With NATO Membership Looming, Sweden and US Sign New Defense Cooperation Deal

Dec. 5, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Swedish defense minister Pal Jonson signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement on Dec. 5 strengthening military ties between the two nations, which will allow bilateral exercises and new joint procurements and further paves a path for Sweden’s integration into NATO.

The agreement “will enable enhanced defense cooperation, such as legal status for U.S. military personnel, access to deployment areas, and pre-positioning of military materiel,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters. “The DCA also creates the conditions necessary for U.S. military support when requested, and is, therefore, an agreement of great importance to both countries.” Further specifics were not immediately provided.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, long-neutral Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, and while Finland has been admitted to the alliance, Sweden’s membership is waiting on approval from Turkey and Hungary.

Jonson, speaking Dec. 5 with the Atlantic Council, declined to offer a timeline on when he expects the final hurdles to Sweden’s membership to be cleared, only saying that it will be “soon.”

“Turkey has given Swedish invitee status, saying it’s not whether we’re going to become members but when … and we’re hopeful that this is going to be resolved as soon as possible,” Jonson said.

Of the DCA between the U.S. and Sweden, Jonson said, “This is going to put our close partnership even closer. It’s going to create better conditions for U.S. forces both to use Swedish territory as a staging and basing area, and also for exercising, and it’s all about also deterrence. So the DCA is going to be a new cornerstone in our bilateral cooperation.”

He later said a U.S. military presence in Sweden “is important” for NATO integration and the DCA will guide American investment in the region.

Jonson’s remarks focused on how Sweden will integrate its military with NATO and made the case that Stockholm is already highly aligned both operationally and technically with NATO standards.

As an example, he cited last year’s “Silver Arrow” exercise with the U.S., saying it was Sweden’s largest exercise in 25 years and highlighted the need to pay attention to logistics and maintenance, and the ability to “fight for a long time.”

He noted that the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland, and Denmark already work together militarily, and all now have DCAs with the U.S., and this should speed and enhance NATO interoperability in the Scandinavian region.

Sweden was one of the first members of the Partnership For Peace—sometimes called “NATO Light”—set up by during the Clinton Administration to establish a path to NATO membership for other European countries and the former Warsaw Pact nations. The PFP defined a series of steps, from joint exercises to common equipment and training standards, necessary for membership, and Sweden has fully embraced all of those, Jonson said, and has sent its troops to serve alongside NATO forces in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Libya.

“We are plugged into NATO’s regional plans,” he said, and Sweden offers not only state-of-the-art ground, air, and naval forces and basing opportunities but expertise in Russian intelligence matters.

“Intelligence is also an asset I think we can bring to the table, to the alliance,” Jonson said. “Sweden has a lot of Russian expertise. We have strong capabilities in our intelligence communities. We have sensors that can work from our submarines and they can work also from our surface combatants and also from airborne sensors.”

Sweden, despite a population of only 10 million, also has a defense industry capable of building armored vehicles, submarines, corvettes, and fighter and command-and-control aircraft, and is making 155mm ammunition for Ukraine alongside Denmark and Norway. The SAAB JAS-39 Gripen is a frequent competitor to the U.S. F-16 and F-35 in international competitions, and its Global Eye airborne warning and control system often goes up against Boeing’s E-7 Wedgetail. SAAB is Boeing’s partner on the T-7A Red Hawk advanced USAF trainer, and Sweden’s Gripen fighters carry U.S.-made AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and are powered by GE Aerospace F414 engines.

Sweden is “fully behind” NATO’s goals that every member devote two percent of its gross domestic product on defense and 20 percent of that amount on new equipment and research and development, Jonson said.

“Sweden has doubled its defense budgets by 2024 compared to how we were in in 2020,” he said. “In five years, we have doubled [spending] … and next year we will reach 2.1 percent of GDP and we have a trajectory upwards as well. We get it.”

On top of that, Jonson said Sweden spends “actually, 56 percent, when it comes to acquisition. So we score quite well in reqard to investments and also on innovation.”

Joining NATO will given Sweden added security in deterring possible aggression by Russia, which continues to wage war on Ukraine, and Jonson said Sweden also wants to do its part to prevent Russia from a series of further attacks.

“If Russia would be successful in this war, I fear that other countries neighboring Russia, such as Moldova and Georgia, would feel an increased pressure and there will also be an increased pressure on the Alliance. So rest assured that the United States has a partner in Sweden that shares a unity of purpose of supporting Ukraine as long as it takes,” he said.

Russia has outlined plans to regroup from its losses in Ukraine and “be back with a bigger force” in 2026, Jonson added, which will require vigilance and no let-up in support for Kyiv from NATO and the European Union. There is a “window of opportunity” for NATO to keep up the pressure to secure a desirable outcome in the war, he added.

Most of the Swedish electorate—65-70 percent—supports joining NATO, Jonson said, and 88 percent of seats in parliament were won “by those who want to join,” Jonson said. They recognize that Russia’s aggression is an immediate danger and requires an “evolution” in thinking.

“Sweden Is no longer being defended inside Sweden,” he said.

Senate Confirms Hundreds of Generals, But 7 Top USAF, USSF Leaders Still Wait

Dec. 5, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The Senate confirmed over 400 senior military promotions Dec. 5, after Sen. Tommy Tuberville mostly lifted his monthslong hold on military nominations.

“I’m not going to hold the promotions of these people any longer,” Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “We fought hard.”

Specifically, Tuberville lifted his hold on all nominations below four-star generals and admirals. Out of 455 pending general and flag officer nominations, affecting 451 people, the Senate confirmed 425 on Dec. 5. Of the 30 nominations still pending, at least 11 are for four-star officers.

Tuberville had come under increasing pressure from members of his own party to lift the hold. He initially placed it in March to protest the Pentagon’s reproductive health policies, which provide funds to service members to travel out of state to seek services, including abortions.

Senators regularly place legislative holds on individual nominations to raise certain issues. Tuberville’s hold on all general and flag officers, however, was unprecedented in scope and length.

“Today, hundreds—hundreds—of military families across the country can breathe a sigh of relief,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “The Senate has now unanimously confirmed hundreds of military confirmations that were held up for 10 months by a single person, the senator from Alabama. Thank God, these military officers will now get the military promotions that they so rightfully earned.”

The Pentagon has said the policy has harmed military readiness amid an increasingly precarious international security situation with a war between Israel and Hamas as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary—all while U.S. troops in the Middle East have come under attack from Iranian-aligned groups and tensions with China have risen.

“Certainly, we’re encouraged by the news,” Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said. It is unclear exactly when the Senate will confirm more nominees.

“I thank the Senate for quickly confirming these appointments and urge them to confirm the remaining appointees swiftly,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The newly freed one-star, two-star, and three-star nominations include 111 Department of the Air Force nominations affecting 109 people: four in the Air National Guard, 26 in the Air Force Reserve, 70 in the Air Force, and nine in the Space Force, according to a defense official. It was not immediately clear if all of those officers were confirmed en masse.

However, it will take time for all the newly confirmed generals to reach their new jobs.

“It’s not just flipping a switch, and suddenly everyone moves into these new positions,” Ryder said. “You have to consider things like when people can move, where the people that are moving out of the positions are going. So all that has to be carefully orchestrated and done in a way that enables us to continue to conduct the operations without having a significant impact not only on the mission but also on the individual family members.”

The Air Force and Space Force have a disproportionate number of the 11 pending four-star positions, which can still be voted on individually on the Senate floor—Seven USAF and USSF generals nominated for four-star positions remain under blockade and are unable to take up their new jobs, U.S. defense officials said.

The holds include new vice chiefs for both services: Lt. Gen. James C. Slife for the Air Force and Lt. Gen. Michael A. Guetlein for the Space Force.

Three others are to lead combatant commands:

Lt. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot to lead U.S. Northern Command and NORAD

Lt. Gen. Timothy D. Haugh to lead U.S. Cyber Command

Lt. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting to lead U.S. Space Command

And two are to lead Air Force major commands:

Lt. Gen. Kevin B. Schneider to be commander of Pacific Air Forces

Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, the current leader of PACAF and a four-star general, to be head of Air Combat Command

“These holds have already dragged on needlessly for months,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement.

The four-star positions are still likely to be confirmed via individual votes.

“We have a mission to do,” Ryder said. “We require senior leaders in key positions to help lead and conduct the operations of the Department of Defense.”

Commercial Tankers Refuel USAF F-15, F-16, and F-22 Fighters For First Time Ever

Dec. 5, 2023 | By Unshin Lee Harpley

Three types of U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft participated in air-to-air refueling with commercial tankers for the first time last month, coinciding with a bilateral exercise between the U.S. and Singapore that concluded Nov. 24.

‘Commando Sling’ began Nov. 6 and featured six F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 51st Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base, South Korea. On Nov. 9, Pacific Air Forces announced a commercial KDC-10 tanker refueled the F-16s en route to Singapore, with plans to also refuel F-15s and F-22s before the end of the exercise.

A PACAF spokesperson later confirmed to Air & Space Forces Magazine that commercial tankers refueled F-15C and F-22 fighters, though they declined to reveal the exact dates and locations.

The missions mark a milestone for the Air Force, which typically relies on its own tankers to keep its aircraft flying but has started to dip its toe into the commercial refueling world. In June, a commercial refueler linked up with E-3 Sentry and RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft during during an exercise, the first ever instance for any U.S. Air Force aircraft.

“We’re expanding that aperture in PACAF and identified a proof-of-concept employment to refuel fighter aircraft during exercise Commando Sling 23.” PACAF air mobility operations chief Lt. Col. Curtis Holtman said in a Nov. 9 release.

The advantage of commercial refueling, Holtman said, is that “it frees up our warfighter tanker fleet to be ready to respond for emerging contingency requirements.”

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have used commercial refuelers for almost two decades, and there are several companies that offer the service. Metrea Strategic Mobility conducted the first refueling missions in July, while Omega Air Refueling provided the KDC-10 that refueled the F-16s.

The KDC-10 is designed for dual functionality, capable of refueling in flight and transporting cargo or passengers. During the exercise, the aircraft transported more than 40 personnel and cargo on a single flight. The KDC-10 is a close relative of the USAF’s largest air refueling aircraft, the KC-10 Extender, both derived from the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

Also during Commando Sling, U.S. pilots engaged in combined tactics and dissimilar dogfighting involving practicing combat maneuvers against different aircraft. The combined forces focused on live flight support operations while covering fighter air-to-air capabilities such as airborne refueling.

“[We] trained with Singaporean F-15s [SG], F-16s [Block 52], and refueled multiple times with their A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport,” said Lt. Col. Cory Ferrer, 36th Fighter Squadron commander, in a release.

Following the completion of the exercise, the six F-16s and around 90 Airmen, including the pilots from the 51st Fighter Wing, returned to Osan from Paya Lebar Air Base in Singapore.

“The training is invaluable in allowing them to learn how to better employ the F-16 against aircraft that have different performance characteristics and methods of fighting,” instructor pilot Capt. Jonathan Lee said about the training.

Since its inception in 1990, Exercise Commando Sling aims to bolster interoperability and joint capability between the two nations by practicing tactical coordination. Ferrer highlighted that exercises like this enable the squadron to refine combat agility, while demonstrating “the strength and necessity of partnerships.”

USAF Identifies All 8 Airmen Killed in Osprey Crash

Dec. 5, 2023 | By Greg Hadley and Chris Gordon

The eight Airmen aboard the CV-22 Osprey that crashed off the coast of Japan were declared dead as the operation transitioned to search and recovery Dec. 5.

“Our entire nation mourns this tragic loss,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The aircraft caught fire and crashed Nov. 29 incident off the southern Japanese coast, sparking a massive search and rescue effort involving the U.S. and Japanese military, coast guard, law enforcement, and civilian volunteers. The bulk of the wreckage was discovered by surface ships and dive teams on Dec. 4.

“The transition from a rescue operation to a recovery operation occurs when the determination is made that survivors are unlikely,” read a statement by Air Force Special Operations Command, which noted that the families of the deceased had all been notified.

“We will always honor their devotion to our country, and we will ensure the families of the fallen receive the respect, care, and support they deserve,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin said in a statement.

The remains of six Airmen have been recovered so far. Two bodies have not yet been found.

The first of the eight Airmen identified was Staff Sgt. Jacob “Jake” M. Galliher, 24, of Pittsfield, Mass., who was a Direct Support Operator and airborne linguist specializing in Mandarin.

The other seven, all identified Dec. 5, are:

Maj. Jeffrey T. Hoernemann, 32, of Andover, Minn., a CV-22 instructor pilot and officer in charge of training assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Maj. Eric V. Spendlove, 36, of St. George, Utah, a residency-trained flight surgeon and medical operations flight commander assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Maj. Luke A. Unrath, 34, of Riverside, Calif., was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Capt. Terrell K. Brayman, 32, of Pittsford, N.Y., was a CV-22 pilot and flight commander assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Tech. Sgt. Zachary E. Lavoy, 33, of Oviedo, Fla., was a medical operations flight chief assigned to the 1st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Staff Sgt. Jake M. Turnage, 25, of Kennesaw, Ga., was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Senior Airman Brian K. Johnson, 32, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, was a flight engineer assigned to the 21st Special Operations Squadron, 353rd Special Operations Wing, Yokota Air Base, Japan.

“In times like these, where service to our nation is not just a personal commitment but also a legacy woven into the fabric of our families, the depth of sorrow is immeasurable,” Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, AFSOC commander, said in a statement. “The honorable service of these eight Airmen to this great Nation will never be forgotten, as they are now among the giants who shape our history.”

Graphic posted by Air Force Special Operations Command

The Japan Coast Guard, Japan Self-Defense Forces, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, Special Operations Command—Pacific, 353rd Special Operations Wing, 18th Wing, and 1st Special Forces Group all participated in search efforts and will continue to support recovery operations.

The incident is the deadliest USAF aviation incident since 2018, when nine Air Guardsmen were killed in a WC-130 crash in Georgia.

“These brave American Airmen were training and honing their skills during the time of this tragic accident,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a statement. “Their dedication to our mission is an inspiration to us all and their loss is felt across the Department of the Air Force.”

It is also the Air Force’s deadliest-ever CV-22 accident. The only other deadly crash was a 2010 incident in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of three service members and one civilian. Famed for its tilt-rotor design, which allows it to take off and land like a helicopter and rotate its rotors to fly like an airplane, the Osprey is also flown by the Marine Corps and Navy, and has a checkered safety history.

In August, three Marines were killed when their Osprey crashed in Australia. In 2022, nine Marines were killed in two separate crashes.

“We continue to gather information on this tragic incident, and we will conduct a rigorous and thorough investigation,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said.

Vice Chairman Says JROC Shifting to Top-Down, Portfolio Requirements Approach

Dec. 4, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

The Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which decides which service equipment requests get funding priority, is changing its approach, making joint utility a top consideration rather than simply letting the services chase whatever technology they want, according to Adm. Christopher W. Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and chair of the JROC.

Grady, speaking with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center said Dec. 4 that “we’re … making the JROC more effective” by “taking a top-down approach.”

The JROC is transitioning away from the traditional approach, in which the services bring a new requirement to the council and “we rubber stamp it and then they can go out and buy it,” Grady said, pegging this as a “bottom-up approach.”

“We’re doing a top-down approach which says, these are the requirements, and oh by the way, they devolved from … the Joint Warfighting Concept 3.0, which is now Joint Pub 1,” he said. Requirements are now “instantiated into the [joint] doctrine.”

“So now we write a good requirement and then any stakeholder can come forward and say, ‘OK, we can meet that.’ And so we try to close the gap, that requirement,” he added.

Stovepiped approaches have also been dropped in favor of “looking at [requirements] across portfolios of capability,” Grady said.

“That’s in line with the next thing that we tried to do to improve the efficiency of the JROC, and that is meld our process kind of simultaneously, as opposed to sequentially, with the acquisition side,” Grady said. “They have portfolios review … and so we’re bringing those together,” along with those under the undersecretary for research and engineering team, led by Heidi Shyu.

“So that forms a kind of a three-legged stool: of portfolios in requirement, portfolios in acquisition, and portfolios in technology and in R&D,” Grady said. “We’re trying to bring that all together.”

Such work builds on progress started by Grady’s predecessors, Air Force Gens. Paul Selva and John Hyten, he said.

Grady said he also wants to “put some teeth” into his position, to better enforce a joint approach to the requirements process.

“I can yell pretty loudly. But the services don’t have to do” as Grady directs. “I don’t have that authority to order them to do it.”

By comparison, Grady said his counterparts in countries like the United Kingdom, France, and Australia, do have that authority. Gaining it in the U.S. may require amending Title 10 authorities through legislation, but the vice chairman said he is “not certain that’s where we want to go.”

“At the very least, I can do a scorecard that says, ‘hey, all you JROC members … you signed up to do this. You said yes, we signed it out. Does that match with what we’re seeing in the budget?’ And if not, then we bring that forward to the Secretary and he makes the risk calculus. We can’t do that right now,” Grady said.

By “bringing some teeth” to the JROC process, “we can make it stronger,” he added.

As Grady seeks to empower the JROC, however, he warned that its effectiveness is threatened by the ongoing hold placed on most military promotions by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). The hold has prevented most of the services’ vice chiefs—who all sit on the JROC—from being confirmed.

“One of the real values of the JROC is, you have the vices sitting there, [with] all that depth and breadth of experience,” Grady said. Without them, the council’s meetings have relied on specific subject matter experts.

“They’re really capable officers, but they come based on the specific issue,” Grady said. “That makes sense. That’s what I would do if I were in one of the one of the services, until they get their vice [confirmed]. But that depth and breadth, how it fits across the entire service portfolio, is probably not as strong as it would be if it was a vice sitting at the table.”

More broadly, among certain allies, there is also a new International JROC, Grady said. The group has had two meetings, set a governance process, and “we’re actually establishing requirements that we can work through together,” Grady said. “I can see that we will be able to take the output of the IJROC and be at least one requirements-driven input to AUKUS Pillar 2, which is the new technology space. That’s pretty exciting.”

Why Air Force Tanker Crews Are Training To Pump Their Own Gas

Dec. 4, 2023 | By David Roza

The Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Air Refueling Group recently put together what may be a first of its kind in the Air Force: a training program that teaches KC-135 tanker crews how to perform specialized fueling operations (SFO): ground-based procedures that could help gas up military aircraft in a conflict.

There are a few different kinds of SFO. One is hot refueling, where an aircrew lands, takes on gas from a fuel truck, and leaves the jet’s engines running so it can get back to the sky sooner. Hot refueling is helpful at small airfields that do not have permanent fuel storage.

Another form of SFO is wet wing defueling, where a jet lands, keeps the engines running, and offloads some of its fuel to a fuel truck so that the truck can gas other aircraft arriving in the future.

These techniques help with the Air Force’s concept of Agile Combat Employment (ACE), where Airmen and aircraft disperse and operate from small airfields in the hope that the movement will complicate an enemy’s targeting process.

But small facilities mean there are not as many ground crew Airmen to conduct SFO and not as much infrastructure to do it with. To prepare, Airmen across the service are learning skills outside their usual job specialty, and the new program in Michigan marks the latest example of aircrews joining in the challenge.

air guard tanker — Members of the Michigan Air National Guard’s 127th Wing practice removing fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft into an R-11 refueling vehicle while three of four engines remain running, in a process referred to as, “wet wing defuel,” during Exercise Northern Strike 23, at MBS International Airport, Freeland, Michigan, Aug. 9, 2023. U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Chelsea E. FitzPatrick

“The combat advantage of using aircrew to conduct SFO is in making austere, lesser-manned contingency locations more accessible to turning the aircraft,” Lt. Col. Michael Urban, an evaluator pilot with the 127th Air Refueling Group, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The challenge was that there did not appear to be a documented process for how KC-135 aircrews should conduct SFO under combat conditions. The Michigan team turned to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), which has a history of performing SFO in austere conditions, for help creating a concept of operations (CONOPS).

“We married-up the KC-135 draft CONOPS we have with [AFSOC’s] CONOPS and the outcome is very ‘aircrew-centric,'” Chief Master Sgt. Erik Wolford, senior enlisted leader of the 191st Maintenance Operations Flight, said in a recent press release. “We focused very heavily on having air crew perform the task in its entirety.”

Other aircraft in the service have SFO training programs, but this could be the first for Stratotanker aircrews.

“While we do not have perfect knowledge on what the rest of the force is accomplishing, we believe we are the first KC-135 unit to formally train this,” Urban said.

A KC-135 crew typically consists of a pilot, a copilot, and a boom operator who works the refueling boom on the jet’s belly. Urban explained that “the whole crew needs to work as a team to successfully accomplish SFO,” but the pilots’ primary duty station during the procedure is in the cockpit. The procedure also still requires some ground crew members to operate the fuel truck, for example.

SFO training for aircrew could take anywhere from two days to more than a month, depending on the procedure being taught, Urban added. This summer, the 127th ARG certified seven different aircrews from other Guard and Reserve units who came to Michigan for Exercise Northern Strike 23-2, a large-scale training exercise. The group hopes to have most of its aircrews certified in SFO, and Urban said there has been a considerable amount of interest from other units.

Offloading gas to the ground via air tanker is not a substitute for shipping bulk quantities of fuel via maritime tankers, of which experts say the U.S. needs more to sustain through a longer conflict. Still, delivering gas via jets could play an important role, especially in the early stages of a conflict. In the meantime, the training will likely continue to improve, Maj. Mark Hanna, of the 217th Air Component Operations Squadron, said in the release.

“The biggest challenge is that [SFO] is something we haven’t done before so it’s constantly evolving,” he said. “We tackle something that hasn’t really been done before and we hone it.”

Air Force Missile Cancer Study Plans to Expand Testing to Vandenberg

Dec. 4, 2023 | By Chris Gordon and Greg Hadley

The Air Force is broadening the scope of its study on environmental cancers at its intercontinental ballistic missile bases to include more facilities, service officials said—Vandenberg Space Force Base, a site used to test launch America’s ICBMs, will now be scrutinized.

Previously, the command focused on operational Minuteman III bases and their personnel. The Air Force has been leading a sweeping Missile Community Cancer Study to address long-held concerns of heath hazards in and around America’s missile silos, which two older studies had discounted.

“We took this to heart immediately,” Col. Tory Woodard, the commander of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) told reporters Dec. 1. “We are fully dedicated to looking into this to maintain the safety of our operations and our people.”

The command has also completed a cleanup and reopened one of the facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base where polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found at levels above the acceptable threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has deemed PCBs “probable human carcinogens” that “have been demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse health effects.”

USAFSAM and a team of defense medical officials have finished collecting a second round of environmental test samples looking for hazardous chemicals at the three operational ICBM bases, the officials added.

The study team provided reporters with a wide-ranging update on the status of Global Strike Command’s Missile Community Cancer Study, an in-depth review to determine whether missileers and other ICBM support personnel are at elevated risk for cancer—a longtime concern shared by many current and former Airmen that gained new traction earlier this year when a presentation detailing cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, at Malmstrom appeared online.

In August, AFGSC announced the results of its first round of environmental sampling at the three missile bases, finding elevated amounts of PCBs at two facilities at Malmstrom and one at Minot Air Force Base, N.D. All told, some 2,000 air, swipe, soil, and other samples were taken at the three bases. Trace amounts below the EPA standard were also found at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.

Air Force Global Strike Command ordered cleanups for all three bases and closed the three facilities that had elevated levels of PCBs.

The cleanup process was developed by the EPA, Air Force medical professionals, and Minuteman III program engineers, said Col. Gregory Coleman, surgeon general for AFGSC.

“That process included going out and scrubbing and removing the PCBs and then treating them, wiping them down with other chemicals, and then taking all of those back to our civil engineering squadron and their hazmat program for disposal,” added Col. Dan Voorhies of the 20th Air Force, which oversees the ICBM fleet. The facilities were then retested.

A second round of testing took place in October and November, concluding just before Thanksgiving, said Woodard. Results will be released in January or February.

Around the same time, the study’s leaders hope to expand their testing to Vandenberg, which hosts the 377th Test and Evaluation Group, and regularly conducts Minuteman III test launches to “validate and verify the safety, security, effectiveness, and readiness” of the missile.

“We are currently building a sampling strategy and plan to do sampling at Vandenberg,” said Col. Joanna Rentes, chair of the occupational and environmental health department at USAFSAM. “Once that gets approved, we expect to execute early 2024.”

“On the Vandenberg side, we want to make sure that we are giving it the same … look that we’re giving at the other installations,” added Coleman.

A third round of environmental sampling at the three operational missile bases will take place in the spring—soil sampling is difficult when many of the northern bases are covered in snow, Woodard noted.

The study team has been looking at issues such as contaminated drinking water, which many Airmen have been suspicious of for years, and hazardous agricultural chemicals used on privately owned land around missile facilities. The process is monthslong because the team will account for seasonal variations.

The other part of the study is an epidemiological review of current and former missileers, comparing their rates of cancer against other Airmen and the general public, similar to other recent studies examining whether aircrew and other flightline personnel experience higher cancer rates. Like those studies, the review is looking at a broad range of cancers, 14 in total, Woodard said.

“The study continues and we are continuing to evaluate the data as it comes in,” Woodard said. “We hope to have some initial results in the near future.” A slideshow shown as part of an AFGSC town hall shared with reporters projects the epidemiological review to be complete by June 2024.

Throughout the process, the Air Force has stressed that whatever happened in the past, the current study will attempt to turn over as many stones as possible.

“It is difficult to speak about past studies,” Woodard said. “The studies that were done in 2001 and 2005, the DOD did not have a large electronic medical record.”

Since then, service medical officials say data has become easier to access, AFGSC has enabled increased physical access to classified facilities, and testing technology has improved.

“We’re in a much better position now to do this study,” Woodard said. “We immediately jumped on this. The safety and health of our Airmen is paramount and informing the rest of our previously served Airmen using this data is also one of our major efforts and concerns.”

Osprey Crash Wreckage, Remains of 5 Airmen Located

Dec. 4, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

After a nearly weeklong search, U.S. and Japanese search teams have located the bulk of the wreckage of the U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey that crashed off the coast of southern Japan, along with the remains of most of its crew members.

Search and rescue teams had been looking for the aircraft since it crashed Nov. 29. The remains of five crew members were found Dec. 4, Air Force Special Operations Command said in a statement—a previous crew member’s remains were announced as recovered Dec. 2.

Eight Airmen were aboard the Osprey when it went down.

“The combined Japanese and United States teams working diligently in the search for the CV-22 aircraft that crashed near Yakushima, Japan, on Nov. 29, 2023, had a breakthrough when their surface ships and dive teams were able to locate remains along with the main fuselage of the aircraft wreckage,” AFSOC said in a statement.

The remains of two of five crew members found on Dec. 4 have been recovered, AFSOC added. They have have yet to be identified, according to the U.S. military. Search and recovery efforts are continuing.

“There is an ongoing combined effort to recover the remaining crew members from the wreckage,” AFSOC said in the statement.

The U.S. previously confirmed the death and identity of one Airman, Staff Sgt. Jacob “Jake” M. Galliher, 24, who was recovered shortly after the mishap.

“The coalition of military, coast guard, law enforcement, mariners, and local volunteers remain steadfast in locating and bringing the U.S. service members back to their units and their families,” AFSOC stated.

“It’s some tough times we have,” Air Force Chief of Staff. Gen. David W. Allvin said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., on Dec. 2. “We are blessed in that we have Americans who are willing to come into our formation and take on those types of activities. We’re very proud of them—all of them—and we’re very saddened by that situation.”

The aircraft was assigned to 353rd Special Operations Wing and based at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It went down during what Air Force and Pentagon officials have called a “routine training mission.” The unit operating the CV-22 involved in the mishap is not currently conducting flight operations, the Pentagon said Dec. 1.

The Osprey is a tilt-rotor aircraft, which allows it to take off and land like a helicopter, then move its rotors and fly like an airplane. Air Force Special Operations Command operates a fleet of around 50 Ospreys, and the aircraft is also flown by the Marines and Navy.

The Osprey has had several fatal accidents recently. In August, three Marines were killed when their Osprey crashed in Australia. In 2022, nine Marines were killed in two separate crashes.

AFSOC temporarily grounded the Osprey in 2022 after two “hard clutch engagements,” in which the clutch slips and reengages. Air Force and other services have not said whether they will ground the fleet after the latest mishap, which is under investigation.

Along with Japanese personnel, Pacific Air Forces; United States Pacific Fleet; United States Marine Corps Forces, Pacific; Special Operations Command Pacific; 353rd Special Operations Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan; 18th Wing, Kadena Air Base, Japan; and the 1st Special Forces Group have been involved in the search efforts, according to the Pentagon. The U.S. military is leading the search.

Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum Dec 2., Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall thanked Japanese personnel for their efforts in the search and American service members.

“Going into the holiday season, remember our men and women in uniform who are out there putting their lives on the line,” Kendall said.

US Drone Thwarts Militia Attack on American Troops in Iraq

Dec. 3, 2023 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. conducted a drone strike in Iraq on Dec. 3, as the American troops there continue to be targeted by Iranian-backed militants, U.S. officials said.

The strike took place near Kirkuk as the militants were preparing to attack U.S. troops in northern Iraq, a U.S. official told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

A half-dozen airstrikes have been carried out by the U.S. against Iranian-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria in roughly five weeks, but this appears to be first one known to have been carried out by a drone. Images posted on social media of the aftermath show the remnants of a variant of a Hellfire missile amid bodies of dead fighters. Five militants were killed and the drone they were preparing to launch at U.S. forces was destroyed, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said. The U.S. notified Iraqi security forces of the strike and they responded and confirmed the deaths, she added.

American forces in Iraq and Syria have come under attack by militia groups at least 76 times since Oct. 17, a U.S. military official said.

At first, the U.S. limited its strikes to Iran-backed militias in Syria, even when some of the militia attacks occurred in Iraq, to avoid roiling politics in Baghdad. But now the U.S. appears to be more willing to take action in Iraq to protect its roughly 2,500 troops in the country.

The militants who were targeted in the drone attack belonged to Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi group founded by the militant leader Akram al-Kabbi, said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. That group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

The Biden administration has repeatedly pressed Iraqi leaders to have their forces stop the militia attacks. But the Iraqi government’s seeming inability to do so has prompted the U.S. to take action, to the consternation of the authorities in Baghdad.

“These defensive strikes on attack cells provide very close connection between crime and punishment which makes it very easy for the Biden administration to claim it is self defense,” Knights said.

In their effort to encourage the Iraqis to act, President Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have called Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

“The secretary called on the Iraqi government to fulfill its commitments to protect all installations hosting U.S. personnel at its invitation and to pursue those responsible for attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq,” the State Department said in a readout of Blinken’s Dec. 1 call with Sudani.

The Iraq attack was not the only military action the U.S. took Dec. 3. The U.S. military also responded when Houthi rebels in Yemen launched missiles and drones at ships in the Red Sea.

The USS Carney guided-missile destroyer shot down multiple drones and missiles in the span of a few hours as it attempted to come to the aid of the several commercial vessels in distress, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).

“As we are working to stabilize the region, Iran is raising tensions,” Austin said during a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif. on Dec. 2. “And after attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria, our forces repeatedly struck facilities in Iraq and eastern Syria used by Iran’s IRGC and by militias affiliated with Iran. We will not tolerate attacks on American personnel. And so these attacks must stop. And until they do, we will do what we need to do to protect our troops—and to impose costs on those who attack them.”