Ray: Bomber Readiness Surges with Shift to Dynamic Force Employment

Sept. 17, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force Global Strike Command is seeing a surge in the readiness of its B-1, B-2, and B-52 aircraft, as the bomber fleet shifts away from continuous bomber presence deployments and missions like close air support, AFGSC commander Gen. Timothy M. Ray said.

The recovery of the B-1, which former Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein once described as “hard broke” from years of yeoman work in the Middle East, particularly has been “incredibly successful,” Ray said at a press conference during AFA’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. The aircraft is “probably six or seven months ahead of where we thought it would be” thanks to relief from some missions and more attention on resources.

“Any given day, I can probably fly well over 20 of the B-1s,” Ray said. The fleet—the only one of the three bombers that does not have a nuclear mission—had been so worn down from operational deployments in the Middle East that at one point only six could be called on for combat. The Air Force has 62 B-1s, but it wants to retire 17 of the most structurally fatigued aircraft.

Likewise, of 76 B-52s, Ray could send 30 into battle, along with “almost every B-2” that’s not in depot maintenance, he said. Usually, two of the 20 B-2s are in depot for long-term restoration.

Ray touted the “great success” of dynamic force employment bomber missions to Europe and the Pacific, and these mission were called out by Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper in his address to the vASC as the prime example of how the U.S. will flexibly respond to demands for power projection.

Ray paraphrased Esper as saying “there’s no better example of dynamic force employment than Bomber Task Forces. He talked about our ability to get anywhere on the planet,” and not having to worry about overflight rights.

Bomber task forces have shown that “even in a pandemic, … we can do that in an incredible fashion,” Ray added.

Hypersonic munitions will only enhance that capability, Ray asserted, noting that combatant commanders view hypersonic air-launched weapons as “incredibly valuable.”

The arrival of hypersonic missiles in the next couple of years will dramatically increase the striking power of the B-1 and the B-52, Ray said. While the B-52 will be first to get the AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response (ARRW) boost-glide weapon, the B-1 will be far more formidable than it is now in the standoff role, carrying the weapon on external hardpoints.

“We need to do that soonest,” Ray said of fitting the ARRW to the B-1. He’s also fully in favor of pressing on with an air-breathing, or scramjet-powered hypersonic missile that could complement the ARRW and fit on fighter-size aircraft or in the B-1 or B-52’s internal weapons bays. The Air Force “has that right” in its phasing of the two efforts. The two systems are “not either-or, I think we should do both,” Ray said.

“I am very pleased with the progress we’re making” on getting hypersonics to the bomber fleet, he said.

Ray has previously said he thinks the B-52 makes an excellent “Arsenal Plane” as it stands, and has also endorsed pursuing such a concept as a new-start under USAF acquisition executive Will Roper’s eSeries of digitally-designed aircraft.

“The Arsenal Plane conversation is working its way through. I’m not guiding that, I’ve been broad in my request for capability, that’s going to play inside some other channels inside the Pentagon,” Ray said. His priority is to implement the bomber roadmap, which he summed up as “B-52 modernization, sustaining the B-2 until we have enough B-21s, and to … [make] sure the B-1 is right-sized, capable, and postured to be another one of those bridging mechanisms until the B-21 shows up.”

The roadmap “will take you into the late 2020s, and that’s when you can start talking about a fleet [of bombers] bigger than 175, … on its way to 220.”

Ray said the B-21 will achieve initial operational capability “no earlier than ’22,” saying only that the new bomber is an “incredibly healthy, strong program. I have no issues or concerns” with it.

AFGSC has a “good plan” to upgrade the B-52 with new engines, radar, weapons, and connectivity. The upgrades will likely make it possible to eliminate one crew member from the airplane, he noted.

“The radar is very important,” Ray said. “What we’ll do … is, we’ll try to re-host the electronic warfare officer downstairs, make it a four-person crew, because we think we can be just as effective, with the current mods that we have going on right now.”

The B-52 fleet is “incredibly healthy” he said. “I’m thrilled with how it’s doing. … The performance has been tremendous, and on almost a regular basis, [it turns in] a 100 percent mission ready crew status. That, I haven’t seen in many years.”

Although the plan is to use eight B-52s to test the various aspects of the upgrade—two each for the engines, radar, new cruise missile, and for various other changes—Ray said he has no plans to take any more out of the “boneyard” and get them flight-worthy. Two aircraft have been resurrected in this fashion in recent years.

ULA Boss Backs New Career Development Program for Space Industry Workers

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Officer Tory Bruno supports the idea of sending space industry employees for stints in the Space Force, suggesting it could be modeled on an existing Air Force program that lets service members try out private sector jobs.

The Space Force wants to bolster its talent pool—particularly for high-demand careers like software development—and help its workforce think outside the box by rotating people between industry and government more often. How it might achieve that is still under discussion by a team in Colorado Springs, Colo., Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David D. Thompson said in August.

In a conversation with Thompson during the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference, Bruno said the idea will only succeed if people have a formal program to join.

“It’s got to be structured. It can’t just be a notion that, well, people will maybe make career choices to go back and forth, or we’ll do it somehow on an ad hoc basis,” he said. “We’ll have to be deliberate about it.”

He pointed to the Air Force’s competitive Education with Industry (EWI) program as a good model for the Space Force’s vision.

EWI places Airmen in fields like space, information operations, and intelligence at around 50 commercial and defense companies for 10 months. The growing program chose 74 participants this year, as it expands to include enlisted Airmen and sites like the Sandia National Laboratories for nuclear research. Participants go on to Air Force jobs in line with that work experience once they graduate.

“We love our EWIs. You guys send us two, three, four a year, and they spend a year with us doing various jobs in our company—real jobs, they’re not some kind of yearlong tour of facilities or something like that,” Bruno said. “They learn about our company. They learn about the industry. They make real contributions. They never separate from the service, because that’s important. You can’t get a wide participation if we’re going to expect people to sever their ties with what they consider their primary career path.”

There’s no industry equivalent of the EWI program that lets workers at companies like ULA, SpaceX, and other defense contractors see the other side of federal programs without formally becoming a DOD employee. In practice, it could look similar to the Reserves, where people toggle between their day jobs in the private sector and periodic returns to military service.

The benefits would go both ways: Industry employees could get a better feel for where the Space Force’s technology needs are heading, and the Space Force can draw on the outside perspective of corporate engineers, contracting managers, and others. The approach can also help avoid breakdowns in communication.

“One of the things that is difficult in these relationships, when we’re trying to be a team and serve this mission together, is that our processes and our procedures and, [in] some cases, how we’re measured as individuals or teams in our respective corners are very, very different,” Bruno said. “When you’re in industry, you’re working away and then you’re getting questions or requests for products from your customer, and you have no idea why. … It’s confusing, and it’s distracting, and yet, in my experience, you guys never ask us for something you don’t need.”

C-17s Serve as Bombers, Artillery Targeting Systems in AMC Tests

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Brian W. Everstine

Air Mobility Command is testing how its workhorse strategic airlifter can not only carry in combat weapons systems, but also directly contribute to a fight by dropping bombs and providing targeting data for artillery.

As part of the high-tech Advanced Battle Management System “onramp” evaluations earlier this month, AMC C-17s tested dropping joint direct attack munitions, making the lumbering mobility jets effectively serve as bombers, AMC boss Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost said Sept. 14 during the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. This effort is separate from the Air Force Special Operations Command and Air Force Research Laboratory’s similar Cargo Launch Expendable Air Vehicle with Extended Range munitions pallet designed for the MC-130J.

“This concept, once fully mature, is for the munitions to behave just as if they were dropped from a bomber aircraft,” Van Ovost told reporters. “They separate from the airplane, they ignite their motors, fly to pre-designated waypoints using different flight altitudes, and then they strike their targets. Our Airmen are hard at work, further developing this concept, but it was a powerful demonstration of how mobility forces can be used in non-traditional ways.”

The JDAM pallet went through its first phase one trial as part of the Sept. 3 event at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and is going through additional tests as part of the next onramps, including the ongoing evaluation in the Pacific. As part of the third phase, the system will actually fire a missile, Van Ovost said.

“We have very capable C-17s that are around the world at any one time,” Van Ovost said. “Our ability to flex to use this airplane in multiple ways is what really brings this richness to operations. While we’re flying regular cargo deployments and distributions, there are still lots of legs where we’re flying airplanes where you have the capacity to do so. We haven’t really looked at the full concept to see how many it would take, and this is not taking the place of any of the Global Strike capabilities. This is just the capability we want to have, should we need it, and if we pull it into an [operations] plan, that’s great.”

The ability to drop munitions, instead of just carrying them, would “enhance the Joint Force when they need us,” she said. In order for the capability to be operational, there needs to be additional training for the aircrews and new targeting and other sensor systems aboard the aircraft.

“We’re going to explore this,” she said. “We’re going to see, through our war games and exercises, what the value of it is.”

During the same ABMS experiment, another C-17 was equipped with an enhanced, beyond-line-of-sight communication capability. The Globemaster III was carrying an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, and the advanced sensors and communication equipment passed along targeting information to the artillery system in flight. The system was “spun up” the entire time it was on the aircraft, and the C-17’s data retargeted it so when the aircraft landed, the HIMARS rolled off ready to fire “in a fraction of the time it normally did,” Van Ovost said.

“When it got off the airplane, it could immediately employ, and if you wanted to, [you could] roll it right back on to the C-17 and take off out of there before an enemy can determine its location, all because we had beyond-line-of-sight capability,” she said.

Gulf Coast Air Bases Emerge From Hurricane Sally

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Air Force installations along the Gulf Coast are starting to resume operations after Hurricane Sally made landfall early Sept. 16 over Gulf Shores, Ala., as a Category 2 storm.

Early announcements indicate the bases weathered harsh winds and rain but avoided widespread damage, though nearby residential and commercial areas were battered. The National Hurricane Center cautioned of “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama.

In Alabama, Maxwell Air Force Base reported that the base weather office had given the all-clear as the storm left.

“She’s still causing a bit of rain and wind locally, but things should be clearing up heading into the weekend,” the base said of Sally in a Sept. 17 Facebook post. “River Road on Maxwell is still a no-go place as the Alabama River is expected to reach flood stage and stay there for a couple of days.”

To the west, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., incurred “minimal damage” and began reopening Sept. 17, according to a base release.

“The 81st Training Wing, along with help from the 403rd Wing, was able to take safety precautions before the hurricane made landfall,” the release said. “These safety precautions not only helped minimize the damage on base but also ensured the safety of Keesler Airmen and their families.”

Col. Heather W. Blackwell, the 81st Training Wing commander, said in a Sept. 16 video that Keesler was assessing damage and reopening its runway so WC-130J “hurricane hunter” aircraft can resume their reconnaissance flights.

“Our goal is to be fully mission-capable by the end of today,” she said.

Blackwell added on Facebook that she had visited Airmen in Basic Military Training at Keesler on Sept. 16: “They have plenty of food, great attitudes, and are continuing their training.”

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., supervisors can bring their employees back to work if their commutes are safe enough to do so. The Florida Panhandle base is conducting mission-essential operations only and began assessing storm damage Sept. 17.

“Pockets of the area are flooded, but we are OK,” Eglin spokeswoman Ilka Cole said. “Our response force teams are in recovery mode and assessing damage to Eglin main and the ranges. Our aircraft are currently hangered.”

Tyndall Air Force Base, another Florida installation that already faces a long rebuild from Hurricane Michael in 2018, is gradually opening on-base facilities.

“Unit leadership will modify duty hours as necessary to meet mission-essential tasks,” the base instructed. “Work with your leadership to adjust work schedules based on individual circumstances. Stay alert for high water hazards throughout the local area.”

Nearby Hurlburt Field, Fla., is closed while recovery begins, the special-operations installation said in a Sept. 17 release.

“Initially, the most significant damage noted is to infrastructure on the Soundside near the marina, and the foundation of the pedestrian bridge that crosses Highway 98,” Hurlburt said. “The pedestrian bridge is currently closed until repairs can be made. Recovery teams are spending today assessing the damage and securing the base.”

Hurlburt officials encouraged Airmen and their families to restock their hurricane supply kits as soon as possible because more storms are forming in the Atlantic Ocean.

“Managing a pandemic and hurricane season can be stressful,” Hurlburt said on Facebook. “Please look out for your wingmen.”

This is one of the busiest hurricane seasons the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever predicted in the Atlantic basin, with as many as 25 named storms possible. Nearly half of those could be hurricanes, and as many as six hurricanes could be highly destructive with winds measuring 111 mph or greater.

The region has seen 20 named storms so far during Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.

Space Force Official Argues Funding Should Match ‘Huge’ Space Responsibilities

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Rachel S. Cohen

Military space budgets will need to grow to adequately support air, land, sea, and cyber operations as global warfighting grows increasingly intertwined, and as the Pentagon solidifies its plans for offense and defense in the cosmos, a top Space Force official argued this week.

“If I was [U.S. Space Command boss Army Gen. James H. Dickinson], I would certainly argue for a budget based on size of [the area of responsibility], because he’s got a huge one to defend,” Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s deputy chief of space, cyber, and nuclear operations, said during the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.

The command is seeking $249 million in fiscal 2021, while the Space Force wants $15.4 billion. That’s a fraction of the other services’ funding. The Air Force, for example, requested $153.6 billion for 2021.

Space Force and SPACECOM argue they don’t need coffers as big or as many people as the others to accomplish their mission—something Congress was counting on when it approved the establishment of the Space Force in December 2019. But Saltzman’s comment underscores the central role space operations promise to play in future joint operations, and foreshadows how the military space enterprise could negotiate with Capitol Hill to let it grow.

The Department of the Air Force anticipates that as the Space Force matures, its spending needs will grow by $2.6 billion over the next five years. Procurement spending will nearly double from $2.4 billion in 2021 to $4.7 billion in 2025, largely because of classified programs, according to SpaceNews. Operations and maintenance is also expected to grow from $2.6 billion to $3.2 billion over the same time period, and personnel costs will exceed $1 billion in 2025. Officials believe research and development funds will fall slightly from $10.3 billion in 2021 to $9.7 billion in 2025.

“We’ve not put a lot of investment into either offensive or defensive systems in space, where our competitors have,” United Launch Alliance Chief Executive Officer Tory Bruno said. “There are niches where they’re getting ahead. We’ve got to take big steps.”

SPACECOM handles daily operations of the Pentagon’s satellites, space-related radars, and other systems that allow the armed forces to talk to each other and track threats like incoming missiles. The employees and the systems they operate are provided by the Space Force, Army, and Navy.

The organization is unlike most others because its technologies are critical to keeping combat operations around the world going, but it also has to defend those systems from physical or electronic attack and potentially fight back as well. In comparison, service members working for another combatant command like U.S. Central Command or U.S. Indo-Pacific Command have only their own offense and defense to worry about, instead of enabling war outside of that particular area.

The Space Force, which manages the majority of military space assets, is still figuring out how best to support SPACECOM—and the other services in turn—with new training, ways of operating, and technology. There’s no secret sauce, Saltzman said.

When it comes to joint all-domain command and control, the Pentagon’s push to connect conventional combat operations with space and cyberspace more effectively, the space enterprise’s investments in areas like data cloud storage and communications satellites promise to be the glue between the other services’ vehicles, sensors, and weapons.

“If an adversary denies us the ability to create effects in one domain, we can rapidly shift and create effects in a different domain. That gives us a tremendous operational advantage, but it’s not easy,” Saltzman said. “It’s not easy to shift domains if you don’t have the [command and control] structure, the data structure, the comm infrastructure that allows you to rapidly lift and shift from one domain to another.”

The former deputy commander of Air Forces Central Command echoed the growing idea that the Pentagon needs many different ways to send data around the force, a cornerstone of the Space Development Agency’s plans to put thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. If some satellites have their signals jammed or are physically damaged, information can still travel through other parts of the network.

“In those high-threat environments, I learned the real power of resiliency, self-healing networks, the ability to use distributed nodes so that we can reduce our targetable footprint, our ability to use multiple data paths so that we’re never without the data, the situational awareness that we need to make high-speed operational decisions,” Saltzman said.

The military argues it needs artificial intelligence algorithms to crunch data—including the vast piles of information collected by space assets—and solve problems faster than the human mind to make that work. It also wants 5G wireless networking, cloud computing, and teams of service members and contractors who can fix and upgrade software at a moment’s notice.

Using proliferated satellites and other means through which service members can communicate and track and target potential threats would keep the military flexible under duress. If the Combined Air Operations Center in Qatar, a hub that manages strike and intelligence information for the Middle East, was hit by enemy forces, Saltzman said, it’s space assets that would help ensure the U.S. could still function in the region.

“If you can’t perform your duties from here, how does the air component continue to be successful? We had to look ourselves in the eye and say, ‘Well, there’s going to be some problems,’” he said. “I saw tremendous progress, leveraging some of the initiatives that I think ultimately were coming out of the JADC2 discussion, … things like distributed data architectures [and] cloud hosted services, that allowed us to be less concerned about where we were and more concerned about where the effects needed to be.”

GE Delivers First F-15EX Engine

Sept. 17, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak

GE Aviation delivered the first of 19 engines that will power the initial eight models of Boeing’s F-15EX advanced Eagle, which will begin combined developmental and operational tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., early next year, the company said Sept. 16.

The powerplant is being delivered under a contract from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center earlier this year for 19 F110-GE-129 engines, including installs and spares. Each F-15EX will have two engines.

The contract was the first engine lot to be awarded in support of the F-15EX, and it was a sole-source award to speed the initial jets into test. However, the Air Force has decided to allow Raytheon Technologies’ Pratt & Whitney to offer a version of its F100 engine for the type, under the proviso that Pratt certifies and tests its engine for the EX at its own expense. Pratt has said it plans to compete for subsequent lots of F-15EX powerplants.

The Air Force has open-ended contracts for up to 200 F-15EX fighters, although it has not suggested it will buy more than 144 of the fighters. The jets would be acquired before 2035. The Air Force in May said it would need 461 engines for the F-15EX fleet.

The Air Force is trying to adapt the EX with as little change as possible from Boeing’s export model of the Eagle for Qatar, the F-15QA, in order to reduce development and testing time and accelerate its fielding to replace aged F-15Cs, which are structurally fatigued and performance-limited. The GE engine is “the only engine tested, integrated, and certified for the fly-by-wire F-15EX,” the company said, and powers other late-model export versions of the Eagle.

Compared with the F-15C, which the Air Force has operated since the 1980s, the EX has a fly-by-wire flight control system, a powerful processor, additional weapon stations, and will employ the Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS), among other improvements. The jet is also to have an open missions systems architecture to facilitate rapid and competitive upgrades.

AMC Lays Out ‘Contested Environment’ Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Ops

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Brian W. Everstine

COVID-19’s impacts on Air Mobility Command operations, which increased as the pandemic spread, have provided several lessons learned that mobility forces can use for potential ops in degraded conditions, the command’s boss said.

AMC Commander Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, speaking during AFA’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference, said the pandemic is the first “thorough contested environment” that mobility forces have faced. The pandemic forced aircrews and commanders to think differently about how to get their mission accomplished.

“From our personal front door all the way to the foxhole, we had unforeseen limitations on things that, frankly, we had taken for granted,” Van Ovost said.

For example, mobility squadrons had to quickly find ways to clean and prep aircraft, while also quarantining and keeping pilots safe to meet operations that did not relent. The command studied airflow on its airplanes to determine how to safely carry passengers, and even developed a new isolation system within 90 days that could carry more COVID-19 patients than the existing Transport Isolation System.

The command increased its coordination with private contractors to respond to urgent missions, such as bringing back U.S. citizens who were stranded abroad or handing off COVID-19 testing supplies that were flown in from Italy and transferred to FedEx.

One of the biggest lessons learned from early in the pandemic was the idea of access, and which countries could host U.S. assets and which wouldn’t. During the pandemic, some countries shut off their borders. In a conflict, countries could shut out the U.S. military, forcing the Air Force to find other ways to fly and operate abroad.

“One of the lessons learned operating globally in this pandemic was the importance of access and the necessity to prepare for essentially a rapidly changing global environment … During a conflict, you would have different nations involved in the conflict and how things could change politically,” she said. “We see some real relationships here between the two.”

To get around this, AMC relied heavily on industrial carriers who have established partnerships with other countries and more flexibility to bring in aircraft other than a military “gray tail.”

“Our commercial carriers, … actually acted as sensors for us in some of the areas we had not been in, or frankly, they just have more reps and sets going through that airspace or into that nation,” Van Ovost said.

Within the continental United States, AMC shifted its operational plans to meet regular requirements, such as presidential support. At one point, COVID-19 hit the Joint Base Charleston, S.C., community pretty hard, so West Coast-based C-17s picked up more of the load, ensuring airlifters were always available. “We’ve had to balance our readiness in different areas,” she said.

Going forward, “We’re not putting anything out of that on the shelf,” she said. “We’re taking those lessons learned forward into all kinds of environments, from the contested all the way to the high end.”

“There’s no telling what the next contested environment is, and this pandemic has just laid that one out in spades,” she said.

AFMC Considers Reorganizing Depots for New eSeries Aircraft

Sept. 17, 2020 | By John A. Tirpak

To go with future “e-programs” that will be digitally built and retired before reaching their maintenance- and upgrade-intensive years, Air Force Materiel Command is beginning to think about how it will reorganize depots and sustainment, commander Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. said Sept. 16.

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper is touting future programs that will “flip the paradigm” and spend only 30 percent on sustainment, rather than the 70 percent that is now typical, Roper said Sept. 15. Bunch said “dialogues” are underway about what that will mean for future sustainment.

Plans for the future of depots under the new paradigm are “not fully defined” yet, Bunch said in a press conference.

“Some of the legacy systems are going to need the full depot capacity we have for quite some time,” he noted. But he has begun discussions with Lt. Gen. Warren D. Berry, deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering, and force protection about what future sustainment based on Roper’s model will look like, he said.

“You have to start with the end in mind,” Bunch asserted. “By that I mean, …if you’re going to flip that paradigm, you have to think all the way through what that does to the sustainment, what does that do to your supply chain, what does that do to the 50/50 [private/organic depot workshare], what does it do to all those things.”

He continued, “We are in those dialogs. We have not completed them … and we are not at a point in that where I could tell you we’re going to consolidate anything,” but those discussions must happen soon regarding “the new aircraft that we bring in.”

Bunch said he’s under no deadlines to craft a plan or a report that will spell out the future of the depot structure.

The biggest pole in the tent of bringing about both Roper’s vision of digital production of new systems and sustainment of them is having a robust Information Technology infrastructure in AFMC, Bunch said. The need to build it was identified in “The AFMC We Need” white paper Bunch put out soon after taking over the command, he said.

The infrastructure is needed “so we can make the proper linkages, share and protect [data] in the digital environment,” he said. “We know we can do it,” and AFMC is doing so on the T-7 trainer and Ground Based Strategic Deterrent projects, as well as “a few other ones I won’t go into.” But, greater depth and capability is still needed to expand the system, Bunch said. Likewise, Airmen need training and seasoning to “set them up for success” in the new construct, he said.

In order to propel innovative projects across the so-called “valley of death” between successful prototyping and programs of record, Bunch noted that AFMC launched its own Transformational Capabilities Office this summer, which will connect program executive officers, “end users,” and prototyping projects. The goal will be to “push it over the line and get it … to a fielded system.”

The new office will decide if or when new “Vanguard” projects, like the unmanned Valkyrie system or “Golden Horde” concept, proceed to programs of record. The office is an outgrowth of the Air Force’s Science and Technology 2030 program.

“What we’re doing in this Transformational Capabilities Office is better linking up the program office … with the researchers [and] end users, so we get more out of these prototypes, and demos, and experiments, and campaigns,” Bunch said.

“I think we’re making some great strides. This is one of those that can help us as we embrace [Chief of Staff] Gen. [Charles Q.] Brown’s ‘Accelerate Change or Lose’” campaign.

“The way we’ve established it is, we’re going to have an annual process review to see if we have more Vanguards,” Bunch explained. “And that process is underway, and it is being reviewed. [It] starts at the capability developing working group, and bubbles up to the capability development council,” and decisions will be made there about “whether it will be a Vanguard or not.” He added there are “no guarantees there will be another one, no guarantees there won’t be another three.” It will depend on the capabilities being offered.

“We’re doing this on a regular basis, to see what’s out there,” he said, reporting that he is “very pleased” with the collaboration between PEOs, the Air Force Research Lab, the test control officers, and the major commands.

Current, Former USAF Leaders Stress Importance of Inclusion

Sept. 17, 2020 | By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

Despite its diversity, the U.S. Air Force has an inclusion problem, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass said Sept. 16.

“Diversity [means] you ask somebody to the dance. Inclusion is you actually ask them to dance,” she explained in a post-keynote Q&A at AFA’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference. “We need to have people who are actually asking people to dance and be part of that culture, that organization, that mission, and that sense of belonging.”

During a panel on diversity and racial challenges within the Air Force held the same day, Bass said the inherent power of an organization’s diversity is the versatility with which its members’ differences imbue the whole.

“It’s critical to have that diversity in the Air Force that we have today because it is truly through that diversity that we can become the greatest organization and continue in that legacy, because it will make us more creative, more open, more innovative, you know, better at problem solving when you have the differences of perspective that our unique Airmen bring to the fight,” she said.

But in the context of defense, if people look at diversity in a vacuum—minus inclusion—they’re missing the whole point, since the goal isn’t tokenism, said fellow panelist, former Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, and former AFA president retired USAF Gen. Larry O. Spencer.

“Not only do you want to reflect the population that you serve, but you also want to throw a problem in the middle of the table and have all kinds of ideas come into it,” he said. “That way, the decision-maker can get maybe ideas that he or she never would’ve thought about.”

Air Force and Pentagon diversity efforts should shoot to achieve “combat capability” and “lethality,” he said—not recreate Noah’s Ark.

“It’s not about, you know, getting one of these or two of those,” Spencer said. “It’s about making the organization stronger and better. And I think once people understand that, it becomes a different conversation.”

The Way Forward

Admitting that a problem exists is the first step toward solving it, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. said during a Sept. 14 vASC Q&A.

“You know, it may have been … not talked about as much, but because of the death of George Floyd and the other aspects across our nation, it’s driving a conversation,” Brown said. “So our Airmen feel much more comfortable talking about it.”

But USAF must walk the walk and talk the talk if it wants to cultivate a more inclusive culture, he said.

Brown said the service has taken some first steps, but the path to great inclusion won’t be instantaneous.

“This is a long-term journey, and we didn’t get here overnight,” he said. “We’re not gonna change overnight.”

Overhauling USAF’s culture will require an examination of recent and ongoing Air Force efforts to create a healthier service environment, as well as a long-term pursuit of best practices that eventually make inclusion a second nature for the Air Force that permeates its approach to equity and representation across the Total Force, Brown said.

During her post-keynote Q&A, Bass said she’s waiting on the results of a diversity- and inclusion-related survey that was open to Total Force Airmen and space professionals as part of the Air Force Inspector General’s deep dive into racial disparities within the Department of the Air Force before coming up with a formal game plan for enhancing USAF inclusion.

The results, which she said she’s yet to see since they’re still being compiled, will be shared with the public in coming weeks, she said.

“Once we have that, we have got to determine what are the lines of effort that we can do with it as an Air Force from, you know, the headquarters staff to each major command to each wing to each leader?” she continued. “What are those lines of effort that we can do to get after that stuff? What’s actionable? And then we will determine … here’s how we measure those things if we do that.”

Also on Sept. 16, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Readiness, and Services Brian T. Kelly announced that the service’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force will turn into an Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging that will work for Air Force Secretary Barbara M. Barrett and support Brown and Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond in their efforts on these fronts.