PACAF Tracks China and Russia’s Growing Ties—But Leaders Also See ‘Limits’

Sept. 16, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Russia and China are ramping up their joint military operations, and the head of Pacific Air Forces is keeping a close watch, though he and other analysts noted limits to the two nations’ cooperation.

“It is unclear to me what their long-term goals and objectives are, other than to counter what the United States and allies and partners are doing,” PACAF commander Gen. Kevin B. Schneider told reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 16. “We do continue to watch and see how they work together, and see if they are able to combine tactics, techniques, and procedures and to work more effectively as a force.”

Just last week, Russia announced a weeklong naval and air exercise involving some 120 aircraft and 400 naval vessels, with China adding its warships and planes to the mix. Beijing said the joint drills are meant to enhance strategic cooperation between the two countries and “strengthen their ability to jointly deal with security threats.”

The two nations have grown closer in recent years, particularly following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In May, leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin pledged a “new era” of partnership, following Xi’s claim that the two nations are driving “changes” together. Experts believe this shared worldview is central to their relationship, with China seeking to learn from Russia as it eyes a potential invasion of Taiwan in the coming years.

“The interesting thing that has happened since Russia invaded Ukraine is that the PRC sees this as a blueprint for how they might expect the U.S. and the West to react to a Chinese invasion or military activity against Taiwan,” National Intelligence Manager for East Asia Wayne Ulman said during a panel discussion. “China has taken many steps over the last couple of years to harden its own economy and indigenize as much key technologies to create dependencies, from supply chains for key minerals to legacy chips. … And so, essentially, if the West tries to impose the same sort of sanctions that we did against Russia, we would be essentially cutting our own throats.”

Wayne Ulman, National Intelligence Manager for East Asia, speaks at the AFA Air, Space & Cyber Conference at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, on Sept 16.

The China-Russia partnership hit a new milestone in July when the two countries’ military aircraft simultaneously entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in July, the first time Chinese H-6 bombers have flown in the area. The aircraft, which remained in international airspace, were intercepted by American and Canadian fighters off the coast of Alaska.

Also in July, shortly after NATO labeled China a key player in the Ukraine conflict, Beijing and Moscow conducted a joint naval exercise at the same military port in southern China. The Chinese defense ministry claimed that these drills were unrelated to international tensions and the exercises were to showcase their naval capabilities with anti-missile drills, sea strikes, and air defense.

However, Schneider noted that despite rising concerns regarding the ties between China and Russia, the top two threats identified in the U.S. National Defense Strategy, he sees “potential limits” to Beijing-Moscow cooperation in military exercises and believes it is too early to gauge their potential for closer alignment.

“It’s too early to draw conclusions on that, other than what I would describe it as more of a partnership of convenience, vice a deep-seated connection the way we have: a connection of values with our allies and partners,” Schneider said.

Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute at Air University, speaks at the AFA National Convention at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, on Sept 16.

Other military leaders and China watchers echoed that view, noting that China’s relationship with Russia isn’t on par with Washington’s ties to its Pacific regional allies or NATO. Brendan Mulvaney, director of the China Aerospace Studies Institute at Air University, said the two countries’ defense collaboration is “far from an alliance,” at least so far.

“We’ve seen no real interoperability (between China and Russia).” Mulvaney said. “They continue to do something new, it is slow, and it is step by step, but it is continuing, and it is far more than they ever did, and we should expect to see more cooperation. However, it’s still a long way from an alliance, to the point where the People’s Liberation Army might show up in Ukraine.”

Kendall: New, Re-Imagined NGAD Could Cost Less Than an F-35

Sept. 16, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter—once envisioned as a hyper-expensive, exquisite platform—could be restructured to slash its price to less than an F-35, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber conference.

Kendall and other senior service officials also said decisions about the future of NGAD, begun just two months ago, must happen fast in order to inform the Air Force’s fiscal 2026 budget request, which will likely be wrapped up internally in just a couple of months.

Making NGAD less costly could mean sacrificing range and payload, possibly going from two engines to one, a counter-intuitive solution that could be possible only if the Air Force had a stealthy Next-Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) that could evade adversary’s missile systems. Kendall linked NGAD and NGAS in his keynote address, before emphasizing a key commitment.

“We are not walking away from the core United States Air Force function of providing air superiority,” Kendall said in a keynote address, repeating the comment for emphasis.

Speaking to reporters later, Kendall said the options are all open for now on what NGAD could look like.

“We haven’t set a number or threshold” for the price, he said, before offering an intriguing suggestion: “I’ll just give you this off the top of my head: The F-35 kind of represents, to me, the upper bounds of what we’d like to pay.”

That would peg the target price at between $80 million and $100 million, a fraction of the “multiple hundreds of millions of dollars” Kendall has previously cited for NGAD. “I’d like to go lower, though.”

Getting to a lower price comes with disaggregating capability, shifting missions to other platforms. “… “Once you start integrating [Collaborative Combat Aircraft] CCAs and transferring some mission equipment and capabilities functions to the CCAs, then you can talk about a different concept,” Kendall said.

CCA costs are targeted in the zone of about $25 million. Those costs too must be managed, or the CCA becomes too expensive to sustain.

Kendall announced a “pause” on the NGAD selection this summer, citing cost and concern that developing technologies and emerging threats deserve to be examined before USAF commits to the program’s high cost. The Air Force is “taking a hard look” at the NGAD concept, he said.

“The design concept [is] several years old,” Kendall explained. “The requirements are several years old.” NGAD was meant to replace the F-22 and designed “very much for a specific mission under a specific set of circumstances.”

A reconsideration is needed “because of threat changes, because of financial constraints, because of the development of technology, including the introduction of CCAs,” Kendall said.

Cutting Costs

Given the gulf between Kendall’s previous price estimate and his new projection for NGAD, the question arises: How can the Air Force trim costs?

Vice Chief of Staff James C. Slife, in an earlier conference panel discussion, noted that the traditional method of developing a new air superiority fighter required “designing the characteristics around the platform; around the size of the radar you need, the range of the aircraft, how many Gs you wanted to pull. … You optimize for all of those things inside of a inside the platform.”

That will likely change, he suggested.

“We’ve gotten to a point where [with] our systems-level integration, we have the ability to disaggregate these capabilities and look at air superiority more broadly,” Slife said. “So the radar may be in one location, the munition may be in another location.”

If the Air Force gets it right, Slife said, “this will be an enduring source of competitive advantage for the United States military. … It is a potential step change in American military capability.”

Kendall noted that he started the NGAD prototyping program when he was the Director of Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics at the Pentagon in the 2010s. During that time, there was debate, he said, over whether to focus more on unmanned aircraft.

“My judgment at the time was that we weren’t quite ready to do that, but there were a number of other technologies that we needed to mature and demonstrate for the next, sixth generation, if you will,” he recalled.

The pause has led some to speculate whether NGAD might itself be unmanned, or optionally manned, but that does not seem to be the direction Kendall is leaning.

If an F-22-scale NGAD turns out “to be the most cost-effective operational answer, that’s what we’re going to do, and go fight for the money to have it.”

But if the price is too high, the fleet would be small. “The more the airplane costs, the fewer you’re going to have. Numbers do matter.”

Fast Review

Whatever the Air Force does, it has to move quickly, Kendall said, citing expectations from Congress and industry as well as the need to submit a 2026 budget.

Kendall has previously said the NGAD contract would be awarded this calendar year, but that won’t happen now.

To aid the process, the Air Force has assembled a blue-ribbon committee of senior former service leaders to review and possibly vet the service’s new approach to NGAD. The panel members, listed alphabetically, include three former chiefs of staff and two other experts:

Natalie Crawford, a former top analyst and vice president at RAND, former director of Project Air Force.

Retired Gen. David L. Goldfein, chief of staff from 2016-2020

Retired Gen. John P. Jumper, chief of staff from 2001-2005

Paul Kaminski, an Air Force veteran, expert on stealth, and former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology from 1994-1997

Retired Gen. Joseph Ralston, vice chairman of the joint chiefs from 1996-2000 and head of Air Combat Command from 1995 to 1996

Retired Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, chief of staff from 2008-2012

Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin, during his own press conference, said the group comprises “a broad portfolio of experts with a mandate to “really assess our assessments, look at the evaluations we’re doing, making sure we’re really not missing anything in our analysis, in how we understand the threat and how we understand the capabilities that are going to be required of our Air Force to meet that threat. Their job is to look at that and give us feedback and insights that they see that will help us do this analysis that we have to do in fairly short order.”

The group will not make the final decision, though, Allvin said. He and Kendall “will get the final say on what will be proposed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.” And of course, Congress “will have a say after that.”

Whether all that can be accomplished quickly is uncertain, though. If a radical change is needed in NGAD, it would likely mean terminating the previous program and starting over with a new trip through the Pentagon’s Joint Requirements Oversight Council process. Then it would need to go through the Office of Management and Budget. Collectively, it is a process which could take many months and likely not before the fiscal 2026 budget submission without top-level intervention.

Air Force Could Scrap KC-135 Replacement If It Can Speed Up Next-Gen Tanker

Sept. 16, 2024 | By Rachel S. Cohen

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Air Force’s top acquisition official said Sept. 16 that longstanding plans to replace the KC-135 Stratotanker refueling jet with a similar airframe hinge on the progress of the service’s search for a more futuristic tanker.

That could leave the Air Force with a large swath of several-decade-old tankers as it waits for a next-generation model equipped to operate in a prospective war with other advanced militaries like Russia or China.

The service is slated to begin buying tankers under the Next-Generation Aerial Refueling System, or “NGAS,” program by the mid-2030s, leaving a decade to bridge the gap between the current KC-135 fleet—with airframes that average 60 years old—and a more advanced solution.

Air Force officials hope to launch NGAS sooner, which could eliminate the need for a one-for-one replacement of the KC-135, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Andrew P. Hunter told reporters at AFA’s 2024 Air, Space and Cyber Conference here. The KC-135 re-capitalization may supplant the stalwart Stratotanker’s less-advanced capabilities in the interim.

“We think there’s going to be some period, between when the current contract ends and when we’re truly into NGAS, where we’re going to need to buy something to cover down continued tanker production,” he said. “That construct is still the case, but it’s critically dependent on … how quickly we can get to NGAS.”

The NGAS program began almost two years ago as an assessment of the Air Force’s future options for refueling U.S. and foreign aircraft in midair. Service officials have argued those jets should be able to survive in areas where they may be targeted by anti-aircraft missiles, share data with other aircraft, and be more energy-efficient than previous fleets.

Lockheed Martin as well as a partnership between Northrop Grumman and startup JetZero have released design concepts for aircraft that could play in a next-generation tanker competition. Last week, the Air Force formally solicited industry’s input on potential mission systems for NGAS as a “first step in establishing competitive vendor pools,” Secretary Frank Kendall said in a morning keynote at the conference.

Another solicitation for airframes will come after the service’s review of what it might need in a modern tanker is done, Hunter added.

The Air Force had planned to gather industry’s proposals in fiscal 2025 for an airframe to replace the KC-135 ahead of NGAS’ arrival. A service spokesperson said last year the Air Force wanted to swap 15 KC-135s per year with that interim solution as they retire.

Now, how many aircraft the military might buy as part of a KC-135 recapitalization program is a “critical driver” of what the defense industry will offer, Hunter said—meaning companies may not see value in designing a new airframe from scratch for a smaller, lower-dollar acquisition.

“We need to understand the NGAS part of the story to truly make additional progress on tanker recap,” he said.

The NGAS design, in turn, also depends on what the Air Force wants in its Next-Generation Air Dominance initiative, which will center on a sixth-generation fighter that could pair with drone wingmen and control airspace in a war with other advanced militaries. The Air Force is now rethinking what capabilities an NGAD platform might need after several years of planning.

Abandoning a program comes with risks, too. In 2018, the Air Force scrapped an initiative to replace its E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar jets with another airframe in favor of pursuing the Advanced Battle Management Network, a network of sensors and radars spread across other platforms. Critics accused the service of depriving service members of a critical airborne capability that had alerted ground troops to enemy forces that might be lurking nearby.

Discussion of future tankers comes as the Air Force continues downsizing two of its three aerial refueling fleets and bringing on the troubled KC-46 Pegasus, the U.S. military’s first 21st-century tanker program.

The Air Force expects to own about 350 KC-135s and nearly 120 KC-46s in fiscal 2025. Airmen will bid farewell to the final KC-10 Extender later this month as the fleet ends more than 40 years in service.

Congress has mandated that the Air Force own no fewer than 466 tanker aircraft, a number Hunter said the service believes is still feasible.

“Our current intention is not to propose an alteration in the statutory requirements for tanker aircraft,” he said. “That’s not to say that could never happen, but we don’t have anything to suggest to us that that current number is wrong.”

Airmen would continue to repair KC-135R jets until the service can replace them with something more capable, Hunter said.

Allvin Announces Standup of Provisional Integrated Capabilities Command

Sept. 16, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—The Air Force stood up a provisional version of the new command to coordinate its ambitious modernization efforts, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin announced at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

Integrated Capabilities Command has begun to lead the Air Force’s work to build the future force in a “provisional status” as of Sept. 16, the service said. The command is expected to achieve full operational capability in 2025.

The ICC is one of the Air Force’s key re-optimization initiatives. The aim is to create a unified organization to lead the service’s force modernization and requirements instead of parceling them out among major commands—what Allvin termed a “diffuse Air Force.”

Air National Guard Maj. Gen. Mark Mitchum, who has been serving as a special assistant to Allvin, will serve as the provisional commander of ICC. Officials have said the commander of ICC will eventually be a three-star general.

Allvin touted the standup of the ICC as central to his effort to overcome stovepiping and create “One Air Force” that is aligned toward common goals.

The standup of ICC is one of the “major structural changes” to help realize that vision, Allvin said in a keynote address.

“We are going as fast as we dare to build the Air Force we need from the beginning so we remain competitive into the future,” Allvin told thousands of Airmen here—from junior enlisted service members to four-star generals.

ICC will have multiple goals. It will wargame operational concepts, develop alternative force structures, generate requirements to try to stay ahead of threats, and integrate needs to fulfill the service’s missions. It will also seek to provide the defense industry with a clearer understanding of what the service needs for science, technology, and experimentation.

“We will bring together experts from across multiple fields into one organization to drive rapid collaboration that results in a coherent demand signal to industry. This will be essential to driving capability development at the pace our security environment demands,” Mitchum said in a statement. “We’re standing up the provisional Integrated Capabilities Command now because we need the collaboration and integration across the Air Force right now.”

The provisional Integrated Capabilities Command will work alongside Air Force Materiel Command’s Integrated Development Office on future service requirements.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall also highlighted the ICC’s importance.

“Given the dynamic and challenging threat environment we face today, we know our current processes are not competitive enough,” Kendall said in a statement. “This organization is a key part of the competitive ecosystem we are creating to reoptimize for great power competition. With other DAF organizations, ICC will ensure the Air Force keeps pace with our pacing challenge, China, and acute threat, Russia.”

Allvin told reporters that ICC would number around 750-800 Airmen by the time it is fully operational. It will operate largely from current major command headquarters, such as Air Force Global Strike Command’s Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and Air Mobility Command’s Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

The current provisional command is “upwards of about 100 people total, but not taken from their locations or reassigned,” Allvin said. “They’re just all merging together, and that’s what’s standing up now.”

“We’re doing a ramp-up approach,” he added. “I would like to have it done—the full one—within calendar year 2025.”

The provisional version of ICC will “eventually activate operating locations or detachments co-located with current Air Force operational centers of excellence, bringing on warfighting and programming expertise found across the current functional portfolios,” the Air Force said in a release.

Allvin said the ICC will “continue to mature” over time. “Their first task to do is to be able to evaluate the way we’re modernizing our Air Force by core functions,” he said.

A permanent location for a fully operational ICC will be established in the future. Allvin has previously noted that this step will require close consultation with Congress, which could make this initiative “longest pole in the tent” of the major Air Force reforms. The ICC commander also has to be confirmed by the Senate.

“But we did not want to wait for all that to get started,” Allvin said. After the Air Force rolled out its re-optimization initiatives, Congress directed the Air Force to notify lawmakers of any organizational changes it planned to make at least 30 days in advance, which Allvin said the Air Force did last month with its plans for the provisional ICC.

“ICC will reach full operational capability once a three-star commander is nominated and confirmed, a unit manning document is approved, and the strategic basing process is completed,” the Air Force said. “At this point, the command will no longer be provisional and continue to be responsible for strategic resourcing, modernization, recapitalization and the Air Force Force Structure.”

Kendall Wants to Stay as Air Force Secretary Under New President

Sept. 16, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

In his first three years as Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall has pushed for a sweeping overhaul of the department. During his keynote address at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 16, Kendall said he would like to keep working on those efforts into 2025 and beyond as part of the next presidential administration.

“What I’m not doing today is not a farewell address,” Kendall told a packed room of Airmen, Guardians, and more, acknowledging the upcoming presidential election and the fact that President Joe Biden, who appointed Kendall, will soon leave office.

“My hope is that I will have the opportunity to continue to serve” said Kendall. “If not, you can be certain I will be working as hard as I can, for as long as I can, to prepare the Department of the Air Force for a conflict that is not inevitable but may be becoming more likely over time.”

As a political appointee, Kendall’s continued service will depend on the next president—either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.

Kendall’s eagerness to keep going, he said, is rooted in the mantra for his tenure: “China, China, China.” Elsewhere in his keynote, Kendall said he has instructed staff to no longer refer to China as “an emerging” or “future” threat; China is a threat “now,” he said. It is continuing to grow a “massive inventory” of increasingly sophisticated aircraft and missiles that could target U.S. bases or aircraft carriers in a potential Pacific war, he added, while developing worrying counterspace capabilities.

War with the People’s Republic of China is not inevitable, but given China’s provocative actions in territorial disputes and its seeming preparations for major conflict—president Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to retake Taiwan by force if needed by 2027, Kendall noted—“the likelihood is increasing” of a conflict and the U.S. must be ready to prevail. Russia, more than two years into its invasion of Ukraine, also remains “an acute threat,” Kendall added.

Kendall also touched on many of the major efforts he has undertaken as Air Force Secretary during his speech, including his “Operational Imperatives,” cross-cutting operational enablers, and re-optimization decisions announced earlier this year.

In particular, Kendall declared that, despite a slowdown in the Next-Generation Air Dominance Program, the Air Force is not backing away from the air superiority mission. Despite slowing the NGAD program down to find ways to incorporate even newer technology and get costs down, Kendall insisted the program is going forward.

“We are not walking away from the core United States Air Force function of providing air superiority,” he insisted and repeated.

Moody Goes Solar: Schneider Electric Saves USAF Millions with Budget-Neutral Energy Project

Sept. 15, 2024

Schneider Electric completed an $11.2 million task order at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., in 2022 and just two years later, the project is already paying for itself. The upgrades are saving an estimated $700,000 in utility and operational costs per year while improving base-wide energy resiliency and efficiency. Over the 23-year life of the contract, it will save a projected $21 million.

The project was designed and completed through the Department of Energy’s Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) program, a budget-neutral approach to making building improvements that reduce energy and water usage while increasing operational efficiency. Through an ESPC, today’s facility upgrades are paid for by tomorrow’s energy savings—all without tapping into capital budgets.

Schneider Electric has completed hundreds of ESPC performance contracts that have saved—and continue to save—its clients billions of dollars in energy costs.

“All of the energy savings that we can save as part of the project are used to pay for that infrastructure improvement,” said Dean Yobs, Head of Business Development at Schneider Electric. “That provides them a cash-neutral scenario for them to get all this infrastructure improvement. The savings are guaranteed by Schneider Electric—or, the [energy service company]—and then they’re able to take advantage of all this equipment throughout the contract period, as we are also helping them with the operations and maintenance of anything that we’ve installed.”

Schneider Electric’s energy infrastructure project at Moody is a strong case study on how an ESPC achieves mission-critical resilience.

“Moody had two goals in mind,” said Meghann Ison, Schneider Electric’s project development manager. “One, they wanted to achieve their renewable energy goals. The second was they wanted to meet the cyber-secure requirements for their control system while expanding that system.”

The solution to both goals was written into the ESPC partnership. Schneider Electric installed a new 2.5-megawatt solar array and panel system, which is now providing the base with clean, renewable electrical power while offsetting the utility bill. Moody also received an expanded, cyber-secure energy management control system, which makes energy usage levels more visible while improving comfort and environment for Moody Airmen at work, Ison said.

“For Moody, the solar was the most important component for them because it was the building block to the solution that they wanted to get to,” Yobs said. “Getting that asset on the installation, getting that project going for them, was really like a good steppingstone for them to get to where they wanted to be from a resiliency component.”

Schneider Electric also modernized 2 million square feet across more than 60 buildings at Moody by installing new transformers, updated HVAC systems, and base-wide LED lighting systems. The result is a more reliable, resilient, and mission-ready base.

The Air Force has found a reliable partner in Schneider Electric as the DOD explores new ways to increase energy resiliency across the services. Schneider Electric has completed multiple ESPC projects at Air Force and other Federal Government installations around the world. The energy upgrades at locations like Yokota Air Base in Japan (a critical node in Indo-Pacific Command) and Hurlburt Field in Florida (headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command) are not only generating monetary savings, but also providing a behind-the-scenes layer of resilience that keep the mission “always on.”

“Their mission is not energy,” Yobs said. “Their mission is whatever each individual Air Force base’s mission is. [Our goal] is to help them with that required component of their everyday operations without getting in the way of the mission.”

Learn more about how Schneider Electric’s innovative solutions and energy performance contracts are posturing Air Force installations around the world for better resiliency and readiness.

Pratt’s New Software Aims to Extend Life, Enhance Performance of F-22 Engines

Sept. 15, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Pratt & Whitey is looking at ways to extend the life and improve the performance of the F-22’s F119 engines, as the Air Force takes a “pause” on the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter conceive to succeed the Raptor, according to executives at RTX, Pratt’s parent company.

With NGAD on hold, it’s now “even more critical that we continue to partner with the Air Force to keep the [jets’ F119] engines ready, affordable and relevant,” said Caroline Cooper, Pratt’s director of the F119 program, told reporters on an RTX call to discuss F-22 upgrades.

“If we think about what we’ve done in the past to keep the F119 ready and affordable, it really starts with how we leverage our performance-based logistics contract and what we’re doing to drive efficiencies and really integrate modernization into what we’re doing,” she said.

F-22 upgrades are largely classified, but Cooper offered insights on two areas Pratt is exploring to keep enhancing F119 performance.

A new “trade study” will capture more detailed data about how the F-22 is actually flown, better identifying strain on engine components and providing a new “single source of truth” for insight on the health of the fleet, Cooper said. The aim: “To derive learnings much quicker and help us to evaluate and optimize needed changes to the engine or aircraft in a more timely manner,” Cooper said.

“There was a major difference in the way that engine part life assumptions were calculated and how the operators were actually flying the engine,” Cooper said. “And what we were able to do is a very significant software update to really extract greater kinetic performance out of the engine.”

The software update “was incredibly valuable from a warfighter readiness perspective, because we were able to deliver this update in less than a year,” she said. “And from a taxpayer perspective, [the enhancement came] at no additional cost.” She said Pratt hopes to apply this same approach to the F135 engine, which powers the F-35 fighter, to better align maintenance with actual usage.

On the F-22, “We were able to digitally combine real engine flight data with our state-of-the-art engineering maintenance algorithms to basically determine exactly when the engine is going to need maintenance,” she said.

“Again, this is really a great example of achieving a high degree of readiness, because we didn’t…assume that maintenance would be needed earlier or later than need…We’re looking at $800 million in life cycle cost savings over the life of the program” as a result.

Second, she said Pratt is partnering with the Air Force “to think about what new technologies we can bring to bear and leverage what we’re doing across Pratt & Whitney in the additive space,” she said, referring to the emerging manufacturing technology commonly known as “3-D printing.”

“How can we redesign critical mission parts additively?” she said. “This will be significant, I think, if you if you look across…the defense aerospace industry, and you take a look at what we’re experiencing from a supply chain perspective, this will help immeasurably to streamline those efforts.”

Additive parts production will also “help to cut down on production times and, significantly, cost,” she said.

The F119, which is unique to the F-22 and which Cooper described as “the first fifth-generation engine,” has amassed more than 900,000 engine flight miles, she said. Among its attributes is the ability to “supercruise,” or to fly faster than the speed of sound without engaging an afterburner. The Raptor’s F119 has a two-dimensional pitch vectoring nozzle exhaust system, giving the jet unmatched maneuverability, “without compromising critical mission range.”

The F119 is “a really easy engine to maintain,” she asserted, adding “it only takes a handful of parts.”

Asked if there are other major initiatives to keep the F119 healthy beyond 2030—which, as recently as the past few years was seen as its likely retirement date—a decision that now seems unlikely—Cooper said “where we’re focused is honestly just continuing to meet or exceed our customer commitments today.”
“We’re again leaning in and being as proactive as we can to complement what they’re doing on the aircraft side with what we can do on the propulsion side,” Cooper said. “We are cognizant of what the Air Force is saying in the public and what the Air Force is saying to us, and we’re trying to make sure that we plan accordingly.”

Ready Forces in Middle East Deter Iran, Austin Says

Sept. 13, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala.—The Pentagon remains determined to maintain sufficient forces in the region to deter Iran from attacking Israel, convinced that expanded pressure there is deterring aggression, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said on a visit here Sept. 13.

“The force posture does matter,” Austin said. “It has mattered a lot. It’s not just the capability being there. It’s the messaging associated with that. It’s the active engagement of leaders. As we endeavor to manage the crisis, what we’re doing on both sides of the fence is to make sure we don’t allow something to unnecessarily escalate out of control.”

Austin’s comments came a day after the Pentagon announced that the aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its battle group had left the Middle East. But the departure, after a lengthy deployment, does not mean that Iran’s threat to retaliate against Israel for an attack that killed the ranking political leader of Hamas during a visit to Tehran is over, or that U.S. forces in the region would continue to draw down.

“It does not mean that there is not a threat from Iran and that we should no longer be concerned,” Austin said. “I think you have to take them at their word when they advertise their intent to do something, whether it’s today or in the future. So I think it’s important to remain at the ready—especially for Israel to remain at the ready.”

To deter Iran, whether on its own or through regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Biden administration warned publicly that Iran’s newly elected government and economy could suffer a devastating blow were it to mount a major attack against Israel. The U.S. rushed additional naval and air forces to the region to back up that warning.

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor from the 3rd Wing assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, takes flight at an undisclosed location within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Aug. 12, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo

Now, with the departure of the Roosevelt, the U.S. is keeping U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16, and F-22 squadrons. Also in the region: the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln battle group in the region, with its airwing that includes F-35Cs, and a battlegroup that includes guided missile destroyers. A nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Georgia and its some 150 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, is also in the Middle East.

All told, the Pentagon secretary said, the U.S. still has more forces in the region than it had on April 13, when it helped Israel neutralize an Iranian attack that sent more than 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones to Israel, and 99 percent were intercepted.

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons shot down more than 80 Iranian drones and American destroyers intercepted some of Iran’s ballistic missiles during the April episode.

Deterring China is the Pentagon’s primary long-term preoccupation, and its actions in other parts of the world carry a message for China and other potential aggressors. The U.S. wants to strengthen its NATO alliance, and is providing weapons to Ukraine to help Kyiv defend itself against Russian aggression. Yet as the anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel approaches Oct. 7, the U.S. finds itself continuing to maintain a strong military presence in the Middle East.

“I still have an aircraft carrier in the region and I still have a lot of other capability in the region,” Austin said, responding to a question from Air & Space Forces Magazine. “I know you guys track what’s there and not there on a daily basis. But, again, when you saw us do what we did on the 13th of April, we didn’t have two aircraft carriers in the region then. We actually still have more capability in the region than we had on the 13th of April.”

4th Death This Year Sparks Worry at Kunsan

Sept. 13, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

When Tech. Sgt. Jacob Venegas was found dead in a dorm at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, Aug. 28, it marked the third death there in just 33 days, and the fourth since March, sparking concern about the conditions and support systems in place at the base, home of the 8th Fighter Wing.

The Air Force has not identified the cause of death in any of the cases, said 8th Fighter Wing spokesperson Capt. Alvin Nelson, who explained that the deaths remain under investigation. “We cannot speak to causes.”

None of the fatalities were “related to operations or mission requirements,” Nelson said. Law enforcement officials stated earlier that foul play is not suspected in the deaths of Jones-Smalls, Vang, and Kruse, based on “forensic experts on the scene.”

Suicides remains a leading cause of death among young military members. A detailed analysis of suicide deaths in 2020 released earlier this year found that of the 117 Air Force and Space Force members who died by suicide that year, 90.8 percent were enlisted and 69.2 percent were on Active Duty. The average age was 30.6. Confirmed suicides dropped to 91 in 2023, according to the Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

Individuals posting on the unofficial “Air Force amn/nco/snco” Facebook page who said they had been based at Kunsan voiced concern about the base’s isolated location. Home to the 8th Fighter Wing and some 2,800 military and civilian personnel, the typical assignment there is a one-year unaccompanied tour.

Most Airmen at Kunsan live in dorms and public transportation is scarce. The base is about 120 miles south of Seoul, in a rural area near the Yellow Sea. The nearest tourist destination is Jeonju, 40 miles away. Without a personal vehicle, travel is difficult. One study suggested that isolation can be especially dangerous for younger service members, who are at higher risk of suicide.

Airmen posting anonymously on Reddit called the base “depressing” and cited the lack of mental health support and connection opportunities at Kunsan.

“It has been a difficult summer for the Wolf Pack with multiple losses over the past few weeks, and we are reinforcing existing support entities to care for our Airmen,” said Col. Peter Kasarskis, 8th Fighter Wing commander, in a statement.

Nelson said leadership is working to “increase the number of daily opportunities for connection between Airmen at all levels to strengthen our community,” but offered no details on how they are doing that.

Minot Air Force Base, N.D., suffered a similar spike in deaths last year, with three last October that remain under investigation. Minot officials called in additional chaplains, counselors, and mental health professionals, but also cited the base’s remoteness, its harsh winter weather, and shortages of advanced medical care and childcare as persistent issues of concern.