Steady F-35 Price Reductions Likely at an End

Feb. 19, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The next three lots of F-35 production—now being negotiated—likely won’t see much, if any, lowering of unit prices, Lockheed Martin aeronautics vice president Gregory M. Ulmer said Feb. 19.

A reduction in units being procured and an increase in capability of the aircraft will make it tough to keep the price from rising, he said.

“If you look at the next three lots, there’s going to be quite a bit of pressure, I would say, keeping the cost neutral,” Ulmer told journalists on a telecon press conference ahead of AFA’s virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium Feb. 24-26.

There’s “a significant quantity reduction in the next three years … on the order of 100 aircraft,” he said, so there will be fewer aircraft across which to spread overhead costs.

In the Lot 12, 13, and 14 deal, announced in October 2019, there were 478 aircraft, and Lockheed’s unit price for the F-35A model fell below $80 million apiece for the first time. The Lot 12-14 contract reduced F-35 unit prices nearly 13 percent over the previous lots, and marked the sixth successive year of unit price reductions.

“We also know we’re going to put Tech Refresh 3 [upgraded software, improved core processor, new cockpit display] and new capabilities on the aircraft” in Lots 15-17, Ulmer said. Given all that, “We’re working to keep a cost-neutral position” for the next production lots.

The Joint Program Office reported in January that its contracting strategy for Lots 15-17 will be to negotiate a “base year” contract for Lot 15, with two single-year options in Lots 16 and 17.

The F-35 still has not been declared ready for full-rate production; that status has been repeatedly delayed while the Pentagon integrates the aircraft with the Joint Simulation Environment, a Pentagon wargaming system that assesses the right numbers of various platforms for various combat scenarios.

Declaring the F-35 ready for full-rate production will make it possible for a multi-year contract of five to seven years, Ulmer said, noting that partners are already taking advantage of block buy quantities to reduce risk. That arrangement would enable contractors and subs to make better deals for materials and labor, which could hold prices down, he said.

Asked if declaration of full-rate production readiness would enhance the image of the F-35 worldwide, Ulmer said, “From my view, it’s already …happened,” citing the success of the F-35 in real-world combat operations in the U.S. Central Command area of operations, and the fact that the program has ramped up production steadily and “met all our commitments.” He noted, though, that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the ramp rate, and previously acknowledged that Lockheed fell 20 airplanes short of its planned deliveries in 2020.

Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program won’t affect foreign sales prospects. The U.S. Air Force will buy the aircraft built in production line positions previously held by Turkey, said Ulmer.

The Turkish slots “are spoken for,” Ulmer said. “At the time we stepped away from Turkey, there were eight aircraft” completed for that country. “Those have all been … delivered to the U.S Air Force.” There were also three lots of eight aircraft for Turkey “in flow,” and “all those will be [delivered] to the U.S. Air Force as well. There is no plan to allocate those to a different customer,” Ulmer reported.

There are numerous potential F-35 customers in the Middle East and Far East, Ulmer said, declining to be specific.

Ulmer said Lockheed is awaiting a request for proposals in the spring from the F-35 Joint Program Office on a Performance-Based Logistics plan the company pitched to the Pentagon two years ago. The plan would see Lockheed invest more than a billion dollars up-front in sustainment enhancements, and the government would pay the company back out of its operating savings. Lockheed said at the outset the PBL plan is the only way to achieve a cost per flying hour of $25,000 by 2025, and Ulmer said that goal is “still doable.”

He also said Lockheed has a backlog of 128 F-16s to be produced at its new Greenville, S.C., F-16 production facility for five customer countries, and there is a potential to sell as many as 300 more, although some of the customers will be “repeat” buyers. That figure doesn’t include India, which may build an advanced F-16, called the F-21, under license. New customers include Bulgaria and Slovakia, Ulmer said.

Asked to comment on Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown’s announcement of a new tactical aircraft study, Ulmer said he agrees with Brown’s “approach, relative to the operational analysis and the study aspect” but believes it should take a holistic view of air combat.

“I tend to think it’s a system of systems, and not so much a platform-centric solution set,” he said. As to Brown’s suggestion that the Air Force may need a generation 4-plus or 5-minus platform to succeed the F-16, Ulmer said “if you fast-forward to the next decade, I think the ‘low end’ fight in the future is very much a ‘high-end’ fight. If you look at the proliferation of [Russian air defense] S-300 or S-400 [systems] … it’s going to be even more so in the future.”

Indonesia Could Be First Non-USAF Customer for F-15EX

Feb. 19, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Indonesia plans to buy the Boeing F-15EX, expecting to take delivery by 2022, according to press reports from Jakarta. If Indonesia follows through, it would be the first sale of the new F-15 configuration beyond the U.S. Air Force, which has not yet accepted its first fighter.

The Anadolu news service quoted Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Fajar Prasetyo, speaking at an Indonesian air force leadership meeting, as saying his country will buy 36 new French Rafale fighters and eight F-15EX fighters, along with upgrades for the country’s other combat aircraft. Plans also call for purchase of C-130 transports and a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned combat air vehicle.

However, “The implementation is very dependent on various factors and conditions that keep changing dynamically,” Prasetyo said, adding that the various parts of government and the defense ministry are working to address affordability issues.

The purchases are meant to address operational requirements, obsolescing equipment, the need for commonality with other air forces, and technology transfer, Prasetyo said.

Indonesia fields a fleet of about 72 combat aircraft, including 33 F-16s— a mix of A/B and C/D models—five Su-27, 11 Su-30 and 23 Hawk 200s. All the aircraft date back to the 1990s or earlier, but 10 of the oldest F-16s have been updated.

A Boeing spokeswoman could not confirm the planned purchase, but said “we remain confident in the F-15EX’s suitability for Indonesia, given its unmatched range, payload, and performance.” She did confirm, however, that all future sales of new F-15s will carry the designator F-15EX. Over the past 30 years, export F-15s have borne a designator specific to the export nation; e.g., F-15SA for Saudi Arabia, F-15QA for Qatar, F-15I for Israel, etc. From now on, though, the designation will be “F-15EX across the board,” the spokeswoman said.

The U.S. Air Force will take delivery of its first F-15EX fighter within “the next couple of weeks,” the Boeing spokeswoman said, and the second one “by the end of March.” A rollout/delivery ceremony is slated to take place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in early April. Operational testing of the first two aircraft at Eglin is to begin in the spring, and the two initial test jets will be joined by six more in the next few years.

The Air Force plans to buy about 144 F-15EX through the late 2020s, to replace F-15C/D aircraft that are rapidly aging out of the inventory. The new aircraft feature fly-by-wire flight controls, an additional two weapon stations, and the EPAWSS electronic warfare system. However, the EPAWSS is not being made available for export.

Austin Highlights China Threat in First Briefing

Feb. 19, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

As a Pentagon task force begins reviewing the department’s approach toward China, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III used his first media briefing to reiterate that Beijing is the top “pacing threat” for the military and the U.S. needs to ensure its deterrence can remain credible.

“From the Department of Defense standpoint, … my No. 1 concern and my No. 1 job is to defend this country and protect our interests,” Austin said. “And so, we in this department are going to do everything possible to ensure we have the right operational concepts, the right plans in place, and that we have resourced the plans with the right capabilities to present a credible deterrence not only to China, [but to] any other adversary who would want to take us on.”

President Joe Biden, in his first visit to the Pentagon on Feb. 10, announced the formation of the Department of Defense China Task Force, which will define new priorities and “decision points so that we can chart a strong path forward on China-related matters.”

The task force will include up to 15 civilian and uniformed members, who will review modernization requirements, basing and access in the Indo-Pacific, intelligence, and alliances related to China policy. The review will be released in about four months.

Austin said there might still be ways for China and the U.S. to work together, as long as it’s in America’s best interests.

“And so there no doubt are some areas where we see common interests and there may be an opportunity to engage, but it will be from a standpoint of promoting our best interests,” Austin said.

The Pentagon in its 2018 National Defense Strategy said China is exerting its influence in the region through military outreach.

Austin said he discussed Chinese threats during the NATO defense ministerial meetings Feb. 17-18, saying allies can help the U.S. “better think through operating concepts and investment strategies when it comes to meeting that challenge.”

Top Aces Brings 1st Israeli F-16s Back to the US

Feb. 19, 2021 | By Amy Hudson

Top Aces Corp., the first company to operate the F-16 commercially, imported its first four of 29 jets from Israel late last month, President Russ Quinn told Air Force Magazine.

The jets were broken down and flown via cargo jet to the company’s F-16 Center of Excellence in Mesa, Ariz. After nearly six years of locking down the deal and working with the State Department, Quinn said Top Aces has received approval to bring all 29 aircraft to the U.S. It plans to bring the fighters back in batches of 12, depending on market conditions, with two jets coming in every other month. The goal is to be on contract and flying for the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Navy in 2021.

“The professionals at Top Aces are looking incredibly forward to serve. We’ve got a group of ops and maintainers and support folks that have been waiting and really moving to get to the point where we can serve the Air Force with these assets,” Quinn said. “We see that as our highest priority currently, and we’re just really looking forward to bringing the next level of capability, both equipment-wise and people or professionalism, to the Air Force commercial adversary air business.”

Top Aces is one of seven companies awarded indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts in October 2019, allowing them to bid on specific task orders under a broader adversary air contract worth up to $6.4 billion. The contract could eventually include some 40,000 hours of adversary air at 12 fighter bases, plus 10,000 hours of close air support training at nine bases.

Air Combat Command in July 2020 awarded three companies contracts worth up to $433.6 million to fly more than 5,400 annual sorties at five training bases. Though Top Aces is allowed to bid on contracts, it’s yet to be awarded any, because ACC was waiting until it had brought its jets back to the U.S., Quinn said. Now that it has them, the company has its eye on the follow-on adversary air contract for Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., which he expects to drop in the third quarter of this year. Draken International currently is under contract at Nellis, supporting the U.S. Air Force Weapons School.

Top Aces will upgrade its early block F-16s with an active electronically scanned array radar, helmet-mounted cueing system, tactical datalink, and high off boresight capability. Its open mission system, which can be integrated into any platform, has already been integrated and flight tested in its A-4 Skyhawks. That is what “really makes [the F-16s] capable, in terms of simulating a variety of threats,” said Quinn.

“We’re very excited about that level of risk reduction,” Quinn said. “It makes a big difference for us in terms of making the F-16 embodiment and integration a lot easier and a lot quicker.”

Although the company has done some work on the jets in Israel, Quinn said that was mostly bringing them back to flight status. All the advanced work will be completed in the United States.

The Air Force recently re-established the 65th Aggressor Squadron with F-35s at Nellis and has talked about bringing more aggressor work back in house. But the companies vying for the contract air award are banking there is still plenty of work to go around.

“It was very important to bring the F-35s in, but honestly even with the numbers they’re talking about, there’s still a tremendous void in the numbers that are required. We still see there’s plenty of opportunity for commercial operators that are appropriately priced and equipped. We think we’re that,” he said. “So now, I feel pretty good about the future.”

USAF Launches New Review of Racial, Gender, Ethnic Disparities

Feb. 19, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Department of the Air Force Inspector General is launching an additional review looking at racial, gender, and ethnic disparities in the ranks as the military continues to reckon with issues of racism and equality.

The Air Force released the 2020 Racial Disparity Review in December, citing wide-spread issues across the department. That 150-page Inspector General report included feedback from 123,000 survey responses and 138 in-person sessions, with Black Airmen reporting distrust of their chain of command, military justice inequalities, and other administrative issues.

The Air Force announced Feb. 19 the next review will expand to additional racial categories: Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. It also will look at gender disparities, as well as disparities with Hispanic/Latino Airmen.

“The IG team has already begun to gather information contained in a wide array of previous reports, studies, and various databases across the Department of the Air Force,” Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth said in a release. “Although the data is helpful, the most important information will come directly from our Airmen and Guardians.”

Roth, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond Jr. directed the review, saying further analysis is needed in the aftermath of the prior review.

“Ensuring fair and equitable discipline and development for all our Airmen and Guardians is critical,” the leaders said, according to the release. “We are committed to promoting an environment free from personal, social, and institutional barriers that might prevent our members from rising to their highest potential. Diversity makes us a stronger and more capable force.”

Airmen, Guardians, and civilians will receive an anonymous survey as part of the review.

“It is critical that we hear from you, because you are a central part of the solution,” Roth said in the release.

Findings from this effort will be released alongside a six-month assessment of what steps have been taken in response to the 2020 review.

Here’s How USAF’s C-130J Wings Are Chasing ACE

Feb. 19, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

For the Air Force’s C-130J wings, there’s no one-size-fits-all way to gear up for agile combat employment, since the different theaters in which they operate—specifically, Europe and the Pacific—come with unique challenges, 19th Airlift Wing Commander Col. John M. Schutte told Air Force Magazine in a recent interview.

“As we think about agile combat employment, a lot of that operational experimentation that’s happening is defined by the geographic problem that we face,” Schutte said.

However, he said, wings across the globe traded notes on ACE during a Jan. 25 C-130J Super Hercules Virtual Weapons System Council. During the event, Active-duty, Guard, and Reserve wings shared updates on all things C-130J—from fleet readiness to training—and collectively made decisions impacting the whole enterprise. The 19th AW hosted the council.

ACE-related efforts may look a bit different from one wing to another, but they’re all complementary, he said.

For example, the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan, is focusing on quickly getting fuel where it needs to go and then conducting “integrated combat turns.”

“Integrated combat turns are essentially when you’re taking a combat Air Forces asset and you’re helping to allow them to rapidly regenerate to either provide fuel, munitions, or if you needed to bring in a maintenance team to help if the airplane was broken and needed to be rapidly fixed,” he explained. These turns allow CAF and Mobility Air Forces to unite in order to “regenerate combat power” and keep up the fight, he added.

In Europe, on the other hand, the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is focused on training multi-capable Airmen with “cross-functional competencies,” he said.

Back at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., Schutte said his wing has been “working very aggressively on agile combat employment”—to include integrated combat turns—as well as brainstorming “what force presentation looks like … as an Air Force in a contested theater.” The wing is engineering “a lead wing construct for the C-130,” along the lines of similar Air Combat Command efforts, he said.

The wing integrated with ACC’s Agile Flag 21-1 exercise last fall—an event the command said tested the 366th Fighter Wing’s “ability to deploy into theater as a lead [Air Expeditionary Wing] with a wing-level air staff”—and plans to bring “a C-130 lead wing” to Volk Field, Wis., for the next iteration of the exercise this spring.

“We’re helping to act as an accelerant not just for change within Air Mobility Command but for the Air Force as we strive to partner with the CAF in better ways,” he said.

And just two weeks after the wing concludes its participation in Agile Flag 21-2, it’ll serve as the lead planning wing for Air Mobility Command’s exercise Mobility Guardian 21, Schutte said.

This year’s iteration of the biannual training event will include learning goals tailored both to ACE integration and joint all-domain command and control, he noted.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 19-21

Feb. 18, 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. 19:

President George H.W. Bush declares the Soviet peace proposal inadequate.
A mixed force of F-4Gs and F-16s from a composite wing in Turkey launch a daylight attack on Baghdad from the north.
The coalition flies a record 3,000 attack sorties; the total for 34 days of air war rises to 83,000.

Feb. 20:

The U.S. Army engages with a Iraqi reconnaissance unit, destroying five tanks and 20 artillery pieces.

Feb. 21:

Iraq fires three Scud missiles toward King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia.
U.S. casualties reach 20 killed in action, 27 wounded in action, 29 missing in action (plus two noncombat missing in action), and nine prisoners of war. The coalition holds 2,500 Iraqi POWs.
After meetings in Moscow with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, the Soviets announce that Iraq accepts the Soviet peace proposal.

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.

Beale T-38 Makes Gear-Up Landing at Mather Airport

Feb. 18, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

A T-38 Talon aircraft assigned to the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., landed at Mather Airport in Mather, Calif., with at least one of its gears up, causing a fire, the wing announced in a release.

No one was injured in the Feb. 18 incident, which remains under investigation, the release stated. It’s not clear how much damage was done to the aircraft. Fox 40 reported that two Airmen were aboard the trainer at the time.

The airport, which Beale uses for training missions, formerly housed Mather Air Force Base, which halted operations in the early 1990s before being repurposed “for civilian aviation purposes,” according to a Sacramento County web page about the airport’s history.

Under New Rules, Officer Promotion Boards Will See More Negative Information

Feb. 18, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force officer promotion boards will see more negative information—including serious reprimands—that previously could be hidden from them, under new rules that go into effect March 1.

The new rules, which were published internally in January and announced on Feb. 10, follow a new law included in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act that affects mainly majors and above who are up for promotion. Previously, wing commanders and other higher-ups had discretion to remove some damaging information from a company grade officer’s promotion folder, but the new rules standardize what is now included in a promotion package.

This includes:

Court martial convictions
Non-judicial punishment, such as an Article 15
Letters of reprimand
Being relieved of command
Adverse findings of an official investigation, including sexual assault investigations.

Inclusion of some of these incidents was already mandatory.

The changes affect all officers in the Air Force and Space Force, and is retroactive back to January 2012, meaning negative information withheld from boards that far back, and covered under the new guidelines, will be put in future promotion folders.

Though most of the changes affect majors and above, if Airmen or Guardians up for promotion to captain were involved in an incident receiving attention from national news media, or where the information is “of interest to the Senate Armed Services Committee,” that now will be included in promotion packets, the Air Force said in a press release. Previously, such information was only mandated in general officer boards.

Asked why all negative information was not already included as a matter of course in promotion proceedings, an Air Force spokeswoman said on Feb. 17 that some information “was kept in varying places in an officer’s record, and disposition and visibility varied among commanders.” Previously, all actions below a letter of reprimand were optional for inclusion in a promotion folder, “though substantiated investigations and other adverse actions may have been retained by the Inspector General,” she said.

Letters of reprimand and Article 15s “required a mandatory unfavorable information file, maintained at the unit level,” she explained. This information also went into a service member’s “master personnel record,” as well as records kept by the IG, but were “not necessarily provided” to promotion or selection boards, and could be removed by a higher officer in the chain of command.

For example, systemic problems found in USAF and Navy nuclear communities back in 2014 could have been kept from promotion boards in the past. But “substantiated sexual assault offenses, were required to be documented in an officer’s performance report, which was then filed in the officer’s selection record,” the spokeswoman said. “Court-martial convictions were permanently filed in the officer’s selection record.”

The new policy standardizes processes “across the force and ensures promotion boards can fairly and accurately assess the entirety of an officer’s career,” the spokeswoman said.

Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly, Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel, and services, said in a release that the purpose of the policy is clear: “We must ensure we are promoting leaders of character and competence.”

The new policy was implemented about one month after the Air Force Inspector General’s Independent Racial Disparity Review identified widespread racial disparities in the department. The 150-page report found that one out of every three Black service members believed the military discipline system is biased against them; one out of every three Black officers do not believe the Air Force and Space Force provide them the same opportunities to advance as their white peers; and two out of every five Black civilians have seen racial bias in the services’ promotion systems.

“This additional mechanism in the promotion process will promote transparency and accountability for everyone, especially those we entrust with leading our Airmen and Guardians,” Kelly said, though he acknowledged there will be some “concern” about how the changes might impact promotion opportunities.

“We often hear about it being a ‘one-mistake Air Force,’ which really has not been true,” Kelly said. “The reality is, our selection boards and the Senate have consistently shown the ability to objectively review adverse information and, when appropriate, recommend and confirm officers for promotion, provided the incident is indicative of a mistake and not a character flaw, and the totality of the record shows high performance levels. We expect this to continue.”

Asked how boards are being instructed to distinguish between “character flaws” and “mistakes,” the spokeswoman said boards are being told “how to review and consider adverse information in balance with the totality of the incident and the entire record. The board takes into account the whole-person concept,” in accordance with Air Force regulations.

“This change increases our accountability and demands we hold ourselves to a higher standard,” Kelly said. “The resulting transparency and associated accountability will improve our development and make us a stronger force.”