AGM-183 Hypersonic Weapon Still Awaiting First Flight

Jan. 8, 2021 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force’s AGM-183 hypersonic missile didn’t fly by the end of December, as predicted by service acquisition executive Will Roper last month. Instead, an instrumented round was again captive-carried on a B-52 and the procedures for launching it were “practiced,” USAF said, without disclosing why the missile wasn’t launched.

In a Dec. 19 test, an “Instrumented Measurement Vehicle” version of the Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, “was successfully captive-carried” on a B-52 over the Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., test complex, the Air Force reported in response to a query. Instead of flying as expected, the test merely confirmed integration with the B-52 and “transmission of telemetry and GPS data” from the missile, designated “IMV-2,” to ground stations.

The program will “now move ahead towards its first “Booster Test Flight …later this year,” the Air Force said. The service could not immediately be more specific as to whether that means the first flight is expected to happen closer to next month or the end of 2021.

At the inaugural event of AFA’s Doolittle Leadership Center on Dec. 14, Roper forecast that ARRW would fly before the end of 2020.

“We’re hoping that our flight demonstrator for a hypersonic weapon will be successful this month, and that we’ll get into production next year,” Roper said.

Before December, the Lockheed Martin-built missile had already made two captive-carry tests; in June 2019 and August 2020.

The ARRW program office thanked the 419th Flight Test Squadron and Global Power Bomber Combined Test Force, which operates bombers at Edwards, as well as “other supporting organizations, for all their hard work” on the test, according to USAF.

The Air Force plans to test ARRW on both the B-52 and the B-1, and longstanding plans call for an initial operational capability before the end of 2022. Both bombers will carry the missile externally; the B-1 will carry ARRW on six external hardpoints that have not been used for munitions since the START treaty was signed and the B-1 was withdrawn from the nuclear role. Roper has previously said the ARRW could be employed by the F-15, as well.

Lockheed is developing the ARRW under contracts valued at more than $1.3 billion, which will cover the program through critical design review, test, and production readiness circa December 2022.

A complementary program, the air-breathing Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, being developed by USAF and DARPA, also failed to fly in December, as planned.

Police Officer Killed in Capitol Attack Served in New Jersey Air Guard

Jan. 8, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The U.S. Capitol Police officer who died from injuries sustained during the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol building is an Air National Guard veteran who served two tours in the Middle East during about six years of service.

Officer Brian D. Sicknick died around 9:30 p.m. Jan. 7 due to injuries sustained during the riot, when supporters of President Donald. J. Trump stormed the Capitol. Sicknick, who was injured “while physically engaging with protestors,” returned to his division office and collapsed, USCP said in a statement. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died of the injuries. The death is under investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide branch, the USCP, and federal agencies.

Sicknick enlisted in the New Jersey Air National Guard in 1997 as a traditional drilling member. He served as a Fire Team Member and Leader of the 108th Security Forces Squadron, 108th Wing, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., according to a statement from the New Jersey National Guard. He deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1999 for Operation Southern Watch and Kyrgyzstan in 2003 for Operation Enduring Freedom, and he was honorably discharged in 2003 as a staff sergeant.

“Staff Sgt. Sicknick’s commitment to service and [to] protect his community, state, and nation will never be forgotten,” NJ Guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Barbara Brown said in a statement. “Our condolences and thoughts are with his family, friends, and those who worked with him during his law enforcement career.”

He joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently was part of the department’s First Responder’s Unit, USCP said.

“The entire USCP Department expresses its deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick’s family and friends on their loss, and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague,” USCP said.

New Program to Deploy Generals as USAF, Space Force Ambassadors

Jan. 8, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

A new Air Force Recruiting Service program will deploy USAF and Space Force generals as ambassadors for their services to help underrepresented youth envision a future for themselves in the Total Force.

The “GO Inspire” program, which launched Jan. 1, will match general officers “with teams of top Airmen and Guardians,” AFRS wrote in a Jan. 5 release.

Together, they’ll reach out to young people “from underrepresented groups, or URGs, across the nation,” with the ultimate goal of encouraging more diverse applicant pools for both services, but especially for space and flying career fields.

“The program is as much about the young, sharp Airmen and Guardians our senior leaders take with them to school and community visits than it is about having a general show up and talk about service in the Air or Space Force,” AFRS Commander Maj. Gen. Edward W. Thomas Jr. said in the release.

AFRS is inviting generals from the Air Force’s Active-duty and reserve components and Space Force to take part, according to the release.

The Department of the Air Force hopes that every USAF and USSF general officer will take part in one to two outreach events each year, AFRS Detachment 1 Commander Lt. Col. Annie Driscoll noted.

“We’ll work with senior leaders to track metrics, but the fruits of this labor won’t be measured for years to come,” she said in the release. “That is the nature of youth engagement. We may still be a decade away from seeing any of these young men or women in uniform. In the meantime, we want every young kid who looks up in the sky and sees an airplane or rocket launch to know that it could be them one day. We also want to help clarify the pathway to that seat in our services for both kids and their influencers.”

The joint memo from Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett, USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond that directed the program’s creation called general officer leadership “critical” to enhancing diversity and recruitment within the Department of the Air Force, the release noted.

Department of the Air Force Cracks Down on Climate, Disciplinary Issues

Jan. 7, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

The Department of the Air Force recently rolled out two policy changes aimed at holding commanders more accountable for climate-related deficiencies and disciplinary equity within their units.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs John A. Fedrigo issued a memo on Dec. 21, the same day the Office of the Air Force Inspector General released its 150-page report into racial disparities within DAF.

The first of the policy changes requires Air Force and Space Force commanders who get lackluster scores on diversity and inclusion-related portions of their Defense Equal Opportunity Climate Survey reports to develop detailed plans to remedy those shortcomings.

“The climate factors that receive low scores requiring an action plan are fairness, inclusion, leadership support, racism, sexism, sexually harassing behaviors, workplace hostility, cohesion, and connectedness,” a Jan. 6 departmental release about the policy change explained.

Commanders who receive a grade of 49 percent or lower in any of these areas—which the department notes tie into “diversity, inclusion, belonging, or equal opportunity topics”—must submit these action plans no later than 60 days after getting their reports.

According to the release, these proposed plans of action must include:

An explanation of why each commander wants to assess their command’s climate
“Analysis of the climate assessment report”
A list of problems the report uncovered, along with plans to rectify each identified issue, “the status of the actions taken,” and the name of the person in charge of carrying out each action item.
A strategy for publicly reviewing the overall action plan with everyone in the commander’s organization

Each impacted commander also must have a formal check-in with their installations’ equal opportunity office “within six months of report closeout” to make sure their proposed game plan is working, the release explained.

“This guidance does not preclude looking into subordinate reports, and commanders are encouraged to initiate an action plan for any additional areas in need of improvement,” Fedrigo noted in the memo.

The second policy change requires commanders to record demographic data about themselves and the Airmen or Guardians they counsel, admonish, or punish, Fedrigo wrote.

“The data collected will include member’s rank, age, gender, race, and ethnicity and will be provided to installation staff judge advocates to be available at wing and installation status of discipline briefings,” Fedrigo wrote. “This reinforces the Department’s commitment to ensuring all Airmen and Guardians are treated fairly and provides commanders insight to facilitate positive practices, such as increased mentoring and professional development.”

This new reporting requirement will let commanders see “disciplinary trends within their organizations” and help the Department of the Air Force remedy a blind spot when it comes to data about administrative actions that fall below the severity of an Article 15 or court-martial, said Department of the Air Force Judge Advocate General Lt. Gen. Jeffrey A. Rockwell in a Jan. 6 release about the interim Air Force Instruction change.

“The key to our success historically in developing this disciplined force has been to operate under a progressive discipline construct, across the entire continuum of discipline, addressing minor transgressions to major crimes appropriately,” Rockwell said in the release.

Military Leaders Condemn Capitol Attack, Call for Unity

Jan. 7, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol building has prompted senior military officials, including the Acting Defense Secretary, to reiterate the Pentagon’s commitment to a peaceful transfer of power and to address concerns among troops.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller, in a statement released Jan. 7, said the mob attacking the Capitol “was reprehensible and contrary to the tenets of the United States Constitution.” He praised the Guard personnel who responded with “honor, integrity, and alacrity.”

“Our Republic may have been disrupted yesterday, but the resolve of our legislators to conduct the people’s business did not waver,” Miller said. “Due to their efforts, supported by local and federal law enforcement and the National Guard, the attempts of those who tried to stop our government from functioning failed.”

Miller said that he and the Defense Department “will execute the time-honored peaceful transition of power” to president-elect Joseph R. Biden on Jan. 20.

Earlier on Jan. 7, U.S. Africa Command boss Gen. Stephen J. Townsend and the command’s senior enlisted leader Sgt. Maj. Richard D. Thresher became the first senior military officials to address the situation.

“Some of you may be concerned about the events we saw unfold back home in the U.S. Capitol yesterday,” the leaders wrote in a statement to AFRICOM personnel.

“America has withstood much greater and graver challenges in the past, our Constitution remains our bedrock, and our system of government is strong, resilient, and will prevail,” they wrote. “U.S. Africa Command remains focused on our mission to protect and advance America’s security and interest in Africa. The American people expect, and need, us to stay steady and keep our clear eyes on our duty—and we will.”

In a thread on Twitter, Air Force Lt. Gen. S. Clinton Hinote, the deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration, and requirements, related the situation to his experience on Sept. 11, 2001. That day he was flying in a stealth fighter when the attack occurred, and said he felt numbness and depression. He said he feels that again, and the current situation is worse.

“On 9/11, we faced a threat of terrorism that was largely external, with some internal aspects. Today, our internal division is our biggest threat, and it is being exacerbated skillfully by state and non-state actors that want to see us weakened & discredited,” Hinote wrote. “Despite some indications, we were largely surprised on 9/11. We cannot say that now. The indications that foretold yesterday’s violence have been manifest for a long time. Yet we still couldn’t stop it.

“9/11 was horrible, but it was never a threat to our democratic republic. Only we can be the authors of our last chapter, and we are well on our way. To be clear: It is my personal opinion that we are in danger of losing our republic, real danger. After 9/11, we had a short period of time where we could come together as one, and we did. It doesn’t seem likely that we can do that now. Yet we must. The test of leadership in our generation is now sharply focused: Will we rise above our personal interests & political divisions to find a way to rise above? We have to, or this experiment will fail. I’m going to try.”

B-52s Fly Direct to Middle East for 4th Time in 2 Months

Jan. 7, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

Two B-52s flew a direct, 36-hour round-trip flight from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to the Persian Gulf this week in the latest of a series of bomber task force missions to the region.

The B-52Hs from the 5th Bomb Wing took off from Minot on Jan. 6 and linked up with multiple refueling tankers before flying over an undisclosed area of the Persian Gulf “to send a clear deterrent message by displaying the ability to deploy overwhelming combat power on short notice,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The long sortie is the fourth in the past two months and the first of 2021. It comes as CENTCOM has postured the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and other assets in the region. On Jan. 3, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller directed the Nimitz to return to the area as it was heading home, due to threats from Iranian leaders.

Two B-52s on Dec. 30 flew a similar roundtrip sortie from Minot to the region in what CENTCOM called a “deliberate appearance.”

“The United States continues to deploy combat-ready capabilities into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to deter any potential adversary, and make clear that we are ready and able to respond to any aggression directed at Americans or our interests,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie said in a statement at the time. “We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack.”

The Air Force had based bombers in the region at al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar, but ended that practice in early 2020. Air Force Global Strike Command said at the time the move was needed to take the bombers out of Iran’s ballistic missile range.

SASC to Consider Austin Nomination for Defense Secretary on Jan. 19

Jan. 7, 2021 | By Brian W. Everstine

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Jan. 19 will consider the nomination of retired Army Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, president-elect Joseph R. Biden’s pick to be his Secretary of Defense.

Because Austin retired from the Army in 2016, from the position of commander of U.S. Central Command, Congress must approve a waiver before he can become Defense Secretary, due to a law prohibiting a former military official from taking the job within seven years of leaving service. Congress approved such a waiver for James N. Mattis in 2017 to be President Donald J. Trump’s first Defense Secretary.

While many in Congress said the waiver for Mattis was a one-time event, some, including future SASC Chairman Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), have since said they would support a waiver for Austin.

If confirmed, Austin would be the first Black Defense Secretary. He served more than 40 years in the Army, and led CENTCOM when Biden was vice president.

When announcing Austin as his pick, Biden called on Congress to act quickly to confirm.

“Secretary-designate Austin is going to work tirelessly to get it back on track,” Biden said. “There is no doubt in my mind whether this nominee will honor, respect, and on a day-to-day breathe life into the preeminent principle of civilian leadership over military matters in our nation.”

Because of the timeline of confirmation and the need for a waiver, Austin would not be able to take the position on the first day of the Biden administration. The House Armed Services Committee needs to hold a hearing on the waiver, and since the House is in recess, there is no time for that to occur before inauguration, Defense News reported.

SECARMY Approves 6,200 Guard Troops to Quell Chaos in D.C.

Jan. 7, 2021 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory and Brian W. Everstine

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. Capitol was penetrated by violent rioting that temporarily placed the area on lockdown, more than 6,000 Guard personnel from Washington, D.C., and multiple surrounding states are being mobilized to address chaos in the District. Troops are erecting a seven-foot fence around the U.S. Capitol to stop a subsequent invasion, and Mayor Muriel Bowser called upon Congress to give the District of Columbia control over its own National Guard.

During a Jan. 7 joint press conference with Bowser and the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, Army Secretary Ryan D. McCarthy said a total of 6,200 Guard troops from D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York would be in the National Capital Region by this weekend.

In a Pentagon briefing later the same day, McCarthy told reporters the Guard personnel are on a minimum 30-day deployment to the Capitol grounds and other locations throughout the District. The troops would work on 12-hour shifts, with about 850 per shift helping to protect the Capitol building.

As of the afternoon of Jan. 7, there were 741 Guardsmen on the Capitol grounds, and 93 distributed at 31 other spots around the city, he said.

While the 6,200 Guardsmen “will help us get enough capability” and look forward to helping secure the Jan. 20 inauguration, McCarthy said the number could change. The Guardsmen will not currently be carrying weapons, he said. However, he noted, the Pentagon is “looking very closely” at the use of force rules and “will make adjustments accordingly.”

Neither the Office of the Secretary of Defense, nor the National Guard Bureau released a breakdown of how many personnel each supporting state was slated to contribute by press time. It’s also not clear how many of the 6,200 are in the Air National Guard.

However, 500 of these supporting forces will come from the New Jersey National Guard, including an unspecified number of Airmen from the N.J. Air National Guard’s 108th Wing, which is based out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and the 177th Fighter Wing, which calls Atlantic City Air National Guard Base home, according to a Jan. 7 NJNG release.

“The mission is to support the D.C. National Guard and local law enforcement, providing security, protection of national monuments, and ensuring the peaceful transfer of power,” the release stated.

All of the supporting NJNG personnel will be in the District by Jan. 10, and their deployment will last at least until Jan. 20, the release added.

The approximately 500 supporting troops from Maryland are all members of the Maryland Army National Guard, according to a Jan. 8 NGB release.

Prior to the violence that broke out on Jan. 6, McCarthy approved a request to activate approximately 340 DCNG personnel to support law enforcement and emergency responders with crowd control and road closures ahead of expected election-related demonstrations in the city from Jan. 5-7, Air Force Magazine previously reported.

Kenneth P. Rapuano, the under secretary of defense for homeland security and global security, told reporters in a briefing that because the Pentagon cannot conduct domestic surveillance, it is wholly reliant on law enforcement for this information in the planning stages. During meetings last week, the U.S. Capitol Police and other entities discussed possible scenarios that would develop, and as recently as Jan. 3 USCP told the Pentagon it would not need Guard help.

The Capitol Police shared some intelligence in these calls, including internet traffic that discussed possible violence and bringing weapons to the Capitol, though they questioned the “dependability” of this intelligence and the police believed their posture was enough, Rapuano said.

“Based on the assessment they had, they believed they had sufficient personnel and did not make a request” for more help, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman told reporters.

The 340 Guardsmen were on standby to help Washington, D.C., Metro Police with tasks such as traffic and crowd control. There was also a 40-member “quick reaction force” on standby at Joint Base Andrews, Md., if needed, but they were only available to help Metro Police with those control tasks.

But once the situation escalated and the Capitol Building was breached, the U.S. Capitol Police asked for additional backup. The situation was on a “short fuse,” and Guardsmen were able to report to the armory, get into riot gear, and help police clear the area within a couple hours, McCarthy said.

“At 9 a.m. this morning, we began erecting a seven-foot, nonscalable fence, which will be from Constitution, Independence, and First Avenue to … in front of the pond right there in front of the Capitol, that road right there,” McCarthy added. “So, these personnel and the security measures will be in place for no less than the next 30 days, and we’ll be keeping all of these support mechanisms in place in constant coordination with the Capitol Police, and the Mayor’s Office.”

Who’s the Boss?

During her Jan. 7 press briefing, Bowser called on Congress to give control over DCNG to the city mayor.

“Congress must immediately transfer command of the District of Columbia National Guard from the President of the United States, and put it squarely under the command and control of the Mayor of the District of Columbia,” Bowser said.

A National Guard spokesperson confirmed to Air Force Magazine that such a change would require an act of Congress, but according to Bowser, a D.C. statehood bill introduced Jan. 3 in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) could pave the way for this change.

Bowser said that D.C. statehood would give the D.C. government two advantages.

First, the D.C. mayor wouldn’t need to request Guard support from the Army Secretary.

Second, since deployment plans would no longer require SECARMY approval, statehood would give the mayor full control over how the DCNG is deployed, allowing for more flexibility in how troops are used and letting them make real-time changes in response to changing situations on the ground.

“If we have a deployment plan that was approved, for example, that limited the Guard to the traffic box or to Ninth Street, [and] if we find out during the course of the response that that needs to change dramatically, then I, as mayor/governor, would make that determination,” Bowser said.

However, Bowser noted, statehood wouldn’t change everything: A theoretical D.C. mayor/governor would still lack the authority to deploy DCNG troops to the U.S. Capitol steps or send state police to the Capitol grounds.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Jan. 7 at 7:08 p.m. EST to include new information from the New Jersey National Guard.

Defense Policy Turns Blue as Democrats Flip Senate

Jan. 6, 2021 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Democrats appear poised to run defense policy in both congressional chambers for the first time in 10 years, as the party has won control of the Senate with narrow victories in two Jan. 5 Georgia runoff races.

The Associated Press called the race for Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock—the first Black man elected to the Senate in Georgia—over incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler on Election Night. Democrat Jon Ossoff also won by less than 1 percent over incumbent GOP Sen. David Perdue, the AP said Jan. 6. Both won by larger margins than what is needed to trigger a recount.

That puts the Senate at a 50-50 split between the two major parties, but gives Democrats an upper hand with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker in their favor.

The results come at the end of a tumultuous election cycle that has handed Democrats unified control of the White House and Congress after a decade of split government. It’s a notable shift as the Pentagon prepares for stagnant budgets in part due to the coronavirus pandemic and an expected shift toward domestic priorities, and as the military plans for an era dominated by geopolitical conflict with Russia and China rather than counterterrorism operations.

Experts anticipate the Senate flip will be much more consequential for domestic policy than defense issues.

“I think everyone recognizes that DOD can be much more efficient, that we have to start making really tough decisions about which legacy systems get carried on, about how we do modernization and how we jump over our peer competitors in terms of technology, not just sort of keep up with them,” said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), according to a recent Defense News profile.

As Senate leadership changes hands, so will that of its committees. Reed appears set to take the helm of the Senate Armed Services Committee—the first Democrat to do so since former Michigan Sen. Carl Levin retired six years ago.

Reed, a quiet Army veteran who has represented Rhode Island in the Senate since 1996, has served as SASC ranking member since 2015. That’s made him the left-leaning, consensus-seeking foil to the late Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the current chairman.

He’ll have an ally in Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who heads the House Armed Services Committee in a chamber where Democrats lead by about a dozen seats.

It’s unclear if Reed would take over as chairman before the two new Georgia senators are seated or whether the committee will be evenly split like the Senate. Reed could be less inclined to stick to the status quo than Inhofe, but there will be more continuity than change on SASC, said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Neither of them are mavericks like McCain,” Harrison added.

SASC is also saying goodbye to three members in the new year: Perdue and former Sens. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) and Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who lost their general election races. For aerospace, Perdue has been particularly vocal on Robins Air Force Base, Ga., as well as the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System plane housed there and the Advanced Battle Management System that will replace it. McSally is a retired Air Force colonel who became the military’s first female combat pilot, and a staunch advocate for the A-10 attack plane and other USAF initiatives. She has also pressed military figures on sexual assault issues and revealed last year she was raped during her service.

Harrison believes the new makeup of the Senate could give the Air Force a better shot at retiring some of the planes they want to divest in favor of newer technology—like the A-10 McSally has defended.

The committee will soon roll out its upcoming hearings and priorities for the year. Many of the initial gatherings will focus on considering Biden administration nominees, followed by the annual budget and force planning hearings that happen every spring.

One of the first tasks for the new SASC will be to vet Lloyd J. Austin III, Biden’s pick to be the next Defense Secretary. Austin, a retired Army general who ran U.S. Central Command during the Obama administration, requires a congressional waiver to serve as the Pentagon’s top civilian because he retired from military service fewer than seven years ago.

SASC spokeswoman Marta Hernandez said Austin will answer written policy questions in advance before his confirmation hearing, as is standard for nominees.

“We will likely have an outside witness hearing on waivers, then the nomination hearing (just as we did four years ago for Mattis)—but we haven’t set the timing for that yet,” she said.

Harrison believes Biden will have an easier time getting his national security team confirmed by this Senate than if it were controlled by the GOP. But because the Senate is so narrowly divided, Democrats and Republicans will still need to work together more closely than they might otherwise with a wider margin.

That may become clearest during budget talks, when Republicans will need to get on board with any cuts Democrats might want to make. While progressives have pushed for far less than the $741 billion the defense enterprise received for 2021, other lawmakers were not on board for steep cuts.

“If the Democrats had won a big victory in the Senate, I think you would have seen the defense budget being cut maybe by 5 percent or something like that,” Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told Air Force Magazine in November.