Air Force’s New Integrated Capabilities Office Aims to Overhaul Acquisition

July 31, 2024 | By Shaun Waterman

The Air Force’s new Integrated Capabilities Office (ICO) aims to tear up the department’s playbook when it comes to buying, developing, and fielding new technologies, Tim Grayson, the ICO director, said July 31.

The ICO will press to replace the traditional acquisition process with a new “compressed” process which would issue contracts to industry on the basis of “attributes” rather than requirements, he said during event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Attributes “look like requirements,” but don’t set exact figures in stone, he said. “Instead, it’s ‘Here are the kinds of things I care about, here’s some targets for numbers against these characteristics.’ Now, I can use that to get industry on contract, and start doing detailed design studies.”

An attributes-based process made for better outcomes, Grayson said, because of the iterative discussions they allow. “Industry can say, ‘This attribute, this is really hard. Do you really mean this?’… And the operator might say, ‘It seemed like the right thing, I don’t care that much.’” But even where the operator reaffirms the need, “they can explain the nuance of why they care, and industry might have a different idea of how to satisfy that.”

Using attributes “allows that dialogue, and then once you converge on something, we can still codify that in a formal requirement,” Grayson said.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced the ICO in February, one of a slew of changes designed to “re-optimize” the Air and Space Forces for great power competition with China and Russia.

The office was formally stood up in July.

The ICO is designed to accelerate work on Kendall’s Operational Imperative initiatives, which seek to break down organizational stovepipes in the Air Force’s technology acquisition, where commands have tended to advocate for their own capabilities, leaving the department as a whole to make difficult budgetary and programmatic tradeoffs.

An example is the Air Force’s Rapid Dragon program in which palletized munitions, specifically long-range JASSM stand-off cruise missiles, are released from cargo aircraft, crossing traditional lines between Air Mobility Command and Air Force Global Strike Command.

Attributes based acquisition was one of several big changes ICO would push and be part of, Grayson said. Another was ending the traditional separation between operators, the warfighters who will use technology, and to whose specifications it is supposed to be designed, and the developers, charged with buying and/or building new technology.

Making operators develop requirements and then pass them on to the developers, resulted in a “very procedural game of telephone,” where each participant whispers to the next and the end result is nothing like what it started out as.

Instead, ICO would work with “product teams,” staffed by operators from the newly formed U.S. Space Force Space Futures Command and U.S. Air Force Integrated Capabilities Command (ICC) like those developed ad hoc by the Operational Imperative initiative.

“Bringing operators and developers together, that’s been magical,” Grayson said.

ICO was at the forefront of a cultural revolution in the Air Force, Grayson said. “Some of the things we’re talking about, three years ago, we probably would have been either laughed or yelled out of the room, for being crazy,” he joked.

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power presents Aerospace Nation with Dr. Tim Grayson, Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, on July 31, 2024, at Air & Space Forces headquarters in Arlington, Va. Moderating the event was Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF (Ret.) Dean of the Mitchell Institute. Photo by Mike Tsukamoto/Air & Space Forces Magazine

But it was a symptom of a serious problem. “From the capability and the technology side, we inherited, I would say, an unfortunate culture,” he said.

“A lot of developers have been so beaten to listen to the operator and follow requirements that people were kind of gun shy,” Grayson said. On the other hand, operators had two “failure modes,” one where they refused to engage at all: “Someone hasn’t shown me a new technology, I don’t have a field or program of record. Why should I think about operational concepts for something that doesn’t exist?”

The other failure was from a handful of operators who were “very, very creative and innovative, but didn’t necessarily have the grounding in the science and in the acquisition capabilities,” and as a result, set impossible goals.

That culture was “self-censoring, self-limiting.” Technology developers were risk-averse, budgetarily conservative, and overly concerned with box-checking compliance.

“We assume, Oh, there isn’t a requirement already. Or I haven’t done all the homework and have a full programmatic structure, … or this feels expensive, and I’m worried I might not be able to afford it or have to take it out of hide.

“We’ve got 101 reasons why we don’t let really great innovative ideas see the light of day,” he said.

The ICO was set up to be “that voice of modernization, the stakeholder that makes sure that new ideas get their day in court.”

That might sometimes provoke tension, as Kendall predicted: “Sometimes those new ideas might be at odds with something coming out of an ICC … that’s where the potential tension happens.”

Grayson pronounced himself optimistic about the progress being made.

“It’s been pretty exciting to see where we’ve gotten so far,” he said, explaining that the changes had created momentum, like a flywheel. “Now let’s do the hard work and figure out how. Even if we aren’t where we’d love to be, I’m very, very optimistic on where the flywheel takes us.”

Boeing Loses $900 Million on Defense and Space Programs as Company Taps New CEO

July 31, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Boeing’s board of directors has named Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, the new chief executive officer of the embattled aerospace giant, the company announced July 31. Since early this year, the company has suffered a rash of accidents and high-visibility quality problems. Meanwhile, losses continue to pile up, with Boeing’s defense and space business losing close to $1 billion, making up most of the company’s losses.

Ortberg will take over for David Calhoun in mid-August, the company announced. Calhoun said earlier this year he would retire by the end of the year.

Ortberg worked for decades at Rockwell Collins, where he rose from a program manager in 1987 to president and CEO in 2013, spending the next eight years leading the company’s integration with RTX. He retired from RTX in 2021. The other leading candidate was reportedly Patrick Shanahan, former Boeing executive, Acting Secretary of Defense and now CEO of Spirit Aerosystems, which Boeing is buying back to better integrate its production efforts.

“There is much work to be done and I’m looking forward to getting started,” Ortberg said in a stament issued by Boeing.

The announcement came along with Boeing’s second-quarter results, which showed a $913 million loss in the Defense and Space sector, as part of a company-wide loss of $1.4 billion, and the disclosure of a new deficiency with the KC-46 tanker.

The losses were on “certain fixed-price development programs, including a $391 million loss on the KC-46A program, largely driven by a slowdown of commercial production and supply chain constraints,” the company said. Boeing’s losses on the KC-46 now amount to $7.5 billion

Air Force KC-46 program officials, speaking with the press in Dayton, Ohio, Tuesday, said they have added a seventh major deficiency to the list that Boeing must correct at its own expense on the fixed-price development contract.

The new problem is with a fuel pump, the vibrations of which are damaging the jet’s air ducts. Program Executive Officer Kevin D. Stamey said Boeing is aggressively fixing the damaged ducts, is already testing a permanent correction, and the problem may soon be taken off the books, but for now it is a “Category 1” deficiency, he said.

Among the others, program officials acknowledged that corrections to the Remote Viewing System, known as RVS 2.0, that were to be fully implemented this year will not be fixed until 2026. Tests to fix another problem with the KC-46, a so-called “stiff boom,” which prevents it from connecting with and refueling the relatively low-thrust A-10, has been in testing since May, they said.

Stamey said the discovery of the deficiency and the company’s move to correct the problem was evidence that Boeing “lean forward when they have a quality escape.”

Boeing said in releasing its financial performance numbers that other defense losses were recorded on the T-7A trainer, the “Air Force One” VC-25B Presidential Transport, and the NASA Commercial Crew programs. Those programs suffered from “higher estimated engineering and manufacturing costs, as well as technical challenges,” the company said.

A rendering of the Boeing VC-25B, known as “Air Force One.” Boeing graphic

On a positive note, the aerospace giant said that its F-15EX achieved initial operational capability with the Air Force in July and that it delivered seven MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters to the service for missile field support.

“We remain cautiously optimistic about the long term prospects of our defense business, and we believe we can progress toward a more historical level of performance over time,” Calhoun said on Boeing’s second-quarter earnings call. He reiterated that Boeing is exercising “contracting discipline” in not underbidding important contracts to secure future work.

Calhoun said Ortberg was “the board’s choice,” but he said he liked the pick. He also said he didn’t expect Ortberg to do an executive housecleaning.

“I don’t think he’s coming in with a notion to change a lot of folks,” he said on the call. “We’re in recovery mode. And we’ve got to get this thing stable and move forward.”

Reports: Ukraine Finally Receives First F-16s After Years-Long Wait

July 31, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The first F-16s have arrived in Ukraine, finally giving Kyiv the venerable fourth-generation multirole fighter it has sought for over a year, according to multiple reports.

Bloomberg first reported the news, which was later reported by the Associated Press and Reuters.

“F-16s in Ukraine. Another impossible thing turned out to be totally possible,” Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, wrote on social media.

Denmark and the Netherlands were due to provide the first jets, followed by Belgium and Norway—some 60 F-16s in total over the next few years. It is unclear how many F-16s have arrived in Ukraine if the reports prove accurate. NATO allies have indicated the process will be gradual, and Bloomberg and the AP reported Ukraine has received only a small number of F-16s so far.

The Pentagon and the National Security Council declined to comment on whether Kyiv now possesses F-16s and referred questions to Ukraine. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even if Ukraine now has F-16s, many questions remain. U.S. and allied officials have not detailed maintenance plans for the jets or publicly revealed which munitions the aircraft will be equipped with.

U.S. officials and airpower experts have said F-16s are not a panacea, noting the presence of advanced Russian surface-to-air missiles, the difficulty required to master the F-16’s full capabilities, and the need to learn Western airpower doctrine.

“It’s not going to be the … golden bullet, that all of a sudden, they have F-16s, and now they’re going to go out and gain air superiority,” U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. James B. Hecker said July 30. “But we started the clock, and I think that’s a good start.”

The U.S. plans to train a total of 12 Ukrainian pilots this fiscal year, as well as “dozens” of maintainers. Other pilots and maintainers are training in Europe. Some of the pilots trained in the U.S. have graduated their course with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard, the Air Force’s foreign F-16 pilot school, and moved on to Europe.

U.S. officials have declined to say how many pilots the U.S. has graduated from F-16 training, citing operational security, nor has the U.S. confirmed which munitions Ukraine will receive. However, The Wall Street Journal reported Ukraine would receive AIM-120 AMRAAMs and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles, as well as AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles, JDAM Extended-Range guided bombs, and Small Diameter Bombers. Ukraine is already known to employ HARMs, JDAMs, and SDBs from its MiGs and Sukhoi jets, though the weapons are less effective on those aircraft than they would be if they were employed by an F-16.

This video on the other hand looks like a more solid indication that F-16s are now flying in Ukraine. Provided that it was filmed (as it appears to have been) inside the country. It’s definitely an F-16 in the footage. https://t.co/KtGSGELeKN
— Justin Bronk (@Justin_Br0nk) July 31, 2024

U.S.-origin weapons have also come with policy stipulations from the Biden administration on how they can be used. It remains to be seen whether the U.S. and its allies will authorize Ukraine to engage aircraft or ground target sites inside of Russia with F-16s. The U.S. has allowed Ukraine to use American weapons inside Russia in only limited cases.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the U.S. would provide weapons for the F-16s but did not say which ones.

“The United States is committed to working with our Allies and partners in the Air Force Capability Coalition, including co-leads Denmark and the Netherlands, to provide Ukraine with the weapons and equipment it needs for its F-16s,” the spokesperson said. “This includes precision munitions designed to enhance Ukraine’s air combat capabilities to defend its airspace and carry out effective air-to-ground operations. Some of these weapons will come directly from DoD or Allied stocks, while others may be procured through contracts with defense manufacturers.”

US Airstrike Preempts Drone Attack in Iraq as Iran Vows Revenge for Hamas Leader’s Death

July 31, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. launched a preemptive airstrike in Musayib, Iraq, on July 30, against individuals who were preparing to launch one-way attack drones against U.S. forces, U.S. defense officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The “defensive airstrike” came a week after rockets were launched at U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, the officials said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, departing the Philippines after bilateral meetings there, referenced the attack July 31: “The safety and protection of our troops is really, really important to me,” Austin said. “That’s why you saw us take some measures to protect ourselves here most recently as we took out some UAVs which were about to be launched. We have the right to do that and we will continue to do that in order to protect our troops.”

The target was a facility south of Baghdad used by the Iranian-aligned Kataib Hezbollah group, which is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The Iraqi government expressed outrage at the strike on the PMF site and said it violated Iraq’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, apparent Israeli attacks on a pair of leaders of U.S.-designated terrorist organizations increased tensions in the region. On July 30, Israel attacked and killed a top Hezbollah military leader in Lebanon. The political leader of Hamas was killed during a trip to Iran a day later in an operation almost certainly carried out by Israel.

Killed were:

Fuad Shukr, one of Hezbollah’s top military commanders, in retaliation for a July 27 attack by Hezbollah in the Golan Heights that killed 12 civilians, mostly children; and

Hamas’ political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkia, and had been involved in ceasefire negotiations with the U.S. seeking an end to the war in Gaza.

Israel has not acknowledged killing Haniyeh, and Austin deflected questions on the incident when asked about it by reporters.

The twin attacks inflame tensions and could lead to further U.S. involvement, either against other potential attacks on U.S. forces or if the U.S. needs to help defend Israel against a long-range attack from Iran.

“I don’t think war is inevitable,” Austin said. “I think there’s always room and opportunities for diplomacy. And I’d like to see parties pursue those opportunities.”

U.S. forces have been facing rocket attacks on al-Asad Air Base in Iraq and Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria in the past week. Iran, which supports both Hezbollah and Hamas, is unlikely to let an attack on its own soil go without response. While its long-range attack on Israel was foiled in April, it is likely to seek some way to retaliate, either directly or indirectly, through one of its proxies, which could include Iranian-aligned militias, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it was Iran’s “duty” to avenge Haniyeh’s death.

Attacks on U.S. forces in the region had decreased following U.S. airstrikes in February against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian-aligned militias, which took out 85 targets in Iraq and Syria in a massive bombardment. The U.S. airstrike demonstrated America still has the will to strike inside of Iraq.

“It’s quite impressive. It’s a robust response,” Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We’re demonstrating that we know the exact buildings that these drones are coming from and we reserve the right to strike them.”

U.S. troops have been attacked over 180 times in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan since October. Three Soldiers were killed at Tower 22 in Jordan, which supports the U.S. outpost of Al Tanf Garrison just across the border in Syria, in January.

“I think it’s all connected, but I think, quite frankly, I don’t see a return to where we were several months ago—not yet,” Austin said.

The U.S. has 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria. Iraqi and U.S. officials discussed how to end the official military campaign against the Islamic State and transition to a different security relationship during meetings in Washington last week.

The Pentagon said Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant July 31 and discussed the attack by Hezbollah and threats to Israel posed by a range of Iranian-backed terrorist groups, according to Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, who provided a readout of the call.

Speaking in the Philippines, Austin said the U.S. was prepared to respond if Iran attacked Israel. U.S. Air Force F-15s and F-16s, as well as other U.S. forces, helped Israel defeat hundreds of drones and missiles launched by Iran earlier in the year.

“If Israel gets attacked, we certainly will help,” Austin said. “You saw us do that April. You can expect to see us do that again. … But we’re going to work hard to make sure that we’re doing things to help take the temperature down.”

Air Force ‘Taking a Pause’ on NGAD, Kendall Says

July 30, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force will put the Next Generation Air Dominance program on hold for a few months in order to see whether it is “on the right course” with the fighter that was intended to replace the F-22, Secretary Frank Kendall said July 30. However, all other aspects of air superiority modernization are moving ahead as fast as possible, he said.

Kendall, speaking at the annual Life Cycle Industry Days in Dayton, Ohio, assured listeners at his keynote speech that NGAD will go forward in some form, expressing confidence that “we’re still going to do a sixth-generation, crewed aircraft.”

The Air Force’s is asking itself some tough questions, however.

Does the service have “the right process? … The right operational concept?” Kendall said of the Air Force’s examination. “Before we commit to moving forward on a single design [and a] single supplier, we’re going to take a hard look at that.”

Kendall also held open the option that the NGAD could be uncrewed, though he said he doesn’t think the technology is quite “there yet” to move fully in that direction. The NGAD could be “optionally crewed,” he said, as the B-21 Raider stealth bomber was intended to be.

The NGAD is a “family of systems” which comprises a formation or aircraft. The center of the formation is the crewed fighter, controlling up to six Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The CCA is so closely linked to NGAD that they are funded in the same budget line.

Speaking at an AFA Warfighters in Action event in June, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David W. Allvin raised eyebrows when he said that NGAD is one of “many choices” on the budget landscape, a departure from the rock-solid support the fighter has had from the service until now. Since then, Kendall and other service leaders told reporters at the Paris Air Show that the jet is getting a “hard look” to see if it’s massive cost can be reduced. Kendall himself has said it will be “multiple hundreds of millions” of dollar per copy.

The NGAD may also have been outrun by the technology advances on the CCA, and must be reconciled with its low-cost stablemate, which by all accounts is making great strides. Kendall referred to the CCA program as taking an “incremental approach” to fielding capability.

Kendall said last year that a contract award for NGAD would be coming in 2024, but his comments in Ohio indicate that may no longer be the case.

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall provides the keynote address on day two of Life Cycle Industry Days (LCID) in Dayton, Ohio, July 30, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Jim Varhegyi

Only Lockheed Martin and Boeing seem capable of offering a fully-formed candidate. Northrop Grumman has publicly stated it will not compete for the NGAD contract. However, Kendall has pushed for smaller contractors to be involved in new aircraft design and technology and, especially with CCAs, seems willing to divide work among many hands rather than rely solely on well-established primes.

Although Kendall has said that the goal is to frequently upgrade the NGAD with new systems, weapons and technologies, senior Air Force leaders have privately questioned whether that approach will work, given the accelerating rate of technology change. The NGAD may have to be updated on a pace comparable to that of the CCA, with its technology and even design turning over every three years or so.

Kendall noted that USAF must accommodate to China’s rapid advances in air combat technology and its ability to rain ballistic missiles down on air bases. If the Air Force is compelled to operate only from bases with long runways, that’s “a problem for us,” Kendall said.

F-16s Not a ‘Golden Bullet’ for Ukraine, But They Are an Upgrade, USAFE’s Hecker Says

July 30, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The F-16s provided to Ukraine in the coming weeks cannot deliver instant air superiority over Russia’s robust Russian air defenses, but they will allow Kyiv to transition to a Western-style air force and better employ U.S. munitions, the U.S. Air Force’s top general in Europe said July 30.

“It’s not going to be the … golden bullet, that all of a sudden, they have F-16s, and now they’re going to go out and gain air superiority,” said U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa Commander Gen. James B. Hecker during a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event. “It’s the integrated air and missile defense systems that they’re going up against.”

Those air defense systems are among the most effective anywhere, he said. “We have a hard time with fifth-generation aircraft going against that,” Hecker explained. “But it does move them a step in the right direction.”

Western allies have signaled the imminent arrival of F-16s for weeks, but to date no aircraft have been acknowledged to be in Ukraine. The Netherlands and Denmark are providing the first of those jets, and Belgium and Norway have also pledged to provide F-16s.

Plans for maintaining and arming those aircraft have been less clear. The Wall Street Journal reported July 30 that Ukraine will be getting:

AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles

AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles

JDAM Extended-Range and Small-Diameter Bombs

“They already have them,” Hecker said in an apparent reference to the air-to-surface munitions, though he did not say precisely which weapons Kyiv would receive for its Vipers. “They’re just dropping them off Mig-29s and Su-24s. Now they’re going to have the opportunity to actually drop them off of an airplane that they were designed to come off of, which will give them more capability to change the targets in flight and things like that.”

Ukraine has jerry-rigged HARMs to its Russian-built aircraft to target radar sites but without the ability to change targets dynamically. Advanced weapons targeting pods on F-16s would enable HARMs to be employed more flexibly with greater precision, though whether Ukraine will receive those devices is unclear. Even a basic F-16 provides an upgrade over Ukraine’s current aircraft.

“That’s going to increase the capability,“ Hecker said.

Kyiv’s current stockpile of AMRAAMs and AIM-9s have been adapted as surface-to-air interceptors for use by air defense systems—though the U.S. has not said which variants it has provided. While Hecker did not specifically discuss air-to-air weapons, Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported that AMRAAMs would be an option for Ukraine’s F-16s.

Also unclear is whether the U.S. and its allies will authorize Ukraine to target sites in Russia with its new weapons. The U.S. has only allowed Ukraine to use American weapons inside Russia in limited cases.

What is known is that armaments are coming. “Commitments have been made by multiple countries … to provide the ammunition that is necessary to equip the F-16s,” Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told Air & Space Forces Magazine in mid-July during the NATO summit. “This is a major step forward.”

Maintenance

Hecker didn’t provide details about Ukraine’s maintenance plans, offering only that “We have a good way forward to make that happen.” The U.S. and other Western countries are training F-16 pilots and maintainers.

So far, the U.S. plans to train a total of 12 Ukrainian pilots this fiscal year, as well as “dozens” of maintainers.

For now, Russia and Ukraine are hamstrung in the air.

“Quite honestly, they’re doing a lot of the things that Ukraine is doing,” Hecker said of the Russian Air Force. “Come in, low altitudes, getting below the radars, popping up, dropping off a glide bomb, and then exiting. So that’s kind of the tactics that both sides have resorted to just because of the advanced integrated air and missile defense systems that are on both sides.”

This mutual denial has prevented Russia from stopping the flow of Western arms into Ukraine, Hecker said. “If they had air superiority, they would be ‘capping’ over the borders of Poland and Romania and Ukraine. Anything that comes in that the 50 allies have donated, they’d be doing close air support, taking all that stuff out. But they don’t have air superiority, so they can’t do it,” he said.

Ukrainian Air Force capabilities should be measured over the long term, Hecker said. Ukrainian pilots have trained with the 162nd Wing of the Arizona Air National Guard at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson since October, the Air Force’s F-16 foreign pilot training unit. While U.S. training has been tailored to individual pilots, the unit focuses on training pilots in the six-month “B-Course”—or Basic Course. U.S. officials have said the training was adapted and lengthened to give the Ukrainian pilots more time to become proficient. While several pilots have graduated from training in Tucson and moved on to training in Europe, these pilots are all still new to the F-16 and the tactics they need to know to be effective.

“This is a pretty big one,” Hecker said. “All that equipment comes with Western training, which is a cultural shift for somebody who was trained by the Russians years ago, and that takes time. You know, a seven-month course on how to fly an F-16 isn’t going to change that culture overnight, and we’ve seen that with other Eastern Bloc countries that now are members of NATO.”

Poland struggled to transition from Soviet-era jets to single-engine, multi-role F-16s, but ultimately became an effective NATO partner. The change in mindset from the Soviet-style to Western doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures has a steep learning curve, he said.

“We’ve started that transition to Western TTPs, to Western doctrine, to Western equipment, and they’re going to be much better off and a much better supporter and partner once they mature with all these capabilities that we’re giving them,” Hecker said. “But it’s not going to be overnight. This is talking about half a decade or decades to get to that point. But we started the clock, and I think that’s a good start.”

Rebuffing Beijing, US and Philippines Vow to Operate in South China Sea

July 30, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The U.S. and the Philippines reaffirmed their right to navigate the South China Sea and its international airspace in the wake of China’s attempts to disrupt these activities, top officials from the two nations said during a meeting in Manila on July 30.

“We are about making sure that all of us can protect and uphold our sovereignty, our territorial integrity, freedom of navigation, freedom of commerce, which is so vital to everyone in this region,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a joint press conference.

Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III visited Manila to meet with their Philippine counterparts for the two nations’ Ministerial Consultations. The secretaries reiterated their commitment to lawful commerce and demanded “full respect for international law” from Beijing in the highly contested Second Thomas Shoal in a joint statement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken conduct a press briefing alongside Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo after the fourth U.S.-Philippines Two-Plus-Two Ministerial Dialogue in Manila, Philippines, July 30, 2024. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Alexander Kubitza

The remarks come on the heels of China and Russia flying their bombers and fighters near U.S. territory last week. Marking the first instance of simultaneous encroachment near Alaska by the two nations, two Russian TU-95 Bear and two Chinese H-6 strategic bombers entered the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on July 24. The aircraft were intercepted off the coast of Alaska by American and Canadian fighters and remained in international airspace.

While this was a debut for Chinese H-6s venturing close to North America, Beijing has previously conducted what the U.S. calls unprofessional intercepts in the South China Sea, most of which China asserts claims over. The U.S. regularly patrols the skies with its surveillance aircraft, as well as bombers, and conducts aerial and maritime exercises with its allies in the region, arguing it is operating in accordance with international law.

Meanwhile, the tensions between China and the Philippines revolve around maritime disputes. Following surging tensions from Beijing since last year, the U.S. and the Philippines have boosted their joint training in the region. The latest flare-up saw the Chinese coast guard attacking Filipino fishing vessels with water cannons near Second Thomas Shoal.

The shoal is situated about 105 nautical miles west of the Philippine Island of Palawan. Several other countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, have claimed the territory. The region falls within Manila’s internationally recognized Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“Let me be clear, the Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our armed forces, aircraft, or public vessels anywhere in the South China Sea,” Austin said on July 30, referring to the 1951 agreement committing both Washington and Manila to mutual defense in the Pacific.

During their visit, Austin and Blinken additionally announced extra funding to amplify the nation’s security partnership with the U.S.

“We’re working with the U.S. Congress to allocate $500 million in Foreign Military Financing to the Philippines,” said Austin.

This includes $128 million for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) investments. The Philippines has been ramping up security by expanding U.S. military presence to more local bases through the EDCA over the past few years.

The Pentagon currently has access to nine Philippine military sites where it can preposition aircraft and vessels. Washington aims to modernize these facilities through runway and infrastructure upgrades, to enhance joint training and interoperability.

The half-billion dollars will also help deter “unwanted and unlawful aggression by building a credible deterrent posture,” according to Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Air Force Launches New ‘Foundations’ Courses for Enlisted Airmen

July 30, 2024 | By David Roza

The Air Force launched the enlisted Foundations courses on July 19. The program is meant to fill the years-long gap in enlisted professional military education (PME) between established schools such as the Airman Leadership School and the Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

“Some Airmen go five or six years between PME courses, which is way too long,” Col. Damian Schlussel, commander of the Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education, which developed the curriculum, said in a July 29 press release. “These courses close that developmental gap by delivering the right content at the right time in an Airman’s career.”

There are three Foundations courses: one for junior enlisted Airmen, one for noncommissioned officers (NCOs), and one for senior NCOs. Each course is designed to prepare Airmen for new levels of leadership responsibility and help them understand strategic concepts such as Agile Combat Employment and great power competition, though the emphasis varies for each course.

For example, the 300-level junior enlisted Foundation course syllabus builds a “warrior mindset” and what it means to be an Airman, while the 500-level NCO foundation course emphasizes critical thinking and team dynamics. Meanwhile, most of the 700-level SNCO course is devoted to sharpening organizational culture and aligning with broader strategic objectives.

The Enlisted Airmanship Continuum is introduced at Basic Military Training and reinforced by foundational competencies in each AFSC’s career field education and training plan. U.S. Air Force graphic

The five-day courses will be prerequisites for the existing schools, such as the Airman Leadership School and the NCO Academies, which Airmen must pass before advancing to higher ranks. Unlike those schools, which take place at a few dozen set locations around the world, the Foundations courses will be held at each base across the service, replacing the base-level professional enhancement seminars previously held there.

About 80 percent of each course is standardized, but the remaining 20 percent is tailored to the specific major command or wing hosting the course, the press release explained.

The Barnes Center first started testing the Foundations concept in October, after 48 representatives from all the major commands gathered for 10 days to put together the course curriculum. In the nine months since then, a few dozen instructors taught the new courses to more than a thousand Airmen across Active-duty, the Reserve, and the Air National Guard, then gathered their feedback to inform the final product.

“It was a lot of long days, weekends, and late nights for the team, but we were able to do it and do it well,” said Tech. Sgt. Kate Hytinen, the NCO in charge of the Foundations effort.

The new courses are part of a larger effort called the Enlisted Airmanship Continuum, which is meant to guide the development of enlisted Airmen.

“This shift is about the long game and building the force of the future,” wrote then-Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and then-Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass when they introduced the concept in September. “We owe every Airman deliberate developmental opportunities throughout their careers to grow and become their very best.”

The continuum also includes the Prepping the Line Job Qualification Standard, an assessment that new supervisors can take to make sure they have the right skills for mentoring others, improving their unit, managing resources, and other leadership responsibilities. Another part of the effort includes on-demand online PME for anything from emotional intelligence to the budget cycle.

Enlisted Airmen “will be the difference makers in the future fight, and we are choosing to invest in them now to ensure we remain the Air Force our nation needs,” Brown and Bass wrote.

The Foundations courses are supposed to coincide with specific times in an Airman’s career. More information can be found in this July 12 memo written by force development director Crystal L. Moore.

Air Force Selects 78 Airmen for First Warrant Officer Class in 66 Years

July 30, 2024 | By David Roza

For the first time in more than 60 years, a group of Airmen have punched their tickets to become warrant officers. The Air Force announced an initial cohort of 78 Airmen from across the Active-duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard total force who will attend the newly-created Warrant Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. starting this October.

“These Airmen are poised to assume critical roles as technical experts, functional leaders, and advisors within their specialized domains,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in a July 29 statement. “They possess the cutting-edge skills we need to address the multifaceted challenges of today’s dynamic security landscape.”

The Air Force and Space Force are the only military services currently without warrant officers, who fill technical rather than leadership functions in the other military branches. But today, the Air Force sees the reintroduction of warrant officers as a way to maintain an edge in two fast-moving technical fields: information technology and cybersecurity.

“With perishable skills, like cyber, like IT, where the technology is moving so rapidly, folks who are experts in that can’t afford to be sent off to a leadership course for eight or nine months,” Alex Wagner, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, said April 9.

Up until July 29, the Air Force’s public plan was to graduate 60 warrant officers in two 8-week classes: the first starting in October and the second starting in early 2025. But the new announcement boasts 78 selectees across three classes. The Air Force could not immediately answer why the number had increased or when the third class would take place, but the announcement said the first warrant officers are still expected to arrive at their new duty stations in early 2025.

The larger number is a good sign for the 433 eligible Airmen who submitted complete applications for the program. With just 60 slots available, the rejection rate was 86 percent, but with 78 slots, that falls to 82 percent. If all 78 selectees graduate from the program, it also means that the Air Force will enjoy more technical experts in cyber and IT.

Still, what makes a warrant officer is not only technical expertise, but also communication skills, strategic understanding, emotional intelligence, and ethical decision-making, Maj. Nathaniel Roesler, the school’s commandant, told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this month.

“We’re not trying to make warrant officers into better cyber operators,” he explained. “They come to us with those skills, with years of practical experience. What we’re doing with them is building them into … the Air Force’s leading professional warfighters, technical integrators, and trusted advisors.”

It is not clear at this point if the Air Force will hold classes for more warrant officers in the future, but if it does, applicants who did not make the cut this time can apply for those future boards, a service spokesperson said.