dash spending sprees to meet end-of-the-fiscal-year deadlines.

Warren was seemingly unmoved by the argument that the Pentagon needs more flexibility to move funds around and disregard “color of money” limits, saying it’s “terrifying” that none of the armed services except the Marine Corps have ever passed an audit.

“I think we can say from that … that DOD is not doing a good job of keeping track of where its money goes. So it’s puzzling that, despite this failure of basic internal controls, this commission is asking for DOD to have significantly more flexibility to move money around,” Warren said.

Warren asked Hale if giving the Pentagon “more flexibility to move money around from program to program makes it more likely or less likely that DOD will provide accurate cost estimates for major programs?”

Hale responded that he didn’t think the changes would affect “the accuracy of the programs because they’re moving money around within the guidelines of the Justification books, and they [already] told you how … it’s going to be spent.”

The proposed new rules would not “solve some of the problems that you are raising,” he continued, “but I don’t think it would worsen any of them and it would allow us to react to technological change or allow DOD to react to technological changes in ways that will I think, strengthen national security.”

Warren also used the hearing to criticize the yearly practice of different Pentagon organizations submitting unfunded priority lists to Congress after the budget request has been submitted, calling it a “second bite at the apple” that “leads to chaotic budgeting.”

Pentagon leadership signaled support last year for a bill sponsored by Warren to do away with unfunded priority lists, which are required by law. However, the legislation stalled and never received a vote.

Indo-Pacific Command Wants to Triple the Air Force’s Buy of Joint Strike Missiles

Indo-Pacific Command Wants to Triple the Air Force’s Buy of Joint Strike Missiles

America’s Pacific forces want more missiles—and a lot of them—according to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s wish list for fiscal 2025. A standout of INDOPACOM’s unfunded priorities list—items not contained in the budget—is the Joint Strike Missile (JSM), an advanced standoff munition being developed for the Air Force’s F-35s.

The Air Force requested $165.9 million to procure 50 Joint Strike Missiles in FY25, and the service wants at least 200 missiles total, according to budget documents.

But in its wish list to Congress, INDOPACOM is asking for an additional $298.5 million for JSMs next year, according to the document obtained by Air & Space Forces Magazine. Each missile costs $2.8 million apiece, meaning INDOPACOM’s request, if granted, would roughly triple the Air Force’s buy of JSMs for 2025.

“The threat has continued to grow and accelerate,” Adm. John C. Aquilino, the outgoing head of INDOPACOM, told lawmakers on March 20.

The Air Force requested 48 JSMs in FY24, at a cost of $129.2 million. Aside from the missiles themselves, there are associated costs, such as testing and integration. A 2024 budget has yet to pass.

And the Air Force wants more JSMs, too. In budget documents, the service says it is currently slated to end up with 204 total JSMs, compared to the preferred inventory objective of 240. The service’s funding was pinched due to the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which capped the defense budget at 1 percent growth. Air Force officials said its procurement account was hard-hit by the required tradeoffs the service then had to make.

“Once the proposal for Lots 1 & 2 is received, procurement quantities may change based on the negotiated contract and available funding,” Air Force budget documents note.

INDOPACOM’s unfunded priorities list is part of a process in which combatant commands and services submit requests for items that could not be included in the official budget request but that they want highlight to lawmakers. This practice is somewhat controversial but legally required. Some lawmakers want to eliminate unfunded priorities lists, a move Pentagon leadership supports. Nevertheless, INDOPACOM’s list totals $11 billion for 2025.

“This intent for urgency and to move faster—any delays in those fundings or reduce fundings push everything out, and then those capabilities we’ve asked for deliver, not in a relevant time, or in a time where they don’t deliver the deterrent effect soon enough,” Aquilino told the House Armed Services Committee.

The JSM is jointly produced by Raytheon and the Norwegian defense company Kongsberg. It is designed to be carried internally in the weapons bay of the stealthy F-35 but could also be carried externally on other fighters. The conventionally-armed missile has a range of roughly 150 nautical miles, according to its manufacturers.

Other stealthy long-range cruise missiles, such as the Lockheed Martin-made JASSM standoff air-to-surface weapon and its LRASM anti-ship variant, must be carried externally on F-35s due to their size—though none of the missiles have been tested yet on the fifth-generation multirole fighter. JASSM and LRASMs are already in use on other platforms. In 2018, the Air Force conducted successful tests of the JSM, which was carried externally on F-16s, a first step before fitting the weapons into F-35s.

VCSO: Commercial Space Strategy Coming ‘Within the Next Month’

VCSO: Commercial Space Strategy Coming ‘Within the Next Month’

The Space Force’s strategy for leveraging commercial space is coming “within the next month” and will include details on the service’s program for tapping into those capabilities during a conflict, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein said March 20. 

Pentagon officials have been talking about the Commercial Space Strategy nearing completion for more than six months now. Speaking at a forum hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, Guetlein offered a few details on how it will look.

“We’re going to release the commercial strategy here within the next month,” said Guetlein. “In that commercial strategy, we’re going to talk about the Commercial Augmented Space Reserve. That is all about building the partnerships during peacetime with our industry partners, that we’ve never done before, so that we can share data, talk about ideas, etc., so that I can guarantee your capability will be there during times of crisis or conflict.

“Those are transparent conversations that we need to have that we haven’t been having in the past,” he added. “So we are trying to go across the entire spectrum of discussions and organizations and processes to embrace as much of the commercial partnership as we can.” 

The concept of CASR has been compared to the Air Force’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet, which draws planes from U.S. airlines to provide emergency airlift in times of crisis. The fleet was last activated during the noncombatant evacuation out of Afghanistan.

For the Space Force, however, leveraging commercial capabilities is a more pressing need. 

“The threat is also coming in the near term, not in the far term. So that means I don’t have time to go off and build a lot of new capability,” said Guetlein. “If you look at the DOD way of the past, we would say we needed to build the capability and own the capability. … That’s all changing. I can’t build enough capability fast enough to get after the near-term threat.” 

To address the issue, the Space Force is looking to create what it calls “hybrid architectures” of military, commercial, and allied satellites that all feed data into one system, Guetlein said. 

“As we do that, we’re able to reach into industry and take advantage of their innovation,” he added. 

Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein speaks at the McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington, D.C., March 7, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich

One such architecture is the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service, or PTES—a ground system that enables anti-jamming satellite communications for tactical users across all services and around the globe by using the Protected Tactical Waveform. In its 2025 budget, the Space Force wants to expand PTES to include commercial and allied satellites “to support filling critical tactical SATCOM gaps and improve overall theater warfighting SATCOM flexibility and resiliency,” according to budget documents

The expansion effort is budgeted for $55.4 million in fiscal 2025 and $304.8 million through 2029 for demonstrations, experiments, and prototypes, with the goal of reaching initial operational capability by the end of fiscal 2026. 

The Space Force also has an even bigger effort going called Commercial Satellite Communications, or COMSATCOM, which is slated to get $134.5 million in 2025 for experimenting and procuring services over wideband, narrowband, protected, and commercial communications bands. 

Satellite communications may not be the only area where the Space Force turns to industry. National Reconnaissance Office director Christopher J. Scolese, speaking on the same panel as Guetlein, noted that his agency has started using commercial satellite imagery for geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and using commercial satellite buses for its weather satellites.

“We can focus the exquisite systems on the thing that you need an exquisite system for. We can utilize the commercial systems to address many of the other issues that we have to go off and deal with,” he noted. 

The Space Force and NRO are working closely on commercial integration, Guetlein and Scolese said, to include so-called “Reverse Industry Days” when the Space Force invites companies to learn about problems the service is working on and offer their own solutions, instead of detailing requirements. 

“When we’re looking at what the future contracts might look like for commercial, the NRO is leading the way,” Guetlein said. “Their GEOINT contracts … we’re using that currently as our model of a way to get after having capacity during times of crisis and conflict.”