B-52s Fly Over All NATO Nations for the Second Time

June 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

B-52 aircraft deployed to Europe flew over all NATO nations in a single day, the second time in less than a year that U.S. bombers have flown this show of strength over the continent and North America.

The B-52s, which are deployed to Moron Air Base, Spain, flew over all 30 allied nations May 31, integrating with more than 20 allied militaries across two combatant commands as part of Operation Allied Sky, according to a U.S. European Command release.

The first leg of the mission included a flyover of all NATO nations in Europe, during which bombers conducted aerial refueling and flew with “several” ally aircraft. In the second leg, stateside-based bombers flew with U.S. and Canadian aircraft. The release did not specify how many B-52s participated.

“Bomber missions demonstrate the credibility of our forces to address a global security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any other time in our history,” said Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, NATO Allied Air Command and U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander, said in the release. “Today’s mission is an awesome demonstration of NATO air superiority and together there is no challenge we cannot tackle.”

In August 2020, six B-52s conducted a similar mission. Four bombers, deployed to RAF Fairford, United Kingdom, flew over all European member nations while two B-52s from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, flew over the U.S. and Canada.

DOD’s Data-Driven Future: Shared Knowledge, Near Real-Time Answers

June 1, 2021

The impact of data-driven decision making reaches far beyond strategic planning. While data is essential to creating and maintaining a competitive advantage over adversaries, data-driven decision making applies to everything from warfighter responses under battlefield conditions to logistics and maintenance.

Complete, accurate data is crucial to supporting the OODA Loop (Observe – Orient – Decide – Act), which was developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd. However, only timely data is useful — information that arrives too late to support a decision is as good as no information at all. The speed of access to shared resources is the gating factor. To be effective, answers must be generated in seconds, not hours or days. And those answers must be forward deployable to support troops and commanders as events unfold, so security is imperative.

The first two parts of this series discussed how meeting the goals of shared data mandates, including ABMS and JADC2, will require users across the DoD to be able to access authoritative, up-to-the-second data from across all sources. Those articles also covered how data can be secured and compartmentalized, and can also amplify cybersecurity, helping to mitigate threats before they impact the mission. In this final article, Elastic looks at what near real-time answers from comprehensive data can mean for real-world situations.

Start at the Source

Developing an all-encompassing view requires diverse sources, including data from computing systems as well as the information captured from operational technology (OT). The sheer breadth of OT systems providing data — everything from flight line diagnostics to security endpoints, and even including seemingly unrelated systems such as HVAC and badging — can provide a wealth of information relevant to readiness, long-term planning and day-to-day operations.

The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) has a measurable impact on both the quantity and quality of information that can support better, faster decision making; sensors (both stationary and mobile), on-vehicle telemetry, and weapons systems can feed continuous data streams to command and control systems.
Wearables can also provide essential inputs: Location data and personnel health monitoring are two obvious uses, but they can also enable essential tasks such as contact tracing for disease and physical threat prevention.
To ensure overall readiness, the Secretary of Defense has mandated an 85 percent operational level for airframes and vehicles. Reaching that goal requires predictive maintenance, which is data-driven by definition. But identical parts can perform differently in real-world applications due to environment and mission requirements. Today, many predictive maintenance efforts use standard data science practices, which can take weeks or months of analysis. AI-based solutions can deliver accurate results in a fraction of the time.

Comprehensive OT data can also drive inventive new capabilities. A prime example is the Air Force’ Base of the Future initiative. Intended to protect infrastructure and enable resilience, the program encompasses data-driven processes such as improving physical and cyber defense; using emerging technologies, including AI, to promote innovation; monitoring personnel well-being; and ensuring legacy systems can be supported while building a more agile direction for the long term. All of this is dependent on fast, secure data sharing to enable more effective automation and better-informed decisions.

The practical applications of this interconnected web of data are limitless. Transportation commands, for example, can employ machine learning to view an entire fleet’s operations simultaneously, allowing leaders to identify recurring issues while factoring in terrain, vehicle health, and personnel performance. Geofencing can be applied to highlight problems affecting a specific area. Capturing data from as many relevant sources as possible can even lead to the next stage of AI-powered capabilities: prescriptive analytics — in which systems can respond automatically even when dealing with changing conditions.

With Elastic’s machine learning and natural language processing querying capabilities, users can cross-correlate multiple data sets that normally would not interact to determine what’s outside of the realm of normal — mitigating analysis paralysis and driving effective, budget-conscious decisions.

Seamlessly Blend Legacy and Modernized Data Sets

Hybrid environments, composed of both legacy and cloud systems, will be with us for the foreseeable future. There are simply some proprietary systems that can’t be replaced by cloud solutions and some analog capabilities that cannot be superseded by digital ones. The MIL-STD-1553 aircraft communications bus comes to mind. This standard dates from the 1960s, yet nearly every helicopter’s communications system relies on it, along with airframes such as the F-15 and F-16, among others. Even the emerging standard, MIL-STD-1760, will remain analog for operational effectiveness under combat conditions.

Elastic can manage data captured by these essential systems, then correlate it with information from modernized systems. The solution — standardizing and normalizing data formats using an open schema — permits easy access across resources. This means there’s no need to rip-and replace valued systems, but the data can still be used wherever needed.

Empower Users with Near Real-Time Search

The majority of data queries have been limited by two factors: access to shared data and time. Most of us are familiar with the overnight question—it takes all day to figure out what to ask, and the system takes all night to come back with an answer. The “coffee question” can be answered more quickly but leaves plenty of time to say, “I’ll go get a cup of coffee while I wait.”

By presenting answers in just seconds, Elastic empowers users to ask “What if?” questions, veering away from the status quo in search of better solutions. For example, if a cyberattack is detected against an Air Force base, can that same attack be identified elsewhere? Or if an artillery transport truck deviates from its schedule, can it quickly be determined if the issue is an engine failure or a possible threat?

Grant Access … Securely

Maintaining security and privacy is crucial to data-sharing strategies. Not all data needs to be shared, and the effort involved with copying and moving data to centralize it is simply unnecessary. Elastic operationalizes the data lake concept by allowing information to be kept in place and accessed by whomever needs it — but only per the data owner’s policies. This keeps local data local, shares what’s important to the group, and ensures that private or secure information remains so.

Start Today: It’s About Time

Because timeliness is critical, it’s crucial that the most up-to-date data is included in queries. Enterprise search solutions typically index data as it’s requested, which could mean the latest information fails to be considered. That’s why Elastic indexes data as it is ingested, so it is immediately available to be analyzed and queried.

Systems powered by this comprehensive search capability also empower junior operators to understand and identify issues and take appropriate action faster, while freeing up higher-level operators to focus on more complex challenges.

With both personnel and automated systems hungry for information, access to data across the enterprise frees people up to focus on the decisions that only humans should make, especially those involving extreme consequences. Elastic’s search and analysis tools highlight details that could otherwise be obscured, while answers can be as granular as necessary. With answers available in seconds from all relevant sources, faster, smarter decision-making is only a question away.

A Time to Pause and Remember

May 30, 2021

“On behalf of nearly 100,000 AFA members and dedicated leaders nationwide and around the world, please pause a moment this Memorial Day and remember,” said Air Force Association president retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright in this video honoring all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Air Force Association video created by Mike Tsukamoto.

Space Force’s 2022 Budget Adds Satellites, Warfighting Center, More Guardians

May 29, 2021 | By Amanda Miller

The Space Force is asking for $17.4 billion in its 2022 budget request—more than 10 percent of the Department of the Air Force’s $173.7 billion “blue” budget and a $2 billion increase from 2021. It would grow the service to 8,400 Guardians, pay to transfer satellites from the Army and Navy to the new service, and fund more than $800 million in new classified programs.

That’s less than half of the $39 billion in “non-blue” funding that passes through the Department of the Air Force’s budget but is not controlled by the department.

A “large chunk” of the extra $2 billion is for the operation and maintenance of USSF facilities that are still being paid for under the Air Force’s budget in fiscal 2021, said Air Force Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, the department’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, during a May 28 budget roll out at the Pentagon.

He estimated that the transfer of satellites and space missions, such as the Army’s transfer of the Defense Wideband Enterprise SATCOM System and the Navy’s transfer of the Mobile User Objective System, amount to about half of the increase. He referred to those as a “a couple of examples from a long list” of items transferring.

Peccia characterized the 2022 request as having “a lot of plus-ups in the unclassified programs, but there are well over $800 million in classified programs that went to the Space Force this year for new programs.”

The Space Force proposes adding another 1,966 Active-duty members in fiscal 2022 to its end strength, including 900 transfers from the U.S. Air Force, 302 transfers from the Army, 17 Navy transfers, and 747 direct assessions. That would amount to 8,400 Guardians by the end of fiscal 2022.

In an earlier overview of the DOD’s overall request, Navy Vice Adm. Ronald A. Boxall, director of force structure, resources, and assessments for the Joint Staff, said the overall DOD budget includes $20.6 billion “to strengthen U.S. capability in space—to deter conflict and prevail in a global, all-domain fight.” At the same time, “the whole department is kind of shifting its focus onto China,” Boxall said.

The USSF’s 2022 budget also includes:

$37 million for the Space Warfighting Analysis Center to “generate new operational expertise with unique analytical tools, datasets, and intelligence to develop operational architecture options to fulfill space missions,” according to the DAF’s budget overview.
A $132 million increase to keep the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared missile warning system on schedule for initial launch capability in 2028. The Next-Gen OPIR will replace the current Space-Based Infrared System and “will provide increased missile warning, missile defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence capabilities with resilience and defensive features,” according to the DAF’s overview.
$68 million for two more GPS III satellites with $64 million for “enhanced on-orbit management.”
Adds $341 million for five National Security Space Launch vehicles, up from three in fiscal 2021.

The defense-wide budget request, meanwhile, proposes more than a threefold increase in the Space Development Agency’s research, development, test, and evaluation budget, from $267.1 million in fiscal 2021 to $808.8 million in the fiscal 2022 request. The agency wants to create a constellation of low-cost, open-architecture, data-relay and missile-tracking satellites. The agency’s first procurement request is also in the 2022 request, for $74.1, with $53.9 million in operations and maintenance bringing the SDA’s total request to $936.8 million. Established in 2019, the SDA is part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense but is supposed to become part of the Space Force before fiscal 2023.

Air Force Pushes to Counter China in 2022 Budget

May 28, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Department of the Air Force is asking for $212.8 billion in fiscal 2022, including $39 billion in “pass-through” funding, which is not controlled by USAF and goes to other mostly classified defense activities. The amount represents an increase of $7.3 billion over the enacted 2021 budget of $205.5 billion, for an increase of about 3.3 percent, or roughly flat, when inflation is taken into account.

Counting the “pass-through” funding, which is more than double the U.S. Space Force’s total budget, the Department of the Air Force’s budget appears to be the largest of the military services, edging out the Navy by just $1 billion.

Subtracting the pass-through, however, the Department of the Air Force’s funding falls to $173.7 billion, nearly tied with the Army for the lowest budget among the military services, despite defense leadership touting the Air Force and Navy as the primary forces for dealing with the Indo-Pacific theater. Of that $173.7 billion, the Air Force gets just $156.3 billion while the U.S. Space Force gets $17.4 billion.

Strategically, the Air Force spending plan emphasizes modernization, with “focused investments” to deal with China as the pacing threat to the U.S., along with other threats. It divests legacy systems, continues with buying new systems for strategic deterrence, “advances” key weapons and technologies, buys new aircraft and aims to “tackle the climate crisis,” particularly as it threatens USAF facilities at risk from rising sea levels, strengthening storms, and wildfires.

To help pay for modernization, USAF is asking to divest 201 aircraft in 2022—out-years spending in the future years defense program were not released with the budget—offset by bringing on just 91 new airplanes, saving $1.4 billion in the coming fiscal year to put toward new capabilities.

The defense budget overall proposes a 2.7 percent increase in both military and civilian pay. The department’s total force end strength would grow by 3,400 persons, to 515,300 people in 2022. The Active-duty end strength of the Air Force, however, would actually fall by 751 people to 328,300 people. Service officials said the level is essentially flat, having to do with the status of medical personnel brought on to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to setting people programs as a high priority, the Air Force budget targets sexual harassment and assault and “extremism in the ranks,” the service saying it will “ensure accountable leadership” in these areas, according to budget documents.

Finally, the spending plan is designed to build tighter relationships with partners and allies and “build unity” with the other services.

Air Force’s Spending Plans

To meet those goals, the Air Force has “fully funded” the nuclear enterprise, continuing the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, Long-Range Standoff missile, and the National Command, Control, and Communications infrastructure development programs, as well as development of the B-21 bomber. It “advances” the Next-Generation Air Dominance system to succeed today’s fifth-generation fighters; funds both boost-glide and air-breathing hypersonic missiles; modernizes the B-52 with new radar, engines, and connectivity, and “maximizes” production of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range and the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile conventional stealth missiles. The budget calls for 48 new F-35 fighters, 12 F-15EX fighters—“to ensure near-term readiness”—and continues improving the F-22 fighter with advanced sensors. It also buys 14 combat rescue helicopters and builds Advanced Battle Management System technology.

Operations and maintenance accounts claim 40 percent of the requested monies, at $63.2 billion, while personnel costs account for 25 percent, or $38.4 billion. Research, development, test, and evaluation would get 18 percent, or $28.8 billion; procurement would be 15 percent, or $22.9 billion, and military construction two percent, or $2.9 billion.

In operations and maintenance, flying hours would be reduced slightly, from $7.8 billion enacted in 2021, to $7.6 billion in 2022, a reduction of 87,000 hours.

Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, briefing the press on the budget, said the reduced flying hours could be attributed to “the change in global posture overseas,” including reduced operations in Afghanistan, which accounted for 66,000 hours of the reduction.

The remaining hours “were really risk that we could take on peacetime flying,” Peccia said. He noted that the Air Force hasn’t been able to execute its full flying hour program for a few years, and the change reflects that reality. The same approach was taken in 2021, he said.

Because the Pentagon has eliminated the Overseas Contingency Operations, the separate war account known as OCO, those costs are absorbed in USAF’s base budget and account for $7.9 billion of the O&M accounts as “direct war and enduring costs.” Including personnel and other costs, such as replacement of materiel, the total war cost estimate is $10.1 billion for the Air Force, which, with the elimination of the OCO account, comes out of hide.

The pay raise costs $573 million for uniformed personnel and $361 million for civilians, with another $183 million for civilian bonuses and awards. USAF is asking for a 3.8 percent increase in the basic allowance for housing, at a cost of $221 million, and a 2.3 percent increase in the basic allowance for subsistence, costing $56 million.

In RDT&E, the $28.8 billion requested in 2022 represents an increase of $200 million over the 2021 enacted amount. The biggest item in these accounts is the B-21, which would grow by $30 million to accommodate preparation for initial production, from $2.843 billion to $2.873 billion. The GBSD is set to nearly double, from $1.447 billion to $2.554 billion. The NGAD would grow by more than 50 percent, from $902 million to $1.525 billion.

Development of the F-35 would increase from $816 million to $1.055 billion, as the Block 4 upgrade takes shape and the Tech Refresh 3, which underlies it, is improved. Development of new radars, engines, and connectivity for the B-52 would see an increase from $483 million to $716 million.

The Advanced Battle Management System, centerpiece of USAF’s connectivity push, would see an RDT&E increase of just $46 million, to $204 million. The Air Force said this increase mostly funds “info sharing across fifth-gen [tactical air] and [command and control] nodes.” Hypersonics weapon development—and specifically “prototyping” of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFIRE), and Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) systems—would increase from $386 million to $438 million. The Air Force told Air Force Magazine that spending on new test facilities and wind tunnels for hypersonic systems development adds up to only $2,000.

In procurement accounts, the Air Force sees a decrease from $26.1 billion in 2021 to $22.9 billion in 2022. It will buy 48 F-35 fighters for a cost of $5.095 billion, 12 F-15EX fighters for $1.335 billion, 14 KC-46A tankers for $2.6 billion, 14 HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopters for $930 million, and other aircraft. The Air Force updates sensors on the F-22 for $468 million in fiscal ’22.

USAF requests a steep drop in procurement of Joint Direct Attack Munition bombs, from 16,800 in 2021 to just 1,919 in 2022. Peccia said the service is “comfortable with where we are” on JDAM inventories and decided to reduce the buy and put the money toward developing new weapons.

Purchases of Small Diameter Bomb 1 would likewise decrease from 2,462 in fiscal ’21 to 998 in ’22. The SDB II buy would grow slightly, from 743 in ’21 to 998 in ’22. The AGM-114 Hellfire, AIM-9 Sidewinder, and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles all would see reductions, as well.

Senior Pentagon leaders touted sharply increased production of the stealthy, long-range AGM-158 JASSM-ER, from 400 units in ’21 to 525 rounds in ’22, describing the missile as key to a counter-China strategy.

For the first time, the Air Force gave procurement numbers for the AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic missile, saying USAF will buy 12 rounds in 2022 at a cost of $161 million, for a unit price of $13.4 million each. Pentagon officials said the objective price of the weapon will be much lower, but the Air Force did not offer any official out-years insight into its cost.

Air Force military construction projects total $2.924 billion in 2022, up 40 percent from the $1.77 billion enacted in 2021. Of these, bed-down projects for the B-21, KC-46, and F-35 total $333 million, $160 million, and $129 million, respectively, with another $62 million supporting Air National Guard projects for the F-35, F-16, and C-130. Three GBSD-related construction projects would get $98 million in total.

The Air Force would also buy two new dormitories for basic military training worth $172 million, projects worth $185 million supporting the European Deterrence Initiative, 13 projects in the Indo-Pacific worth a collective $572 million, and $105 million for family housing projects.

Retired Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, president of the Air Force Association, said the budget submission is evidence that Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. is “doing what he promised: accelerating change.” Congress and the Defense Department now “need to do their part to ensure that capacity traded away today for capability tomorrow is not lost forever, but ultimately replaced with the capacity needed to deter any and all adversaries and to fight and win when needed.”

Wright said the “pass-through” budget “deprives both the Air Force and Space Force of the funds they need to modernize and equip their forces.”

Douglas Birkey of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said that while it’s one thing to retire KC-10s “knowing that a KC-46 will backfill” it, it’s “quite another to retire an aircraft and hope the requirement will be filled years from now.” The Air Force has “almost always lost” the game of trading current capacity for future capability, he said, adding “numbers still matter.” Congress has yet to weigh in, and the Air Force “has yet to secure its full support” for its approach.

The service “needs to either better communicate the requirement, or adjust plans, understanding that support remains weak.” He also said it’s unrealistic to expect that two services—the Air Force and Space Force—“will be able to exist within the confines of funding originally allocated to one,” a problem exacerbated by the “pass-through” problem.

Air Force Wants to Cut 32 Tankers to Free Up Space and Personnel for KC-46s

May 28, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is again targeting its old tankers for retirement, proposing a cut of 18 KC-135s and 14 KC-10s in fiscal 2022, after the service presented a new “roadmap” for its tanker fleet to gain the approval of U.S. Transportation Command. Along with the proposed cuts, the Air Force wants to buy 14 more KC-46s.

Maj. Gen. James D. Peccia III, the Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget, said the tanker cuts will be front loaded, rather than a one-for-one swap with new KC-46s, to ensure the new Pegasus aircraft and aircrews can be ready.

“Part of it is to clear the way for ramp space for the KC-46s to come in; part of it is to use the manpower that is already in the KC-135 and KC-10 programs and transfer that over so we can get them trained and ready to go,” he said. “So part of it really is to clear the way, or to give us some space, for the KC-46s to come in.”

Last year, U.S. Transportation Command boss Gen. Stephen R. Lyons pushed back on proposed cuts to the legacy tanker fleet, warning that aerial refueling already was the most stressed part of his command. Congress agreed and largely blocked USAF’s efforts to divest legacy tankers.

This year, the Air Force was able to present a clearer roadmap on how it plans to bring on the KC-46, coinciding with increased confidence of aircrews operating the plane, Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost told Air Force Magazine in a May 26 interview. Air Combat Command leaders have flown on the KC-46 and watched it refueling first-hand and have agreed to let the tanker refuel fourth-generation fighters more. Additionally, AMC plans to offer the KC-46 for limited operations in the coming months.

AMC conducted an analysis and presented the “roadmap” to TRANSCOM on the planned retirements. This included retiring KC-135s as it brought on new KC-46s, allowing for the advanced work to prepare for more Pegasus tails to arrive.

“All that together … demonstrated how this is going to work,” Van Ovost said.

Lyons, in testimony to the House Appropriations defense subcommittee last month, said the Air Force’s steps, along with increased operations by Air National Guard and Reserve tanker crews, make him feel more comfortable sending some KC-135s to the boneyard.

“I really appreciate the support of the Air Force,” Lyons said. “I’ve talked to the Chief about this. I think we’re in a very good place. I do think it’s the right decision to allow the Air Force to retire the KC-135s that they requested to retire,” Lyons told appropriators.

DOD’s $715 Billion Budget Request Focuses on Research and Development to Counter China

May 28, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon’s $715 billion budget request for the fiscal year 2022 aims to increase research and development, with a key focus on what is needed in the Indo-Pacific, and it will chop old aircraft to do it.

The Biden administration’s first budget request, released May 28, includes the biggest total of research funding in Defense Department history—$112 billion, a 5.1 percent jump from its request last year. The research in new weapons systems and emerging technology is required to “meet the array of security challenges that we face today and in the future,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H. Hicks said.

“To deter aggression, the U.S. military will need to be ready,” Hicks said in a budget roll-out briefing. “The FY 2022 request provides the resources necessary to ensure that DOD maintains that credible deterrent by sustaining readiness and protecting investments in critical capabilities. The budget also documents some of the tough choices we had to make. We lessen our reliance on vulnerable systems that are no longer suited for today’s advanced threat environment or are too costly to sustain.”

As previewed in the “skinny budget” announcement last month, the 2022 request does away with the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. Instead, funding for enduring operations is moved into the base budget. This request includes $42.1 billion for these operations, down 22 percent from 2021 as the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and draws down its presence in Iraq and Syria.

The budget proposal includes a total of $245.6 billion for investment, $52.4 billion of which is for aircraft and related systems—down from $56.9 billion in the 2021 budget request. Major buys include a total 85 F-35s, 12 F-15EXs, 115 helicopters, six drones, and 73 logistics and support aircraft. Major cuts include 42 A-10s, 18 KC-135s, and 14 KC-10s.

Countering China’s growth is the key driver of the Pentagon’s budget priorities, which includes the creation of a $5.1 billion Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) for buying more long-range fires, ships, and funding for more exercises to grow the U.S. influence in the region. The PDI is based on the similar European Deterrence Initiative, which gets a $3.7 billion request.

“To defend the nation, the department in this budget takes a clear-eyed approach to Beijing and provides the investments to prioritize China as our pacing challenge,” Hicks said. “The [People’s Republic of China] has become increasingly competitive in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world. It has the economic, military, and technological capability to change the international system and American interests within it.”

Nuclear modernization is another big-ticket item. The request calls for $27.7 billion for nuclear enterprise modernization, to include fiscal 2022 spending totals of $3 billion on the B-21 Raider and $2.6 billion on the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent. Additionally, the budget requests $20.4 billion for missile defeat and defense.

On the personnel side, the budget proposes a 2.7 percent pay raise for service members and calls for a total end strength for the Air Force of 506,900, down from 507,755, with 328,300 in the Active duty. The Space Force will grow under the request, to a total end strength of 8,400 and a budget of $17.4 billion.

The request includes $617 million for climate-related spending, largely for strengthening installation resilience in the aftermath of major damage to bases such as Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, from natural disasters. The spending also includes science and technology investments aimed at reducing the department’s energy demand and research to improve energy efficiency of current platforms.

The Pentagon wants to increase support for DOD families, with $8.6 billion for family support initiatives, including child care, morale, and recreation programs, and non-medical counseling support.

Air Force Asks to Retire 201 Aircraft in 2022 and Will Buy 91 New Ones

May 28, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will ask Congress to let it retire 201 aircraft in its 2022 budget request, though it plans to buy just 91 new airplanes, as it looks to free up cash from legacy systems for new technologies needed to keep pace with peer adversaries such as Russia and China in a high-end fight.

“As Secretary of Defense [Lloyd J.] Austin has emphasized, the DOD will evaluate and divest legacy systems and programs that no longer meet mission and/or security needs, while investing smartly for the future,” the Air Force said through a spokesperson. Divesting old iron frees up manpower and resources “to field more capable systems to address emerging threats” and will save $1.4 billion, presumably through operational cost avoidance.

AIR FORCE DIVESTMENTS IN FISCAL YEAR 2022 BUDGET

AIRCRAFT TYPE	FY 2022 DIVESTMENTS	FY 2022 SAVINGS (in millions)
A-10 Thunderbolt	(42)	($343.9)
F-15C/D	(48)	($248.9)
F-16C/D	(47)	($30.9)
KC-135	(18)	($112.7)
KC-10	(14)	($174.0)
C-130H	(8)	($83.1)
E-8 (JSTARS)	(4)	($106.5)
RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk	(20)	($273.3)
TOTAL	(201)	($1,373.3)

Source: USAF budget documents

AIR FORCE PROCUREMENTS IN FISCAL YEAR 2022 BUDGET

AIRCRAFT TYPE	FY21 ENACTED	FY22 BUDGETED
F-35A Lightning II	60	48
HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter	19	14
KC-46A Pegasus	15	14
F-15EX	12	12
MC-130J Commando II	4	3
TOTAL	110	91

Source: USAF budget documents

The largest hit would be to the fighter inventory, which would see a net reduction of 77 aircraft. The Air Force would retire 48 F-15C/Ds, 47 F-16C/Ds, and 42 A-10s for a total of 137 fighters retired. The service will buy 48 new F-35s in 2022 and 12 new F-15EX Eagle IIs.

Air Force Magazine has previously reported that USAF plans to reduce its fighter inventory by 421 jets over the future years defense program ending in 2026, while bringing on just 304 new fighters. The fiscal 2022 budget documents released May 28 do not show FYDP plans. Officials say those numbers are still being worked out.

The tanker fleet would decline by 18 KC-135s and 14 KC-10s, for a total of 32 airplanes, and USAF plans to buy 14 new KC-46s in 2022.

Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft would decline by 26 airframes, the bulk of which would be Block 30 RQ-4 Global Hawks, reduced by 20 aircraft. The E-8C Joint STARS fleet would be reduced by four airplanes, and the two OC-135 Open Skies treaty verification aircraft would be deleted, now that the U.S. has withdrawn from the Open Skies treaty.

A large number of puts and takes would affect the fleet of C-130s in its various configurations for both mobility and special missions. USAF would retire 13 C-130Hs, but will bring on five new C-130Js, for a net decrease of eight Hercules in the tactical transport role. It also plans to procure three new MC-130J Commando IIs, one less than the 2021 enacted budget.

The Air Force will buy 14 new HH-60W combat rescue helicopters. Budget documents do not show a reduction in its HH-60G fleet, which the W models are to replace.

The bomber fleet shows no further reductions in 2022 after divesting 17 B-1s in 2021; the first Lancer retired to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, on Feb. 17. The bomber fleet holds at 44 B-1s, 20 B-2s, and 76 B-52s, for a total of 142 airframes.

Notable inventories remaining unchanged also include the C-17 transport fleet, holding at 222 airlifters; the F-15E fleet, at 218 fighters; the U-2 ISR fleet, steady at 31 airplanes; and the T-38A and C trainers, flat at 59 and 445 aircraft, respectively.

Although the Air Force is already planning a replacement to the MQ-9 fleet of hunter-killer drones, it would increase their numbers by 21 aircraft in 2022, to 351 airframes. A service spokesman said the increase is due to aircraft being delivered that were added by Congress in fiscal 2020, though the service is not buying any new ones. Even so, USAF said it is “maintaining 56 government-owned, government-operated MQ-9 combat lines,” which include several aircraft each, in fiscal ’22, having reduced those GOGO lines by four.

The Air Force believes it has “sufficient quantities of MQ-9s in the inventory” to support combat requirements while it asses a “follow-on capability that better aligns” with the National Defense Strategy. There’s money in fiscal 2022 to pursue a so-called “MQ-X,” but “that line of funding remains classified,” the spokesman said.

News Editor Amy McCullough contributed to this report.

Budget to Include ‘Largest Ever’ Research and Development Request, Aims to Deter China

May 27, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The first budget request of the Biden administration, to be released May 28, will trade off aircraft and other capabilities not relevant in future fights in exchange for the “largest-ever” request for research and development, with a particular focus on what is needed to compete against China, top Pentagon leaders told lawmakers May 27.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III told members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee the budget will “create the right mix of capabilities to defend the nation and deter any aggressors.” Austin would not provide specifics until the budget rolls out but said the Pentagon needs to work with individual services to retire equipment that might be relevant now but won’t be in the future.

The budget has “substantial investments in the modernization of the nuclear enterprise, missile defeat and defense, Navy forces, long-range fires, and the largest-ever request for [research, development, test, and evaluation] for the development of technologies,” Austin said. “So our effort, again, is to make sure that we have the ability to leverage quantum computing, to begin to leverage [artificial intelligence], space-based platforms. Not only begin to leverage them, but to network them in ways that they’ve never been networked.”

The White House announced in April that the budget would include $715 billion for the Pentagon, with a total of $753 billion for national defense.

Austin said the Pentagon has “taken a hard look” at White House guidance and will use its funding request to ensure it is “focused on acquiring the right kinds of capabilities that we need to be relevant in the future fight.”

This tradeoff for the Air Force is expected to mean cuts to legacy planes such as KC-135s and MQ-9s—cuts that some lawmakers have already come out against because combatant commanders regularly call for more intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Air Force Magazine previously reported that the Air Force plans to ask Congress to retire 421 legacy aircraft through 2026, replacing them with just 304 new fighters, so it can shift savings toward acquiring new systems such as the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter later this decade and a new Multi-Role fighter, called MR-X, in the 2030s. However, many of those changes are likely to be implemented in 2023, following the completion of USAF’s tactical aircraft study, which will determine the right mix of fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft, Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. has said.

Austin said future investment “puts us in a good place, and what it requires us to do is work with the services and take a hard look at those capabilities that will not be relevant in the future fight, and really begin to no longer invest in those capabilities … and focus on those things that we know we’ll need.”

The driving force behind the shift is China’s increased capabilities and intent to compete with the U.S. The budget will include funding for a proposed Pacific Deterrence Initiative, along with money for technologies relevant in the Asia-Pacific.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, testifying with Austin, said China has shown it is advancing rapidly, though it is not more capable in the region.

“They are a very, very significant competitor to the United States,” Milley said. “They are not yet our equal, but their intent is to be our equal.”