Boeing F-15EX Makes First Flight

Boeing F-15EX Makes First Flight

Feb. 2, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

Boeing flew the first F-15EX Eagle on a 90-minute hop around the St. Louis, Mo., area Feb. 2, signaling that the jet will soon be ready for flight testing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Boeing test pilot Matt Giese flew the jet, with Boeing test pilot Michael Quinitini in the back seat. The flight, which began with a max-performance vertical climb from St. Louis Lambert International Airport, abutting Boeing’s combat aircraft plant, was meant to test out basic handling qualities, “avionics, advanced systems, and software,” and all went as expected, a Boeing spokeswoman reported. “A test team monitoring the data collected during the flight in real time confirmed that the aircraft performed as planned,” Boeing said in a press release. The test card for the flight is not being made public.

The jet, tail number 20-0001, is the first of two that are to be delivered for testing at Eglin by the end of March. A formal “rollout” of the second aircraft or an arrival ceremony at Eglin is slated to occur in March or April, months ahead of schedule. The Air Force awarded the formal F-15EX contract for the first eight airplanes in July of 2020.  

The aircraft is powered by two F110-GE-129 engines, the only ones so far certified to fly with fly-by-wire Eagles. The Air Force has told Pratt & Whitney it can offer engines for the F-15EX program if it certifies its F100 engines on the type at its own expense. GE is under contract for 19 powerplants for the eight planned F-15EX test aircraft.

The Eagle is expected to reach initial operational capability at Kingsley Field, Ore., in 2024. The F-15EX will have sufficient structural life to serve through 2050.

The fighter has two seats and is based on the 1970s-vintage F-15C/D Eagle, but upgraded with a modern suite of flight controls, computers, and defensive electronics. It is equipped with conformal fuel tanks and two extra weapon stations, versus the F-15C. The Air Force is buying it to supplement the fleet of legacy Eagles that are rapidly aging out and can’t be economically life-extended. The Air Force plans to buy between 144 and 200 F-15EXs, depending on whether the type will also replace F-15E Strike Eagles, which still have a decade of service life remaining. Despite the second seat, the Air Force intends to fly the F-15EX with only a single pilot.

The F-15EX is based on the F-15QA being built for Qatar, but embodies other improvements added by export customers over the years. Its fly-by-wire flight controls, for example, first appeared on Saudi Arabian F-15SA aircraft. Boeing estimates the Air Force is leveraging more than $5 billion of improvements in the F-15 funded by export customers.

Unlike export models, the F-15EX and older USAF F-15C/Ds will be protected by the Eagle Passive Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS), a suite of electronic warfare gear and countermeasures to extend the type’s combat longevity. 

The jet is seen as meeting Air Force capacity shortfalls in air defense and as a standoff weapons-carrying platform that could operate outside contested airspace.

The F-15EX has an open mission systems architecture, allowing frequent, competitive upgrades. Boeing’s F-15 vice president and program manager Pratyush Kumar said the EX is “capable of incorporating the latest advanced battle management systems, sensors, and weapons due to the jet’s digital airframe design and open mission systems architecture.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Feb. 3 at 3:47 p.m. EST to correct the date of the F-15EX’s first flight, and at 4:50 p.m. EST to correct the date of the photo.

USAF Intelligence, Cyber Branch Preps Diversity Strategy

USAF Intelligence, Cyber Branch Preps Diversity Strategy

Feb. 2, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force’s intelligence and cyber operations branch will soon roll out a diversity and inclusion strategy to strengthen its workforce and the quality of their analyses.

“Diversity, equity, inclusion are critical to our success going forward. It’s a national security imperative; it’s in the [Director of National Intelligence’s] principles for professional ethics,” Lt. Gen. Mary F. O’Brien, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and cyber effects operations, said at a Feb. 2 event hosted by the Intelligence National Security Alliance.

O’Brien became the top officer in the information warfare portfolio—spanning surveillance drones, intelligence-analysis systems, cyber offense and defense, and more— in November 2019. She inherited a $72 billion enterprise that is trying to make the best use of its 73,000 employees for sifting through global information and separating the signal from the noise, while offloading some of that work to artificial intelligence algorithms.

O’Brien, who has served as a top general officer on the Air Force’s Women’s Initiative Team that pushes for gender equity in the service, said she’s channeling that experience into a new diversity and inclusion office focused on the ISR and cyber community. A colonel-select and a senior master sergeant manage that work and directly report to O’Brien.

At the top of that office’s to-do list is publishing a diversity and inclusion strategy this month to reshape efforts from recruitment to retention. The strategy aims to address the barriers that Airmen in certain demographic groups, from racial minorities to mothers, face as they scale the career ladder.

“Research shows that diverse teams are smarter,” O’Brien said. “They focus on the facts, they process the facts more carefully, they’re open to more innovative solutions, better return on investment, more efficient use of resources.”

In the intelligence field, diversity can help teams spot trends and threats they may not have thought to notice. Information can slip through the cracks if people lack the right insight to know what’s important and what’s not, proponents say.

The push comes as the Air Force has launched a broad effort to combat racism and discrimination in its ranks, and boosted diversity-minded recruitment initiatives like offering more scholarships to students in the Reserve Officer Training Corps at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions.

Diversity and inclusion training is becoming part of advanced coursework for intel Airmen at the Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, schoolhouse. O’Brien wants to see the same change for senior noncommissioned officers in the cyber field.

O’Brien is one of four uniformed women in top Air Force positions—a group that includes Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass, Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, and Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Dorothy A. Hogg. As a female member of the Air Staff, O’Brien is in a unique position to advocate for women in her own area of expertise as well as across the force.

As part of the Air Force’s report to top-level Pentagon officials on its measures to prevent sexual assault and harassment, O’Brien said she’s drawing on lessons from “Know My Name: A Memoir,” Chanel Miller’s 2019 account of sexual assault and its aftermath while she was a student at Stanford University.

“It is a very powerful description of what it’s like for a sexual assault victim to seek justice, even if the assailants were caught in the act,” O’Brien said. “I highly recommend “Know My Name” for anyone, which in my mind, would be everyone who is addressing sexual assault or sexual harassment in the workforce.”

She’s also using her own experience to shape how the ISR and cyber enterprise addresses unconscious bias.

“The one that I’ve faced … most in my career, since I had my children, was the maternal bias,” O’Brien said.

People may think women are less committed to their careers if they decide to have children, while also seeing them as less dedicated parents for wanting to succeed at work. She noted the baked-in assumptions that cause “traditional” or ethnic stereotyping of minority Airmen as well.

“We’re also looking at creating a minority leader program, because I don’t want to just start at recruiting,” she said. “What about the demographics of the people that we have serving today? Otherwise, we’re always going to be 20 years away.”

The three-star feels empowered to pursue a more inclusive force under the leadership of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. They are, respectively, the first Black four-star to lead one of the U.S. armed forces, and the first Black civilian to run the Pentagon.

“I have the top cover and examples in the leaders like Gen. Brown and Secretary Austin,” O’Brien said. “They’ve made it very clear that diversity and inclusion is going to be a priority.”

“We’re perfectly postured to follow their lead and guidance in this area,” she said.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 3

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 3

Feb. 2, 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. 3: Iraq withdraws troops from the Khafji area.

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.

Hicks Says She Will Oversee Nuclear Modernization, Commits to Triad

Hicks Says She Will Oversee Nuclear Modernization, Commits to Triad

Feb. 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Kathleen H. Hicks, who will oversee decisions related to nuclear modernization if confirmed to be the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, assured lawmakers during her confirmation hearing on Feb. 2 that she is committed to all three legs of the nuclear triad.

Since Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who previously served on Raytheon Technologies’ board, has committed to recusing himself from all decisions relating to the company during his tenure, Hicks said that if she is confirmed as the deputy defense secretary, she will step in for programmatic discussions on the Air Force’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, the Long-Range Stand Off Weapon, and “other timely missile defense issues.”

Raytheon Technologies is the sole source contractor on LRSO, and the company’s subsidiary Collins Aerospace will build the launch platform for the GBSD.

Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee pressed Hicks on the need to modernize the full triad as the Biden administration is expected to look critically at the cost of nuclear modernization. The Defense Department will soon conduct a new Nuclear Policy Review, which could look at the need to maintain all three legs of the triad.

“The triad has been … the bedrock of our nuclear deterrent,” Hicks said, citing Austin’s similar statement during his own nomination hearing. “And I think it must be modernized in order to be safe, secure, and credible.”

Decisions on nuclear modernization need to be “driven, foremost, by strategy,” she said, adding “I don’t think we should be risking the modernization of our deterrent.”

Hicks said she is worried about the readiness of the military’s nuclear forces, and if confirmed she would immediately look at ways to best address it.

If confirmed, Hicks would be the first woman to serve in the role. She was an adviser to the Biden transition before Inauguration Day last month. In the Obama administration, Hicks served as deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces and as the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy. She also worked on the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. She most recently was a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

The Senate has not set a date for a confirmation vote, though Hicks is expected to easily be confirmed.

Air Force Unveils New Standards for Enlisted, Officer Evaluations

Air Force Unveils New Standards for Enlisted, Officer Evaluations

Feb. 2, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Air Force is revamping evaluations for Airmen in grades E-7 through E-9 and O-1 through O-6 and establishing 10 Airman Leadership Qualities on which each will be graded, the service announced Feb. 2. These ALQs make up the backbone of a new, as-of-now optional, form the service has published as a companion document to the Airman Comprehensive Assessment.

“The qualities, found in the Airman Comprehensive Assessment Addendum – AF Form 724-A, focus on character and competence and are categorized under four major performance areas, which coincide with both the major graded areas of the Air Force Unit Effectiveness Inspection program and the language used to describe expected performance factors provided to promotion boards: executing the mission, leading people, managing resources, and improving the unit,” a service release explained.

With regards to mission execution, Airmen will be evaluated on “job proficiency,” “initiative,” and “adaptability,” the release states.

On the leadership front, they’ll be assessed on “inclusion and teamwork”—defined as their ability to work with others and foster an inclusive climate—as well as “emotional intelligence,” and “communication” of both the verbal and non-verbal varieties.

In terms of resource management, Airmen will be judged on “stewardship,” or their ability to responsibly handle resources assigned to them, potentially including “time, equipment, people, funds, and/or facilities,” the release said. They’ll also be evaluated on “accountability,” which encompasses their ability to own up to “actions and behaviors” of themselves and their teams, and whether they’re demonstrably reliable and transparent people.

Finally, when it comes to the unit, Airmen will be assessed on “decision making” and “innovation”—to include creative problem solving, putting improvements into action, and taking measured risks, the release stated.

Airmen will be graded on a five-point scale ranging from “does not meet expectations” to “outstanding,” and expectations for Airmen will be relative to their ranks and career fields, the release explained.

Air Force Talent Management Innovation Cell Director Col. Laura King said the ALQs and umbrella performance areas grew out of a deep dive into “industry and sister service best-practices, academic literature,” and things the service knows Airmen will need for today’s fight. They were polished through the use of “Total Force focus groups,” she added.

The unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page first leaked the “Airman Comprehensive Assessment Addendum” outlining the new ALQs, along with a letter from Bass to senior enlisted leaders across the Total Force on the morning of Feb. 2. 

“We designed the addendum to be used in conjunction with the primary Airman Comprehensive Assessment form to serve as a guide for raters to help facilitate actionable discussions during feedback that incorporate the Airman leadership qualities,” King said in the release.

The addendum is optional for now. USAF will collect and use feedback from major commands across the service to further polish the ALQs and the form “before the new evaluation systems are finalized.” However, the service is encouraging leaders to use the document “to the fullest maximum practical.”

USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. called the move towards the new ALQs key to changing how the service measures, motivates, and rewards its troops.

“We must have evaluation systems that provide constructive feedback, evaluate against qualities we value, and highlight future potential,” he said in the release.

CMSAF JoAnne S. Bass told Air Force Magazine the ALQ announcement is only the start of a larger effort to revamp how Airmen are evaluated.

“This is just the beginning stages of constructing a system that clearly defines the qualities we value and need in our Airmen,” she said in a statement. “The synergy between the officer and enlisted evaluation systems is a huge win for how we develop our Airmen to build the Air Force our nation needs.”

In the leaked letter to USAF senior enlisted leaders, Bass also noted that USAF’s Enlisted Evaluation System overhaul is in progress and expected to conclude in Fall 2022.

“Oh yeah, and we hear you on TIG/TIS [time in grade/time in service] …we are working details on that too,” she added in a Feb. 2 Facebook post about the announcement.

B-1Bs to Deploy to Norway

B-1Bs to Deploy to Norway

Feb. 2, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. B-1B bombers will deploy to Norway for the first time, in both a message to Russia and a sign of the growing importance of the Arctic.

B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, will fly out of Orland Air Base on the coast of the Norwegian Sea. While bombers have repeatedly flown alongside Norwegian aircraft, this will be the first time Lancers will operate out of a base in the country, according to U.S. European Command.

Some Airmen already have deployed to the base as part of an advance team before the aircraft arrive. Eventually, more than 200 Airmen will arrive at the base as part of the Bomber Task Force. The Airmen were medically screened before deploying and will quarantine for 10 days once arriving.

EUCOM did not disclose how long the bombers will be at the base, but they will conduct training with allies, including operating in the “high north” and across Europe.

“Operational readiness and our ability to support Allies and partners and respond with speed is critical to combined success,” Gen. Jeffrey L Harrigian, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa commander, said in the release. “We value the enduring partnership we have with Norway and look forward to future opportunities to bolster our collective defense.”

Last year, B-1s and B-52s flew alongside Norwegian F-16s and F-35s multiple times as part of European deployments and in a long-distance direct flight from their home base.

SPACECOM Warns Adversaries in New Strategy Overview

SPACECOM Warns Adversaries in New Strategy Overview

Feb. 1, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

U.S. Space Command in its new strategy paper warns of a future with “increasingly capable competitors” and a “long-term security threat” posed by Russia and China, claiming the right of self-defense as America and its allies expand their space economies and look to permanently return to the moon.

The U.S. military argues it needs to bolster its offense and defense in space to protect the satellites and radars that enable GPS guidance, ATMs, ballistic missile warning, and more. SPACECOM also uses those assets to direct weapons and troops, send information around the world, and collect intelligence—making them targets for those who want to disrupt American military operations.

“By developing, testing, and deploying counter-space capabilities and evolving their military doctrines to extend into space, our competitors seek to prevent our unfettered access to space and deny our freedom to operate in space,” reads the paper, dated Feb. 1.

This is the latest document to warn that the United States will hit back if its satellites, radars, and other space systems are endangered. It also broadly outlines goals for training, partnerships, and cybersecurity. SpaceNews first reported on the strategic vision Jan. 28.

“The United States, along with our allies and partners, will champion and promote the responsible, peaceful, and safe use of space,” according to the strategy. “However, should our nation call, United States Space Command will always remain ready to prevail against any foreign space-related aggression.”

The document echoes earlier blueprints from the Pentagon and the Space Force, the branch of the military that supplies most systems and personnel to SPACECOM for daily operations. But the 12-page paper, comprised largely of pictures, lacks the detail of previous strategies.

“It reads more like an ad brochure full of chest-thumping assertions than a serious strategic document,” Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, said on Twitter.

He suggested the strategy may miss the mark because the military is not yet comfortable with discussing often-classified space operations in a public forum.

“There is something to be said about the lack of sophistication for space doctrine relative to the other domains because we haven’t had any actual combat in space to draw on,” he told Air Force Magazine.

SPACECOM was revived in August 2019 after being disbanded for 17 years, and is gradually integrating its work with the other combatant commands that rely on and defend space assets. Its new iteration must “sustain a warfighting culture and adapt to a dynamic and changing strategic environment,” SPACECOM boss Gen. James H. Dickinson said during a recent AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. That goes hand in hand with building a space enterprise that draws on the experience of the other armed forces.

Video: Mitchell Institute on YouTube

“We have folks that are relying upon years of experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, on how we do land, sea, and air operations,” he said. “[They] are able to bring that expertise … into the command. That generates combat power almost immediately.”

“Job One is making sure that we maintain and continue to attract that type of talent, so that we can continue on our path, in terms of becoming a fully operational combatant command,” Dickinson added.

B-52s Return to Guam for Task Force Deployment

B-52s Return to Guam for Task Force Deployment

Feb. 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Four B-52s from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, in late January, as part of a Bomber Task Force deployment to Pacific Air Forces, where they will train with allied and partner forces.

“Deploying as a Bomber Task Force exercises our ability to produce agile combat power in any location we are needed,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Duff, 96th Bomb Squadron commander, in a PACAF release. “Our strategic bomber missions demonstrate our always-ready global strike capability. We remain ready to deploy to reach anywhere in the world at any time.”

Video: Air Force Association on YouTube

The bombers arrived as Andersen prepared to host Cope North, a major trilateral exercise with Japanese and Australian forces. It marks the first Barksdale B-52 deployment to Guam since December 2018. In April 2020, the Air Force ended the “continuous bomber presence” deployment model at Andersen and shifted to smaller, shorter notice task force deployments of strategic bombers across the globe.

The shorter and smaller task force deployments have been frequent, while also letting bomber units become healthier with more time at home. The deployments also make the Air Force’s presence in the region less predictable, said Brig. Gen. Jeremy T. Sloane, commander of the 36th Wing at Andersen, during a Jan. 26 Air Force Association virtual event.

“The theory behind the BTF … is to try to regain bomber readiness with fewer continuous deployments, and to complicate the targeting problem by operating from home to deploying to an operating [location] within the theater using multiple platforms that can provide deterrence and multiple strategic messaging and combat options by applying pressure at times and in places of our choosing,” he said.

CMSAF: COVID-19 Will Dictate When Air Force PT Tests Resume

CMSAF: COVID-19 Will Dictate When Air Force PT Tests Resume

Feb. 1, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

It’s too soon to tell whether the Air Force will delay mandatory physical fitness testing past April, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass told Airmen during a Feb. 1 Facebook town hall.

Bass said she expects the service will examine the COVID-19 situation “at least” 30 days ahead of the tentative restart date before deciding whether to postpone the assessments for the fourth time since the pandemic began.

“Right now, today, every single one of your installation commanders has … the authority to be able to push it out, but we’ll make that determination … at least four weeks out if we’re gonna end up pushing it further,” she said.

Air Force First Sergeant Special Duty Manager Chief Master Sgt. Mike Perry, who also took questions during the online event, urged Airmen not to use the possibility of another delay as an excuse to neglect their physical fitness.

“You never know when that call’s gonna come in, when you’re gonna be wearing all kinds of gear and have to be out there in the austere environments and things like that, so we gotta always remain ready and fit,” he said, pointing to recent Active-duty and Air National Guard support of the presidential inauguration in Washington to illustrate the importance of around-the-clock readiness.

The service’s manpower, personnel, and services team is soon slated to brief her on the findings of their December 2020 Fitness Working Group, Bass added.

“They are supposed to come to us with options on different ways to be able to assess cardio and strength and all that goodness,” she said. “…We are also taking a hard look at wearables and technology and using that to be able to help get after that.”

Bass said the service wants to examine “second- and third-order effects” since these kinds of technologies “can be resource-intensive,” but the service is looking “to bridge the gap” between how it currently gauges fitness and how that might evolve over the next decade.

For example, Bass noted that both she and Perry were wearing rings that measured their sleep levels, joking they both needed to get more rest.