Next Two KC-46 Beddowns Will be Guard Locations

Next Two KC-46 Beddowns Will be Guard Locations

July 22, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air National Guard will get the next two tranches of KC-46 Pegasus tankers, at locations to be decided within the next 12 months, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom told the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21.

“The next two beddown locations for the Air National Guard, we’re actually going to have that conversation in the next year,” Nahom said at a hearing to discuss divestitures of USAF aircraft to pay for modernization. “And of the Air National Guard units flying the KC-135 now, we’re going to transition two of those” to fly some of the planned 179 KC-46s, Nahom added.

In May, the Air Force said it’s looking at two Active-duty bases, one of which would host the next 24 KC-46s, and six Air Force Reserve locations, one of which will get 12 Pegasus tankers. The Air National Guard wasn’t mentioned in that announcement.

On July 22, the Senate Armed Services Committee, in its markup of the fiscal 2022 budget, allowed the Air Force to divest just 18 KC-135s from the Active-duty inventory and did not allow any Stratotankers to be divested from the Air National Guard fleet.

Nahom said the Air Force’s plan is to buy out the 179 KC-46As in its contract with Boeing then go to a “bridge tanker” before moving on to a future airplane that would replace the remainder of 300 KC-135s. The Air Force put out a request for information to the defense industry on a “bridge tanker” this week.

“We’re keeping our eyes open to advanced technology,” Nahom said of the KC-135 replacement. “There may be something else beyond the KC-46, beyond a 767-based platform, to take us into the future.” The Air Force has discussed autonomous tankers and stealthy refueling aircraft, including jets far smaller than the 767-based KC-46, as possible future tankers. The service has said it’s keeping an eye on the progress of the Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray tanker, which will operate off aircraft carriers and fly without a human crew aboard.   

Nahom noted there are still “seven more years of procurement of the KC-46, so the good thing is, we have time to have these conversations and look at the technologies out there, and make sure that when we get to 179, and go to jet 180, and start replacing the next round of KC-135s, we have the right aircraft.”

Despite advancements in engine technology, especially for future combat aircraft, Nahom said the Air Force sees no reduction in need for tanker aircraft, and that in fact, U.S. Transportation Command has been “working with us” to manage reduction in the tanker fleet to have a minimum impact on USAF operations.

“If your eye is on China … and you look at the distances in the South China Sea, you have to have the gas,” Nahom said.

The Air Force has “over 490” tankers now but is divesting the KC-10, which Nahom said is a well liked platform but “very expensive” to operate, and that the plan is to neck down to 179 KC-46s and 300 KC-135s as soon as possible.

Nahom told Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that USAF needs more tanking capacity in Alaska to support combat aircraft there. Alaska is the “center of fifth-gen capability” with numbers of both F-22s and F-35s increasing there, he said, and more refueling capability is needed.

“We’re committed” to adding four tankers to the Alaska theater, he said, the only limiting factor being construction of facilities to handle the additional jets and additional “Airmen we send up there.”

KC-135s will not be withdrawn from Alaska “until we can replace them with something,” he said.

When reviewing which two Air National Guard locations will get KC-46s “in the next year,” Nahom said, “we will assess all of the locations and make sure we find the most suitable [ones] through our normal strategic basing process.”

The Air Force fields Active-duty KC-46s at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan.; Reserve KC-46s at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.; and Air National Guard KC-46s at Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H. Future Active-duty bases are Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

SASC Completes NDAA Markup With $25 Billion Extra, New Name for Air National Guard

SASC Completes NDAA Markup With $25 Billion Extra, New Name for Air National Guard

July 22, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted to approve its markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022, increasing the top line of President Joe Biden’s defense budget by $25 billion while seemingly nixing the possibility of a separate Space National Guard. 

The markup was approved 23-3 on July 22 and a summary released July 23, detailing roughly $740 billion in spending for the Defense Department. The Biden administration had requested $715 billion for the department in late May. Included in both versions of the budget is a 2.7 percent pay raise for troops.

“After a lengthy but productive markup, I’m proud this year’s bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act increases the defense topline to the National Defense Strategy Commission’s recommendation of three to five percent real growth,” Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the committee, said in a statement. “This is a big win for our national security and sends a strong message to both our allies and adversaries that America is prepared to stand up for ourselves and our friends.”

Included in the markup, which will now advance to the full Senate, is a name change for the Air National Guard, making it the Air and Space National Guard. Such a move would likely mean there would be no separate Space Guard established. 

The question of whether to establish such a Guard has been debated for more than a year now—the Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed the creation of a Reserve component for the Space Force in the 2021 NDAA but asked for more evidence that a Space Guard was necessary. Top military leaders, meanwhile, have backed the idea, including Director of the Air National Guard Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, who pushed the idea while he was a major general and the adjutant general for the Colorado National Guard.

In response to queries from Air Force Magazine on July 22, the National Guard Bureau said it does not comment on pending legislation.

The Senate committee markup also does not touch the Space Force’s request for an end strength of 8,400 Guardians, but it would grant the Secretary of the Air Force the ability “to vary U.S. Space Force end strength by a greater degree than is otherwise permitted for the Armed Services in order to give the Secretary additional discretion to build and establish the U.S. Space Force.” It also would temporarily exempt the Space Force from certain grade restrictions to allow the service to build up its base of general and flag officers.

The Air Force, meanwhile, saw its end strength request increased by nearly 1,000 Airmen, from 328,300 to 329,220. The service would also receive additional funding for a new F-35A fighter on top of the 48 it requested, despite not asking for any more F-35s in its unfunded priority list.

The UPL did ask for an extra $360 million for F-35 sustainment, including 20 F135 power modules and weapons system sustainment, and the SASC markup does grant that total, distributing $175 million for power modules and $185 million for weapons systems.

By comparison, the SASC markup includes an extra $575 million for an additional five F-15EX fighters, more than the budget request but less than the $1.376 billion and 12 new fighters included in the unfunded priorities list.

Elsewhere, the Senate committee markup would once again block the Air Force from retiring any A-10s, despite the service requesting to retire 42 of the airframes. In contrast, the markup would permit the retirement of the 18 requested KC-135s and 12 KC-10s—two less than requested for retirement.

Senate Confirms Ortiz Jones for Undersecretary of the Air Force, Hold Remains on SECAF Nomination

Senate Confirms Ortiz Jones for Undersecretary of the Air Force, Hold Remains on SECAF Nomination

July 22, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Senate on July 22 confirmed Gina Ortiz Jones to be the next undersecretary of the Air Force, giving the service a No. 2 civilian leader while the nominee to lead the service remains in limbo.

Ortiz Jones, along with five other Defense Department nominees, were approved by unanimous consent in the Senate. The vote came exactly one month after the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced her nomination.

The other confirmed nominees are:

  • Heidi Shyu to be undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
  • Ely S. Ratner to be assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs.
  • Shawn G. Skelly to be assistant secretary of defense for readiness.
  • Meredith Berger to be assistant secretary of the Navy.
  • Caroline D. Krass to be general counsel of the Department of Defense.

The confirmations double the number of confirmed leaders within the Pentagon after some nominations have languished for months in the Senate and many positions are without nominees.

During a July 21 press conference, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said his team is focused on the process of nominating leaders “each and every day, and we continue to work with the White House to make sure that we have quality and qualified applicants to fill these seats.”

Frank Kendall, the Biden administration’s pick to lead the Air Force, is still without a confirmation vote because multiple lawmakers have placed a hold on his nomination. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have holds on Kendall, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently dropped her hold on both Kendall and Shyu after both agreed to extend their ethics agreements.

Ortiz Jones is the sixth woman to be confirmed for the job and the first openly gay person of color to hold the role. She served in the Air Force for three years as an intelligence officer, deploying to Iraq and reaching the rank of captain. She received a master’s degree from the Army Command and General Staff College. She also worked as a civilian for U.S. Africa Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency. In 2016, she joined the office of the U.S. Trade Representative before running for Congress in 2017, losing to Republican William Hurd.

During her confirmation hearing, she cited her uncle, who joined the Navy as a steward, which was one of the only positions available to Filipinos at the time.

“My own service started with a four-year Air Force ROTC scholarship that took me from San Antonio, Texas, to Boston University. I was honored to wear our nation’s cloth. However, similar to my uncle’s limited career opportunities because of his ethnicity, my experience in the Air Force was hindered by the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,” Jones said in her opening statement. “Yet I, too, remained undeterred because of my desire to serve our country. That experience cemented my resolve to ensure anyone ready and able to serve can do so to their full potential, and accordingly, our country’s fullest potential.”

Secret Global Hawk Successor Due in 2027-2029

Secret Global Hawk Successor Due in 2027-2029

July 22, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The successor to the RQ-4 Global Hawk should be available for service late in this decade, Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, told the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 21.

Answering questions on divestitures of systems the Air Force wants to make in order to free up funds for new technologies, Nahom said the Block 40 Global Hawk fleet is no longer survivable against modern air defenses and that its replacement is coming, but not swiftly.

At “the speeds it flies, the altitudes it flies, and the makeup of the aircraft, it’s just not survivable in these contested environments that we’re going to be looking to gather intelligence from in the future,” Nahom said of the Block 40 Global Hawk. But “we rely on it” to meet the Ground Moving Target Indicator mission, along with the E-8 Joint STARS, he told Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). He noted that the Air Force is starting to retire the E-8s due to their advanced age.

“The Block 40s will be very critical in the next six, seven, eight years, while we go to the ‘what next,’” Nahom said. He deferred further discussion of the follow-on capability to a closed, classified session.

Likewise, Nahom said the MQ-9 Reaper, “as … incredible as it is,” particularly in the Middle East, “is not survivable. It was never designed for what we foresee … in the South China Sea.”

With about 300 MQ-9 aircraft, the Air Force has enough, he said, and will re-jigger how they are organized to save some money on manpower and contract operations. Nahom said it’s “appropriate” to do so now that the U.S. is reducing its footprint in the Middle East.

Asked what will replace the MQ-9, Nahom again said the details are secret.

The Air Force is “bringing on … a family of systems” for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, Nahom said, reiterating, “I’ll have to come back in classified session to talk about that more.”

The Air Force has said it will upgrade some of the MQ-9 fleet with Link 16 datalinks, increased electrical power, longer wings, and new electro-optical systems, as well as an open architecture to rapidly upgrade its capabilities. The service has declined to say whether the upgraded MQ-9s, to be called the MQ-9 Multi-Domain Operations (M2DO) aircraft, will have an electronic warfare mission, given the increased power generation capability.

The 300 extant aircraft are “enough to take us into the mid-2030s,” Nahom said. “We are not reducing the size of the squadrons, or manpower out of those squadrons. What we’re asking is to reduce some of the combat lines in the manner we’ve been flying them in the Middle East.” As they are flown now, “we operate it in a very manpower-intensive way. So we’re looking to reduce some of the combat lines and operate that aircraft a little differently,” he said, without providing details. “We’re not taking any crews out” of the MQ-9 system, he added, and USAF will “transition smartly” to whatever replaces the Reaper.

The aircraft will be used “in competition” with peer enemies but in “places around the world” that are less threatening to the non-stealthy airplanes.

Nahom said he’s “always concerned with what we divest, because I know what the combatant commanders and our Airmen need around the world.” He said he’s “very concerned with readiness,” acknowledging, “We’re not investing in readiness, right now.” The Air Force’s 2022 budget shows stepdowns in funding for flying hours as well as weapon system sustainment, along with other readiness accounts.

Instead, the Air Force is putting its divestiture savings toward new systems, and Nahom said he understood it can be a hard sell because “some of these things are not going to be in service for 10, 12 years, and we’ve got to make sure we continue the investment so they do arrive,” specifically mentioning the B-21 and Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter.

The B-21 will be “critical to our national defense. And we cannot do what we did with the B-2 and only buy 20 of them. We’ve got to make sure that we stay invested, and that is a concern,” he said.

Nahom said he is often asked if the 2018 National Defense Strategy got it “right,” and he said his answer is, “yes, but …”

“I would say the threat has accelerated much more than we would have thought back in 2018,” he asserted.

Shelby responded that in his opinion, China is a greater threat than Russia was during the Cold War because, “The Chinese have the economic base that the Soviet Union never had.”

Nahom replied that while the threat can seem overwhelming, the U.S. has its own advantages, mainly in alliances and partnerships that Russia and China do not have.

SAIC Proves Enterprise IT-as-a-Service Works for Airmen and Guardians

SAIC Proves Enterprise IT-as-a-Service Works for Airmen and Guardians

July 22, 2021

Imagine if every time you moved to a new home, you had to connect the electricity, plumbing, and internet all over again. All the wires, pipes, and switches connecting you to the world were your responsibility. That’s how the Air Force operates its information technology. For generations, it’s managed everything itself. 

Now that’s changing. The Department of the Air Force is pursuing a future in which it buys all its IT as a service, from cloud computing to networking and from email to the help desk. 

Enterprise IT as-a-Service (EITaaS) is a far-reaching vision intended to modernize IT services and keep them updated by putting the onus on the provider to offer best-of-breed technology solutions so Airmen and Guardians can focus on what counts most: Deterring war and fighting and winning, if necessary.

The Air Force is about a year into perhaps the biggest test yet of that concept: a three-year, risk-reduction program on nine bases involving help desk and on-site support and service. Ultimately, EITaaS could encompass everything from desktop equipment and network connectivity to software and network services ranging from email and video conferencing to accounting, personnel, and logistics systems. All of this falls under commercial IT construct of managed services which will lead to cost efficiencies and ensure that the AF and USSF have a 21st century network which paves the way to JADC2/ABMS in the future. EITaaS helps enable the DOD vision of true interoperability. 

Basic computer services should be so routine they’re automatic, says retired Air Force Col. Jose Rivera, the program director who leads the EITaaS End User Services program for prime contractor SAIC. 

“The aim is to be invisible,” he says. “You don’t want anyone to notice you’re there because the services and tools you’re providing should just work.” 

When Airmen show up at their “battle stations,” he said, “they should just sit down and do their job without thinking about the technology.”

Airmen and Guardians today grew up as “digital natives,” Rivera says. They can’t conceive of a world without smart phones and instant internet connectivity. They’re used to downloading an app themselves and having it work right away. They expect technology to work on demand. Having that modern, seamless experience also means attracting and retaining top talent for the Air Force and Space Force.

“So with EITaaS, the idea is to give them that same kind of experience, just like they’re used to with their phones,” Rivera says. 

Customer experience — the ‘Holy Grail’

“Delivering that positive user experience for Airmen and Guardians on the ground, that is our Holy Grail,” Rivera says. 

Put another way, it’s about giving users a high-end consumer experience. “If you think about Genius Bars with Apple, how do you build that next generation of service desk that is artificial intelligence-enabled, tier zero?” asked Bill Marion, then the Air Force’s deputy chief information officer, in a Federal News Radio interview in 2020. “That went live for about 70,000 Airmen with a ServiceNow platform … work[ing] trouble tickets with speed and agility.” 

Moving to an Enterprise IT as-a-service construct for all IT services in the Air Force that is based on commercial best practices and performed by a commercial vendor allows Airmen and Guardians to move focus on defending our country.  Commercially operated IT support provides the AF with trained and knowledgeable IT professionals who can help remedy any problem thereby increasing Airmen and Guardian productivity.

For Rivera, it’s about treating Air Force customers as individuals, not trouble tickets. “This is a retail business, not a wholesale business,” he says. “Every interaction is measured. We’re constantly looking at data about how the customers feel about how we’re doing. You win it one customer at a time.”

SAIC is partnering with the USAF on the Risk Reduction Effort (RRE) for End User Services. Ranked by Gartner as the top provider in the U.S. for services in the government vertical in the categories of infrastructure implementation and managed services, and application managed services, SAIC is providing commercial services in an enterprise environment for nine bases:     

  • Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany
  • Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska 
  • Buckley Space Force Base, Colo.
  • Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
  • Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.
  • Hurlburt Field, Fla.
  • Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
  • Gunter Annex, Ala. 
  • Pope Field, N.C. 

In addition to 24/7 on-call support, SAIC has field services teams at each location. “We think of these guys as ‘contract Airmen,’ Rivera says. “They are on the front line, every day, and they are fulfilling the operational mission imperative—making sure everything just works.” 

The company also has a liaison team embedded with the 16th Air Force to work on cybersecurity issues.  

Rivera says it’s important his “contract Airmen” maintain a strong personal touch. “If someone answers one of our surveys and records a bad experience, we follow up with that customer,” he says. “Why was the experience unsatisfactory? How can we make it better the next time? We are very focused on those details.”

The feedback and personal touch are essential because the hardest part about moving to an approach like EITaaS is helping users through the challenges of change. 

“The Air Force is nearly 75 years old, and for the longest time, the service provisioned its IT organically,” Rivera says. “IT was provided by Airmen within the chain of command.” Getting used to a different paradigm is difficult, but necessary. 

“Commanders grew up with these young officers—I was one of them—managing the IT network and they only needed to pick up the phone to get those folks to jump up and run through walls for them,” Rivera says. To be confident in EITaaS, they have to imagine the same level of commitment. Even better, they need to be confident the system will work whenever, wherever they need. 

“As the Air and Space Forces shift focus to mission assurance functions, improved enterprise IT services will allow Airmen and Guardians to maximize time spent on the mission and minimize delays due to inefficient IT,” stated Brig. Gen. Chad Raduege, Air Combat Command Director of Cyberspace & Information Dominance during the opening of the first USAF Tech Café. 

Rivera said SAIC applied organizational change management expertise to make the transition as seamless as possible. The company never stops measuring its progress, he said. 

“We meet regularly with different stakeholders in the Air Force, from the very senior level all the way down to the Airmen and Guardians in the field. We needed to make sure that we understood their concerns, and addressed them in a positive fashion to make sure that every single one of my customers understands the value that we bring to the mission,” Rivera said. “We reinforce that with every communication.”

The teamwork between the Air Force and SAIC builds brick by brick. “It’s an iterative process,” Rivera said. “It’s not one conversation. It’s every contact. We build trust in our services one customer at a time, one contact at a time.”

Watchdog Report Blasts US Military’s Handling of Fuel for Afghan Forces

Watchdog Report Blasts US Military’s Handling of Fuel for Afghan Forces

July 22, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Afghan military’s future is in question because of the lack of a reliable source of fuel as the U.S. withdraws. About half of the fuel provided to the country’s fighting forces reportedly is being stolen, and the U.S. military, which has poured billions of dollars into creating a fuel source for Afghan forces, does not have a solid plan for transferring its authority, according to a new watchdog report.

The Defense Department, from 2010 to 2020, has spent $3.74 billion on fuel for Afghanistan, with another $1.45 billion expected through 2025, according to a report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released July 21.

The Afghan National Self Defense Forces use the fuel to provide electricity for bases, operate vehicles, and fly aircraft. However, SIGAR notes the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, which managed the fuel in the country until the command was disbanded in June, did not develop a plan to transition its control of fuel to the Afghan government. The command’s authority transferred to the new Defense Security Cooperation Agency Management Office-Afghanistan, which stood up in Qatar.

“DOD still has time to take action, but must do so with a greater sense of urgency if the transfer of fuel responsibilities to the Afghan government is to be complete by 2025,” SIGAR wrote.

U.S. oversight is now largely being done remotely as American troops have almost completely withdrawn from Afghanistan. The uncertain position of fuel oversight has created a “tenuous situation for the U.S. and Afghan governments,” SIGAR wrote. “Without fuel, ANDSF operations will come to a grinding halt. Without effective management and oversight of the fuel enterprise, fuel theft and corruption will worsen.”

A former commander of CSTC-A told the watchdog that about half of its fuel is stolen.

SIGAR provided a series of recommendations, including developing a plan, with metrics for accountability, to transition oversight of fuel to the Afghan government. Among the recommendations, SIGAR says the U.S. military:

  • Needs remote monitoring methods to oversee fuel use
  • Should establish a formal agreement with the Afghan government for its military to regularly submit accurate fuel consumption data
  • Should develop a plan to standardize training for low-level personnel who handle fuel at ANDSF bases.

The Defense Department did not respond to SIGAR’s recommendations in the report, stating that the Pentagon cannot respond to all of the watchdog’s findings during the drawdown.

Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby, in response to a question from Air Force Magazine on the report’s findings, said “broadly speaking … our commitment to the ANDSF will continue after the drawdown is complete, in a largely financial and logistical support component.” Specific areas of support, such as fuel, are still being “ironed out,” Kirby said, noting the U.S. will continue to help Afghan forces defend “their country.”

The report comes as the Pentagon continues to send more military equipment to Afghanistan. Three UH-60 Blackhawks landed in the country in recent days, with dozens more expected, along with three A-29 Super Tucanos.

After 16 Months, Guests Return to Air Force Basic Training Graduation

After 16 Months, Guests Return to Air Force Basic Training Graduation

July 22, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

For the first time in more than a year, family and friends were able to gather in person July 22 to watch as loved ones graduated from Air Force Basic Military Training.

Restrictions were still in place at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but the inclusion of several hundred guests in the stands still made for a celebratory atmosphere and a stark change after 16 months of ceremonies without crowds. The last ceremony with guests was March 13, 2020.

Each graduate was limited to two invited guests, and all guests had to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, with their last shot coming at least 14 days before the ceremony. Fully vaccinated graduates were also allowed off-installation liberty to celebrate with family and friends.

“This day has been a long time coming,” Maj. Gen. William A. Spangenthal, deputy commander of Air Education and Training Command, told the July 22 attendees. “And I’m perfectly fine if y’all want to show some enthusiasm—get a little undignified, if you will. …

“The reason that we’ve been able to get here is because we’ve had this unbelievable partnership and fantastic leadership between three wings—the 502nd Air Base Wing, the 59th Medical Wing, and the 37th Training Wing. These young Airmen, just seven and a half weeks ago, our nation’s treasure, your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, and your friends: You entrusted us to keep them safe during this extraordinary time.”

The celebration also included a flying salute of four T-6As from the 559th Flying Training Squadron led by Lt. Col. Paul Stucki, making his last flight in the Air Force, before ending with the oath of enlistment administered by 37th Training Wing commander Col. Rockie K. Wilson.

“After nearly 16 months without an in-person graduation, we are beyond excited to welcome you all back,” Wilson said just before administering the oath. “While the timeframe of 16 months weighs heavily on this ceremony, the most important timeframe, and the reason that we are here today, is the last seven-and-a-half weeks of training these men and women have just gone through to make them not only Airmen, but also better, stronger, and more resilient Americans.”

The festivities come roughly two months after the Air Force Academy hosted guests for its spring graduation ceremony, its first time allowing outside guests, with eight permitted per graduate.

The gradual return to normalcy comes as nearly 300,000 members of the Air Force and Space Force, including the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest data from the Defense Department. Back on June 30, DOD announced that the Air Force’s vaccination rate was 61 percent, behind the Army and Navy but ahead of the Marine Corps.

SOCOM Wants Four ‘Armed Overwatch’ Squadrons, With One Always Deployed

SOCOM Wants Four ‘Armed Overwatch’ Squadrons, With One Always Deployed

July 21, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. Special Operations Command expects a future armed overwatch fleet to quickly reach full utilization, including one squadron deployed at all times, to meet a growing global need for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

SOCOM wants to buy 75 of the aircraft, and Air Force Special Operations Command has said it wants procurement to start in fiscal 2022. SOCOM boss Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke, in testimony to the House Armed Services subcommittee on intelligence and special operations, said the armed overwatch program is coming on as existing systems are aging out, showing the requirement for the aircraft procurement to continue.

“Modernization of ISR is one of our top priorities,” Clarke said. “Not just armed overwatch, but we see armed overwatch as a very cost-effective, long-term approach to support our SOF teams in the future.”

Armed overwatch is expected to replace the Air Force’s U-28 Draco fleet. Clarke said these aircraft will soon require a complete re-winging, at a cost approaching that of the total armed overwatch effort.

Congress blocked SOCOM from procuring armed overwatch aircraft in its fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, but it authorized the command to continue with demonstrations. In May, SOCOM awarded $19.2 million to five companies for prototype demonstrations as part of the effort. The aircraft selected to proceed are:

This prototype effort will take place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and will be completed by March 2022. If successful, a company could be requested to provide a proposal for a follow-on award.

Clarke said he envisions four squadrons flying 15 of the aircraft each, with an additional 10-15 to be used for training. This would provide enough for a squadron to always be deployed. While Africa is typically used as an example location for where the aircraft could be used, Clarke said he could see it providing ISR, and [strikes] if needed, at places such as the Philippines, Thailand, and South America.

As SOCOM “looks globally, where SOF forces are deployed today and where [they will] be deployed in the future, we do think that the operating concept we have for these aircraft would, in fact, get to full utilization in the future,” Clarke said. 

Milley: Taliban Has Momentum, but ‘Endgame’ Not Decided in Afghanistan

Milley: Taliban Has Momentum, but ‘Endgame’ Not Decided in Afghanistan

July 21, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Taliban controls approximately half of all district centers in Afghanistan, but the Afghan military is consolidating its forces to protect population centers, and the “endgame” is not yet written, the U.S. military’s top general said July 21.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, during a briefing at the Pentagon, said the Taliban takeover is not a “foregone conclusion,” noting Afghan forces are still well trained and equipped.

The Taliban controls about 213 district centers, roughly half of the total 419, and is fighting to cut off population centers, such as provincial capitals and Kabul. Yet while the Taliban has encroached on them, the group has not captured any of the 34 provincial capitals.

“The strategic momentum appears to be with the Taliban,” Milley acknowledged. But, Afghan forces are consolidating and “taking the approach to protect the population.”

The country is seeing a reduction in violence because of the Eid al-Adha holiday, and it is not known yet how the Taliban’s momentum will continue after the holiday.

“It remains to be seen over the rest of the summer, … but after Eid, we’re gonna find out,” Milley said. “We’re going to find out the levels of violence, whether it’s going to go up or stay the same. There’s a possibility of a negotiated outcome that’s still out there. There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover, or a possibility of … all kinds of other scenarios throughout there that we’re monitoring very closely. I don’t think the endgame is yet written.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, appearing alongside Milley, said the evacuation of interpreters and their families has become an “urgent task.” The White House announced this week that the first group will be flown to Fort Lee, Va., and Austin said the Pentagon is still working on “several” overseas locations to host others who are not as far along in the visa process.

The military is still on track to complete the full withdrawal by the end of August, with more than 95 percent of it already complete. After August, the mission shifts to counterterrorism via over-the-horizon intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, strike, and other CT capabilities. The Pentagon is still working on the possible basing of these capabilities closer to Afghanistan, though nothing has been finalized or announced.

The Pentagon’s mission will be to make sure that violence and terrorism cannot “be exported from Afghanistan to our homeland,” Austin said.

“We’ll maintain the capability not only to observe that but also address that if it does emerge,” he added.