Boeing Passes Preliminary Design Review for New WGS

Oct. 8, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Boeing won approval from the Space Force to move forward with its newly designed Wideband Global Satellite Communications system, setting the stage for production to begin next year.

Passing the preliminary design review allows Boeing to start its final design phase on WGS-11+, which will add to the existing constellation of 10 satellites. Delivery is slated for 2024, Boeing said in an Oct. 7 release.

The new system will offer “twice the operational capability of its predecessors, increasing the availability of military-grade communications” to U.S. and allied forces, Boeing said. WGS has been on orbit since 2008.

“WGS-11+ uses narrower spot beams to deliver a stronger, more reliable connection exactly where it’s needed, which means better performance and greater flexibility than ever before,” said Troy Dawson, vice president of Boeing Government Satellite Systems.

Wideband Global SATCOM connects users including the U.S. armed forces, the White House Communications Agency, State Department, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Norway.

Congress in 2018 added $600 million to pay for the 11th and 12th WGS satellites, and the Space Force said it finalized a contract in that amount to Boeing for the 11th system earlier this year.

While the Space Force continues to modernize that enterprise, it is also looking at how to lease SATCOM capability from commercial companies instead of building more exquisite, expensive systems. It also intends to eventually replace WGS.

Senators, Demanding Sanctions, Worry Turkey Used S-400 to Track US Jets

Oct. 7, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak

A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators are urging the Trump administration to impose economic sanctions on Turkey over buying and activating Russian S-400 Triumf air defense systems, concerned that Turkey is allowing Russia to access sensitive data on NATO aircraft.

In an Oct. 7 letter to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Senate appropriators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) raised concerns that Turkey may have used its S-400s “to detect U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets returning from the Eunomia exercise” held in August.

The exercise involving Cyprus, France, Greece, and Italy was a “response to Turkey’s unwarranted aggression in the Eastern Mediterranean,” the lawmakers said. Turkey had sent oil exploration vessels into disputed areas around Cyprus.

If the S-400 was used to surveil American F-16s, it would be one of the first publicized instances that Turkey has wielded the air defense system’s radar against a U.S. asset. Deliveries of the S-400 to Turkey began in July 2019.

“Last year, Turkish F-16 jets flew over Ankara as a part of a test of the S-400, which administration officials have indicated could allow Russia a backdoor to spy on NATO allies,” wrote the senators, who both serve on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. “Turkey’s recent activation of the S-400 system to detect the U.S. F-16 underscores our grave concerns about Russia’s ability to access sensitive data.”

The senators asked Pompeo to confirm whether the S-400 was used to find F-16s returning from Eunomia, and whether the air defense system works with NATO’s Link 16 data-sharing system.

“Could this integration enable Russia to gather information on NATO allies?” Van Hollen and Lankford asked.

The two requested answers by Oct. 14, and urged Pompeo “to impose sanctions on Turkey as required by law.”

They said it is clear that Turkey “has no intention of reversing course and divesting” of the S-400, as the U.S. and NATO have insisted, and Ankara should be punished under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

A “sense of Congress” act in 2019 demanded that President Donald J. Trump enforce CAATSA sanctions on Turkey, but the administration has not complied. Van Hollen has warned that Congress will take action if the executive branch does not.

A press release accompanying the letter said Trump’s delays “would further endanger the security of NATO operations.”

Though the U.S. and its partners on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program have expelled Turkey amid security concerns, and wanted to replace Turkish F-35 component suppliers by spring 2020, the Pentagon now anticipates Turkey will still be supplying F-35 parts in 2023.

The “slow pace” at which the Pentagon is getting Turkish companies out of the F-35 supply chain “has no doubt emboldened [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan],” according to the senators.

Sitting and previous commanders of NATO, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Air Forces in Europe have said Russia would gain damaging knowledge of the F-35’s stealth systems if Turkey was allowed to operate its own fleet of the jets near the S-400.

Turkey paid for six F-35s that have not been delivered because of the issue. The U.S. will acquire eight F-35A jets previously bound for Turkey, which had planned to buy at least 100 of the fighters.

DOD, SpaceX May Soon Prove the Military Can Ship Cargo Through Space

Oct. 7, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

A military team is working with SpaceX to flesh out the prospect of shipping routes that pass through space, the head of U.S. Transportation Command said Oct. 7.

That group could demonstrate as early as 2021 whether quickly sending cargo around the globe via space is feasible, Army Gen. Stephen R. Lyons said.

“Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour,” Lyons said at a National Defense Transportation Association event. “Think about that speed associated with the movement of transportation of cargo and people. There is a lot of potential here.”

Pentagon officials have publicly discussed the intersection of logistics and space for at least three years, but partnerships between TRANSCOM, SpaceX, and Exploration Architecture Corp. are a formal step toward resolving technical and cost issues as well as “legal, diplomatic, statutory, and regulatory” hurdles to commercial space transportation, the command said in a release.

“I had no sense for how fast SpaceX was moving, but I’ve received their update and I can tell you they are moving very rapidly in this area,” Lyons said.

Industry is “examining the use cases, technical and business feasibility, and concepts of employing space as a mode of transportation supporting USTRANSCOM’s role as the Defense Department’s global logistics provider,” the command said in the release.

If the concept succeeds and is cost-effective, private companies could work with TRANSCOM to ferry cargo to the moon and Mars in support of NASA, the Space Force, and the business sector. The Defense Department is eyeing long-term space transportation agreements that would let the military turn to private companies to rapidly respond to emergencies.

“Commercial space transportation would allow point-to-point rapid movement of vital resources while eliminating en route stops or air refueling,” TRANSCOM said. “This capability has the potential to be one of the greatest revolutions in transportation since the airplane.”

Planes can still carry heavier and larger amounts of cargo, and require less money and a smaller logistical footprint to launch and land than spacecraft. Their turnaround time is also much shorter than rockets and spaceships.

Discussion on the topic has picked up now that Congress has created a Space Force, pushing the military to think about how the cosmos could affect all manner of operations.

In August 2018, then-Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Carlton D. Everhart II projected it would take five to 10 years to establish a space mobility enterprise. The military has considered the possibility of using SpaceX’s Starship—the developmental spaceship intended to bring people to other celestial bodies from Earth—to carry goods across the globe.

Everhart also visited potential space transportation contractors SpaceX and Virgin Orbit to discuss how the new sector might unfold. He envisioned that instead of taking 10 hours to send supplies around the world, rockets and on-orbit depots could allow cargo drops in 30 minutes.

“What happens if we pre-position cargo in space? I don’t have to use terrestrial means. I don’t have to use water means. I can position it in space, have a resupply vehicle come up and come back down,” Everhart said. “I don’t have to have people there, I just have to have cargo there—automated loading, those types of things.”

TRANSCOM: Keeping KC-135s, KC-10s Will Avoid Capacity ‘Train Wreck’

Oct. 7, 2020 | By Brian W. Everstine

The head of U.S. Transportation Command said Oct. 7 he sees new “momentum” to protect some legacy tanker aircraft from retirement. Canceling that proposed divestment would help the mobility enterprise avoid an oncoming “train wreck” of a tanker shortage while the new KC-46 is delayed, Army Gen. Stephen R. Lyons said.

The looming tanker shortage is the No. 1 problem facing the command, Lyons said during a virtual TRANSCOM and National Defense Transportation Association event. Active-duty KC-135s and KC-10s are the “most stressed in the mobility enterprise,” he said, and those aircraft are the “most relevant to any crisis or surge.”

Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus is plagued with issues—most notably with its remote vision system—that make it unprepared to deploy until at least 2023. That’s eight years later than the company was originally expected to start delivering fully capable tankers.

“We were in a perfectly predictable train wreck, to be honest with you, because we had counted on the fielding of the KC-46, and we had banked on the divestitures of the legacy fleet to bring on the new weapon system,” Lyons said. “But you can appreciate, with the delays, that that was not going to occur. And so, we’ve gotten some positive momentum.”

He’s heartened by the House and Senate’s drafts of the 2021 defense policy bill, which would both keep most of the tankers the Air Force wants to cut. The Air Force’s budget called for retiring 29 KC-135s and KC-10s, but the House bill blocks KC-135 divestment while allowing some KC-10s to retire in phases over time. The Senate version would block the retirement altogether.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Oct. 6 that lawmakers plan to introduce a final compromise bill in the first week of December, POLITICO reported.

TRANSCOM has repeatedly called on Congress to keep older tankers flying longer until the KC-46 is ready. Lyons wrote in an unfunded priorities list submitted to lawmakers earlier this year that the Air Force’s plan would create a “dip in operational capability in day-to-day operations.”

Lyons said he is pleased with Boeing’s progress toward fixing the remote vision system, which allows Airmen to see the aircraft they are trying to refuel. A new and improved version—RVS 2.0—is expected to be available in 2023.

First Airmen Get the Nod in New Promotion Process

Oct. 7, 2020 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

About 1,200 majors earned a promotion under the Department of the Air Force’s new process for advancement that judges Airmen based on performance in their career field rather than comparing the force as a whole.

The 2020 lieutenant colonel promotion board is also the first to ditch so-called “below-the-zone” promotions, which offers people a chance to fast-track up the ranks, and puts Airmen up for promotion in an order based on merit rather than seniority.

The selection board, which convened in May, considered more than 2,600 Air Force and Space Force members for promotion. They work in about 40 specialties that fall into six new categories, Air Force Personnel Center spokesperson Michael T. Dickerson told Air Force Magazine.

Dickerson said that as of Oct. 7, 554 majors in air operations and special warfare, 33 majors in nuclear and missile operations, 58 majors in space operations, 197 majors each in information warfare and combat support, and 170 majors in force modernization were tapped to become lieutenant colonels.

The Air Force decided last year to scrap below-the-zone promotions to give officers more time to accrue “insight and experience” that they might not get by rushing through the ranks, according to Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services Lt. Gen. Brian T. Kelly. About 2 percent of Airmen seeking promotion were typically chosen ahead of schedule.

The change resulted in record-breaking promotion rates for those looking to advance according to schedule or later than usual.

At about 76 percent, nearly 5 percent more Airmen were promoted to lieutenant colonel on schedule—or “in the zone”—than in 2018. At 13 percent, the number of majors promoted “above the zone,” or later than usual, was 6.3 percent higher than in 2018, the Air Force said.

Promotion zones are defined by the minimum amount of time an Airman should serve at a certain rank before seeking advancement.

As part of the overhaul, the Department of the Air Force also changed how it assembles the panels who evaluate troops in each category.

Most panelists are part of the career fields they’re vetting, while some come from other backgrounds to balance the board’s perspective, the service said. All panelists receive backgrounders on the major “milestones and challenges” of each profession.

“This tailored approach ensures panel members consider officers in each category against similar career milestones and expectations,” Air Force Personnel Center Commander Maj. Gen. Christopher E. Craige said in a release.

This time around, Airmen were also considered for promotion in order of their merit instead of seniority.

“Performance will be the driving factor in determining when officers pin on new rank,” the release stated. “Those whose record of performance place them near the top of a promotion board’s order of merit, regardless of zone, will promote ahead of some of their peers.”

That approach tries to account for each person’s unique experiences and timing in professional development, Kelly noted.

He argues these promotion reforms help the department meet the National Defense Strategy’s demands for a better-trained, highly qualified force.

“This particular board gives us our first look at how those changes influence officer promotion results,” Kelly said in the release. “While this is only one data point with upcoming colonel and major promotion boards on the horizon, the outcomes appear to have followed our expectations.”

The department will keep studying and tweaking the promotion process as needed. It plans to eliminate zones altogether and make people eligible for promotion in a five-year window at each rank, and to roll out the changes at each level of the force.

Space Force to Lay Long-Term Groundwork in Second Year

Oct. 7, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

The Space Force hasn’t yet turned 1 year old, but it’s already planning for what it wants to be in 30 years.

Charting that long-term vision will be a main focus of the newest service in its second year, Pentagon space policy boss Justin T. Johnson said during an Oct. 7 Heritage Foundation event.

Congress approved the creation of an armed force dedicated to space in December 2019. The Space Force is now breaking out from the Air Force to oversee personnel, equipment, and training for missions like rocket launches, GPS satellite operations, cybersecurity of space assets, ballistic missile tracking, and more. U.S. Space Command and the other global command organizations use these capabilities daily.

“They have a lot of work across all their lanes, organizing, training, and equipping,” said Johnson, who recently became acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy. “Probably the biggest single thing that I know [Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond] is working on … [is] really fleshing out that long-term vision for the Space Force. What’s the force design, force development elements of the Space Force? What does that future vision in 10, 20, 30 years need to look like?”

Broadly, the Space Force is considering how to fend off other spacefaring nations that may try to harm U.S. satellites and other assets, while accompanying American companies and NASA into orbit, to the moon, and beyond. Service officials are making the argument that the Space Force must defend U.S. economic as well as military interests in the modern Space Age.

It must also make progress in its second year toward streamlining and deconflicting the multiple organizations that handle space acquisition, and maturing its various offices and commands.

Heading into the coming year, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David D. Thompson is focused on building out Space Force headquarters at the Pentagon and its staffs that will handle operations, analysis, and future planning.

A Space Force press release said the service is ready to transition its headquarters work from the former Air Force Space Command hub at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., to the Pentagon.

Thompson will also oversee the creation of the Space Warfighting Integration Center (SWIC), the Space Force equivalent of the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability group that explores what resources the service might need in the coming decades. The SWIC may directly report to the Chief of Space Operations, pending congressional approval in fiscal 2022.

“We have conceived of SWIC as a key feature of force design and integration, not just internally, but with the rest of the force,” Thompson said in the release. “What we now need to do is the hard work of defining exactly what it’s going to do, exactly what its resources need to be, and exactly what its interfaces are going to be within the Space Force and the joint force.”

Raymond and Thompson’s decisions will shape how the rest of the Pentagon builds the Space Force into future strategy and adapts high-level policy to match the service’s needs.

“How we talk about things, what we’re deciding to defend, there’s a lot of work to do in the space posture around that, but it really goes back to Gen. Raymond and his team … laying out the really compelling vision for the future of the Space Force,” Johnson said.

In the coming year, the Space Force will also take an important step forward in starting to bring in personnel from the Departments of the Army and Navy for the first time. Top Pentagon officials are still hashing out who will move over, though it’s unclear when exactly DOD will finalize that decision. All told, the service plans to encompass about 15,000 employees—the smallest military branch by far.

“I think the vision is clear and consistent that we do want the Space Force to be the absolute center of gravity for space. There’s some work to do, and that takes time,” Johnson said.

Leaders worry that a misstep in the reorganization of military space could interfere with the systems and capabilities service members need to do their jobs each day, like navigation and communications.

“We don’t want to drop any balls,” Johnson said. “There’ll be missteps and small mistakes along the way, but I think we’re moving at speed, and Gen. Raymond is the right guy to get it done.”

Earlier this month, Thompson reiterated that DOD is “getting close” to nailing down which Army and Navy functions will join the Space Force. That decision should come by the end of December so the Space Force can plan into the next year for transfers to join in fiscal 2022, he said in a conversation hosted by Defense One.

It’s taken several months to first identify 23 parts of the Air Force, and now additional organizations elsewhere in the Defense Department, that will relocate. A few more units, such as intelligence workers, that weren’t in the initial pool marked for transfer will now join the Space Force. The Space Force will continue to share much of the services offered by the Air Force, such as base security personnel.

“There is a tremendous amount that the Space Force and the Air Force and the Army and the Navy, and working together with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] have already agreed on,” Thompson said, including which space-related personnel and resources will stay where they are, and which are ready to transfer.

“There’s a few units and functions left that we haven’t reached full agreement on, and we’re in the process of finalizing the data and the information that will allow the decision-makers to decide,” he added.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Nov. 11 to correct which units will join the Space Force.

Hurricane Delta Aims for Gulf Coast Bases

Oct. 6, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force bases in the southeastern United States are again hunkering down for a hurricane aimed at the Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Delta, which moved toward Mexico as a Category 4 storm on Oct. 6, is slated to hit southeast Louisiana on Oct. 9 and cause a “life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds,” particularly in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., said Oct. 5 it’s unclear whether Delta will strike near the base, but encouraged locals to start preparing. The base declared Hurricane Condition (HURCON) 4 midday on Oct. 6, meaning it has 72 hours before it may see destructive winds.

“As of right now we don’t plan to evacuate,” Keesler said Oct. 6 on Facebook. “Once the storm gets closer and we have more of an idea [of] how strong it is going to be, then we can make that decision. We have plans in place for if we need to evacuate and are prepared to do so if needed.”

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The base, in an Oct. 6 release, said it is moving aircraft from both the 815th Airlift Squadron and the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron to Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, before the storm arrives. The WC-130s from the 53rd WRS are flying into the storm to provide weather information to the National Hurricane Center.

Barksdale Air Force Base in northwest Louisiana has not indicated it expects to be hard-hit by the storm.

“Base leadership is currently discussing the trajectory of Hurricane Delta and the effects the storm could potentially have on base personnel and equipment,” 2nd Bomb Wing spokesman Capt. Chris Sullivan said Oct. 6. “We are closely monitoring the storm, but no decisions have been made at this time.”

Farther east, Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle declared HURCON 5 on Oct. 5, meaning it was preparing for surface winds faster than 58 mph within the next four days.

“The forecast progression of the storm slowed, which will allow the intensity to reach a Category 4 over the central [Gulf of Mexico],” Eglin said on Facebook Oct. 6. “Current impacts to Eglin and the ranges are chances of 35-knot sustained winds with gusts into the low 40s early Friday morning into Saturday, along with 3 to 5 inches of accumulated rainfall.”

https://www.facebook.com/EglinAirForceBase/posts/3396183133760697

Nearby Hurlburt Field is monitoring the storm but has not decided to evacuate, according to a base post.

“Our area will be on the right side of the storm, which means local impacts late Friday into Saturday in the form of heavy rain, gusty winds at the coast, some coastal flooding, and the potential for isolated tornadoes,” 1st Special Operations Wing Commander Col. Jocelyn J. Schermerhorn said on social media. “Rip currents will continue to be a threat at local beaches from now through the weekend until Hurricane Delta passes.”

This graphic, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service, shows Hurricane Delta’s anticipated trajectory as of Oct. 6, 2020, at 5 p.m. EDT. **Graphic: NOAA/NWS**

And Tyndall Air Force Base, the Florida installation largely demolished by Hurricane Michael in 2018, said it is still tracking a storm that could change direction. “It is still too early to accurately determine where Hurricane Delta will make landfall or at what intensity,” the base said on Facebook.

The Air Force has refined its natural disaster planning and response in the past few years after learning from Hurricane Michael and other storms. But the busy 2020 hurricane season is still causing extra stress across a weather-weary South already suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

“The uncertainty is likely unsettling,” Schermerhorn said. “Focus on what you can control and prepare while there is still time.”

Edwards AFB Goes ‘Hybrid’ for First Air Show in Over a Decade

Oct. 6, 2020 | By Brian W. Everstine

Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., had scheduled its first on-base air show in 11 years to take place in October 2020. Then the coronavirus pandemic intervened.

COVID-19 has forced Airmen across the country to get creative in hosting air shows, as everything from concerts to medical appointments move online to avoid gathering crowds. The 412th Test Wing at Edwards is no different.

In response to this year’s unique challenges, Edwards this week is hosting the Aerospace Valley Hybrid Air Show, wing spokesman and air show executive director Ed Buclatin said in an email.

Edwards is home to the Air Force Test Center, which manages test and evaluation of major aircraft programs like the secretive B-21 bomber and upgrades to existing platforms.

Instead of bringing crowds of schoolchildren to base, Edwards is pairing real demonstrations with a large virtual outreach program to encourage science, technology, engineering, and math education in southern California. The hybrid show includes virtual lessons for area students in kindergarten through 12th grade students, as jets fly over the base and nearby cities.

Participating aircraft include the T-38 training jet; F-16, F-22, F-35, and F/A-18 fighter jets; B-52 and B-1 bombers; C-12, C-17, and C-20 airlifters; the KC-135 tanker; and the ER-2, NASA’s variant of the U-2 spy plane.

Programming began with online teaching on Oct. 5, offering unique lessons on the laws of physics and practical applications of aerospace math.

“Students will build a paper airplane and calculate the triangular area of the wings, then test and calculate the accuracy of their aircraft’s flight,” the air show said on Facebook.

Flyovers are scheduled for Oct. 9-10.

“The hybrid program will ‘bring the air show to the people,’ rather than people to the air show,” Buclatin said.

L3Harris, SpaceX to Build SDA’s First Missile-Tracking Satellites

Oct. 6, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

L3Harris and SpaceX won contracts Oct. 5 to provide the first ballistic missile warning satellites for the Space Development Agency, growing the number of companies working on the future military constellation to four.

L3Harris received $193.6 million and SpaceX got $149.2 million to design, develop, and launch satellites that use wide-view, overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensors to see and track missile launches, SDA said in a release. As companies gradually build more and more of the systems, they will comprise a group of satellites known as the “tracking layer” in low Earth orbit.

Improving missile defense is one of SDA’s main goals for its future constellation that will surveil space and the Earth, allow troops on the ground to communicate, and more. The awards grow L3Harris’ business as a prime satellite builder and solidifies SpaceX as a defense contractor on multiple programs. SpaceX is already one of the main companies whose rockets bring satellites, sensors, and experiments to orbit for the Pentagon.

“These awards represent the next major step toward fielding the national defense space architecture,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said in the Oct. 5 release. “The SDA tracking layer is an integral part of the department’s overall [OPIR] strategy to detect, track, and defeat advanced missile threats. … We look forward to working collaboratively with industry and our government partners like [the Missile Defense Agency] to deliver a tracking solution that puts critical information in the hands of the joint warfighter at or ahead of the speed of the threat.”

Tournear said he is happy with the response from industry, from which SDA received nine proposals.

DOD expects these systems will complement the Missile Defense Agency’s Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor satellites, which will offer high-resolution images in a narrower field of view. While SDA’s satellites are going to provide missile warning and tracking data to defense officials, and other information needed to target an incoming missile, MDA’s satellites will pull in that information to track and target hypersonic weapons.

In theory, each piece of the missile-warning enterprise should be able to connect back to troops on the ground who will analyze the information and dispatch defenses if needed.

SDA’s project will reach orbit before MDA’s as well. The first batch of up to eight missile defense satellites, part of the group known as “Tranche 0,” will launch at the end of fiscal 2022 alongside 20 data-sharing satellites that SDA bought in August. MDA could put two of its own satellites up the following year.

This batch of systems will connect to Lockheed Martin and York Space Systems’ data-sharing satellites known as the “transport layer.” They will also carry a data processor to talk to other military platforms through gateways like Link 16, and feature more automation than previous satellites.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Oct. 7 to include the number of contract bids received.