Watchdog: Airstrikes Increase in Afghanistan Despite Drawdown, Taliban Agreement

Feb. 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

U.S. airstrikes are increasing in Afghanistan as the Taliban continues its attacks, despite ongoing peace negotiations and the drawdown of American forces in the country, a watchdog report finds.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, in its quarterly report to Congress released Feb. 1, said American strikes in the country rose for the second straight quarter, even though U.S. aircraft are no longer conducting offensive strikes and are only doing defensive operations in support of Afghan forces. Under the February 2020 agreement with the Taliban, American aircraft would not seek out the Taliban for strikes and would only protect partner forces.

Air Forces Central Command last year stopped publicly reporting the total number of airstrikes, and specific numbers are not available.

“Although almost exactly a year ago the United States entered, with some fanfare, into a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, peace talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban have so far yielded few substantive results,” the report states. “There has been no cease-fire agreement and high levels of insurgent and extremist violence continued in Afghanistan this quarter despite repeated pleas from senior U.S. and international officials to reduce violence in an effort to advance the peace process.”

SIGAR states in its report that Taliban activity has increasingly focused on attacks in Kabul city, including targeted assassinations, and intensified steps to target government forces in Helmand and Kandahar Provinces. Enemy-initiated attacks in the October-December time period were slightly lower than the prior three months, but still higher than the same time last year.

The violence comes as the U.S. was drawing down to about 2,500 total forces in mid-January—the lowest level since 2001. Although U.S. officials have said the reduction in force size is still enough to accomplish the key training missions and counter terror operations, the Pentagon in the SIGAR report admitted some atrophy.

“The Department of Defense acknowledges that the latest force level introduces some limitations on force capacity and on the train, advice, and assist mission,” the report states. “However, [U.S. Forces-Afghanistan] insisted this quarter that its ability to execute and/or oversee costly and necessary taxpayer-funded contracts to train and sustain the [Afghan National Self Defense Forces], and to provide them hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and direct-assistance funds has thus far ‘not been adversely affected by the reduction of force levels.’”

While the Pentagon still wants to abide by the May timeline to remove all forces from Afghanistan, the ongoing level of Taliban violence is likely to delay full withdrawal. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said Jan. 28 that, “We obviously are still committed to ending this war, but we want to end it responsibly. It’s difficult to see how we get there from right where we are now.”

USAF, Boeing Make Progress on KC-46 Fixes

Feb. 1, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force recently resolved two Category 1 deficiencies on the troubled KC-46 tanker, both problems with the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit that could impact the safety of flight. However, the four remaining issues are still years away from being solved.

The KC-46’s APU, located in its tail, developed two serious problems, one with a duct clamp that was moving excessively and another with a drain mast on the outside of the tail that could potentially break loose. As of the end of January, both problems have been addressed, with one closed and the other downgraded to a Category 2, or less serious, deficiency, AMC boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost told reporters Feb. 1.

Boeing engineers developed a fix for the duct clamp problem, tested it, and now about 70 percent of the fielded KC-46s have been retrofitted, with the rest to be fixed “very shortly,” she said. The correction is similar to an approach Boeing used to address like-issues on other aircraft.

“We’re confident that the clamp fix is the final fix based on their experience with the commercial aircraft and how they did the redesign on that,” she said.

For the second problem, there were quality issues with a spot weld on the part, meaning it could potentially break loose. Boeing redesigned it, and is working through a retrofit option. A final fix for the deficiency is in the works and it will remain a Category 2 problem for now, the company said in a statement.

“All of the airplanes that are flying right now and doing our testing, they all have that modification and everything seems to be going well,” Van Ovost said.

Of the four remaining deficiencies, three have to do with the aircraft’s remote vision system and one with the refueling boom itself. Boeing and the Air Force announced in April 2020 they had reached a deal on the redesigned remote vision system, known as RVS 2.0, with final selection of the fix in the works. The Air Force expects the updated RVS to begin to be delivered in 2023, with the fix added to the production line the following year. Boeing will address the “stiff boom” deficiency by installing a redesigned actuator to the boom itself beginning in fiscal 2024.

This schedule means the KC-46 will likely become fully mission capable in 2024, Van Ovost said.

The Air Force has received 42 KC-46s at four operating bases, and the Total Force aircrews are integrating the aircraft as much as possible. Multiple KC-46s are deployed to Pacific Air Forces to take part in the Cope North exercise at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, during which they will refuel F/A-18s with the drogue system and C-17s, while also providing advanced communications capabilities.

“So as we keep our eye on a fully operational and capable KC-46, we’re taking the time now with our crews who are transitioning into this airplane to learn more about the airplane and to learn about the new concepts that we’re going to be executing in that airplane so that we can become more capable to the Joint Force,” she said. “We’re going to take every effort to wring out this airplane so that it becomes fully capable.”

Because of the number of fielded KC-46s and delays to operational capability, the Air Force is slowing the transfer of aircrews, maintainers, and logistics Airmen from operational legacy tankers such as the KC-135 and KC-10 so AMC can meet the current tanker need.

Additionally, the Air Force is working with the Guard and Reserve, which makes up about 55 percent of the tanker capacity, to fund more crews and more volunteers to meet the need.

For the foreseeable future, the Air Force will only take delivery of about two planes per month even though there are more waiting at Boeing’s facilities, because of the smaller number of crews and the fact that the new tanker is not yet flying operationally, Van Ovost said.

“As we bring them on, we’re going to do our due diligence at the different bases, but for right now, I don’t need to be in a hurry to take them at a faster rate than about two a month,” she said.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 2

Feb. 1, 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. 2: A B-52 bomber goes down in the Indian Ocean while returning to Diego Garcia after a mission over Kuwait. Three crew members are rescued, but three are lost.

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.

Guard Has Given Out Nearly 38K COVID-19 Vaccines to Troops

Jan. 29, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

As of the afternoon of Jan. 29, the National Guard Bureau had given out more than 37,580 COVID-19 vaccines to its uniformed personnel, with about 4,000 troops having received the two doses needed to grant maximum protection against the virus, Air Force Maj. Gen. Jerry L. Fenwick, director of NGB’s Office of the Joint Surgeon, told reporters during a Jan. 29 press call.

Troops who are deployed following their first dose are being prioritized for second doses in their deployed locations—whether they’re mobilized stateside in the nation’s capital in the wake of the Jan. 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol or serving overseas. Unvaccinated troops who are currently deployed to Washington, D.C., are also being prioritized for shots if they’re interested in getting them, Fenwick added.

“At any given time,” about 2 percent of Guard troops providing security-centric support in the District of Columbia tend to be in quarantine due to infections or exposures, said Army Lt. Col. Paul Tumminello, deputy surgeon general for the District of Columbia National Guard, said during the press call.

“We have to look at this in a dynamic sense, and so our positivity rates, if we look at it from the 5th of January—which we consider the beginning—to the end, or to today, we’re looking at positivity rates of about 1 to 3 percent,” Fenwick explained. “And so, over time, if we snapshot it, it comes out to about two percent.”

Fenwick said that positivity rate should be viewed through “the lens of the national percentage rate of 9.3 percent,” praising the Guard’s “force health protection” and the way it has advised Guard troops serving in the city.

However, he said he couldn’t publicize the total number of Guard members who’ve tested positive for the new coronavirus since being mobilized within the District.

“Right now, I’m not at liberty to disclose the actual number from one time frame to another timeframe,” Fenwick told reporters. “Our office has been tracking the actual percentage rates over a period of time due to the dynamic nature of the mission.”

Guard troops who are exposed and test positive for COVID-19 while on duty in the District are placed in isolation at area hotels where they were already staying, Tumminello said.

“There’s a white cell or a buddy care at every hotel … where those Soldiers [and Airmen] are staying, and … they’re visited at least three times a day making sure they have all the food and care that they need,” he explained. “And if there’s anybody that has any increase in their symptoms, or [is] feeling not well, they would be moved to a hospital, but that has not had to happen.”

The DCNG made headlines last week after photos of Guard troops sleeping on the floor of a parking garage located close to the Capitol building—some visibly unmasked and not positioned at least six feet away from their colleagues—circulated on the internet.

“When National Guard members departed from their individual states and upon arrival to the DC Armory, they had their temperatures checked and completed a screening questionnaire,” NGB spokesperson Wayne V. Hall wrote in a Jan. 25 email to Air Force Magazine. “Masks and social distancing are required where the mission allows. They are following these procedures daily.”

Guard troops are biding by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Hall added.

Top ISIS Leader in Iraq Killed in Coalition Airstrike

Jan. 29, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

A U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed the leader of the Islamic State group in Iraq on Jan. 27, a blow to the group’s effort to grow and continue operating.

The coalition aircraft were supporting an Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service raid near Kirkuk, which killed the leader “Abu Yasir” and 10 other ISIS members, Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Wayne Marotto said on Twitter.

“The Coalition will continue to remove key leaders from the battlefield and degrade the terrorist organization. Terrorists-you will never live in peace- you will be pursued to the ends of the earth,” Marotto tweeted.

The strike comes about one week after ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing attack in Baghdad that killed at least 32 people.

The group has continued to operate mostly underground in both Iraq and Syria after the coalition and partner forces eliminated ISIS’s physical caliphate in 2019 and killed its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in an October 2019 raid by U.S. forces.

In November 2020, the U.S.-led coalition conducted 14 airstrikes consisting of 34 total engagements in Iraq and Syria, OIR announced in early January. This total is much smaller than the height of coalition operations before the caliphate ended, but was a slight increase from the previous month.

In the first month of 2021, partner forces in Iraq and Syria had conducted 82 operations against ISIS, “preventing 63 terrorists from committing acts of terror,” OIR announced on Jan. 29.

30 Years After Desert Storm: Feb. 1

Jan. 29, 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. 1:

An Iraqi force, estimated at 60,000, masses for an attack near the Kuwaiti town of Al Wafra.
Airstrikes drive Iraqis into defensive positions.
Bush tells military families at Fort Stewart, Ga., that Iraq would not dictate when the ground offensive would begin, and that ground war would be launched only if needed.

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.

Space Force to Adopt ‘Specialist,’ Other New Ranks Feb. 1

Jan. 29, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Space Force will drop the rank system it inherited from the Air Force for a new set that combines Air Force and Army names, the service said in a Jan. 29 memo to Guardians.

A Space Force spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the memo, posted on a Facebook page popular with Airmen. It’s the latest move to forge the new service’s own path forward as it tries to establish a culture separate from the Air Force it came from in December 2019.

Changes to the rank structure only affect enlisted troops, while officers will retain the same career ladder from second lieutenant to general.

Enlisted Guardians from E-1 to E-5 will be known as Specialist 1, Specialist 2, Specialist 3, Specialist 4, and Sergeant. That’s a switch from Airman Basic, Airman, Airman 1st Class, Senior Airman, and Staff Sergeant.

The Space Force said people should address troops in the first four ranks as “Specialist,” though abbreviations or the full title are also acceptable.

The enlisted system continues on to technical sergeant and then chief master sergeant. There is no command chief master sergeant on the list of new ranks. The top enlisted member will be known as Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force (CMSSF).

While ranks will stay the same on the officer side, the Space Force has decided to call its top brass “Chief of Space Operations” and “Vice Chief of Space Operations” rather than Chief and Vice Chief of Staff as in the Air Force.

Guardians will continue wearing the same Air Force rank insignias, like the chevron patches, while the Space Force finalizes new designs “sometime in the coming months,” according to a Jan. 29 release. Troops will get to weigh in on their future insignias.

Official military documentation like forms and websites will reflect the updates beginning Feb. 1, the Space Force said in the release, cautioning that “it may take time for all systems to reflect the change.”

“There are no changes to military benefits or entitlements,” according to the service’s memo, signed by Patricia Mulcahy, the Space Force’s deputy Chief of Space Operations for personnel.

The decision comes shortly after the Space Force’s first birthday, as well as a previous announcement that the service’s members will be known as “Guardians.” As it did when picking that name, the Space Force considered crowdsourced input from the field while mulling its options for new ranks.

Congress created the Space Force during the Trump administration after years of discussion about the best way to handle new forms of aggression on orbit, such as anti-satellite missiles and signal jamming. The new service is a separate branch under the Department of the Air Force that is now in charge of training troops, buying hardware and software, and providing those resources to military commanders around the world.

Space Force missions span ballistic missile warning, GPS guidance for personnel and weapons, satellite communications, and more that have been around for years under the Air Force. Proponents say those jobs will become increasingly important and difficult as countries jockey for free rein in space.

As they searched for gender-neutral terms with more combat ethos, some instead pushed the Defense Department to adopt naval ranks—including Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), who ultimately dropped legislation that would have required it.

Naval ranks even earned the backing of a pop culture icon who is well-versed in (fictional) space operations.

“Why not borrow back from ‘Star Trek’ and adopt our ranks as well? We took them from the Navy for good reason, even though [show creator] Gene Roddenberry was a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps. They made better sense when talking about a (space) ship,” William Shatner, the Canadian-born actor who played Starfleet Capt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek, said in a recent op-ed. “You should adopt the Navy ranks as they are the ones the public is most used to being heroes.”

USAFA Cracking Down on Students for Widespread Cheating Last Spring

Jan. 29, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The U.S. Air Force Academy has kicked out students and reprimanded others after nearly 250 cadets were suspected of using online learning to cheat on tests and plagiarize assignments last spring.

USAFA sent freshmen, sophomores, and juniors home from the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus in March 2020 as the new coronavirus spread across the U.S. For the first time, the school of more than 4,000 students pivoted to distance learning to finish out the semester.

But that presented opportunities for students to game the system, away from the watchful eyes of professors, other cadets, and a wall bearing the school’s honor code: “We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.”

“Infractions ranged from failing to properly cite sources, to using unauthorized online tutoring websites to receive solutions to exam questions in real time, to completing final exams in small groups,” the school said Jan. 29.

They were caught through “existing Dean of Faculty academic safeguards,” and most of the 249 students admitted to cheating, USAFA said.

One student was expelled and one resigned from the service academy because of their misconduct, spokesman Mike Slater said. Others must complete six months of probation and remediation, while some cases are still under review. The school hopes remedial measures will dissuade students from violating the rules again.

“Remediation is a consequence and not an act of leniency,” USAFA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark said. “If earned, remediation provides an opportunity to reset the moral compass.”

The school waited for students—who run the process of holding fellow cadets accountable for honor code violations—to return to campus for the fall semester before taking punitive measures.

“The process is currently progressing slower than normal, primarily due to COVID restrictions, but the academy is dedicated to ensuring cadet accountability throughout the entire honor process,” the school said. “Cadets in violation of the honor code are not allowed to represent the academy until they complete the required remediation.”

The incident highlights the challenges of increasingly digital education, particularly as the pandemic has forced schools across the globe to go virtual. Though all USAFA cadets are back on campus for the 2020-2021 school year, classes are still a mix of in-person and online instruction.

USAFA isn’t the only service academy to run into misconduct issues during remote learning. Last year, 73 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating during an online calculus final—the largest cheating scandal in the school’s recent history.

The Air Force Academy has dealt with its own spates of cheating in the past, including a 2019 incident when 10 cadets were suspected of cheating on final exams, and in 2014 when 40 freshmen were investigated for copying lab work for a chemistry class.

The 2014 investigation was the “fourth probe of cheating involving a group of cadets at the Air Force Academy since 2004,” according to the Associated Press.

USAFA is taking the latest cheating as an opportunity to overhaul its honor code for the first time in several years.

“The purpose of the review is to provide findings and recommendations for improvement to the Honor Program, ensuring the Cadet Honor Code and Honor Program relevantly and effectively achieve cadet character development,” the school said.

A review committee will discuss ways to better encourage “living honorably” with senior leaders, school alumni, cadets, and other stakeholders. There is no set timeline for finishing the review or implementing its findings.

Clark acknowledged the probe during a Jan. 21 AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event, but did not say what happened last spring to prompt a new look at the entire honor system.

Video: Mitchell Institute on YouTube

“We recognize that we need to take a look at the honor code, and make sure that we’re serving these cadets well, so that they are internalizing it and understanding what it means to live honorably,” Clark said.

The point is not to threaten a cadet’s career, he said, but to put them back on the right track if they do violate the school’s trust. Still, students need to take misconduct seriously: “It could have a pretty significant impact on your career, if your career gets to continue,” he said.

“The honor code is there to develop these folks that we bring in from all different walks of society, from all different places, and develop them so that by the time they graduate, … they are committed to that honorable living, not only as graduates, but for the rest of their lives, that it is something that they actually believe in,” Clark said.

Acting SECAF’s Goals: Sustain Momentum, Then Pass the Baton

Jan. 28, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Acting Air Force Secretary John P. Roth is focused on ensuring continuity in the department until a Senate-confirmed successor is secured, championing Air Force and Space Force priorities as the 2022 defense budget takes shape, and “telling the Department of the Air Force’s story,” according to a Jan. 28 departmental release.

“My plan, in whatever time period required, is to hand the baton off to somebody else,” Roth said in the release. “My goal is to ensure that the enterprise is able to continue to operate in its normal, outstanding fashion and that I support the Airmen and the Guardians in terms of getting them what they need to do their jobs.”

Roth also said he’s dedicated to helping the department sustain its “momentum on both the air side and the space side,” and keeping its eyes fixed on reaching goals laid out by the 2018 National Defense Strategy.

“We can’t afford to sit idle,” he said in the release.

Roth served as the Air Force’s comptroller until the Biden transition team tapped him to pick up where outgoing SECAF Barbara M. Barrett left off following her departure from the Pentagon. Before being chosen for the interim job, he planned to retire from federal service, the release noted.

“If I can help, I’m happy to serve,” he said in the release. “That’s what I’ve done for 40-plus years; so a matter of perhaps a few more months, I’m all in.”

But his additional experience performing the duties of the Air Force under secretary—first from June 2019 to October 2019, and then again from May 2020 to December 2020—have uniquely equipped him to tackle more than just numbers.

“A lot of the things that go to the Secretary run past the under’s inbox,” he noted in the release. “I’m a trained budgeteer, and that’s my sweet spot, but I did get involved in manpower issues and things like promotion boards, department-wide studies, and disciplinary matters. All of that, which I personally found fascinating, exposed me to other issues across the department.”