Defense Department to House 2,500 Afghan Interpreters and Family Members at Fort Lee

July 19, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The Pentagon will honor a request from the State Department to initially house at least 2,500 Afghan interpreters and family members at Fort Lee, Va., to escape possible retribution from the Taliban.

The 700 Afghan former coalition employees and their family members may stay at Fort Lee for a “few days” for final processing, including medical examinations, before they relocate under special immigrant visas, the Defense Department announced July 19.

The flood of tens of thousands of so-called SIV applicants has overburdened the State Department in recent months and led to outcries by lawmakers demanding that the Biden administration act.

Pentagon spokesperson John F. Kirby told Air Force Magazine the Defense Department is not planning to use military aircraft for the transfer of immigrants at this time, and planning is in the works to potentially house tens of thousands more Afghans at military facilities globally.

“There’s no request for the use of military aircraft for the transportation of these individuals,” he said. “We’re mindful of the large number that are in the SIV program right now at various stages, and we have said all along that DOD will contribute to the interagency effort to help relocate.”

President Joe Biden promised to relocate Afghan interpreters and their family members in what the White House dubbed Operation Allies Refuge to be coordinated by the State Department.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki has said the refugees would be out of the country before Biden’s planned complete U.S. withdraw on Aug. 31.

Biden said in July 8 comments that the interpreters, and others who helped U.S. forces during the war, were “vital” and that getting them out is necessary “so their families are not exposed to danger.”

It remains to be seen if the dwindling American footprint in Afghanistan will be enough to protect the remaining interpreters and their families, who face increased pressure from the Taliban.

“This is welcome news,” Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz told Air Force Magazine in a statement. “But we still need to see details on how the Biden administration will get SIV applicants and their families out from across Afghanistan now that we have no bases or military transportation.”

The former Afghanistan Green Beret has been a vocal critique of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Afghan officials who spoke recently to Air Force Magazine on the condition of anonymity said that as the Taliban has taken rural territories, it has begun to restrict the rights of women and girls, a hallmark of Taliban rule before the American invasion in 2001.

The Taliban’s rapid advance, with a fighting force of 75,000, is believed to be measured to exact more negotiating power in the peace process with the Afghan central government, but analysts fear sharing governance is not in the Taliban’s plans.

A recent Pentagon announcement to donate dozens of new Blackhawk and other helicopters to support the 300,000-strong Afghan fighting force is intended to help Kabul shore up its strategic military advantage over the Taliban, which has no Air Force.

For now, the U.S. government has taken the first steps to protect a select number of Afghan civilians who helped the coalition over two decades.

“It goes back to our sincere responsibility that we feel to take care of these people who have taken care of us,” Kirby said. “We are helping facilitate their movement to resettlement, and that is what this is all about.”

New USAF Ad Speaks to Diversity … and ‘Kicking Butt’

July 19, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Over the weekend, millions of people tuning in to watch the pregame show for the NBA Finals also caught the premiere of the latest Air Force recruiting commercial, featuring Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.

The 30-second ad, titled “Helmet,” features Brown delivering a simple, powerful message about diversity and air power, intercut with footage of him and other Airmen getting into the cockpit of aircraft and flying.

“When I’m flying, I put my helmet on, my visor down, my mask up. You don’t know who I am—whether I’m African American, Asian American, Hispanic, White, male or female,” Brown says. “You just know I’m an American Airman, kicking your butt. I’m General C. Q. Brown Jr. Come join us.”

Airing on ABC on the night of July 17 ahead of the NBA Finals, the ad has received positive reviews on social media. According to TV Series Finale, 3.79 million people tuned in for the pregame show, including 1 million in the 18-49 age range.

On YouTube, the ad had been viewed more than 46,000 times as of July 19, already making it one of the most-viewed videos from the Air Force and Space Force Recruiting channel this year. On Facebook, it has already racked up more than 200,000 views and thousands of likes.

According to a release from the Air Force Recruiting Service, the ad was shot at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and was originally intended to be two commercials, with focuses on diversity and air power. The idea for one single ad came as Brown told stories while recording voiceovers, conveying the same ideas and message he delivered in the final product.

Brown is the U.S. military’s first African-American service leader, and he has spoken candidly in the past about his own experiences of racism, including in uniform. He has also led a push to make the Air Force a more diverse, equitable service.

“I was a captain when I was asked to do an interview about diversity, and I shared this idea,” Brown said in a statement accompanying the release of the new commercial. “I want our adversaries to know, that no matter our respective backgrounds, our Airmen are unstoppable.”

Advertising agency GSD&M, from Austin, Texas, helped AFRS create the commercial.

Space Force PT Guidelines Will Be Ready by Late 2021 or Early 2022

July 16, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The Space Force is still a ways away from its own physical training guidelines, relying on the Air Force for its PT test while it prepares a “holistic health and wellness” program, according to the service.

For the 2021 calendar year, Space Force will continue to rely on the Air Force’s physical fitness program, Space Force spokesperson Lynn Kirby told Air Force Magazine.

“The Space Force is currently building its first policy to capture the service’s comprehensive approach to holistic health and wellness, which will incorporate the physical fitness program,” she added. “We are exploring options to instill a culture of daily health and wellness that we think will benefit our Guardians.”

Specifics are “pre-decisional,” Kirby explained. Space Force expects to release its policy sometime in late 2021 or early 2022.

Until then, Guardians will take the same test as Airmen, which includes the new alternative exercises the the Air Force announced July 2.

The new guidelines give Airmen five physical fitness assessment alternatives beginning in early 2022, three for the cardio and sit-up portions and two for the pushup component.

The Air Force has not yet finalized assessment scoring charts broken out by gender and age, but Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said the service is abandoning a “one-size-fits-all model.”

In the cardio area, Airmen can choose between the 1.5-mile run, one-mile walk, or high-aerobic multi-shuttle run. In the strength area, they can choose traditional pushups or hand release pushups. And for the sit-up component, they may instead choose cross-leg reverse crunches or planks.

Airmen and Guardians will have six months to adjust to the new testing options. During the six-month adjustment period, Airmen and Guardians will have the opportunity to continue providing feedback.

Other changes incorporate new fitness science and technology.

Waist measurements will no longer be part of the physical fitness test, but Airmen and Guardians will still have to take a body composition assessment starting in October 2021. They also will soon be able to use the myFitness platform to schedule, access, and submit fitness assessments and upload medical documents. The platform will allow members of the Department of the Air Force to view past scores and reports.

Although the Space Force will incorporate the Air Force fitness standards, it’s likely its service-specific guidance will look a bit difference once it’s developed. Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman previously told Air Force Magazine the focus shouldn’t be on the test but a Guardian’s holistic wellness. “We could do it more efficiently,” he said at the time.

Air Force Launches Project Aimed at Supporting Airmen Innovations

July 16, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Hoping to speed up and expand innovation, the Air Force announced July 13 the launch of Project Holodeck, a platform aimed at allowing Airmen to better submit, track, test, and ultimately implement new ideas for the service.

The Department of the Air Force is partnering with “innovation management software” startup Productable to launch the program, which will be accessible via the internet.

Project Holodeck will unfold in two phases: first, a prototyping contract with Air Force CyberWorx, a public-private center at the Air Force Academy devoted to identifying problems and developing solutions in the cyber realm. The next phase will include a development and pilot program, with the end goal of scaling the program across the entire service.

The effort comes a little less than a year after Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and his office released a strategic approach titled “Accelerate Change or Lose,” in which he emphasized the need to empower, innovative Airmen helping to solve the service’s issues.

Project Holodeck is aimed at promoting that idea. Airmen will be able to submit ideas for improvements and will be directed to the proper experts and resources to potentially develop and test innovations, with time and money more efficiently distributed.

With more clearly defined expectations and processes, transparency is a key selling point of the new project, Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in a press release. Airmen submitting innovations and their superiors will be able to track their progress on the new platform.

“Intentionally, innovation is decentralized across the Air Force and intertwined throughout all of our units. Airmen are the service’s greatest resource and are empowered to develop solutions to a wide spectrum of problems,” Allvin said in a statement. “However, our decentralized models sometimes create unintentional barriers to success. Project Holodeck will provide the transparency and accountability needed to overcome those roadblocks and move innovative ideas forward.”

The idea of turning to Airmen to crowdsource problems is not new—the Air Force introduced the Airmen Powered by Innovation program in 2014, with service members submitting thousands of ideas for “cost, time, and resource savings.”

But as the service looks to increase its pace in that regard, the goal of Project Holodeck is to keep up with the flow of ideas.

“The Chief of Staff’s message is clear,” said Wm. Brou Gautier, director of Continuous Improvement and Innovation and Spark Tank capability lead for the Air Force, in a statement. “It’s time for all Airmen to pick up the pace and Project Holodeck will allow us to manage that pace for efficient leadership decision-making.”

Fairchild KC-135 ‘Super’ Wing Deploys Nonstop Amid Tanker Fleet Changes

July 16, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. — For a barometer of the military’s unrelenting thirst for aerial refueling, look to the sprawling flight line here in the Inland Northwest.

Fairchild is the home of the Air Force’s only “super” tanker wing, with four KC-135 squadrons. The fourth, the 97th Air Refueling Squadron, which activated in 2019, reached initial operational capability in October 2020 then quickly deployed.

The base’s 92nd Refueling Wing is unique among the Air Force in that it always has a squadron deployed downrange. The base has the most resources—63 total aircraft in its inventory—meaning it is often the Air Force’s first call when refueling is needed.

“We get the call more than anybody else, and part of that reason is because we have more resources,” 92nd ARW Commander Col. Cassius T. Bentley III said in an interview. “But also I think it’s because we have better Airmen.”

The Air Force’s mobility fleet is undergoing massive change as it brings on the new KC-46 Pegasus. While the KC-46 will not be operationally capable until about 2024, the service needs to free up personnel and ramp space to get ready for the new tanker.

This has meant force structure changes.

With McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., shifting to becoming Air Mobility Command’s main KC-46 operating base, the service needed a home for additional KC-135s and Airmen, so it looked to Fairchild.

The addition of the squadron made Fairchild the world’s largest tanker wing “by a lot,” Bentley said. If Fairchild became its own country, it would have the world’s second-largest refueling fleet behind the rest of the U.S. Air Force and ahead of both China’s and Russia’s fleets.

“[The requirement] goes up as we have more tails and more aircrews who can execute more missions,” Bentley said. This has made Fairchild the “911 call for the Air Force,” he said.

Fairchild likely flew more in 2020 than it has before, including short-notice calls to help with the withdrawal of troops from Somalia—called Operation Octave Quartz. The team got the call Christmas morning to head out for the mission. “The team is always ready, and they were the first ones to show up,” Bentley said.

When the 97th ARS deployed in late 2020 after reaching full operational capability, it replaced Fairchild’s 93rd ARS downrange. That squadron was deployed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, extending their time in the region and making their deployment the longest ever for a KC-135 unit. That same squadron just redeployed, landing at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, in mid-July.

The squadrons deploy on four-month rotations, soon to shift to six months, as part of a new mobility force generation model that uses one squadron to meet a deployment request as opposed to sending smaller groups of Airmen and aircraft from multiple units.

In addition to always having a squadron deployed for combat operations, Fairchild tankers sit on nuclear alert missions and on standby for homeland defense missions, supporting coronet fighter deployments, refueling bomber task force deployments, and refueling USAF and other service training missions such as Red Flags, among others duties.

Crews not deployed have been working on USAF initiatives such as agile combat employment and joint all-domain command and control, Bentley said.

Fairchild is focusing on developing a hot-pit refueling capability. Wing aircrews have been practicing every Thursday since March, and the 93rd ARS recently deployed with 100 percent of its crews trained on hot-pit refueling. Across the wing, 70 percent of crews are currently trained.

Fairchild’s KC-135s are looking at additional ways to contribute to a fight, including more command and control capability. This is taking shape with the planned installation of 42 Real-Time Information in the Cockpit systems, which use the Link 16 data link to improve its situational awareness. These modifications begin in August.

The wing is using its location and number of aircraft to train for the Air Force’s agile combat employment both at home and forward, austere locations. Recently, Fairchild KC-135s and aircrews deployed to far-off places such as Wake Island in the western Pacific, the type of location that would be important in a near-peer battle in the Indo-Pacific. Fairchild crews fly these sorts of missions once or twice per month and sometimes deliver cargo as well.

“We’re trying to change the narrative of the 135s,” Bentley said. “Because a lot of the time you think, ‘Hey, they take off, they offload gas, they come back to their home station.’ We’re changing the narrative, and we’re really moving out on this agile combat employment. … The tanker can do more than just give gas. It’s their primary mission, but there’s more we can do.”

Air Force to Account for Climate Change in Installation Master Plans

July 16, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force will implement changes to its installation development plans within the next five years that are aimed at shoring up each base’s vulnerabilities to natural disasters and climate change, a top official said in a congressional hearing July 14.

Jennifer L. Miller, acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy, told a House Armed Services subcommittee the department has already conducted initial assessments of the threats posed by severe weather and other natural disasters at more than 80 installations.

Those assessments, she said, will form the basis for the updated development plans, as required by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which required that “major military installations plan for climate change when drafting master plans.”

“We did issue last year our guidance on that,” Miller told Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who sponsored the bill that eventually became an amendment in the NDAA. “And so it was done through the Severe Weather and Climate Hazard Screening and Risk Assessment Playbook, which may sound fairly simple, to issue the guidance, but it was a 40-page analysis that really provided good information for the installation planners on how we wanted them to assess, and it included the 16 risks, from hurricanes to fires, that we needed each installation to assess against.”

The Air Force has seen firsthand the impact of severe weather recently. In the past several years, natural disasters have led to billions of dollars in repairs, as Hurricane Michael destroyed hundreds of buildings at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., in 2018 and floods covered roughly a third of Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., in 2019.

Both incidents destroyed buildings and equipment and impacted service readiness, with units from the 325th Fighter Wing and the 55th Wing forced to relocate, some for months or even years at a time.

As those bases continue to build back, though, Miller said the climate risk assessment undertaken last year is already proving helpful.

“Within the next five years, now that everyone’s done the initial assessment, that will roll into our installation development plans,” Miller said. “As we have that information, though, it allows us to modify—as an example, the Tyndall rebuild and the Offutt floodplain rise—to modify based on the risk assessment. Not only of what type of risk it would be, but then we also assessed each as a yellow-green-red [risk] for the 0-to-25-year [range] and then also the 25- to 50-year look.”

The climate’s impact on the military and installations was a topic echoed on both sides of the aisle in the July 14 hearing. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) asked civilian leaders from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense Department for data on sea levels and temperatures, while Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) asked how they were complying with President Joe Biden’s executive order to prioritize climate change as a national security issue.

In response to Garamendi, Miller pointed to the Air Force’s work in “the operational energy arena,” saying the service has funded small projects with potentially large long-term benefits down the road, including everything from “the angling of our windshield wipers on our aircraft, to little winglets, to things that we’ve been able to modify [on] the aircraft, often stealing good ideas from industry.”

Miller also said the Air Force has conducted two “pull-the-plug” exercises, with plans for more, to ensure it can identify vulnerabilities to the service’s infrastructure, particularly for energy and water. Should a natural disaster strike, ensuring minimal disruptions in those areas will be key to maintaining mission readiness.

In that same vein, Miller told Wilson that the department has a “great interest” in small modular nuclear reactors. Before he left office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Defense Department to explore potential uses for such sources of nuclear power, including energy security and flexibility. Miller added July 14 that she is “excited to see what capabilities that provides us.”

Gillibrand Calls for Serious Crimes to be Handled by JAGs Outside Chain of Command

July 15, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said her bill to remove prosecution of serious crimes, including sexual assault, from the military chain of command is still needed, despite Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III’s commitment to do just that.

Long an advocate for tougher measures to prevent sexual assault in the military, Gillibrand had teamed up with Iowa Republican Joni Ernst and scored 66 co-sponsors for a bill that would remove the responsibility for prosecuting sexual assault and other serious crimes from the chain of command and also beef up training and enforcement measures.

In his first days in office, President Joe Biden tapped Austin to find a way forward after decades of failed policy changes. Following a 90-day independent review commission on sexual assault and harassment in the military, Austin accepted all the IRC recommendations, including the removal piece advocated for by Gillibrand.

But while supporting Austin’s narrowly focused effort, Gillibrand told defense reporters July 15 that Congress still must act on all serious crimes.

“This is an extremely light touch. It just changes where the case file goes first,” the Senate Armed Services Committee member said, explaining that her bill would have a military attorney from a Judge Advocate General’s Corps review completed investigations for serious crimes then decide if the case should go to court instead of to base commanders.

Gillibrand often cites a study that claims as many as 20,000 service members were sexually assaulted in the military in 2020. In her July 15 comments, she also said the rates of serious crime cases going to trial, and convictions, are dropping while retaliation occurs at a rate of 64 percent.

Austin’s June 22 announcement to accept all of the IRC’s recommendations, coupled with the accountability demand related to sexual assault and harassment and domestic violence, drew questions as to whether the bill was still needed.

“I fully support removing the prosecution of sexual assaults and related crimes from the military chain of command,” Austin told lawmakers a day after he was briefed by the IRC. “The department will likely need new authorities to implement many of the IRC recommendations, and we will most assuredly require additional resources, both in personnel and in funding.”

Even with the DOD commitment and the bill’s co-sponsors, some SASC senators still oppose an act by Congress, with ranking member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) releasing a letter June 22 signed by members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who opposed changing the command responsibility.

The inclusion of Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark A. Milley appeared to fly in the face of prior comments he had made.

“My mind is completely open to all kinds of opportunities to change here,” Milley told The Associated Press on May 2. “We, the chain of command, the generals, the colonels, the captains, and so on, we have lost the trust and confidence of those subordinates in our ability to deal with sexual assault.”

To date, SASC Chairman Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), an Army veteran, has refused to take up the Gillibrand bill in committee, offering instead to incorporate parts of the bill into the National Defense Authorization Act.

Gillibrand said she intended to work to get her bill into the NDAA, but she did not have faith it would pass out of conference. (Politico reported late July 15 that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had assured her the bill will get a standalone floor vote.)

“I think it is necessary to have a floor vote no matter what because I have lived through the challenge of passing something in the Senate Armed Services Committee, passing the same exact legislation in the House Armed Services Committee, and having it still be taken out in conference because the DOD does not approve of it,” Gillibrand said. “I don’t believe that our bill won’t be watered down, reduced, or modified inappropriately in conference.”

The senator made the case that adding all serious crimes such as rape and murder to the JAG responsibility would not overburden the military lawyers, of which there are 4,479, including 379 JAGs at the 0-6 level.

Based on 2016-2019 statistics, she believes each JAG would be responsible for two cases per year.

Gillibrand also argued that accepting the IRC recommendations regarding sexual assault and harassment was not enough, saying all serious crimes needed to be part of a reform to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“We’re still fighting very hard for the bright line. We think it’s preferable to just one set of crimes,” she said, citing successful examples from American allied militaries.

Focusing on just crimes that mainly impact women, and women of color, further marginalizes female service members, she argued.

“The fact that we have a Secretary of Defense who says we should take sexual assault and other related crimes out of the chain of command, and that it does not affect good order and discipline and does not affect the ability of command control, is revolutionary and groundbreaking,” she said. “I just wanted to do it in the right way.”

Progress on B-21 Means Current Bombers Need a Fast Retirement

July 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force needs to move quickly as it brings on the B-21 and modernizes the B-52, because operating four bombers at a time is not sustainable. This means the venerable B-1s and B-2s need to head to the boneyard for retirement ASAP, the service’s top planner said.

The secretive, next-generation B-21 Raider is being built right now and will be flown in the “not-too-distant future,” said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, during a July 14 AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. When that happens, the Air Force will be flying the B-1, B-2, B-52, and B-21 simultaneously.

“That is not affordable,” Nahom said. “The B-1 and B-2, as phenomenal as they are, we’ve got to get those out of service as the B-21 comes on and we get ourselves to that two-bomber fleet, which is a B-21 and a modernized B-52.”

Lt. Gen. David Nahom, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, speaks with retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, on July 14.

In the near term, B-52s are undergoing significant modernization, including re-engining, upgraded avionics, and a new “digital backbone,” Nahom said. B-52s will leave service to receive the upgrades, making fewer bomber available for tasking.

“We’re going to have a deficit in availability while those airplanes are being modified,” he said. “That is my biggest concern on the bomber fleet … over the next, I’ll call it, five to seven years as we bring on the B-21 and then just beyond that when we start bringing out the B-1s and B-2s. I think this is the critical time,” Nahom said.

The Air Force eventually wants to grow to a fleet of 220 bombers. As the B-21 comes online, the service will begin sending B-1s and B-2s to the boneyard.

The Air Force expects the first B-21 to roll out of the factory and make its first flight in 2022, when it heads to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for testing. The first of 17 B-1s planned for retirement already flew to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., as the service prepares to draw down that fleet to 45 aircraft, split about evenly between its two operating bases: Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., and Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.

Minot B-52s Head to Guam for Bomber Task Force Deployment

July 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

B-52s returned to the Pacific this week for a bomber task force rotation during which they will take part in a large-scale, Australian-led exercise.

The B-52s deployed from the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., touching down at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on July 14, according to a Pacific Air Forces release. The deployment comes after the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., deployed to the base in April.

As part of this deployment, the bombers will take part in Talisman Saber 2021. The exercise will include more than 17,000 personnel from Australia and the U.S., along with participants from Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. India, Indonesia, France, and Germany will observe, Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said during a July 14 briefing.

The exercise “will strengthen our relationships and interoperability among key allies and partners and enhance collective capability to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.

The B-52 deployment shows that the Stratofortress is still carrying the load for the Air Force’s bomber fleet, as the B-1 faces readiness issues that include a stand down earlier this year. B-52s are also currently deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

B-1s last deployed to Andersen as part of a bomber task force in October 2020. The Air Force shifted to the bomber task force model from the continuous bomber presence mission in April 2020, favoring smaller, less predictable rotations of aircraft to the region.