DOD: Troop Level May Increase in Afghanistan as Withdrawal Process Begins

DOD: Troop Level May Increase in Afghanistan as Withdrawal Process Begins

April 16, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The number of troops deployed to Afghanistan could increase in the coming months to enable the full withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces, a DOD spokesman said, and it is too early to tell what the remaining contractor presence will be to continue support for Afghan forces.

President Joe Biden announced April 14 that it is “time to end the forever war” in Afghanistan, with troops beginning to leave May 1 and a full withdrawal by Sept. 11, 2021. The announcement is an extension from the prior deadline of early May, which was agreed upon as part of the 2020 U.S. agreement with the Taliban.

Still, it is “not out of the realm of the possible” that more troops will deploy in the coming months to Afghanistan to meet the needs that arise as part of the retrograde, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said in an April 16 briefing. For example, additional engineering, logistics, and force protection forces could be needed to allow for a “safe, orderly, and deliberately planned” drawdown.

Because the original deadline was coming up soon, there were existing “preliminary plans in place” for the withdrawal that are being revisited, Kirby said. More information on the withdrawal could be expected soon, he said.

“Military leadership is working on that right now,” Kirby said, adding that “further tasking is coming from (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd J.) Austin very, very soon.”

There was a short plus-up of forces inside Iraq in 2011 as part of that withdrawal process. However, the situation is very different in Afghanistan—a different environment, and a Taliban that has publicly said it would target U.S. forces if the original schedule did not hold.

“We’ve seen their threats, and it would be imprudent for us not to take those threats seriously,” Kirby said. “… Any attack on our forces, allies, and partners as they draw down will be met very forcefully.”

U.S. officials have said the military would be postured for counter terrorism operations from “over the horizon,” outside of Afghanistan. Kirby would not provide details on what this would entail, but said there is “a wide range of capabilities at our disposal” and the Pentagon intends “to use all our capabilities in whatever mix is best appropriate to deal with that particular threat.”

In announcing withdrawal plans, Austin said the U.S. military would continue its support of the Afghan Air Force and special mission wing. The AAF, especially the A-29, C-130, MD-530, and HH-60 fleets, rely heavily on American contract support to remain operational. Kirby said it is too early to say what the remaining contract presence inside Afghanistan will be after U.S. and coalition forces withdraw.

Afghan forces have “greatly improved over the years,” but like any military, there are “capability gaps” remaining. “We are going to continue to stand by them” Kirby said.

USAF Calls for Applicants for Program to Help Train New Pilots

USAF Calls for Applicants for Program to Help Train New Pilots

April 16, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Active-duty Airmen interested in becoming rated officers can now apply to train with the Civil Air Patrol and start their paths to becoming pilots.

The Air Force has opened the application window for the Fall 2021 Rated Preparatory Program, the fourth iteration of the approach started in 2019 to help address the service’s pilot shortage.

“The Rated Preparatory Program is a unique opportunity for officers and enlisted,” said Col. John O’Dell, Aircrew Task Force deputy director, in a release. “For anyone who is considering pursuing a career as a rated officer, and wants to gain basic aviation skills to become more competitive, RPP can make a significant difference. The experiences gained in RPP will help members compete at Undergraduate Flying Training boards.”

The last iteration of the program included 40 officers and 20 enlisted Airmen. Those selected complete an online ground course followed by a one-week in-resident course focused on aviation fundamentals, the release states. After that, the participants will get seven to 10 flight hours, ground instruction, and time in a flight simulator.

Participants will train with the Civil Air Patrol wing in Columbus, Ind.

Following completion, officers must still apply to the Undergraduate Flying Training selection board to continue their progress to becoming a USAF pilot. Enlisted personnel need to apply to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps, or Officer Training Corps to commission.

SDA Outlines Missile Tracking Satellite Plan

SDA Outlines Missile Tracking Satellite Plan

April 16, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

The Defense Department’s Space Development Agency wants to blanket Earth with a constellation of low-cost, open-architecture data-relay and missile-tracking satellites whose sheer numbers, along with their 1,000-kilometer-high orbits, would theoretically thwart some modes of interference—but not all. 

With all going according to plan so far, SDA expects to launch five technology-demonstration satellites this year to test the feasibility of the National Defense Space Architecture plan. SDA Director Derek Tournear updated the Washington Space Business Roundtable on the SDA’s flagship program April 14. 

The envisioned mesh-networked constellation, communicating among itself with lasers, would be widely sourced to prevent a single manufacturer from adversely affecting the whole thing and frequently refreshed with new satellites to upgrade the functionality. 

In terms of the fiscal 2022 federal budget request, expected in May, Tournear has “no reason to believe that there’s going to be any significant reshuffling to say, ‘No, this is not the road we want to go on now,’” he said. “Nothing has changed within the department that I can tell as far as priorities and needs and this kind of overarching plan.” 

The SDA started in 2019. Tournear has a Ph.D in physics and worked as director of research and development for Harris Space and Intelligence Systems before joining the office of the under secretary of defense for research and engineering a bit earlier in 2019 as assistant director of space. SDA will move from that office to become part of the Space Force in October 2022, which is appropriate, Tournear said, because it allows SDA to provide combatant commanders with this type of equipment. 

Tournear said the proliferation—numerous satellites in the constellation—is its defense against anti-satellite missiles and contends that its 1,000-kilometer-high orbits will make the satellites “fairly well protected” from directed-energy weapons on the ground. 

However, he’s worried about cyber hacks and infiltration into the supply chain: 

“Cyber and supply chain problems are common mode failures, so it doesn’t matter if I have one satellite or I have a thousand satellites, those may have the ability to take them all out,” he said.

Here’s the plan: 

2021 tech demos: Two launches of five satellites in June and July involve Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and 10 commercial vendors to demonstrate aspects of the communications and infrared missile detection. 

2022: Twenty data-relay satellites (10 each by Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems) plus eight wide-field-of-view satellites for missile tracking (four each by L3 Harris and SpaceX) demonstrate that the constellation would be able to detect a hypersonic missile and to communicate among satellites and with the air and ground. Together, the 28 satellites are expected to form “the initial kernel of the mesh network and the capability that the war fighters can then use in their exercises,” Tournear said.  

The average cost of the fix-priced contracts for the data-relay satellites is $14.1 million, Tournear said. He said early signs point to even lower price tags for the 2024 fleet.  

“That just shows: Commoditization has burned down the prices of these satellites,” he said, referring to technologies that have become commonplace. “That really enables this proliferation. That’s how you get resiliency, and that’s how you get persistence … hundreds and hundreds of satellites at this kind of cost point.” 

2024: One hundred fifty data-relay satellites provide “initial war-fighting capability,” Tournear said. “This mesh network in space that you can plug and play into with your Link 16 radios, and maybe some other tactical data links, to enable you to have that connectivity so that it can affect a fight.” SDA has asked for manufacturer comments on what’s possible at this stage and expects the request for proposals to build the satellites to go out in August 2021. Tournear said plans are underway for about another 40 tracking satellites around this stage. 

Future phases would provide “full global persistence, 24/7, all around the globe,” Tournear said, plus incorporate lessons learned and adapt to address evolving threats.

Thunderbirds to Debut New Performance as Team Returns to a Full Schedule

Thunderbirds to Debut New Performance as Team Returns to a Full Schedule

April 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Thunderbirds will kick off their 2021 season on April 17, debuting an overhauled aerial performance routine following a 2020 air show season largely canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Air Force Demonstration Team will debut the new routine at the Cocoa Beach Air Show in Florida April 17-18, the first of more than 20 scheduled air shows on the calendar.

Without a full season last year, the team focused on “enhancing” both aerial and on-the-ground demonstrations, according to a release, the first major update to the routine since 1983, when it began flying the F-16.

“We are very excited about the changes we have made,” said Col. John Caldwell, Thunderbirds commander and leader, in the release. “One of our main goals was to take a look at our show sequence and enhance the design with the crowd experience in mind.”

The new demonstration includes reordering regular maneuvers and adding two new ones: the “Low Bomb Burst with hit,” which will be flown in every show, and the “Stinger Cross Break,” which will be flown in six-ship low and flat shows and five-ship shows, according to the release. The intent is “on increasing crowd excitement” and “tapping into the emotions of onlookers,” the team said.

On the ground, maintainers have a new choreographed “drill-style” performance to start the demonstration.

“We looked at how to get the aircraft out, taxied, and airborne in a more efficient manner, so the crowd can enjoy both the ground show performance and the aerial demonstration,” said Capt. Mike Bell, Thunderbirds Maintenance officer, in the release. “We shortened the number of steps to launch the F-16s and replaced verbal communication with hand signals.”

The new show has been shortened from 90 minutes to 50 minutes, with new music and narration.

“The best action is going to be right there on the show line,” Caldwell said in the release. “The crowd will feel the thunder in their chest by hearing the jets roar, seeing the speed, seeing the motion, and seeing the precision of our team while flying 18 inches apart, and [that will] project the power, pride, and professionalism of the U.S. Air Force to the American public.”

Video of the Cocoa Beach show will be available here.

South Carolina Air Guard F-16s Deploy to Saudi Arabia

South Carolina Air Guard F-16s Deploy to Saudi Arabia

April 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

About 300 Airmen and F-16s from the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing deployed to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, recently for an expeditionary force deployment.

The F-16s, deployed to the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, will “increase defensive capabilities against potential threats in the region,” the wing said in an April 14 release. The deployment is the largest for the wing since 2018, and will last “several months.”

“Swamp Fox Airmen are once again honored to deploy in support of our great nation’s national security objectives,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Akshai Gandhi, 169th Fighter Wing commander, in the release. “Our Citizen-Airmen are fully integrated with our active component brothers and sisters to partner with our allies in the Central Command area of responsibility to deliver air power where and when needed.”

The deployment is the second from South Carolina in the past 18 months. South Carolina F-16s and Airmen from the 77th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., deployed to Saudi Arabia in October 2020.

The Air Force built up Prince Sultan Air Base in 2019 as tensions rose with Iran, deploying fighter aircraft and U.S. Army Patriot missiles at the time.

Senators Seek Answers for Deterring Cyber Threats

Senators Seek Answers for Deterring Cyber Threats

April 15, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

Adversaries may not yet fear a U.S. response to cyberattacks, but they no longer think America is standing idly by.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, on the issue during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing April 14. “Do our adversaries fear our response in cyberspace?” King asked. “Are they deterred to the point of changing their calculus as to whether or not to launch a cyber intrusion or an attack against us? Is there an adequate deterrent or is this something we still need to establish as a matter of policy?”

Nakasone said he was “not sure” adversaries feel deterred. “But here’s what I know that our adversaries understand that’s different today than it was several years ago,” he said: “We are not going to be standing by on the sidelines, not being involved in terms of what’s going on with cyberspace and cybersecurity.”

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified along with Nakasone and the directors of the CIA, FBI, and Defense Intelligence Agency. All agreed that China poses the biggest threat, from its practice of “vaccine diplomacy” to building influence with countries in need, Haines said, to its ability to hack infrastructure and steal intellectual property from industry, universities, and government labs.

At a hearing following the release of the 2021 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, the intel chiefs elaborated on threats ranging from cyberattacks on water systems, power grids, and other critical infrastructure to cybersecurity “blind spots,” such as hacking operations run from inside the U.S., which are harder for the CIA and other internationally focused agencies to monitor.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said no other nation “presents a more severe threat to our innovation, our economic security and our democratic ideas” than China. “The tools in their toolbox to influence our businesses, our academic institutions, our governments at all levels, are deep and wide and persistent,” he said.

After China, the intel chiefs idenfied the next greatest threats, in order:

  • Russia. Russia will continue to use its “technical prowess” try to erode U.S. influence and western alliances, Haines said. She said Russia employs mercenary operations, assassinations, arms sales, and malign influence campaigns, such as interfering in U.S. elections. Such techniques are increasingly bold and make little effort to mask the activities.
  • Iran. Iran aims to “project power” in its region, Haines said, and to “deflect international pressure” by using Iraq as a battleground for influence. “Iran will also continue to pursue a permanent military presence in Syria, destabilize Yemen and threaten Israel,” Haines said.
  • North Korea. The Kim Jong Un regime will try to “drive wedges” between the United States and its allies and could resume testing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the chiefs surmise.

Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) said global cyber trends are “worrisome,” with state actors involved in cyber activity that threatens us. Then, pressing on the issue of response and deterrence, he spoke for a number of his panel members: “I think, probably, the reason is there doesn’t seem to be that much of a price they pay for this.”

New General Officer Nominations Announced for Air and Space Forces

New General Officer Nominations Announced for Air and Space Forces

April 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The U.S. Space Force will get a new two-star general, and several USSF and USAF colonels have been nominated to receive their first star, in a slate of nominations announced April 15.

Air Force Brig. Gen. David N. Miller Jr. has been nominated to the rank of major general. He is serving as the assistant deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear for the Space Force at the Pentagon, according to a Defense Department release.

The following colonels have been nominated to the rank of brigadier general:

  • Col. John R. Andrus, who is serving as the command surgeon at Headquarters U.S. Transportation Command at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.
  • Col. Robert K. Bogart, who is the command surgeon for Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
  • Col. Gail E. Crawford, who is the staff judge advocate at Headquarters Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.
  • Col. Alfred K. Flowers Jr., who is the surgeon general, U.S. Space Force, at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
  • Col. Thomas W. Harrell, who is the deputy director, medical operations and research, Headquarters U.S. Air Force Surgeon General in Falls Church, Va.
Jolly Green II Finishes Developmental Test

Jolly Green II Finishes Developmental Test

April 15, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force’s next combat rescue helicopter, the HH-60W Jolly Green II, concluded 23 months of developmental testing on April 13.

Since its first flight in May 2019, a joint Air Force and Sikorsky team has flown more than 1,100 test hours in six aircraft, with the final test focused on the aircraft’s weapons systems, according to an Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., release.

“The timely completion of this test program represents an amazing accomplishment by the HH-60W Integrated Test Team,” said Joe Whiteaker, the 413th Flight Test Squadron HH-60W flight chief, in the release. “The team consistently overcame tremendous adversity through a mix of innovation and sheer determination.”

Test areas included the aircraft’s performance, communications systems, environmental testing, aerial refueling, data links, defensive systems, cabin systems, rescue hoist, and live-fire of three weapons on the aircraft, the release states.

Next, the aircraft that were at Eglin will be modified and then move on to their units. Follow-on testing begins next year at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., under the direction of the Combat Search and Rescue Combined Test Force.

Sikorsky in February said it had delivered eight Jolly Green IIs and plans to deliver one helicopter per month beginning this summer. Steven Hill, the company’s Combat Rescue Helicopter program director, said then it was too early to tell how well the helicopters were performing in the tests.

Sikorsky is under contract to deliver 22 helicopters, with the potential for a follow-on award for 19 more that could come as soon as this summer. The Air Force ultimately wants at least 100 of the aircraft to replace its HH-60G Pave Hawk fleet, at a total cost approaching $7.5 billion. 

Space Force Announces 12 Outstanding Airmen, Guardians, and Civilians of the Year

Space Force Announces 12 Outstanding Airmen, Guardians, and Civilians of the Year

April 15, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond and Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman announced the 2019 USSF Outstanding Airmen, Guardians, and Civilians of the year in a video posted to social media on April 13.

Raymond said each of the winners have “gone above and beyond,” and “demonstrated incredible agility, innovation, and boldness.” He thanked each of them for their service, leadership, and contributions to the service, noting they have all “made history.”

“The 12 of you form the very best of our nationally critical service. Your actions deliver advantages every day to the nation, to the joint force, and to the American people,” Raymond said. “… Thank you for pushing the limits of what’s possible, for changing the status quo, for challenging us to rethink our assumptions, for orienting our actions in a warfighting domain. Each of you live our motto, you ensure our nation is ‘Always Above.’”

The winners were originally going to be recognized during an event in 2020, which was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Space Force leaders posted the video to “give the winners the recognition they deserve,” the service said in a statement.

The Air Force Association will shine a spotlight on each of the 12 winners over the next few weeks.

They are:

  • Capt. Deborah B. Kim, Space and Missile Systems Center
  • Senior Master Sgt. Cory L. Shipp, 50th Force Support Squadron, 50th Space Wing
  • Master Sgt. Shannon M. Brady, 721st Operations Group, 21st Space Wing
  • Tech Sgt. Jacob A. Frierdich, 460th Force Support Squadron, 460th Space Wing
  • Tech Sgt. Gregory W. Johnson, 460th Force Support Squadron, 460th Space Wing
  • Staff Sgt. Akia D. Carter, 30th Force Support Squadron, 30th Space Wing
  • Senior Airman Cassidy B. Basney, 50th Operations Support Squadron, 50th Space Wing
  • Aaron M. Solano, Space and Missile Systems Center
  • Justin C. Hensley, 460th Space Control Squadron, 460th Space Wing
  • Nina R. Charlier, 45th Force Support Squadron, 45th Space Wing
  • Christopher L. Dodson, 614th Air and Space Operations Center
  • Jennifer L. Connot, Space and Missile Systems Center