AFSOC Turns Rural Highway into Runway for Historic AC-130J Touchdown

AFSOC Turns Rural Highway into Runway for Historic AC-130J Touchdown

Aug. 5, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Air Force transformed a public freeway into a runway over the weekend, landing various tanker, cargo, and special operations aircraft on the road, including the service’s first-ever touchdown of an AC-130J Ghostrider on a U.S. roadway.

Air Force Special Operations Command landed and took off with an AC-130J, MC-130J, and C-146A on one of Arkansas’ major north-south freeways, Highway 63, on Aug 4. The Air National Guard then took over at the location for a C-130H Hercules touchdown, a spokesperson for the 1st Special Operations Wing told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“This exercise serves as a significant milestone for AFSOC, demonstrating our ability to operate in diverse and austere environments,” Tech. Sgt. Robert Gallagher of the AFSOC Air Commando Development Center, lead planner for the highway landings, said in a statement.

After the C-146A Wolfhound and MC-130J Commando II from the 492nd Special Operations Wing arrived on the highway, the crew established a setup for rapid refueling and arming with portable tanks, known as a Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP). This enabled the Ghostrider to land, refuel, rearm, and take off again from the five-lane highway.

The AC-130J, AFSOC’s primary close air support and combat mission platform, is a heavily modified C-130J Super Hercules designed for precision fire support. The MC-130J Commando II, another variant of the Super Hercules, is a cargo aircraft equipped with advanced avionics, defensive systems, and air refueling capabilities.

“By landing an AC-130J on a highway and conducting FARP, we’re proving our ability to operate in austere and unique environments,” said Col. Patrick Dierig, 1st Special Operations Wing commander, in the statement. “It shows our commitment to maintaining operational flexibility and readiness, ensuring we can deliver decisive airpower whenever and wherever it’s needed.”

The preparation included securing the landing zone in advance by cooperating with local law enforcement, the spokesperson added.

“The team worked with Craighead County and Bono Sheriff’s Department to put up barriers, as the law enforcement closed off U.S. 63 and a portion of 230,” the spokesperson said. “They also work with the Arkansas Department of Transportation as well.”

Afterwards, the Air National Guard’s 189th Airlift Wing stepped in to execute takeoffs and landings with a C-130H transport aircraft on the site. The training saw eight pilots maneuvering the cargo aircraft on an unconventional runway in preparation for humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Col. Jay Geaney, Arkansas Air National Guard director of staff and a C-130H pilot, said the exercise “validated our proof of concept as a capability,” in an email statement to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The freeway touchdown for AFSOC is part of the ongoing exercise Emerald Warrior, taking place from July 29 to Aug. 18, across Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, and Puerto Rico. The training is meant to advance the service’s push for Agile Combat Employment.

“Emerald Warrior FTX II demonstrates to our adversaries that we can meet them anytime, any place, anywhere, without the need for traditional runways to project air power,” added Dierig.

The Air Force conducted similar highway landings in Michigan in 2022 with various aircraft, including the A-10, U-28A, C-145, C-146, and MC-12W. This marked the first integrated combat turn of an A-10 on a U.S. highway, where Airmen swiftly refueled and rearmed the aircraft while the engines were still running, allowing the jet to take off again as quickly as possible.

Multiple Air Force Bases Move Aircraft Out of Tropical Storm Debby’s Way

Multiple Air Force Bases Move Aircraft Out of Tropical Storm Debby’s Way

Aug. 5, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

Air Force units from Florida through the Carolinas moved their aircraft out of harm’s way Aug. 4 and 5, hoping to avoid the wind and especially flood waters expected with Tropical Storm Debby, which is expected to dump as much as 30 inches of rain on some southern areas over the next few days.

Debby roared ashore in Florida early Aug. 1 as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds in excess of 75 miles per hour, pushing a 6-10-foot storm surge in Florida’s Big Bend area. But the National Weather Service swiftly downgraded the cyclone to a Tropical Storm and warned that its greatest peril would be as a slow-moving rainmaker, dumping tens of inches of rain as it slowly marched across northern Florida and southern Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean. There it is expected to strengthen and return inland, making its way north through central North Carolina and Virginia through the end of the week.

The 71st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga.—in the storm’s centerline path—moved its MC-130J Combat King aircraft out of danger on Aug. 4 because there wasn’t sufficient hangar space to shelter them.

Some 23 of Moody’s 76th Fighter Squadron A-10s also relocated to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., as were four HC-130Js, while some aircraft were secured on-base. A Moody press release said some wings have memoranda of understanding about where they will move their aircraft in case of catastrophic weather. The aircraft are set to return after Aug. 6.

Joint Base Charleston, S.C., dispatched some of its C-17s to undisclosed locations and fueled most of its others as it prepared for heavy weather. The 315th Airlift Wing warned base personnel that “Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby is likely to move very slowly over/around our area through mid-to-late week. [It] has the potential to bring historic rainfall (10-20 inches are possible with some areas getting as much as 30 inches) and areas of catastrophic flooding to the southeast and our local Charleston area.”

The wing also warned that “tropical storm-force winds, storm surge and tornadoes are possible” and that flooding of the nearby Ashley and Cooper Rivers “could inhibit reviver efforts into next week and beyond.” It also warned of “2-4 feet of storm surge inundation over normally dry tidal/near-tidal regions.”

MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., issued a statement on Facebook that it probably would not evacuate any personnel as a result of the storm, but it did move its KC-135 tankers to an undisclosed location Aug. 4, to return when conditions are deemed safe. Other aircraft at MacDill were kept on base.

Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base, Tyndall Air Force Base, and Hurlburt Field all expect no impact from Debby, which was moving well to their east. They planned to operate normally this week.

Other bases along the storm’s path either could not be reached for comment or did not publish storm plans. Those that acknowledged the storm referred personnel to hurricane preparedness pages.   

Air Force installations frequently choose to evacuate their aircraft in advance of hurricanes and other storms.

US Closes Last Drone Base in Niger, with Uncertain Future for Counterterrorism Fight

US Closes Last Drone Base in Niger, with Uncertain Future for Counterterrorism Fight

Aug. 5, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley and Chris Gordon

The U.S. has shut down its last base in Niger, leaving a vacuum in America’s fight against terrorism in Africa, the Pentagon announced Aug. 5. For years, Niger and its air bases served as a critical hub for missions targeting extremist groups in the Sahel region.

The Pentagon announced the withdrawal of U.S. forces and assets from Air Base 201 in Agadez, in the central part of the country, in a joint statement with Niger’s defense ministry.

The U.S. withdrew from its other base in Niger, Air Base 101, near the capital of Niamey last month. Roughly two dozen troops still remain in Niger at the U.S. Embassy, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said Aug. 5

U.S. and Nigerian cooperation helped Air Base 101 and Air Base 201 become an intelligence hub where troops used drones such as MQ-9 Reapers to track militant groups, including al-Qaeda and affiliates of the Islamic State group. The U.S. was officially in the country to to train, advise, and assist Niger’s military, and the U.S. conducted joint operations with its military too.

U.S. Special Operations Forces fought alongside Niger’s military at times, and four American Soliders, along with four Nigerien troops and an interpreter, were killed while on the hunt for an Islamic State leader in 2017.

Air Base 201 was established in 2019, featuring an airfield capable of handling C-17 Globemaster landings. The site soon expanded to support additional ISR operations, with the Pentagon investing a total over $100 million in the base construction.

The U.S. has said it would leave insensitive materiel deemed impractical to move behind in Niger. The Pentagon referred questions on what materiel was left behind to U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which did not immediately comment on the status of the equipment.

After Niger’s ruling junta scrapped a military cooperation pact with the U.S. in March, the military rulers ordered nearly 1,000 American personnel to leave the country by Sept. 15. The effort to close the two military sites began in May. The final U.S. Air Force C-17 departed Air Base 101 on July 8, AFRICOM said in a statement at the time.

“We’re still on track to meet that Sept. 15 deadline,” Singh said of the withdrawal. The Nigerien Ministry of National Defense has said it is committed to “the protection and security of American forces throughout the process,” according to AFRICOM.

From Air Base 101, the majority of the withdrawn troops were initially sent to Europe, while the rest were dispatched to other countries in West Africa. The U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment on where its flights out of the country headed off to.

Since Niger’s elected government was overthrown by a military junta in a coup in July 2023, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, known by its French acronym CNSP, took control. In the Sahel, Niger, Chad, and Burkina Faso have all had their governments toppled by coups since 2021. Chad, which has also housed U.S. troops, held troubled and violence-plagued presidential elections in May that confirmed its military ruler as the country’s leader.

The control of the two installations in Niger that have conducted years of Washington’s counterterrorism mission has now been returned to the Nigerien government.

“The effective cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Nigerien armed forces ensured that this turnover was finished ahead of schedule and without complications,” the statement read.

Still, concerns linger as to how Russia and Iran may potentially exploit Niger’s unrest. Recent coups in Africa have been followed by a further rise in jihadist violence and geopolitical tensions with Western security allies. U.S. officials have raised concerns about the Nigerien junta’s potential decision to grant Iran access to Niger’s uranium reserves for its nuclear program. Now the U.S. is searching for alternatives for its counterterrorism mission in the region.

“If Western operations are significantly impacted by this, it’s going to be bad for the Nigerien people,” retired Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, who led U.S. Africa Command from 2019-2022, told Air & Space Forces Magazine in August 2023, a month after Niger’s coup. “It’s going to be bad for the region. It’s going to be bad for Europe before it’s bad for America, but it’s going to be bad for everybody.”

‘A New Reality’: Ukraine Unveils Its First F-16 Fighters

‘A New Reality’: Ukraine Unveils Its First F-16 Fighters

Aug. 4, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Ukraine’s first F-16s were unveiled by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Aug. 4, ending a lengthy wait for the Western fighters Kyiv says it needs to defend its airspace from Russia.

“Now we have a new reality in our skies. The F-16s are in Ukraine,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a speech at a ceremony to unveil the country’s first Vipers.

Zelenskyy spoke near two F-16s—sporting Ukraine’s blue and yellow trident on their tails—while a pair of F-16s conducted a flyover. But his speech also highlighted the difficulties Ukraine still faces in the skies. The location of the event was not publicly disclosed, lest it come under Russian attack.

“These jets are in our sky and today you see them,” Zelenskyy said in his remarks, according to multiple reports from the ceremony and video of the event posted on social media. “It’s good that they are here and that we can put them to use.”

The venerable, multirole F-16s just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the jet has been steadily upgraded over the years. Zelenskyy did not say which countries provided Ukraine’s first F-16s or how many are in the country. But the Netherlands and Denmark have led the effort and said they would be first to provide Ukraine with F-16s. Belgium and Norway have also pledged F-16s. All told, allies have promised to give Ukraine more than 60 F-16s, though the process will be gradual.

“Since the beginning of this war, we have been talking with our partners about the need to protect our Ukrainian skies from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft,” Zelenskyy said.

The Biden administration did not sign off the Europeans’ decision to provide Ukraine with the F-16s until August 2023 amid pressure from allies. The U.S. is not proving its own F-16s but must agree to the transfer of U.S.-made weapons.

There are a host of other unanswered questions, including how the planes will be maintained, the full range of munitions that will be used to arm them, and what missions they will perform.

Washington has put stipulations on how Ukraine can use the advanced weapons it has already provided. And it remains to be seen whether the U.S. and its allies will authorize Ukraine to use the aircraft to engage enemy aircraft over Russia or target sites inside of Russia with air-to-surface weapons.

“This decision is probably a difficult one for our partners, as they are always afraid of unnecessary escalation,” Zelenskyy said.

The non-stealthy, fourth-generation F-16 has its limitations even in taking on a narrow set of missions, such as protecting Ukraine skies. It is vulnerable to advanced Russia’s surface-to-air missiles. Ukraine also needs to take precautions so the aircraft are not destroyed on the ground. U.S. officials and airpower experts have cautioned that F-16s will not turn the tide immediately.

“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 commander Gen. James B. Hecker said recently. “We started the clock, and I think that’s a good start.”

The New York Times reported Aug. 4 that roughly half a dozen pilots, flying about the same number of jets, were practicing in “uncontested” Ukrainian airspace.

“Since the beginning of this war, we have been talking with our partners about the need to protect our Ukrainian skies from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft,” Zelenskyy said. “We made it happen. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these aircraft and have already started using them for our country.”

The jets on display Aug. 4 were mounted with appeared to be AIM-120 AMRAAM radar-guided medium-range, air-to-air missiles and AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared short-range air-to-air missiles.

The capabilities of those weapons vary depending on the variant. The jets in Ukraine appeared to be equipped with the AIM-9L model. They are able to hone in on their target from higher angles—so called off boresight capability—compared to the oldest Sidewinders. But the U.S. Air Force has moved on to the new, advanced AIM-9X, with lock-after-launch, better maneuverability, and enhanced countermeasures.

It was not immediately clear which variant of AMRAAM—or its inert training model, the CATM-120–was mounted on the jets. Ukraine is unlikely to receive the newest models of AMRAAMs. Air & Space Forces Magazine previously reported that AMRAAMs were being considered for Ukraine’s F-16s.

Ukraine’s F-16s will likely employ HARM anti-radiation missiles, JDAM guided bombs, and Small Diameter Bombs, which the U.S. has already given to Ukraine for use on its existing MiG and Sukhoi jets.

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

The U.S. will work with its allies to provide Ukraine’s F-16s with “precision munitions designed to enhance Ukraine’s air combat capabilities to defend its airspace and carry out effective air-to-ground operations,” a Pentagon spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine in late July. Some of the weapons will come directly from U.S. and allied stocks and some will be procured from defense companies.

“Our combat aviation will bring us closer to victory,” Zelenskyy said.

US Deploying F-22s to Middle East as Iran Seeks Revenge on Israel

US Deploying F-22s to Middle East as Iran Seeks Revenge on Israel

Aug. 3, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

More U.S. military aircraft, warships, and other assets are deploying to the Middle East the Pentagon announced Aug. 2. A U.S. Air Force fighter squadron consisting of stealthy F-22 Raptors is being dispatched to the region, a person familiar with the deployment told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Pentagon is also sending more ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers, and may bolster land-based surface-to-air capabilities. The moves are intended to fend off or deter an attack from Iran on Israel and enhance U.S. forces in the region following the death by explosion of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“The Department of Defense continues to take steps to mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or Iran’s partners and proxies,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in statement Aug. 2. “To that end, Secretary Austin has ordered adjustments to U.S. military posture designed to improve U.S. force protection, to increase support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies.”

The F-22 squadron will add to the U.S. Air Force’s three existing combat aircraft squadrons in the Middle East, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine. F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons fighters are already deployed to U.S. Central Command. So are A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes.

Now, the U.S. is sending its premier fifth-generation air superiority fighter. To support the increased number of warplanes, additional aerial refueling tankers are also being deployed, U.S. officials said.

The deployment of an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East will provide increased “defensive air support capability,” Singh said in the statement, which did not specify the type of fighters being sent to the region.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed “new defensive U.S. military deployments” during a phone call on Aug. 1, the White House said in a readout of the call. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III ordered the moves on Aug. 2. Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on the morning of Aug. 2 and informed Gallant of “ongoing and future defensive force posture changes,” the Pentagon said.

The killing of Haniyeh in the heart of the Iranian capital was likely carried out by Israel, though it has not confirmed it was responsible. After Iran said it would retaliate against Israel, Biden and Austin said the U.S. would defend Israel from attack by Iran.

The warships will be deployed to the Middle East under U.S. Central Command and to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel under U.S. European Command. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group of accompanying vessels will replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group in U.S. Central Command. The USS Theodore Roosevelt has been in the region for the last month after redeploying to the Middle East from the Pacific. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship that carries aircraft, and its Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) has also been operating in the eastern Mediterranean. The Pentagon said it would “increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense.”

An A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to the 107th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed from Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base takes off while an F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to 335th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed from North Carolina’s Seymour Johnson Air Force Base taxis at an undisclosed location within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, July 14, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joshua Smoot

U.S. Air Force fighters shot down more than 80 drones launched by Iran against Israel on the night of April 13 and the early morning hours of April 14, part of a successful allied defense that neutralized an attack that included some 300 missiles and drones. Among the USAF planes were F-15Es from the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson. U.S. F-16s also participated, as did coalition fighters and U.S. Navy ships in the region. The bulk of the air and missile defense was handled by Israel, however, using surface-to-air missiles, its own aircraft, and other assets.

In April, as an Iranian attack seemed imminent, additional F-15Es were rushed to the region just a day before the April attack. “They were right in the middle of the flight, and that says something to our level of training, our level of capability, and then be able to do that as part of a joint team like that in a coalition,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told reporters April 26.

The U.S. has rotated additional forces in the region, including fighter aircraft, since soon after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The group killed roughly 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

Air & Space Forces Magazine first reported the Pentagon would likely send additional U.S. Air Force fighters. The New York Times first reported the deployment of F-22s.

“As we have demonstrated since October and again in April, the United States’ global defense is dynamic and the Department of Defense retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats,” Singh said.

Now, as Iran plots a response to the Haniyeh killing, Austin said the U.S. is once again ready to aid Israel’s defense.

“If Israel is attacked, we certainly will help,” Austin told reporters July 31. “You saw us do that in April. You can expect to see us do that again. But we don’t want to see any of that happen. We’re going to work hard to make sure that we’re doing things to help take the temperature down and address issues through diplomatic means.”

Senate Committee Adds More Fighters, Boosts USAF and USSF Budget

Senate Committee Adds More Fighters, Boosts USAF and USSF Budget

Aug. 3, 2024 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

The Senate Appropriations Committee greenlit an $851.7 billion budget for the Pentagon for Fiscal 2025, a 2.3 percent increase over the allocation passed by the House Appropriations Committee in June, boosting the Air Force and Space Force’s budget to deter China and Russia. Members cited “alarming moves” by Chinese and Russian warplanes, those countries’ growing space capabilities, and the need to preserve USAF airpower as proof they were making the right decision.

“It strengthens our military across all domains, in the air, on land, at sea, in space, and in cyberspace,” Collins said about the budget. “For the Air Force, the bill provides additional funding to make nearly 500 more aircraft available than the President’s budget request would allow.”

The SAC added six more F-15EX fighters than the Air Force requested and $280 million for the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) engine development program.

“I want to repeat that the global security situation we see today is as dangerous as it’s ever been,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said at the committee markup on Aug 1. “Proof points, just last week, Russian Chinese bombers entered the Alaska Air Defense Zone, some 150 miles off the United States coast.”

“This is alarming,” he added.

Two Russian TU-95 Bears and two Chinese H-6 bombers encroached on Alaska’s 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. It was the first joint flight by China and Russia near Alaska.

“In fact, Russia and China are collaborating across the globe from space, all the way down to Russia’s unjust war in Ukraine,” added Tester.  

The deepening nuclear and space collaboration between Beijing and Moscow has alarmed the U.S. military leaders. In March, the two countries unveiled plans to construct a nuclear power plant on the moon by the 2030s. China recently halted nuclear arms control talks with Washington, following Russia’s lead. The U.S. officials say China is aiding Russia’s war effort against Ukraine by supplying satellite technology and dual-use components for weapons—a claim later endorsed by NATO in July, which accused Beijing of providing military equipment to Moscow. China has, however, denied any responsibility in the conflict.

“This bill builds on the critical work we did in the national security supplemental to counter Russia’s aggression, the influence of the Chinese government in the Indo Pacific, and a lot more,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Committee’s chair.

The total funding approved by the committee also includes $1 billion more than last year’s budget request from the Biden administration to bolster counter-drone capabilities, including $350 million for 1,200 counter-drone systems and additional radars. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) cited China as a primary player in that area. Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. James C. Slife recently cited the proliferation of cheap quadcopter drones made by DJI, a Chinese company, as an issue big enough to consider how the USAF views air superiority.

The bill also includes $4.1 billion for procurement and $19.8 billion for research and development for the Space Force, adding nearly a billion dollars to address “offensive space control and other space capabilities that were excluded from the request.” Russia has made alarming advances in space weapons recently, including working on a nuclear weapon Moscow could deploy in space, U.S. officials say.

The bill adds $181 million for the Guam Defense System to tackle China’s missiles and $123 million to boost Indo-Pacific Command’s targeting capabilities. The Pentagon is ramping up efforts to boost Guam’s defense against China’s potential “complex integrated attack” scenario and deploying fifth-generation fighters to key airbases in Japan, close to Taiwan and the South China Sea.

In March, the Air Force submitted its $3.5 billion unfunded priorities list for fiscal 2025 to Congress. Instead of requesting more new aircraft, the service’s annual wishlist focused on essential needs such as spare parts, exercises, military construction, and funding for the new “re-optimization” for great power competition overhaul.

The largest single item is $1.5 billion for spare parts to prevent aircraft from being grounded due to shortages and maintenance issues. The service described this as a “spare surge”—a one-time request for spare parts with no impact on future funding plans. The Air Force noted that this request was only partially funded for FY25, with budget constraints leading to preventing full funding of all of its key programs.

“And just to emphasize how important this is, it prevents the grounding of an estimated 221 airplanes because of the lack of spare parts,” Collins highlighted.  

Citing the “devastating effects” of continuing resolutions, Tester stressed the urgency of finishing the budgets on time this year.

“I want to remind everybody that last year’s budget got done six months, six months late,” said Tester. “How do we hold defense contractors accountable when we don’t do our job?”

Air Force Relieves Group Commander for Loss of Confidence After B-1 Crash

Air Force Relieves Group Commander for Loss of Confidence After B-1 Crash

Aug. 3, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The Air Force has relieved the 28th Operations Group Commander for loss of confidence after losing a B-1B Lancer worth nearly half a billion dollars in a January crash at at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

Col. Mark Kimball was relieved of command by Col. Derek C. Oakley, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing, effective Aug. 2, Air Force Global Strike Command said in a release.

AFGSC cited a “loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command” given the findings of the Accident Investigation Board. The investigation found the unit’s leadership and lax culture were a key cause leading to the crash that destroyed the bomber, callsign FELON 02, on Jan. 4.

b-1
U.S. Air Force Col. Mark Kimball shook the hand of Staff Sgt. Jacob Szatkowski, 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief, as the 28th Operations Group’s incoming commander, in June 2023. Following a crash six months later, he was relieved of command in August 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Josephine Pepin

The AIB said a cascading—and preventable—series of human errors led to the crash, in which four aircrew members ejected and survived. Two suffered injuries, however, and the aircraft largely disintegrated—a write-off of $450 million.

“This investigation has shown that many failures leading to this mishap were not a one-time occurrence or an aberration,” Col. Erick D. Lord, who led the investigation, wrote in the report. “I have noted that the mishap occurred due to numerous factors, including a culture of noncompliance, widespread deviation from established policy and procedure, and several organizational influences and preconditions.”

AFGSC had hinted when it released its investigation report that action might follow. “The chain of command is in the process of responding to the report and taking the appropriate corrective actions,” the command said in a press release at the time.

More actions could follow. An AFGSC spokesperson declined to comment further when asked on Aug. 2.

The AIB found Kimball prioritized “operational readiness,” which created a dearth in some mid-level leadership positions that help manage the group’s day-to-day functions.

Kimball “focused his assigned aviators on the high-priority [aircrew flight equipment], Wing Weapons, and Weapons and Tactics positions” at the expense of other duties. This led to a lack of assistant directors of operations (ADOs), which overloaded the chain of command. The 28th Operations Group had “an unhealthy organizational culture that permitted degradation of airmanship skills.” The B-1 that crashed was assigned to the 34th Bomb Squadron, part of the 28th Operations Group.

Kimball “underestimated the impact caused by the leadership vacuum and stated that manning decisions resulted in an overall loss of leadership and severing of connective tissue across his stovepiped flights,” the investigation said. “Additionally, without the ADO leadership, the commander and director of operations quickly became overwhelmed with day-to-day decision-making. To remedy this, the [squadron commander] pushed decision-making authority downward to flight commanders and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers.”

Overall, the report found that information about the runway was overlooked, weather briefings were outdated or unavailable, and pre-flight briefings lacked necessary information—just a few of the mistakes. Ultimately, the crew attempted to land in dense fog that reduced visibility below requirements and mismanaged the approach.

The report also found issues in the 28th Operations Support Squadron (28 OSS), part of the 28th Operations Group, which oversees the airspace and airfield at Ellsworth, provides weather forecasts, intelligence analysis, and other key supporting functions.

After the mishap, the commander of the 28th Operational Support Squadron “discovered multiple process and communication breakdowns between the Weather and Airfield Operations flights,” the report said. That commander “largely attributes this breakdown to young and inexperienced Airmen making uninformed decisions and improper documentation and notification procedures.”

The report blamed leadership for its lack of oversight.

“The organizational structure in the 28 OSS fostered inadequate supervision, an inability to identify and communicate airfield hazards properly, and the 28 OSS [commander]’s inability to recognize and control risk properly,” the report said.

Lord’s report said the 28th Operations Group was a ticking time bomb.

“The preponderance of the evidence revealed an ineffective and unhealthy culture, which directly contributed to the mishap,” Lord wrote. “Specifically, the [34th Bomb Squadron’s] overall lack of discipline, inadequate focus on basic airmanship skills, and failure to properly identify and mitigate risk, coupled with the [28th Operations Support Squadron’s] ineffective communication, inadequate program management, and lack of supervisory oversight, set conditions that allowed this mishap to occur by directly leading to the mishap’s cause and its three non-weather-related, substantially contributing factors.”

New DOD Suicide Report Falls Short in Key Areas

New DOD Suicide Report Falls Short in Key Areas

Aug. 2, 2024 | By David Roza

A new Congressionally mandated Pentagon study of military suicide rates broken down by career field offers a rare look at comparative risk factors facing service members, but may raise more questions than it answers.

“This data is a good starting point that will now help members of Congress and their staff create more specific questions,” said Katherine Kuzminski, Deputy Director of Studies and the Director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C.

“To an extent, you do have to get your arms around how big this problem is,” she told Air & Space Forces Magazine. But “now we have that, so how do we get more granular, more detailed in our requests?”

“Report on Incidence of Military Suicides by Military Job Code” arrived July 31, exactly seven months after the Dec. 31, 2023, deadline set by Congress in Section 599 of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. Lawmakers wanted greater insight into suicide data and directed a breakdown of military suicides since 2001 by year, military job code, and status (Active-duty, Reserve, or National Guard). It further directed DOD to compare per capita suicide rates to the overall suicide rate for each service, the wider military, and to the national suicide rate over the same period of time.

One reason Congress wanted all this can be traced to a former Air Force F-16 maintainer, who played a key role pushing Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) of the Senate Armed Services Committee to add the measure to the NDAA.

“Anecdotally we know [suicide rates are] really bad in certain career fields,” said retired Master Sgt. Chris McGhee in an in an April interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine. The report was supposed to prove that point. But after seeing the report, McGhee expressed disappointment. The report, he said, is “absolutely not in line with the explicit direction of the law as it was written.”

The report identified military jobs with the highest rates of suicide, including infantry, explosive ordnance disposal and diving, combat engineers, medical care specialists, and “not elsewhere classified” technical specialists, a catch-all term that includes mortuary affairs, firefighters, and nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialists. 

Lumped Together

But DOD did not include data back to 2001 as directed, going only back as far as January 1, 2011. And it also did not detail suicides by precise occupational specialty codes.

The report starts in 2011 because the department did not have a system for reliably tracking suicide before then, according to the report’s author, Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Ashish Vazirani. But a 2010 DOD study of military suicides from 2001 to 2009 would appear to show otherwise, a point first noted by Military.com.

air force suicide
U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Todd Ficek, 1st Combat Communications Squadron radio frequency transmission systems technician holds up an encouraging sign during a mental health awareness day at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 9, 2022. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Thomas Karol

Lumping together occupational specialties into broader career fields may also have diluted the insights that could be gleaned from studying the trends in specific career fields. 

For example, McGhee noted, “aircraft and aircraft related” combines categories ranging from “aircraft engines,” “aircraft structures” to “aircraft launch equipment,” but it does not specify the precise jobs represented in those groups, such as avionics, propulsion, crew chiefs, and ground equipment.

McGhee wanted to see specific rates for specific Air Force Specialty Codes. The report might have listed something like the format below, McGhee suggested:

  • 2A3X3 (The Air Force specialty code for tactical aircraft maintenance) overall rate: 29 out of 100,000 people
  • 2A3X3 Active Duty rate: 32
  • 2A3X3 Air National Guard rate: 28
  • 2A3X3 Air Force Reserve rate: 27

Instead, the report does not distinguish exact specialties or between types of aircraft, such as helicopter, fighter, airlift, drones, or other types that vary wildly in terms of operational tempo and spare parts availability. Another example is the aggregated total for Special Forces, conventional infantry, and military training instructors, fields that entail many different skills and challenges.

The Pentagon cited DOD regulations for its decision, because of the small numbers in data sets. “Military service component rates will not be calculated when the number of suicides is less than 20,” as it could invite statistical instability. “Instead, only the number of suicides will be reported.”

This logic is also used in DOD’s annual suicide reports, which lists the number of suicide deaths in subcategories, such as 17-19 year-old Active-duty troops or National Guard dependents. Rates are not calculated, however. 

Still, this latest report could have provided totals by occupational specialty, but officials chose not to. That differs from the 2010 study, which did list suicides for each year by service, as well as aggregated rates for all eight years, even when that number was just one person.

Kuzminski said the new report does not provide sufficient context. “If there’s 36 Special Forces deaths by suicide, is that 36 out of 40, or is that 36 out of 10,000?” she asked. “The way it’s lumped together, it’s difficult to get a sense of what [the data] truly means.” 

Unlike the 2010 study, the report also does not distinguish among similar career fields in different services, such as Army and Marine Corps infantry or Navy and Air Force tactical aircraft maintainers. Not doing so makes it impossible to see whether rates vary by service, which could lead to better understanding.

“That’s why it really matters how the law is written,” Kuzminski said. “They didn’t ask for it by service, so it wasn’t presented by service.”

The 2023 William Tell competition drew F-22s, F-35s, and F-15s to the Air Dominance Center at Savannah Air National Guard Base, Ga., in September. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Zachary Rufus

Time Warp

Another aspect missing in the report are clear breakdowns by year. The report explained the omission by saying “because doing so would not provide sufficient data to calculate a suicide rate for the military occupations. … [I]t is difficult to distinguish between random fluctuation/natural variation (“noise”) and true change (“signal”) with a high degree of confidence,” the Pentagon wrote.

But McGhee questions that logic. “The law required certain data, not DOD interpretations and solutions,” he said. “If DOD wanted to provide their own interpretation for context, there is no issue. But to supplant their interpretation as data, in violation of the law is problematic.”

By not distinguishing the data by year, the spikes and declines that would otherwise be apparent are obscured, he said. Those variations matter. An Army Times investigation this spring found suicide rates among tank brigades in recent years were higher than in other combat units, due largely to unsustainable operations tempo, under-manning, and spare parts backlogs. 

Air Force data acquired by McGhee through a Freedom of Information Act request reported in 2016 that the suicide rate rose among Active duty aircraft maintainers rose from 14.7 per 100,000 in 2013 to 30.5 per 100,000 in 2014. Meanwhile, the average Active duty suicide rate rose less significantly from 14.5 to 19.

That same time period overlaps with the 2014 Air Force drawdown, when 19,833 Airmen left the service, among them at least 1,392 maintainers, widening a pre-existing shortage of more than 2,500 maintainers, Air Fore Times reported at the time. The drawdown affected experienced 5-level and 7-level maintainers, leaving inexperienced maintainers to make up those deficits.

Next Steps

The NDAA specified for the Pentagon to provide an interim briefing with preliminary findings by June, 2023, which might have presented the DOD a chance to review its limitations with Congress, but the report did not mention if such a briefing ever occurred.

In the future, Kuzminski said the individual services may be better positioned first to provide the kind of data that would generate more useful insights, and then to implement any new policy.

“It may actually be more effective, granular, and nuanced if the responsibility was to each of the services as opposed to DoD,” she said. “We need the data to know what the trends are, but in order to take action, that’s going to be at the service level.”

Future legislation may call for more data. A draft of the Senate version of the 2025 NDAA features most of the same language from the 2023 bill. A few new bits also written by Sen. King would extend the reporting to “the number of suicides, attempted suicides, or known cases of suicidal ideation [emphasis added].”

Service members and veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, and those who know a service member or veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans/Military Crisis Line for confidential support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 988 and press 1; text 988; or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.

Gearbox Failure Caused Air Force V-22 Osprey Crash, Investigation Finds

Gearbox Failure Caused Air Force V-22 Osprey Crash, Investigation Finds

Aug. 1, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The crash of an Air Force CV-22 Osprey last year off Japan that killed eight Airmen was caused by a “catastrophic failure” in one aircraft’s gearboxes that led to an “unrecoverable” loss of control just as the crew was about to conduct an emergency landing, a service investigation released Aug. 1 found.

The mishap and multiple other fatal crashes over the last several years led to a monthslong grounding of the military’s entire Osprey fleet. The Osprey’s long-running issues with the gearbox have led to questions surrounding the aircraft’s future. The November crash, which shook the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) community, has led the command to rethink and limit the service’s use of the Osprey for now and reevaluate the number of CV-22 pilots and aircrews it needs.

The CV-22 has two prop-rotor gearboxes mounted in each rotating engine nacelle, which allow the tilt-rotor aircraft to take off like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. While officials involved in the Osprey program said soon after the crash the problem in the November crash was not a so-called “hard-clutch engagement,” a transmission issue, which has been faulted in previous mishaps, the ultimate problem that doomed the Nov. 29 flight Osprey involved the troublesome gearbox.

A metal gear failed, causing small chips to lodge in the gearbox. This ultimately caused the left-hand gearbox and drivetrain to fail completely, pitching the aircraft into a roll and nosedive into the ocean.

“That resulted in a complete roll,” Lt. Gen. Michael E. Conley, the head of AFSOC, told reporters ahead of the announcement. “The aircraft did two full rolls and ended up impacting the water.”

An Osprey pilot, Conley, previously a one-star general, led the Accident Investigation Board. Conley jumped two stars when he was confirmed to lead AFSOC.

The crash was the deadliest CV-22 in Air Force history. Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann; Maj. Eric V. Spendlove; Maj. Luke A. Unrath; Capt. Terrell K. Brayman; Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy; Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage; Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson; and Staff Sgt. Jake Galliher were killed. There have been 11 crashes involving the Osprey since 1992, in which 61 people have died. There are some 400 V-22 variants across the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

In a rare move, his report put some of the blame on Pentagon leadership.

“[S]afety assessments and their findings were given insufficient treatment at the program level and have been inadequately communicated to the military services, creating lack of comprehensive awareness of PRGB [prop-rotor gearbox] risks, and limiting opportunities to impose risk mitigation measures at the service or unit level,” Conley wrote. “I find, by the preponderance of the evidence, that inadequate action at the program level and inadequate coordination between the program office and the services prevented comprehensive awareness of PRGB risks, and substantially contributed to the mishap.”

The transmission complexity in the Osprey has been a known issue since the aircraft debuted in the 1990s. The engine, weight, and vibration have to rotate, which puts enormous stress on the gears and driveshaft. Conley’s report underscores that.

The report also found that the crew’s actions contributed to the crash. The report found they should have diverted earlier in the flight but delayed an attempted emergency landing despite repeated and escalating warnings in the cockpit.

But the gear chipping phenomenon is not new, and the report ultimately blamed the aircraft, rather than the aircrew, as the primary cause of the crash. The chipping issue is common enough that the aircraft has a system designed to detect and clear the chips.

Conley compared the chip warnings to “a check engine light in your car.”

“The chips are a byproduct of just the gearboxes themselves,” he added. “It’s not unique to a V-22.”

The crew received six so-called “chip burn” warnings. When the aircrew decided to divert, they did not choose the closest airfield, and after the third chip burn warning, the aircraft was just 10 miles from the nearest airfield. The report said there was “an insufficient sense of urgency throughout the entire mishap sequence.” The pilot, Hoernemann, was also the mission commander for the exercise the aircraft, callsign GUNDAM 22, was participating in and may have felt the need to complete the mission, the report found. The crew received a sixth chip burn warning that indicated the aircraft was no longer burning off the stray metal pieces.

Conley said the crew likely faced “internal pressure” to complete the mission. “We ask crew members to make a million decisions, and sometimes seemingly mundane decisions or easy ones end up being consequential, and in this case, a series of decisions resulted in them extending the flight longer than they should have,” he said.

In the minutes before the accident, the crew was hovering and waiting for clearance to land from Japanese air traffic control at an airfield in Yakushima.

The pieces degraded the prop-rotor gearbox to the point where it no longer turned the Osprey’s left prop-rotor mast. Within six seconds of the prop-rotor gearbox failure, the drive system failed and the aircraft was unrecoverable. It crashed into the water, killing all eight Airmen abroad. The aircraft was assigned to 21st Special Operations Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

The accident investigation board was convened by then-AFSOC boss Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, with the investigation spanning from Dec. 6, 2023 to May 30, 2024, AFSOC said in a press release. The probe collated maintenance logs, interviews, flight recorder data, wreckage inspection, engineering and human factors analysis, and other evidence to assemble “a detailed sequence of events” surrounding the mishap, the command said.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) boss Navy Vice Adm. Carl P. Chebi, who heads the office that oversees the Osprey program, said in June that he did not expect the Osprey to return to full, unrestricted flight operations until mid-2025.

But Conley said while the Air Force is not using the CV-22 in combat operations, he indicated the service may soon return the Ospreys to full non-combat operations. AFSOC returned Ospreys to limited operations in March but recently pulled them from an exercise in Japan to focus on “internal training.”

“We’re getting back in the ballpark where I think we will be supporting combatant commanders this year, this calendar year,” Conley said.

The crew of the mishap flight was comprised of Airmen from the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 1st Special Operations Squadron, and 43rd Intelligence Squadron.

“This has been a hard eight months,” Conley said. “We lost eight air commandos that were valued members of this command.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the date of the crash. Air & Space Forces Magazine regrets the error.