How the Air Force Is Getting a Head Start on Training MH-139 Helicopter Maintainers

How the Air Force Is Getting a Head Start on Training MH-139 Helicopter Maintainers

A reserve unit in Alabama is training the first generation of uniformed maintainers who will help keep the incoming fleet of MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters up and running. The 908th Airlift Wing, located at Maxwell Air Force Base, sent Airmen to Picayune, Miss., where civilian mechanics showed the Airmen how they maintain AW139s—the civilian version of the Grey Wolf—which the Chevron Corporation uses to help operate offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is currently no training program in the Department of Defense for maintaining the MH-139A, so the 30-day visits to Picayune are a chance for Airmen to learn the tricks of the trade from wrench-turners who work on a very similar aircraft.

“It was extremely beneficial for us to be at their site with them,” Master Sgt. Timothy Hill, 908th Maintenance Squadron dedicated crew chief, said in a Nov. 27 press release about the training. “It gave us an opportunity to see all that they do, and to receive mentorship and build relationships with their maintainers.”

mh-139 grey wolf
908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron mechanical maintainers inspect the engine bay of an AW-139 helicopter prior to the installation of the engine to ensure nothing is broken, damaged, or out of place at the Chevron helicopter maintenance facility in Picayune, Mississippi June 21, 2023. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo.)

More than 20 maintainers have visited Picayune since January. Many of them have years of experience working on the C-130 transport plane, which the 908th flew until April 2022. But the Grey Wolf is a different beast.

“The single most valuable thing that I’ve learned is just how vastly different a rotary aircraft is from a fixed wing aircraft that we’re accustomed to working on,” Tech. Sgt. Lloydstone Jacobs, 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron mechanical maintainer, said in the release.

All aircraft can have mechanical issues, but helicopters in general are more difficult to maintain than fixed wing airplanes due to their larger number of moving parts. Luckily, the 908th Airmen have a helping hand from their Chevron counterparts.

“It is invaluable,” Hill said. “All the mechanics at Chevron are so smart and experienced on the 139, and by getting the chance to learn from them, it only increases our knowledge for our upcoming mission.”

The maintainers will really hit the books starting in March, when manufacturer Leonardo and military modification contractor Boeing will provide MH-139-specific training at the Leonardo facility in Philadelphia. Known as Type-1 training, the program is estimated to take nine weeks with some additional proficiency training afterwards.

grey wolf
An MH-139A Grey Wolf lifts an Air Force Global Strike Command Detachment 7 special mission aviator into the air April 26, 2023 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (U.S. Air Force photo by Samuel King Jr.)

In the meantime, the 908th has also started sending maintainers to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. and Moody Air Force Base, Ga. for basic rotary fundamentals. The Air Force typically sends rotary or tiltrotor maintainers to a six-week introduction course provided by the Army at Fort Eustis, Va., followed by specific training on the HH-60 or CV-22, Brad Clark, a spokesperson for the 908th, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Air Force decided not to create a formal tech school for MH-139 maintainers, since the 908th will be the only group of uniformed Grey Wolf wrench-turners. Though the exact arrangements are still being worked out, the 908th may perform higher-level maintenance similar to a depot, while day-to-day maintenance at MH-139 flying units may be carried out by civilians. 

The Grey Wolf will replace the Air Force’s aging UH-1N Huey helicopters, some of which served in the Vietnam War. The Hueys provide security and support to nuclear missile fields in the western U.S., and they also transport government officials around the Washington D.C. area. 

The MH-139 is 50 percent faster than the Huey, has a 30 percent larger cabin, and can lift 5,000 pounds more. Boeing delivered the sixth and last test Grey Wolf in October, with the first production aircraft expected in mid-2024. The service plans to procure up to 84 helicopters through fiscal year 2027, with the formal training unit for pilots and enlisted aircrew at Maxwell. 

mh-139
Maintainers from the 908th Airlift Wing learn how to assemble the tail rotor assembly on an AW-139 helicopter at the Chevron helicopter maintenance facility in Picayune, Mississippi Feb 22, 2023. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo.)

In the meantime, the 908th is busy standing up a range of programs and facilities to prepare for the new mission. It awarded $34 million in construction and renovation contracts for new buildings, sent eight C-130 flight engineers and loadmasters to become special missions aviators (the enlisted aircrew aboard helicopters and tiltrotors), sent C-130 pilots to learn how to fly helicopters, and tapped into 908th Airmen with helicopter experience.

Besides learning a new aircraft, maintainers at the 908th will also learn a new style of maintenance. The previous specialties of crew chief, hydraulics, and engines/propulsion were combined into the career field of mechanical maintainers, while the previous specialties of communication, navigation, electrical, environmental, guidance, and control systems were combined into technical maintainers. The Airmen will work together much more closely with the Grey Wolf than they did on the C-130.

“[T]his is a big mind shift coming from a C-130 where they think ‘this is my field and this is what I focus on,’ to working hand-in-hand with each other; and that rotor doesn’t move without all of these systems,” Master Sgt. Mike Cutter, 908th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief and expediter, said in a 2022 press release.

The hope is that all these efforts will help the 908th hit the ground running when their Grey Wolves arrive.

“This is beneficial to me as a member because it affords me not only an opportunity to get a head start on the aircraft but to also get myself comfortable working on it,” Jacobs said about the Chevron training.

CV-22 Osprey Crashes Off Southern Japan with 8 Airmen Aboard

CV-22 Osprey Crashes Off Southern Japan with 8 Airmen Aboard

A U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Japan on Nov. 29, according to Air Force Special Operations Command and Japanese officials.

In a release, AFSOC said the Osprey, assigned to the 353rd Special Operations Wing at Yokota Air Base, suffered a mishap during a “routine training mission” off the coast of Southern Japan. Eight Airmen were aboard—earlier media reports indicated there were either six or eight crew members.

AFSOC’s release noted that the Airmen’s conditions “are unknown at this time.” Multiple Japanese media outlets reported that one individual recovered from the crash has been pronounced dead, citing Japanese coast guard officials. An AFSOC spokesperson could neither confirm nor deny those reports.

Air Force Special Operations Command operates a fleet out around 50 Ospreys, including six based at Yokota.

In a statement, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said it received reports of an American Osprey crashing in the ocean near Yakushima at around 2:50 p.m. local time, and dispatched aircraft and ships to conduct a search and rescue operation.

According to the Associated Press, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters that he would ask the U.S. military to suspend all Osprey flights in Japan.

The Osprey, also used by the Marine Corps and Navy, is famed for its tilt-rotors, which allow it to take off and land like a helicopter, then move its rotors and fly like an airplane. However, it has also developed a reputation for safety incidents.

Most recently in August, three Marines were killed when their Osprey crashed in Australia. In 2022, two separate crashes in San Diego and Norway resulted in the deaths of nine Marines.

The Air Force has only recorded one fatal CV-22 mishap, in 2010. However, USAF Ospreys have also had issues. AFSOC temporarily grounded the tilt-rotor aircraft in 2022 over safety concerns related to two incidents of “hard clutch engagements” within a few weeks of each other—a slipping clutch caused a fail-safe feature in the system to transfer power from one engine to the other, as if the first engine was no longer engaged. However, because the clutch was only slipping, and not disengaged, it was suddenly re-engaging, generating enormous spikes in torque.

Such incidents result in “kind of a Christmas tree of lights, caution lights, in the cockpit, and some pretty squirrely flight control inputs,” then-AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife said at an AFA Warfighters in Action event in September 2022.

Eventually, the V-22 Joint Program Office said it was imposing flight-hour limits on V-22 input quill assemblies—part of the prop rotor transmission, which includes the gearbox and clutch, and transmits power from the engine to the Osprey’s massive propellers.

In its release, AFSOC stated that the cause of this latest mishap is currently unknown.

F-35 Program Will Give Pratt Sole-Source Engine Upgrade Work

F-35 Program Will Give Pratt Sole-Source Engine Upgrade Work

The F-35 Joint Program Office has officially announced plans to issue multiple sole-source contracts to Pratt & Whitney to upgrade the fighter’s F135 engine—a widely expected move after Pentagon officials indicated they would do so earlier this year instead of developing an entirely new engine.

The JPO, in a Nov. 28 business announcement, said it plans to issue “multiple follow-on contract actions on a sole-source basis” to Raytheon Technologies Corp., parent company of Pratt & Whitney, for the F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) program system’s engineering and manufacturing development (EMD).

“The anticipated contract actions will provide F135 ECU design maturation, test article manufacturing and development, test asset procurement, validation and verification activities, weapon system integration for air system capabilities, test equipment procurements, and developmental hardware procurements for the F-35A, F-35B, and the F-35C variants,” the JPO said in the announcement.

The first monies are to be awarded in the second quarter of fiscal 2024 and the contracts will run through the end of calendar 2031. The work will support all domestic and foreign operators of the F-35 fighter.

Contract amounts were redacted from documents released by the Pentagon explaining why Pratt is doing the work as sole-source.

The JPO said it put out a solicitation for other companies to compete for the work, but “no responses were received.”

GE Aerospace has been pushing for a competition with Pratt to upgrade the F-35 with one of the engines developed in the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). Pentagon leaders, however—in concert with the JPO—determined that while AETP engines were best suited to the F-35A, they would not fit the F-35B and would only fit the F-35C with difficulty. The ECU, they decided, was the lowest-cost option applicable to the greatest number of users.

Under the AETP, GE developed the XA100 and Pratt developed the XA101. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have proposed including money in the fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bill to continue developing the XA100 as a means of applying competitive pressure on the F-35 propulsion program.

Air Force leaders and Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-35, have urged pushing ahead with propulsion upgrades to the F-35 in order to keep it ahead of adversary aircraft now in development or entering service. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has since said he thinks the ECU is the best move.

While the ECU adds some improvement in performance, the margin is not nearly as great as would be obtained by going with an AETP engine. GE has said the challenges of adapting AETP engines to the B and C models of the fighter are solvable.

Pratt received an Engine Enhancement Preliminary Design contract for the ECU in October 2022, and it will conclude in February 2024.     

The new EMD contract requirements are to:

  • Maintain overall common F135 engine and air systems compatibility to maximize long-term program efficiencies
  • Improve overall F135 engine life
  • Maximize commonality with the existing ground support and maintenance gear
  • Maximize commonality with current F-35 depot infrastructure
  • “Increase bleed air, horsepower extraction, and heat rejection that, at a minimum, can support double the current air system cooling demands”
  • Improve F-35B Vertical Lift capabilities.

“Due to the nature of the F-35 program, it is critical the F135 ECU be common across the F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C variants, be partner releasable, and be available to Foreign Military Sales customers,” the JPO said.

Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, JPO director, certified that Pratt is the sole company capable of doing the upgrade, as the current “sole designer, developer, manufacturer, and integrator of the F135 propulsion system and related equipment.” Pratt alone “has the experience, special skills, proprietary technical documentation, software/algorithms, and technical expertise required to furnish the supplies and services.”

In the justification for the sole-source approach, Schmidt certified that the redesign of the F135’s internal components ”requires a holistic and detailed understanding of F135 mechanics and gas path dynamics. The Government does not possess the bulk of the technical data necessary to provide this understanding, and in the limited cases where the government does have relevant technical data, it lacks sufficient license rights to provide the data for competition.”

Schmidt said that in the F-35 acquisition strategy, the government did not acquire technical or data license rights to the F135 “necessary for competition.”

Adding a second source would incur “significant duplication of cost and unacceptable performance risks and schedule delays,” he said.

Jen Latka, Pratt’s vice president for the F135, said in a press statement that “we’ll complete preliminary design work on the F135 Engine Core Upgrade in December, and we are ready for the official preliminary design review, which is scheduled in January 2024.”

Latka said Pratt has 600 employees “fully dedicated” to the ECU, “and we’re on track to deliver F-35 operators the power needed to enable Block 4 capabilities and beyond starting in 2029.”

SDA Demonstrates Link 16 from Space for First Time Ever

SDA Demonstrates Link 16 from Space for First Time Ever

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has demonstrated the first-ever Link 16 network broadcast from space to the ground, the agency announced Nov. 28—a key milestone for its new constellation of satellites.

In a release, SDA said it conducted three Link 16 demonstrations over the course of a week leading up to the announcement. The tests involved sending signals to and from low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to ground-based receivers using terrestrial radios.

Link 16, a tactical radio technology used by the U.S., NATO, and allied nations, facilitates secure transmissions of voice, text, and data. This real-time information sharing tool has previously been employed only in ground-to-ground or air-to-ground contexts.

The demonstrations are a crucial development for the Pentagon’s broader plans for Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), which will link sensors to military platforms worldwide.

SDA’s constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit, dubbed the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) initiative, will form what officials have called the “backbone” of JADC2 in space. They will upgrade communications for military operators and allow for the sending of messages using Link 16 radios on space vehicles, even in scenarios where direct visibility is not possible.

“I can’t underscore enough the significance of this technical achievement as we demonstrate the feasibility of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture and its ability to deliver space-based capabilities to the warfighter over existing tactical data links,” SDA director Derek M. Tournear said in a statement. “This is … the beginning of turning the world’s finest warfighting force into a truly connected beyond line-of-sight joint force.”

Space Development Agency Director Derek M. Tournear, delivers a keynote address at the Mitchell Institute Spacepower Security Forum. Mike Tsukamoto/staff

SDA faced hurdles before it could demonstrate the Link 16 capability, due to a dispute between the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration that has led to the restriction of Link 16 broadcasts in U.S. airspace. The agency had to get a waiver from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to transmit a Link 16 message to a Five Eyes nation and over international waters.

Five Eyes is an intelligence network established between the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand—SDA has not specified in which nation the demonstration took place. In the long term, the agency wants to test Link 16 over U.S. airspace to prove PWSA’s feasibility in delivering fire control information.

For this first test, SDA utilized three Tranche 0 (T0) satellites built by York Space Systems in Denver, Colo. The 46th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., led the ground operations.

The T0 satellites used in the demonstration are from both of SDA’s launches earlier this year, with the first launch of 10 satellites in April followed by the second batch of 13 in September. A third and final launch for Tranche 0 is “scheduled for the near future,” the SDA release noted.

When completed, the T0 constellation will include 28 satellites, including 19 Transport satellites—used for data transport and communications—and eight Tracking spacecraft—for missile warning and tracking—along with one ground-based testbed satellite.

By late 2024, the agency aims to deploy the first operational Tranche of PWSA, Tranche 1. It will consist of 126 Transport Layer satellites, 35 Tracking satellites, and 12 tactical demonstration satellites.

PHOTOS: Air Force C-17 With Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Lands in Egypt

PHOTOS: Air Force C-17 With Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Lands in Egypt

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza landed in Egypt on Nov. 28, the U.S. government announced.

The flight is the first U.S. military aircraft sent to the Middle East to deliver aid for the beleaguered civilians in Gaza since the latest Israel-Hamas conflict that began Oct. 7, according to the Pentagon. U.S. officials say two more military aid flights are expected in the coming days.

The C-17 carried 54,000 pounds of aid on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the foreign humanitarian assistance arm of the American government, USAID said.

The new relief is “facilitated by the unique capabilities of the U.S. military,” a senior administration official told reporters.

According to publicly available flight tracking data, the C-17 that landed in Egypt on Nov. 28 is an Air Force Reserve aircraft that was operating as “REACH 202,” a typical Air Mobility Command callsign.

The aid includes “vitally needed medical supplies, warm clothing, and food and nutrition assistance to the people of Gaza,” Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters on Nov. 28. “This aid is in addition to the more than 500,000 pounds of food assistance delivered by the United States last week via USAID-contracted aircraft to El Arish, Egypt, for onward travel to Gaza.”

A temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of hostages captured by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons “has also enabled a significant surge in additional humanitarian assistance to the innocent civilians who are suffering across the Gaza strip,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Nov. 27. The U.S. military flights are a key step in the Biden administration’s efforts to increase humanitarian assistance.

“With 1.7 million people internally displaced and 2.2 million in need of humanitarian assistance, increased humanitarian supplies are essential to saving lives and alleviating suffering for the most vulnerable,” USAID said in a statement.

U.S. Air Force aerial port specialists load 24.5 metric tons of humanitarian aid destined for Gaza aboard a C-17 Globemaster III at an undisclosed airfield in the Middle East, Nov. 28, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jasmonet Holmes

The aid will be delivered via the United Nations from the Northern Sinai region of Egypt to Gaza, U.S. officials said.

“From the president on down, we understand that what is getting in is nowhere near enough for normal life in Gaza, and we will continue to push for additional steps, including the restoration of the flow of commercial goods, and additional basic services,” a senior administration official told reporters.

Around 800 truckloads of aid were to be delivered to Gaza during the first four days of the pause in fighting, U.S. officials said. The pause was extended another two days after it was originally due to expire on Nov. 28. Another senior administration official said “this level or increased levels” of humanitarian aid to Gaza is still needed after the current pause ends.

The Air Force has also used C-17s to deliver military aid to Israel since the conflict began.

Israel has made clear it intends to resume its war in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III “reiterated that humanitarian aid into Gaza must increase” in a Nov. 27 call to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, according to a readout from the Pentagon.

“Understanding the importance of protecting civilian lives, innocent civilian lives, while at the same time going after the terrorist group Hamas that inflicted pain and suffering not only on the Israeli people, but on the Palestinian people—that will continue to be a priority for us,” Ryder said.

Why the Air Force Wants a Geothermal Plant in Texas

Why the Air Force Wants a Geothermal Plant in Texas

The Air Force is taking steps towards starting a geothermal plant at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, as part of a larger effort to make the branch’s energy infrastructure more resilient and sustainable. If the effort is successful, it could pave the way for geothermal energy at other Air Force installations.

“If we can prove this works at JBSA, where it might not be the best base for geothermal potential, then we can make this work anywhere,” Lucinda Notestine, special projects division chief for the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance, said in a Nov. 20 press release.

The release comes about two months after the Air Force announced it had signed agreements to explore geothermal energy at JBSA and Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The agreements were with the companies Eavor Inc. and Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals, Inc. for Texas and Idaho, respectively. The goal is to study and test the local potential for geothermal energy over the next two years, with “targeted commercial operations” starting in three to five years, according to the initial announcement.

Geothermal energy systems transmit heat found in rocks deep underground to the surface via fluid that moves through small pathways in the rocks. Once on the surface, steam from the fluid drives turbines that generate electricity and very little emissions. Unlike other renewable energy resources such as wind or solar, geothermal availability is not affected by changing weather. 

Geothermal resources are often found along major tectonic plate boundaries, but a report written earlier this year by researchers at five Texas universities showed that the state is abundant in geothermal power.

“The amount of heat energy beneath our feet is estimated to be many thousands of times larger than what we would need to power not only Texas, but the world,” researchers wrote. 

geothermal
Researchers in Texas wrote that the state is abundant with geothermal resources. (Screenshot via The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute)

Though well-known for its oil and gas industry, Texas also has a long geothermal history. One fact sheet from Southern Methodist University pointed out that the state capitol was originally heated by geothermal water, and San Antonio once used 106-degree well water for a spa.

Still, it will take work to access that energy, namely drilling three or more miles down. Researchers found that most of the state is at or near minimum viable temperatures for conventional geothermal power generation at about 4 miles down, “a drilling depth typical in parts of the world within the oil and gas industry,” they wrote.

Nonstop supplies of environmentally sustainable power are an alluring option for the Air Force, which wants to make its power infrastructure more resilient and reduce its contributions to climate change. 

“We are in an era of strategic competition with China, which means that our installations are no longer a sanctuary from the full spectrum of threats,” Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations, and environment, said in a September release about the geothermal projects. “We need to ruggedize our installations with redundant energy systems and make use of clean energy sources that reduce our fuel demands.”

Indeed, recent conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine demonstrated to Air Force planners how reliance on fossil fuels can leave facilities vulnerable to blockades, spikes in gas prices, or attacks on host nation power grids. Meanwhile, Air Force bases are also increasingly affected by extreme heatwildfiresflooding, and other severe weather events exacerbated by climate change.

Brig. Gen. Russell D. Driggers, commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing at JBSA, hopes geothermal can help on both fronts.

“With this pilot project, JBSA has an opportunity to spearhead innovations in clean energy and resilient infrastructure,” he said in the Nov. 20 release. “And, as the largest joint base in the Department of Defense, we must continue to think ahead and look for opportunities to implement diverse, resilient energy sources that reduce emissions, enhance security and allow us to operate sustainably for years to come.”

Driggers is not the only one thinking along those lines: one of the Air Force’s goals under its Climate Campaign Plan is to achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity on a net annual basis by fiscal year 2030, and 50 percent on a 24/7 basis. The plan pointed out the start of a geothermal pilot in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit in 2022 as a promising step towards that goal. 

Chief Master Sergeant Promotion Rate Ticks Up to Seven-Year High

Chief Master Sergeant Promotion Rate Ticks Up to Seven-Year High

The Air Force is promoting 22.5 percent of eligible senior master sergeants to chief master sergeant in 2023—the highest rate for E-9s in seven years. 

Some 506 Airmen were selected from a pool of 2,249 eligible candidates, the Air Force Personnel Center announced Nov. 28. The full list of selectees will be released Dec. 1,

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, promotion rates dipped to under 19 percent, as fewer Airmen elected to retire. Then last year, the promotion rate rebounded to just over 20 percent. All the while, the total number of promotions held relatively steady as the field of eligible Airmen was constrained. 

This year’s pool of 2,249 senior master sergeants was the smallest since 2018—and more than 500 fewer than in 2020 and 2021. That shift translated to a higher selection rate.

Enlisted promotion rates have been a source of intense interest in the past two years after the Air Force announced in July 2022 that it was expecting lower rates for some enlisted noncommissioned officers due to enlisted grade structure revisions and high retention. 

In particular, grades E-5 through E-7 have been hit hard—both the staff sergeant and the technical sergeant ranks saw their lowest promotion rates in 27 years in 2023, while the master sergeant rate bottomed out in 2022 and recovered only slightly in 2023. 

In contrast, prootion rates for the two most senior NCO ranks—senior master sergeant and chief master sergeant—have held steady.

The Air Force is also revamping its weighted Airman promotion system (WAPS), replacing the pencil-and-paper tests with a new digital solution in 2024 for E-5 and E-6 candidates. At the same time, USAF is also updating enlisted career development, introducing mandatory “Foundations Courses” that Airmen must attend at their duty stations in order to be eligible to attend more advanced resident courses, such as that Airmen must attend at their duty stations in order to be eligible to attend more advanced resident courses such as Airman Leadership School and the NCO and Senior NCO academies.

YEARSELECTEDELIGIBLEPROMOTION RATE
20235062,24922.50
20225142,52620.34
20215052,77518.19
20205182,76318.75
20195302,52920.96
20184792,24121.37
20174722,14222.04
20165312,22923.82
20155252,52120.83
20144792,52518.97
Data compiled by Air & Space Forces Magazine
How an Enterprise Portfolio Approach Improves Cost Efficiencies, Interoperability Across MAJCOMs

How an Enterprise Portfolio Approach Improves Cost Efficiencies, Interoperability Across MAJCOMs

Senior Air Force leaders have made a clarion call for improving Total Force readiness to prepare for potential conflict with the nation’s pacing threats. Most notably, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall is emphasizing readiness and mobilization as one of his seven operational imperatives, saying that “supporting [our forces] takes the collective success of a large number of information systems and supporting logistical and industrial infrastructure.”

HII Mission Technologies is presenting an enterprise portfolio solution to break down the operational and technical stovepipes between Air Force Major Command (MAJCOM) training architectures, an advantage that will unify critical infrastructure elements among distributed training systems across a standardized, global network—all while enabling the warfighter to train as they fight.

“Instead of each contractor building their own solution, a common set of solutions can tackle very similar challenges across different MAJCOMs,” said Michael Aldinger, HII Mission Technologies’ vice president of the U.S. Air Force LVC training and enterprise portfolio. “Enterprise does that. If you have a common set of tools everyone can access, all the MAJCOM contractor teams can work within a single architecture toward a common end-goal.”

Advantages of HII’s enterprise portfolio approach are reduced costs and greater interoperability with existing and future training capabilities—across all MAJCOMs. Condensing many similar interfaces and tool sets into a single architecture creates efficiency and reduces the budget requirement for technology deployment and ongoing maintenance.

“When we develop training, we want to build a single architecture for the entire training enterprise,” said John Bell, technical director of HII Mission Technologies’ Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) Solutions business group. “It’s a concept that we initiated with the Navy, under the Navy Continuous Training Environment (NCTE), which is now the single training environment for tactical training within the Navy. And the advantage of having a single enterprise for training is that we can develop common standards, common architectures and common tools that are shared across the entire enterprise.”

To make the enterprise portfolio a reality for the Air Force, Bell points to open-architecture standards and translation tools as the foundational elements for MAJCOMs to adopt.

“The approach that we recommend is adopting industry and government standards rather than adopting proprietary solutions and standards,” Bell said. “We also recommend integrating architecture tools. They’re used in common throughout the enterprise, so where training systems don’t fully adapt to those open-architecture standards, we have tools to help them integrate.”

A critical Air Force training program that embraces the enterprise, non-proprietary model is the Joint Simulation Environment. JSE is being integrated at the Virtual Training and Testing Center (VTTC) at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and will be ready for the warfighter by 2028. The JSE provides a common simulated battlespace in a high-fidelity environment for warfighters in advanced fifth-generation simulators to train for the Night One fight. HII supports this effort with subject matter and software development expertise.

HII’s enterprise solutions are also making a tangible impact on Air Mobility Command’s aircrews under the Mobility Air Forces (MAF) Distributed Missions Operations (DMO) program. Since taking over as the DMO contractor in 2022, HII has provided MAF with enterprise training solutions that have resulted in record-breaking unit participation in AMC training programs and supported full-spectrum training exercises like Coalition Virtual Guardian. 

“It boils down to ‘Train as You Fight,’” Bell said. “We want to fight in a distributed environment with distributed forces, in partnership with our coalition partner nations and with all the services and agencies together. If we’re going to fight that way, we must train that way. We want to train people where they are deployed. We want to train them at their home station. We don’t want them to have to travel to a headquarters building and train together because that’s not how they fight.”

The journey from the proprietary-heavy approach of today to the Air Force enterprise approach of tomorrow will be an incremental process, Bell said. It begins with finding interoperable solutions and delivering them directly to the warfighter.

“We’ve decomposed the distributed training architecture into its many elements—governance, gateways, tools, cross-domain solutions and other aspects—and then worked with the U.S. Air Force to assess the potential value of a conversion to an enterprise approach,” Aldinger said. “What is the cost benefit? What is the training benefit? We continue to apply this approach to our programs at Wright-Patterson [Air Force Base in Ohio] to include Mobility Air Forces DMO and have achieved great results.”

F-35 Updates: TR-3 Ramps Up, Talks on Future Lots Continue, Logistics Contract Stalls

F-35 Updates: TR-3 Ramps Up, Talks on Future Lots Continue, Logistics Contract Stalls

The first production F-35 in an early version of the Tech Refresh 3 configuration has flown at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas, facilities, the company said. But while TR-3 testing continues, international F-35 partners are considering whether to accept jets with an immature version of the upgrade, government officials said.

Meanwhile, negotiations between Lockheed and the Joint Program Office on a contract for F-35 production lots 17-19 are still ongoing—but talks have broken down on a long-term Performance-Based Logistics contract that was expected to be inked this year. A shorter-term deal is being worked out.

Lockheed is now building TR-3-configured F-35s at Fort Worth, and the first one flew the week of Nov. 13, a company spokesperson said. The flight is part of the normal checkout process after one of the fighters comes out of the production plant. However, until formal testing of the TR-3 configuration is complete—now underway at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. and —Lockheed must store the newly-built F-35s.

Final acceptance flights, before the government takes ownership of the fighters, will begin on the newly-configured jet “when the software is approved for operational use,” a JPO spokesperson said.

More than 150 test flights with the TR-3 have been made, a Lockheed spokesperson said.

The TR-3 is largely a processor upgrade; the prerequisite for the Block 4 capability upgrade of the F-35, which comprises more than 80 improvements to its electronic warfare systems and weapons portfolio, displays, and other systems.

The JPO and Lockheed are working with the services and the international partners to see if they could “potentially” accept TR-3 aircraft in an early version that would be “operationally acceptable,” a JPO spokesperson said. This approach would “most likely require future software drops” en route to delivering capability that meets all requirements, he said. No such decision has been made yet, though, and pending such a decision, Lockheed will have to store the jets.

Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, the JPO director and F-35 program executive officer, said in September that he expected the TR-3 upgrade testing to be complete in early 2024.

Negotiations on F-35 production Lots 18-19 are still underway, according to Lockheed. A spokesperson said “we are actively engaged” with the JPO to deliver a “cost-competitive” fighter. Schmidt said in September that there is no time limit by which those discussions have to conclude, and he would not predict when the JPO and Lockheed would reach a “handshake” agreement. Schmidt said a host of items are under discussion, such as inflation, labor shortages and costs, and other issues.

Lockheed officials have predicted the next lots will not continue the downward trend in prices due to economic factors and supply chain issues.

Schmidt has said the Pentagon “has a budget, and we can only afford what we can negotiate.”

While Lots 18 and 19 will be contracted together, Lot 20 is potentially the first lot that can be bought as part of a multiyear deal, which groups lots together to take advantage of economic ordering of parts and materials. A multiyear deal can only happen, though, after the program passes Milestone C, which is the full-rate production decision.

That, in turn, is dependent on competition of Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, which has been held up for several years while the F-35 has been integrated with the Joint Simulation Environment; a wargaming tool that helps requirers find the right balance of aircraft and weapons for given wartime contingencies.

The negotiations on new lots is independent of negotiations on a new support contract for the F-35, and those talks have been halted for the time being.

Lockheed has been pushing a Performance-Based Logistics Contract approach to F-35 maintenance for a number of years, but the Pentagon and Congress have balked, wanting to see better and faster improvement in F-35 operating costs. A five-year PBL would give Lockheed both more responsibility and more predictability in ordering and managing parts, providing service materiel, and managing the global F-35 fleet. The arrangement would tie payments to long-term performance. The existing deal is a “pay as you go” arrangement, a government official said.

The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act mandates that the Secretary of Defense certify that a PBL “will reduce sustainment costs or increase readiness performance,” a DOD official said.

“Currently, the proposed PBL does not meet the certification requirements,” the official said. “The F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin have agreed to extend” the existing 2023 sustainment contract through March of 2024 “and are working an additional extension through June 2024.”

The extension ensures “there will be no breaks in contractual coverage, while also providing more time for the JPO and [Lockheed Martin] to plan and negotiate long-term contractual coverage.”

A Lockheed spokesperson said the company is “focused on partnering to determine an alternate contract solution in lieu of the PBL to go into effect July 1, 2024.”

“We continue to view [PBL] contracting as the primary way to increase part availability, readiness, and affordability for the long-term as the F-35 fleet scales,” the spokesperson said.

While it is “disappointed” with the decision not to make a PBL agreement and halt talks for now, “we remain committed to partnering with our customers to deliver sustainment support, enabling mission readiness and deterrence,” the Lockheed spokesperson added, noting that PBLs are “a recognized best practice” of the Pentagon and have been used “successfully on many large-scale sustainment programs,” such as the F-22, MH-60, HIMARS and others.