Boeing Delivers 44th KC-46, Completing Beddown of the New Tankers at Pease

Feb. 9, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The 157th Air Refueling Wing on Feb. 5 filled up its KC-46 hangars, receiving its 12th and final Pegasus as Boeing delivered the 44th tanker to the Air Force.

A crew from the wing at Pease Air National Guard Base, N.H., flew the tanker home from Boeing Field in Seattle. The base received its first KC-46 in August 2019, after divesting its last KC-135 in March the same year.

“Here at Pease, we have a history of performance and excellence, as well as community support, and that is why we were chosen to receive the Air Force’s newest platform,” said Col. John Pogorek, commander of the 157th ARW, according to a base release.

Also on Feb. 5, the 916th Air Refueling Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., received its fifth KC-46.

In late January, McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., marked the first time an all-female aircrew flew the KC-46. Fourteen women flew the new tanker to the United States Air Force Academy as part of an initiative to increase the number of women and minorities who join rated career fields, McConnell said in a release.

“The fact is that the Air Force pilot population is male-dominated, and we wanted to send the message that this fact did not mean that women aren’t capable or have more of a difficult time being a good pilot,” said Maj. Kaitlin Schafer, 344th Air Refueling Squadron chief of scheduling, in the release.

Of the 10,964 pilots in the U.S. Air Force today, only 708—just 6.5 percent—are women and the majority them fly mobility aircraft, according to statistics provided to Air Force Magazine.

The Air Force plans to buy 179 of the tankers as it works through developmental problems in the long-delayed program. Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said Feb. 1 that the service has resolved two major Category 1 deficiencies related to the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit—one of which was fixed and another downgraded to a less serious Category 2.

The jet still has four Category 1 deficiencies, defined by problems that could impact the safety of flight. Three of those are related to its problematic Remote Vision System, and one is related to a stiffness problem in the refueling boom. USAF and Boeing last year agreed to a fix to the RVS, expected to be delivered by 2023.

The Air Force and Boeing have made progress on remaining Category 2 problems, but many remain. The service said Feb. 9 there are 608 Category 2 deficiency reports pending on the aircraft, down from 732 in June 2020.

“CAT II deficiencies are conditions that could negatively impact operations, but have acceptable workarounds,” USAF spokesman Capt. Josh Benedetti said in a statement. “They can be characterized as test and evaluation, product quality, and/or [be] specific to an aircraft’s acceptance process. All CAT II deficiencies are in varying stages of disposition. The Air Force and Boeing remain committed to resolving deficiencies with the KC-46.”

On Feb. 9, Boeing also announced that the first KC-46 designed for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force took flight at its Everett, Wash., facility. Japan is the first international customer for the tanker, and is scheduled to receive the first jet later this year.

“This is an exciting milestone for the JASDF and Boeing,” said Jamie Burgess, KC-46 program manager, in a company release. “Japan is getting closer to receiving the most advanced air refueling tanker in the world.”

The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $279 million foreign military sales contract for the tanker in December 2017. Japan is on contract for four of the aircraft.

Reardon Performing the Duties of Air Force Under Secretary

Feb. 9, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Anthony P. Reardon is performing the duties of the under secretary of the Air Force under Acting Secretary John P. Roth, pending permanent nominations to the positions, the department announced Feb. 9.

Roth officially designated Reardon as the first assistant to the under secretary of the Air Force to allow him to perform the duties in the role in accordance with both the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Department of Defense Directive 3020.04, the Department said in a release. He began serving in the temporary role on Feb. 2.

“The office of the under secretary of the Air Force is responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force, to include organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of approximately 697,000 Active duty, Guard, Reserve, and civilian Airmen and Guardians and their families worldwide,” the Air Force said in the release.

Reardon has served as the administrative assistant to the assistant secretary of the Air Force since April 2019. He served in the Active-duty Air Force from 1982-2003, including as a weapon system officer on the RF-4C Phantom and as a staff officer. As a department civilian, he also served as the assistant deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, assistant deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, and other positions.

Roth became acting Air Force Secretary under the Biden administration, following the retirement of former Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett last month. The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III have not announced a nominee to be the next Air Force Secretary.

Hicks Takes Over as Pentagon’s No. 2 Official

Feb. 9, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Kathleen H. Hicks on Feb. 9 reported to work as the highest-ranking woman in Pentagon history, starting as the deputy secretary of defense the day after being confirmed by the Senate.

Hicks immediately met with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, received updates on DOD activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and accomplished other administrative duties, according to a Pentagon statement.

Hicks, who most recently served as senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also was an adviser to President Joe Biden’s transition team prior to the inauguration. She has extensive DOD experience, serving as the deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces, and the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy. She first started at the Pentagon as an intern in 1993, according to a DOD release.

During her confirmation hearing on Feb. 2, Hicks highlighted competition with China as a major issue, saying the U.S. military must modernize its equipment and workforce for deterrence. She also pledged to help Austin end extremism, racism, and “other inhibitors to readiness” within DOD.

Hicks told lawmakers she would oversee nuclear modernization decisions, because Austin has pledged to recuse himself from decisions related to Raytheon Technologies, which includes the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and the Long-Range Standoff Weapon.

She was confirmed by voice vote the evening of Feb. 8, and is replacing former Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist.

The Senate on Feb. 8 also confirmed Denis McDonough to become the Secretary of Veterans Affairs by a vote of 87-7. McDonough was sworn in to the position by Vice President Kamala Harris during a Feb. 9 ceremony.

See the complete list of new DOD officials sworn in since the inauguration.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 10

Feb. 9, 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. 10:

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze tells Secretary of State James A. Baker III that Moscow will not deploy troops with the multinational effort in Saudi Arabia because of opposition at home.

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.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 9

Feb. 8, 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. 9:

Scud hits Israel, injuring 26.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Colin Powell meet for eight hours with CENTCOM boss Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
“Tank plinking”—picking off individual tanks with smart weapons—begins.
Coalition sources tell press that 15 percent of Iraq’s armor, about 600 tanks, and between 15 percent and 20 percent of its overall fighting ability has been destroyed thus far in the air war.

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.

VIDEO: 4 Principles of Agile JADC2 Development

Feb. 8, 2021

Video: Air Force Magazine on YouTube

Innovation has always been a hallmark of the U.S. Air Force. But with the accelerating pace of technology development, the service needs a new approach to modern design to make the latest technologies profoundly more accessible.

ANG Deployments to D.C. Expected to Cost $62M

Feb. 8, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Defense Department estimates that National Guard deployments to Washington, D.C., that began in the wake of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol and expanded to provide security before, during, and after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, will cost a total of $483 million by March 15, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at a Feb. 8 press briefing.

That projected total includes an expected personnel bill of $284 million and an operational bill of $199 million.

Air National Guard deployments are slated to account for $62 million of that total, $28 million of that for personnel and $34 million to cover the cost of operations, he said.

Of the $421 million the Army National Guard is expected to accrue, $256 million is for personnel and $165 million for operations, Kirby said.

A total of 7,220 National Guard troops from 30 states remained on duty in the District of Columbia as of the morning of Feb. 8, National Guard Bureau spokesperson Air Force Maj. Matt Murphy told Air Force Magazine. That total included 637 citizen-Airmen, he said.

Design Gets Underway on DARPA’s ‘LongShot’ Drone

Feb. 8, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Development of a new breed of unmanned aircraft is now underway, as three major defense companies earned contracts to start designing a future system known as “LongShot.”

The LongShot program wants to create an unmanned weapons porter that can be shot from another plane before firing multiple air-to-air missiles itself, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which runs the effort.

DARPA announced Feb. 8 it has funded General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman to start design work in the project’s first phase, but did not disclose how much money is part of those contracts.

“The objective is to develop a novel [unmanned air vehicle] that can significantly extend engagement ranges, increase mission effectiveness, and reduce the risk to manned aircraft,” DARPA said in a release. “It is envisioned that LongShot will increase the survivability of manned platforms by allowing them to be at standoff ranges far away from enemy threats, while an air-launched LongShot UAV efficiently closes the gap to take more effective missile shots.”

The project first appeared in DARPA’s fiscal 2021 budget request as a prospective addition to the Air Force and Navy’s inventories. The budget called for a plane that uses “multi-mode propulsion” to tackle multiple airborne threats at once, Air Force Magazine previously reported.

The program called for $22 million in its first year.

“LongShot will explore new engagement concepts for multi-modal, multi-kill systems that can engage more than one target,” DARPA wrote. “LongShot can be deployed either externally from existing fighters or internally from existing bombers.”

Last year, the research agency suggested the aircraft could fly slowly toward its target at first to save fuel, then speed up once it gets close.

“This approach provides several key benefits,” DARPA said. “First, the weapon system will have a much-increased range over their legacy counterparts for transit to an engagement zone. Second, launching air-to-air missiles closer to the adversary increases energy in terminal flight, reduces reaction time, and increases probability of kill.”

The Pentagon hasn’t said what weapons LongShot would carry, or how autonomous its software might be. On paper, LongShot appears similar to other efforts like the Air Force’s previous Gray Wolf missile program, which looked to create a munition that could carry other weapons inside. That was discontinued in favor of the service’s Golden Horde swarming bomb project.

Later in the LongShot program, DARPA said, the companies will fly a full-scale prototype that is “capable of controlled flight before, during, and after” it is fired. The agency did not immediately answer how long the initial design phase will last.

The fiscal 2021 budget also called for a new program entitled “Gunslinger,” a new air-launched missile armed with a gun that would be designed for Air Force and Navy missions. But that appears to have a murkier future than the LongShot.

“The Gunslinger program has yet to formally launch and, at this time, we have no information on when that may happen,” DARPA spokesman Jared Adams said in December.

Report: USAF Can Relocate Fighter Squadrons, Go Virtual to Improve Training

Feb. 8, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force fighter jets will lose out on the benefits of upgraded training ranges unless the service also decides to relocate certain squadrons, according to a new RAND Corp. report.

The Air Force contends its crumbling, outdated training infrastructure doesn’t offer what Airmen need to learn how to fly against adversary pilots and threats like surface-to-air missiles or communications jammers. Improving those ranges is one aspect of a multibillion-dollar push to modernize air bases and adopt better virtual training tools.

But the service risks shortchanging its most advanced fighter fleets—the F-22 and F-35—if it moves forward with range updates alone, RAND experts argue.

The nonprofit research organization published the analysis, commissioned by the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy, on Feb. 8. Project Air Force is RAND’s federally funded think tank supported by USAF.

The Air Force’s range modernization plan may only touch eight or nine ranges, their report states, limiting the number of pilots that could benefit from those improvements. RAND calls for “10 to 20” squadron moves to make the infrastructure changes worthwhile.

“Using the current basing posture and planned range upgrades, the F-22 squadrons may not have access to advanced training ranges,” according to the new report. It added: “The largest opportunity to improve readiness in the long term is integrating the range modernization plan and the F-35 rollout.”

The authors urge the Air Force to combine fighter squadrons—particularly those that fly the F-22 and those in the Air National Guard—at a base near an upgraded training range. That proximity could give more fighter pilots access to better training opportunities while avoiding the cost of refurbishing multiple ranges, they said.

“The one-time cost for restationing a fighter squadron and the cost to procure equipment for a single range modernization are on the same order of magnitude,” according to the report. “However, when research and development and operation and sustainment costs are taken into account, range upgrades may be substantially more expensive over the long term.”

RAND recommends the Air Force come up with long-term cost estimates for range modernization to see how many ranges would be affordable to overhaul, “and how those costs would compare with the cost and institutional challenges of restationing squadrons.”

The report suggested that the range near Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., could move up on the list of modernization priorities, but shied away from recommending specific basing changes.

“It is too early to advocate for specific basing actions because of training and basing details that still need to be resolved,” the authors said. “USAF will need to consider air-to-air training airspace available in addition to the access to ground ranges.”

It makes less sense to move a squadron without putting it closer to an advanced training range, researchers said.

For the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the report found range improvements should dovetail with the creation of new F-35 squadrons so pilots can start practicing as soon as possible.

“The F-35A is the most important [fighter aircraft] to have access to advanced training ranges,” RAND said. “In addition, because most of these basing decisions have not been made, they may be subject to fewer institutional constraints compared with existing forces.”

The Air Force has raised the issue of access to proper range training for years, and may have to settle for using older facilities for basic drills while reserving better facilities for the most advanced maneuvers. But a strategy to make the most of what the Air Force has could lessen the service’s reliance on modern ranges.

“If required training at advanced ranges could be accomplished in a few weeks per year, the USAF could consider temporary deployments or the use of tankers to provide range access,” RAND wrote. “Similarly, advancements in integrated [live, virtual, constructive] capability may allow more simulated training to be done, therefore reducing the requirement for range access.”

The Air Force’s training enterprise is gradually taking steps to adopt gadgets like virtual-reality goggles and more complex combat simulators that can connect to others across the force. That virtual network would let Airmen practice flying together in cyberspace rather than waiting for a spot on a real range’s schedule, but it’s far from all-encompassing: Air Force Magazine reported last April that only three bases had LVC simulators so far.

If the Air Force can figure out more effective ways to train its troops, the authors said, it could lead to base closures and relocation of certain flying units to save money. Those tradeoffs can shape how the service’s planning group, the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability, plans the future force.

“Whether these investments ultimately reduce the requirement for close-proximity live ranges depends on a variety of yet-to-be-answered questions” about useful training tools and technical challenges, RAND wrote.