USAF Proves Strike Eagles Can Carry 15 JDAMs

March 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force is testing new ways to use the F-15E Strike Eagle to deliver bombs.

The 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron recently flew an F-15E with six Joint Direct Attack Munitions on a single side, potentially expanding the number of the bombs the aircraft can carry to 15.

F-15Es are authorized to carry a maximum of nine JDAMs. However, expanding this amount would allow USAF to use the F-15E to deliver bombs to a forward location, where they could be offloaded, according to a 53rd Wing release.

“Strike Eagle can now carry enough JDAMs for an active combat mission, land at a remote location, and reload itself and/or another aircraft—such as an F-35 or F-22—for additional combat sorties,” 85th TES Commander Lt. Col. Jacob Lindaman said in the release.

This means the F-15E could serve a role currently used by mobility aircraft, such as C-130s. It takes two of the airlifters to carry the bombs and personnel, and once at the destination, the JDAMs then have to be assembled, according to the release. Using an F-15E means the JDAMs would already be assembled, and only one C-130 would be needed.

The development of the capability is part of the broader Air Force’s push for Agile Combat Employment—the goal of being able to quickly operate in forward locations with a smaller footprint. The tactic stems from a recent Weapons and Tactics Conference and could be employed in combat in about a month, according to the release.

Air Force OKs Shorts for Maintainers, New Sock Colors, and More Starting March 15

March 2, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Maintainers will soon be allowed to wear shorts, under new rules based on feedback from Airmen and Guardians.

The department plans to publish a “change to Air Force Instruction 36-2903”—which governs dress and appearance for USAF and Space Force troops—that will reflect feedback from service members. Changes will take effect as soon as the AFI tweak is published, the Department of the Air Force said March 2.

“These options came directly from feedback from the field through the virtual uniform board and feedback from commands in the field,” said Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Readiness Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly in a release about the policy change. “We appreciated the feedback we received from Airmen and the opportunity to hear their concerns and ideas. Not all of the ideas fit within our standards or culture, but many do and provided us an opportunity to provide options for our Airmen.”

Under the new rules, commanders may allow maintainers to don “dark navy blue shorts” instead of Airman Battle Uniform or Operational Camouflage Pattern pants in certain locations if temperatures are expected to hit or surpass “80 degrees Fahrenheit,” the release said.

“Authorized areas will include the flight line, hangars, and dock areas outside of climate-controlled areas,” the release stated.

The AFI change will include specific requirements for these shorts, but troops will need to pair them “with the coyote brown T-shirt and uniform green or coyote brown socks with uniform boots,” according to the release.

While some maintenance units have gotten permission to authorize shorts for flight line Airmen, the upcoming change will be the first time the change is codified department-wide.

“The idea for shorts on the flightline originated at the 95th Aircraft Maintenance Unit from Tyndall Air Force Base. [Fla.], while deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base in southwest Asia,” the 33rd Fighter Wing wrote last September. “The Aircraft Maintenance Unit there was permitted to wear shorts while they were deployed and upon return, the unit reached out for local guidance authorizing the shorts to integrate them at the home station.”

That decision, in turn, inspired other maintenance units—including the 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.—to follow suit, the wing said.

Other changes slated to take effect on March 15 include:

Duty Identifier Patches: The updated AFI will also permit USAF and USSF troops in all career fields to wear approved patches representing their job specialties, so long as their duty identifier is no more than five letters long and has “a standard spice brown color scheme,” the release stated.
Sock Colors for PT: “Service members will be able to wear conservative, solid black, white, navy blue, gray, desert sand, tan, Defense Logistics Agency‐issued green, or coyote brown socks with their physical training gear,” the release stated, adding that “small trademark logos” are permitted.
Eyeglass and Sunglass Frame Colors: Wire frames will be permissible in silver or gold, and other frames will be allowed if they’re “black, brown, white, navy blue, gray, or [made of] transparent material,” the department said.
Messenger and Lunch Bags: Airmen and Guardians will be allowed to carry both types of bags. However, if they’re not in an ABU or OCP pattern, they must be “black, brown, gray, or navy blue” and lack any kind of design, the department wrote.
Dressing for the Cold: The department will allow USAF and USSF troops to wear cold weather gear—such as a fleece cap—even if they’re not wearing an approved “outer garment.”

The AFI change will allow commanders to greenlight the use of “headphones or Bluetooth devices” in additional settings, the release said.

“Wear or use of an earpiece, any Bluetooth wireless technology, or headphones while in uniform, indoors or outdoors, is authorized for official duties or may be authorized as determined by the installation commander, delegable no lower than the squadron commander level,” the department wrote.

Finally, the department wrote, once DAF finishes acquiring tactical caps—a process it anticipates will “take approximately a year”—Air Force and Space Force troops will be allowed to wear them with OCPs.

The department is still considering other ideas presented at its most recent virtual uniform board event, and will release details “at a later date.”

The AFI-related announcement came the same day the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center said it had finalized its update to USAF’s physical training uniform. AFLCMC expects the uniforms, which haven’t yet entered production, to be available to Airmen next year, Air Force Magazine previously reported.

Air Force Finalizes New PT Uniform

March 2, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force Uniform Office has finished redesigning the service’s physical training uniform, and Airmen will be able to buy it beginning next year, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center announced March 2.

“The new uniform will be available to Airmen in 2022, and there will be a four year transition period for mandatory wear,” according to an AFLCMC release. The center is currently gearing up for production.

Air Force Uniform Office member 2nd Lt. Maverick Wilhite demonstrates wear of the updated Air Force physical training uniform at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on Feb. 25, 2021. **Photo: Jim Varhegyi/USAF**

More than 150 service members helped test the new outfit, which includes a jacket, t-shirt, pants, and two types of shorts, and marks the service’s first PT uniform change in nearly two decades.

USAF leaders’ primary requirements for the new uniform were that it be something Airmen would actually want to wear, and that its quality meet or exceed civilian athletic gear, Air Force Uniform Office Chief Tracy Roan said in the release.

“The new uniform now includes all of the great performance features that you find in athletic wear today,” she said in the release.

Air Force Uniform Office member 1st Lt. Avery Thompson wears the updated Air Force physical training uniform t-shirt and running shorts at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, on Feb. 25, 2021. **Photo: Jim Varhegyi/USAF**

The uniform overhaul includes a variety of innovations, according to AFLCMC, including:

The use of “soft, quick drying,” and antimicrobial fabrics to assist with moisture and control odors, as well as “stretch materials to provide comfort and increase performance.”
A more tailored jacket that’s crafted from a less noisy fabric than the old uniform and includes “a zipper chest pocket” that can hold a Common Access Card.
A uniform t-shirt engineered so that Airmen can wear it untucked while exercising but tuck it in “as required by command.”
The inclusion of two types of shorts to meet the demands of different kinds of workouts: shorter ones for running, and longer ones for other forms of exercise. “The all-purpose shorts are unlined knit with zipper hip pockets you can close,” the release stated. “The runner’s are a lightweight stretch woven fabric with mesh side panels to improve airflow and [an] improved stretch liner for modesty.”

“A long sleeve t-shirt and a hoodie are in development,” AFLCMC added in a photo caption accompanying the announcement.

Drones Could Be SOCOM Armed Overwatch Contenders, Slife Says

March 1, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Unmanned aerial vehicles are fair game for U.S. Special Operations Command’s armed overwatch platform competition, Air Force Special Operations Command boss Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife told reporters on Feb. 25. However, he said, the MQ-9 Reaper drone might not be up to the challenge in its current form.

The manned vs. unmanned platform question is one that SOCOM’s upcoming armed overwatch demonstration—the date of which has yet to be determined, but is expected to be in this fiscal year—hopes to answer, Slife said during a media roundtable held during the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.

“I’m just looking to get the mission done,” Slife said, noting he doesn’t have a preference.

However, while the MQ-9 Reaper may have an easy time flying in the kinds of environments SOCOM expects to operate its armed overwatch platform in, Slife said the “runway length” it requires and the ground infrastructure its operations demand may make it a dubious choice for the job.

“That doesn’t mean that the MQ-9 couldn’t be made more compatible with the mission,” he said. “It just means we haven’t seen it yet.”

Slife said he couldn’t definitively say which platforms—including the Reaper—would be represented at the upcoming demo. However, he said he anticipates “somewhere between … four to six or seven” proposals to take part.

“It’ll depend on how SOCOM is able to scope out the funding they have to support the vendor demonstrations, but I think it’ll … certainly be more than one or two companies that bring platforms for us to take a look at,” he said.

He said SOCOM has considered unmanned aircraft participation and “looked at everything from existing Air Force platforms—both ISR, close air support platforms to off-the-shelf industry platforms, to non-developmental platforms that industry has been working on [with] their own funding for the last several years.”

“I don’t want to get in front of the headlights of the SOCOM acquisition executive who’s gonna run the demonstration for us, but we have certainly indicated in the past that we would welcome MQ-9 participation in that,” Slife said.

Slife also expects participating platforms to present “a spectrum of capabilities and a spectrum of different ideas” about how SOCOM can carry out its armed overwatch mission.

Although the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act blocked SOCOM from buying armed overwatch aircraft this fiscal year, there is still enough funding for demonstrations. SOCOM is still aiming to procure 75 armed overwatch aircraft, Slife added.

“That’s where I think the sweet spot is, both in terms of being able to sustain a training base, to be able to have a sustainable force generation model, and to be able to support the number of ground teams that we anticipate being out in these very small, disaggregated environments where we anticipate the armed overwatch platform operating,” he told reporters.

About a week prior, he told AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that SOCOM needs to finish the demonstration before it can decide “what an acquisition program would look like,” including how many platforms it’ll choose and whether it’ll lease or buy them, Air Force Magazine previously reported. The demonstration will help SOCOM assemble its “final requirement document” before it makes its ultimate “procurement decision,” he added.

Video: Mitchell Institute on YouTube

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on March 5 to correct the date of the vAWS media roundtable.

USAFE’s ABMS On-Ramp Included Partner Nations, Base Defense Scenario

March 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. Air Forces in Europe last week wrapped its Advanced Battle Management System demonstration, bringing together dozens of aircraft from U.S. military services and multiple countries to find new ways to share data and operate together.

The USAFE “on ramp” demonstration was the first to have non-U.S. military participants, with the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Polish Air Force, and United Kingdom Royal Air Force flying. It was also the first ABMS event to occur after Congress limited some of the funding in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

USAFE boss Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian told reporters during the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium that budget restrictions had “minimal impacts,” because the command added some of its own funding “because I thought it was important enough to contribute to this while we worked with the team back in the Pentagon to find ways to get to where we needed to go.”

For the event, the large airborne scenario focused on F-15Cs and F-15Es from RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, practicing the employment of the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles over the Baltic Sea, using targeting and command and control through U.S. and United Kingdom assets, according to a USAFE release. These included the 603rd Air Operations Center and the Deployable Ground System, along with U.S. Navy P-8, KC-135s from RAF Mildenhall, and a USAF C-17.

Simultaneously at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, USAF assets and Dutch F-35s participated in a mission aimed at base defense. This included joint and combined teams targeting unmanned aerial systems and simulated cruise missile attacks. The F-35s served as a communication link between the defense and the U.S. Army’s 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command, according to the release.

The U.S. Space Force helped with a Multiband Assessment of the Communication Environment from the 16th Space Control Squadron. Harrigian said the exercise included SpaceX’s Starlink broadband system.

Additionally, the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., helped with communication. Kessel Run with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Detachment 12 also supported the event.

“There were minimal impacts from a budget perspective in terms of what we wanted to do, we were able to execute both the find, fix, and target piece of the demo and do our base defense, as well,” Harrigian said.

The event took about eight months to plan, Harrigian said. Through the demonstration, USAFE expected to see “foundational improvements on some of our infrastructure. I had expected to see an improvement on some of the tools that we were putting in the hands of our Airmen. And then, ultimately, to see how we holistically pulled this all together, to continue connecting different sensors,” he said.

This is the fourth in the series of ABMS onramps, which focus on testing and developing new technologies to link sensors and shooters. The effort started out as a way to replace the service’s aging E-8C Joint STARS and has morphed into a massive new look at how the service can communicate and target across aircraft and other joint assets.

CAE to Buy L3Harris Technologies’ Military Training Business for $1B

March 1, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

Canadian-based CAE announced plans to buy L3Harris Technologies’ Military Training business for $1.05 billion, saying the acquisition broadens its training and simulation portfolio and doubles its U.S. defense presence.

The proposed acquisition, which is slated to close in the second half of 2021, “accelerates our growth strategy in defense and security and is highly complementary to our core military training business, broadening our position in the United States,” said Marc Parent, CAE’s president and chief executive officer, in a March 1 release. “We are adding new customers, experience on new platforms, and building our depth of expertise to address all domains—air, land, sea, space, and cyber—as well as expanding into adjacent markets such as mission and operations support.”

It is the fourth-announced acquisition for CAE in last four months—part of what the company calls its “reinvigorated defense growth strategy,” Parent said.

Arlington, Texas-based L3Harris Technologies’ Military Training is the sole provider of USAF initial flight training services, provides “nearly all F-16 simulators currently in use,” and also is the prime contractor for B-2 training systems, Parent said. It consists of Link Simulation & Training, Doss Aviation, and AMI.

Parent argues the acquisition gives CAE a “leg up” when it comes to future acquisition programs, such as the Next Generation Air Dominance platform and the B-21 bomber.

CAE also expects the U.S. military to rely more on virtual training as it shifts its focus from decades of counterinsurgency operations to great power competition, while also facing flattening or declining budgets.

“This brings with it the added complexities of having to plan and train for scenarios that involve the integration of multiple domains at once, which is something that’s generally either too costly or just not feasible to do outside of a virtual environment,” Parent said. “… This has created a significant opportunity for CAE in the United States and around the world as NATO and allied nations also adapt to these new realities.”

1 Killed, 2 Injured in Feb. 25 Strike on Iranian-Backed Militias

March 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

One militia member was killed and two injured in the Feb. 25 U.S. strike on Iranian-backed fighters in Syria, which President Joe Biden told Congress was carried out to “protect and defend our personnel and our partners” from future attacks.

The Pentagon’s initial battle damage assessment included the casualty figures, and noted that nine buildings were damaged or destroyed, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said in a March 1 briefing. The strikes targeted border crossing facilities used by the groups to take weapons into Iraq. The mission was to “remove the compound from their utilization” and send a signal to the militias, Kirby said.

Two USAF F-15Es conducted the strikes, employing seven precision-guided munitions on the complex, which was used by the Iranian-backed militias Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, according to a Pentagon statement.

The strikes came in response to a rocket attack on U.S. and coalition personnel on Feb. 15 in Erbil, Iraq. The 107mm rocket attack killed one Filipino contractor and wounded one U.S. service member and four U.S. contractors.

Biden, in a Feb. 27 letter to Congress, said the strike was consistent with his responsibility to protect U.S. citizens and pursuant to the U.S.’s right of self defense as outlined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

“The United States always stands ready to take necessary and proportionate action in self-defense, including when, as is the case here, the government of the state where the threat is located is unwilling or unable to prevent the use of its territory by non-state militia groups responsible for such attacks,” Biden wrote.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 27-28

Feb. 28, 2021

In commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Operation Desert Storm, Air Force Magazine is posting daily recollections from the six-week war, which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.

Feb. 27:

The coalition liberates Kuwait City, and envelops Iraqi forces.
Coalition and Iraqi units fight the largest tank battle since the World War II Battle of Kursk between the Germans and the Soviets: Two Army divisions decimate two Republican Guard divisions.
Two specially made 4,700-pound GBU-28 bombs destroy an “impregnable” Iraqi command bunker at Al Taji.
Coalition attack sorties reach a one-day record of 3,500.
Bush announces that coalition forces would suspend offensive operations the next day at 8 a.m. local time.
President George H.W. Bush says Iraq must end military action; free all prisoners of war, third-country nationals, and Kuwaiti hostages; release the remains of coalition forces killed in action; agree to comply with all UN resolutions; and reveal the location of land and sea mines.

Feb. 28:

The fighting stops.
Iraq agrees to observe the cease-fire, and attend military-to-military talks on cessation of hostilities.
Coalition air forces fly 3,500 sorties, for a total of 110,000.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz notifies the UN Security Council that Iraq accepts 12 United Nations resolutions dealing with the invasion of Kuwait.
The Defense Department says coalition forces destroyed or rendered ineffective 42 Iraqi divisions, captured more than 50,000 Iraqi prisoners, destroyed or captured 3,000 of 4,030 tanks in southern Iraq and Kuwait, and destroyed or captured 962 of 2,870 armored vehicles, 1,005 of 3,110 artillery pieces, and 103 of 639 aircraft (with another 100 or so in quarantine in Iran).
Coalition forces continue to destroy captured and abandoned Iraqi armor and artillery.
Coalition airplanes flew 110,000 sorties over Iraq and Kuwait, one-half of which were combat and one-half support (reconnaissance, air refueling, search and rescue, etc.)
U.S. casualties are reported as 79 killed in action, 212 wounded in action, 45 missing in action, and nine POWs. (Casualties were later revised to 613.)

Check out our complete chronology of the Gulf War, starting with Iraq’s July 1990 invasion of Kuwait and running through Iraq’s April 1991 acceptance of peace terms.

WATCH: The 2021 vAWS Day 3 Highlight Report

Feb. 26, 2021

Video: Air Force Association on YouTube

Acting Secretary of the Air Force Roth, NORAD’s Gen. VanHerck, U.S. Space Command’s Gen. Dickinson, Spark Tank, and more from Day 3 of the Air Force Association’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium.