REFORPAC: Allvin Details New Indo-Pacific Exercise Debuting in 2025

REFORPAC: Allvin Details New Indo-Pacific Exercise Debuting in 2025

The Air Force will flood Airmen and aircraft into the Indo-Pacific next summer for a major two-week exercise that will coincide with the multinational Talisman Sabre training event, Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said last week. 

Dubbed REFORPAC, short for Return of Forces to the Pacific, the exercise draws its name from the Cold War REFORGER wargames, named for Return of Forces to Germany. Just as REFORGER was designed to prepare for combat with USSR pouring across the German border, REFORPAC seeks to better prepare the Air Forcefor the “galvanizing threat” of war against the People’s Republic of China. 

The summer 2025 exercise was first announced in February as part of the Department of the Air Force’s re-optimization for great power competition projecdt. But few details were known then. Speaking Aug. 16 The summer 2025 exercise was first announced in February as part of the Department of the Air Force’s re-optimization for great power competition projecdt. But few details were known then. Speaking Aug. 16 at the Hudson Institute, Allvin shared the exercise’s name and intent.  

“We’re integrating it into INDOPACOM’s campaign plans and our Pacific Air Forces’ approach to supporting those,” Allvin said. “And so we’re integrating it into the combatant commander’s piece. But we’re doing it in a way that’s more robust and it’s for a longer period of time. So we’ll be deploying from Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the continental U.S., and it’s going to be for about 14 days overall.” 

Leaders previously said the exercise would involve multiple combatant commands and Air Force components, including elements from U.S. Strategic Command; U.S. Northern Command; U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; and Air Mobility Command, which hosted its massive Mobility Guardian exercise last summer in the Pacific. 

“One of the issues that will be addressed—that we’re starting to address, we saw a little bit of this most recent Bamboo Eagle—is how mission-ready are we to deploy in a complex environment and sustain operations and be able to do logistics under attack?” Allvin said. “To be able to generate and maneuver within the environment, to sustain the mobility fleet that can get around, make sure the munitions and fuel and everything gets to the right place.” 

As with last summer’s Mobility Guardian, allies will be key participants. “We’re rolling it in with Talisman Sabre, because we understand we’re going to fight with allies and partners,” Allvin said. That makes it “more of an international exercise,” he added. 

Talisman Sabre started as a joint U.S-Australia exercise but now includes about a dozen countries and 30,000 service members, and is expected to be even bigger in 2025. In 2023, USAF F-22s, KC-46s, and C-17s all participated. 

Officials have said REFORPAC will not be a one-off, but rather the start of a renewed focus on large-scale exercises that has seen numerous Air Force organizations expand exercises to be more “combat representative.”  

Mobility Guardian 23 set the tone, bringing together 70 aircraft and 3,000 personnel and tying the exercise’s operations into Air Force and international exercises in the Pacific. Allvin praised the effort for highlighting and testing the complexities of surging forces to the Indo-Pacific for a future fight. 

REFORPAC will similarly seek to expose seams and challenges to ensure greater preparedness in advance of a real conflict. 

“Until you’re there, doing it over a period of time, you’re not really going to uncover the warts that you might not have discovered by doing it in pieces,” Allvin said. That’s the purpose of large-scale exercises. “You have to do in a realistic scenario.” 

Part of that realism is finding a way to replicate the sheer size and difficulty of a potential fight with China in the largest geographic combatant command. 

 “When it gets really complex and you have different injects into the exercises, that’s where you can really test it. It just really is the scale of it, because there are things that you can’t really pick out until you have a longer sustained agitation, if you will, or something where you can’t really replicate on a small scale,” he said. 

USAF Plans to Relocate B-1 Bombers from Ellsworth to Grand Forks in 2025

USAF Plans to Relocate B-1 Bombers from Ellsworth to Grand Forks in 2025

The Air Force is planning to relocate 17 B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., to Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., for 10 months starting early next year, as Ellsworth gears up to host the incoming B-21 Raider.

Air Force Global Strike Command is proposing the move from February to November 2025, a spokesman said in an email statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine on Aug 19.

The final relocation decision hinges on an ongoing environmental review that is evaluating the impact of moving the aircraft and personnel to Grand Forks. If the review is favorable, Elllsworth plans to send around 800 Airmen along with the Lancers to Grand Forks to provide maintenance and support for the bomber operations.

“The B-1s will continue to fill their operational requirements to the President and the Secretary of Defense while at Grand Forks,” the spokesman noted in the statement.

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, sits on the flightline at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, May 21, 2024, in support of a Bomber Task Force mission. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jake Jacobsen

The proposal hints at progress in the Air Force’s plan to start fielding the new B-21 Raider. After Ellsworth was selected as the initial operating base and training unit for the new stealthy bombers, the base began construction on a new 95,000-square-foot Low Observable Restoration Facility in 2022 to support the bomber. According to budget documents, additional facilities at the base are expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, confirmed that B-21s are coming to Ellsworth “very soon” and that the program remains on schedule.

“The good news is the B-21 is succeeding, it’s in flight test,” Gebara said during an event with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on July 15. “I always caution people to say it’s early in flight test, so I will be happy when I see it flying into Ellsworth for the first time. I have these visions in my head of B-21 flying over Mount Rushmore and circling to land, and I can see it happening. It’s going to happen before we know it, very soon, but it isn’t there yet.”

The B-21 Raider continues to conduct flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., with the B-21 Combined Test Force, including ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations. The Raider continues to make progress toward becoming the backbone of the U.S. Air Force bomber fleet. Edwards Air Force Base/Facebook

In May, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman unveiled new photos of the B-21, providing the first official images of the highly secretive bomber in flight. These photos, offering some new detail about the aircraft, show the bomber at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Since its initial flight at the manufacturer’s California facility in November, the bomber has been conducting test flights from the base.

The service recently told Air and Space Forces Magazine that the new bomber aircraft will not necessarily replace the B-1 and B-2 on a one-for-one basis as new bombers become available. However, Global Strike Command has indicated it does not expect to have the resources to field four different types of bombers simultaneously. The goal is to narrow down to a fleet of only B-21s and B-52Js after the B-1s and B-2s retire.

Grand Forks has previously served as a cornerstone of U.S. bomber operations. Beginning in 1963, the base housed B-52 bombers under the 319th Bomb Wing until it transitioned to B-1 missions in 1986. It played a key role in the nation’s nuclear deterrent until 1994, when the last B-1s departed and the wing was re-designated as the 319th Reconnaissance Wing. The base today focuses on ISR missions with unmanned aerial vehicle operations including the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

NATO Signs First Contract for Its Largest Space Program Ever

NATO Signs First Contract for Its Largest Space Program Ever

NATO and satellite imagery firm Planet Labs have signed a contract for a “virtual” constellation of surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance space assets—the latest sign of NATO’s growing reliance on commercial space capabilities. 

The contract is the first under the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) program, launched by NATO early in 2023, in which 17 member states including the U.S. agreed to pool and distribute intelligence and surveillance data culled from both from national and commercial satellites. Described by NATO officials as as the largest space project in its history, APSS will be worth a combined $1 billion over the next five years. 

But APSS includes no NATO-owned or -operated space assets. Rather, it is a gathering operation, combining data from existing and future space sensors to create a common operating picture allies can use for “persistent surveillance … on any location at any given time,” according to a NATO fact sheet. The so-called virtual constellation has been dubbed “Aquila.” 

The Planet Labs deal is the first publicly known contract to emerge from the program. 

“Planet’s tasking capabilities will empower NATO decision-makers by providing imagery for use with detailed tracking and analysis of foreign military capabilities and activities, monitoring of military infrastructure, detecting movements, assessing threats effectively, filling missing intelligence gaps and helping provide an unclassified common operating picture between allies,” the company said in a release.

Planet has around 200 active satellites, among the largest constellations in orbit.

“Planet’s sub-daily tasking brings new capabilities which enable monitoring of large areas of NATO interest, bolstering our technological advantage, and fulfilling our mission of preserving peace and security for nearly one billion people,” said Laryssa Patten, head of space technology adoption and resilience at NATO’s Communications and Information Agency, in a statement. 

NATO published an “overarching” space policy in January 2022, expressing its intent not to become an autonomous space actor, but that it would seek instead to integrate space into its core functions and facilitate interoperability among allies. Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine and China’s growing ambitions in the arctic and Pacific have since led NATO to warn of risks in space—and to consider how member states can bolster their capabilities in space

Planet Labs, meanwhile, is slowly growing its defense portfolio. The firm has already signed contracts with the U.S. Navy and the National Reconnaissance Office for imaging data. The U.S. Space Force released its commercial space strategy earlier this year in which it detailed its interest in leveraging commercial capabilities wherever that made sense. Planet Labs hosted a government-focused space event with USSF speakers earlier this summer and inked a deal with the Air Force Research Laboratory in September 2023 to support the MicroSatellite Military Utility Program.

Tactical ISR and environmental monitoring, missions where Planet Lab’s satellites could prove useful, are among the missions the Space Force strategy cites where “hybrid architectures” combining military, allied, and commercial satellites could prove useful. 

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Aug. 28 to note that Planet Labs has signed a contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to support the Space Force.

Three B-2 Bombers Land in Australia for First Rotation There in Two Years

Three B-2 Bombers Land in Australia for First Rotation There in Two Years

Three B-2 stealth bombers landed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley this weekend to begin a Bomber Task Force deployment—showcasing U.S. presence in the region and conducting exercises with allied nations. The bombers were accompanied by two KC-135R tankers from the Illinois National Guard.

The last time B-2s were in Australia was in the summer of 2022. More recently, the stealth bomber deployed to the Indo-Pacific earlier this summer, landing in Guam for the first time in five years.

Neither Air Force Global Strike Command nor Pacific Air Forces announced how long the trio of B-2s will stay in Australia, but Bomber Task Forces typically last two to three weeks, with training events with allies in the area to practice interoperability and secondary deployments to other locations to gain experience operating from airfields unaccustomed to supporting a bomber presence.

The B-2 deployment is just the latest display of U.S. airpower in the region. Last week, Air Force F-22 stealth fighters deployed to Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, making a similar show-of-force in the region. All three countries have long-simmering disputes with China over boundaries in the South China Sea.   

The deployment was not announced in advance, but Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin did hint at it earlier this month after the U.S.-Australian defense ministerial conference.

“We’re increasing the presence of rotational U.S. forces in Australia” Austin said at the time, to include “more maritime patrol aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft operating from bases across northern Australia. It will also mean more frequent rotational bomber deployments.”

RAAF Amberley is on Australia’s east coast, near Brisbane.

Pacific Air Forces released a statement saying the bombers are from the Active-Duty 509th Bomb Wing and Guard 131st Bomb Wing, both of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. A video posted by the DOD identified two of the aircraft as being the Spirit of Arizona and Spirit of Indiana, both from the 393rd Bomb Squadron.

A third B-2 arrived later, according to an Air Force official, and was not immediately photographed or identified by the DOD. PACAF did not say how many Airmen traveled to Australia to support the task force.

“This deployment is in support of Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts with allies, partners, and joint forces and strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order,” PACAF said.

The last time B-2s deployed to Australia was in July 2022, when they also operated from RAAF Amberley. The bombers took part in the bilateral “Koolendong 22” exercise and conducted drills with Australian F-35As.

The RAAF’s F-35As also exercised with B-2s at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in January, when both types participated in a Red Flag exercise. That event marked the first time RAAF F-35As participated in a Red Flag at Nellis.

Reuters has reported the U.S. and Australia may be seeking to build facilities at RAAF Tindal, in the Northern Territories, to support deployments of up to six B-52 bombers and associated refueling aircraft.

At the U.S.-Australian defense ministerial, the two countries also announced plans to expand defense cooperation, exercises and production of weapons. At a May meeting which included Japanese defense officials, the three countries announced plans for new trilateral joint exercises, to include Bushido Guardian—an F-35 wargame which will be held in Japan—and Pitch Black, a regular large-force exercise in Australia. They also agreed to conduct live-fire exercises in Australia in 2027.

In the Indo-Pacific, F-35s are operated by the U.S., Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

New F-22 Sensors Could Help Extend the Raptor’s Service Life

New F-22 Sensors Could Help Extend the Raptor’s Service Life

The Air Force is successfully testing a number of classified sensor systems on the F-22 with technology that will be applicable to the Next-Generation Air Dominance system, officials said. The new technology could also extend the Raptor’s service life.

“The F-22 team is working really hard on executing a modernization roadmap to field advanced sensors, connectivity, weapons, and other capabilities,” Air Force fighters and advanced aircraft program executive officer Brig. Gen. Jason D. Voorheis told reporters last month at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference in Dayton, Ohio.

“The Raptor team recently conducted six flight test efforts to demo advanced sensors,” Voorheis said, and the service is planning a rapid prototyping effort to get them on the jet, he said.

“We’re executing that successfully, and that will lead to … a rapid fielding [Middle Tier of Acqusition program] in the near future,” Voorheis said.

Service officials have said that slender, chisel-like pods seen on a test F-22 last year are advanced infrared search-and-track (IRST) systems—which may include other sensors—that will expand the F-22’s ability to detect low-observable aircraft. The Air Force’s fiscal 2025 budget request for the F-22 describes ongoing test efforts with IRST. It’s part of an F-22 improvement campaign that calls for $7.8 billion in investments—$3.1 billion for research and development and $4.7 billion in procurement—before 2030.

Several years ago, Air Force leaders said the F-22 would likely retire around 2030. In recent months, however, officials have walked that back, and Voorheis said “from an F-22 sunsetting perspective, I don’t have a date for you.”

“What I can tell you is that we are hyper-focused on modernization to sustain that air superiority combat capability for a highly contested environment for as long as necessary,” he added.

That’s a notable shift from 2021, when then-Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. revealed his “4+1” fighter plan that called for the F-22 to be supplanted by NGAD circa 2030, while retaining the F-35, F-15E and EX, and F-16. The “plus 1” was the A-10, but in March 2023, Brown said the A-10s were being divested faster than expected and will probably be all retired by 2030.

The F-22’s planned 2030 retirement raised eyebrows when Brown revealed the fighter plan, as the type is expected to have sufficient structural life to last into the 2040s. Service officials said at the time that the F-22’s 1980s-vintage stealth, though it has been updated, is being overtaken by new sensors in the hands of peer adversaries like China.

Voorheis offered one key to the F-22’s potentially extended longevity: a new government reference architecture compute environment, or “GRACE.” It is an open architecture software which will “enable non-traditional F-22 software” to be installed on the fighter, he said. It will permit “additional processing and pilot interfaces,” he added.

Voorheis is not the only official to suggest the F-22 could stick around longer than expected. In July, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of Air Combat Command, said he thinks the Air Force should not only retain the F-22, but keep the 32 older Block 20 Raptors the Air Force has twice asked Congress to retire.

The F-22 is “a fantastic aircraft,” Wilsbach said at the time. “We’re actually planning several upgrades to the jet as we speak,” and even those Block 20s that are not up to current standard are valuable for training.

“If we had to—in an emergency—use the Block 20s in a combat situation, they’re very capable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Air Force leaders have started to push back the timeline on the sixth-generation NGAD, long considered the F-22’s successor as the Air Force’s premier air superiority fighter. Wilsbach noted in July that until an NGAD contract is awarded, “there isn’t an F-22 replacement,” and just a few weeks later, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced the service was “taking a pause” on NGAD.

The new technology modernizing the F-22 “supports all future programs,” Voorheis said, such as NGAD. “And we will leverage all of that technology as we go forward, on any platform.”

Collectively, the modernization effort “will ensure the F-22 remains the world’s [premiere] air superiority fighter, and retains that first-look, first-shot, first-kill advantage,” Voorheis said. The F-22 “is our bridge to NGAD,” and the technologies going into the Raptor will port to the NGAD “to ensure our ability to achieve air superiority in the future, highly-contested environment.”

SDA Hands Out $424 Million for Advanced Comms Satellites

SDA Hands Out $424 Million for Advanced Comms Satellites

The Space Development Agency awarded contracts for the final 20 satellites in the second tranche of its proliferated low-Earth orbit constellation on Aug. 16, setting the stage for hundreds of satellites to launch in the next several years

York Space Systems and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a subsidiary of Terran Orbital, each received contracts to build the “enhanced tactical SATCOM” spacecraft. York’s contract is for $170 million, while Tyvak’s is for $254 million 

All told, the agency has now awarded contracts for more than 430 satellites across Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of what it calls the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. The PWSA will provide satellite communications, transport data, and help with missile warning and tracking.  

Already, there are 27 satellites in orbit as part of Tranche 0, what leaders have described as a “demonstration” tranche meant to show off the constellation’s capabilities. Tranche 1 will make the constellation operational, and Tranche 2 will provide global coverage and persistent regional coverage. Tranche 1 is slated to start launching later this year, and Tranche 2 will follow beginning in 2026. 

The satellites contracted on Aug. 16 are for the “Gamma” portion—the most advanced of three parts of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer. According to SDA officials and documents, these satellites will have a “payload specifically designed to close future kill chains via the PWSA” called Warlock, as well as four optical terminals for laser communications. 

The Gamma satellites won’t start launching until the late summer or early fall of 2027, according to an SDA release

“With these T2TL-Gamma awards, we are closing out the hardware procurement phase for Tranche 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture to support delivery beginning in 2026 to achieve our full warfighting capability,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in the release. “The T2TL-Gamma space vehicles will demonstrate global communications access and operationalize persistent global encrypted connectivity to support missions like beyond-line-of-sight targeting.” 

The SDA release also noted that this is the first time Tyvak will be a prime contractor for the agency. However, Lockheed Martin announced this week it plans to buy Tyvak’s parent company, Terran Orbital. Lockheed, the largest defense company, built some of the Transport satellites in Tranche 0 and is contract to build more for Tranche 1. 

York is also a regular contributor to the agency, having built or been awarded contracts to build satellites in Tranches 0 and 1. 

According to SDA, there were eight proposals to build the Gamma satellites. 

Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture

TRANCHELAYER# OF SATELLITESCONTRACTORS
0Transport20York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin
Tracking8SpaceX, L3Harris
1Transport126York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Tracking35L3Harris, Northrop Gumman, Raytheon
Demonstration and Experimentation System12York Space Systems
2Transport (Beta)90Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Rocket Lab
Transport (Alpha)100York Space Systems, Northrop Grumman
Transport (Gamma)20York Space Systems, Tyvak
Tracking54L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Sierra Space
Demonstration and Experimentation System20 (approx.)TBA
OtherFOO Fighter8Millennium Space Systems

Space Force Relies on Airmen to Recruit, But Change Is Coming

Space Force Relies on Airmen to Recruit, But Change Is Coming

The Space Force isn’t quite ready to take full responsibility for recruiting its own Guardians yet, but the service is preparing a detachment within the Air Force Recruiting Service to build a strategy for doing so, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John F. Bentivegna said this week. 

Right now, AFRS is responsible for recruiting for both services, and almost all of its recruiters are Airmen. While there are some Space Force-focused recruiters, they are few and far between, leaving many prospective Guardians to work with recruiters who are not exactly space experts. 

“As it stands right now, we just have Air Force recruiters turned Space Force recruiters that have no information beyond just the enlistment process,” an Air Force recruiter told Bentivegna during a question-and-answer session at the Air Force Sergeants Association convention in Houston. The recruiter asked if the service was looking to develop its own recruiting cadre. 

“Recruitment is service business,” Bentivegna said, distinguishing it from support functions provided by the Air Force, such as security forces and public affairs, to ensure the young service stays lean and mission-focused. “But we were not ready to start doing that ourselves. So we asked our teammates in the Air Force to start doing that.” 

The Space Force relies on training classes to give recruiters a crash course in space, so they can better answer recruits’ questions. That will change eventually, Bentivegna said. But the Space Force is standing up a detachment to start crafting a recruiting strategy. 

“We’re actually hoping to stand up our first recruiting, excuse me, scouting detachment and stand up a talent Guardian scouting squadron within the Air Force Recruiting Service, probably in [2025],” Bentivegna said. “There’s already been a lieutenant colonel identified as the first commander. We had a special duty board where we selected the first tranche of talent scouts, Guardian scouts. … We haven’t settled on a phrase yet.” 

The scouting detachment aims to learn best practices from industry and other services.

“How do the Marines recruit? How does the Special Operations community recruit?” he said. “…Their job is going to be, what are the best practices between the services and industry? What can we learn from academia? And then start to define, what is the strategy for the Space Force going forward?” 

In the meantime, it will be “at least another year or so” of the current setup, where Airmen recruit new Guardians, the CMSSF said. 

That approach has worked well thus far—the Space Force has hit its recruiting goals and is on pace to do so again this year, with plenty of public interest in the young, high-tech service. 

But there are service-specific differences and quirks, and Bentivegna made clear that the USSF wants to develop its own recruiters who understand the service and space as a whole. 

“We’re putting skin in the game. We’re investing and trying to figure out strategies,” he said. 

The Space Force has already worked on developing its own curriculum for Basic Military Training and has sent Guardians to attend instructor schools with the Air Force and Army.

‘Devil Raiders’ Resolve Chaos, Get Fighters Going at Massive Exercise

‘Devil Raiders’ Resolve Chaos, Get Fighters Going at Massive Exercise

MOJAVE, Calif.—Like a shrine in a temple, the plastic dog sat atop a projector in the center of the tactical operations tent for the 621st Contingency Response Squadron, reminding the Airmen inside that they could still accomplish the mission despite challenging circumstances.

The plastic totem is a reference to a popular meme where a dog in a bowler hat tells itself “this is fine” despite the room burning down around it. The meme is worthy of contingency response, or CR, which opens up air bases in austere and unpredictable conditions.

“We wear this CR tab very proudly,” said squadron commander Lt. Col. Andy Nation, one of the ‘Devil Raiders’ of the 621st Contingency Response Wing. “But every single time we exercise and conduct operations, you will find chaos everywhere. We find solutions to bring things together and resolve everything. And so we’ve come to adopt CR as meaning ‘chaos resolved.’”

contingency response
Airmen with the 621st Response Squadron run hub and spoke logistics from their orange-tinted tactical operations center at Mojave, Calif. during Bamboo Eagle 24-3, Aug. 3, 2024. (Air & Space Forces Magazine photo by David Roza)

CR had plenty of chaos to resolve at Bamboo Eagle, a new series of exercises where combat aircraft operate out of small air bases scattered across the West Coast instead of large ones that present juicy targets for long-range missiles. The concept is called Agile Combat Employment (ACE), and it requires working closely with mobility aircraft—the transports and tankers that move bomb carts, generators, and other equipment for re-arming and refueling combat aircraft.

“Air Combat Command does not have a heavy port footprint, so when they’re trying to establish their mission generation force elements [MGFEs], they need someone to catch that equipment that comes on cargo aircraft: all the things they need to bed down a base,” Nation explained. 

Bedding down a base sounds simple, but it hinges on the nitty-gritty details that make airpower possible: are the bomb carts and power generators loaded properly so that C-17s can safely fly them to another airfield? Once it gets there, are there enough forklifts to quickly download cargo before the C-17 can be targeted by a missile? If the airfield is targeted, how do Airmen request C-130s to take them and their equipment to a new one?

Answering those questions is where contingency response comes in. CR’s “bread-and-butter” is opening and closing air bases to support wartime or humanitarian efforts, the lieutenant colonel said. Doing so usually requires moving in small, maneuverable groups, but CR is going even smaller and more agile in preparation for possible conflict with China, where the vast distances of the Pacific Ocean will make space aboard America’s limited airlift fleet a scarce resource.

“There’s only so many C-17s, and we have to move the Army,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Morris, director of operations for the 621st CRS.

Status Quo

CR missions typically go like this: first an airfield assessment team of about eight Airmen equipped with Humvees or ATVs ride a C-130 out to an airfield to gauge its suitability for military aircraft. Next, either a Contingency Response Team or a Contingency Response Element shows up to stand up the air base. A CRT typically involves about 25 Airmen, a few vehicles, and a forklift, all of which can fit on three C-130s or a single C-17, and they can operate one shift a day on a limited airfield for about 45 days.

A CRE is intended for larger operations, with about 108 Airmen, three forklifts and other vehicles, and enough tents and supplies to operate an airfield for two shifts a day for up to 60 days before typically handing it off to more permanent forces. But the CRE footprint is big, requiring five C-17s or 12 C-130s.

Both models have had great success in the past: CR played a crucial role shutting down U.S. air bases in Afghanistan in 2021 and, just a few months later, briefly turning Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport into one of the busiest airports in the world as 124,000 refugees streamed out of the country. 

contingency response
U.S. Air Force air transportation specialists from the 521st Contingency Response Squadron, and 41st Airlift Wing, offload cargo from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules during Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Aug. 6, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Frederick A. Brown)

During unrest in Haiti in April, the 621st CRW experimented with a new formation called contingency support elements (CSEs), bare-bones teams that can hop off a single C-130, support airfield operations for a limited time, then hop back out to a new location. For the Haiti response, a CRE stayed in Joint Base Charleston, S.C. while CSEs of about 20 Airmen flew down to Port-au-Prince, worked the airport, then flew back at night.

“It was a short-term solution to ‘hey, what is the bare minimum we need to get to the airfield, operate it, download the aircraft, and then get out of there each day,’” said Maj. Jacob Draszkiewicz, commander of the 521st CRS response element at Bamboo Eagle.

At Bamboo Eagle, each CR squadron operated out of a “hub” where they placed their tactical operations center. For the 621st, the hub was Mojave Air & Space Port, Calif., while the hub for the 521st was about a 30-minute drive east at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Each hub oversaw three or four smaller airfields, called spokes, across the state. 

The squadrons sent CSEs of about eight Airmen each from the hubs to the spokes, where they would catch aircraft, unload gear, and either stay overnight or jet out again to return to the hub or work another spoke, depending on the mission. Over the course of Bamboo Eagle, CSEs helped turn F-16s at Victorville, Calif., moved bomb loaders and other equipment between spokes, and responded to last-minute taskings when well-laid plans fell through.

“You don’t have as much capability with that CSE, but you’re tailoring it to just do what you need to do at that airfield, so you can retain other forces back in the hub to task elsewhere,” Draszkiewicz explained.

Swiss Army Airmen

CSEs are highly modular so they can respond to different missions. Some may have more aerial porters to focus on offloading cargo, while others have more Security Forces Airmen who can protect troops on the ground. But the concept fails without each Airman picking up skills outside their usual specialty, a concept now dubbed “mission-ready Airmen.” While it may be a new idea for many Air Force units, it’s old hat at CR squadrons. 

“We train every day to be able to plug in holes with someone who maybe was not specifically trained to do that thing,” said Nation. “So a pilot can spin up that generator, or plug in these power distribution systems, or go do some special fueling operations.”

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Esqueda, 621st Contingency Response Wing Commanders Action Group, and Airman 1st Class Paris McGraw, 521st CRS Aerial Porter, secures a 10K all-terrain forklift onto a C-17 Globemaster III in preparation of a Contingency Support Element team forward deployment during Exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 August 5 on Edwards Air Force Base, California. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Stephanie Squires)

Beyond mastering different skills, being mission-ready involves preparing to improvise solutions for unexpected problems. During the Kabul airlift, CR Airmen jerry-rigged snow plows to clear the airport ramp of trash, put down lights for guiding aircraft at night when the generators went down, and hot-wired abandoned cars to get around the airfield faster.

Fast-forward three years to Bamboo Eagle, and CR was back at it. Morris, a C-130 pilot by training, guided a contractor through generator reset procedures over FaceTime to get air conditioning in the TOC back online in 100-degree heat, while other 621st Airmen borrowed a nearby munitions squadron’s forklift to support an incoming two-ship of C-130s.

“Now we just doubled our throughput to make sure the aircraft don’t get delayed,” Morris said. “It’s little things like that which I think we’re very strong in: ‘hey there’s a problem and we’ll find a way to solve it.’”

Turbulence

To make hubs and spokes work, the CR squadrons are experimenting with new communications gear that lets them share more information over greater distances more securely. These include MPU-5 “smart radios,” ATAK and WinTAK smartphones, and Starshield, a military adaptation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. Starshield and the MPU-5s give the CR “instant internet,” Nation said. 

“Instead of your line-of-sight PRC-152 radio where I’m talking to somebody just across the flight line, this … sets up a mesh capability, so every MPU-5 is a repeater, and the more of them you have, the stronger the whole signal is in that area,” he said. “As long as you have connectivity to the internet in another location [it’s] as if you were right next door to them.”

But not all mobility aircraft enjoy the same connectivity, a point which Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Mike Minihan wants to address through his “25 by 25” initiative. For example, some aircraft can call CR Airmen hours away via satellite phone, while others are limited to high-frequency radios or even shorter-range devices.

The mix of communication systems does not stop CR, which will find a way to adapt, Morris said, but it meant locating aircraft for planning purposes was a challenge throughout the exercise. On the other hand, CR has to be prepared to operate without communications systems if they are spoofed or jammed by adversaries, Nation pointed out.

A CSE from the 521st put that skillset to work when they were tasked to a spoke with just a few hours’ notice. Ideally, CR Airmen know what aircraft they’re taking on a mission, how long they’ll be there, where the aircraft is parking, and what to do if things don’t go according to plan, but there wasn’t time to sort out such details, Draszkiewicz said. Still, they had their training and their commander’s intent, so the Airmen got to the spoke and helped turn fighters as required.

“Working through those challenges—delays, maintenance issues, things like that—is what really prepares the team,” the major said.

contingency response
Tech. Sgt. Deven Morgan, left, and Staff Sgt. Trenton Mauser, right, both 621st Contingency Response Wing C-5 crew chiefs and Senior Airman Christpher McConnell, middle, a 621st Contingency Response Wing weather specialist, discuss F-16 launch procedures during an earlier iteration of Exercise Bamboo Eagle, Feb. 2, 2024, Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Tristan McIntire)

Another challenge came from working with combat aircraft units, a first for many mobility Airmen and vice versa. At Bamboo Eagle, the CR squadrons fell under two Air Combat Command wings: the 23rd Wing for the 621st CRS and the 9th Reconnaissance Wing for the 521st CRS. The combat wings served as Air Expeditionary Wings, controlling fighters, tankers, airlift, and other assets from the hubs at Mojave and Edwards.

“This is the first exercise I’ve been on where AMC and ACC are directly integrated, which is awesome, but with that comes some hurdles as to be expected,” Draszkiewicz said.

For example, ACC Airmen may not know what website to go to and what form to fill out for requesting airlift; what equipment needs to be at an airfield to offload cargo; or how many Airmen are needed to operate it. CR brought their colleagues up to speed, a familiar situation since CR often works closely with the Army and has to translate Air Force for Soldiers.

“It would seem like Air Force could talk to Air Force, but that’s not realistic, and that is evident in this exercise,” Draszkiewicz said. “We’re working through it.”

The integration extended to the spokes, where fighter and airlift maintainers swapped insight for fixing each other’s aircraft. Recently, CR units have started adding fighter and helicopter maintainers to their ranks to prepare for “any contingency situation thrown at us,” said Tech Sgt. Christopher Hokanson, a C-130 crew chief by training.

“This is actually one of our first exercises where we’re incorporating all those different maintainers and teaching them what we do, and they’re also showing us the fighter and the helicopter aspects that we heavy crew chiefs are not familiar with,” he said.

Building the Narrative

Draszkiewicz said afterwards that the exercise was overall “a huge success,” and that CR is at a 90 percent solution in terms of figuring out CSEs. One area left to resolve is laying out guardrails for how long CSE members ought to work before resting, “just to make sure that we’re still operating safely and prepared to do the mission at the same time,” Draszkiewicz said.

The unpredictable nature of CSE work means it can be difficult to keep regular shifts, especially when communications trouble means that a C-130 might appear overhead at any minute. But setting guardrails for shifts isn’t something to be left open-ended, the major said.

In a way, CSEs are nothing new: Draszkiewicz pointed out that the U.S. island-hopped all over the Pacific to win World War II. Exercises like Bamboo Eagle serve as refreshers on the tiny details that make such movements possible. It also reminds the Air Force writ large that no one fights alone.

“It just built the narrative … the Air Force has many different entities who do different things, but not one can do everything by itself,” he said. “It takes collective will, knowledge, and ability to move the pieces around where they need to go in order to accomplish the mission.”

Staff Sgt. Tyler Ashworth, 621st Contingency Response Squadron watches as a C-17 Globemaster III taxis down the runway during exercise Bamboo Eagle 24-3 August 4 at Mojave Air & Space Port, Calif. (Air & Space Forces Magazine photo by David Roza)
Yokota Evacuates C-130Js Ahead of Major Typhoon

Yokota Evacuates C-130Js Ahead of Major Typhoon

Yokota Air Base evacuated 11 C-130J Super Hercules in under 24 hours ahead of a typhoon nearing Japan packing the punch of a Category 4 hurricane.

The 374th Airlift Wing flew the cargo aircraft out on Aug 16 out of “an abundance of caution” to maintain combat readiness and protect the aircraft from potential damage.

“For us, launching the fleet wasn’t just about the preventative measures, but that we can demonstrate deterrence to our adversaries,” Technical Sgt. Joshua Rice, 374th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, said in a release.

Typhoon Ampil swiped eastern Japan on Aug. 16 with strong winds and torrential rain, causing power outage, hundreds of flight and train cancellations, and mandatory evacuations. Tokyo, the nation’s capital, saw flooded streets and fallen trees blocking roadways in the city and nearby prefectures, according to local reports.

Yokota, just 30 miles from Tokyo, is the only U.S. base in Japan with C-130J aircraft and serves as the Air Force’s primary airlift hub in the Western Pacific. The Airmen on site were initially put on ‘BRAVO’ status that signals a heightened state of readiness, and given the green light for the mass deployment of the fleet on the morning of the operation. Under BRAVO alert, aircraft are expected to be ready for departure 3 hours following the alert for C-17, C-130, and KC-10 missions.

“In 25 years of flying, I’ve never seen 100 percent mass generation and execution at this scale,” Col. Richard McElhaney, who took command of the 374th last month, said about the deployment.

The wing did not disclose to where the aircraft were evacuated, but did say the crew prepped the transport planes with maintenance gear to ensure smooth operations off-station and a safe return to Yokota after the typhoon threat passed.

Meanwhile, other aircraft were sheltered in hangars, sandbags were laid in flood-prone areas to protect infrastructure, and vehicles and airframes were tucked away to avoid damage. The base also hosts CV-22 Ospreys, UH-1N Iroquois, and C-12 Hurons.

“Today was easy because of all the work everyone put in, from the aircrews to maintenance and logistics, this showcases what Team Yokota is capable of,” Rice said.

Ampil tracked along Japan’s coast, prompting the evacuation of more than 300,000 residents due to high waves, potential landslides, and increasing rain into Aug. 17. The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 132 miles per hour and gusts reaching 160 mph, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane. But with the storm’s center mostly remaining over the ocean, it could weaken to a tropical storm by Aug. 18, and Japan will dodge a worst-case scenario, according to the local authorities. The other two USAF bases in Japan, Kadena and Misawa, are outside the storm’s primary impact zone.