From Air Force to Space Force Base, Buckley Takes ‘Important Step’ With Renaming

June 4, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

The military installation in Aurora, Colorado, has cycled through several names in its 82-year history. On June 4, it received a new one—Buckley Space Force Base.

Buckley was already home to Space Force’s Space Delta 4 and Buckley Garrison before the official June 4 renaming ceremony. But with the switch, it now becomes just the fourth base to take on the Space Force name, joining Vandenberg Space Force Base, California; Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida; and Patrick Space Force Base, Florida.

“The renaming of Buckley Space Force Base is an important step towards establishing our distinct Space Force culture and identity,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, Space Operations Command boss. “By aligning its title to reflect the critical space missions performed here, we signal our steadfast commitment to protecting our nation, our allies, and our mission partners operating in, from, and to space.”

Prior to becoming a Space Force base, the base had been called Buckley Air Force Base. Before that, it had been controlled by the Colorado Air National Guard, the U.S. Navy, and the Army. And as Whiting noted, it will continue to serve as a base for units from all those branches, as well as others.

“Moving forward, Buckley Space Force Base will continue to flourish as a hotbed for integrating new military space technologies, taking on new operational challenges, and providing innovative host support to its ‘Big Six’ mission partners—Space Delta 4, the Colorado Air National Guard’s 140th Wing, the Army Aviation Support Facility, the Navy Operational Support Center, the Air Force Reserve Personnel Center, and the Aerospace Defense Facility-Colorado,” said Whiting.

Buckley was one of the bases under serious consideration for the U.S. Space Command, the combatant command that takes personnel and resources provided by the armed forces and uses them in daily space operations, before it was awarded to Huntsville, Alabama. Colorado’s congressional delegation has urged President Joe Biden to reconsider the decision, and one of those lawmakers, Rep. Jason Crow, was on hand June 3 at Buckley, which is in his sixth congressional district.

“This is really a momentous moment to be here for this renaming,” said Crow. “We are sitting here in the Pioneer State, a state that was founded by people who embarked on a journey into the unknown. They moved west hundreds of years ago, many of them, and they didn’t know what challenges lie ahead. … But here we are over 100 years later, in the great state of Colorado, and it’s just so fitting, the comparison between what we’re doing here today at Buckley and what those who moved west to establish this state did in the 1850s and ’60s.”

Also on June 3, Col. Marcus D. Jackson officially assumed command of Buckley Garrison, the host unit of the base. As the garrison’s second-ever commander, Jackson will oversee the installation after serving as deputy director of the National Space Defense Center.

“By renaming Buckley Air Force Base to Buckley Space Force Base, there is a clear message being sent to our adversaries—we are focused on maintaining space dominance,” Jackson said. “This name change does not bespeak a change in Buckley’s mission, but rather it signifies a realignment of our installations under the Space Force.”

‘Rocket Cargo’ Becomes Latest Vanguard Project to Get Priority from Air Force

June 4, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force wants to soon be able to deliver cargo from space, and it is putting real money behind the effort.

The Department of the Air Force announced June 4 that the “Rocket Cargo” effort is its fourth “Vanguard” program, joining the Skyborg wingman drone, the Golden Horde weapon swarming initiative, and the Navigation Technology Satellite 3 as top priorities to move from science and technology development to real-world programs.

The Department of the Air Force requested $47.9 million for Rocket Cargo development in its 2022 budget.

“Together with the Space Force, we will research commercial capabilities for DOD logistics,” said Maj. Gen. Heather L. Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, in a briefing. “Rocket Cargo is envisioned as a DOD interface with commercial capabilities, where we will deliver up to 100 tons of cargo anywhere on the planet in tactical timelines.”

As a Vanguard effort, the Air Force Research Laboratory is leading studies to determine if using space launches to deliver material, and possibly personnel, across the globe within hours is viable. If so, the Space Force could make it a program of record. The Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center will serve as the Program Executive Officer for the effort.

Air Force Materiel Command boss Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., speaking with reporters in a separate event, said the Rocket Cargo program will be run out of AFRL’s Transformational Capabilities Office.

“Our role,” he said, is to provide “some of the use cases for what it would take to either move humanitarian or large-tonnage cargo” to a forward area. “What we really want to do is see where the [science and technology work is needed] for packaging it” on the rocket and moving it to forward areas “in a very quick manner” and cost-effectively. AFMC will also “help assess what the business case analysis is, whether there is a ‘there, there.'”

“One of the things that we are not going to do, [is,] we are not going to get into the rocket launch business,” Bunch added. He said the commercial launch industry “is driving that, and we’re not going to get in the way of that in any way, shape, or form.”

The idea has been floated within the Air Force before, and U.S. Transportation Command announced in 2020 it was working with SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corp. to determine the feasibility of using private space companies to move cargo for the command. The Rocket Cargo Vanguard effort is separate from TRANSCOM’s initiative.

The idea of space cargo has “been around since the dawn of spaceflight,” but it never seemed realistic until recently as commercial capabilities have evolved, said Greg Spanjers, the Rocket Cargo program manager at AFRL. Rockets are bigger now, making it possible to carry about 100 tons—the equivalent of a loaded C-17. The cost of launches also have fallen, so it’s no longer such a major barrier.

“The reason we’re doing it now is because it looks like the technology may have caught up with a good idea,” Spanjers said. “Caught up enough for us to buy this and use it operationally today? No. There’s a number of S&T that we need to do to adapt this commercial capability into the DOD mission.”

AFRL’s focus will be on finding commercial capabilities to land a rocket on “a wide range of non-traditional materials and surfaces, including at remote sites.” AFRL wants the rockets to be able to land near personnel and structures and be rapidly loaded and unloaded. The rocket also should be able to air drop cargo after re-entry to service places where it could not possibly land.

While SpaceX has become the most visible company when it comes to reusable space launch, there are several companies that have developed capabilities, though Spanjers would not specify exactly how many would participate.

If the demonstration is successful, the Space Force would likely buy commercial cargo launches in the same way it does its current launch operations, said Brig. Gen. D. Jason Cothern, the vice commander and primary executive officer for the Space Enterprise Corps with the Space and Missile Systems Center.

“We believe that this early and active engagement is crucial to the success of bridging that S&T valley of death in order to deliver joint warfighting capabilities. If this technology demonstration proves successful and shows that terrestrial rocket-based cargo transportation is viable, and affordable, and advantageous to our DOD logistics train, SMC will be responsible for transitioning this Vanguard to a Space Force program of record,” Cothern said. “So, our goal is to be an early adopter here [with] this capability, by rapidly enhancing and leveraging the commercial investments and the advances we’re seeing for DOD purposes.”

Editorial Director John A. Tirpak contributed to this story.

Space Force Wants Extra $832 Million for Unfunded Priorities

June 4, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

The Space Force is seeking an additional $832 million to protect existing assets, make its space architecture more resilient, better train Guardians as warfighters, and support new missions, according to the service’s unfunded priorities list submitted to Congress.

The list details priorities not funded by the Space Force’s $17.4 billion budget request for 2022 and is in addition to $4.2 billion in Air Force unfunded priorities. This is the first year the Space Force has submitted its own UPL—last year the Department of the Air Force requested $4.2 billion, of which $3.2 billion was for the Air Force and $1 billion was for the fledging Space Force.

This year’s Space Force list includes $225 million “to protect and sustain what we have today,” including $122 million in weapons system sustainment to bring it up to a “moderate risk” at 83 percent funded, according to the UPL.

It also includes $66 million to fix space facilities and infrastructure.

“Resilient and ‘right‐sized’ infrastructure is needed to effectively deliver capability to support the current and emerging contested space domain,” states the service’s UPL. The funding would address “critical blast door, water, ventilation, and sewer improvements at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.”

More than half of the additional funding the Space Force wants—$431 million—is for developing a “warfighting punch.” It aims to invest $279 million in five classified programs for which no additional information was available, and $86 million to accelerate development of a unique Space Force professional military education program for 100 resident and 3,000 online students annually by fiscal 2023. Included in this training would be a new digital test prototype, undergraduate space training, and advanced warfighter courses, according to the unfunded priority list documents obtained by Air Force Magazine.

The Space Force also wants an additional $33.3 million to buy “Space Test and Training Range and Advanced Threat Simulation Environment support” and to “deliver multi-domain range integration of space, cyber, and air to the warfighter … and develop realistic network emulators and range control.” Another $1.8 million would modernize its space aggressor equipment to realistically replicate threats.

The Space Force is also asking for $113 million to “grow new missions,” including $28 million to expand the Blackjack radio frequency payloads for tactical surveillance, $70 million to accelerate an Air Force Research Laboratory program for cislunar operations and deep space domain awareness, $8 million to develop a Long Duration Propulsive EELV Secondary Payload Adapter, and $7 million to operationalize the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Observatory.

The Blackjack RF payload supports tactical surveillance, air domain awareness, and threat assessment for Air Combat Command. “Funding supports completion of nonrecurring engineering, initial hardware delivery, data processing, and space vehicle integration required to demonstrate on-orbit capability,” states the document. “If approved, funding would be applied to DARPA Blackjack contracts within one to two months. Space-to-surface ISR capability demonstration would occur in FY22/23 and will inform investment decisions by the Air Force and Space Force.”

And finally, the Space Force wants $63 million to help it build more resilient architectures, including fixing procurement for space-rated crypto devices that support satellite launches and systems, such as GPS III, the Wideband Global Satellite Communications system, and next-generation space-based missile warning systems.

COVID-19, Not Technical Issues, Mostly to Blame for Grey Wolf Delay, AFGSC Boss Says

June 4, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray said the Air Force did not include any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget request because of certification delays related to the pandemic.

Ray said the issue with the helicopter, which the command will use to support and provide security for its missile fields, is more “a matter of paperwork” due to delays in Europe stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic than any technical issues with the aircraft.

“I spent some time talking to Boeing about this three weeks ago,” Ray said during a June 3 virtual event hosted by AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “I would characterize these problems as administrative certifications, not terribly technical in nature. [It’s] not very complicated technology.”

Ray said he’s “not concerned” about the issue, noting the necessary certifications should come “in six months. We’ll be just fine.”

Boeing is partnered with the Italian firm Leonardo on the program, and Europe was “hit very hard with COVID,” he noted. This made it difficult to certify that the militarized aircraft would function like its civilian counterpart. There also were issues with scheduling testing, he said.

The Air Force received approval to buy eight of the helicopters in 2021, but the certification issue has blocked the purchases. The service had planned to buy the same number in 2022 as it works toward a total fleet of 84 helicopters. The service originally expected Grey Wolf to reach initial operational capability this year, but it’s not clear what the new timeline will be.

In November, the Air Force announced it would base the helicopter’s Formal Training Unit at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 1 p.m. on June 7 to correct the status of helicopters expected to be purchased in 2021.

Ray: B-21 Program Structure Keeps it On-Track and On-Cost

June 4, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The success of the B-21 program so far is due to its modular approach and incremental changes to its technology, not its requirements, Air Force Global Strike Command head Gen. Timothy M. Ray said June 3.

“We’ve codified the approach … of open mission systems [and] modularity of design, and that allows us to keep very stable requirements” on the B-21, Ray said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies streaming discussion. “It’s not necessary to return to [the Joint Requirements Oversight Council] and ask for a new radio, weapon or sensor, or new defensive systems.” These are assumed to be a necessary “part of the bomber,” he explained. Because of that, “you can build it very quickly,” and there have been no requirements changes on the program, he added.

Ray was responding to a question about how the B-21 remains technologically relevant despite the threat having increased during the six years the program has been underway and the years of requirements development before that. The Raider program simply incorporates new technologies as they’re needed, he said. The B-21 is managed by the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office and is being built by Northrop Grumman at its Palmdale, California, facility, which Ray recently toured.

The B-21 approach, which is also being used on the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent missile program, is one of the main reasons the B-21 received unusual praise from House Armed Services Committee chairman Adam Smith (D-Washington) recently, Ray said. Smith hailed the B-21 as a well-thought-out and well-run program, saying it’s “on time, on budget, and they’re making it work in a very intelligent way.”

Because of the new bomber’s management approach, “It will take me roughly a tenth of the time to put the JASSM-ER on the B-21 than it did on the B-2,” Ray said. But it is sticking to its baseline requirements, he noted.

“Do you add it now? No, you field [the bomber] on time, on cost, [with] stable requirements,” he said. The Raider won’t get block upgrades, either, he said, unless it’s something “incredibly significant.”

“We do increments and updates. And those can happen [quickly]; they don’t take big depot mod lines—you can do those on the flight line, right there at the airplane,” Ray said.

Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray speaks with retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, during a virtual event June 3. Mitchell Institute YouTube video.

Keeping requirements and funding stable has helped the program. Ray said Acting Secretary John P. Roth asked him why he wasn’t late on the program and he said, because “I refuse to change the requirements,” allowing him to “focus on finishing the things I need to do” and prompting “some of the praise we got from Chairman Smith.”

Re-engining the B-52 and giving it a digital backbone is another necessary part of the bomber portfolio, Ray said. The bomber, which Ray said “is older than me,” is still “an analog airplane.” While some “pieces and parts are digital, … if I want to be effective at electronic attack or rapid modernization, I have to have that digital piece.”

The re-engining will be “on the conservative side,” provide a savings of at least 20 percent in fuel costs, Ray said. However, “it may seem counterintuitive, … but it’s not a 20 percent savings in tankers—it’s actually much higher.” In some scenarios, he said, the re-engining will reduce the B-52’s need for tanker support by “almost half,” expanding the flexibility of the force and freeing tankers for other missions.

Ray said he also wants to provide some relief for the “poor maintenance guys trying to … keep that TF33 in the game.” The TF33 is the B-52’s original engine, which has served nearly 60 years.

Ray: Pace of China’s Strategic Advancement is ‘Breathtaking,’ Cause for Alarm

June 3, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

China’s strategic portfolio is advancing even faster than the U.S. anticipated, and this should be cause for concern, said Air Force Global Strike Command boss Gen. Timothy M. Ray.

“The pace is breathtaking,” Ray said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies streaming event June 3. There have been frequent episodes over the last six months where China demonstrated a capability and the U.S. intelligence assessment fell “short of what they were accomplishing,” he added.

China is also clearly moving to secure its regional sphere of influence, and America’s allies and partners “need to know we’re there for them.”

“I think [China is] thinking very clearly about the regional and global problem set. I think they’re building the arsenal” to address it, Ray observed.

Ray has briefed members of Congress at the top secret level on the situation, but “even at the secret level, it’s pretty intimidating.”

“They’re working through the problem—warheads, delivery systems, command and control, warning, how fast, and how you field it—and they’re getting glowing grades in all those things,” Ray said. The pace of China’s progress and the “diversity of their approach … commands respect,” he asserted.

Ray said that going forward with the U.S. Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent missile program will be $38 billion cheaper than attempting to upgrade and extend the life of the Minuteman III missiles. However, he noted, “the price tag has gotten bigger” each time the decision has been postponed.

The Minuteman suffers from “old parts” and the inability to repair them, Ray said. The situation is “just going to get worse,” he added.

Deleting the GBSD from the nuclear triad of bombers, ICBMs, and sea-launched ballistic missiles would require other investments to achieve the necessary deterrence, Ray said.

“We’ll need more bombers, tankers, crews,” and they’ll need to be on alert, Ray said. It would be a “bill to pay that would come at the expense of other things.”

Ray said AFGSC has “tripled the number” of bomber task force deployments over the last year, but the pace will need to be reduced.

B-52s were simultaneously deployed in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific for short periods last month. AFGSC conducted 18 bomber task force deployments in fiscal 2020, and it’s “about 50 percent higher this year,” Ray reported. That’s “a fourfold increase from ’19-’21.”

The bombers “stepped in to meet the demand,” he said, for example, supplying bombers within 51 hours to Central Command after a “cold call.”

This is a pace “that we can keep up just a little bit longer, but then I think we need to slow down just a touch, and get a little bit better at what we do,” Ray said. The “sweet spot” for such deployments is somewhat lower than what AFGSC has been accomplishing.

While the rest of the force scaled back its operating tempo during the COVID-19 pandemic, “we got better,” he said. “We had the best bomber readiness in the history of the command in the middle of COVID-19. The B-1s slowed me down a little bit recently, [but] … nuclear readiness stayed high.”

The bombers are “covering the withdrawal in Afghanistan; we’re one of multiple over-the-horizon … joint fires covering that” and the command is doing “phenomenal work with just a handful of bombers.”

Overall, “I think the morale is high. The entire bomber force has really embraced this way of life … They see the strategic importance, see the importance to allies, and they’re getting the practice in the long-range kill chains, that we know we’re going to have to do under duress, and we know we can do them from anywhere on the planet, very quickly.”

Ray said he expects the recent grounding of the B-1—the third in recent years, this time because of a fuel system problem—will be lifted soon.

“We’ll be in a better place next month,” Ray said. “We need to do this safely and smoothly.”

Ray also said the Navy has not asked for help with its new sea-launched nuclear cruise missile, and that there are no plans to achieve any commonality between it and the Air Force’s Long-Range Stand Off missile, but USAF is willing to share knowledge if asked.

Air Force Will Try Again to Launch ARRW Hypersonic Missile in July

June 3, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will attempt a second booster flight test of its hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon “next month,” said Gen. Timothy M. Ray, head of Global Strike Command.

Speaking during a virtual Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event June 3, Ray said he’s confident USAF will be able to overcome the “challenges” that prevented the ARRW missile from making a test flight in April.

“This is not a problem that’s beyond us,” Ray said. “It’s just a matter of time.” The Air Force Armament Directorate is “being smart about this; we’ll get there.”

An attempt to launch the ARRW was made April 5, but the missile did not come off the pylon. Brig. Gen. Heath A. Collins, head of the Armament Division, said at the time that the inability to get the missile to “complete its launch sequence” was a disappointment but that the test provided useful data.

In February, Collins said another failed attempted test early this year was a “slight bump in the road,” which was resolved within 30 days. And then in December 2020, ARRW did not accomplish planned test objectives because of what Pentagon officials called “dumb mistakes.”

Defense hypersonics lead Michael White, at AFA’s virtual Air Warfare Symposium in late February, said that while the “fail early and often” philosophy is a sound one, “that’s only valid if your failures are because you’re learning.” If a failure is due to “we forgot how to do a checklist, and tighten a pin on a fin, and we lose a flight vehicle because a fin falls off, that’s not acceptable failure.”

Ray said he thinks both the ARRW and HACM are needed for the bomber force to multiply an adversary’s problems. The Air Force’s 2022 budget request increases hypersonics weapon development funding from $386 million in 2021 to $438 million, including prototyping of the ARRW, Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFIRE), and Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) systems.

Hypersonics paired with bombers is a “natural” mix, Ray said. Such weapons can be launched from “anywhere on the planet, and we can do it a lot faster than I think our adversaries would want to see us do it.” Connecting the hypersonic missile’s speed to the bomber’s inherent “flexibility, range, speed, payload, [and] access” multiplies the “number and types of targets we can hold at risk,” Ray said. “We can come from lots of different places and angles.”

Bombers already are practicing the “targeting process of a hypersonic weapon,” with a B-52 conducting such an experiment at the recent Northern Edge exercise in Alaska. Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Gebara, AFGSC director of strategic plans, programs, and requirements, said at AFA’s virtual Air Warfare Symposium in February that the B-52 will be able to carry four ARRWs but could carry 20 HACMs and “maybe more, if I have a different pylon.”

Bombardier Gets Contract for Up to 6 E-11A BACN Aircraft

June 3, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force recently awarded Bombardier a $465 million contract for up to six more E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft.

The E-11A, a heavily modified Bombardier Global 6000 business jet, acts as “Wi-Fi in the sky.” It is used heavily in Afghanistan, connecting troops on the ground, communications systems, and radios.

The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract includes a firm order for one aircraft, with as many as five to follow. Bombardier will modify the aircraft at its Wichita, Kansas, facility with interior and paint work to be done at its facility in Tucson, Arizona, the company said in a press release.

“Bombardier is proud to be chosen once again by the U.S. Air Force to provide our high-performing global aircraft and our unique expertise in support of the BACN program,” said Michel Ouellette, Bombardier’s executive vice president of specialized aircraft, programs, and engineering. “Our U.S.-based employees are honored to be lending their skills in support of this elite project.”

The Air Force, in its fiscal 2022 budget request, said it will buy one E-11 immediately to replace the one that crashed in Afghanistan in January 2020, bringing the fleet back up to four.

The service also announced May 28 it would base an E-11 squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, if it is able to retire the E-8C Joint STARS fleet.

Vandenberg Plans Commercial Space Zone to Increase Launch Capability on Base

June 3, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

As the Defense Department looks to work more closely with private space companies in hopes of making launches quicker, cheaper, and easier, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, is working with companies, academia, and the government to increase the ability of these organizations to launch from the base.

Vandenberg has signed a memorandum of understanding with these groups to establish a “commercial space enterprise zone” on the sprawling base to bring in companies to use the base’s existing infrastructure and build more, improved launch sites to increase the pace of launches.

“This space is going to help serve the mission … with those smaller rockets launched more frequently,” said Col. Joe Tringe, the individual mobilization augmentee to the commander of Space Launch Delta 30 at Vandenberg. “These enable these proliferated constellations, which allow for those imaging missions and weather missions that are going to be so important across the board. And because they’re important for both the DOD and for commercial partners, we can envision sharing infrastructure that’s going to allow them to be launched more frequently and be maintained.”

According to a recent impact study by the REACH economic action group and California Polytechnic State University, increasing the commercial space industry presence on the base could add 1,968 jobs and grow the base’s annual economic impact to $6 billion over the next decade, up from its current impact of about $4.5 billion.

In addition to the “commercial space enterprise zone,” Vandenberg is broadly studying other potential infrastructure changes, including electricity needs, water flow, and traffic patterns. These studies are expected to be completed “in the coming months,” Tringe said during a virtual event focused on the future of space on California’s Central Coast.

“This is really an enterprise,” he said. “Launch is certainly a critical part of that, but also we’re concerned with, What do you do with satellites once they’re on orbit, you know? How does the supply chain work, you know? All these different pieces need to fit together like a puzzle.”

Space Force officials have said increased collaboration with the commercial industry, particularly with companies providing smaller, cheaper launch services, will be key to increasing capability on orbit. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said last month the Space Force would likely move toward providing space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance using capabilities that commercial companies have developed since small satellites have become more operationally relevant.

“We’re really interested in where innovative industries are seeing launch going in the future and what they’re doing to get to that future,” Col. Robert P. Bongiovi, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s launch enterprise director, said in November. “It’s not just, how do we get from Earth to orbit? What are the different on-orbit [concepts of operations] that might drive different launch needs, what do we need to be doing to get these future constellations up there?”