CQ Brown Says Air Force Must Match Changing Character of War

July 2, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is fashioning a fighting force to match what he describes as the “changing character of war,” one where all domains are contested and capabilities matter more than numbers, he told the Atlantic Council on July 1.

As the United States moves away from the Middle East theater and focuses on meeting the challenges of great power competition with China and Russia, Brown questioned the mainstream thinking that America needs to win with quantity of fighter aircraft. Rather, he focused on the mix of capabilities required to overcome a technologically advanced adversary. He also called for a willingness to experiment in the digital realm while staying vigilant to counter rising cyber threats.

“Our future conflicts will be different,” he said, underscoring how Mideast conflicts are winding down.

“Our future adversaries will not allow us permissive access like we’ve been accustomed to in the past, and [we] will be contested at every level, in every domain, and I would submit that we are contested today,” he added.

A technologically more advanced adversary in China or Russia requires a more advanced aircraft.

The Air Force asked to retire a total of 201 legacy aircraft in its 2022 budget request and it will buy 91 new ones, as it looks to posture itself to keep pace with peer adversaries. Planning for the fiscal 2023 budget is underway amid a fiscally constrained environment, and Brown said the service is contemplating what the future force needs to look like.

“It’s easy for us to talk about numbers, and we’re also talking about capability,” he said, giving an example of a comparison between the F-86 and the F-35. “What I really look at is the capabilities required … [as] we look at where the Air Force needs to be about the 2035 timeframe.”

Brown posed that the United States Air Force now possesses “some” of that capability, what he described as a mix of air superiority, global strike, command and control, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

“I want to make sure we have the right mix of capabilities with the right numbers to make it come together,” he said.

Worrying About Cyber

Brown admitted that in the last couple of decades, adversaries have looked for America’s military weaknesses and increasingly targeted the cyber domain.

“The internet security environment has changed,” he said. “Our competitors have worked to blunt our capabilities and erode what I would call our comparative advantages that we had as an Air Force, as a joint force.”

The impact of cyber interference by adversaries is one that plays out on a daily basis in the lives of Americans, Brown said, offering by way of explanation all the information that can be manipulated on an iPhone.

The U.S. needs “to be in a position to move information,” he said. “That’s why the Advanced Battle Management System for us is really how we move information, how we move data, to help improve decision making well ahead of a crisis.”

The fast and secure movement of information must be able to flow from senior leaders to lower-level commanders, but it also means working when that information flow is disconnected or incomplete.

“It’s better to be better prepared with information up front, so if you’re disconnected, you have an aspect of kind of what’s going on,” he said. “You want to be able to have the right information, bring those data sources together, and then be able to use various tools to parse through the information you need to know.”

In a recent KesselRun interview, Air Combat Command’s Deputy Commander, Lt. Gen. Christopher P. Weggeman, described the need for a rapid system of information distribution that is decentralized.

He used an analogy of an Apple Store as headquarters and the end-point devices, such as phones, tablets, and applications to explain the Air Force needs.

“We need an ecosystem that can both be centralized, but [also] rapidly distributed and decentralized, and can work decentralized,” he said. “Whether when we’re connected to the backbone at a high, high, rate of speed; and be highly insightful using AI [artificial intelligence] and ML [machine learning], and be able to do the same when it’s disconnected.”

Then there is the need to “quickly transition between connected and disconnected states; that’s kind of the federated and distributed command and control architecture we need” to be competitive against Russia and China.

Brown said as adversaries test the gray zone boundaries of cyber warfare, the risk for miscalculation rises.

“I personally have been thinking about … the norms of behavior in cyber,” he said. “You look at some of these most recent events that have transpired, because that could lead to a miscalculation.”

Brown said the Air Force needs to continue down the path of digital engineering while remaining cognizant of the risks of operating in the cyber and digital environment.

He offered the example of joint all-domain command and control.

“There is value in this rapid experimentation approach because it’s a way for us to disrupt how we do business,” he said.

Brown said new risks must be taken to realize the Air Force of the future.

“We can’t do the same thing and expect a different result if we’re going to change ourselves for the future,” he said.

“This is an opportunity for us to look at some things that we disrupt, how we do things on a normal basis,” Brown added, while noting his observation of what is done in the tech sector that can be tried at DOD. “It’s an opportunity for us to take a hard look and go experience certain areas, and the aspect of being able to … fail fast, but fail forward.”

Cloud One: Enabling Cloud For Almost Any Department of Defense Use Case

July 2, 2021

The Department of Defense embraced the concept of cloud computing almost a decade ago, but the practical realities of contracts and implementation slowed adoption.

Uncertainty about cost and the lack of cloud engineering talent proved challenging to the same commands that were eager to leverage cloud’s benefits in speed and flexibility.

“Security and compliance concerns added to the reticence,” says Joanne Akhavan, SAIC’s deputy program manager for Cloud One, an Air Force platform modernized and managed by SAIC.

For the Department of the Air Force—and throughout the Department of Defense—Cloud One is a one-stop-shop for acquiring secure cloud services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, and Google—always preconfigured to meet exacting DOD security requirements. Oracle services are also expected to be supported in the coming year.

In addition to multiple cloud offerings, Cloud One is designed for “the cloud curious” and not just “cloud experts,” Akhavan says. “Cloud One enables customers that don’t really have the technical skills or resources to manage their own cloud migration and to take advantage of all the modernized IT capabilities that the cloud has to offer,” Akhavan says. “You get the efficiencies and scalability and security benefits of the cloud without having to be a certified cloud architect or engineer.”

One of those security benefits is a Zero Trust Architecture implemented by the Air Force, a stance that protects customers from malicious acts from outside, or from within, the cloud, such as the recent Solar Winds attack.

Pricing and choice are all built in. “We have AWS. We have Azure. We have Google Cloud,” Akhavan says. “And over the next year, we plan to add OCI, which is Oracle’s cloud infrastructure.”

Through Cloud One’s Kickstart, or C1K, program anyone with a CAC card can sign up for an initial engagement session, where Cloud One specialists can help walk customers through the cloud adoption process. Following that initial discussion, Cloud One technical teams will work customers through every step of the process.

“What we offer is full lifecycle support,” she explains. Technical teams can analyze legacy applications and develop cost estimates both for the initial migration and the long-term sustainment of cloud workloads. The analysis addresses the gamut of questions, from schedule, to cost, to risk assessment and the steps necessary to execute a successful migration. The power Cloud One gives DOD customers is a secure, scalable way to access the latest technologies and best industry practices available in commercial clouds.

Experts can also guide customers through the myriad options that can help manage costs. “Cloud offers a lot of options for pricing,” says Akhavan. On-demand plans let cloud adopters pay only for the bandwidth they actually use. Limiting the days or times of day a system is accessible can help reduce the price tag, for example.

Determining how best to migrate a system—whether to lift-and-shift, or whether to replace a legacy solution with something new that leverages the advantages of cloud—is something else Cloud One experts can help with.

“Automated software deployment tools, supported by a DevSecOps development framework, mean Cloud One customers can even develop brand-new, cloud-native apps with extraordinary speed,” Akhavan says.

Case in point: The Air Force’s new recruiting app, Aim High, was deployed in just two months, Akhavan says, making use of cutting-edge serverless technology “which essentially means they didn’t have to worry about infrastructure, even though it’s a global deployment.”

The Aim High effort involved industry and Air Force mission owners working together for a superior outcome. Cloud One technical teams provide whatever level of support customers require for migration—and they can offer operational support afterward once a customer’s cloud instance is up and running and their app has received its Authority-to-Operate, or ATO.

“Using modern software development practices, like continuous integration/continuous deployment, Aim High completed its migration ahead of schedule and under budget,” Akhavan says. Pinged an average of 11 times a second by current and would-be Air Force personnel all over the world, Aim High is one of the “lowest cost-per-hit applications out there,” she notes, and “It’s been up 100 percent of the time since it’s been deployed. You can’t get more reliable than that.”

“Aim High is just one of more than 65 applications that Cloud One has successfully migrated to the cloud; 42 more are in the pipeline,” Akhavan says, “and another 25 are in the analysis phase.”

Impact Level 6

Cloud One services can run the range from public-facing to sensitive Impact Level 6 missions. Air Force Headquarters A4 is using Cloud One to support mission-critical logistics workloads. To date, Cloud One has one application operating at Impact Level 6—which is the secret level—and four more in the pipeline, Akhavan says.

Cloud One facilitates and promotes Zero Trust for identity and access management, Akhavan says. And its pre-configured cloud services—what Akhavan calls providing “infrastructure as code” (IAC)—spares customers many of the time-consuming procedures that can slow cloud migrations to a crawl. Because security testing and certifications are already built in, agencies can more rapidly gain the necessary Authority-to-Operate, or ATO.

“A mission application coming into Cloud One inherits our ATO for all the common services we offer,” says Akhavan. “So the only part they need to worry about is the coding they put on top of that.”

The payoff: Cloud One migrations are 40 to 60 percent faster.

Akhavan sees cloud services continuing to evolve rapidly, especially as the Air Force accelerates its adoption of digital engineering, which uses software models to test and prototype new systems and predict products and predict when existing ones will need maintenance—a great use case because the software licenses are so expensive. Cloud One is already providing digital engineering as a service—allowing different mission systems owners who use digital engineering to share computing resources and the cost of those very expensive licenses.

Accelerating cloud adoption is vital, says Akhavan, because it is the linchpin of digital transformation. “A fully digital organization gives its people the ability to connect, to access the technology they need to complete their mission, from any place, anywhere, anytime, using any device,” she says. “All that is only enabled by cloud—by the global connectivity and the data accessibility you get from cloud. That is what unlocks it all.”

Raytheon Receives $2 Billion EMD Contract for LRSO Missiles

July 1, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force awarded a $2 billion contract to Raytheon Missiles and Defense to engineer and develop the Long Range Standoff (LRSO) weapon system, the service’s next-generation air-launched nuclear missile.

The deal, announced July 1, is for the engineering and manufacturing development phase, which is set to last through February 2027 as Raytheon will continue to develop the cruise missiles, with a goal of demonstrating full production readiness. The contract was the result of a sole-source acquisition.

“The team’s extensive work—with a major focus on digital engineering—and close collaboration with the Air Force throughout the technology maturation and risk reduction phase, has guided us to an EMD contract award,” said Paul Ferraro, vice president of Air Power at Raytheon Missiles & Defense, in a statement to Air Force Magazine. “Transitioning to the EMD phase is a big step toward delivering this critical capability to the Air Force to strengthen our nation’s deterrence posture.”

The announcement comes just a few months after the Air Force announced in April that the service was proceeding with Raytheon as the highly classified program’s “sole source contractor” on the technology, maturation, and risk reduction (TMRR) phase, removing competitor Lockheed Martin.

Raytheon’s TMRR deal was worth $900 million and was expected to run through 2022. The Air Force said at the time that it had “high confidence” in choosing the Raytheon missile design due to the success of the program.

The LRSO is slated to replace the nuclear AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile beginning in about 2030, equipping the B-52 and B-21 bombers as one-third of the nuclear triad. Its range is expected to be in excess of 1,500 miles, and first flight could come in 2022.

The Air Force’s 2022 budget request included $609 million for the program. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2017 that the LRSO will cost $10 billion to produce 1,000 missiles, for a unit cost of $10 million apiece, but the Arms Control Association has estimated the cost could be closer to $20 billion.

The LRSO represents just part of the Air Force’s nuclear modernization efforts. The Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, being developed by Northrop Grumman, is scheduled to have its first flight in 2023. The GBSD is expected to achieve initial operational capability in 2029 and full operational capability with 400 missiles seven years later in 2036.

Army, Navy Space Units to Begin Transfer to Space Force This Year

July 1, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

The Space Force will begin to convert Sailors and Soldiers into Guardians this month and unit transfers from the Army and Navy will play out over the next couple of years. But just as the Air Force is not the only service with aircraft, the Space Force will not be the only service in space.

Lt. Gen. Nina M. Armagno, the Space Force’s director of staff, told Air Force Magazine the services are agreed on which organizations will transfer. “Some services may retain their own space capabilities.” She did not provide details, but said announcements will come on transfers later this year.

Speaking at a Mitchell Institute Space Power Advantage Research Center (MI-SPARC) Space Power Forum at AFA’s Doolittle Leadership Center, Armagno said transfers must play out slowly, in the next “year or two,” because shifting control is not like flipping a switch.

“When we transfer units and missions, we have to make sure that the mission does not fail,” Armagno said. “And so that requires deep evaluation, which we’re doing today.”

In a wide-ranging discussion that covered the progress made in the service’s first 18 months, Armagno zeroed in on the current threats posed by China and Russia, describing adversary anti-satellite capabilities and the largely vulnerable U.S. space architecture.

China’s Shijian-17 satellite has a robotic arm that can be used to grab and destroy an American satellite, she said. China has said the robotic arm in its technology is for repairing satellites or conducting maintenance in space, but she called that misleading.

“If you’re going to repair something, it needs to be repairable,” Armagno said. “If it’s going to be refueled, it needs to have a fuel port. … This is not the case with their satellites.”

U.S. satellites are likewise not designed to be refueled or repaired. “So, Shijian-17, we see it as a weapon,” she said.

Armagno also cited Russia’s recent testing of a ground-based anti-satellite weapon designed to destroy small satellites in low Earth orbit. Such threats gets at the heart of the creation of the new service, Armagno said, deterring aggression and assuring space operations, which are vital to the ground forces.

Armagno listed the commands that have already stood up, including Space Operations Command (SpOC) in Colorado Springs in 2020 and this summer’s upcoming Space Systems Command (SSC) in Los Angeles, and she previewed the upcoming Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM).

She also spoke of a flattened management structure in the Pentagon headquarters to encourage efficiency and creativity. The “C suite” leadership design was assisted by private consultants and modeled after the structure of the National Reconnaissance Office. Still, only some 250 staff members have onboarded at the headquarters, about one third of the total envisioned.

Space Force now has 5,600 Guardians and about 12,000 personnel at present. Armagno said the vision is for a “lean, agile, and mission focused” service that totals about 16,000, a goal that may be some years off, she indicated.

In part, budget restrictions have limited the number of transfers from other services to just 50 this fiscal year, with another 350 planned for the next fiscal year, the Space Force indicated June 30. The Space Force in 2020 advertised 41 civilian jobs and received 5,722 applicants, demonstrating a much higher demand than growth rate.

Armagno admitted that new strategies will have to be employed to recruit and retain talent and compete with the high-paying private space industry.

“We just don’t think the traditional Air Force, if you will, or even Army, Navy recruiting methods are necessarily going to work for the Space Force,” she said. “We’re looking for a certain level of innovation and creativity.”

Congress, too, has limited how quickly Space Force can staff up.

Thousands of Air Force personnel remain administratively assigned to Space Force and have not yet been transferred. Likewise, the Army and Navy are not required to transfer their space assets, so Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond must negotiate with the services to voluntarily give up their assets, and potentially, their personnel.

Armagno said Space Force does not need new congressional authority.

“No, we don’t lack congressional authority. The services are working together,” she told Air Force Magazine.

The transfer process for personnel is stipulated by Congress to be voluntary, which means the service members in those positions may choose to stay with their service or must be counted and undergo training as Guardians. A training pipeline has to be set up to support the mission.

“I think you’ll see—this calendar year and into next—you’ll see the majority of our transfers,” she added.

Editor’s Note: This story was corrected on July 2 and updated with additional information from the Space Force. The original incorrectly stated the number of units moving that will transfer and the stage of interservice negotiations about what units will move. Those decisions are complete, but not yet announced, the Space Force said.

ISIS in Afghanistan Remains a ‘Serious Threat,’ Special Envoy Warns

July 1, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

As the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan reaches its final stages, the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch in the country remains a “serious threat,” warned John T. Godfrey, the acting U.S. Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

Speaking with reporters on a call July 1, Godfrey echoed other recent warnings from American officials and generals that the Islamic State group’s presence in Afghanistan, thought to be severely diminished just a few years ago, is far from completely eradicated.

“Regarding the ISIS-Khorasan branch in Afghanistan, it is a group that we have been focused on for some time. We assess that it constitutes a serious threat. It’s one that we’ve certainly been focused on,” said Godfrey, who also serves as acting coordinator of counterterrorism in the State Department. “And I think that the assessment … by U.S. military leadership of the potential for that group to reconstitute capability within two years is consistent with what we’ve heard from other quarters of the U.S. government, so I think we would echo that.”

Concerns over the stability of the Afghan government have increased significantly as the U.S. drawdown there continues. More than 50 percent of U.S. troops are now out of the country, the Defense Department has said, and reports from Reuters and CNN indicate the formal withdrawal could be complete in a matter of days.

At the same time, the Taliban has surged, seizing a number of strategically important districts. Gen. Austin S. Miller, commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission, offered a bleak assessment of the situation June 29, warning of a potential civil war, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. defense officials have said they will continue to conduct “over-the-horizon” operations in support of Afghanistan once the withdrawal is complete, though details on where forces will be stationed long-term have yet to be publicly shared.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III met with Uzbekistan Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov at the Pentagon on July 1. Uzbekistan shares a border with Afghanistan and has reportedly already been approached by U.S. officials about potentially letting American forces use bases in the region.

The particular threat of ISIS in Afghanistan, meanwhile, is one that cannot be ignored, Godfrey said. While the Taliban remains the largest threat to the Afghan government and has waged offenses against ISIS-Khorasan in the past, the Islamic State has shown a capability for resilience, both in Afghanistan and more broadly.

“They remain quite persistent and quite patient in terms of trying to reconstitute capability and reassert some level of presence, and in some cases control, in areas where they’ve previously suffered setbacks,” Godfrey said.

And while the organization as a whole retains hopes of re-establishing a territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria, it continues to increase its presence in other Asian and African countries, Godfrey said. That marked a key emphasis in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’s Ministerial in Rome on June 28.

“One of the things I think is interesting about that is that they have managed to devolve some level of authority to those local wilayat in terms of organization, revenue generation, and in some cases, the authority to plot and execute attacks,” Godfrey said. “And that, I think, is something that is quite troubling and that we remain quite focused on.”

Why Frank Kendall’s Nomination to be Air Force Secretary Remains on Hold

July 1, 2021 | By Abraham Mahshie

Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is holding up Frank Kendall’s nomination for Air Force Secretary over the Pentagon’s decision to award the F-35 international training center to Arkansas’s Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Air Force Magazine has learned.

Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township possessed “superior qualifications” in the bid, a Peters spokesperson told Air Force Magazine on July 1 in response to inquiries as to why Peters, along with Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Utah Republican Mike Lee, have put holds on the nomination vote.

Warren has yet to respond to a request for comment, and Lee’s office declined to confirm or deny that a hold was in place.

“Senator Peters wants—and Michigan deserves—additional information and data from the Air Force and the Department of Defense regarding its process surrounding the recent F-35 international training center decision,” the Peters spokesperson said.

At Kendall’s May 25 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Peters sought a commitment from the nominee for a fair and transparent selection process, should he be confirmed before the Air Force decision was made.

“Its location clearly exceeds all of the mission requirements,” Peters told Kendall, highlighting the existing infrastructure, runway length, and number of aircraft shelters.

“Michigan hosts the largest contiguous joint overland service range airspace complex east of the Mississippi River,” Peters added. “In addition, the folks on the ground in Macomb County have been enthusiastic hosts of this base for over 100 years.”

The Air Force announced June 3 that Ebbing Air National Guard base in Fort Smith, Ark., would be the preferred location for the F-35 Lightning II training center.

The training center initiative stems from a request by allies for a U.S.-based F-16 and F-35 training center.

In testimony, Peters said Singapore would train its F-16 and F-35 pilots there, while F-35 pilots from Finland, Poland, and Switzerland would also use the base. Meanwhile, the Swiss government announced June 30 a $5.5 billion award to Lockheed Martin to make the F-35A its preferred fighter aircraft.

Selfridge was chosen as an alternate location for the training center should Ebbing fail an environmental assessment study.

The Republic of Singapore’s F-16 Fighting Falcon training unit is currently based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, but ramp and airspace capacity constraints do not allow an expansion.

The new training center will have a capacity for up to 36 fighter aircraft.

“The reasoning provided so far does not add up,” the Peters spokesperson said. “Senator Peters is fighting for Michigan and to get to the bottom of how and why the Air Force made this decision.”

The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question as to when the senator might lift his hold and whether he intends to allow a vote before the August recess, which is slated for Aug. 9-Sept. 15.

In the meantime, John P. Roth, who has served more than 160 days as acting Air Force Secretary, will remain in that role. He is already the service’s fourth-longest-serving acting secretary and is three weeks away from becoming the longest-serving acting secretary since 1999.

Investigation: Pilot’s Reliance on ‘Seat of the Pants Feel’ Caused February T-38 Crash

July 1, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

An Air Force pilot’s mistake in raising landing gear too quickly during a touch-and-go landing was the main cause of a February crash of a T-38 trainer jet, according to an accident investigation report published June 29.

The crash, which occurred Feb. 18 at Sacramento Mather Airport, Calif., involved a pilot from the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, 9th Reconnaissance Wing, at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. The pilot and the instructor pilot escaped without injuries, but the incident caused roughly $3 million in damage to the T-38A.

On the morning of the accident, the pilot and the instructor were engaged in a training mission involving touch-and-go landings, during which the aircraft briefly lands, then immediately takes off again without fully stopping.

The instructor conducted one successful touch-and-go landing, and the aircraft then circled back and the pilot took control for another attempt.

After initially touching down successfully, the pilot advanced the throttles for takeoff. While doing so, he felt the aircraft “unstick” from the ground, he told investigators. Believing the upward motion to be an appropriate climb away from the runway, the pilot then retracted the plane’s landing gear.

However, the aircraft had not established a positive climb rate and was not “definitely airborne.” As a result, the plane touched back down on the runway with its landing gear not fully deployed. It skidded about 3,850 feet, with a fire breaking out in one of the landing gear bays and the doors to the landing gear bays being ripped off.

The accident investigation board found no evidence of any maintenance or weather issues contributing to the crash, nor any problems with “unit culture, risk management, mission preparation, planning, or briefing.” Both pilots were qualified to fly the mission, and conditions were favorable.

Instead, investigators faulted the pilot for relying on a “seat of the pants feel” to decide the aircraft was airborne with a positive rate of climb instead of verifying it through available instruments in the cockpit and visual cues.

While no one was injured in the crash, the T-38 has been involved in a pair of deadly mishaps in recent years. On Feb. 19, 2021, one day after the Sacramento crash, 1st Lt. Scot Ames Jr. was killed when his T-38 crashed near Montgomery, Ala. In November 2019, an instructor and student pilot died while attempting a T-38 formation landing at Vance Air Force Base, Okla.

Donald Rumsfeld, Two-Time Defense Secretary, Dies at 88

June 30, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Donald Rumsfeld, who made history as the first man to serve as Secretary of Defense for two Presidents and oversaw the beginning of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, died June 30 in Taos, N.M., his family announced on social media. He was 88.

In a career in government spanning decades, Rumsfeld served as a congressman from Illinois’ 13th District, director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, and White House Chief of Staff, in addition to his two stints as Defense Secretary. He was a Cabinet-level aide of President Richard Nixon before becoming the youngest Defense Secretary ever under Gerald Ford in 1975. He then returned to the Pentagon as the second-oldest person ever to lead it, in 2001 under George W. Bush.

“I was saddened to hear today of the passing of former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld,” current Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement issued by the Pentagon. “Mr. Rumsfeld had the singular distinction of holding that post for two nonconsecutive tenures, serving as both the 13th secretary of defense and the 21st. He also served in the U.S. Navy in 1954-57 as a pilot and a flight instructor, and he continued his service as a reservist until 1975, when he became secretary of defense for the first time.

“Over the decades of his remarkable career, from Congress to the White House to the Pentagon, Secretary Rumsfeld was propelled by his boundless energy, probing intellect, and abiding commitment to serve his country. On behalf of the Department of Defense, I extend my deep condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Rumsfeld’s second tenure in the Pentagon coincided with one of the most consequential periods in modern American history. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Rumsfeld oversaw the planning and execution of wars in the Middle East that wound up lasting years. More than 6,000 American troops have died in the region since, and estimates have pegged the financial cost in the trillions of dollars.

Rumsfeld claimed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction in explaining the Bush administration’s justification for an invasion of the country. No such weapons were ever found, and he would admit years later to making “misstatements” on the topic.

Rumsfeld also became embroiled in the controversy surrounding torture and prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and subsequent revelations about “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by the U.S. government at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In the Middle East, Rumsfeld deployed a strategy of smaller, more mobile ground forces with a reliance on more airstrikes, moves that were dubbed by some as the “Rumsfeld Doctrine.” But as the wars dragged on, he came under increasing criticism, culminating in a number of retired generals and admirals publicly calling on him to resign in 2006. While President Bush initially defended him, Rumsfeld resigned after the ’06 midterm elections.

“Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was an exceptional leader who dedicated decades of his life in public service to this nation,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement. “On Sept. 11, 2001, Donald was there to help lead our nation out of one of our darkest days, including running into the Pentagon to assist the wounded and survivors. I also appreciate his help to lay some of the early groundwork for the Space Force. He was an extraordinary man and his loss will be deeply felt. I extend my deepest condolences to the Rumsfeld family and his wife Joyce as they mourn his passing.”

Davis-Monthan to Get Close Air Support, Rescue ‘Centers of Excellence’ if A-10 Cuts Approved

June 30, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force wants to move A-10 Warthogs and HH-60 Pave Hawks to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and create close air support and rescue “Centers of Excellence” at the base if it gets the green light from Congress to retire 42 Warthogs.

The aircraft and related units would come from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., beginning in 2022. The change would add personnel to the Arizona base—a proposal that would aim to win over the state’s Congressional delegation that has moved to block proposed A-10 cuts for years.

“Under this plan, Davis-Monthan will play a critical role in reshaping U.S. airpower as home to the Air Force’s close air support and rescue Centers of Excellence,” Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth said in a release. “This realignment will consolidate all A-10 and HH-60 test, training, and weapon school activity at one location, allowing Airmen in these mission areas to train together for future threats.”

The service, in its fiscal 2022 budget request released in late May, proposed cutting the A-10 fleet from 281 to 218, beginning with 42 aircraft in the first year. Davis-Monthan would lose 35 A-10s in 2022, with others coming from the Indiana Air National Guard.

The new plan would move 14 A-10s and 21 HH-60s from Nellis to Davis-Monthan. Affected units would be the 422nd and 88th Test and Evaluation Squadrons, the 66th Rescue Squadron, the 58th Rescue Squadron, the 34th Weapons Squadron, and the 855th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. The A-10 Weapons Instructor Course would also move.

The Active duty 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan would close if the aircraft retirements are approved.

USAF officials said June 22 that the 122nd Fighter Wing at Fort Wayne, Indiana, would convert back to F-16s if the A-10 cuts are approved.

The move “frees up nearly a thousand Airmen, maintainers, and operators that we can then transition into future platforms, specifically the F-35,” said Lt. Gen. David S. Nahom, the deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for plans and programs, during a June 22 Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee hearing. “As we look at the F-35, we are having resource issues, mostly with manpower … We have to start replacing some platforms.”

USAF would reduce its A-10 operational squadrons from nine to seven, keeping one “full-up” at Osan Air Base, South Korea. Within the continental United States, there will be three Air National Guard squadrons, two Active duty, and one Reserve.