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?”

Space Force Looks to Operationalize New Structure, Build Culture in 2022

June 3, 2021 | By Greg Hadley

Through its first year of existence, the U.S. Space Force was focused on the “macro”—developing the overall structure by which the entirely new service would be organized. Now, as it heads into Year 2, USSF will seek to “actually operationalize” that new structure, said Col. Matthew S. Cantore, commander of Space Delta 2.

Speaking at an Air and Space Warfighters in Action event hosted by the Air Force Association on June 3, Cantore and Chief Master Sgt. April L. Brittain, senior enlisted leader from Space Delta 2, broke down how that new structure differs from the traditional Air Force one and how it will continue to evolve in 2022 and beyond.

With both Cantore and Brittain coming from an Air Force background, they both “bleed blue internally,” Cantore joked early on in Thursday’s event, and they acknowledged the tight bond between the Air and Space Forces. But in the coming years, that blue “is turning to a dark black” as the composition of the Space Force changes.

Specifically, interservice transfers from the Army and Navy are expected to increase in 2022 and 2023, Cantore said, and as those troops come on board, Space Force culture will change.

“We’re excited about that, and I think that’s going to make us stronger,” Cantore said. “We talk about diversity in a lot of ways—that diversity coming from the other services is going to force us maybe a little bit out of our traditional Air Force comfort zone, but this is not the Air Force as a service, it’s a new service, and so we’re finding our way.”

Space Force Delta 2 commander Col. Matthew S. Cantore and Chief Master Sgt. April L. Brittain, senior enlisted leader, join Air Force Association President retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright for an update on Space Delta 2 during an Air and Space Warfighters in Action virtual event June 3. Air Force Association YouTube video.

A New Way to Operate

Compared to the Air Force, the Space Force’s new structure of deltas and garrisons has fewer tiers, Cantore explained.

“We have gotten rid of the numbered air force echelon, and we have taken the wing and the group echelons, which we all knew and loved for many years, and we’ve pushed those together, smashed them, and then broken them out,” Cantore said. “So we’ve taken the base operating support, all that combat service support functions, and we’ve taken those and put those into a garrison, which is so critical to support the mission, and now we have the delta, which is singularly focused on the operational mission that we’ve been assigned.”

With fewer levels of command and a smaller force overall, training for the Space Force will have to be different and more all-encompassing, Cantore said.

“As we get ready for significant events, we prepare, we do large scale exercises, but that’s not the norm on a day-to-day framework,” Cantore said. “And so our training, I believe, needs to move to the evolution where it is holistic and enterprise-level.”

The delta, not the squadron, is the “presented force” for the Space Force. And compared to the size of Air Force wings and groups, deltas are small, at least when it comes to personnel.

“I think total, when I was an ops group commander, I started with about 2,000 people, if you add in all the contractors, all the civilians. … Now we’re sitting about 400, 450 total when we add everything together,” Cantore said.

Understanding a Congested Domain

In addition to bringing in new people, Cantore said he expects new systems to come online in 2022 that will expand Space Delta 2’s capabilities and responsibilities.

“[Personnel] numbers wise, you don’t really see a lot of growth here directly in Space Delta 2, but there’s so much going on from a systems standpoint going forward,” Cantore said. “Where you are going to see a lot of growth, I believe, is in the satellite communications arena.”

As part of its operational mission, Space Delta 2 is tasked with tracking thousands of satellites, rockets, and pieces of debris in orbit, and as the unit gets up to date and tracks everything that is already out there, hundreds of more payloads are being added—Cantore noted there have already been more payloads launched into orbit in the first five months of 2021 than there were in all of 2020.

Beyond just tracking those objects, Cantore said Space Delta 2’s goal is to synthesize all the data and collaborate across other Deltas, as well as other services, allies, and commercial partners, to formulate a better understanding of what it all means.

“Understanding what goes on in the domain is the foundation of everything that has to happen going forward, and so we take that very seriously,” Cantore said. “It is certainly not without challenges. This growth that we’re seeing right now—that we have no expectation is going to slow down—it’s going to continue. It’s certainly pushing us to develop and upgrade our capabilities so that we can stay one step ahead of what is becoming a more and more congested domain.”

While still fulfilling that mission, though, the service must also continue to develop its new structure and culture. And developments along that front are expected in the coming months—Brittain said during the same event that USSF is “expecting to release” its new ranks and insignias “hopefully in the June timeframe.”

USAF Slashes Bomb Funding, Hinting at New Systems or Return to Boom and Bust

June 2, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force slashed its request for most weapons in its fiscal 2022 budget request, while boosting its ask for longer-range, stealthy systems. The budget proposal indicates the service is either shifting away from short-range missiles and bombs or will soon find itself back in the boom-and-bust munitions procurement cycle—or both.

The Air Force’s request for Joint Direct Attack Munitions fell 88 percent, from 16,800 enacted in fiscal 2021 to 1,919 weapons in 2022. The high water mark of JDAM production was 30,872 units in 2019, meaning JDAM production for the Air Force will have fallen more than 93 percent in three years, if Congress goes along.

Most standard USAF munitions were requested at much smaller rates in the 2022 budget. Hellfire missile purchases would be reduced 74 percent; Small Diameter Bomb 1 would drop almost 60 percent; and Sidewinder and AMRAAM dogfight missiles would decline 27 percent and 37 percent, respectively, over enacted 2021 levels.

Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, deputy assistant secretary for budget, told reporters at the budget rollout May 28 that the Air Force is “reducing munition procurements as the program approaches warfighter inventory objectives.” The JDAM and SDB 1 “are at, or approaching, healthy inventory levels,” he said, and the money saved by not buying as many of the extant weapons can be plowed back into advanced systems like the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range and hypersonics programs such as the AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW. An Air Force spokesperson said the Air Force is “comfortable” at the level of the weapon stockpile.

Along with other shifts in funding, the munitions buy seeks to modernize the fleet “for a high-end conflict in 2030 and beyond,” Peccia said.

The only weapons USAF is asking to increase are the GBU-53 Stormbreaker (formerly the Small Diameter Bomb 2) and the AGM-158 JASSM-ER, which the Pentagon said is a crucial weapon due to its stealth and reach. Procurement of both weapons would be increased about 25 percent.

Air Force Budget Request for Munitions

Weapon Type	2021 Enacted (units)	2022 Requested (units)
JDAM (all variants)	16,800	1,919
AGM-114 Hellfire	4,517	1,176
Small Diameter Bomb 1	2,462	998
Small Diameter Bomb 2	743	985
AGM-158 JASSM-ER	400	525
AIM-9X Sidewinder	331	243
AIM-120 AMRAAM	268	168
AGM-183A ARRW	0	12

Source: USAF budget documents

The Air Force is also working on a successor to the JDAM that would have longer range, reduced signature, and greater maneuvering capability to avoid terminal air defenses, about which the service declined to comment.

The JDAM and other cuts come just a year after Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., head of Air Force Materiel Command, told Air Force Magazine he was hoping to end the “sine wave” cycle of boom-and-bust weapons procurements, especially as the weapons accounts tend to be bill payers for other parts of the budget.

After the 2021 budget request was revealed, Bunch said USAF was able to “make a dent” in its years-long munitions shortage, and the Air Force was on “a better trajectory” after preferred munitions were no longer being used at a high rate against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Bunch said he hoped to “level off” at the 2021 production rates, but that USAF was planning to change its weapons focus to “the high-end fight.”

Former head of Air Combat Command retired Gen. James M. Holmes said last year that the Air Force meant to “start slowing down” on JDAM, both to pay for other weapons and focus on threats such as China, which require munitions having greater range and survivability. JDAM and Hellfire are direct-attack weapons with limited range.

The advantage of smoothing out munitions production would be to give Air Force planners and industry alike more predictability about weapons production and lower costs by making smarter decisions about workforce and materials.

A spokeswoman for Boeing, maker of the JDAM, said, “Our contracts with the U.S. Air Force allow for flexibility in annual orders,” but the company declined to offer further comment.

Mark Gunzinger of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said USAF’s move to increase the production of long-range systems at the expense of short-range ones is “exactly right” and “one of the few things I applaud in the Air Force’s budget.”

The JASSM-ER and other “mid-range standoff weapons are capable of penetrating contested areas and striking high value targets such as Chinese mobile missile launchers,” and in the case of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile variant of JASSM, Chinese ships as well.

“JDAM and SDBs are great weapons, but they were never designed to survive” in an integrated air defense system, Gunzinger said.

Rather, the Air Force needs “fifth-generation weapons for fifth-generations platforms.” He included on his short list of needed weapons the ARRW, of which the Air Force wants to build 12 in 2022 for $141 million.

That said, the Mitchell Institute’s analysis concludes that “USAF’s planned inventory of JASSM and LRASM could be depleted in a matter of days during a major conflict with China.” Such systems have been “underfilled for years” by the Defense Department, and “it continues to do so, despite the fact that industry cannot quickly surge their production during a crisis.”

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, builder of the JASSM and LRASM, is building a new plant to handle expanded production of the weapons at its Troy, Alabama, location.

Gunzinger said the Air Force must “balance the range, size, cost, and cost-per-effect of its future weapons. Hypersonic weapons, he noted, have very long range and are highly survivable, “but they are too large to be carried in significant numbers per sortie and they cost too much to buy in large quantities,” and so they may be “little more than niche weapons.”

Michael White, DOD’s lead for hypersonic systems, said in a Center for Strategic and International Studies program June 2 that the Pentagon aims to build hypersonic missiles “at scale,” and this will become more possible when smaller, air-breathing hypersonic weapons become available. The ARRW and its counterparts in the Army and Navy tend to be large systems which can only be carried by bombers, or fired by ships or heavy ground equipment.

The Air Force’s first production numbers released for ARRW, contained in its 2022 budget request, peg the cost of the first tranche of usable missiles at $13.4 million apiece.

A former senior defense official said recent Pentagon wargames showed that the winner in a Pacific conflict will be the side with the largest magazines of hypersonic missiles, and noted there are “thousands of aimpoints” in the theater, requiring the weapons to be affordable.

Based on Gunzinger’s analysis, “there is a sweet spot for munitions that have ranges between 65 miles and out to JASSM-ER’s range,” he said. Such mid-range weapons will “give penetrating aircraft enough standoff to avoid highest-risk point defenses surrounding high-value targets but won’t be so large that they can’t be carried internally by stealth aircraft.” Gunzinger has suggested in previous studies that USAF would find value in modifying some existing weapons with a propulsion pack to extend their range and keep attack aircraft at a greater distance from air defenses.

The Air Force’s budget request for conventional munitions basic research increased from $127.1 million in 2021 to $151.8 million in 2022. The request for applied research on conventional weapons increased from $133.9 million in 2021 to $157.4 million in 2022.

NATO Buys, Operates Kessel Run’s Tanker Planning App

June 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

NATO has bought and already used an application known as Jigsaw, which was developed by the Air Force’s in-house software development team, Kessel Run, to handle refueling tanker planning in the Middle East.

The alliance used Jigsaw to plan air-to-air refueling operations during the two-week exercise Ramstein Ambition 21, according to a press release.

“The use of the application during the NATO exercise showcases how far reaching and influential the modernization efforts of Kessel Run have become,” said Col. Brian Beachkofski, commander of Kessel Run, in the press release. “Our efforts to enhance our AOC Weapon Systems, now seem to be positively enhancing the abilities of our allies as well.”

Jigsaw first rolled out in 2017 at the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, and NATO purchased the application in late 2020. The program brings together data from current, previous, and planned tanker operations to plan the most effective missions for deployed aircraft. It replaced a previous process in which five or six people would to spend up to eight hours each day drawing tanker plans on a whiteboard. USAF officials told Air Force Magazine in 2018 that they estimate the application has saved 400,000 to 500,000 pounds of fuel each week.

Kessel Run said the program has saved the Pentagon more than $500 million in fuel costs and “has provided the DOD with enhanced combat capabilities through its increased coordination in the planning of refueling missions,” according to the release.

NATO’s Allied Command Transformation also wanted Jigsaw to alleviate its “manpower intensive” refueling planning process. The software will be in use at NATO Air Operations Centers around the world.

“To keep our nations safe in such an unpredictable environment, we need to keep our Alliance strong,” said project lead Lt. Col. Jonathan Clow in the release. “Innovation and experimentation are critical components of NATO’s future defense, security, and deterrence.”

USAF Unfunded Priorities Include More F-15EXs, No Additional F-35As

June 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force wants another dozen F-15EXs as part of the $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list it submitted to Congress this week, but the service is not asking for any additional F-35A strike fighters.

The Space Force sent a separate request to the Hill, but it’s not clear what is included on that list or how much it would cost. Last year, the Department of the Air Force sent a $4.2 billion unfunded priorities list to the Hill, which included $3.2 billion for the Air Force and $1 billion for the fledgling Space Force.

The most recent UPL, which highlights priorities not part of the 2022 budget request, includes $1.376 billion for the 12 F-15EXs, plus spares, support equipment, and 24 conformal fuel tanks.

In a notable break from tradition, it does not include any additional F-35As. The 2021 and 2020 unfunded priority lists included a dozen F-35s each. The service, in its budget request released last week, asks to buy 48 F-35s, the same number it requested in 2021, though Congress ended up adding 12 more to last year’s request.

The 2022 unfunded priorities list does include $360 million for F-35 sustainment, which would buy 20 F-135 power modules and fund weapons systems sustainment for “critical F-35 capability.”

The list also includes $825 million for other weapon system sustainment, including for readiness spares, U-2 operations, and EC-37 spare engines. The list includes $377 million to build a command and control framework, including $152 million for Three Dimensional Long-Range Radar, $112 million for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node operations and maintenance, $105 million for a command and mission control center and air operations center integration for the Air National Guard, as well as $9 million for seven MAN Portable TACAN systems.

The list outlines $180 million for aircraft upgrades and technologies, including Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar Systems, Adaptive Engine Transition Program, and Large Common Carriage development.

It also seeks $736 million for military construction and $320 million for facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization, though no specific projects were highlighted.

Spangdahlem F-16s Deploy to Sweden for Arctic Exercise

June 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

More than 300 Airmen, along with U.S. Air Force F-16s from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, deployed to Sweden for a large exercise alongside six other nations.

Arctic Challenge Exercise 2021 kicked off June 2 at Kallax Air Base, Sweden, and is scheduled to run for more than two weeks. The Airmen from the 52nd Fighter Wing join personnel and aircraft from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom for the exercise.

The exercise began in 2013 and has rotated between Sweden, Norway, and Finland, according to a 52nd Fighter Wing release.

“The end goal of this exercise is to get good integration both with our Nordic allies and our NATO allies,” said Capt. Scott Pippen, 480th Fighter Squadron lead project officer for ACE21, in the release. “We aim to get our 52nd FW pilots better experience in multiple different mission sets and in a larger scale engagement.”

The exercise will include joint operations and air defense training, including air-to-ground strike and close air support, defensive counter air, and suppression of enemy air defenses, according to the release.

“It has been a good experience working with our American partners so far,” said Swedish air force Maj. Daniel Jannerstad, lead ACE21 planner for the Swedish, in the release. “I would like this to be a good learning opportunity and to fulfill all of the objectives of the exercise according to plan.”

The Air Force is increasing its focus on the Arctic as the region grows in strategic significance. The Department of the Air Force last summer released its first-ever Arctic Strategy.

“Given the Arctic’s vast distances and challenges to surface operations, air and space capabilities have long been essential to gain rapid access and provide all-domain awareness, early warning, satellite command and control, and effective deterrence,” the strategy states. “Offering a solid foundation on which to build and project power across the region, the Department of the Air Force is the most active and invested U.S. military department in the Arctic.”

Here’s What the Air Force is Promising Robins AFB as it Cuts JSTARS

June 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is promising new missions for Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, the longtime home of the E-8C Joint STARS, as the service looks to retire the old aircraft in favor of its Advanced Battle Management System program.

The Air Force’s budget proposal, released May 28, aims to cut the first four of its 16 JSTARS. The Air Force plans to replace the aircraft with ABMS, a push to use emerging technologies and artificial intelligence to connect sensors and shooters for a broader, more advanced look at battle management and command and control.

Robins is home to about 2,000 Active-duty and National Guard members who have flown the JSTARS since 1996. Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth, in a Robins press release coinciding with the budget announcement, said newer missions are needed as the country expects to be challenged by China and Russia.

“Those threats require new solutions, which means divesting legacy platforms like the JSTARS,” Roth said. “However, our intent is to capitalize on the existing expertise at Team Robins as we bring on these new missions. These missions will play a vital role in how we achieve decision superiority across all domains.”

If the JSTARS cuts are approved, new missions for Robins will include:

An Air Control Squadron. The base would host a unit that would provide command and control of aircraft in U.S. Central Command, according to the release. This unit, the 727th Expeditionary Air Control Squadron, known as “Kingpin,” had historically operated at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, and recently moved operations to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
ABMS and Joint All-Domain Command and Control Support. ABMS is in its nascent stages, with its current funding limited by Congress, though the Air Force is hoping to be able to buy its first hardware in late 2022, a communications pod for the KC-46 tanker that will enable the F-22 and F-35 to talk to each other. Robins would host some of that mission. The plan, outlined in the press release, is for existing manpower to transfer to a “classified mission in support of future capabilities” associated with JADC2 and ABMS.
An E-11 Squadron. The E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communication node, a fleet of four modified Bombardier Global Express business jets, has been flown by the 430th Expeditionary Combat Squadron at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan. With the war in Afghanistan drawing to a close, the aircraft would then be based at Robins. The Air Force in its budget request calls for buying another airframe to replace the one that crashed in Afghanistan in January 2020.
A Spectrum Warfare Group. The Air Force would create a group of squadrons, made up of Active-duty Airmen and civilians, to “take advantage of the skills” in the region, such as software and hardware experts, to focus on the electromagnetic spectrum.

“These cutting-edge missions, and the Team Robins Airmen that would execute them, are exactly what the Air Force needs to be ready for the threats we anticipate in the future,” Roth said in the release.

Air Force Not Buying Any New MH-139 Choppers in 2022 After FAA Certification Delay

June 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force did not request to buy any new MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters in its fiscal 2022 budget, and fielding will be delayed as the service waits to receive Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification.

The Air Force received approval to buy eight of the new helicopters in 2021, but the certification issue prevented the purchases. Previous budget documents called for the purchase of eight more in 2022, before the certification delay.

“The FAA requires the MH-139A to obtain an updated certification, because it is a commercial derivative aircraft with military unique equipment that requires certification,” the service said in a statement. “Technical issues discovered during contractor testing have caused the certification delay. The program office is currently evaluating courses of action and will have a better understanding of the program impact in the coming months.”

The helicopter will replace the aging UH-1Ns, which are used for security at the Air Force’s nuclear missile fields, VIP transport in the Air Force District of Washington and Japan, and survival, evasion, resistance, and escape training.

USAF video.

The Air Force wants to buy 84 of the aircraft and had expected it to reach initial operating capability this year. The service originally wanted to replace the UH-1N as part of the 2007 Common Vertical Lift Support Program, before Air Force Global Strike Command was created, but it has repeatedly been delayed.

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 12:58 p.m. on June 7 to correct the status of helicopters expected to be purchased in 2021

U.S. Will Reportedly Hand Over Bagram to Afghan Forces

June 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. forces will reportedly transfer control of Bagram Airfield, the major headquarters of American air operations in Afghanistan, to Afghan forces within about three weeks.

Agence-France Presse reported June 1 that the U.S. military will hand the base over to the Afghan government in about 20 days. Bagram is the biggest installation in the country and has hosted tens of thousands of troops.

Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby, asked about the report during a June 1 briefing, said “clearly” the base will be turned over as part of the withdrawal from Afghanistan but added that “I’m not going to speculate about timing” for operational security reasons.

U.S. Central Command reported June 1 that American forces have completed between 30 percent and 44 percent of the entire withdrawal from Afghanistan, flying out approximately 300 C-17 loads from the country and handing over about 13,000 pieces of equipment to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction.

Bagram would be the latest in a series of major bases handed over to Afghan forces, including Kandahar Airfield, which also was a key location for USAF operations.

President Joe Biden announced in April that U.S. forces, along with American contractors and NATO allied forces, would completely leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. Following the withdrawal, U.S. aircraft will continue counter-terrorism strikes in the country from outside of its borders, and the Pentagon is pursuing ways to remotely continue the mission to train, advise, and assist.