Ukraine’s Survival ‘In Danger’ if West Fails to Help, Austin Says

March 19, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III warned March 19 that Ukraine could fall to Russia if the U.S. does not come through with more military assistance.

“Today, Ukraine’s survival is in danger,” Austin told reporters at a press conference at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. “America’s security is at risk. And they don’t have a day to spare, either.”

Austin’s remarks came as he and Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were in Europe to meet with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a roughly 50-member coalition organized by the U.S. to aid to Kyiv in its defense against Russian aggression. The meetings have grown awkward, as the U.S. has failed in recent meetings to muster much aid for the Ukrainians.

A $300 million aid package, the first new aid from the U.S. in months, was announced on March 12 after the U.S. Army identified savings that could be applied to Ukraine. But even U.S. officials acknowledged the limited nature of the aid, mainly aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s artillery shortage and air defenses, and described it as a one-off, unexpected stopgap.

U.S. aid has stalled, as Congress has tried but failed to pass measures to fund continued support. The Biden administration has sought supplemental funding and at one point agreed to package the bill with border security legislation, but after initially backing the bill, many Republicans withdrew their support when former President Donald Trump opposed it. So while there is bipartisan support for more aid to Ukraine in both houses of Congress, passage has been caught up in challenging politics involving both the border and support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has balked at putting a bill on the floor.

Austin, making his first foreign trip of 2024 after being hospitalized in January for complications from surgery to treat prostate cancer, acknowledged Russia’s recent “incremental gains,” noting that they came “at significant costs in terms of personnel and equipment.” But Ukraine is similarly challenged, facing shortages of manpower—its legislature is debating a new conscription bill—and artillery munitions—as U.S. and European suppliers struggle to keep up with demand. The Czech Republic is leading an effort to procure 800,000 artillery shells. Germany, France, Denmark, and Sweden also recently provided aid.

Ukraine Defense Contact Group delegates await the opening statements solidifying support for Ukraine during the sixth in-person meeting at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, March 19, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Dylan Myers

Ukrainian officials “feel confident in their ability to continue to defend their sovereign territory and hold the line,” Austin said. “Of course, they need munitions, they need support in order to be able to continue to do that and, of course, that’s where the supplemental comes in. And we certainly would hope that we will see this supplemental get passed soon. I continue to see broad support in both chambers of Congress for Ukraine, and so I’m optimistic that we will see some action moving forward.”

Many aid proposals at past meetings of the Contact Group focused on long-term assistance, such as providing U.S.-made F-16s to build a Western-style air force and training combined arms units. But after Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 failed, the U.S. focus has begun to shift back to the present.

“Over time, we’ll shift from a focus on the current fight solely to more of a focus on building a longer-term capability for Ukraine,” Austin said. “But for right now, we’re focused on making sure that we can get Ukraine security assistance that it needs to be successful today and in the near and midterm.”

The administration has tried to assuage concerns over how U.S. aid is spent. It launched a public website on March 19, detailing U.S. government oversight of Ukraine assistance—as required by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Biden administration officials also have argued that providing U.S.-made equipment has helped fuel U.S. employment.

Fueling a deadly war and talking up jobs at home, however, have often made for awkward domestic politics. But overseas, the issues are clear, Austin said. “That’s a matter of survival and sovereignty for Ukraine,” he explained. “And it’s a matter of honor and security for America.”

SOCOM Cuts Armed Overwatch Buy from 75 to 62 Aircraft

March 19, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

A limited budget has led U.S. Special Operations Command to cut back on its planned purchase of Armed Overwatch, the rugged, lightweight, fixed-wing aircraft to support counterterrorism efforts in permissive airspace—at least for the rest of the decade.

The combatant command is trimming its planned purchases over the next five years of the Air Tractor-produced, L3Harris-modified OA-1K from 75 airframes to 62, according to SOCOM’s 2025 budget request released earlier this month. The 13-aircraft reduction marks a 17 percent cut. By year, the cuts are:

2025: From 15 to 12 aircraft

2026: From 17 to 11 aircraft

2027: From 15 to 11 aircraft

The cut in fiscal 2025 is “due to resource constraints,” the budget notes, and a Special Operations Command (SOCOM) spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine the same issue was at play in the ’26 and ’27 decisions. The spokesperson added that the program requirement remains 75 aircraft, but it is not clear if or when SOCOM will be able to buy the additional aircraft.

The program came under scrutiny in late 2023 when the Government Accountability Office released a report suggesting SOCOM failed to fully justify its order for 75 OA-1Ks and urged the Pentagon to slow down the program until SOCOM makes a better business case for so many planes.

At the time, the Pentagon responded that it was analyzing its plans for the Armed Overwatch force structure. But the SOCOM spokesperson said the GAO report did not cause the command to cut its planned purchase.

“SOCOM’s FY25 budget request for Armed Overwatch is a resource-constrained position and is not a response to the GAO’s recommendations on the program,” the spokesperson said. “SOCOM is committed to addressing the GAO’s recommendation to review the Armed Overwatch force structure requirement and will complete that analysis prior to the next President’s budget request.”

While SOCOM is cutting back on its planned purchases, it is also pushing back on full-rate production for the aircraft, which is based on Air Tractor’s AT-802U Sky Warden. Previously, full-rate production was scheduled to begin in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. That timeline has been delayed a year.

Initial operational capability is still projected for the end of fiscal 2026, and full operational capability is still expected by the end of fiscal 2029.

Compared to previous budget projections, SOCOM will save nearly $300 million by buying 13 fewer aircraft—from $1.1 billion to $810.5 million. The average cost per airframe is now set at around $15.4 million, not counting non-recurring costs like initial spares and support equipment. By comparison, the Air Force says a U-28 Draco, one of the aircraft the OA-1K is supposed to replace, costs $16.5 million each.

Air Force and SOCOM leaders have said they want Armed Overwatch to “collapse the stack”—reducing the number of different intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, light attack, and close air support aircraft it needs for counterinsurgency operations where the airspace is uncontested but the environment can be austere.

“Our methodology for supporting our forces on the ground over the last several decades has really boiled down to the development of what we call an ‘air stack’ over objective areas,” former AFSOC commander and current Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife told Congress in April 2022. “And so you’ll typically have single-role specialized platforms—AC-130s, A-10s, MQ-9s, U-28s—you have a stack of airplanes over an objective, each platform providing a niche capability to the force on the ground. That averages, in terms of cost per flying hour, over $150,000 an hour … to generate kind of the typical stack for that.”

The Air Force pursued the idea of combining many of those capabilities into one aircraft through its Light Attack/Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) program starting in 2009, but the program eventually fell prey to budget cuts and congressional opposition. SOCOM took the lead in launching Armed Overwatch, which Slife has estimated will cost “something less than $10,000” per flying hour.

The Sky Warden that the OA-1K is based on is typically used as a crop duster and firefighter, but L3Harris is heavily modifying it and making it modular—capable of swapping out different sensors, communications equipment, and combat payloads as needed. SOCOM plans to invest several million dollars every year for the next five years in research and development for the program, “capitalizing on Armed Overwatch’s modular and open architecture to rapidly reconfigure platform capability tailored to support Special Operations ground force needs.”

The first aircraft was scheduled to be delivered in October 2023, but budget documents indicate that has been delayed until June 2024.

In the meantime, the Air Force has started making plans for OA-1K. The service is set to get rid of its small fleets of Textron’s AT-6s and Sierra Nevada Corp.’s A-29s that it bought as part of the LAAR program, and it wants to start retiring MC-12 Liberty aircraft in fiscal 2025. It also selected Will Rogers Air National Guard Base, Okla., to host the formal training unit for the OA-1K.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated March 20 to clarify the cost per airframe without non-recurring costs.

While USSF Budget Dips, Funds for New Nuclear Command and Control Satellites Jump

March 18, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Space Force is ramping up its plans to develop and deploy a new nuclear command, control, and communications satellite constellation, even as other parts of its budget take a hit.

In the fiscal 2025 budget request released earlier this month, the service asked for nearly $1.05 billion for research, development, test, and evaluation of its Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program—a hefty $413 million increase over its 2024 request even as the Space Force’s RDT&E budget overall took a $500 million hit.

As things stand, ESS is poised to account for 5.6 percent of the entire research and development budget, and 3.6 percent of the entire Space Force budget.

ESS, in development for several years now, is envisioned as the successor to the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Satellite System. The goal, according to Space Systems Command, is to provide “strategic, secure and jam-resistant, survivable communications for ground, sea, and air assets around the world” starting in fiscal 2032, the stated “strategic need” deadline.

Hitting that deadline will be key as the U.S. military undergoes a massive nuclear modernization effort. The Air Force wants to start fielding its new B-21 bomber in the mid-2020s, followed by a new Long-Range Standoff missile and the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile before 2030. The Navy is working on new Columbia-class nuclear submarines to field by the early 2030s, and the entire NC3 enterprise is undergoing an upgrade. All told, it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

ESS will be responsible for connecting the President and combatant commanders with strategic forces in the field, and the Space Force wants to invest heavily over the rest of the 2020s. In research and development alone, budget documents indicate a five-year spending plan of $5.11 billion.

USSF has already taken key steps on the program, awarding prototype demonstration agreements for both the space and ground segments. In 2020, Boeing and Northrop Grumman got contracts to build prototype satellites, and in May 2023, teams led by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were tapped to work on the ground segment called GRIFFON (Ground Resilient Integration & Framework for Operational NC3).

The Space Force has not officially declared yet how many satellites will make up the ESS constellation, but its budget documents note plans to produce four space vehicles “in order to achieve IOC by 2032 and continuing through FOC.” AEHF has six satellites.

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency System (AEHF) is a joint service satellite communications system that provides survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. USAF photo illustration.

Fiscal 2025 is shaping up to be a key year in the program’s development. Budget documents describe a plan to award a final contract for both the satellites and ground segment in the second quarter of the year.

“ESS will finalize source selection, award the Space Development and Production contract, conduct a delta Preliminary Design Review (PDR), and establish a program baseline through an Integrated Baseline Review (IBR),” the documents state. “Simultaneously, numerous Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) activities will begin, covering essential engineering and process documents. Long lead procurement of hardware and software for SV01-SV02, including design documents and non-deliverables, will also commence.”

A critical design review of the satellites is scheduled for FY26.

On the ground, the Space Force wants to use 2025 to “further mature a development, security, and operations (DevSecOps) pipeline for software vendors to test their applications on the ground framework to conduct end-to-end integration testing, … conduct early integration testing at government sites, develop user agreements with operational sites outlining deliveries and key milestones to ensure system functionality by FY 2029, prior to the first ESS space launch.”

Media reports have indicated the program could be worth $8 billion all told, but the Space Force’s procurement budget has no funds for ESS yet.

New F-15EX Is ‘Awesome’ to Fly, Guard F-15C Pilots Say Ahead of Transition

March 18, 2024 | By David Roza

Pilots from the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing—poised to be the first operational unit for the F-15EX later this year—gave the new fighter rave reviews after becoming the first members of their unit to fly the aircraft at a training course in Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. earlier this month.

“My impression of the F- 15EX after flying it for the first time was that it is an awesome, awesome aircraft,” Lt. Col. Joel “Thermo” Thesing, said in a press release published March 15.

A member of Oregon’s 123rd Fighter Squadron, Thesing currently pilots the F-15C, the aging single-seat air superiority fighter flown by Air National Guard units in Oregon, California, Florida, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. Oregon’s Portland-based 142nd Wing expects to switch to the F-15EX starting summer. Dubbed the Eagle II, the two-seat EX promises higher speed, longer range, increased payload, and more advanced technology than previous variants. It didn’t take Thesing long to notice the improvements.

“The engines feel like they have a lot more power than those in the C-model, and the radar and avionics are a generational improvement over the F-15C as well,” he said in the release.

Thesing was among five F-15C instructor pilots from Oregon to attend the two-week training course, which started the first week of March. They are not the first Air National Guard pilots to fly the F-15EX, but they are the first from the upcoming first operational unit of the EX, 142nd spokesperson Steve Conklin told Air & Space Forces Magazine. Training a C-model pilot to fly the EX takes only about two weeks, he said.

The plan is for the instructor pilots to take their knowledge back to Portland to train the rest of the wing as it transitions to the F-15EX.

“We are excited to be at the forefront of this acquisition and lead as an Air National Guard unit,” Conklin said. “Our Airmen are fully capable and enthused to be trailblazers for the Air Force in the State of Oregon.”

Historically, the Oregon Air National Guard’s 173rd Fighter Wing hosted F-15C/D training at Klamath Falls, Ore., but that wing is due to become an F-35 formal training unit. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., will take over all basic F-15 training in early 2026, with follow-on training on graduates’ specific model at their first unit.

One of the changes pilots must adapt to in the EX is a fly-by-wire system, where electrical wires replace the usual cables in relaying a pilot’s commands to the aircraft. Another change is the cockpit display: the EX does away with old-school small screens and dials in favor of large touchscreen displays similar to those found in an F-35. One former F-15E pilot was excited about the new tech.

“When I look at this thing it makes me salivate a little bit,” former Air Force Maj. Ryan Bodenheimer said on his YouTube channel in 2023. “The F-15E was great but the screens on that thing were small, they needed updating,” and they were difficult to see depending on the outside light.

Bodenheimer recalled weapons systems officers, who ride in the backseat of the F-15E, covering their helmets and displays with maps so they could operate the navigation and targeting pods through “this little tiny soda straw screen.”

“This is going to be a huge force multiplier because it increases your situational awareness by allowing you to just kind of breathe and see what’s going on, without having the anxiety of thinking ‘OK, I’ve got to be so careful because I could miss the tiniest little green blip on my screen that could be something that I needed to see,’” he said.

But old habits die hard, and Thesing said flying the EX will take some adjustment.

“The initial work will take a lot of studying and practice to get the basics of flying the aircraft down and learning its systems, and that process has a steep learning curve, and never really ends for as long as you’re a pilot,” he said in the release. “That being said, I look forward to when the focus can shift from how to fly the EX, to how to employ it tactically.”

The Air Force currently has four F-15EXs, all of which are being tested at Eglin. The service initially planned to purchase 144 as an advanced fourth-generation replacement for the old F-15C/Ds. But now the service says it will cap the fleet at 98. At one time, the Air Force expected to buy upwards of 180 F-15EXs.

Niger Junta Calls for US to Leave, but Pentagon Says Troops Remain at Air Bases for Now

March 18, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

Niger’s ruling military junta says U.S. troops must leave the country, which would deprive the U.S. military of key air bases used for counterterrorism operations including one that the U.S. military spent over $100 million dollars to build just a few years ago. But the Pentagon isn’t giving up hope of losing their presence in the restive Sahel region of Africa just yet, U.S. officials said March 18.

“We want to see our partnership continue if there is a pathway forward,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. “We are working through diplomatic channels to seek clarification. These are ongoing discussions.”

The head of U.S. Africa Command Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Celeste Wallander, and assistant secretary of state for African affairs Molly Phee traveled to Niger last week to meet with members of the military junta, known by its French acronym CNSP, American officials said.

Those conversations were “lengthy and direct,” Singh said.

However, on March 16, a spokesman for the junta said the U.S. troops were no longer permitted in the country and denounced America.

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. officials raised concerns about the junta considering allowing Tehran to gain access to Niger’s uranium reserves for its nuclear program.

“We had direct conversations about some of our concerns, about … pursuing relationships with Russia and Iran,” Singh said. “But I wouldn’t say it’s an ultimatum.”

The U.S. presence in Niger has been largely consolidated to one base, Air Base 201, which is far away from the capital of Niamey, where the other U.S. base, Air Base 101, is located. A letter President Joe Biden sent to Congress in December 2023 said roughly 650 American personnel remained in Niger, though Singh said the current number of personnel is approximately 1,000.

“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 AFRICOM from 2019-2022, told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July 2023 shortly after the coup. “It’s going to be bad for the region.”

The U.S. has flown drones, such as Air Force MQ-9s, to gather intelligence on militant groups in the region, including al-Qaeda, Islamic State affiliates, and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), a terrorist group active in Niger and other parts of West Africa. In 2017, four American service members were killed while hunting for an Islamic State leader.

The U.S. held off calling the July 2023 overthrow of the democratically-elected president of Niger, Mohammad Bazoum, a coup until October, a move that legally required the U.S. to cut off military assistance such as training and support of Nigerien forces.

U.S. officials say drone operations have been restricted to force protection reconnaissance missions and troops have been staying on base.

“There have been no counterterrorism [missions] either unilaterally or with the Nigerien government since the July coup,” Singh said.

For now, the U.S. appears to be holding out hope it can salvage some form of presence in Niger. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso had coups in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and are now ruled by Russian-aligned leaders. It remains unclear where the U.S. could operate to conduct counterterrorism missions in the unstable Sahel region if its forces leave Niger for good.

“I’m not going to preview what things could look like in the region,” Singh said. “I can tell you that Gen. Langley is certainly engaged with other partners there.”

Air National Guard No. 2 Nominated to Become New Director

March 18, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

President Joe Biden has nominated Maj. Gen. Duke A. Pirak to pin on a third star and become the next director of the Air National Guard, the Pentagon announced March 18. If confirmed by the Senate, Pirak will replace the current head of the ANG, Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh, who is set to retire in the coming months as he nears the end of his four-year tenure.

Pirak already serves as Loh’s No. 2 as the deputy director of the Air National Guard, a job he has held since February 2022.

He is poised to take charge of the Air National Guard as it has gained prominence in recent months, from taking on the high-profile mission to train Ukrainian pilots to the fallout from a major leak of classified information from an Airman at a Massachusetts Air National Guard intelligence unit. The ANG also makes up roughly one-fourth of the Air Force’s aircraft fleet and comprises over 100,000 Airmen.

Pirak’s nomination was sent to the Senate on March 14 and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Since 2018, Pirak has spent most of his time working at the Pentagon. When Air Force Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel was Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Pirak served for a year as director of the Chief’s Action Group from 2018-2019. Before becoming deputy director of the ANG, he was deputy director for political-military affairs for Africa on the Joint Staff from 2021-2022. In between those roles, Pirak had a two-year assignment as deputy director of strategy, plans, and policy at U.S. Central Command from 2019-2021.

Pirak, who has more than 2,700 flight hours, has also commanded at the squadron, group, and wing levels, including a stint as the head of the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Wing in Portland, an F-15C/D unit.

While Pirak spent most of his career flying the F-15C/D, he is poised to lead the ANG through a pivotal transition as it retires its Eagles and older F-16s in favor of new F-35s and F-15EXs.

“The Air Force is facing a fighter recapitalization crisis and it’s very acute in the Air National Guard where traditionally we have the majority of the legacy fighters,” Pirak said at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September 2023.

The Guard is also home to around half of the service’s nearly 500 tankers, which are also going through a transition as KC-135s from the 1950s-60s are being replaced by KC-46s. Meanwhile, the ANG is seeing some of its missions transform, such as Maryland’s A-10 unit that will transition to a cyberspace wing.

Navigating the Air Force’s plans for modernization is set to be one of Pirak’s toughest jobs, an issue he is already heavily involved with in his current role. The lingering question over what to do with the space mission in the ANG will also likely be a major focus during Pirak’s tenure.

“If you stand down a Guard unit that’s been at this business for a while, with all the experience and capability, unlike the active duty Air Force, it’s very difficult to build that back up,” Pirak said in 2023. “We have this discussion not at the expense of anybody else, but we want that rising tide to lift everybody.”

USAF Plans $28.48 Billion over 5 Years to Develop New Advanced Fighters, Drone Escorts

March 16, 2024 | By John A. Tirpak

The Air Force plans to dramatically ramp up spending on the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter program in the coming years, to the tune of $28.48 billion fiscal 2025-29, according to newly released budget documents. That figure includes the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which will produce uncrewed, semi-autonomous “escort” aircraft to fly alongside NGAD.

The NGAD is the Air Force’s highest-priority air dominance program and is slated to replace the F-22 beginning around 2030. It’s characterized as a “family of systems,” which includes CCAs, of which Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said the service will build at least 1,000 units, with the first ones ready for combat in 2028.

No official buy objective for NGAD has ever been stated, but service leaders have hinted at fleet sizes in the 200-250 range. Kendall has also said the crewed NGAD will cost in the “multiple hundreds of millions” of dollars per aircraft. The first increment of CCA drones are expected to cost around $30 million each.

The crewed aircraft at the center of the NGAD formation is expected to be an ultra-stealthy platform, escorted or aided by CCAs that will perform sensing, jamming, communications relay, and targeting functions. They will also carry additional munitions that can be aimed by the one pilot in the formation or attack targets on their own. Air Force leaders have said there may be two variants of the NGAD: one for the European theater and a longer-range version optimized for the Pacific theater.

The Air Force expects to award development contracts this year to two companies for NGAD and three for CCA.

In 2025, the service is asking for nearly $2.75 billion for NGAD, a leap of $1.2 billion over the amount requested in the fiscal 2024 budget request, which has not yet been approved by Congress. The CCA program is budgeted for around $577 million, an increase of $170 million over 2024.

Over the future years defense plan (2025-29), the Air Force is planning $19.6 billion in research, development, test, and evaluation for NGAD alone, on top of $8.9 billion for just CCA.

Segment	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029
Total NGAD program element	$3.306 billion	$3.684 billion	$5.396 billion	$7.247 billion	$8.289 billion
NGAD only	$2.749 billion	$3.189 billion	$3.742 billion	$4.201 billion	$5.723 billion
CCA only	$577.1 million	$494.9 million	$1.654 billion	$3.046 billion	$3.106 billion

Source: Air Force budget documents

Although CCA drones are set to be operational as early as 2028, and the NGAD circa 2030, no procurement or long-lead funding for production was specified in the Air Force procurement budget request. A service official said this was likely due to operational secrecy concerns.

The Air Force is also asking for $300 million over the FYDP for the Autonomous Collaborative Program, in which it will explore manned-unmanned teaming, swarm tactics, and collaboration among CCAs. That funding line rises steadily from $51 million in 2025 to $65.2 million in 2029.

The Air Force’s RDT&E budget justification documents say that after a contractor is picked for NGAD engineering and manufacturing development, activities will include building an open-architecture framework for mission systems and “design, build and test of” of an all-up weapon systems, including “development, integration, test and building demonstrative prototypes.”

The program will “continue to conduct analyses, identify technology candidates and perform concept refinements,” and there will be fabrication of “spectral dominance platforms,” suggesting an uncrewed electronic warfare escort for the platform.

“Additional details … cannot be provided at this classification level,” the documents note.

For CCA, the fiscal 2025 plan calls for further analysis to “identify technology candidates, perform concept refinement studies, development, integration, test, prototyping, and demonstrations, as well as crewed systems integration to reduce risk and mature CCA concepts and air superiority related technologies in support of the NGAD.”

Crewed and uncrewed aircraft attack targets in this conceptual illustration of DARPA’s LongShot Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) operating in concert with conventional fighter jets. Acquiring CCA sooner, rather than later, could be crucial to deterring China from attempting to seize Taiwan. **General Atomics**

The NGAD figures don’t include the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program, which will develop new engines for the NGAD that will provide improvements in acceleration and range over the F-35’s F135 engine. The NGAP will derive from the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), in which GE Aerospace and Raytheon’s Pratt & Whitney developed engines that could fit the F-35 and provide increased thrust and range. That program was abandoned because it could not benefit users of F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variants, and because the AIr Force could not afford to develop the engine for its F-35As on its own.

The NGAD line items also don’t include new weapons being developed for it, to include the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM).

The Air Force quoted slightly different figures for NGAD and CCA in its budget briefing charts than in its justification books, saying in the charts that the NGAD overall line item is $3.390 billion for 2025, of which $2.831 billion is for the NGAD platform and $559 million is for CCA. It also said it is investing $116 billion “across several other program elements for CCA autonomy testing and non-material solutions, totaling $675 [million] toward CCA development.”

A service spokesperson could not immediately explain the discrepancy but suggested that the charts included elements of some related technology efforts.

US Air Force C-17s Join in on Gaza Aid Airdrops

March 15, 2024 | By Chris Gordon

The U.S. Air Force has begun using large, quad-jet C-17s to airdrop aid into Gaza, as the U.S. leaders express increasing concern about the humanitarian situation there.

On March 17, two U.S. Air Force C-17s dropped over 28,800 meals and 34,500 bottles of water over northern Gaza—first two-ship USAF C-17 aid airdrop over the enclave, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. A U.S. C-17 also conducted an airdrop with C-130s on March 13 and March 15, as the U.S. has bolstered its airlift presence in the region assigned to Air Forces Central (AFCENT). The U.S. has conducted nearly daily airdrops, and 13 since the U.S. began aid airdrops into Gaza on March 2, according to CENTCOM.

In recent weeks, the Biden administration and international groups have pressed to do more about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas and has been besieged and bombed by Israel during its war with the military group after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are at risk of famine, United Nations officials have warned.

The U.S. is going to increasingly significant lengths to get food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza. Recently, a flotilla of U.S. Army ships left port in Virginia, where they will cross the Atlantic and build a complex, makeshift port off the coast of Gaza. Some 1,000 U.S. troops will construct a floating pier and a roughly 1,800-foot-long causeway attached to the shore—called Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS). Vessels and barges will transport the aid from the pier to the causeway. From the causeway, vehicles will then deliver the aid into Gaza. But that process won’t happen for roughly 60 days, the Pentagon said last week.

In the meantime, the U.S. is conducting airdrops and pushing Israel to allow more land corridors of aid into Gaza by truck. C-130s can carry roughly a truckload of aid, while C-17s have a much larger cargo capacity.

U.S. Air Force loadmasters watch as humanitarian aid for Gaza is airdropped from an Air Mobility Command C-17 Globemaster III from an undisclosed location in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 13, 2024. Joint Base Charleston deployed C-17s to further enhance airdrop efforts to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza. U.S. Air Force photo

The Air Force C-17s arrived in AFCENT from Joint Base Charleston in recent days, but a U.S. official declined to specify how many C-17s are now in the Middle East or if more are planning to arrive. However, the official said the number of crews qualified to conduct airdrops has increased. Some C-17s were already present in the region, and the U.S. has not disclosed where the C-17 missions over Gaza have originated. U.S. C-130s have been taking off from Jordan, which first began the airdrop effort.

“They’re great partners,” Air Forces Central Commander Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich said as Air & Space Forces Magazine accompanied him across the region in early February, before the airdrops began. “With all the tension in the region, being able to have frank and honest conversations about the way forward and how we’re going to work together in areas where we can collaborate is always valued.”

Since AFCENT started conducting airdrops over Gaza, it has conducted some joint sorties with the Royal Jordanian Air Force, including during the first U.S. mission. AFCENT and Jordan carried out their latest joint mission on March 16.

A growing coalition of countries are conducting airdrops, but many aid groups say the drops are insufficient to feed the hundreds of thousands of people in need. In addition to the limited amound of aid aircraft can carry, airdrops can also be dangerous for those on the ground. A C-17 that appeared to belong to the United Arab Emirates airdropped aid that reportedly killed five people when a parachute failed to deploy last week. CENTCOM said the U.S. was not involved in the incident.

The U.S. says increasing land aid routes is the best option, which Israel has resisted.

“That’s something that we continue to pressure,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said on March 14. “We continue to want to see humanitarian aid increase into Gaza. The best way to do that is by land options. Those are clearly, you know, not viable at this time.”

For now, airdrops will have to do, the Pentagon says.

“As you are seeing, this department is working around the clock to also provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, whether that be through airdrops … and then, of course, the floating pier that we will be setting up that will be off the coast of Gaza, that will be able to get whether it be—meals, water, whatever else the people need—be able to flow that into Gaza at a more regular rate,” Singh added.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on March 17 after additional airdrops.

USAF Slashes Plans for MH-139 Helicopter Fleet Size, Locations

March 15, 2024 | By Greg Hadley

The Air Force is dramatically scaling back its plans for the MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter, cutting its projected fleet from 80 to 42 aircraft and reducing the number of bases that will host the new chopper.

For now, that means some units will continue to operate the aging UN-1N Huey, some of which have been flying since the Vietnam War.

The Air Force’s original plan was to procure 84 helicopters to provide security and transport across sprawling ICBM fields, senior leader and executive airlift in the National Capital Region, and aircrew survival training.

That plan was later trimmed to 80 aircraft, and the service’s 2025 budget documents now show a cut all the way down to 36. However, an Air Force spokeswoman told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the program of record would actually be 42 helicopters since six test aircraft were already delivered.

To accomplish such a reduction, the Air Force has decided to only field the MH-139 at its three ICBM bases:

F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.

Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

Minot Air Force Base, N.D.

All three bases will still get their originally planned 11 helicopters, added the spokeswoman. Malmstrom just recently received its first MH-139, welcoming the Grey Wolf on March 9. It is slated to receive its full complement by the summer of 2025.

In addition, the MH-139 schoolhouse will still be at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., which is slated to get its first chopper this month.

Previously planned locations Joint Base Andrews, Md.; Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.; and Yokota Air Base, Japan, will all not receive any MH-139s now. The Air Force had already announced Andrews as the fourth location to get the Grey Wolf, with a projected fleet size of 25.

The cuts to the program came “due to fiscal pressures and considering remaining service life of the UH-1N Huey,” the spokeswoman said.

However, budget documents note that the UH-1N Huey helicopters “have significant capability gaps in the areas of speed, range, endurance, payload capacity, and aircraft self-protection.”

The MH-139, a joint venture with Boeing and Leonardo, is a militarized version of the AW139 helicopter that is capable of flying faster, higher, farther, and with more weight than the UH-1N. The program has had hiccups, though—issues with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification caused the Air Force to delay its fiscal 2021 purchase of eight helicopters and skip its 2022 buys completely. Even after it gained FAA certification, the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) warned in its annual report that the Grey Wolf might fall shore of “operational effectiveness requirements.” The report noted concerns about with the automatic flight control system, sensor display, intercom system, cabin layout, and “restrictions on takeoffs in crosswinds or near obstacles.”

A MH-139A Grey Wolf sits at Duke Field, Florida after landing from a test flight on Feb. 22, 2024. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Breanna Christopher Volkmar

The 2023 edition of the report similarly warned that the program “faces several ongoing risks to … meeting operational effectiveness, suitability, and survivability requirements.” While some progress has been made, the report authors noted that the MH-139 still requires some FAA certifications to start initial operational testing, which are not projected to be approved until the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024.

On top of that, the Air Force wants to add an additional radio to the aircraft, “but problems with internal communications persist,” the report stated. The service also is adding an environmental conditioning system, but that system’s effects on the helicopter’s power and weight requirements is not fully known.

Despite all this, the Air Force wants to keep production high now and cut the program on the back end—the service is maintaining its request for eight helicopters in fiscal 2025, then dropping to two each for the next four years to fill out the fleet. In its 2024 budget request, USAF projected a high buy of 15 helicopters in 2026, with smaller declines after that.

Air Force officials have noted that their procurement and research and development budgets took hits in the 2025 request due to spending caps set under the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the need to maintain operations and personnel accounts. The service is also curtailing its planned F-15EX and T-7 programs of record, though by far smaller amounts, and trimming its near-term procurement of F-35s.

The MH-139, however, is taking the biggest cut. In terms of procurement, the move reduces the program’s estimated budget from $2.55 billion to $1.42 billion. It does, however, raise the unit cost per helicopter from $34.47 million to $39.37 million. That rise of 14.2 percent puts the program very close to a Nunn-McCurdy breach—the law requires Congress be notified of any program that has its unit cost rise 15 percent above current estimates.