Airstrikes Continue Against ISIS in Iraq and Syria

Jan. 6, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The air campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria continues, as the U.S. withdraws forces from the region and the operation has largely fallen off the public’s radar.

Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve on Jan. 6 disclosed that throughout November 2020, the coalition conducted 14 airstrikes consisting of 34 total engagements in Iraq and Syria. In Iraq, this included 22 engagements resulting in 35 ISIS fighters killed and one weapons cache destroyed. In Syria, the coalition conducted seven strikes consisting of 12 engagements, though the results of those strikes were not disclosed.

The total marks a slight increase from the previous month’s total of 10 strikes, but is a sharp drop from previous years, according to OIR. In November 2019, the coalition conducted 153 airstrikes in support of the operation—a significant decrease from the 1,424 conducted in November 2018.

“CJTF-OIR and partner forces have liberated nearly 110,000 square kilometers (42,471 square miles) from Daesh. As a result, 7.7 million people no longer live under Daesh oppression,” the coalition said in a statement, using another term for ISIS. “CJTF-OIR remains committed to the enduring defeat of Daesh to improve conditions for peace and stability in the region and to protect all our homelands from the Daesh terrorist threat.”

From the beginning of the operation in August 2014 through November 2020, the coalition conducted a total of 34,941 strikes. The coalition also announced Jan. 6 that at least 1,410 civilians have been “unintentionally killed by coalition actions” since the operation began.

In November, the coalition completed 10 assessments of civilian casualty allegations, assessing that nine were not credible and one was a duplicate of a previous investigation. The coalition is still investigating 135 reports of alleged civilian casualties. The bulk of the allegations come from non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International and Airwars.

Air Forces Central Command previously released monthly roundups of airstrikes, refueling totals, and other air power data from both OIR and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan. However, it stopped this practice in May 2020 after several years because of ongoing discussions with the Taliban. Since then, there is no publicly available data on the number of airstrikes in Afghanistan.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported in November that the pace of strikes has increased, but no specifics were available. President Donald J. Trump in November ordered the military to reduce the number of troops on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan to 2,500 in each location, and military officials have said these withdrawals are on pace to meet the Jan. 15 deadline.

Air Force to Commanders: Ditch Politically Incorrect Heraldry, Honors

Jan. 5, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett, USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond have instructed commanders to review every visual symbol, turn of phrase, and other form “of unit recognition and identity” to make sure they’re in line with the Department of the Air Force’s effort to increase inclusion among its ranks.

“Commanders, at the squadron level and above, will remove any visual representation, symbols, or language derogatory to any race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, or disability status to ensure an inclusive and professional environment,” a Jan. 5 release from the department states.

These reviews must examine everything from unit nicknames and official sayings to emblems (both sanctioned and otherwise), including challenge coins and morale patches, and be completed “within 60 days from Dec. 23, 2020.”

The leaders said use of such wording and imagery is detrimental to “unit cohesion,” and can get in the way of readiness.

“Commanders should consider emblem and motto guidance in [Air Force Instruction 84-105, “Organizational Lineage, Honors, and Heraldry,”] and consult their historians, staff judge advocates, and equal opportunity specialists during the review,” it adds.

The memo follows the Dec. 21 publication of The Air Force Inspector General’s Independent Racial Disparity Review, which showed widespread racial disparities within the department.

STRATCOM Welcomes Nuke Review, but Says Minuteman III Life Extension Should Not be Considered

Jan. 5, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

While the combatant command in charge of the nation’s nukes welcomes a new review of nuclear policy and a reimagining of strategy, the head of U.S. Strategic Command warned Jan. 5 that one area that could face cuts under a new administration needs to proceed as planned.

Experts have said the Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent effort, the massive program to replace the Minuteman III missile and its command and control systems, could come under the knife as President-elect Joseph R. Biden comes into the White House and looks to find savings in the Defense Department budget. STRATCOM boss Adm. Charles A. “Chas” Richard said that though the Air Force has done “revolutionary things” in modernizing the 60-year-old Minuteman III, the missile is simply too old to extend and needs to be replaced.

“Let me be very clear: You cannot life-extend Minuteman III, alright? It is getting past the point of it’s not cost effective to life-extend Minuteman III. You’re quickly getting to the point [where] you can’t do it at all,” Richard told reporters in a virtual briefing. “… That thing is so old, in some cases, the drawings don’t exist anymore, or where we have drawings, they’re like six generations behind the industry standard.”

GBSD is being designed to face different threats than the Minuteman III system. The biggest issue is “cyber resilience,” with a modern defendable command and control system. “Just to pace the cyber threat alone, GBSD is a necessary step forward,” Richard added.

“This nation has never before had to face the prospect of two peer nuclear-capable adversaries who have to be deterred differently, and actions done to deter one have an impact on the other,” Richard said. “This is way more complicated than it used to be. This is an example of the capability we’re going to [need] to address threats like that.”

The Air Force in September announced Northrop Grumman is the sole company remaining to design the GBSD, with the award of a $13.3 billion contract. The service expects to spend about $22 billion on research and development of the program, though a Pentagon assessment estimated the cost would be at least $85 billion with the total life cycle cost reaching up to $263 billion, as the missiles are expected to last into the 2070s. The system is expected to come online in 2029 at the earliest.

The cost of the program and other nuclear modernization was a point of contention in the fiscal 2021 defense budget battle, with Democrats trying to shrink funding. The incoming Biden administration is expected to examine the costs.

Richard said he has already had meetings with the Biden transition team—the seventh transition he has seen in his time in uniform—and there will be more in the near future. He said he welcomes an “examination of the nation’s strategy” on nuclear weapons, including a review of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. That review is already dated because “the threat is moving so fast, … even given the time of the last NPR warrants another look at it to make sure we still endorse our strategy and have the sufficient capability to execute that strategy.”

He said the NPR is too “narrowly defined” and separated from other similar documents, such as the Missile Defense Review, a space review, and a cyber review. These studies should be combined for a “broader-based strategic review as opposed to parsing it out in pieces.”

Any change to the nation’s nuclear capability, including a reduction in GBSD, “basically is going to drive you to reimagine your strategy,” Richard said. His job will be to go back and “report what I can and I can’t do, and I’m fully prepared to do that,” he added.

How USAF’s Top Maintenance School Is Preparing for Future Fights

Jan. 5, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The U.S. Air Force Advanced Maintenance and Munitions Operations School is changing the way it molds maintenance and logistics experts in response to the service’s embrace of agile combat employment and to help USAF maintain its competitive edge amid great power competition, 57th Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Michael R. Drowley said Jan. 5.

The school—which was founded in 2003 and calls the 57th Wing and Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., home—produces maintenance, munitions, and logistics experts through graduate-level coursework, and essentially serves as an equivalent institution to the U.S. Air Force Weapons School for Airmen in related Air Force career fields.

“The AMMOS school is really shifting their scan downrange right now to see what are the problems on the horizon that are gonna be rapidly approaching us here, and how do they focus their efforts appropriately?” he said during a virtual discussion with Air Force Association President retired USAF Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright.

Video: Air Force Association on YouTube

Drowley said this effort has three pillars:

Figuring out how to utilize and sustain fifth-generation capabilities
“Logistics under fire”
Operating within austere environments (since tomorrow’s fights may require Airmen to work from spots within the European or Pacific theaters that don’t come with “the most ideal basing conditions”)

To get at the third priority, he said, the school is mining lessons learned from cadre who’ve spent time at Air Force bases that helped pioneer the uses of ACE—a force-employment model that emphasizes the cultivation of multi-use Airmen, rapid deployments, and bare-bones operations—as well as the agile combat support and austere basing it demands.

“What the AMMOS team is really trying to codify is, what is the supply chain, what does this logistics look like for that, [and] what capabilities do you need in a multi-capable Airman to be able to minimize the footprint and stay agile in those type of environments?” Drowley said.

According to Drowley, this paradigm shift includes looking for opportunities to make both USAF equipment and Airmen multi-capable.

“When you look at training your maintenance team or your logistics team, are there areas where your crew chief can also do weapons load?” he said. “Are there areas where, you know, a jammer needs to be modified a little bit, so that way it can be multi-use across the board?”

The school’s cadre is currently engaged “in the tabletop exercise, red-teaming aspect of” examining ACE operations and their potential requirements to determine how to equip instructors to adequately prepare Airmen to operate in “those types of environments,” Drowley said.

“The good news is … our cadre at AMMOS are made up from those faces that have really been leading the way, and now they’re really focusing those efforts on what does that ACE look like in the future, and how will our maintainers and logisticians be able to support that?” he added.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also helped the school take stock of its processes and figure out how to step its game up, he said. This introspection has included inspecting its syllabus for potential improvements, with “future iterations” slated to be released in the near future, he said.

Lockheed Receives Up to $4.9 Billion for Next-Gen OPIR Satellites

Jan. 5, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin Space up to $4.9 billion for three geosynchronous Earth-orbiting space vehicles, plus ground mission software, as part of the Overhead Persistent Infrared next-generation space-based missile warning systems.

OPIR will eventually include the three GEO satellites from Lockheed, along with two satellites in polar orbit as part of Block 0. Under the new contract, Lockheed will provide engineering support for launch vehicle integration and early on-orbit checkout for all three vehicles, according to the Jan. 4 contract announcement.

The award is a modification to a previous $2.9 billion contract from August 2018 to start work on the project. Northrop Grumman in May received up to $2.4 billion to supply the two polar satellites. Under that contract, Northrop will finish phase one development in the end of 2025, with the first satellite delivered in fiscal 2027 and all five initial satellites ready in 2029.

“The primary mission is to provide initial missile warning of a ballistic missile attack on the U.S., its deployed forces, and its allies,” the Space Force said in budget documents. “Next-Gen OPIR Space enhances detection and improves reporting of intercontinental ballistic missile launches, submarine-launched ballistic missile launches, and tactical ballistic missile launches.”

The Department of the Air Force called for $2.3 billion for development of OPIR in fiscal 2021, with research and development expected to run $14.5 billion from 2020 through 2025. The system will eventually replace the Space-Based Infrared System, also produced by Lockheed.

Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Installation Status Update – Dec. 2, 2020

Number of COVID-19 cases in DOD, as of 6 a.m. EST on Jan. 4:

	Cumulative Cases	Cumulative Hospitalized	Cumulative Recovered	Cumulative Deaths
Military	110,018 (+12,973)	945 (+64)	72,647 (+13,179)	14
Civilian	31,301 (+5,063)	895 (+96)	17,053 (+3,327)	118 (+19)
Dependent	17,862 (+2,500)	215 (+21)	11,188 (+1,961)	9
Contractor	10,733 (+1,618)	326 (+39)	6,397 (+1,144)	42 (+4)
Total	169,914 (+22,154)	2,381 (+220)	107,285 (+19,611)	183 (+23)

Editor’s Notes:

The Defense Department generally publishes this data three times weekly here.
DOD on April 16 transitioned from reporting current cases to reporting cumulative ones, stating that it believes the latter “more accurately reflects the effects of COVID-19 to our force” and pledging to “continue to refine” its reporting.
The deltas shown as of Jan. 4 reflect changes since Dec. 18.

Total number of COVID-19 cases among Department of the Air Force military personnel, as of 6 a.m. EST on Jan. 4:

Number of Personnel

20,197 (+2,034)

Editor’s Notes:

The Defense Department generally publishes this data three times weekly here.
This total includes Active-duty and Reserve forces in the Department of the Air Force, not the Air National Guard.
The delta shown as of Jan. 4 reflects the change since Dec. 18.

Total number of COVID-19 cases in the Department of the Air Force, as of 2 p.m. EST on Dec. 28:

	Cases	Hospitalized	Recovered	Deaths
Military	19,276 (+1,921)	13 (-2)	12,808 (+1,628)	0
Civilian	6,145 (+959)	21 (-1)	3,949 (+527)	28 (+5)
Dependent	5,995 (+805)	8 (-5)	3,882 (+494)	4
Contractor	1,863 (+280)	3 (-4)	1,138 (+155)	12 (+2)
Total	33,279 (+3,965)	45 (-12)	21,777 (+2,804)	44 (+7)

Editor’s Notes:

These numbers account for cases throughout the Department.
The military totals above include Active-duty and Reserve forces, not ANG.
The Air Force generally publishes this data once weekly here.
The deltas shown as of Dec. 28 reflect changes since Dec. 14.

COVID-19 Cases Among Air National Guard Personnel, as of Sept. 3:

Cases, Not Hospitalized	Cases, Hospitalized	Total Active Cases	Total Recovered	Cumulative Cases
350 (+7)	3	353 (+7)	563 (+54)	916 (+61)

Editor’s Note:

ANG-specific case totals aren’t included in DOD, USAF, or NGB daily COVID-19 updates.
Deltas shown as of Sept. 3 reflect changes since Aug. 19.

National Guard activations in support of COVID-19 response, as of Aug. 3:

Approximate Number of Personnel

24,935 (-15.8%)

Editor’s Notes:

This section of Snapshot will be updated as data is distributed, since updates haven’t been published regularly since July 15.
The increase shown here is as of the last update, which was published on July 15.

Check out the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Dashboard to dive into COVID-19 data from across the U.S. and around the globe.

Follow Air Force Magazine’s full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.

Air Force Seeks 3D Scanner to Reverse-Engineer Parts

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office is again reaching out to industry for new approaches to three-dimensional scanning so it can replicate aircraft parts that are no longer in production.

On Jan. 4, the RSO published a call for a “cutting-edge, automated 3D scanning system” that can create models to reproduce machine parts. That scanner should be able to gather the data for a blueprint showing complex, even hidden, geometry as well as color and reflectivity.

“The resulting solution should allow trained USAF users to create accurate 3D models capable of being easily utilized, manipulated and/or modified for additive manufacturing purposes utilizing common commercially available [computer-assisted design] software,” the Air Force said in the solicitation.

The scanner should be easy to use, with little human interaction and updatable even when off the grid. It needs to process components that, at a minimum, measure about 1.5 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall, and weigh around 110 pounds.

It would be available at “various innovation centers across the Air Force,” potentially including AFWERX sites and certain maintenance depots, where the company that offers the scanner would also train Airmen to use it. It would come with an online training course and a written user manual.

The RSO wants to move fast: A request for proposals is slated for release on Feb. 4, with ideas due March 5 and a contract on tap for March 31. The service is planning live or online presentations to demonstrate how the scanner would work.

Air Force acquisition head Will Roper told Air Force Magazine in a recent interview that there needs to be an effort to have a “digital representation of every part in the Air Force inventory.” In-depth 3D scans will identify where there’s variation across parts—“especially if they’re different across different airplanes” in the same fleet.

For two older aircraft, for example, “they’re not twins. In fact, they may not even appear to be from the same family. So digitizing the parts so that you understand when you pull it apart what its replacement needs to look like down to the 10,000th of an inch lets us bring in additive manufacturing and industry partners who are not normally parts developers but who could make those parts if we could give them a three-dimensional representation of it, and not the two-dimensional drawings we use today across the Air Force,” he said.

The search is the Air Force’s latest move to adopt 21st-century engineering and manufacturing techniques that can help it upgrade planes and other systems faster and at lower cost. As aircraft age and companies are acquired or go out of business, it becomes harder and more expensive to fix broken components—particularly on small fleets with a niche supply chain.

USAF founded the RSO in July 2018 to spearhead those efforts, and the office recently looked to expand the use of data-driven maintenance to more than a dozen aircraft and the Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The office says it has saved tens of millions of dollars on sustainment costs—one of the military’s largest expenses—so far.

The RSO’s first Advanced Manufacturing Olympics last year featured a reverse-engineering competition where teams had to accurately recreate a box of 10 industrial parts without a plan in hand. Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research took home the gold medal in that event.

The groups that succeeded in the Advanced Manufacturing Olympics event did so because they were able to start with in-depth 3D scans of the parts needed, and then iterate to create a strong enough part to be used on an Air Force plane.

“They don’t work off two-dimensional drawings and a traditional production line methodology, so we have to change in our legacy systems if we want to tap that kind of industrial base that brings huge innovation potential,” Roper said.

In addition to reverse engineering, the RSO has sought rapid repair and sustainment technologies through the same solicitation that is open to commercial companies, typical defense contractors, and research institutions.

“The RSO seeks to work with companies who can deliver innovative sustainment and operational advances that truly make a difference to Air Force end users,” the office said.

DOD Extends F-35 Full-Rate Production Decision Due to Pandemic

Jan. 4, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The F-35 will get yet another extension to complete development and be declared ready for full-rate production, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment czar Ellen M. Lord has directed.

Blaming technical challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic for the process continuing past the March deadline, Lord is also bringing in an independent technical review entity to help set a new schedule.

According to a Dec. 18 Acquisition Decision Memorandum signed by Lord, the Milestone C decision—which certifies the F-35 as having successfully completed initial operational test and evaluation and clears it for full-rate production—will be extended, though she did not set a new target date.

“Delays in maturing the Joint Simulation Environment—caused by technical challenges and the impact of COVID-19—will prevent the completion of F-35 Block 3F Milestone C,” Lord said in the memo.

It will be up to the F-35 Joint Program Office to set a new schedule for both benchmarks “based on an independent technical review and measured progress at JSE,” she said.

In October 2019, Lord extended the IOT&E completion and full rate decision from December 2019 to January 2020, and then to March 2020. She granted another extension in August to March 2021, saying she had “high confidence” of meeting that date because “we have the entire government/industry team focused on that.”

The obstacle, she said, was integrating the F-35 into the JSE, which is a virtual/synthetic wargaming capability that can assess the relative strengths of adding or subtracting certain kinds of capabilities from the overall U.S. military’s assets. The JSE is used to determine the optimum mix of ships, aircraft, missiles, and other platforms in the joint force.

Although the decision doesn’t have any immediate effect on production of F-35s for U.S. services and foreign partners and customers, the program can’t enter into a multi-year purchase agreement until it has passed both IOT&E and the full-rate decision. Some F-35 partners are already involved in a multi-year “block buy” of F-35s, but the U.S. has not been able to participate.

Pentagon officials have said the F-35 has completed all but a few flight tests and other demonstrations required under IOT&E. The main sticking point is the JSE. Integrating the F-35 with the JSE is software-intensive, and limitations on code writers congregating in secure facilities has slowed the process down.

Prime contractor Lockheed Martin said it has fulfilled its part of the JSE integration.

“The JSE is a U.S. government-led initiative that allows operators to complete tests under conditions that include those that cannot be replicated on open-air ranges,” the company spokesman said in a statement. “Lockheed Martin’s role was to work with [Naval Air System Command] to integrate digital models of the F-35. This work has been accomplished and we continue to assist the U.S. government in their integration efforts.”

Lockheed fell short of its 2020 goal of producing 142 F-35s by about 20 aircraft, citing delays from COVID. Michele A. Evans, the company’s aeronautics executive vice president who died Jan. 1, told Air Force Magazine in September that it would take until 2023 to catch up those missed deliveries because the company didn’t want to disrupt the workforce and suppliers with a quick surge followed by quick slowdown of production.

The Joint Program Office could not immediately explain who will conduct the independent review, or what the new timeline for completing IOT&E and approving full-rate production will be.

SDA Taps SpaceX for Two Launches of New Satellites

Jan. 4, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

SpaceX will carry data-transport and missile-tracking satellites to orbit for the Space Development Agency, the Pentagon said Dec. 31.

SpaceX won a $150.5 million contract for two launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., starting in September 2022. The entire constellation of up to 28 initial satellites, known as “Tranche 0” of the transport and tracking layers, is slated to reach space by March 31, 2023.

The launch contract is another boon for the firm owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, which the Space Force recently selected to handle 40 percent of its rocket launches through 2024.

SpaceX was also tapped to build satellites with wide-view, overhead persistent infrared for SDA’s missile-tracking layer, alongside L3Harris. It received nearly $150 million for that effort as well. Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems are designing the data-sharing satellites SpaceX will ferry.

SDA is spearheading the creation of a vast network of satellites in low Earth orbit for military use that, if damaged, can be more easily replaced at a lower cost than the more complex, expensive systems of the past. The transport and tracking layers are two of the earliest efforts underway as part of that plan.

Another factor may throw the launch schedule into question, however. SpaceNews reported Dec. 22 that SDA will reconsider its options for missile-tracking satellite providers after Raytheon and Airbus protested their snubs to the Government Accountability Office. SDA is taking another look at the bids in order to resolve the protests.

The agency is “expeditiously implementing its corrective action plan for the Tracking Tranche 0 solicitation,” spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea told SpaceNews. In the meantime, SpaceX and L3Harris are stopping work on their respective four satellites. Elzea added to the publication that SDA will try to stay on track for a late 2022 launch.