US Strikes Iranian-Backed Groups in Syria After Attacks on American Troops

Nov. 12, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. conducted strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria on Nov. 12 in response to a fresh spate of attacks on American personnel, the U.S. military announced.

It was the second series of strikes in two days.

U.S. military targeted an unspecified Iranian-backed militia group’s “weapons storage and logistics headquarters facility” in Syria on Nov. 12 in response to an attack on U.S. troops at Patrol Base Shaddadi, U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, said in a statement. No U.S. troops were injured, the command said.

The day before, the U.S. military conducted airstrikes on nine targets in two locations in Syria following “several attacks on U.S. personnel in Syria over the last 24 hours,” CENTCOM said in an earlier statement.

CENTCOM’s releases are the first time the U.S. military has acknowledged recent attacks on American forces by Iranian-supported militias.

Providing additional details, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters Nov. 12. that U.S. troops were attacked twice in Syria at the Mission Support Site Green Village in northeast Syria on Nov. 10. He said there were no U.S. injuries as a result of the attacks.

“One attack consisted of a UAV. The second was indirect fire comprised of two rockets,” Ryder said. “We are going to protect our forces. We’re going to take the necessary steps to send a message, but importantly, as we’ve said before, we will reserve the right to respond in a time and place of our choosing.”

Some 900 U.S. troops are in Syria as part of the campaign to work with local partners to defeat the remnants of the Islamic State group. U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under dozens of attacks from Iranian-backed militias, which has hindered U.S. troops’ ability to conduct operations against Islamic State militants.

“These strikes will degrade the Iranian-backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on U.S. and coalition forces who are in the region to conduct defeat-ISIS operations,” Ryder said.

The U.S.-backed coalition that is fighting the Islamic State group plans to wind up its operation by September 2025. At that point, the U.S. is planning to transition to a bilateral security arrangement with Iraq, where the U.S. currently has some 2,500 troops.

That arrangement would allow the U.S. to support its presence in Syria, where the U.S. works with local partner forces.

It remains to be seen what deployments President-elect Donald Trump might support. Trump wanted to pull all U.S. troops from Syria during his previous term in office before reversing course.

“Our message is clear. Attacks against U.S. and coalition partners in the region will not be tolerated,” CENTCOM commander Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said in a statement on the strikes. “We will continue to take every step necessary to protect our personnel and coalition partners and respond to reckless attacks.”

Will DOD’s New Cybersecurity Program Stifle Small Businesses or Get Them to Tighten Up?

Nov. 12, 2024 | By Shaun Waterman

When Donna Huneycutt’s company, a woman-owned small business selling professional services to the Air National Guard, got its first really big contract, she made a decision: “We were going to get serious about cybersecurity.”

Following a slew of cyber intrusions by China against defense contractors, the Department of Defense was seeking to shore up cybersecurity standards in the defense industrial base. It was 2018 and an amendment had just come into force to DOD acquisition regulations. Contractors who handled unclassified but still sensitive data known as Controlled Unclassified Information or CUI had to comply with cybersecurity guidelines from the National Institute for Standards and Technology, or NIST.

Although there was no enforcement mechanism in the regulation, Huneycutt said her company WWC Global—which she sold to Command Holdings in 2022—had contracts with Special Operations Command and was doing work that involved access to CUI. So she decided to do the right thing.

“We spent about $1 million, taking into account all the labor hours,” to implement the 110 security controls listed in the NIST document, known as SP 800-171, Huneycutt told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

When they did so, she added, two things happened: “We had to put our prices up, and we found we were being hacked.” Security tools the company installed revealed executives’ phones were being attacked, although the NIST controls helped them identify and block the attacks, she recalled.

Huneycutt has sold her company, but that $1 million investment will finally begin to pay off for the new owners next year, when a long-delayed DOD enforcement mechanism, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, or CMMC, starts to show up in DOD contracts. The department rolled out the first version during President Donald Trump’s administration in 2020, but the Biden administration rolled it back the following year for a revamp into two parts. The first part became final last month, and the second part will start to kick in next year.

Huneycutt said she hopes CMMC will help level the playing field for security-conscious contractors. “We were at a disadvantage,” she said of the years after her 2018 decision to get serious about the NIST controls. Her overhead was higher because of the costs of the security measures her company was implementing.

“We were competing with companies who were cheaper because they were less secure,” she said. “If you don’t enforce cybersecurity standards, you create a race to the bottom.”

CMMC will require contractors to validate their compliance with the security controls in NIST, albeit at different levels depending on their size and over the course of seven years:

Just over 103,000 companies will be required to self-attest their compliance with a set of 15 basic security controls for CMMC Level 1.

56,000 small businesses will need to get a third-party assessment of their compliance with the 110 NIST controls for CMMC Level 2.

Fewer than 1,500 businesses of all sizes, whose contracts deal with more sensitive data, will have their compliance with a beefed-up set of 134 security controls assessed by government audit teams under CMMC Level 3.

Huneycutt explained that for companies at Levels 2 and 3, there is a huge administrative burden involved in compliance with the NIST standards. “Every one of those 110 controls had to be written into a company policy,” with personnel to carry it out and a manager assigned responsibility, she said. Everybody had to be trained: “In my business, an hour of somebody’s labor has a dollar value to it. So for every hour that I required for cybersecurity training, that was an hour that I could not ask them to perform and get paid on my time and materials contracts,” she said.

Third-party assessment requires a major record-keeping effort, she added.

”You have to enforce internally, and you have to show that you’ve been enforcing and that you’ve managed situations where people deviated from the policy. All of this requires a tremendous amount of documentation, and therefore a tremendous amount of labor hours, overhead. … It just kind of never ends,” she said.

A wide range of industry associations echoed Huneycutt’s complaints, arguing that meeting the requirements CMMC imposes, depending on how they’re implemented, will impose an unreasonable burden on small businesses and will discourage exactly those contractors that the Air Force and other services want to encourage—small innovative companies at the cutting edge of new technologies.

“DOD itself has acknowledged that it has been hemorrhaging small businesses from the defense industrial base,” said Rachel Gray, the director of research and regulatory policy for the National Small Business Association. She cited DOD statistics that it lost 43 percent of its small business contractors between 2016-2022.

“This is only going to serve to further exacerbate that bleeding,” she said. DOD officials have acknowledged that cybersecurity compliance is a barrier to entry for smaller companies, she said. “We support a secure and strong defense industrial base, but there are ways in which CMMC can be implemented … which will ease the burden for smaller companies, who may not be as well resourced as their larger counterparts.”

ML Mackey is CEO of Beacon Interactive Systems, a small business which is digitizing Air Force flight lines and first became a military supplier through an SBIR contract. She told Air and Space Forces Magazine that, in addition to the cost and the administrative burden, companies could suffer a hit in productivity.

“You might have a commercial email provider and commercial security tools and that might seem—and be—perfectly reasonable to you. But now you might have to move to different providers, ones that are certified to DOD standards,” she said. “It’s like moving house, you still have somewhere to live but the disruption can be considerable.”

Any costs of the transition come out of hide, she said. “Once you’re on a contract, the cost of running your new infrastructure, that becomes part of your overhead cost and it’s allowable—the government will pay it. But that initial piece [buying and transitioning to the new infrastructure and other upfront costs of compliance] is not allowable, so it literally comes out of the pocket of the small business owner,” before they’ve seen the first dollar from a contract, she said.

Huneycutt said providing secure hardware and connections for a single desktop computer costs about $4,000 extra per year, and about $1,500 more for a phone, costs that mount as businesses scale.

CMMC requirements flow down from prime contractors to their subcontractors, so small businesses that are suppliers for large systems integrators have to comply as well.

Mackey said she wasn’t arguing for a free pass: “Industry should pay,” she said.

But depending on how the program is implemented and the burden of compliance is distributed, there might be unintended consequences from CMMC, if it discourages innovative commercial companies from trying to sell to DOD, Mackey explained.

“When all of a sudden we drop a new requirement that has a disproportionate weight on the bottom line of the exact companies whose participation we want to increase; the same companies that we’re having a massive decrease of participation by, then we need to change the model, right?” she said.

“No one is saying small businesses should get a free pass. Everything should be paid for. Business is business. We just need to match [the burden] to the cadence and the abilities of the players that we have on the field,” Mackey said.

She said that there were many ways that novel policy approaches could help square the circle for innovative small businesses.

One suggestion was DOD-provided regional resources—secure workspaces where small businesses can do their work in a CMMC-compliant way without requiring a large upfront investment, for instance on an initial SBIR contract. “They can come in and see what the water’s like, splash around, before they dive into the deep … meaning becoming fully CMMC-compliant,” she said.

She said the U.S. Small Business Administration office of innovation and invention was doing “really interesting work with the [DOD’s] Office of Strategic Capital. They’re looking at existing authorities SBA has for loans and other financial tools and how they can be brought to bear in ways that facilitate participation in the [defense industrial base].”

Mackey said those authorities could also be used to help innovative small businesses meet the upfront costs of CMMC compliance. “The ability to get a line of credit to finance CMMC implementation with an extended payback period, I think, would greatly reduce the barrier to entry.”

Ultimately, defenders of the CMMC say, businesses large and small are going to have to absorb the costs of compliance, because being cyber-secure is just a basic requirement of running a business.

Level 1, the self-attestation to a whittled down set of security controls for 103,000 companies requires “very basic” compliance, Kelley Kiernan, a veteran acquisition professional and now a professor at the Defense Acquisition University, told Air and Space Forces Magazine.

But for the 56,000 companies requiring CMMC Level 2, implementing the NIST security controls needs a professional approach and dedicated cybersecurity personnel, she said. They were “written by cyber engineers for cyber engineers and so you’re going to need a professional on your team [to implement it], and there’s no way around that,” Kiernan said.

“There are charlatans in the marketplace,” she added, warning against easy, off-the shelf, “do-it-yourself” solutions.

“If you needed gallbladder surgery, you wouldn’t do it yourself, you’d find a professional,” Kiernan said, “No one balks at hiring a lawyer or an accountant or a tax professional. Cybersecurity is a critical operating expense.”

“Without robust cybersecurity to protect your intellectual property, you’re not even going to have a business,” she warned, referring to the campaign of cyber-enabled theft of proprietary data and other digital valuables that officials have attributed to China.

“A U.S. small business could implement the NIST standard to protect their IP, even if they did not have a DOD contract,” she said.

“It’s time for small businesses to channel their pioneering insight that got them where they are and embrace their entrepreneurial savvy and change the paradigm to a new truth which says that robust cybersecurity is simply good business in the modern world,” she said, “And the new CMMC program seeks to certify that everybody’s ready to go.”

Editor’s Note: This story was updated Nov. 13 to correct an error in a quote attributed to Kelley Kiernan.

Fresh F-15E Fighters Arrive in Middle East to Replace Departing Jets

Nov. 12, 2024 | By Greg Hadley and Chris Gordon

F-15Es from the 492nd Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., have deployed to the Middle East, replacing Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., that recently wrapped up a rotation in the region.

U.S. Central Command noted the arrival of the Lakenheath F-15s on social media, and multiple officials confirmed the deployment to Air & Space Forces Magazine. On Nov. 1, the Pentagon announced it was sending additional forces to the Middle East to compensate for the upcoming departure of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group. U.S. officials previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the extra airpower would include F-15Es, but did not specify from where they would deploy.

The recently departed Seymour Johnson F-15Es first arrived in the Middle East in April, just before Iran launched a massive attack on Israel that included 300-plus one-way drones and missiles. Members of the 335th Fighter Squadron helped defend against that attack.

Then, in October, the “SJ” fighters had their deployment extended as the Pentagon sought to bolster its regional airpower following Israel’s killing of Lebanese Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, which led to Iran retaliating with a salvo of some 180 ballistic missiles.

A month later, those Airmen and fighters finally started returning home. Local spotters and flight trackers noted the F-15Es stopping over at Lakenheath on the way back. Several are still at the base in England.

Meanwhile, the Lakenheath jets are joining other F-15Es from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, in the Middle East. The 492nd Fighter Squadron arrives a year after its sister unit at Lakenheath, the 494th Fighter Squadron, first deployed to the region. The 494th also played a key role in repelling Iran’s April attack before returning in May after a seven-month deployment.

CENTCOM has significantly upped its airpower in recent months, deploying more F-16s, F-15s, and A-10s—plus KC-46 tankers—in October, then adding B-52 bombers earlier this month before the most recent F-15Es. These moves come as Israel considers how it will respond to Iran’s latest salvo and as U.S. officials stress their desire to avoid the conflict spiraling into a large-scale regional war.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle from the 492nd Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England, arrives in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. U.S. Air Force photo

Skunk Works Uncrewed NGAS Concept Gets New Attention

Nov. 9, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

An artist’s rendering of a Lockheed Martin Skunk Works concept for a potential stealthy and autonomous Next-Generation Aerial-refueling System (NGAS) aircraft is getting new attention after a repeat display at the recent Airlift/Tanker Association meeting.

The concept breaks with many other notional futuristic tanker designs which have been variations on a crewed flying wing or blended wing body. The Skunk Works artwork shows an uncrewed aircraft with a conventional planform, shaped for some degree of stealth.

The image, displayed at the A/TA’s conference last week in Grapevine, Texas, reveals a highly flattened design with Air Force-style refueling booms deployed from pods on the far outboard of the wings. Two outward-canted stabilizers at the tips of the elevators sit well apart from a central, sawtooth exhaust, but out of the way of the two refueling stations. The exhaust suggests a single engine, but the angle of the depiction does not reveal where the air intakes are, or their shaping.

Another image of the same concept published by The War Zone also conceals the intake shaping. The image shown at A/TA was first published by Aviation Week.

It’s not clear whether the flying booms used to connect to receiver aircraft could be made stealthy, a problem long acknowledged by designers. The ones shown in the image appear similar to those used on the KC-135, although a differently-colored leading edge on the control winglets may suggest a stealth treatment.

The notional NGAS images show the aircraft refueling two Lockheed F-35s. No central refueling station is depicted, nor is there an indication of a Navy-style probe-and-drogue capability.

There is no apparent cockpit in the images, indicating the aircraft would be autonomous. That fits with a growing trend, as Boeing’s MQ-25 tanker for the Navy is an autonomous aircraft, and several other companies have demonstrated the ability to conduct air refueling without a human crew onboard. The Air Force has also expressed a desire to reduce the number of aircrew required on tankers.

The general shaping of the design—chines, sawtooth seams, and wing leading edges at the same angle as the elevators—suggest a low-observable design, but perhaps not an extremely low observable concept.

“This graphic depicts a notional concept of an optionally-crewed future air-refueling platform,” a Skunk Works spokesperson said.

“Our team has been maturing the next generation of air mobility through investments in survivability, autonomy, resilient communications and digital transformation that will enable the range and persistence needed for contested air refueling operation.”

The spokesperson noted that the design was publicly displayed at the 2023 A/TA conference but it “didn’t draw the attention it’s receiving this year.” Lockheed has subsequently released other NGAS artist’s concepts, and the spokesperson said none of them exactly represent what the company may submit to the Air Force for an NGAS competition.

The concept art is drawing attention as the Air Force wraps up its NGAS Analysis of Alternatives. Air Force acquisition executive Andrew Hunter has said on various occasions that the AOA would be concluded in the fall of calendar 2024 and provide a way ahead for NGAS and a potential “bridge tanker.”

Hunter has described the latter as a way to keep some kind of tanker in production until the stealthy NGAS is available, circa 2033-2035. The current contract for Boeing KC-46As concludes around 2028 at 179 aircraft. Air Force officials have said the “bridge tanker” program could involve as many as 75 aircraft.

The concept for the NGAS is that it will accompany crewed fighters and Collaborative Combat Aircraft into contested airspace. It will be much smaller than traditional tankers like the KC-46 and KC-135 in order to have comparable stealth with the aircraft it escorts, and to be able to operate out of smaller airfields. The concept also calls for the NGAS to shuttle between older, larger tankers, flying out of reach of adversary missiles, and combat aircraft well inside the combat zone. The Lockheed concept shows the tanker with an aerial refueling receptacle of its own, centrally located on the aircraft’s spine.

Whether the NGAS will come to fruition is in considerable doubt, however. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, speaking at the A/TA meeting, said the service cannot simultaneously afford the NGAS, Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) air superiority fighter and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) fleet of autonomous wingman drones simultaneously. Absent a large influx of resources, the Air Force will have to “get creative” to come up with a scheme for air dominance that will work with a mix of new and old systems.

Analysts at several think tanks have said that five percent funding increase above inflation for the U.S. military, suggested by some close to incoming President Donald Trump, would not be sufficient to address the wave of conventional and strategic weapons modernization deficits facing the Air Force.

The F-16 Has No Built-In Ladder, But That Could Change Soon Thanks to One Pilot

Nov. 8, 2024 | By David Roza

While helping design the aircraft that would eventually become the F-15 and F-16 in the 1960s and 1970s, Col. John Boyd sought to cut as much weight as possible to make the aircraft more maneuverable and affordable. That meant no built-in ladders to carry into forward areas.

“Tell them to get some goddamn orange crates and climb on those,” Boyd said, according to a 2002 biography written by Robert Coram.

While the F-15 eventually got a built-in ladder, the F-16 did not, leaving pilots to rely on prepositioned ladders or awkwardly skitter along the aircraft’s fuselage before jumping down from the wing, not the most ideal or safe solution when pressed for time in a combat zone.

But one enterprising F-16 pilot has designed a lightweight ladder that Viper drivers can carry into battle without Boyd rolling over in his grave.

The F-16 cockpit collapsible Agile Combat Employment ladder weighs just six pounds and folds into the cockpit map case, which goes unused in an age where electronic tablets have largely replaced paper maps and publications.

f-16 ladder — Maj. Nicholas Atkins included a photo of the prototype collapsable F-16 ladder in his Spark Tank pitch video. (Air Force photo)

The idea just took the top prize at Spark Tank, the annual contest where Airmen, Guardians, and their civilian counterparts submit ideas to improve the force.

The ladder project lead, Maj. Nicholas Atkins, an F-16 pilot with the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy, said the ladder would help enable Agile Combat Employment, the concept where Airmen launch and recover aircraft from small, scattered airfields to minimize the chance of being targeted by long-range missiles.

Today’s bulky ladders take up precious space and weight on cargo aircraft tasked with moving troops, supplies, and equipment in and out of airfields as part of ACE, Atkins explained in a pitch video. Cutting that weight out of the logistics requirement for moving an F-16 squadron may not be the kind of maneuverability that Boyd envisioned, but it’s what Air Force officials say is needed to win a conflict with China or Russia.

“This enhances flexibility for the warfighter: from the fighter pilot in the seat, to the commander in the field, to the [Air Operations Center] controlling the war, enabling the agility required for great power competition,” Atkins said.

Maj. Nicholas Atkins included a photo of the prototype collapsable F-16 ladder stowed in the F-16 cockpit map case in his Spark Tank pitch video. (Air Force photo)

The Climb

Refining, mass-producing, and distributing the ladder across the Air Force will take effort. There are several dozen F-16 squadrons, and Atkins envisions 18 ladders per squadron, starting with those based in Europe and the Pacific.

“This would allow us to get ladders to the warfighters closest to the fight and most likely to immediately ACE first,” he said. “After this initial buy, we could continue to phase in Air Combat Command assets, thereby enhancing the capability for follow-on forces.”

Atkins has already set up an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with Bunker Supply, an equipment development and manufacturing firm, to design a new version of the ladder with input from the Air Force’s F-16 System Program Office. But more work is needed; in his pitch video to Spark Tank, Atkins said the project needs $548,000 to achieve interim prototype testing and refinement to make sure the design can be mass-produced and bought online by F-16 squadrons.

The ladder faced tough competition at Spark Tank. Other ideas included an app to help streamline mission prep and cargo configuration for transport loadmasters; an autonomous flightline resupply vehicle for aircraft maintainers; and a project to train and supply Air Force medics for performing whole blood transfusions in the field. The panel of judges included Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein, and other top Air and Space Force officials and industry experts.

“What a tough set of decisions and just a remarkable opportunity today to be able to engage with our innovators in the Department of the Air Force,” Undersecretary of the Air Force Melissa Dalton said in a press release. “So inspirational. Please keep innovating, please keep leading yourselves and encouraging others to lead innovation.”

Winning Spark Tank does not guarantee funding, since not all finalists need or request funding, Air Force spokesperson Laurel Falls told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Instead, it helps connect finalists and semifinalists with top service officials, industry experts, and other innovation development groups, such as AFWERX, who can offer guidance.

Falls said other benefits include “opening doors for patent filings and partnerships with industry through AFWERX or the Program Offices and provides opportunities for the broader industry base to help us solve these challenges versus relying only on [original equipment manufacturer] vendors.”

Maj. Nicholas Atkin’s Spark Tank pitch included a projected timeline for developing, producing, and distributing the collapsable F-16 ladder.

What’s next for the ladder project? Falls said the team needs to update its statement of work (SOW) for their assigned contract support team, who will then help them get the ladder through prototyping and ready for online purchase. Atkins will also need to meet with various offices to nail down other kinds of support needed to scale up, and use of the ladder will have to be authorized via Technical Order updates.

“While Spark Tank helped secure initial resources and connections, fully executing the collapsible ladder project will require additional funding,” Falls said. “Nonetheless, both the visibility and credibility gained from Spark Tank have accelerated connections with Air Staff and functional decision-makers and that’s crucial for advancing the project.”

The spokesperson said the ladders are expected to be authorized and available for squadrons to purchase by fall 2025. The ladders are expected to cost a little less than $2,000 each.

Most other Air Force fighter jets have built-in ladders to use if more sturdy external ones are not available. The F-22 does not have one, though Hawaii Air National Guardsmen tested a prototype collapsible ladder at an exercise in 2023.

PHOTOS: Nearly 15 Percent of Air Force B-52 Bombers Deployed

Nov. 8, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

Ten B-52 Stratofortresses are currently deployed across Europe and the Middle East, representing nearly 15 percent of the entire U.S. Air Force fleet and an even larger chunk of combat-ready B-52s available.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe announced Nov. 8 that four B-52s have deployed to RAF Fairford, U.K., for a Bomber Task Force. Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported that B-52s were deploying to Europe, but the Air Force had not disclosed the total number or their operating location.

Airmen from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron perform post flight inspections on a B-52H Stratofortress at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force Deployment 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. BTF operations are U.S. Strategic Command’s means of conducting Dynamic Force Employment in support of the Department of Defense’s National Defense Strategy at the direction of the President of the United States. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

A B-52H Stratofortress from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., releases a parachute after landing at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. Strategic bomber task force missions enhance the readiness and training necessary to respond to any potential crisis or challenge across the globe. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 8, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. The operational readiness of U.S. forces in all domains is vital to fostering strong partnerships, responding swiftly to crises, deterring threats and supporting our NATO Allies and partners. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 8, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. A combat-ready force, with both extensive capabilities and wide-ranging capacity, is essential for effective deterrence and a swift, decisive response to any situation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 7, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. Bomber missions are a clear testament to the credibility and strength of our forces, as we navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain global security environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 8, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. Strategic deterrence and decisive responses rely on a combat-ready force with both deep capabilities and broad capacity to address any challenge. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

Senior Airman Daniel Ramey, 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron crew chief, signals a B-52H Stratofortress to brake on the taxiway at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 7, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. By conducting strategic bomber missions, the U.S. enhances its readiness and training, remaining prepared to address any crisis or challenge on the global stage. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses assigned to the 2nd Bomb Wing lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 7, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. With a powerful and credible strategic bomber force, the U.S. strengthens the security and stability of our Allies and partners, ensuring readiness and deterrence in critical regions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

A B-52H Stratofortress from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., releases a parachute after landing at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. Bomber task force missions are representative of the U.S. commitment to our Allies and partners and enhance regional security. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

A B-52H Stratofortress from the 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., lands at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. Bomber task force missions familiarize aircrew with air bases and operations in different Geographic Combatant Commands’ areas of operations.(U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

Senior Airman Daniel Ramey, 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron crew chief, signals a B-52H Stratofortress to brake on the taxiway at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 7, 2024, in preparation for Bomber Task Force 25-1. Our strategic bomber missions keep our forces ready and trained, ensuring we can respond swiftly to any global crisis or challenge that may arise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mary Bowers)

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Alejandro Castillo, a crew chief from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, performs a post-flight inspection on a B-52H Stratofortress at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. The U.S. maintains a strong, credible strategic bomber force that enhances the security and stability of Allies and partners. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

Airmen from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron perform post-flight inspections on a B-52H Stratofortress, at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England as part of Bomber Task Force Deployment 25-1, Nov. 5, 2024. U.S. forces are ready, postured, and well prepared to integrate with host-nation Allies and partners to deter threats and defend the Alliance. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Sean Hathorn, internal security forces defender from the 423rd Security Forces Squadron, guards a B-52H Stratofortress at Royal Air Force Base Fairford, England, Nov. 5, 2024. “Deter and Defend” is ultimately designed to ensure the NATO Alliance remains strong, Allied citizens are safe, and shared values are secure. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Airman 1st Class Laiken King)

That deployment comes on top of six B-52s that landed in the Middle East a few weeks ago to deter Iran and its proxies in the region.

USAF regularly sends bombers around the globe for task force deployments, and it is not unprecedented for bomber deployments to overlap.

But the sheer number of B-52s currently deployed overseas marks a high since the Air Force implemented Bomber Task Forces several years ago.

The Air Force has 76 B-52s in its inventory, so 10 deployed equals 13.2 percent of the fleet.

But of those 76, there are several constantly being cycled through depot maintenance, and several more are dedicated to testing weapons and upgrades like the bombers’ new engines and radar. On top of that, the fleet had a mission capable rate of 54 percent in 2023, which measures the percentage of time an aircraft is able to perform at least one of its core missions.

Taken together, and the 10 B-52s currently deployed could represent upwards of a quarter of the combat-ready fleet.

The bombers that went to Europe kicked off their deployment by flying alongside Finnish F-18 Hornets and Swedish JAS 39 Gripens—a noteworthy integration with NATO’s two new allies in the Arctic region.

“This Bomber Task Force mission exemplifies our unwavering commitment to our European Allies and partners. Together, we build stronger, more strategic relationships that reinforce security and stability across the region,” Gen. James Hecker, commander of USAFE, said in a statement.

Reserve Wing Becomes First in the Air Force to Get Its Own F-35

Nov. 8, 2024 | By Greg Hadley and David Roza

The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.

Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, where the wing is based, is now the 12th location to host the F-35A across the Air Force.

The first aircraft didn’t have to go very far—the base shares a runway with the F-35 maker Lockheed Martin, and aviation photographers even snapped pictures of the jet with the “TX” tail code flying in October. A wing spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine the fighter was undergoing checkout flights and had not been formally delivered at that point.

It’s also not the first F-35 to be flown by the 301st—back in August, the wing borrowed two new F-35s that are assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to allow their pilots and crews to start training on the aircraft. That number eventually increased to five.

One of those jets was used in a Nov. 2 ceremony to celebrate the first aircraft arrival, as the Reserve unit was still waiting for its own assigned F-35 to complete the acceptance process.

Col. Benjamin R. Harrison, commander of the wing, said at the ceremony that his team is “ready to embrace this new era, and the F-35 is our vehicle to achieving sustainable air superiority.”

Three days later, Harrison was on hand to welcome the first aircraft in person.

A wing spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the 301st expects to receive its full complement of 26 F-35s over the next 12-15 months.

Lockheed has been scrambling to up its rate of F-35 deliveries to units after having to store newly built jets for nearly a year due to incomplete software testing. Deliveries resumed in July, and the long hold disrupted absorption and equipage plans among users, who could not efficiently train new pilots and maintainers of the fighter.

The 301st Fighter Wing is the first standalone Reserve unit to get the F-35—the Reserve’s 419th Fighter Wing at Hill uses the Active-Duty 388th Fighter Wing’s jets.

No other Reserve units have been selected to receive the F-35 yet, but three Guard units are slated to get new fighters in 2025.

F-35 Locations

Base	State	Component	First Aircraft Arrival
Edwards Air Force Base	California	Active	2011
Eglin Air Force Base	Florida	Active	2011
Nellis Air Force Base	Nevada	Active	2013
Luke Air Force Base	Arizona	Active	2014
Hill Air Force Base	Utah	Active	2015
Burlington Air National Guard Base	Vermont	Guard	2019
Eielson Air Force Base	Alaska	Active	2020
Royal Air Force Lakenheath	UK	Active	2021
Truax Field Air National Guard Base	Wisconsin	Guard	2023
Dannelly Field	Alabama	Guard	2023
Tyndall Air Force Base	Florida	Active	2023
NAS-JRB Fort Worth	Texas	Reserve	2024
Jacksonville Air National Guard Base	Florida	Guard	2025
Barnes Air National Guard Base	Massachusetts	Guard	2025
Kingsley Field	Oregon	Guard	2026
Moody Air Force Base	Georgia	Active	2029
Misawa Air Base	Japan	Active	TBA

Locations in bold indicate future placements

What Military Personnel Policies Could Change Under President Trump

Nov. 8, 2024 | By David Roza

When President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, he may quickly reverse military policies regarding abortion and transgender service members, though recent pushes in Congress to improve military pay and quality of life will likely continue, according to a leading national security expert.

First up might be a policy put in place in 2022 by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III that provides paid leave and reimburses transportation costs for troops who travel out-of-state for an abortion and other reproductive care such as in vitro fertilization, though the service members pay for the actual health care service themselves.

The policy was put in place in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade earlier that year, which led to abortion bans in roughly a dozen states and restrictions in more, including several with large military bases.

Austin argued the overturning of Roe v. Wade would harm readiness, recruiting, and retention for service members wanting to start a family or avoid starting a family at the wrong time. The policy, however, was bound by two laws, explained Katherine Kuzminski, Deputy Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security. The first, Section 1093 of Title 10 of U.S. Code, prohibits abortions from being performed on military bases except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger. The second is the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortions.

“That’s how this travel policy came about, which is ‘we’ll pay for your travel if you’re in a state that doesn’t allow abortion’,” Kuzminski explained. But cementing that policy with a law would have required an act of Congress, a tall order given the political debate around the issue.

“This was a DOD pronouncement through the administration, it wasn’t anything that was solidified in law,” she explained. “It lacked permanence.”

Voters on Nov. 5 lifted abortion bans in Missouri and Arizona and passed new protections in states such as Colorado and Montana, but full or partial bans remain in place in other states such as South Dakota, Florida, and Nebraska, which all host Air Force bases.

In October, Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban in favor of letting states decide their own policies, though historically the President-elect has taken anti-abortion positions. In Congress, many of Republicans closely tied to Trump blasted Austin and President Joe Biden for the abortion travel policy.

Despite the heated political debate around the policy, the Pentagon said in March that troops only took advantage of it 12 times across the military at the cost of about $45,000 between June and December 2023.

Still, some experts such as Tony Johnson, president and CEO of the Truman National Security Project, say access to reproductive care is a quality-of-life issue that needs to be prioritized.

“I think to set that aside nonchalantly is a mistake and it really impacts readiness,” said the retired Navy officer. “If service members or their spouses are having pregnancy issues or any other reproductive issues, they are worried about the safety of their families, and you can’t focus on your job if you’re afraid something bad is happening at home.”

Butch Bracknell, a retired Marine judge advocate and national security expert, noted that if troops want access to reproductive care, they won’t want to be assigned to bases in states that ban it. He said access to that care makes California a much more appealing duty station for his daughter, who is in the Navy, than other states with more restrictive reproductive care policies.

Transgender Troops

Another policy that seems likely to change during Trump’s second term is whether transgender people can serve openly in uniform. In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter lifted a ban on transgender service across the military, but Trump reimplemented it in 2017 during his first term. At the time, House lawmakers were debating whether or not the Department of Veterans Affairs should cover gender-affirming care for transgender veterans, Kuzminski explained.

“Trump jumped in with a tweet and said ‘I’m banning all transgender service members,’ which really upped the stakes, because the debate on the Republican side at that point was not banning transgender individuals from service,” she said. “He kind of came off the top rope.”

The ban was lifted again under Biden in 2021, but Trump has opposed transgender troops serving openly throughout his reelection campaign, which raises the likelihood of another ban. Another possibility might be that Trump does not ban transgender troops from serving openly, but the Pentagon has no liability or responsibility to provide gender-affirming care, Kuzminski said.

From 2016 to 2021, the Pentagon spent $15 million to treat transgender troops: $11.5 million for psychotherapy and $3.1 million for surgeries, according to data obtained by Military.com. The military spends more than $6 billion on health care for active-duty troops.

A DOD-commissioned study conducted by the RAND Corp. in 2016 estimated health care costs for transgender troops would be about $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually—which would be just a 0.04-0.13 percent increase.

Trump has argued that the cost of providing gender-affirming care is exorbitant for a procedure that validates service member’s sexual identity. However, previous news reports found that Pentagon spent more—$41.6 million—every year on Viagra, another treatment related to service members’ sexual identity.

It is not clear exactly how many transgender troops currently serve: the military has cited a 2016 survey where just under 9,000 service members identified as transgender, while a research institute pinned the number at just under 15,000. Either number is a fraction of the roughly two million people in uniform, but that fraction deserves a chance to serve, argued Johnson.

Pay and More

Earlier this spring, the House Armed Services Committee published a Quality of Life report recommending a host of changes to address food insecurity, insufficient housing allowance, dilapidated barracks, child care shortages, long wait times for medical appointments, and other day-to-day issues service members face. Those recommendations, including a 15 percent pay raise for junior enlisted troops, were included in the House version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act.

President Biden’s administration opposed the pay raise, which Congress estimates would cost $24 billion over five years, until the Pentagon finishes its quadrennial review of compensation, due to be completed in January. Kuzminski said troops likely won’t have to worry about support for the pay raise and other quality of life improvements in Congress, given their bipartisan support.

“This is one of those rare areas where we do see quite a bit of bipartisan agreement across administrations,” she said. “Military families are not only a policy portfolio, they are also a constituency, and so it behooves both presidents and Congresses to care about them.”

But a different issue which may raise partisan hackles is whether to stand up a Space National Guard, a move which the Department of the Air Force and the Biden administration opposes but which Trump, National Guard leaders, and some lawmakers support.

National Guard leaders said in April that creating a Space guard would “work exactly it is right now” with Air National Guard units that perform space missions, but Kuzminski said it could raise issues such as whether to expand the number of general officers to lead each state’s Space Guard or to group them under each state’s Air National Guard adjutant general; and what more generals might do to the balance of grade pay across the services.

The Space Force is currently figuring out how to implement a separate law, the Space Force Personnel Management Act, which creates options for Guardians to serve in part-time or full-time capacity. The concept would be a first for the military, and it is designed to make it easier for Guardians to pursue professional and personal goals.

Services are bound to work within the laws Congress passes, Kuzminski explained, and Congress has not yet mandated the Space Force figure out how a Space National Guard would work alongside or in lieu of a part-time/full-time force.

“The services’ core functionality is contingency planning, but when it comes to actually coming up with an implementation plan, you can’t have a plan B in case it goes a different direction,” she said. “You have to wait until that changes and then come up with your implementation plan.”

Pentagon Plans $6 Billion in Ukraine Aid Ahead of Presidential Change

Nov. 7, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

President Joe Biden’s administration plans to commit some $6 billion in aid for Ukraine in the next two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed Nov. 7.

Roughly two-thirds of that aid, or $4 billion, will come in the form of Presidential Drawdown Authority packages—weapons and equipment drawn from U.S. stockpiles—while the other one-third, or $2 billion will be procured new as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.

The rush to get that aid committed comes amid uncertainty as to whether the incoming presidential administration will keep up aid deliveries to Ukraine. On the campaign trail, Trump expressed some criticism over the amount of aid being sent to Ukraine and how it was structured. However, Trump did not publicly oppose a $61 billion aid package passed by Congress in April.

It remains to be seen whether the Pentagon can get most of its remaining authorized aid out the door before the presidential transition. Presidential authority drawdown packages can be delivered faster because they draw from existing stocks, but Singh acknowledged that the process can still take time to get across the Atlantic and into Ukraine.

“Some things can arrive within days and weeks. Some items in those packages take longer,” Singh said. “It does matter what’s available on our stock, on our shelves. You’re going to see us continue to draw that down pretty frequently. Could there be things that go out beyond Jan. 20? I can’t say for certain right now.”

Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative packages cane take even longer to deliver as they represent new buys. Yet Singh said the Pentagon would look to at least get contracts for aid signed and done.

“Those could go for longer, but again, those are commitments and contracts that this administration has signed. So we would expect those to be upheld,” she said.

Watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office and DOD’s own Inspector General have voiced concerns about a lack of oversight for some Ukraine aid, but Singh brushed aside a question as to whether the rush to get the remaining aid committed could hurt oversight.

“We are very confident in the processes and procedures and measures that we’ve put into place when it comes to getting aid to Ukraine,” she said.

Singh did not disclose what kinds of weapons the Pentagon will look to send to Ukraine in the coming months, but air defense and aerial munitions are likely to be a continued focus. In September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies to provide more on that front, saying “the world has enough air defense systems to ensure that Russian terror does not have results, and I urge you to be more active in this war with us for the air defense.”

Not long after, the U.S. announced it was sending Ukraine AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOW), a medium-range, air-to-ground, precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 70-plus miles. Previously, the Pentagon provided JDAM Extended Range guided bombs, Small Diameter Bombs, and HARM anti-radiation missiles.

Whatever aid the Pentagon does deliver before the next administration, future packages for Ukraine remain uncertain. Vice President-elect JD Vance has vocally opposed sending more aid, and a faction of Republicans in the House and Senate oppose it as well, though Singh tried to argue the issue is a bipartisan one.

“Republicans and Democrats have made commitments in votes and in money to Ukraine. So look, there’s an incoming team that that is going to have to work with Congress, and there is support in Congress to continue supporting Ukraine,” she said.